✓1.0 | Letters From Serena

08 | -

THREE YEARS AGO...

"BREATHE VANESSA, BREATHE." were Vanessa's vain attempts to calm herself down as the car drove closer and closer to its destination.

Though her parents had always told her to never show her emotions plainly given it was a sign of weakness, she couldn't help but feel nervous for starting a new high school. The stares from new people, the painful ice-breaking introductions that she'd have to make in each of her classes was something she wasn't looking forward to at all.

She didn't understand why the teachers always insisted on the new students to give introductions. It was as if they wanted them to suffer. Moreover, it wasn't like anybody ever remembered the new students' introductions. Barely anyone remembered even their names, let alone their hobbies or where they came from. If anything, the students were more interested in classifying them into cliques.

She tried to compose herself, to have some hope that there were going to be others like her, new and unfamiliar but the feeling of anxiousness was inexorable. Curling its poisonous talons around her heart, she felt another emotion present too—anger.

Anger at her parents, for forcing her from the haven she had known. Anger at herself for not fighting harder to stay. She wouldn't have had to do this stupid ice-breaker introduction if her parents hadn't insisted that her previous school wasn't for people of their social class, which Vanessa had thought was complete and utter bullshit but then again it was common for her parents and her to disagree.

Their ideologies and mindsets were rarely ever on the same wavelength. She just couldn't understand why if she was happy her parents would want to rip her away from her happiness but they had. Insisting it was for the best.

As her car pulled into the school's parking lot, she cast a glance towards the building. It dawned on Vanessa then what her parents had meant when they said those words.

Oaksville was, to put it bluntly, pulchritudinous. It screamed affluence and elegance, the personification of the adjective royalty. Under the shining sun every part of the school seemed to glow and glisten, its perfection amplified. The door handles of the main entrance scintillated under the sun, the glass windows spotless with not a single smudge in sight, the roof a vibrant brick-red, even something as mundane as the field was trimmed to perfection as if somebody had meticulously taken a ruler to cut each and every single strand of grass to be the same height.

The parking lot was bustling with chatter, people greeting each other from their summer vacations and bragging about their achievements or souvenirs they'd gotten over the summer. It was a bubbly atmosphere yet it only caused her heart to ache more as she realised this was how she would've been with her friends—but they weren't here and she was alone.

Like she'd always been.

Despite it being her first day in a new environment, Vanessa's parents had refused to send her off by themselves, instead having their personal chauffeur, Ed, take her. Typical business-minded parents, always the ones to rush off to any other potential meeting rather than taking the time out of their day to send their only child off to her first day of highschool.

She shouldn't have even been surprised, her parents had always been like this. They'd skipped many of her 'firsts' to attend prospective business agreements. Even so, she hated herself for still hoping that the outcome would be different.

"Ms Tan, are you ready?" asked the driver politely.

Vanessa nodded, "Thank you for driving me, Ed."

"No problem Ms."

Vanessa took a deep breath and exited the car She walked across the parking lot, face set into a fixed grimace. Though her parents had always told her to smile more, she refused. Though it was done partially to get nerves on her parents, the main reason was because she didn't have a good reason to smile. Why smile when there was absolutely nothing to smile about?