First Day and an Encounter

"You sure, you'll be okay?"

Just how many times did Joseph ask her the same question as they are heading to the engineering department? It is not like her first time going to school that needs a parent to attend but seems like it, just now.

"You seemed so, agitated. May I know the reason?" She confronts him. She is not used to having someone besides her being so concerned like Joseph or has acted like one.

"You didn't read my list, but still, it's for you to find out. Just keep out of trouble. Okay?"

Ciara furrows. [Wow! So, it is about gangsters.] "Okay, as long as trouble stays away from me," she tells him instead of saying anything about what is really in her mind. Didn't the school forbid such groups?

"You're acting like..."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Keep safe, Ciara. I'm just a floor away."

[Drama!] She chuckles, unconsciously which makes Joseph stop walking and leaving him behind. Well, it is her first time to be with someone who treats her like a vulnerable kind of stuff. Not really touchy, just funny. She continues to walk not looking back. After a few minutes of walking, she finally arrives at her destination without anyone following her. She looks at the open door observing people in there having a circus-liked riot. Aren't they college students already? They are acting like wild animals being freed from the zoo. How is she going to enter in such a mess? Is this what Joseph was concerned about? [To hell with these creatures!] When upon her thought, an earthquake occurred.

"Ouch!" Someone cries in pain. "I broke my shoulder."

Ciara didn't move or speak. She looks at this girl next to her while they are both down on the floor. Lucky how agile she is and caught this creature on time before they both fell on the floor or this girl would have broke her skull.

"Excuse me," she says letting go this girl's head. Actually, she should be the one complaining. Her hand felt like being smashed between colliding stones. That skull was pretty hard.

Only the girl notices her when she spoke.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. You alright?" She asks full of concern which makes Ciara feel uncomfortable. Ciara didn't answer. She just wanted this creature out of her sight. "Hey, anything hurts? Why don't you speak?"

"I'm fine," she answers, simply then, pulls herself up. "You've got a broken bone?" She still asks even she really didn't mind at all.

"Ah," she looks at her shoulders, "not sure. It hurts a little."

She bends to take a closer look if she is fine or really has a broken bone due to clumsiness.

"I don't think so. Maybe, take care next time or you'll have a real broken bone."

"Ha?"

This girl's eyes seem to be amazed at her to no certain point. It looks like, she forgot that she is still on the floor. Ciara better left her. She helped her already to not have a real broken bone and that is enough. "Hey!" She hears her shout before she enters the room.

When Ciara is inside her classroom, she walks like a passing wind to the last row where no one is occupying. Better for her because she doesn't want annoying seatmates. She places her things on top of the desk before she sits then, watches the zoo animals in front of her. She wonders how did they become humans?

"Hey! We're classmates." Someone pops out at her sight. This is the girl a while ago. She is smiling at her like she has loose screws.

She stares at her.

"My name's Katarina."

Ciara's one brow raises as she hears her introduced herself and looks on the extended hand in front of her. She looks too friendly and gullible for Ciara and when she was about to shake hands with her she pulls it, eventually. Not because she wanted to play some tricks with her, but because of the whole room becomes silent, suddenly. She then waits for a professor to come in, but it seems like not what she was expecting. There are five men who enter their classroom in their school uniforms and are the same age as them. So, are they the disciplinarian officers here? They've got good faces and features. Pretty good as officers. Then, she notices that Katarina is already out of her sight. When she tries to search for her, she is sitting on a corner, quietly the same row with her only that they are four seats apart.

"Whoah!" Their classmates in unison.

Thankfully, she was too quick to catch the basketball ball that one of these five who she doesn't know threw at her.

Would a kind of model student do that? Not at all.

She looks at the ball then, examines its round surface. The ball is quite expensive. When she was done, she places it on her lap. This act of her makes the five men form lines on their forehead.

"Thanks!" She says, cheerfully to the one who threw it on her. She sees how dumbfounded they are. [Tss!] This is so, usual scenes and she wouldn't dare to be a damsel in distress.

"Why a ball, Ren?" One of them chuckles a little enough for them to hear. His eyes are just a line when he smiles. He looked like a Korean.

She notices another Asian guy which is sure a Chinese waiting to have a passage to the vacant seats next to her. She pushes her chair using her body to align it, properly and that he can pass. He seats on the right beside her silently like no one is around. Then, the Korean guy followed finding his seat next to this man. She looks at the three guys who are still standing. She notices that there are twins and one of them was the one who owns the ball and his eyes are fixed on the thing she is holding. She didn't mind him till this other guy sits on her left beside her. He looks like the final experiment of creating a real Adonis. The four of them are all good looking, but his beauty is an exemption for her. As much as she wanted to scrutinize his face, she better threw her look outside the door. He is wearing that plain expression though.

Not at all pleasing.

"But— Err!"

She doesn't know why this called Ren uses that expression before his twin grabs him and finds a seat near where Katarina is.

"Seven..." He then cries seconds ago after they landed on their sits. He is too big for such behavior.

What is the big deal with the ball? They are all rich kids and could buy another one. In fact, he should has used his brain before throwing the ball to Ciara if it means important to him.

The Korean guy laughs.

"If I were you, Miss, I'm gonna give that ball back to its owner," he says, but she feels like it's more of command the way he speaks.

She looks at him and catches him winked. Ciara makes her eyes expressionless to him before passing the ball to her left without looking at the guy sitting there.

"Please, pass. Your friend seemed to cry," she tells this guy on her left when he is not yet getting the ball from her. This time she looks at him with the same expression he is wearing. Ciara catches a glimpse of confusion in his eyes but it only took a second then he is back to his plain expression. "Thanks," she says when he gets the ball finally but the next thing he did makes her brow raised.

He throws the ball to the direction of the twins without a word. With her eyes fixed on the ball, she witnessed how it landed on Katarina's forehead.

Poor girl.

"Reckless," she murmurs.

"Ouch!" Katarina cries.

One of the twins gets the ball without minding Katarina.

"Sorry."

She is not surprised when Katarina became sorry for a fault she is not to blame. How many movies and actual scenes has she watched with the same acts of brats versus those who call themselves weaklings? Maybe, a dozen but nothing is appraisable.

"Fukouhei," she says as she turns her eyes to the whiteboard in front. It is really unfair. The two men beside her glance at her, quickly. It is a Japanese word. She doubts the Chinese could understand that.

"F..uhay?" She hears the Chinese asked his seatmate. She thought he didn't mind.

The Korean guy shrugs.

"Hey, Miss! What language was it?" The Korean guy asks her, directly. He acts as the spokesperson of the group.

"Geugeos-eun gongpyeonghaji," she says ignoring his question. She explained 'fukouhei' word in hangul.

"Daebak!" His jaw drops after exclaiming and stares at Ciara. "Joh-eun," he says and acts like he is about to cry out of happiness. "Another alien has landed on earth," he adds. "Ireumi mwoyeyo?"

"Ciara," she answers him.

"Mannaseo bangapseumnida. Bryan, by the way. The most handsome guy." He extends his hand to her not minding the Chinese guy in between them who is gawking at him. It looks like he wanted to object.

She has no plan of accepting his hand. Ciara only throws Bryan a nod.

He chuckles pulling his hand and sitting straight.

When the teacher came in, all of them become silent. She is one of their math professors, Alerina Cheng. By just looking on her eyes, you could tell how strict her personality is. She starts lecturing without even having a roll call.

Ciara stays having a blank expression throughout. She finds their lesson too late which she already had taken up in her previous school. After their first period, two more subjects followed and made her sit for almost four hours. It feels like she wanted to smash whoever planned it. It's as if she couldn't feel her butt now.

"Anyone's opinion about why it happened?" Their professor in his senior year asks. He is handling their history.

She didn't know anything about these things and she has no intention of trying to. It is so boring and she can prove it through her classmates who were quite half asleep.

"Dude, just wake me after this," Bryan tells his seatmate then, submerges his head into his hands on the desk.

She looks at their professor who is smiling while waiting for anyone to raise their hand. How can she expect for one if almost the class is half asleep? She doubts they even listened to her while lecturing.

Poor.

"Yes? You're the transferee, right?"

[Great!] She is spotted looking at her. As if she knew about the Philippines' ancient history. All she knew was the Spain's colonialism in this country and how Filipinos were treated. About the other names, she didn't know anything. She has no choice, but to nod in response.

"Name, please?"

"Ciara Pilar," is all she can answer without even standing because she doesn't know this kind of tradition here and even she knew, she still would not stand.

"Pilar?"

Her surname instantly catches everyone's attention. What's the deal now with 'Pilar'?