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"what a lovely start."
Aliya wakes up at sunrise. She takes the sheets off her body and walks over to the window on the opposite side of her bed. She looks upon the view and takes a deep breath. Never has she thought she'd make it this far in life. She was at peace. Looking upon the field, the sky, just her new environment in general. She then walked over to the mirror in the bedroom and admired her self.
She never liked how she looked. At the orphanage, she always got bullied for her red hair, the freckles that laid upon her face, her appearance. Aliya wish you could change some thing about her. Whether it was her hair color, the way her clothes fit her body, or just to change her eye color. While staring at herself in the mirror, she had a memory flood into her head.
Flashback
Late one night, Aliya was sitting on her bed, with the covers over her head, reading Selected by Oliver Tearle. As she was getting deep into the book, a force pushed her back causing her to slam her heard against the bed frame. Her blanket suddenly was pulled out from on top of her and she saw five girls surrounding her, noticing one had a pillow in her hold.
"Who are you looking at, you red headed freak?" One of the girls asked harshly. Then, within second, the pillow was placed upon her face, making it difficult to breathe. Aliya lashed and swung trying to hit one of the girls, but she missed every time. The only thing traveling through her mind is this was her last day alive. She never had a real family. Never went to school. Never made any friends. Never had her first kiss. After a couple of minutes, she gave up, accepting her fate. She laid her arms and legs down to her side, waiting for nature to take it's course. As she started losing consciousness, she heard a faint voice:
"What are you girls doing?"
Aliya came out of her daze when she heard Marilla yelling from downstairs about it being the first day of school. She quickly put on her newly made dress, tied her boots, and brushed through her knotty hair before running out of her room and down the stairs. Anne was already waiting for her by the door. Aliya grabbed her coat and her slate with a book, then walked out of the door with her sister trailing behind her.
☾
Anne was going on about the Lake of Shining Waters, hoping that would day that she would be able to sit by it and write some sort of story based on it. The older sister always admired the young girl's creativity and how she observed all the small details surrounding her. Aliya was the same way, but didn't show it as much as her sister. She was thinking perhaps when she finally starts school, she would be able to express her self and be more open about all the wild, imaginative concepts that go on inside of her mind. Then again, she thought back to the memory she thought about earlier. What if the girls at this school are the same way? What if they don't accept her nor her sister?
After 15 minutes of walking, Aliya blurted out, "I'm not excited about going to this school." Anne looked at her sister in shock. She always listen to Aliya go on and on about wanting to go school to better her education, to learn about the different countries in the world, and to meet new people she could possibly be friends with. She has no idea why she has such an negative emotion about going now. It was... unlike her. The younger girl knew something must of happened before leaving the house this morning. She was going to reply back to her sister but fought against. Anne kept quiet and kept admiring the nature surrounding them while walking to school.
☾
The sisters finally saw the school house in the distance. Anne went ahead and ran towards in excitement while Aliya kept her normal pace. Once she was finally coming off the wooden trails, someone bumped into her shoulder, causing her to drop her slate on the ground. When she looked at who did it, she saw a boy. He was about 6 foot, had blonde hair with a hat covering most of it, and a snarky grin placed on his face. She gave him a sarcastic smile and bent over to pick up all of her belongings.
"Better watch out next time, freak." He said, snickering. Aliya bit her tongue and continued on walking. She made it the school doors and took a deep, long breath before turning the knob. Here goes nothing, she thought. As she walked through the doorway, she observed everyone and noticed Anne was already in a group with four girls. They all seemed to be getting along, causing the older sibling to smile. At least someone is already fitting in.
Aliya found a seat in the front of the class and placed her items down. She looked around once more and noticed the blond boy from before. He was in a group with three other boys and snickering about something while they kept making quick glances at her. Aliya rolled her eyes and took a seat. She grabbed the book Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott from on top of her slate and began reading.
Within ten minutes after she started reading, an older man comes into the room. Aliya only gave him a quick glance and continued on with her reading. The man picked up on this and thought of something to embarrass the girl.
"Hello class. I see as if we have two new students today." He said aloud, looking back and forth from Aliya and Anne. The older sister heard the man, but couldn't help but finish this chapter before closing the book. "And it seems as if one of the new students does not care for me standing up here. Young lady, come up here." The assumed to be teacher continued as he walked over to her seat and grabbed the book out of her hands. Aliya looked up at the man and stood from her spot and walked to the front of the class.
Her eyes wondered around the room, seeing everyone's eyes on her. The mustached man walked over to her while looking over the book she just had in her hands.
"A woman who believes in equal rights but still follow order, is that right?" He questioned. Aliya nodded her head with the quickness and looked at the man in the eyes. He continued, "Do you not think being here is important? What is your name?"
"Aliya Shirley, sir. What's your name?" She asked sarcastically. The class gasped at tone in which the girl spoke. Have they never heard someone stand up for themselves? The man laughed and looked at the class and back at her.
"My name is Mr. Phillips and if you ever disrespect me or if i ever see you reading a book with idiotic topics in it, you shall get punished. Do you understand me?" He was glaring into Aliya's eyes waiting for a response. She didn't know how to answer, so she just nodded her head and went back to her seat. Mr. Phillips place her book on his desk and carried on with the planned lessons.
☾
It was finally lunch time and Aliya thought Anne would come sit with her, but she was sitting in a circle with the girls from earlier. The girl sighed and looked over at the teacher's desk. She looked around and as fast as she possibly could, she grabbed her book and headed straight outside. Right beside the school house is a creek with a tree's shadow casting over it and Aliya decided she would eat her lunch in the shade while continuing with her book.
That did not turn out as planned. As soon as she open her book, there was the sound of grass crunching behind and already knew what was coming. Within seconds, there were three boys standing in front of her.
"You know, it's kind of sad that your sister is getting along with everyone and then there's you. Maybe you should stop being a dumb girl and try to actually make friends instead of reading a book with unrealistic qualities." One of the boys said as he snatched the book out her hands. "Oh no, it's slipping from my grasp- oops." He dropped it into the creek, ruining the text and cover. Aliya moved over to the rushing water and picked up the book. It was ruined. The boys started laughing and walked away from the poor girl.
