AWH YEAH! An update! :D Thank you those who put this story on favorites and alerts, and a even bigger thank you who actually wrote a review ^.^ Reviews make me happy (: Anyways, this is another boring chapter, just some interaction between our heroine, and her crush, descriptions of the timeskip Alvarnan teens, and an OC who is a complete bitch. I didn't really want to bring an OC in, but as I wrote the plot outline out, I really needed an antagonist. Most people use Sera/Serena, but I couldn't do that Dx I guess I wanted to try something I haven't seen before :P Like, I really need to pair everyone up, but I need someone for Sera AND Serena. Back to the drawing board...
It'll be awhile before I post up Chapter 3. I just wanted to post this before my midterms come up, and plus I really need to study like hell.
Enjoy this chapter two, because I don't know when the next one will be out :P This one was SIX PAGES! I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF :PPP
Nothing's Ever Perfect
Sixteen year-old Aria Chance Evergreen stifled a yawn as she absentmindedly doodled in her blue notebook. She was supposed to be taking notes on how to make some sort of high-leveled sword, but last night she had snuck out to Blessia Island in order to fit in some monster training. While she was fighting a Goblin Pirate, several Goblin Gangsters came ganging up on her from behind. Despite her high weaponry level, it had taken her awhile to fight them all. So obviously, Aria was tired from her night trip. She rubbed her bandaged arms, hidden underneath her grey jacket, and winced at the sudden painful stings.
Her teacher Barrett's voice droned on and on, his back turned towards the class as he scribbled on the chalkboard. Aria turned her head slightly to see what the rest of the class was doing.
It was funny how everyone changed within the eight years she had known them all. Sometimes, Aria would jump at her own reflection, thinking how a short, chubby, eight year old changed into a tall, muscular teen.
At sixteen, Aria had lost her baby fat, and all her chubbiness had turned into muscle from farm-work and monster-fighting. Her dark brown hair was long and was cut messily into multiple layers. Her pale skin turned tanned, and damaged with many scars and scabs. She was the tallest out of the girls in Alvarna, but probably the ugliest, with her blotchy skin and rough hair. Aria, despite being the tallest, had probably less curves than a cutting board, but that didn't bother Aria. She didn't care how people thought of her.
Her best friend, Leann de Sainte-Coquille, was occupied with fixing her sandy-coloured hair and the pink ribbons, which were already near perfection. At sixteen, Leann was still a petite girl with ivory skin and soft green eyes, standing at 5"1, with a curvy body hugged tightly by the pink and white ribboned dress she was wearing. She was still ladylike yet energetic as ever.
Leonel, the Mayor's son, was sleeping, hidden behind his notebook propped up by his pencil case and textbook on weaponry. He looked more masculine than when he was younger, his blonde hair shorter and messier. However, he was too thin for a boy, Aria would always think.
Well, at least he looks like a boy now... Aria thought dryly to herself.
Sera and Serena, the twins, were playing Cat's Cradle with a long piece of white string. Both were tall and skinny, with long white-purple hair tied in identical ponytails. Sera wore a bright yellow outfit, while Serena wore a bright blue one.
Cammy and Roy were making out furiously in the corner. Aria mentally puked at the sight, knowing that the eighteen year-olds sat in the very back of the classroom. Cammy, Aria would thinnk, was the prettiest out of all of the girls. Her strawberry-orange hair was longer, her skin clean of acne, and she was taller (not as tall as Aria) and skinnier. She still tied her hair into pigtails, only she curled the ends, giving a playful demeanor despite her mature appearance.
There were one or two teens from the cities, sent to the school here in Alvarna for a daily dose note-taking, before leaving back to the cities. However, Aria and the rest of the Alvarnan natives didn't talk much to the city natives. Aria knew the city kids were much ruder and snobbier towards them (although more towards the girls), and that they hated being here. Luckily, they only came once a week, so Aria and the gang didn't have to suffer their intolerable gossip. A city girl sitting besides her shot Aria a glare before going back to put on tons of makeup on her face. Aria scowled back before turning her light cinnamon eyes towards the last Alvarnan teen.
Orland.
He was much taller than her, not too muscular, and had a thin, sunken face that fit in with his image. His white-blonde hair was longer and messier, and his ice-blue eyes never left the chalkboard as he continued to write in his notebook. His elf ears were pierced, and the black diamond could be seen glinting under the classroom lights. Everything about him fit his image perfectly.
He was definitely the best guy in Alvarna. Aria thought dreamily.
Light brown met ice-blue.
Immediately, Aria snapped out of her dream-like trance, and felt something wet hit the back of her hand.
Holy Goddess, was I drooling? She screamed mentally, her fingers flying to the side of her chapped mouth.
To her horror, Aria felt her drool dripping from her mouth.
"GROSS!" She cried without thinking, jumping up from her seat and wiping her mouth with a white napkin she had pulled from her bag.
An awkward silence fell upon the classroom, and the class giggled softly.
Barrett didn't look too pleased.
Not at all.
"Aria, is there something you wish to share with us- The whole class?" Barrett said, smartly tapping Aria's desk, while holding a book in the other hand.
"Uh, nothing, Barrett." Aria said, feeling sweat drip down her forehead. Barrett only gave Aria one of his rare smiles.
"You know Aria, you're a bad liar. A trait you received from two act very similar."
Aria grinned back. Was she really like her father?
"Anyways, enough idle chitchat. What's the next weapon or supply we are making tomorrow?
Damn it Barrett! Aria cursed mentally. She knew Barrett was one of her father's best friends, but she also knew that just because she was his best friend's daughter didn't mean any easy grade to this class.
"Oh, um..." Aria paused, twiddling her fingers together, racking her brain for a random item of some sort. The class (mostly the city teens) burst out giggling before muttering rude things about Aria. Enraged, Aria immediately blurted out; "Smash Blade is the next weapon we'll learn about!"
Barrett was taken aback, nodding before smiling.
"Good, glad to see you haven't been sleeping in class like certain people.." He said, tapping his clipboard against Leonel's head. Leonel woke up with a start, and when he saw Barrett staring down at him, he laughed sheepishly.
Man, what a lucky break! Aria sighed in relief. Had to pull that one outta my ass..
"Anyways, class dismissed! There will be no homework in class today, but there may be a quiz next time you city kids come back."
The class groaned, as they shoved their belongings into their bags before rushing outside.
Aria sighed, grabbing her patched rucksack and running outside. Leann, as always, was waiting outside, her fancy white bag held in her thin arms.
"Oh Aria! I'm so excited!" Leann said, twirling around happily as the duo began to walk to their regular spot to eat lunch. They only had Barrett's class that day, so the rest of the day was free.
Aria raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?" She asked, plopping down at the bench below the cherry tree, reaching into her bag for her Fruit Salad and Sandwich.
Leann giggled, sitting down in a lady-like position before pulling out a napkin and tucking it in the front of her tight dress. She then pulled out a Pizza, placed on a rather fancy china plate.
"It's Leonel! He asked me to be his date for the Flower Festival!" Leann squealed excitedly, taking a small bite of her pizza before wiping her mouth daintily with her napkin.
"Oh, that's it?" Aria asked, not really interested. She knew that the Flower Festival was coming soon, but she didn't have a date.
"What do you mean, that's it!" Leann cried indignantly. "Leonel! The most good-looking guy in Alvarna, and the only guy that's available!"
"What? Most good-looking? No way." Aria scoffed, shoving a piece of Fruit Salad into her mouth. "He's not the ONLY available guy in Alvarna..." She found herself gawking at a certain half-elf, who was deeply into a large book, his reading glasses glinting in the sun.
"Ooh, I see!" Leann squealed, finishing her pizza and crumpling her napkin into a ball. "You mean ORLAND?" She shouted, bursting into loud peals of laughter. At his name, Orland looked up.
"SHUT UP!" Aria hissed, yanking the crumpled napkin and shoving it into Leann's mouth.
"Oh look. Aren't you two adorable.." A sarcastic tone could be heard behind them. Leann and Aria turned around, and Aria recognized the same girl who sat next to her in class.
She was a short, yet rather curvy girl, with black hair in ringlets, and green eyes. Her face was covered with much makeup and she wore black skirt with a pink sleeveless top. She was quite pretty, if it wasn't for the disgusted look on her face.
"You Alvarna freaks, think you're so better than the city." She scoffed. "Why can't you guys just shut up about your dates or whatever? Who cares if you got a date? I could get any date just like that, and as a bonus, I'm actually pretty." She smirked at a teary-eyed Leann, before laying her eyes on Aria, who was downright angry. "Especially you. You're the one with a loser teacher for a mum right, and a dad who left the family because he couldn't take care of you. What a loser."
What? How did she know Dad left? Aria raged mentally. Before she could stop herself, her anger reached a boiling point.
WHAM! The girl fell to the ground, screaming as she clutched her cheek.
"SHE PUNCHED ME!" She cried dramatically.
"Take that BACK!" Aria snarled fiercely, making the girl look quite afraid before regaining her snotty composure. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT MY FAMILY, YOU BIT-"
"Hush, human." Someone interrupted. "Let me handle this." Aria looked up to see a familiar face, and felt that familiar thumping in her chest. She felt Leann hold her back, to prevent any more fighting going on.
"Orland?" She asked in disbelief, ignoring her beating heart as she struggled to release herself from Leann's iron grip. Orland didn't reply back as he calmly glared at the girl. Suddenly, the rude and snobby composure disappeared, and she quickly stood back up, fixing herself as she placed a smile on her bruising face.
"Hey there handsome...What's your name?" She purred, planting herself on him. "My name's Aiyana..." Aiyana giggled, as she put on a pouty expression.
"I'm sure you're not like the others around here..." She said. "You'd do much better with us than them."
Aria felt jealousy rise within her, but strained to keep silent, to see what Orland would do.
Orland shook Aiyana off. "My name is none of your business, and neither is her life." He indicated Aria, who was still being held back by Leann. Aria was shocked. He was actually sticking up for her?
Aiyana looked surprised, before scoffing. "You'll be sorry you rejected me Orland honey. You never know what beauty is even if it's right in front of you."
"I know what beauty is, and it is most definitely not you."
Aiyana looked ready to slap him, but before she could take a step forward, they heard Mayor Byron announce that the boat heading back to the cities had arrived.
"Whatever. Hope you're not talking about THAT hopeless little hag." She said acidly, pointing a finger at Aria, before walking away.
Leann scowled.
"What a really rude girl!" She spat in an un-ladylike manner. "Honestly, are all city girls like this?" Leann questioned to Aria.
Aria, on the other hand, was paying no attention towards the Sainte-Coquille girl, and was watching Orland walk away towards the town.
"See you later Leann, I gotta go help Mom with the chores." Aria said quickly before sprinting after Orland.
Leann watched Aria's retreating back and sighed.
"Oh, of course. Just leave your best friend by herself to chase after a guy. I see how it is..."
"H-Hey Orland, wait up!" Aria shouted, struggling to catch up with the teen. He halted to a stop, still carrying the large book he had been reading before.
"What is it...human." Orland sneered. Aria scoffed, crossing her arms.
"Seriously? You still give me that crap? I just wanted to thank you." Aria said cooly, narrowing her eyes at the half-elf.
"Thank me for what? Denying the truth of which Aiyana was speaking of?"
"...What?" Aria's voice dropped to a dangerously low volume, as her right hand coiled into a fist.
"Well, your father did leave you, did he not? He probably did not want to take care of an ill-tempered child, and a wife who teaches as well as a Buffamoo."
"My mom is a damn good teacher, and you know it!" Aria snarled, her knuckles turning white. "And don't you dare say that about my dad, he'll come back!"
"What if he's dead?"
That did it.
Aria's fist came flying towards his face, but Orland simply raised a hand, stopping the fist in place as he held on tightly, cracking her knuckles.
"M-My dad'll come b-back." Aria winced as the pain became sharper as he tightened his grip on her fist. Orland seemed to have no intention of letting go, so Aria did the one thing she did as a last resort.
She leaned forward, and bit him sharply, leaving bleeding teeth marks on his hand.
"WHAT THE HELL?" He yelled, releasing her hand from his grasp. Aria, feeling victorious yet angered, smirked.
"Yeah, remember what this human did to you!" She spat out, feeling burning tears threatening to leak out of her watery eyes. Aria turned around, and began to run, cradling her sore fist.
Meanwhile, Orland was cursing.
Cursing himself, that is.
"Good job, Orland. The one thing you have no problems doing; Making Aria cry..." He muttered to himself, reaching into the pocket of his white pants and pulling out a deep blue handkerchief.
At the corner of the cloth were the words sewn in dark blue letters was;
"Aria."
It was Aria's handkerchief, one of the many Mana made for her daughter and anyone else who wanted one. Orland found himself smiling at the one eventful day, in which he was given this handkerchief by a certain girl.
Flashback
A young six year-old Orland was walking down the streets of Alvarna, clutching a large and heavy book with both hands. It was a school book, and Orland had asked Barrett if he could borrow it temporarily. Orland loved reading, and he could read bits and pieces of this storybook if he tried. He was probably the smartest of the children, he thought boastfully.
Orland arrived at his secret area, the docks located in Alvarna's East Side. The remaining cargo boxes that the ships always forgot to take were stacked high, and made it a perfect place to hide. It was his favorite area to read, to be in peaceful solitude.
But when he arrived, Orland saw a rather unfamiliar face sleeping in his spot.
"What!" He fumed, immediately peering over the boxes to see a short brunette with ribbons in her hair. She was snoring lightly, and had a thin blanket over her bare legs. She woke up with a start, looking around frantically, until she laid her eyes on Orland.
"Oh, hi there!" She said cheerfully. "I'm Aria, daughter of Kyle and Mana. Is this your spot? Sorry I took it. This place is my most favorite-est place in the WORLD!" The girl giggled, making a wide circle with her arms to indicate the world.
"You're stupid." Was the first thing that came out of Orland's mouth. How could this puny girl babble on so much?
Aria jumped up, her hands curled into fists. "You meanie! I'm not stupid! That's not nice, so say you're sorry!" She shouted. Aria only came up to his shoulder, and Orland smirked, unafraid.
"You're stupid. Who uses the word 'favorite-est?' " He questioned, shoving the large book in her face. "I can read this book, can you?"
Well, that wasn't the complete truth. Orland actually couldn't read the entire book, but as long as this silly human couldn't read, it wouldn't matter.
"Fine!" Aria pouted. She snatched the book from his hands, and flipped to a random page. "I double-Buffamoo-dare you to read THIS page!"
Orland laughed, taking the book back and confidently scanned the page.
Wait, what was this language? All these strange symbols, he had never seen them before.
"Oh no, I grabbed the wrong book!" Orland wailed. "I can't read this!"
"HA!" Aria laughed, grabbing the book and taking one look at the page she had given to the half-elf. "What do you mean, you can't read this. I can read this!" Aria said, tilting her head as she read the page out loud.
"Legends say that the great dragon, F-Fire? Fur? Oh, Fier-some. Was the creator of the Forest of Beginnings, and that he breathed life into the monsters we fight today. Fier-some split his heart into two, one to keep him living, and another formed into what keeps the Forest of Beginnings and every monster alive; The Heart Core of the Forest. I can't read the rest, something about Ground-mates, or something." Aria announced as she shut the book.
"There's no way you can read that!" Orland cried, feeling his eyes tear up. "I'm the best reader, so there's no way a stupid human like you could read this!"
Aria remained silent; Was he actually crying? Boys weren't supposed to cry!
What do I do, what do I do? Aria thought, pondering what she should do to comfort him. Finally, an idea struck the young girl.
"Here!" She said happily, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a blue handkerchief. She wiped his wet cheeks and the oncoming tears, and handed him the blue cloth. "You're not stupid. Mommy tells me you're the smartest in the class!" Aria said. "So stop crying! Who cares if I can read that, I'm very bad at reading." She added. "Stop crying, and let's be best friends!"
Orland stared at the girl with a mixture of shock and amazement. Aria was actually nice to her! Everyone else made fun of him because of his Elfish heritage, and that he was a loner.
"But, you're going to make fun of me." He said bitterly, wiping his tears with the hanky. "Because I have weird ears."
Aria's eyebrows went up, and her mouth dropped open.
"WOW! You have the COOLEST ears!" She said, ignoring his bitterness and gently rubbing his soft ears with her fingers. "I want those ears!" Aria burst out giggling, before pulling Orland up to his feet. "Let's go play hide-and-seek." With that, Aria dragged him by his hand to who knows where. For the first time, Orland had a friend, and a good one.
He was happy.
End Flashback
Orland felt a smile sneak its way to his mouth, but felt a lone tear on his cheek.
"Why am I crying.." He muttered miserably. "She hates me, and we aren't friends anymore. I've already crushed her heart." He held Aria's handkerchief close to his soft-beating heart, and scowled miserably. "And broke my own."
Awh, poor Orland.. :'( LOL, read and review! See you lovely readers next chapter :D
-K. Angel