High School Days

Chapter I First Day

It's a random story idea that came to mind when I came across a picture of Galatea and Flora in their school uniforms. If you want to see the picture, just ask for it via PM and I'll send you the link for the image.

Story wise it's probably going to be 3rd person view, revolving around the central characters. Depending on what's happening in the chapter, the point of view will change. I'll let you guys figure out whose point of view it is when you read the chapter, along with figuring out who my main central characters are.

Loud. It was very loud.

Such was the nature of the incessant alarm clock as it kept buzzing and buzzing, trying to rouse the sleeper hidden within the bed sheets.

Emerging from the sheets, a small hand appeared aimlessly wandered across the headboard, trying to find the source of the disturbance, and vanquish its presence. The hand eventually finding its prey brought forth its mighty retribution, silencing the foul beast that was the alarm clock with a resounding slap.

Using that hand for support, a body lazily rose as the sheets slid down, allowing the teenage girl underneath to greet the morning light.

Staring sleepily at her clock, she sighed before deciding to get out of bed. As she let her feet touch the hardwood floor below, a quiet knocking drew her attention.

"Clare, are you awake?" a voice calmly asked.

"Yes I am," Clare groggily replied.

"Alright," the person replied. For a moment, Clare just simply sat on her bed as she quietly listened to the person's footsteps as they became quieter and quieter. Finally getting herself out of bed, she grabbed her towel and her new uniform, and left her room to get ready for the day.

After a quick shower, Clare stepped out of the shower and wiped the fog off the mirror, quietly staring at her reflection. Calm brown eyes stared back at her, reflecting the image of a fair young girl. Idly running her hand through her hair, she noted how her bangs hung just above her eyebrows in a somewhat disorderly fashion, and how the hair near her face stopped around her chin level, and then sloped up to the base of her skull. Having just recently got her hair cut, she had also asked that her hair be dyed blond, rather than her keep her original brown.

Clearing her head of stray thoughts, she quickly finished her morning rituals, put on her uniform, and made her way downstairs with her school bag, entering the kitchen to see someone place two plates of breakfast on the table.

Looking up from the table, the person offered Clare a faint smile, greeting the girl. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Teresa," Clare replied back as she sat herself down and began eating.

"Ready for your first day?" Teresa calmly asked, sitting herself down as well and began eating. Clare simply continued to eat, remaining silent to Teresa's question. Deciding not to press the issue, she chose to remain silent as well.

While Clare maintained the composure of a calm, cool, collected person, her mind was filled with questions. Having just entered Windermere Girls Private School, she was unsure of what to expect. Since she was 8, she had been home schooled, and rarely left the house, except for the kendo lessons she took with Teresa's group and the occasional trips to the mall or super market. Having little to no friends her age, she was unsure of how the people would perceive her, and how she would interact with her classmates.

Now 16 and unsure of what to expect, she silently hoped that it was not a mistake to accept Teresa's advice start her high school education in an actual school, rather than at home before going on to university where she would've had even worse social problems.

Quickly finishing her breakfast, she silently placed her dishes in the sink, grabbed her bag, bid Teresa a farewell, receiving a motherly kiss on the forehead and getting her lunched handed to her, and headed out, having memorized the route to the school beforehand.

Quietly walking along the sidewalks, Clare's mind wandered as she thought about the school.

It was one of two private schools that bore the name Windermere; both which well known for their kendo team. It was a large establishment that emphasized heavily on its PE department, along with sciences and mathematics. Although there were other various departments in the school, the PE, science, and mathematics were the most well developed ones in the school.

Like any private school, it also issued out uniforms, which consisted of a creamy shoulder strapped dress, a navy blue tunic that stopped just above her hips with gold trimming, a pink ribbon that was expected to be tied around the collar of the tunic, and a pin of the school emblem, which simply consisted of a winged shield, pinned just above the right breast pocket. Along with the uniform, an optional bag was issued that could be used if students didn't have a bag of their own to use.

As she neared the school, she began to notice other girls dressed in the same uniform as her walking along the same path as she was. Caught a bit off guard by the sheer number of students, she stayed close to the walls that lined the sidewalks, and quietly observed those around her.

Ahead of her, she noticed a group of three. Of the three, one of them acted quite exuberant in contrast to the other two, drawing attention.

"Oh man what a beautiful day," the exuberant one exclaimed, stretching her arms out widely. "And it just has to be wasted by going to school."

"Helen, be quiet," one of the other two stated, trying to maintain control of the other. "You're drawing attention to yourself."

"Aww c'mon, where's the fun in being quiet and unknown?" the one called Helen whined. "I'm just having a little fun."

"You're impossible," the person groaned.

Pulling her attention away from the bickering two, Clare looked across the road, noticing a pair of girls being followed by a large mass of girls. One of them had long straight hair that reached roughly past her waist. The other had wavy hair that reached around her shoulder blade length. Their backs turned to her, she couldn't determine their faces, but made a mental note to be somewhat wary of them having read up somewhere that the most popular are quite vain, especially the one who had longer hair, who had her dress was hemmed up to mid-thigh, rather than knee-length like most were wearing it.

Making other observations, she noticed how some of the girls had either pink, red, or white ribbons around their necks, along with various medals above their left breast pockets, and how the cuffs of their tunics also had none, one, or two gold rings. Stopping before the school gates, she stared into the sea of blue with trepidation. It felt somewhat nerve-racking to her, especially with the number of students that gathered.

Her heart clenched tightly. Although, she had read the number of students was around the range of nearly a thousand students seeing it was harder to swallow than just reading about it.

Taking a few deep breaths, Clare steeled herself and, as calmly as she could, entered the mass.

Trying not to let her discomfort showed, she maintained an impassive expression, but she felt her anxiety slowly build up. This was far more than what she was comfortable with. But nonetheless, she would persevere and see through the day. Entering the school building, she stood in a corner and pulled out a map from her bag. Looking at it, she oriented herself before looking at the directions she had written that would take her classroom, 1-E.

Walking through the hallways, she continued to wade through the large masses that were possibly her classmates. But to her, she didn't really care for the crowd. If she could have her way, they wouldn't even be here in her way, obstructing her from being able to get to class, and that was the last thing she wanted to put up.

She had never liked crowds in the first place. As she grew up, she disliked going to the supermarkets or malls, due to the sheer number of people present. Whenever she was forced to go, she always stayed close to Teresa, who was 20 where she had first learned of Clare's discomfort.

It had always been this way. Large groups always bothered her. She could barely stand the company of more than 5 people. Simply put, she was, as Teresa had put it, 'not a people person'. She would only interact with those whom she trusted, and often either ignored others, or would wait for them to approach her, and be approached. It worked out quite well, especially since she often wished to be alone.

Resigning herself to her fate, Clare accepted the situation. That was always the case of public locations. There were always massive amounts of people gathered, conducting their own business, pushing, shoving, and budging their way so that they could get their own business done. Such practices greatly bothered Clare that she always tried to make it a point not to get anywhere near crowds.

Finally finding her classroom, she entered, immediately noticing the girl Helen and her friend and realised that she would be classmates with them. Sighing to herself, she immediately found a seat for herself in the back corner, located right against the window, giving her a descent view of the campus grounds. Making note of a lonely tree just below the classroom, she hoped it was a quiet area. She always preferred to eat in peace.

Pulling out her notebook and pencil case, she silently waited for the teacher to enter and begin class.

Glancing down at the schedule pulled out, she read what she was taking for the trimester. Her classes consisted of Homeroom, mathematics, physical education, lunch break, physics, and Japanese.

The chatter of the room eventually came to a close as the door of the classroom opened, and in walked a primly dressed woman.

Suddenly hearing someone yell out rise, Clare barely reacted on time with the rest of the students. Hearing a bow command, she followed promptly, finally sitting herself down as instructed.

"Good morning everyone," greeted the instructor, in a highly polite tone. "I am Kyota Sophia, but you shall address me as Kyota-sensei. I shall be both your homeroom and math teacher."

Not wanting to look bad, Clare immediately picked up her pen and opened her notebook when Sophia began to jot things on the chalkboard.

After spending hours in class, and a brutal PE session, Clare sighed tiredly as she finally sat down under the tree she had spotted earlier in the morning and settled down to have lunch. Pulling out the bagged lunch Teresa had provided, she opened it up, revealing a rather modest meal: rice, fried meat and some vegetable.

"May I join you?" a voice suddenly asked, drawing her attention. Looking up, she raised her eyebrows in surprise, to see a girl standing before her, dressed in a similar uniform, save for the white ribbon and three gold rings on the cuffs of her sleeves. Her hair, a fair wavy blonde, rested mostly around her shoulder blades, with a fair amount resting just below her collar bone. Adorning above her left breast pocket, a series of ribbons gleamed brightly.

"Pardon?" Clare finally asked back, getting over her surprise by the request.

"I asked if I could possibly join you," the girl politely replied back.

"If, if you want," Clare replied back, somewhat warily, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable being around her. Observing the girl, Clare watched her sit down on her knees next to her, and opened up her own lunch bag, revealing a similarly modest lunch.

Extending her hand, the girl introduced herself. "I am Kyota Flora. What's yours?" For a moment, Clare could just stare at the given hand. The concept felt somewhat awkward for her, having never shaken anyone's hands.

"Why are you doing this?" Clare warily asked, uncomfortable with even interacting with one person she didn't know.

"You seem lonely," Flora simply replied, offering Clare a smile. "You do not seem to have any friends here, so I wish to extend my own hand of friendship."

"Friends…" Clare muttered to herself. Teresa had encouraged Clare to make friends. It was one of the major reasons why she was even here now in this situation, instead of being at home where she could either be working on school work, or spend her time refining her swordsmanship or guitar playing skills.

The idea was really foreign to her. She didn't even know how to become someone's friend. Having spent most of her life only with Teresa, she had no real idea of how to talk to people, even to teachers when answering their questions. As such, she had spent her time observing others when she wasn't required to take notes.

"I see," Flora suddenly stated, looking somewhat crestfallen. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. If you will excuse me then." Quickly repacking her lunch, Flora got up and turned to leave.

"Wait," Clare suddenly called up, surprising not only Flora, but also herself.

"Yes?"

"I…I don't know how to make friends," Clare muttered, looking down at her lunch.

Smiling, Flora knelt down before Clare and said, "It is rather simple. Look at the person in the eye, and introduce yourself as I have, and shake their hand. That is how most friendship starts." Extending her hand, Flora quietly waited as Clare stared at the hand for a while longer.

"Clare Hunter," she finally stated, nervously accepting Flora's hand and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, Hunter-san," Flora greeted, never breaking her smile, or eye contact.

"Just, just call me Clare," she replied back, a bit more confidently.

"Please forgive me, Clare-san."

"It's, it's no problem."

"Shall we eat?" said Flora, as she unpacked her lunch again.

Choosing to remain silent, Clare pulled out a pair of chopsticks and began to eat, soon to be joined by Flora.

"What are your thoughts of the school?" Flora asked.

"It is large," Clare simply stated back, unaware of Flora's attempt for small talk.

"What school did you come from prior to here?" Flora asked again, maintaining her polite composure.

"This…this is my first school," Clare replied. "I was home schooled before coming here."

"I see," Flora muttered. "If I may, I like to offer a little piece of advice." Clare nodded. "In a lot of situations, people like to do something we call small talk. In such a situation, it is highly advisable you attempt to contribute to the conversation. Not doing so creates the wrong impression that you are being rude."

"I see. I will try to more aware of it." Clare couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Flora suddenly broke into a fit of giggles.

"What's so funny?" she asked, now somewhat offended and confused by Flora's amusement.

"I'm sorry but, your Japanese is quite funny," Flora explained, while trying to control her laughing.

"I…do not understand," Clare weakly muttered, caught completely off guard by Flora's amusement.

"I'm sorry," Flora apologized, having calmed down from her sudden fit of giggles. "It was rather your choice of words that was so funny." Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for explaining quite a lot of the social rules to Clare for quite some time.

'But, in time you will learn."

"I suppose I am not much a friend," Clare murmured, looking away shamefully.

"Don't say such things, especially since we've just met," Flora said, admonishing Clare for saying such a thing. "Such things take time. Do not give up when you've barely begun." Clare simply nodded, still really uncomfortable with the whole concept of making friends.

"What sort of interests do you have?"

"Why…why are you asking me all these questions?"

"It's a way for me to learn more about you, Clare-san," Flora replied, her tone never wavering. "It is part of the process of friendship, to learn about your friends, and to possibly discover common ground between yourself and your new friend."

"I see…"

"If you feel uncomfortable with my questions, just ask me to stop, and I'll stop," Flora offered, placing an assuring hand on Clare's shoulder. "I do not wish to frighten you, but I do wish to know more about you, if you allow me to." Clare couldn't help but stare at Flora. She wasn't much like anything she had read in her books, which often portrayed a lot of the beautiful, well known, popular girls as vain characters who often were interested in their own welfare and well being rather than those around them, who were their so-called friends.

"No…it's alright," Clare finally stated. "It's just something new to me."

"I see," said Flora, settling back down as she continued to calmly eat her meal.

Sighing to herself, Clare decided to tell what her interests were. "Playing guitar, and kendo."

"It seems we at least share a passion for the sword," Flora commented.

"You train in kendo as well?" Clare asked surprised that she might've found someone whom she could spar with, outside of her kendo group.

"Yes I do," Flora affirmed, nodding her head. "I am also well-versed in Iado, and am the school's kendo team captain."

"I see," Clare muttered, her mind suddenly drifting off at the sudden idea of possibly joining the school kendo team. If there was one thing she could relate, it was the passion of the sword.

"Do you wish to join the team?" Flora suddenly said, pulling Clare from her thoughts.

"Pardon me?"

"Would you like to join the team?" she restated. "I can see it in your eyes. You seem to enjoy the sport. If you're interested in joining, we are holding tryouts next week."

"I'll, I'll be there," Clare replied, taken aback by the sudden offer.

"Somehow I get the feeling that this will be an interesting year, wouldn't you agree, Clare-san?" Still somewhat caught off guard by the sudden offer to join the team, Clare could only dumbly nod in response.

'Yeah, I guess it will be,' she idly thought to herself, stuffing a piece of meat and rice into her mouth, staring off into the school fields.