1 THE NEW GIRL

Chapter 1

The sky was pale yellow, blatantly expressing its disinterest in Aster's suppositiously exciting day. She didnt seem to care about nature's opinion regarding her ecstasy, knowing that the latter isn't the most crucial agenda of the former.

So taking the full responsibility of feeling her own happiness, she strode forward and into the gate of the Wooddales school .

The walk was long enough to allow her to adjust the hem of her little- too -long skirt. Having flattened meticulously the tiny and only crease of her skirt , she glanced up to see an overly crowded hall, still filling up with a gush of students.

Aster stiffened spontaneously and adjusted her hideous spects for the 13th time since morning. She glanced around , her eyes in a frantic search for any professor.

None had arrived .

Aster couldn't feel less relieved, after all , she wasn't late for school on the very first day.

With a nod of appreciation for herself, she bolted into the hall and joined the line of 7th D. She so earnestly wanted to stand right in the front , but 6 years of being the tallest girl in the class had taught her that any such effort is futile.

Noise of squealing, guffawing and maybe even crying from the crowd was reaching Aster's alert ears, but she was busy trying to refrain from reprimanding the girl standing in front of her.

"My goodness, what's wrong with her hair, no ribbon, so many loose strands; she must be a headache for all the teachers", Aster thought.

She realised that her stare or rather glare was maybe long , because now the girl had turned and was looking at Aster with a mused expression.

"Hey, am Velda... R u the new girl, huh? " the girl inquired with a curious smirk .

"Aster" , Aster said with pursed lips, once again resisting the urge to yell at this girl, Velda, for her hairstyle, which definitely violated the school dress code.

But her raged thoughts were knocked off when she saw a crowd of students clustering around her. Simple deduction revealed that Velda's comment including the word NEW GIRL has brought a little too much attention from the absurd people around her. Aster couldn't help but notice the ruffled hair of boys, extremely short skirts of girls, the untied ties, crumpled shirts and the list seemed to be endless.

"How can they muster the courage to violate so many school rules at once ", Aster mumbled.

"Hey.. hey ..dude can she hear us?", a boy with a green tie was waving his hands right in front of her eyes, with a mocking expression plastered on his face.

Aster wanted to escape, she was not ready to afford being seen with such an undisciplined batch of students. Her reputation was at stake.

Meanwhile another girl shrieked, "Vince, don't be rude to... "

"Aster Smitz, collect your ID from the office", an announcement pierced through the crowd's abuzz and gave Aster the world's best relief. She almost shoved Vince, the boy with the green tie ,while moving away from the amazed and mocking faces of the 'gang ' .

Aster had changed many schools in the past because of her father's transfers, as a result of which she was well aware of such gangs and their peevish dramas. Typically undisciplined, adorned with certain lame comebacks and lost in their so-called love lives -summed up their traits. None of these associations of dimwits in any schools had surprised her and none ever will (well at least she thought so. )

Aster picked her Id from the office desk , pinned it on her shirt and left the office after giving a courteous smile to the teacher behind the desk.

She joined the line once again and was pleased to find another girl in place of Velda. This girl had short hair- pleasantly tidy and an almost perfect uniform, though not as impeccable as Aster's.

Before any words of acknowledgement could slip through her tongue, the assembly started with the principal - Madam Kadison Aaberg's enthusiastic good morning. The woman had a heavily built form and an authority saturated voice.

The students fell silent at once and

Aster could feel joy filling her heart which was lately drained of any drop of euphoria due to 'the gang'.

She puffed her chest during the national pledge and tried her best to avoid the snickering and suppressed guffaws that reached her ears.

After the assembly she quickly scurried towards the class, not wanting to miss a single chance to set her reputation in the new school with a new teaching faculty.

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