Seraphina took a sharp intake of air. The cool oxygen stabbed her chest as it filled her lungs. She closed her eyes for a moment allowing herself to relax and fix her posture. She hoped no one was watching her - judging her. Opening her eyes, Seraphina laid the books that were pressed against her chest into her locker. She took a moment to glance in the mirror placed on the inside of her locker door. Sharp, ice blue crystals stared back at her. Her magenta hair was tied up neatly in a ponytail that sat up high on her head. She pondered for a moment if it was far too long. Perhaps she should cut it? No, the thought didn't exist in her mind for more than a second. I must look presentable, Seraphina told herself. Cutting her locks would do nothing but increase talk about her. She wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
Seraphina blinked away and closed her locker to reveal a blonde sophomore standing behind it. Arlo cracked a smile as both of their blue eyes met. "Ah, Seraphina, it's a pleasure to meet you," Arlo extended his hand as he greeted her.Seraphina's eyebrows furrowed and she grabbed his hand and shook it."The pleasure is all mine." Seraphina reciprocated. When he released her hand he folded his arms."My name is Arlo, Wellston's king." He grinned.
"I've heard many good things about you," he continued. Of course he has, Seraphina thought to herself. She suddenly felt a wave of discomfort cascade over her like a waterfall. Why did she suddenly feel all her insecurities rush towards her at godspeed? Whatever the matter, she pressed herself not to express her apprehension. But, despite her attempts, a small eye twitch occured. "Well, that's nice to know," Seraphina sighed. She made eye contact with him again, not having noticed her gaze has shifted to the corridor behind him. After examining his features, Seraphina concluded that the discomfort was not shared as Arlo looked as comfortable as one can he in his own skin. Something about him screamed confidence. His stature was straight and perfect making him appear far taller than he actually was. His blonde, curly locks looked so effortlessly well kept and his shirt was buttoned up to the very top button.
"So," Arlo started a confident smile lightly tugging the corners of his lips. "How has your first day at Wellston been treating you?" The king questioned. Seraphina blinked and processed his question. Her day hadn't been as miserable as she had anticipated, yet it still wasn't exactly exciting. It had been sufficient at best."It's been good," she lied a little. "That's good to hear." Arlo expressed. He opened his mouth to allow more words to fall out of it but his attention was redirected to a girl who was approaching them. Seraphina raised an eyebrow as she could not see the female sophomore coming from behind her. The girl stopped when she reached them as her teal bob bounced. It was then that Seraphina acknowledged her presence. A quick greeting was exchanged between the freshman and the sophomore and nothing more. Her name was revealed to be Cecile. She held a copy of a newspaper and some notebooks in her arms. Her short teal hair cupped her face.
The teal head of hair turned to the king.
"Arlo," she spoke with a smooth voice but her rich violet eyes were piercing. He blinked in response. "I'd hate to intrude, but there are things we have to talk about," short strands of hair were pushed behind her ear exposing a cartilage piercing. This caught Seraphina's attention. Cecile's ear harbored two piercings - a silver cartilage one and a dusty orchid purple one resting upon her earlobe. The time manipulator had only one piercing on each earlobe. A small thought crossed her mind of getting a second piercing but this thought was immediately dismissed. There were things that were more important than what she wanted or found interesting. Public image was ingrained into her mind by her mother, Narissa.
She felt uncomfortable again.
"Sorry, Seraphina," Arlo's voice cut through her thoughts. "Cecile and I have important things to discuss." he added, his weight seemed to be leaning in Cecile's direction. "That's alright, it was nice talking to you." Magenta haired girl remarked. Arlo reciprocated and they said their goodbyes. Arlo walked shoulder to shoulder with Cecile down the hall, their destination the press room. Seraphina watched as they waltzed away until they were out of view.
It was then when she felt alone. This school was full of students, yet she felt so isolated. Though their conversation was awkward, as most first meetings were, she'd rather take the discomfort over the judgement of her peers any day. There were so many of them. The whispers and murmurs had erupted as soon as Arlo and Cecile were out of earshot. They seemed to be oblivious that she was still standing there and that she was able to hear their gossip. Either that or they didn't care she was still standing there. Most likely the latter. No, definitely the latter.
Seraphina sighed and murmured something under her breath about mid tiers. She decided that she would go down to the library. Perhaps the sacred silent area would be the cure for all the whispers. Seraphina inhaled and started her voyage to the library.
The two sophomores arrived at the press room. The room was crowded with students of all grades, all walks of life all brought together by the common interest of writing. There was much chatter of article ideas, friends reuniting, and conversations between strangers. As Arlo and Cecile entered the room the voices ceased. Cecile continued until she reached the desk at the back of the room. She then stationed herself behind the desk with Arlo on the other side. It was then when Cecile noticed the crowded, silent press room. Her eyebrows furrowed and she cleared her throat. "Clear the room," she dismissed them. They were quick to exit the room with the exception of a few freshman who were unsure of what to do. They stayed slightly longer, awkwardly standing until they finally left. Once the room was cleared Cecile opened her mouth but no sound came out at first.
Brief silence.
"Arlo, what the hell?"
Cecile held the bridge of her nose as an aching threatened her frontal lobe. Arlo scoffed. "You know this isn't my fault," he sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Listen," she stated.
"I know it's not - it's all his fault."
Cecile pursed her lips together. Her eyes were met with Arlo's sharp ice eyes. They stabbed into her and she tasted the tanginess of blood disperse as her teeth dug into the soft tissue of the inside of her cheek. His eye twitched as a sign of visible annoyance. Cecile began to suck the inside of her cheek where her new wound was. "I know the way that Rei ran things was," Arlo paused mid sentence.
"It was different." He continued after a moment of thought.
"But it doesn't matter," Arlo turned away from her for a moment to observe the window. "Things take time..." he began to be lost in whatever was going on outside beyond the windowsill. The sky was a creamy blue and white tufts were situated across its pale canvas. A breath could be heard being drawn in and Arlo began to speak again. "It's only the beginning of the year, Cecile. Things will change - as long as I am here things will." His tone turned bitter and authoritative. His eyes flickered back to Cecile. Her expression was as stoic as ever. His eyebrows were furrowed and soon she mirrored this. "I'm just saying, there's been more fights today than I've ever heard of in a school day." Cecile said as she crossed her arms. "The system Rei attempted to install ended up to be a complete disaster! The low tiers don't know their limits and the higher tiers excessively take their anger out on them now that Rei graduated." The tension grew thicker as she spoke.
"Don't worry,"
Arlo's voice seemed to echo. It felt so quiet and for a moment the two were still.
"I'll have this place under control, it will change. It will just take some time. And after that, it'll be smooth sailing from there," Arlo stated confidently. Cecile unfolded her arms and her hands searched through the papers scattered across her desk.The corners of her lips were pulled down and a sigh escaped. "Oh, I sure hope so," she said and gathered up her papers. "The new wave of freshmen," Arlo started up again. "They're a lot stronger than our year. We've got plenty of well ranked freshmen to work with, so building up the hierarchy and enforcing it should be easy." He brushed his curly bang to the side and shifted his weight from one foot to another.
"Seraphina - that freshman girl from earlier - she's already a high tier. I bet she'll be a 7.0 by next year." He motioned to the hallway behind them as he talked. "Rei's younger sister, Remi, you remember her right? She's also here now. She should follow in Rei's example in strength." He was very confident in the freshmen, there were so many of them and they had so much potential. Cecile cleared her throat to speak.
"And in ideology,"
Arlo was taken slightly aback by this. "This school doesn't need another Rei. This school needs a leader - a king - who will step up to the plate." Cecile asserted. Arlo opened his mouth to utter a response but the bell rang loudly interrupting his thoughts. The sound of it was like a knife stabbing itself into one's ear and it always seemed to be a second longer than it should be. It was their signal to take their leave.
Both of them sighed.
Cecile walked around to her desk and started to make her way out. Arlo turned towards the doorway about to make his departure as well. She was walking in front of him but then stopped in her tracks. Arlo halted, unsure of Cecile's sudden pause. She turned around to face him. "Oh, and Arlo," Cecile voiced. He lifted an eyebrow, curious.
"Don't let those feelings of yours get in the way of your kingly duties."
She turned back and walked out of the room into the hallway with a hum leaving him in a state of vulnerability and confusion.
W/C: 1769 words
A/N: hope you enjoyed! I'll try to update once every month. I'm also going to be posting some unordinary oneshots as well so stay tuned for that^^