I finally find my classroom and as I try to enter a short man with a tail suddenly appears beside me. I'm guessing he's the teacher. A huge pile of papers floats into the classroom and falls onto the teachers' desk.
"Oops sorry, just passing through" He says. His voice has a high but kind pitch to it.
He enters before me and I follow him.
"Haven't seen you here before dear, what's your name?" He asks
"Letitia" I pause "Vespertine" I say finally.
"You don't happen to be related to Desmond?" The man asks.
"Erm, yes he's my uncle. I just moved here" I say, praying he doesn't ask from where.
"Well, Miss Vespertine I look forward to getting to know you" He says with a smile on his face. He reaches out his right hand.
"I'm Mr Windward" He says.
We shake hands. I look around, everyone has taken a seat already.
"Oh, you can just sit with, erm... Mr Sterling, right over there" He points to the far left of the classroom. I spot the same blonde boy. He's now reading his book again.
I walk to the back and sit down next to him. I look at him for a second contemplating whether I should say hello or say anything but I don't end up saying a word. I put my back down on the floor and sit back.
"Oh! Almost forgot" Mr Windward says
God, I think I know what's coming
"We have a new student!" He says
Of course
"If you'd all look to the back, Miss Letitia Vespertine has joined our magnificent class!" He says with a big smile.
Everyone turns their heads.
"Hi" I say with an awkward tone and a smile.
God
Some people say hello, some just turn their heads to look at me. No one really cares. I guess it's my lucky day.
The guy next to me chuckles. I turn my head to look at him.
"What?" I say
"Nothing, I just found it funny" He says, still not looking up from his book.
"Glad to be of service" I say with a sarcastic tone. This time he looks at me. He has greyish eyes with long light brown eyelashes. He's wearing his uniform, which consists of a blue tie, a white shirt, and a pair of black dress pants. I'm not gonna lie, he's gorgeous
"Quiet down everyone" Mr Windward speaks "We'll take it easy today, I know you're all getting ready for tonight's celebration, so I thought we could learn a little about holidays in the mortal world" He says
"What celebration?" I ask the guy, still not knowing his name.
"Harvest" He says. I guess short answers are his thing.
"I will be giving you all a list of mortal holidays and you'll need to talk about similarities between our holidays and their holidays in pairs, then we'll discuss it together" Mr Windward says. He moves his index fingers and the two piles of paper suddenly move. Two pieces of paper lands on everyone's desk.
'This should be the easiest class' I think to myself. When my mom was still around she talked a lot about mortal holidays.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
"What's your name anyway?" I ask, turning my head to look at the boy.
"You ask a lot of questions" He says closing his book "It's Aiden"
"Okay, erm...let's start I gue-" I say but he cuts me off
"No, it's my turn to ask you" He says fully facing me now. This cannot be good
"Where the hell are you from?" He asks
"Uhm, what do you mean?" I answer with a nervous laugh.
"You asked what we were celebrating tonight and guessing by your last name, you're not some low-life fraud who just came here to spy on my family" He says
"That happened before?" I say confused
"Answer" he says firmly.
"Listen, I've got no clue who the hell you are and I could not care less about your stupid family drama, I'm here to graduate and not so I can listen to psychotic people." I say leaning closer to him.
"Now, can we start?" I say with a much calmer voice.
"Fine" He replies.
After three excruciating hours, the class is finally over. As soon as the huge bells on top of the school's rooftop ring we both stand up and without even saying a word leave.
The hallways are loud and packed. I'm not sure which one is worse, the streets of Solace City or the hallways of Clearmorth. You can most definitely find the same type of people in both places. I walk out into the courtyard to get some fresh air during my break.I sit down on a bench and I look at the sky, It's cloudy, almost raining. I haven't seen the sky in a few months. Things have been kind of bad lately in Solace, like worse than usual. Crime is at an all-time high, especially since Averill pulled all of their soldiers from our realm. I guess they had enough of protecting the 'garbage' of our society.
I spot Tori and Finn in the distance. There's another guy there who has his hands around Tori's waist, I'm guessing he's her boyfriend. A group of four pass by and Finn joins them, leaving Tori and the guy. I can't help but feel jealous of them again. They had it all from the second they were born. I never had the kind of relationship with my dad they have with their parents. I haven't even seen my mother in years, it was always the occasional birthday card or maybe if I got lucky she'd send me a box of chocolates from the mortal world.
My train of thought is interrupted
"How was your first class?" A sharp voice asks. I turn my head and see Tori and the guy
"It was fine I guess" I say with a half smile.
"I'm Wes" The guy says smiling while reaching out his hand
"Hi, Letita" I smile back, and we shake hands.
The bells go off again.
"What do you have next?" Tori asks
"Uhm" I say while looking for my schedule "Ancient languages"
"It's your lucky day" Tori says while she locks arms with me "I happen to also have that class" She says with a huge smile. I smile back at her. I've only known her for twelve hours but I already have no clue what I'd do without her.
Wes leaves to go to his class and we go to ours. The class is held in a huge auditorium so the teacher can't really watch every single student. We take on this opportunity and talk through the entire thing.
"Wait, so you got to live alone basically?" Tori asks excitedly "That's so cool, I'm so jealous of you right now" She says
"It sounds better than it actually is, believe me" I say chuckling at her reaction
"You totally have to tell me all about what it was like living here" She says
We continue talking and getting to know each other. After what felt like forever, the day is over and the bells ring again.
We stand up from our seats and walk out. Me and Tori decided to walk home since the weather had now cleared. It has turned into a beautiful day, the trees are all in different shades of orange while the sun is shining down on us and there is not a single cloud in sight.
"So what is this harvest thing all about anyway?" I ask
"My parents didn't tell you anything" She says
"No?" I answer
"It's an annual celebration in the otherworld, I guess you didn't have it in Solace but it's kind of a big deal here" She says "Like there's a whole dinner party and everything, it usually lasts for at least six hours"
"Six hours?" I say with my eyes wide "Tonight?"
"Yeah, I know" She says laughing "But it can be fun, you just gotta find the right people and stick with them" She says while winking and pointing at herself.
We continue talking and laughing on the way home. Eventually, we spot the huge gates and walk in.As soon as we step foot into the house Ramona comes running from the foyer.
Girls!" she says in a harsh tone "Where in the world have you been?" She continues, putting her hands on her hips. She's fully dressed already. She's wearing a gorgeous black dress with the tiniest sparkles on it, her hair is tightly wrapped in a bun and she has the family diamonds on, along with her iron shoulder pads that have the flag of Elsher painted onto them.
"I guess what counts is that you're here now" She says sighing "Go on" she motions towards the stairs "Mrs March has laid both of your dresses on your beds, be down in an hour"
Me and Tori take our shoes off and walk up the stairs.
"Are you nervous?" Tori asks me as we're walking
"Should I be?" I say looking at her.
She shrugs "It's just, mom and dad can be a pain in the ass at these things, but maybe they'll spare you since you're not their precious little child" She says with a dramatic voice.
I walk into my room and close the door. I spot my dress. It's a plain black dress, just reaching the ground. It comes with one of those scarves, kind of like the one Princess Diana wore, but it's a bit more modern. I also spot my shoes, black red bottom heels. I put the outfit on, I look amazing in it, I don't think I've ever looked so good.