Meanwhile in the outskirts of a quaint little village, a thin, pretty girl walked out of her house and headed towards the main village. She brushed back her layered dark blonde hair and thought about the little village, which she called home, with its little people. She gently swung her bag and considered how in the village, every day was the same as the one before.
She stopped to talk to the passing baker who said, "Good morning, Sydney! Where are you off to?"
"To the library! I just finished a wonderful book about the elements in the fifteenth group of the periodic table and their reactions to-"
"That's nice, my dear. Marie, the next delivery! Hurry up!"
Sydney shrugged and walked on. She was used to dumbing down her statements and people usually lost interest midway nonetheless.
She felt conscious as she passed two middle-aged women who whispered about the strange daughter of the strange man- they were rumoured to be alchemists- and both of whom had golden lily tattoos on their cheeks. The girl only liked to read, imagine that!
Sydney sighed and wished she had more in life than just a little provincial town. She had hoped her father, on reaching his new assignment, Palm Springs, would also request superiors to assign her there too.
A new city, with more people, more places, more books.
On reaching her destination, the library, she opened the door with a big smile and politely greeted the librarian.
"Good morning, Sydney. Finished the book already?"
"Of course; I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?"
The librarian chuckled and replied that he hadn't got any books since the previous day.
As always, Sydney hid her disappointment and assured him that she did not mind. She would just borrow her favourite book.
"The one about Greek history and architecture, my dear? But you've read that twice already!"
"It's my favourite book," she replied earnestly. "Greek men and women, the hetaerae and the juxtaposition of all those wonderful buildings; did you know that the men-oh, never mind!"
"Well, if you like it all that much, it's yours."
"But, sir-"
"I insist. After all, you are the only one who actually keeps my business running."
After thanking him profusely, Sydney left the library with her head already bent to read the book, unaware of the three guys peering at her curiously from the shadow of the library, trying to figure out why she always had her head buried in a book.
On her way home, she sat down on a platform surrounding a fountain and wished she could go to the country of her dreams, Greece. As she lingered there, a sheep wandered up to her and gently nuzzled her knee. She turned to it with a soft smile and began almost unconsciously narrating the history of Greece to it. When the sheep tried to tear a page of the book with its teeth, she gave it an annoyed glance and set off again.
As she passed an adult education centre, a woman inside grumbled, "It's no wonder her first name means wide meadow and her last name means wise. She's a wide meadow of wisdom. She could balance equations at the age of six!"
Her neighbour perked up, "And she's pretty too! I've heard many of the young men say that she's the most beautiful girl in the village. Some people just get all the luck…."
"Oh, that may be so, but inside I'm afraid she's rather peculiar."
Nearby, a gunshot rang through the bustling village and a migrating bird fell to its death. A blonde man of medium height with icy blue eyes tried to catch it and failed pitifully. He quickly stuffed the bird into his bag and tried to pretend as if his blunder never happened.
He ran up to a tall brown-haired guy with brown eyes and said, "Wow, Ian, you never miss a shot! You're the best hunter in the world! No beast alive stands a chance against you. No girl either, for that matter."
"I know, Keith. And I have my sight set on that one." He pointed towards Sydney.
"The alchemist's daughter? She's-"
"The lucky girl I'm going to marry."
"But she's-"
"The most beautiful girl in town."
"I know!"
"And that makes her the best" Ian said firmly. "Don't I deserve the best?"
"Of course! I mean, you do, but-"
Ian launched into a rant on how he had fallen in love with her right when he saw her, and how he planned to woo and marry her.
As he jogged by, a few of the village bimbos gushed and swooned about how handsome, manlyand amazing Ian was.
Ian tried to follow Sydney as she made her way obliviously through the everyday chaos of the village, but being the clumsy oaf that he was, took quite some time to make his way over roofs and through houses before making a mighty jump and landing in front of Sydney.
"Hello, Sydney," he smiled craftily.
A/N: I'm so sorry that the past two chapters have been extremely short. The first one was just a trial run and as for the second, I wanted to upload something so as to not disappoint all you LOVELY people. If things had gone according to plan, I might have put up the third or fourth chapter by now, but as always, the universe surprised me. I'm already working on the third chapter and I'll try to upload tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.
Thank you for encouraging me! Keep reviewing and let me know what you like or don't like and I'll try my best at, well, everything
Here I would like to mention my amazing best friend and demand why the HELL she didn't review even after reading the first chapter and BEG her to at least type ONE word to satisfy me. I love you ;)