Chapter One: The New Semester
'Man…How lame,' a nineteen-year-old girl thought to herself with a frown. Her dark red silky hair fluttered in the wind. Her bangs were long enough to reach the sides of her face. The rest of the length went down to her shoulders. She had half of the back tied in a black ribbon. Her piercing violet eyes stared at the pavement as she entered the walkway to the English building. 'I just want to head back to bed instead of start the first day of school.'
The girl had on a school uniform, except with her own flare to it. All the girls wore plaid striped miniskirts with dark shades of emerald. The jacket with long sleeves was black, and covered up a short-sleeved white blouse. Pale leggings were recommended, but this girl was wearing a dismal shade of olive green that went up to her knees. A black tie hung from her neck. She felt her cinnamon colored shoes tap against the stairs as she sensed her body escalating upwards.
She had been at the college for a full year, so she was beginning her second. The youth lived on campus, so it wasn't a long walk from the dorms to the class. All the buildings appeared with a Greek or Roman style, or more like the mid 1800's sort of look, but they were all recently built. She swung open the wooden door and stepped inside.
In the interior of the building was a long white hallway with various wooden doors on each side. Some were open, and some were shut. While she sauntered down to the middle of it, she passed some classrooms, and disdained the professors speaking to classes of about fifty students. She liked being in massive sized classes though so she didn't have to be noticed. The school had a deep secret anyway, which usually didn't occur until nightfall.
The girl reached her classroom as she stepped inward. She let out a sigh as the room was also white with pale walls and reflective tiled floors. The Males wore all black uniforms with a long sleeved jacket and pants. Beneath their shirts were long-sleeved white thin shirts. She glanced around the room to select a seat, in which she shifted herself towards it. It was a wooden desk, like the other fifty desks, and was towards the middle of the area. She sat at it and then opened her legs a little.
Just as she let out a yawn a group of girls entered the room. They were surrounding one girl in particular with light blond hair and crimson eyes. Her hair was a bit curly with an expensive looking black clip in the back. Her leggings were white and covered most of her legs.
"Tomiko that is like so cool!" a girl to her left muttered with a squeal. The girl named Tomiko was twenty-years-old and a college Junior, or one class higher than the youth. She just folded her arms and watched the girls hang out towards the upper left corner of the room.
"Settle down!" the professor ordered. It was a woman with a black jacket and short skirt. Her high-heeled shoes loudly tapped against the floor, or she could be heard from down the hall. Her brown hair was in a bun with tiny curled bangs along the sides of her face. Her sapphire eyes scanned the room and watched as the students all sat down. "I know it's the first day of class, and we have the usual things to go through, but I'll try to get it done quickly." In other words she would read through the syllabus, rules, and class structure like all the other first days of a semester.
The girl gazed at the front of the room as the teacher called out attendance. "Kagami."
"Here," She lowly bellowed with her hand in the air. Her eyes were narrow and her face was almost grumpy looking.
"Tomiko…Oh Tomiko…" the professor beamed. "Welcome to Derago University. You're new here right?"
"Yes," Tomiko nodded with a wide smile. "And I already volunteered at a school activity."
"Which was?" the woman asked. She seemed highly intrigued by Tomiko, which surprised Kagami. Of course all top-class-looking girls were highly respected in such a middle-class area.
"A children's book fair," she explained. "Kids should read instead of playing video games." The teacher chortled at her response and then happily put her right hand on her hip.
"That sounds like an excellent topic for the argumentative essay. Unfortunately that won't be for another two weeks." The lady continued with the roll as Kagami frowned.
'She's rich and new? Snob…' she frowned while folding her arms. No one usually volunteered at school events anyway, except for the popular and showing off students like Tomiko. Of course that was just the start of hearing about the new girl.
'Finally. Swim class,' Kagami smiled. She stood by a wall of azure colored lockers and beside a wooden bench with her school uniform on it. She was wearing a one-piece sapphire bathing suit with the school logo in white near her right strap. Her body was rather skinny and her chest was mid size. She grasped the white towel from the locker as she shoved her clothes into it before shutting it closed.
'I thought I would die this morning,' she added. Tomiko not only bragged about her school spirit, but also how educated she was. Or more like explained the various clubs she had been in for her introduction essay. Kagami felt like the next time she would hear or see Tomiko she could rip something apart. The girl was already on her nerves. She felt her feet almost slam against the smooth cold tiled floor.
Kagami went from the miniature dismal room of lockers past a bunch of showers and toilet stalls. She reached the cerulean door and exited to find herself by the pool. It was in a massive room with light teal walls and transparent windows by the top with sunlight beaming down across the water. The surface around the pool was grainy with a beige color. She threw her towel onto a nearby pale wooden chair and then sat on the edge of the pool. Kagami sighed as her feet went through the surface of the water into the warm depths of the liquid.
Suddenly she heard the professor splash her way into the pool through the stairs located in the shallow end. There were thirty other students with bathing suits on waiting for the lesson to begin. The boys were wearing navy blue boxer-like swim shorts. The professor had long black hair that was in a braid. Her eyes silver eyes scanned the students as she marked off the absent young adults.
Luckily the class was continuous from last semester, so the introduction wasn't necessary. The teacher then frowned when she saw someone that wasn't on the list. "Who are you?" The blond threw some of her hair back as she retorted with a smile.
"Tomiko," she answered. Kagami didn't notice the girl until then as she instantly grimaced with a frown.
'Ugh! What is she doing here?' she contemplated. Her eyes studied the girl's body, which was more built than hers at the chest area was, but not by much. Her legs were a bit thicker with muscles. She looked like an athlete compared to Kagami.
"All right. Do some laps and practice what you remember from last semester," the woman ordered as she blew the silver whistle around her neck on a thin cherry string. Kagami immediately dove into the water and began moving her arms to keep herself below the surface. She loved the underwater view, and seeing the sun's glimmering dance across the bottom of the pool, or across her skin. She felt free and relaxed down there compared to judged and watched above.
Kagami then went up for air as she heard her teacher clapping. She was watching Tomiko do a really fast paced routine. She came out of the water as Kagami watched with an envious glare. 'Show off…' Not only was Tomiko already popular, but she was elegant too. Her appearance was almost perfect. Kagami just shook her head in shame and then swam some more.
It was the second day of classes as Kagami slumped into her chair for English Class with a sigh. 'Maybe Tomiko will advance to the next class and leave,' she thought with a sudden smirk. Except the smile altered into a glare as Tomiko sauntered into the room with a wide beaming expression.
"Class. I will pair you up into groups of two. You will work together to fill out this worksheet," the teacher instructed. "Tomiko. Why don't you work with Kagami?"
"Sure. Who's she?" the girl inquired.
"Hello." Kagami had stood up from her seat and walked over to join the now partner for the assignment. The professor continued pairing up students as Kagami stared at Tomiko with a frown, and her arms folded to keep herself from assaulting the girl.
"Ready to work?" Tomiko kindly asked. She sat back down in her chair as Kagami sat on the corner of the desk.
"Sure. Why not?" she muttered as she rolled her eyes. She watched the student answer the questions one by one, and waited to see when it would be her turn to fill something in.
"Done," Tomiko declared. She held up the worksheet for Kagami to look at. The partner scrolled over it and then opened her mouth.
"We were supposed to work together. And number two is wrong," she stated. Kagami didn't like where the conversation was going.
"So?" Tomiko questioned back with narrowed eyebrows. "Do you want an A or not?" She obviously disliked Kagami's criticism. "What is that?" Tomiko was staring at a piece of clothing sticking out from beneath Kagami's skirt. The girl quickly put her right hand over it and then shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Just correct it, and hurry."
"Don't tell me what to do," Kagami sneered. She was now standing over the student with her right hand angrily on her hip. She then ripped the paper into tiny pieces as Tomiko loudly growled.
"Y…You tore it apart!" she bellowed. It was loud enough to draw attention in which the teacher walked over in a fuss.
"What's going on?" she barked.
"Kagami just ruined our worksheet," Tomiko tattletaled. Her right index finger was pointing at the pile of white shredded shards on her desk. Kagami folded her arms and relaxed.
"She did the assignment all by herself," she argued.
"Detention for a week…Both of you," the instructor demanded. Her face was beat red with anxiety. Everyone was looking at the conversation in bewilderment.
"What?" Tomiko gasped. "But I've never had detention in my life!" Tears formed in her eyes as she tried to get her way out of the punishment.
"Kagami don't rip assignments. And Tomiko you don't have to be so dramatic," she explained. Her tapping followed her as she went back to her desk.
"I hate you," Tomiko whispered to Kagami. The girl just frowned and accepted the consequences. She had lost to the new girl.
End of Chapter One