I made my way through the woods, freezing and soaking, lethargic and drained.

I wore a black cloak as I ran. A woman with furious, glowing eyes chased me.

The glints of the paragons that I managed to bring with me lingered throughout my escape. They left a trail as I ran farther and farther away from her. I now clutched them tightly to prevent her from getting them.

My friends and siblings were gasping for air. I wouldn't let her take the center of their lives and turn them into ash just for her selfish desires.

"Beatrice, stop right now!" she shouted. I ignored her and continued to run.

If only I could use my powers now...

I stopped when I saw a shadow in front of me. My feet trembled as I realized who was in front of me now.

"Going somewhere, Ayesha?"

ㅤ

ㅤ

I woke up in my bed, bewildered, and stared into space.

Another dream. Why do I always dream of her? She always appears in my dreams when they are unusual, and they always chase me as if they want to take something from me.

I sighed in my thoughts. Psh. Maybe they have mushroom blood, that's why they sprout everywhere.

I looked at my bedside table. My useless alarm clock was there. It doesn't make any sound no matter how much I try to set it.

My eyes widened when I saw the time. "I'm late!" I shouted in panic and quickly went to the bathroom to take a shower. Wow, it's surprising! Time flies!

After I did my routine in the room, I went downstairs and headed to the kitchen. I caught Aunt already eating breakfast.

"Oh, you're already awake! Sit down and eat!" Aunt said cheerfully and even tapped the chair beside her. I forced a smile at her invitation.

"I'll just eat in the canteen, Aunt, I'm late already! Okay, Aunt, bye!" I said goodbye to her and quickly ran towards the school which was not far from our house.

In fact, it was just a walk away but since I'm already late, I need to run.

"Hey, kid! Hurry up! The class is about to start!" the guard at the gate shouted at me when I arrived. He was standing there and was about to close the gate. Luckily, I made it just in time.

"Yeah, yeah. I know," I answered without enthusiasm and ran towards the classroom. I didn't plan to look back at him and pretend to be polite because he already knows me anyway.

"Why are you late, Ms. Sy?" our subject teacher asked me as soon as I entered the room.

"None of your business," I replied languidly and then sat on my chair.

Here at the school I'm currently attending, you can do whatever you want as long as you pay the tuition fee correctly. Still, as the principal said, there is a limitation. But who cares?

Ma'am didn't pay attention to me and continued her lesson.

"Don’t mind her, okay? Let’s just go back to our topic. So, as I was saying…" She just continued discussing the table of elements.

Psh. I don’t even know why our teacher is so hardworking. None of us, not even one, listens to her lectures. But she keeps on talking in front.

Well, I clearly understand the lesson nonetheless. I don’t know why. But as long as I hear some familiar words in the lectures, it’s like I can predict what Ma’am will say next. Like I've already passed that lesson but I haven't? Whatever.

By the way, I'm Beatrice Sy. 16 years of age. I have no siblings and even more so, I have no parents. Hep! Hep! Let me clarify, my parents are not dead. They just left me, Tita said so.

Only Tita supports me even though she's not my real aunt! She told me to call her Tita just to make her not look old. Isn't she just fabulous in her thinking?

ㅤ
ㅤ

CRING!

Our awaited bell rang. Our classmates rushed out without being dismissed yet.

I saw Ma'am Hermoso let out a sigh as she gathered all the papers scattered for her lesson today. I stood up and helped her as well. Well, despite my bit of bitchiness towards her, as well as she is to me, there's still a guardian angel whispering in my ear to help her.

She just smiled and thanked me before she bid her farewell and left the class. I didn't pay attention to that and just took out my notebook for math. I think helping her is enough, let's not be too fake, okay?

Our math teacher told us that we’ll be having a quiz today and he is our next subject. I'm confident about my math skills, but since I have this attitude of discretion, I am going to study this quadratic lesson.

“Solving quadratic equations using the following equations. Factoring. Area of chu-chu…” I was reading my notes aloud like a madman, but my classmates didn't bother me so it was okay.

"Beatrice Sy!" Oh, f*ck! I got caught studying hard!

I gave an angry look at the person calling me from the door. Wow, she screamed so loud! For sure, my name reached the next town over so I won't be surprised if someone knows here. Psh.

"What?!" I screamed back at her in annoyance.

"They said go to the Principal's office! Go there! Hurry!" she was so eager. Wow, she's more excited about my flight to the principal’s office, huh?

I just rolled my eyes and packed up my things.

"Bring your bag too," she added before leaving. My classmates started whispering when they heard the last words of the unknown student. Psh. Gossip mongers!

I just ignored them and walked to the principal's office.

I might get kicked out because of my numerous records here in the school. But they said we can do whatever we want, right? Oh yeah, there's a limitation and I bet I've already surpassed it. Sorry.

When I arrived at the principal's office, I just opened the door without a word - causing everyone inside to look at me.

"Oh! You're here, Ms. Sy! Good morning!" the principal greeted me cheerfully. He was spinning his swivel chair while smiling and looking at me.

Weird. Did I do something that made him that happy?

"Morning," I replied back. I'm not that rude, right?

I glanced around the office and raised an eyebrow afterwards. I thought I was the only one who had been called here, but two more students were sitting on the couch near the principal.

"By the way, Ms. Sy, this is Antonette De Leon and Kristina Lee. And girls, this is Beatrice Sy!" Sir introduced us even though no one asked. Well, how generous of our principal.

"And?" I asked him arrogantly.

"Sit down," he replied, so I sat on a couch that I saw.

Suddenly, the office fell silent.

The atmosphere became serious, so I felt nervous about what was going to happen next.

"I bet the three of you know why I called you all here. Due to many records that you’ve made inside the campus, as the principal of this school, I need the three of you to pay for it." I looked at our money-faced principal seriously. Seriously?! Another payment again?

He suddenly stood up, and instead of seeing his angry face, the opposite was posted on his face. He’s smiling like a crazy old man. Looks like he is planning something that I am not going to like.

"Oh, my god! I’m so excited about this! This is the 2nd time! I’m going to exile the three of you again from this school!" our principal exclaimed, giving us a weird feeling about the payment he was saying.

"Is he going to rape us?" I heard Kris say - I don't know what's completely her name but let's just call her that.

"I bet yes, look at his creepy smile and laugh!" Anto answered. I am not good at memorizing names so they have to bear with me. I can't call them properly by their names.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed at us while opening the door.

A beautiful woman in her mid-30s came in. She had three big bouncers with her who looked like monkeys.

"Ms. Allysa, you're here! I was just about going to spill the tea on them but I am late, sorry!" the principal said.

"Hello, Mr. Park! Can I take them to their new school now?" Ms. Allysa replied. Well, simple name, easy to remember.

"We are transferring? That’s our payment?" Anto asked angrily.

The principal nodded, making the three of us sigh in relief. Gosh! I really thought we're going to be r*ped!

"So, Sir Park, are you going to transfer us to another school because we're pain in your *ss?" I asked him seriously.

"It's kind of like that. It’s just like sweeping some dirty dust out of my house," he replied while smirking.

Wow? What if I sweep him nonstop? He looks like dust anyway. Psh!

"You can take them now, Ms. Allysa! I am so happy that my school will be cleaned!" he loudly exclaimed and laughed like an abnormal animal. Psh. Annoying crazy old man.

"Tse! You should clean your mouth first before cleaning your school," Kris said irritably.

"I agree, smells like you don’t brush your teeth for decades now!" Anto responded. I didn't join their bickering because it's just a waste of saliva.

"Let's go, girls. Just don't mind your former principal, okay?" Ms. Allysa said with a smile.

Actually, she's intimidating if she's not smiling, making me don't want to look at her. But when she smiles, it's like I want to stare at her forever - because she's so beautiful.

"We will go to your houses. I have to inform your parents about the transfer thingy that we talked about earlier. Also, don’t worry, I’m going to give the three of you a ride to your houses so just tell me the directions, okay?" she added, still smiling, making the three of us nod in response.

She clapped her hands twice because of that. "Great! So, let’s go!" she said with excitement and went ahead of us.

My jaw literally dropped when she entered a limousine parked in front of the school. My classmates were gleaming with their eyes, and their saliva might drip any moment now.

"What are you waiting for? Hop in!" Ms. Allysa said. So we got in as she told us.

If the outside looks grand, how much more the inside? The car was sparkling inside.

I just rolled my eyes while the two were happily exploring the car's interior, unlike me who can barely move because it feels like my world is spinning just from a single move.

I just sat near the window and leaned my head on it. What I hate most about any car is the air-conditioning, it's nauseating and it stinks, *tse.

I looked outside and thought about what Tita's reaction would be when she finds out the principal kicked me out of that school and transferred me to another so that I won't mess around again.

My eyes suddenly became heavy with sleepiness as I looked outside for a second so I just let the drowsiness take over and slept. I already told Ms. Allysa about the location of our house so I'm okay now.

"Hey!" shouted the audacious person. Damn! I was sleeping!

"What?!" I yelled back at him.

"Wake up! We're done saying goodbye! And look outside!" Anto also shouted while pointing outside the window.

I looked at what she was pointing at. Psh! We're already at our house.

I just rolled my eyes at the idiot. She's acting too familiar when we've just met earlier. I just stood up and got out of the car.

"Tsk! Don't you know the word 'thank you'?" she said irritably and emphasized the words 'thank you'.

I just raised my middle finger at her and got out of the car so I could hear her frustrated shout inside. Pft.

Ms. Allysa followed me out. She was admiring our house and said it was beautiful. She said a lot of things but I just nodded because I'm nervous about Tita's reaction.

"I'm home, Tita!" I greeted nervously. I took the key from my pocket and inserted it into the keyhole.

I heard footsteps coming down. When I opened the door, I immediately saw Tita's surprised reaction when she saw that I had someone with me.

"You did not tell me about your guess! Come in!" Suspiciously, Tita seemed out of sorts after seeing Ms. Allysa beside me.

"Good day! I just want to talk to you! School matters, you know?" Ms. Allysa greeted and awkwardly laughed a bit. After that, we went inside the house.

"I'll just change," I excused myself and walked hurriedly between them.

I went upstairs. I'm avoiding the sermon for now. It's embarrassing to have someone witness it so let's just save that for later.

After several minutes, I heard a chair move so I quickly went out of my room.

"What happened?" I asked with my knitted brows. I saw them both smiling at me. It's weird.

"Pack your things now, Beatrice." Something got probably stuck in my throat when I heard that. I want to say something but I couldn't.

P-Pack my things? Why? Did I do something wrong this time?

"T-Tita?" That's all I could say.

"Goodbye." Tita bid her farewell as I left the house.

I was surprised when Tita hugged me back and caressed my head.

I wiped the tears on my cheeks. I was about to step forward but there was something I wanted to do before I leave this house.

"I’m grateful, Tita! A-And I apologize if I did something that made you upset. I am sorry." I hugged her as tight as I can.

I regret doing something unnecessary at school. If only I didn't transfer, this wouldn't happen. God, Beatrice! You’re such an assh*le!

I was startled when Tita hugged me back while caressing my head.

"Tita loves to say things that I don’t understand so I am not surprised by it anymore."

"Oh! I’m sorry if I disturbed your heartfelt moment!"

I let go of the hug and looked down.

"Goodbye." Tita bid her farewell as I left the house.

The same position where I sat earlier in the car, that's where I sat now. The two of them kept talking but I wasn't in the mood to join.

I’m sad, as well as tired. I don't know but it seems like Ms. Allysa said something to Tita to make her say that to me. And now, I am homeless. No parents, just myself.

Sigh, life is life.

END OF CHAPTER 1