It was now Monday, and the triplets were starting school, at last. Aurora got ready in her bedroom, doing her usual routine.
She walked down the stairs in a short baby pink summer dress. Her mother's pearls hung perfectly around her neck, bouncing slightly with the steps she took. She had a white cardigan tied around her shoulders for extra comfort, and in case she got cold. By looking at her cute and girly style, one wouldn't believe half of the stuff that comes out of the young, stubborn girls mouth.
Upon her entrance in the kitchen, Levi turned to look at her. His eyes scanned her outfit silently, making sure she wouldn't be put in a position like the other night. She hopped up onto the island beside Elijah and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.
"Who's driving us?" She asked before she took a crunchy bite from the ruby apple. None of the triplets could drive yet. Back in Ireland, you can't take your theory test until you turn seventeen, which now they are and they have that done, however they never got time to complete their twelve lessons before they moved. Isaac, who was at the counter making tea, turned to answer her, however, he never got the chance as a new voice entered the room
"I shall be escorting you and your brothers, Ms. King" Alfred O'Leary answered as he stepped into the room. He was an older man, in his early sixties and had been working for the King's for as long as he could remember. His salt and pepper hair was combed neatly. A bright smile adorned his chocolate skin as he looked at the youngest King in front of him. He was dressed in his usual attire, a black suit with a crisp white shirt beneath. Peaking from the pocket of his suit jacket was a beautiful handkerchief, small blood red roses imprinted onto the fabric. He was never seen wearing the same handkerchief twice. It was a habit he had started when Aurora was a child. She, and the other two delinquents, were always in a mess. Whether it be mud, tears, blood, they always found themselves in innocent troubles. Many a time, Alfred would be among the house while it happened and using the handkerchief in his pocket, he would clean them up. As it became a regular occurrence, he switched up his handkerchief everyday as a novelty for the kids who got distracted by the characters or flowers on the fabric and their worries were forgotten. The habit never seemed to fade.
"Mr. O'Leary, well if it isn't my pleasure" Aurora beamed, teasing his well spoken accent. The sight of the older man who became a great companion over the years had brightened her morning instantly. She hadn't seen him in a while, his wife passed before ethey moved here so Levi had told him to take as much time as he needed after the funeral. His warm and comforting eyes hadn't faded however and seemed to distract her from the day she had ahead of her.
"The pleasure is all mine, my dear" He grinned, giving her a slight nod of the head. "Now, we best get going. You may need time to find the office and your classes" He reasoned. He nodded towards the rest of the boys in the kitchen before turning to leave the room. Aurora hopped down to follow him, but once she reached the door, Levi called her name.
"Be careful. Text me if you need anything" He said genuinely. Aurora nodded and saluted him mockingly before walking out the door. Levi ran a hand down his face and sighed. He wished she wasn't so unpredictable.
"She'll be fine, Levi. It's Aurora" Isaac consoled, seeing the look of distress on his older brothers face. Levi smiled at him and nodded his head, deep down knowing how true those words were.
~*~
"How the fuck are we supposed to find our lockers in this jungle Jim?" Axel exasperated. The three had gathered their schedules and locker numbers from the principal. They were now standing in the middle of the halls, trying to make sense of the map that was in Aurora's hands as the other two peered over her shoulder from either side. So caught up in their own confusion, they were oblivious to the stares and gawks that they received from the students that swarmed the halls.
The three looked like the had walked out from a movie. Expensive tatse and godly looks had people failing to get to class in time. Nobody knew who they were or where they came from, but something about them made people want to stay far away, yet so close at the same time.
"Need help with that" Suddenly the map was plucked from Aurora's hands. The three looked up to see Noah Knight with his usual smug smile on his face. Axel and Atlas shared a displeased look.
"No, actually. We're fine" Axel said bitterly. He grabbed Auroras arm and began to walk down the hall. The students stepped back from his path, not liking the sour look on his face. The sight of Noah made him angry, and his ego didn't like the fact that he was giving them his help.
"Your lockers are this way" Noah called. Axel paused and cursed under his breath. Aurora giggled and rolled her eyes, turning back around with Axel now stubbornly following her with a sulk. As Aurora walked by, she plucked the map from Noahs hands and continued walked. Noah scowled but ran to catch up with her.
"What's up with you today?" He asked her. Aurora shot him a glare.
"What? Just because I'm not bending over in front of you, I'm suddenly in a bad mood? Did ya ever think I actually just hate being in the company of wankers" She raised a brow. Noah gritted his teeth. This sassy side of her isn't the side he wanted. Just as he was about to snap back at her with an excuse, she stopped walking, causing him to halt a few steps ahead of her once he realised. He turned around to look at her, irritated, but he caught her staring intently at something behind him.
A black hooded figure was walking through the crowd towards them. The hood was big, pulled down over his face to mask it from preying eyes. People shoved by him carelessly, as if he wasn't even there. Although, there could be so many people wearing that black hood, something in Aurora told her that she knew him. That he was the guy on the bridge. She had the same feeling that drew her in, intrigued her. And the same urge to annoy her.
Noah followed her gaze to see who had caught her attention so easily. Once he realised who it was, he couldn't help but bellow in laughter.
"What are you doing staring at that freak?" He sneered, pointing at the figure. Aurora snapped her head towards him, his abnoxious tone pulling her from her daze. She frowned, confused as to what he meant. Noah noticed her expression and continued to elaborate.
"Synn Reeds, the biggest freak walking these halls. Hasn't taken that hood off since he was a child. I didn't think you could stoop that low" He explained as if it were a known fact. He didn't hide his distaste at the mere mention of Synn. Aurora couldn't help but get slightly defensive. Although, she knew he might possibly be right considering her encounter with him was blatantly ignorant and one sided, she didn't like the way he spoke.
"You're right, I need to higher my standards. They dropped drastically the second I spoke to you" She snapped. She shoved past him and strutted down the hall confidently. Noah stood in shock, a small blush creeping up his neck from embarrassment. Axel and Atlas then brushed past either side of him. Axel turned around, walking backward. Once Noah turned to look at him, Axel gave a cheeky wave and a wink before turning around and following Aurora.
None of the three knowing where to go.
They walked in silence through the halls, looking at the numbers on the classroom doors to try and spot their class. Eventually the bell rang, causing students to run to class as they were already behind time due to their nosiness and infatuation. As the halls emptied, it became easier for them to see the classroom numbers as there was no crowd of students in their way.
"Who was Noah talking about?" Atlas asked as the casually strolled down the halls. Aurora looked at him in the corner of her eye to try and gage his expression.
"I don't know. I was just looking at someone and he knew who they were" She shrugged, not seeming too bothered.
"Who? The guy in the hood?" Axel chimed in, slinging his arm around Auroras shoulders. She nodded her head. Axel let out a low whistle.
"He looks hot" Axel shrugged.
"Right?" Aurora squealed, unable to hold her act together anymore.
"You can't even see his face" Atlas stated dubiously, raising an eyebrow in question at his siblings.
"Don't need to, the hood screams 'I will turns your insides into mush with one stroke'"
"Big dick energy" Aurora followed up Axels reason. They were both so casual as they spoke about such things. Atlas turned his head in disgust, no longer feeling the need to question Aurora anymore. Not if Axel was around anyway.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the triplets found their classroom. They stood outside the door, acknowledging the fact that they were twenty minutes late and were now trying to find an appropriate excuse to give to an American teacher.
"What if we tell it that our goldfish died?" Axel suggested, his eyebrows raised at the the two.
"Not 'it', Axel, she" Atlas scolded, frowning at his brothers ignorance. Axel rolled his eyes, waving at his brother dismissively.
"What if we just speak irish and pretend we don't understand her?" Aurora grinned proudly. Axel shared her excitement, nodding in agreement before they both high fived eachother.
"We can't do that, that's just rude. We're going in there and we're just going to apologise for being late. There's no need to be telling fibs" Atlas said with a final tone, leaving no room for an argument. Axel and Aurora pouted before begrudgingly giving in. Atlas nodded, stepping forward to knock on the door before entering, the other two following behind. Once they stepped in and shut the door, all eyes turned to them and the room went silent.
"We apologise for being late Ms, it's our first day and we had trouble finding our way" Atlas explained politely to the woman who sat behind the desk at the top of the room. She was probably in her early fifties, skinny figure with pointed features. She wore a black pencil skirt, with a bright pink collared top, her shoes a flashy pink to match her top. She looked at the triplets behind her black sparkly rimmed classes, perched on the end of her nose.
"Well I did offer my help, but it seemed it wasn't appreciated" All heads turned to the familiar smug tone of Noah Knight, sitting in the middle of the class with a toothpick between his teeth. He stared at Aurora, and had the audacity to wink with her two brothers glaring at him.
"Oh no, your help was appreciated, it was just your cocky attitude that wasn't" Axel replied blatantly. Gasps erupted throughout the room. Nobody had ever spoken back to Noah before, being the golden boy of the school. Noah found himself mortified for the second time this morning. He really didn't like those two brothers of hers. Well, mainly Axel.
"Hate to disappoint, but it comes with the face" Noah replies once he gathered himself. He took the toothpick out of his mouth and gestured to his face. He leaned back in his seat proudly, smirking at Axel. Atlas groaned, knowing Axel wasn't gonna stop as long as Kaden kept prevokibg him.
"Then how 'bout I give ya a new face?" Axel challenged, taking a step towards Noah who tensed slightly in his seat. Fortunately for Noah, Aurora stepped in front of Axel and gave him a warning glare. He looked down at her. He wanted to give out to her for stopping him, but he knew she was only trying to save his ass a lecture from Levi. He scoffed but gave in nevertheless.
The class went silent. Atlas was looking at the teacher with a pleading stare. She eventually sighed deeply.
"Just take a seat" She deadpanned, motioning to the rest of the class. Aurora grabbed Axels wrist as he continued to glare at Noah who put a mask up, seeming unfazed but truly did fear Axel with his reputation. She pulled him into two empty seats at the front of the classroom, while Atlas took a seat elsewhere, knowing right now his brother needed Aurora by his side with Noah in the room. A protection precaution, you could say. For Noah.
At the back of the classroom, Synn watched the whole scene from underneath his black hood. He felt slightly enraged at the girl he thought was from a mental asylum happened to be a privileged goddess. She also clearly knew Noah, whom he despised. Someone who liked Noah was always an enemy of his. Noah never like Synn, for reasons Synn never knew but Noah did, keeping that a secret left untold.
She looked alot different, dressed up in a cute dress, the fronts of her hair pinned back away from her face that he only got to study in the dim moonlight. She looked a lot less crazy. He shamefully admitted to himself that she was in fact beautiful. Her mixed eyes sparkled, trapping anyone who dared look into them, just like they did him a few nights before. Her lips seemed to be set in a frown ever since she entered the classroom, an unusual sight for him seeing as her plump lips were set in a gleeful grin the last time he saw her.
However, all these thoughts that clouded his head were foreign to him. He told himself that it was a mere observation. She could catch any guys attention. He didn't like Aurora King. He could already see her social group in high school and it happened to be the one that set up Synns reputation by gifting him his nickname. He dismissed any positive thoughts he had about her on the bridge - not that there was many - but knew that would be the only positive encounter he'd ever have with her. Someone like him shouldn't associate with someone like her.
The funny part is, while he was dismissing these thoughts, Aurora sat thinking of his devilish name, but knew that each time she saw him, he would be called Sunshine.