CCB: Hello! I am back and still lazy! :) But I got this done, thank goodness! To clear up some confusion, this is the third day since the beginning. It should follow Tales Of the Abyss's day of the week thing and the months. I'll get that here as SOON as I can find it!

Disclaimer: Just like the last.

Remday, Lunaday, Ifritday, Undineday, Sylphday, Loreleiday, Gnomeday

[Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday]

Chapter 4-Cogitation, Confusion, and Class

Her eyes ached while her azure eyes stared at the ceiling. Tear was straining them to pass time because she couldn't sleep and she didn't know what time it was. Her whole body was unmoved on the wrinkled bedsheets and her deep brown long hair spread everywhere on the pillow. Her arms were around her Hello Kitty plushie that she secretly took out after Anise went to sleep with her loud, but comforting snores. She hugged it tightly and shrunk underneath it so that the plushie hid her lips. She closed her eyes, it stung immediately but the pain dreamed away, then it was as if her lids were glued together. Luke, that boy was so... how can she explain? He was so strange that she passively grew some kind of feeling for him; whether it was good or bad, she didn't have a clue. She was irritated that she thought that way, blamed herself, then became aggravated that she did that, then grew to hate this boy named Luke. It was a series of emotions she couldn't define.

Tear made a low groan, and then fluttered her eyes open wistfully. Anise told her to stay away from him, and she trusted her too. Reluctant at first, she shifted out of the bed and then hid the plushie in her untouched bags; she'll fix up everything later. The brunette grimaced at her set of books she received including her schedule and her uniform. At haste, she made her way through the slim hallway into her own bathroom. She was slightly impressed last night that this school even provided toothbrushes and some toothpaste. Tiredly, she brushed up, after that; she carefully slid through her hair strands with a comb. The pain was unbearable, for long hair, it is to be expected that a hair knot lies in a bedhead. Tear was annoyed that the hair knot didn't straighten out, so she just left it there and then searched around for a suitable comb. She searched, didn't find it, then went back to resume her miserable combing. Minutes that acted like hours passed until she finished. With woe, she picked up the brown strands of her own hair from the floor and on the sink, rolled it in a disgusting wet hairball, and threw it away in the trash. It was amazing how much hair she sheds while combing. With that, she created this terrible fantasy that she will go bald by the end of the year.

For once, she was too lazy to shower and trotted out of the bathroom to quietly pick up her uniform and take another look at her schedule. Back inside the bathroom, she slipped on the beige long-sleeved one-piece uniform that went down to her knees, a bit longer than Malkuth's uniform. She buttoned all of the dull brown buttons, neatened her collar, and tied her dark blue ribbon (symbolizing the Junior color) and slipped on socks that was five inches over her ankle area. She fidgeted with her hair the most and wondered whether she should tie it up... or not. And her long bang that covered her eye bothered her the most. Honestly, she only left it like that because she didn't want to waste money on getting a haircut and only snipped off hair herself if it gets too long. As for her bangs, she didn't bother too much with it, except this one time where she tried to style it by cutting some of the edges off. Her intention was to leave it like so she could look ominous enough to shut up the stupid male customers; it kind of worked. After that, she laid her eyes upon her schedule and read it silently.

'First period: Pre-Calculus, second period: Language Arts 3H, third period: Choir, fourth period: Physical Education, fifth period: Fonology, and sixth... World History. My locker is in the Radessian Halls, second floor... great.' She felt extremely pleased with her schedule, to be honest. She always had loved singing, so third period might be her favorite. Usually, she is an A student, but would always have a B or something in P.E., she loathed running.

Then, without further ado on anything else, she walked out and closed the door behind her, and then she was welcomed by the shrill alarm that made her jump. If ants had vocal cords, one can compare the alarm to a million of ants shrieking at the top of their lungs. It blanked her out for a moment until that minute of hell went away. She then heard a loud and angry groan of Anise.

"AUGH! THEY DIDN'T CHANGE THE FREAKIN' ALARM!" the girl cried as she moaned sadly. Tear walked out of the halls to see Anise sitting up on her bed with the most terrifying hair she had ever seen (and she thought hers was bad).

Anise sighed once they saw each other. "Oh, you're already dressed?" she asked warily before yawning. "Aw man... they put the morning alarm last year on the last week of school... I guess they're going to do that every morning now... damn." To her surprise, the girl fell backwards against the bed.

"I'm too tired..." she whined.

"What does that alarm mean?" Tear asked boldly.

Anise waved an uncaring hand in the air, "They did it last year to promptly wake up everyone. It's only 7 a.m. and I want to sleep!" she blurted angrily.

Tear stiffened to the girl's fierceness. The girl sighed from the second level, then took off from her bed and stared down from the railings, "You can walk around if you want. Just hold the map by you at all times and stuff. I think they gave you everything, right?"

Tear nodded promptly, for she was ready with everything related to supplies, but mental readiness was a different story. She quickly dug to find her messenger bag and slipped her schedule sheet in the folder she bought last night and pulled out the campus map. She put the bag's strap on her shoulder, and then glanced at the map once more. Bloody hell, and she thought of this before last night, but bloody hell, this school is freaking big. "I need to put my books in my locker." she told Anise softly while slipping on her old brown boots that still has its sense of style.

"Then go do it!" The sophomore girl paused, "Do you need me to help...? Oh and to open the door, make sure you use your I.D. card!"

"No, that's fine, and okay." It was by nature for her to be rejecting someone to help her; she was just used to it. Heavily, she scooped the books from the floor, and then sorely remembered her old school. She quickly forgot about it after sending her good-bye to Anise and walked out. Though, she was not alone in the halls. There were girls in uniforms just like her, except some of their ribbons were different. Judging from all of the girls, this must be only reserved for females.

'Of course...' She thought to herself, slightly shamed for questioning the obvious, 'girls and guys are prohibited to be near each other when it comes to sleeping.'

She ignored the snorts and laughter of the girls and walked through the halls full of girls. After that, she warily walked inside a elevator that was, to her dismay, soiled with three people in there already. Tear would've much preferred it if it was empty, but it would be impossible for a gigantic school like this. Like simple Geometry, big school equals lots of students; it was a postulate that cannot be questioned. With a weak hand, she pressed on the unlit button with a 2 on it, and then stared at it as it glowed. At level 104, the three girls departed to a walk in some halls that looked like a corridor to another set of dormitories. Finally, she was solitude.

Seconds ticked by and it irked her. With so many levels, the elevator was very fast to travel a hundred floors in a few minutes. The ding of the elevator's alarm was a loathing sound to her. Honestly, she wanted to stay in silence a little longer, but quickly walked out once she saw more faces walking in. She noted that they were girls again. Tear turned to her right to see another elevator shaft opening for boys to walk out of. She also noticed that they needed to slide their ID card in the scanner to use the elevator.

'That's quite smart, Van.' She praised him silently. Whether it was his idea or not, it was still clever.

She didn't enter the office, like yesterday, but ignored it and walked down the foreign and wide halls of Padamiya. Her azure eyes shifted from one direction to another as she passed a few people. On this lane she was walking down, against the wall, it was full of lockers, three down and about fifty or so across, enough to fill the whole entire wall. To the left, across was a large glass wall that stretched all the way down. Tear took a moment rest her arms by placing her books on the floor and stared silently out the window. Everything outside was so gloomy and blue, the skies were still blanketed by the whites of the clouds, for the sun was hiding this Autumn. The plaza or the quad below looked so beautiful with its vegetation and greens. Smack in the middle of the quad is a giant fountain and a statue of a woman, Yulia Jue, the founder of this school many years ago... Also her great-grandmother. Around the large fountain was perky little flowers that slightly cheered the mood up on this woe morning. Her eyes changed on what she was focusing on, and now she saw her own reflection on the window. Grim at realization, she painfully picked up the heavy books and then continued walking.

She stared downwards as she walked and then accidentally bumped into someone, causing her books to scatter on the floor. "I'm sorry!" she didn't even look at the person and darted down to pick up her books. After collecting three books, she searched around her tiny spot for the fourth book. A pale hand softly pushed her Fonology book to her. Tear gazed up to see a face of a boy with a ribbon that matched her color, his uniform, also beige, blue eyes, blue hair, and a green pendant around his neck.

"Here." he stated bluntly.

"Thank...you." Tear said, in almost a murmur as she grasped the book and stood up. Before she could saw more, the boy was already walking down the halls silently, opposite direction of where she was heading. She pursed a small frown, then continued on this heavy endeavor.

A few minutes passed and she was now staring at her map. "I just need to walk straight downwards, then turn left. Okay..." she closed it up and put it in her tiny breast pocket to the left. Walking down again, her legs were tired as they went on ponderously. On her way, she spotted a man, fairly large looking, but also looked very official in his stiff work-tuxedo. He had a round face, small eyes, and long dark hair. He walked down; his footsteps were like a storm as he walked down in her direction. Her heart stopped for a moment, for she thought for a second that he was going after her, or something.

A voice interrupted her thoughts, and unfortunately, it was his voice. "Ah... you must be Mr. Fende's sister, Mystearica Fende Grants, I believe?"

"Yes." she replied meekly in response.

The man cleared his throat once, "You may call me Mr. Maestro. Mohs Maestro, the current Head of the House of Daath. I am pleased to have you in the House."

That grin of his sent shivers down her spine and she only meekly smiled back.

"Do you need help finding your way?" he asked, sounding fairly eager for some reason.

The sound of heels against the carpet reached to her ears. "I'll do that, Mr. Maestro." That was the voice of her savior, Melissa.

The man looked scornful when he laid his eyes on this girl. "Yes... yes do so." he mumbled, then walked away.

Tear heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you..."

"No problem." she replied cheerily as she took two books from Tear's load. "Ah, were you walking the whole time? You know there's an indoor tram here right?" She laughed at Tear's bewildered reaction. "Yes, the tram goes throughout the whole school. You just need to slide your ID in and yeah!"

And so, she led Tear to one of the entrances to the electric tram, slid her ID card in, and then beckoned the brunette in the tram. For some reason, the tram reminded Tear of a cleaner version of a subway, except it was full of students and it was a bit bigger.

The soft chats of the morning were nice in the tram as she held on to the leather handles. She spoke with Melissa, whom she came to mind that might be her first friend here. They walked and talked along the way once they got out to the Radessian halls until they found Tear's locker.

"Middle locker, you are lucky. Oh, and don't take your books out. You don't need them for this whole week." Melissa mused as Tear opened her locker tensely before putting her half in and the other Melissa was carrying. After she closed her locker closed, some bell rang. She stared at Melissa with wide eyes, afraid that she was late.

"Oh no, we have five more minutes... Wait, let me see your schedule?" She took the paper from Tear's hand and read it silently. "Pre-Calculus with Mr. Curtiss, hrm? Oh that man is a bundle of fun. He is the Student Council's Head Advisor. He's a fun man, fairly young too. I believe he graduated from this school three years ago. A genius, I would say. Ah... Ingobert... I mean, Mr. Lanvaldear. Oh awesome, we have the same period." She gave it back and smiled brightly. "His class is down that intersection to the left, room..." She giggled softly, "room 666, remember, alright? And whatever you do, don't groan or else, okay?"

Tear stared, at the girl as she walked away, feeling awry. Room 666, it sounded dreadful indeed.

Tear found the room and before she stepped inside, he saw the red-haired boy she loathed, Luke, with a bunch of girls walking inside a room. The feeling of hatred surged in her veins, she didn't know why, but she just felt it. With great effort, she turned her attention away to walk in her own room.

"My, are you the new student?" a sly voice asked.

She quickly turned her head to see a man with spectacles, behind it were two blood red eyes, and he had an unreadable smile on his face. "Y-Yes." she stammered.

"Now now, come in before I mark you tardy. Just because you are the Principal's sister, it does not mean you get any special treatment."

Tear flushed softly and stared at the students, who gawked at her presence. "Of course... sir." Frankly speaking, he scared the wits out of her.

A blond boy in the front row in the side had his legs on his desk, then he whistled, "So that's the chick, heh? I didn't know that such a goat would have a hot sister!"

The class fell in a fit of laughter. Tear was too embarrassed to even be angry at him for insulting her brother.

"Now now, Cemore. You're Peony's brother. Where is your twin, Kristy, anyway?" the teacher asked.

"I dunno. She's still a Junior and I'm a Senior so we wouldn't have the same classes." He shrugged, then eyed Tear. "Can she sit next to me?"

"No." The teacher responded flatly. "Ms. Grants, please, take a seat the furthest away from him." And the class chuckled again to the man's antics. Tear sheepishly found a seat nearest to her and then sat silently.

Once the bell rang, the teacher straightened his papers upon the pedestal. "Whether you know me or not, I am Mr. Curtiss. I think some Seniors here remember me, for I graduated three years ago. Now, I'll tell you all in advance that this year will indeed be a long and a hard one." He then commanded, "Cemore, come here."

Cemore unwillingly got from his desk and then walked casually to Mr. Curtiss with his golden eyes gleaming. Tear studied the boy without knowing. On his left ear, he had two piercing, one that wrapped around the tip of his ear, and one at the bottom. He was wearing a color that was exactly like Melissa's, and his ribbon matched Melissa's as well; it was red. Malkuth uniform for males was like a coat over a white buttoned down shirt and some casual pants.

"What do you want, old man?"

"Hand these out."

Cemore took it and did as he was told, except that he winked to a few girls he saw, including Tear. He was handsome, but not her type, because that action quite aggravated her.

"As you read the syllabus, it's basically about the classroom rules and such. You all should know the rules for I hate explaining." Mr. Curtiss sighed, "If only my Junior student was here, he would've explained everything to you. He's a Senior now and in my other class, a disadvantage for you all. Do any of you know a boy named Guy Cecil?"

"Ah, that guy. He's so hilarious, he's scared of girls." Cemore laughed while some of the girls murmured and giggled to one another. "Most likely a virgin forever, I should say." The boy behind him guffawed, so he turned around to give him an obnoxious high-five.

"Yes yes." Mr. Curtiss continued hastily, "Moving on now. I'll be assigning you all homework..." A chorus of groans were heard, then came many fearful shushes. The teacher merely laughed in response, "I guess some of you have not heard that I dislike groaning when I assign homework. Alright, you have a pop quiz now." He stared intently, waiting for another groan, but none of them did so because they were afraid.

"Gimme a break!" Cemore hollered, breaking the silence.

Mr. Curtiss laughed, "Alright, I'l give the slip this time. Don't expect another chance." Immediately, the class cheered.

Tear shuddered; the teacher was too strange... and was slightly intimidating. For some reason, during the whole entire period, she felt as if people were staring at her. Now that dawned the new meaning of 'feeling paranoid'.

After that period was over, she hurried over to go to Language arts with Mr. Lanvaldear, or whatever. His room was 327 in the Abberian halls. She ran awkwardly through the crowded halls where she was pushed aside ruthlessly by passer-bys. She paid no heed to them and only concentrated on her limited time to get to her class. One her walk, she saw a blond haired male looking frantic as he was around a group of girls.

"Uh... I needa get to class...!" he cried as one giggled and step towards him.

"Guy! How can you still be shy around girls?!" A voice demanded, a voice that soulded like shrill nails and thorns. It was a voice of a blond haired girl with a brown headband on her head, a fourth year, with a different looking uniform. It was reddish and all its dark shades, long sleeved and poofy on the shoulders, with its skirt a bit longer than Malkuth's. Her emerald green eyes flared at the boy, he laughed sheepishly.

"I... I dunno! W-Where's Luke...?"

"He already went to my father's class." she remarked with this distinct accent in grace and power.

"I need to get to class too!"

Tear listened until a person from behind gruffly pushed her aside, for she was sort of blocking the way for a minute. She once again hurried to that particular room and entered in haste. She felt like an anomaly since she was breathing heavily in a silent room. They stared at her, and one in particular took great interest in her. It was... that red-head. The idiot that dared to mock her. He made some sort of snickering gesture at her, and she took it quite literally. The girl spoke with Mr. Lanvaldear (this must be that blond girl's father) and he took the liberty of assigning her a seat. Oh, do the Heavens hate her; must she be seated by that brat of a boy? When she first saw him, she saw clearly of how fake he was in his personality. He actually only said one sentence, and she came to dislike him already! It was such a feeling that one cannot quite explain, therefore it was hard to comprehend. She took a seat silently and avoided looking at this so-called Luke.

This teacher, however, did not introduce her, and merely pressed on with whatever schedule he had set up for himself. No one else really paid much attention to her, and that was like a blessing to her. However, the presence of Luke being near her gave her this insane vibe. Because of her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder*, the sight of seeing Luke's once-straightened paper all crumbled up in his folder made her want to hit her head on the wall and scream bloody murder. How can anyone be so... messy?! When she saw Luke's writing, she felt all faint inside; this poor man, so old and yet he must read this! The brunette sighed and then gained Luke's attention.

"Why were you staring at me?" He questioned it as if it was annoyed.

Tear returned the exact irked expression, "You need to get organized." Yes, she said it so bluntly and straight-forward, that she had no regrets behind.

"Well excuse me, Miss Oh-I'm-the-principal's-sister!"

Curses. That made many turn their heads at her. She smiled shrilly as she must accept the popularity forced into her. Luke seemed to take this as a victory and then continued destroying his paper with his pencil. The teacher took a notice of this too, and with his old, yet profound, voice, he silenced everyone. For some reason, that man reminded her that he was like a King of some sort. Well that analogy is quite true since he is the leader of Kimlasca, or so it was said from Melissa. The minutes slowly etched away, slower than watching paint dry. Indeed, was this man boring as ever. She did try to pay attention, but she came to the conclusion that it was hard. His voice is so... grand, slow, and dull that it had no effect in teaching. Good Heavens, she must go through this for a whole year?

The bell rang and it was like a song to her aching heart. Next up would be Choir. She hoped with the remaining wits she had that this would deem to be her favorite class. Before she left, Luke gave her this glance of mockery that she hated with a gruesome force. Tear simply ignored it and took her belongings to leave. This room she found by herself, all the way in the Padamiyan halls. Thank goodness there are elevators; this school is much too big to walk from another hall to another on foot. The room was full of pleasant-looking people actually. She actually recalled seeing that blue-haired boy that picked up her book for her. The teacher was a joyful looking and an extremely beautiful blue-haired woman who told the students to call her, 'Ms. Undine'. It was a lenient class, that was for sure. Everyone just chatted away with each other to familiarize themselves. Ms. Undine told the class that today is a day to just relax, and then tomorrow will be actual work day. Tear remained in her seat that resided a row by the window, and just sat there, filling out personal questionnaires given out by the instructor. Honestly, everyone except herself and that blue haired boy were talking away, chit-chatting into their own world. It could be her, but she had never seen such a quiet and a serious-looking boy. She took the liberty of ignoring it and then went back into the world between her and the questions. Those pesky questions seemed to enjoy to come in large numbers.

'What is your favorite possession?' She thought for a bit before sheepishly jotting down: my Hello Kitty plushie. She sat there, argued with herself, and then grudgingly erased it. No... no one should know that.

Before she knew it, the bell rang, the pleasant Ms. Undine bid them a sweet farewell with her harmonious voice, and then she was off to P.E. with instructor, Miss Canabile. When she stepped in the gym, she widened her eyes at the size. It was huge both length and width-wise. It was also very loud, as it was crowded with the people in the same period as her. As promised, Melissa walked her merry way over to Tear with a magnificent smile on her peerless face.

"It's good to see you!" she exclaimed happily. "Did you get yourself homey here yet?"

"Not yet, but it's okay." Tear answered modestly. "I brought my P.E. clothes, so do we put them into our lockers yet?"

"Oh, that's tomorrow. They're getting things organized and such."

Hopefully, it wasn't too rude, but she wasn't exactly paying attention to Melissa. By her head, actually, Tear focused her attention to that red-head talking to that blond boy. They were chuckling until a group of girls came. To her surprise, the blond man jumped back and made some sort of squeal in fear. She blinked, the room went quiet for half a second, and then the girls cheered in a horde. It came to be that it aggravated Melissa. She turned around, indignantly, and then walked her high heels over to the crowd to settle them down. Surprisingly, no one really argued with her.

"M-Melissa..." Tear heard the blond boy mutter to Melissa, but she simply turned around to walk back to Tear. How cold... She just ignored him.

It wasn't too long after until the P.E. teachers came out to greet them. There were a few, actually, she identified them with the little knowledge she has inside of her. Mr. Largo is the large, muscular man, Miss Canabile, her teacher, is the eccentric looking woman with an eyepatch and short purple hair, and the other four... She couldn't name them. When they were told to divide according to their teacher, Melissa waved before walking to Mr. Largo's group with the blond. Her breath shortened when Luke walked by her with his usual wrong walking manner. Oh... and his backpack wasn't on his back, but rather, his fingers were clasping the backpack's handle. It hung like a bag over his shoulder. Such... wrongness. Everything looks so wrong, wrong, wrong! His hair... Must it be so long?

"Stop staring at me." That voice snapped her out of her critiquing thoughts. "If you like me, just say it."

"You jump to the most idiotic assumptions." Tear snapped coldly at him. "Think before you speak. How embarassing is it to be over-confident?"

That silenced him. He glared at her with his deep emerald eyes and then turned away to take a seat in... Miss Cantabile's group. That marks two periods. Oh Yulia, her sweet grandmother from the ages, have mercy!

"Okay!" Miss Cantabile clapped her hands together and then grinned. "I'm so glad I'm back in this school! As you can see, I was kind of busy last year, but I am excited to be with this fresh new batch!"

She heard a whisper that Miss Cantabile was in the military, and lost her eye due to a battle last year.

"Well!" The woman began, "I know it's the first day, and so I decided not to really do anything. But Summer probably gave you that flab in your belly, for some eh? Don't worry, I'll make sure it'll be abs by the end of this year, I'll promise that." She grinned rather... sadistically. The groans were heard, and that only made her laugh, "Oh come on!"

She liked this teacher already. She was so upbeat and full of spirit. Considering that she is a P.E. teacher, upbeat and full of spirit might be a bad thing...

"Okay! Now I'll let you all go out to talk to each other, but let me give you a little tip. You're all fresh Juniors, right? What if you see a cute girl somewhere, or maybe a cute boy! Here I'll help... any volunteers?" Just as expected, there were none. "Fine I'll..." Tear's heart raced like a thousand of drums beating on her weary heart, "You!"

"M-Me...?" Tear's eyes widened as she stood up from the bleachers.

"Yes you!" She smiled wildly, "Oh hey reddie, yeah you. How come you're standing up when everyone is sitting, huh?"

"I do what I want." Luke responded pompously. How can he talk to a teacher like that? It only made Tear's blood boil.

"Well! I guess that means you really want to volunteer, eh? Come on over. It's a good thing I ain't subtracting points yet."

"I don't want to."

Miss Cantabile furrowed her brows in thought and then folded her arms, "Come on now! This girl... Come on, she's hot!"

Tear's face went from pink, to crimson when everyone laughed. She stared in amazement at all of the faces of amusement. The terror... And Luke is... Well, he came over with a gruesome expression of apathy and annoyance.

"Alright, you start first. Now be a gentleman, what do you think of this lovely young lady? Just give us one word."

Luke leered at the teacher, and then at Tear. Her insides went jittery, for when those eyes met hers; she felt a shockwave in her nerves.

"She," he then paused, "Eh. She's a bitch."

Her fist tightened when she heard that. Her face was pale, aghast, surprised, angry... All of the words related to those. Those emotions stirred together in her head as she tried to register it in her head. Her breathing tightened to the silence. Time stood still, the air that used to be breathable became sulky, like the ocean. She was drowning in her shock that someone so idiotic, so... oafish and vacuous would dare call her such a word. Not only to her, but he presented this plainly to the whole entire class. He... just made the worst mistake of his life.

Luke: Uh... Oops.

CCP: Oops BIG TIME.

Luke: -hides in a corner-

CCP: Well that's it! It's a little long here, but I'll get out of this boring stuff soon! The real action will start soon... -evil cackle- Review-comment-critic, whatever! Go ahead!