A woman with a tight bun in her carrot orange hair and squarish glasses walked into the room, making all of the students rise. Eloise, Akito, Estelle, and Vincent were wondering why did they did this, but followed example, it must have been a class policy.
Once the teacher came to her desk, she had them be seated, making them all sit down in their seats. "Good morning, class." she greeted.
"Good morning, Mrs. Hedwig." the class all greeted, except for the Fudo cousins.
For some reason, Eloise found this hilarious and giggled, making all eyes fall on her.
'Uh-oh, okay maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' Estelle thought to herself, already seeing that this school was going to be a really big challenge.
The teacher gave a firm look to Eloise. This caused for Eloise to stop giggling.
"You four must be our new students..." Mrs. Hedwig noticed she hadn't seen the cousins in the classroom before today.
"Yes, that's us." Eloise smiled friendly.
"Please, stand up." Mrs. Hedwig allowed the four new students to do so.
The Fudo siblings and Eloise did as the teacher told them.
"Anyway, I'm Estelle and these are my brothers, Akito and Vincent-" the girl twin started.
"Young children, you have only been here three seconds and you have already broken three of my very important rules," Mrs. Hedwig scolded them. "Can anyone tell the new students what those rules are?"
Edwin raised his hand, after he was called on, he stood up in his chair, looking very stoic. "No giggling or laughing, stand when you speak, and always address you as Mrs. Hedwig." he informed.
'Yikes, this is going to be a big challenge.' Vincent thought to himself.
"Oh, sorry." Eloise apologized for her and her cousins.
"Sorry, what?" Mrs. Hedwig prompted.
"Sorry, Mrs. Hedwig..." Eloise added the teacher's name.
The teacher then looked to the others and they added her name as well.
"That'll do, now please, sit down." Mrs. Hedwig dismissed them.
They then sat down in their seats and where hoped that this wasn't going to be getting any more challenging. Jenny gave them a brief apologetic look, then looked back to the front of the classroom to avoid getting herself into trouble.
'Well, this is definitely a challenge; not a big one, but a challenge nonetheless.' Vincent thought to himself.
Edwin glanced evilly to them just to make them feel bad on their first day of school.
Soon enough, it was recess and the kids could relax for a good while. Eloise looked around, wondering who to go to, she saw two girls her age talking and decided to go see them.
"Hopefully it will be easy here." Akito said.
"You guys go on ahead," Vincent turned to them. "I'm gonna go see Jenny." he then went to the girl he did know.
Eloise walked to the girls with Estelle, hoping they could make a couple of new friends on their first day. "Hi, I'm Eloise!"
"And I'm Estelle." Estelle added with a smile.
"Don't you girls go to Mrs. Hedwig's class?" Eloise smiled friendly to the girls.
"Yeah, so?" the brown-haired girl sounded unfriendly.
"We just wanted to know." Estelle said.
"This would also be a good chance for us to introduce ourselves better," Eloise smiled. "I'm Eloise, I'm six, and Estelle is seven."
"I am Noel and this is Liz, and we don't care," the black-haired girl informed. "Edwin told us all about you!"
"And if you think we're going to be friends with you, think again, why don't you try those pathetic losers over there?" the brown-haired girl pointed to Jenny with a couple of other students.
"Thanks." Estelle said positively before going over to Jenny and couple of other students.
Eloise joined her as did Akito. The snobby girls glared at them, then went back to their conversation.
"Hi, I'm Eloise, I am six," the blonde girl gladly walked with her cousins. "These are Akito and Estelle, though Jenny already knows them."
"Hi, I'm Mandy," the short-haired girl adjusted her glasses. "And this is Robert." she introduced the boy with them.
"You know what's with those grouchy girls over there?" Estelle asked, slightly disgusted.
"They're not grouchy, they're just plain mean." Jenny slightly rolled her eyes.
"Y-Yeah... Y-You shouldn't let them see you talking to us..." Robert added, sounding very shy and insecure.
"Why?" Eloise and the Fudo siblings asked.
"'Cuz... They hate us..." Mandy frowned. "They say we're weirdos and not Hawthorne material... And if you hang around with us, they'll think you're a weirdo too."
"I don't care," Eloise smiled. "I like being a weirdo and I pick my own friends, thank you very much."
"Don't say we didn't warn you." Jenny rubbed her arm nervously.
"We'll take our chances." Vincent said.
"By the way, is that Mrs. Hedwig always so strict?" Akito asked.
The others nodded in silence.
"Wow, I guess we're gonna have to work on her." Eloise had a small, hopeful smile.
"Hey, Mandy!" Noel called as she stood with her best friend. "Who cuts your hair, your mommy?"
"Umm... Yes, actually?" Mandy shrugged.
"You might wanna tell her it's making you look more like a four-eyed nerd than normal." Liz added, making her and Noel laugh out loud.
"Ignore her and those mean girls." Estelle said.
"Why do you have to be like that?" Eloise put her hands on her hips, storming to the bullies. "I like her hair! Not everybody has to look like YOU two, you know..."
"Look who's talkin'," Noel retorted. "YOUR hair looks like fried rice with a red bow stuck on top of it!"
Akito growled, he wanted to use his strength, but it might get him and the others into serious trouble, so he tried to restrain himself.
"Oh yeah?" Eloise snapped back as the girls walked off, laughing at them. "Well, I like my hair! It's wonderful and unusual and that's how I like it!"
"I'm really sorry, guys..." Jenny said to the cousins, feeling bad they were dragged into this.
"It's okay, we'll try to not let those girls get to us." Akito said.
"I hate them..." Mandy muttered.
"They're just bullies, you can't let them get away with that stuff," Eloise soothed. "If you stand up to bullies, they almost always back down. My mom taught me that..." she then looked up to her short blonde hair in concern. "Does my hair really look like a pile of dry straw?"
"No." The Fudo siblings said.
"Not at all," Jenny shook her head with a smile. "It's as lovely as your own mother's."
Eloise smiled back, she knew she could count on Jenny. Vincent smiled, knowing that Jenny could be trusted and if these students they were with were her friends; they could trusted too. Recess ended quicker than it started and they were all now back in the classroom.
"Yesterday, we heard from some of our classmates about what they did this past summer," Mrs. Hedgwig paced around the classroom. "Would anyone like to contribute today?"
Everyone seemed to raise their hands.
Eloise stood out of her chair and volunteered herself instantly. "I will... This year, I had an absolutely exquisite time with my cousins!"
"Eloise!" Mrs. Hedwig scolded.
"Yes...?" Eloise frowned.
"Could anyone inform Eloise of the additional rules she had just broken?" Mrs. Hedwig asked the other students.
Liz was called on this time. "She didn't raise her hand, and she didn't wait to be called on."
"Right," Mrs. Hedwig told her, then firmly looked to the blonde girl. "Eloise, you're very close to a second grade record. Four rules broken in the shortest amount of time."
'Wow, this woman is strict and very challenging.' Akito thought to himself.
'Philip seems decent next to this woman...' Estelle also thought.
"Now, if you wish to speak, come to the front of the class, and do so properly." Mrs. Hedwig firmly told the girl.
Eloise smiled, she went to walk to the front of the class as told, but she suddenly fell next to Edwin's desk, making everyone in the class, except Mandy, Jenny, Robert, Akito, Estelle, and Vincent laugh.
"SILENCE!" Mrs. Hedwig slammed her desk with her ruler to show her strict teacher act.
'Wow, she doesn't let up.' Vincent thought to himself.
Estelle was wondering how Jenny could stand going to school here, at least she wasn't spoiled like those rotten girls were. 'How can Jenny stand going to this school?' she then thought to herself.
Eloise stood up, dusting herself clean. "I am Eloise... I am six..." she started her usual introduction.
"We know that, Eloise, you may stop making that announcement." Mrs. Hedwig scolded, very annoyed by it.
"Where shall I begin?" Eloise looked thought. "This summer, I went with Akito, Estelle, and Vincent to visit my mother in Paris..." she then imitated a flying plane with her arms. "I currently live with my nanny and we 'skitter' all around the city and skiddle all around the park for a walk, sometimes I get to see my cousins-"
Only a few actually listened to the story, but the others just laughed at Eloise's vocabulary as the girl told about her adventure in Paris and that it wasn't just fun to see Darla.
'I can't believe how mean some of these kids are.' Vincent thought to himself.
"Eloise, do you know why the class is laughing?" Mrs. Hedwig made the other students stop laughing.
"Because I'm being very amusing and happy while telling my story?" Eloise asked with a chipper smile.
'Please be the right answer, please be the right answer, please be the right answer.' Estelle prayed inside her head.
Mrs. Hedwig scolded Eloise for her choice of words and forced her to do a homework assignment about rewriting her story and using proper English words.
The bell then rang, making Eloise, Vincent, Akito, and Estelle go for the door.
"Where do you think you are going?" Mrs. Hedwig scolded them even more.
"The bell just rang..." Vincent spoke up nervously.
"Yeah, isn't class over?" Estelle added.
"Class is dismissed when I say class is dismissed!" Mrs. Hedwig scolded. "Eloise, since your cousins have joined you in your little outburst, they can help you with your homework and you must present it in front of the class first thing tomorrow morning... Now class is dismissed."
Edwin smiled evilly to them as they left the classroom.