DAYMARE 3: First Day, M'aidez part 3

"Miss Gern?"

My trance returned when the teacher spoke. I blinked, and my classmates went back to looking normal. H-How?

What was that? Why did they look like that a while ago, and suddenly they went back to normal?

I looked at my front and was surprised again… but this time, it’s not creepy or scary. I was a little surprised when I counted my classmates. We’re only 15 in this class.

I composed myself after seeing that creepy scene and started to introduce myself.

“I’m Hestral Gern, 17. From Clairene Academy in Metro City and…” I can’t think of anything else to say. "Nice meeting you all."

But I don't look like I'm happy to meet them.

How common is this situation? Transferee, introduce yourself, make friends, etc.

“Good. You can choose your seat.” The teacher smiled at me.

I find a seat and bingo! My favorite seat is where I can sleep, there in the farthest corner near the window. What a lucky one.

I passed my classmates staring. Well, I'm used to getting stared at. I sat down and dropped my backpack on the floor.

The class started. This is boring. The teacher I talked to earlier was Ma’am Zena, our English teacher and adviser.

I yawned.

It’s boring during the first day of classes, even at Clairene Academy. I must ignore this stupid class. Nothing is being done because there are no lectures yet. It's not that I'm in a hurry to torture myself by studying, I'm just really bored.

But in fairness, unlike in my previous school, which was just an armchair, there are tables and chairs here for each student, so the space is wide enough to prevent cheating from your seatmate.

Apart from this big room, there are only 15 of us. There is a small rusty locker at the back of the room, probably a storage for cleaning materials. We don't have an individual locker.

There are trash bins at the back of this room that made me regret sitting here. It stinks!

The room is not air-conditioned. There are only two electric fans. One’s broken, and the other swivels its head but barely moves any air. The windows are open, so the fresh air enters.

The room is barely painted, and the old paints are chipped. The blackboard’s deep green surface now faded to a dull, uneven shade. There are vandals on some parts of the walls. My table has scratches and markers drawn with obscene drawings.

The only good thing I could think of about this school is the nature that surrounds it.

How’s my gang? Are they also bored like me?

I took my phone out of my pocket and laid it on the table. I'll just stare at my wallpaper with a picture of four of us. I turned on the phone. I almost dropped my phone because of the sudden sight.

"What the?" I shrieked to myself.

My cellphone wallpaper is different! It wasn’t the four of us in the gang, but a woman was lying on the floor, conscious with pale eyes and a bloody neck! The angle of the picture is a top view, so the woman seems to be staring at me. I couldn't recognize the woman because her hair covered half of her face. Something whispers to me that ‘I look like the woman in this picture’.

What is this?!

I checked my phone’s gallery. I have never had a picture like this. That wallpaper is not even in my gallery.

This is absurd! Who the heck tampered with my phone and changed my wallpaper?! But it’s impossible. It has a screen lock. Not for a second do I let go of my phone, so no one can touch it without my permission.

"Hi!" I turned to someone who poked my right shoulder.

A girl with short straight hair.

“I’m Nicole, you’re Hestral Gern, right? I hope we can be close.”

Out of nowhere, I shook hands with her.

“Wait, look at my wallpaper. What is this?" I asked the girl who introduced herself.

I turned my phone over to her so she could see. I don’t know why I asked her to do that, but there’s something wrong.

Her forehead furrowed. “That's a picture of four people. Two girls and two boys are smiling. They look really happy.” She said, still staring at my phone.

I glanced at the phone again instantly because I was surprised by what she said.

"W-What?" I murmured.

My wallpaper is back to normal. Sh*t! What is happening? I didn’t change that.

Turns out, there was an activity to get to know each other, so that girl talked to me. The teacher also came out for a short meeting and left us with this small activity.

“I am Lloyd. Welcome to Torinay High School,” said the boy with round black frame eyeglasses, clever looking, but I bet he’s really not.

Yeah, Torinay High School, that’s the name of my new school. Then I noticed they were standing, and some of them approached me. I frowned as they gathered around me. Some mentioned their names to me, but I can't remember even a single name because my thoughts are all over the place.

“My bad, Hestral. We've been in the same class here for years. It’s quite refreshing to have a new classmate,” the clever-looking boy said.

"Yes, that's why we were staring at you. We’re glad that we have you!" the girl added.

"Really?" I responded.

I don’t know what to say to them anymore.

“How’s the city, by the way?” another girl with curly hair asked.

"Great," I answered in a bored tone.

“Really? Maybe life is good there because there are a lot of celebrities there!” said another person.

“Not at all,” I replied.

If you only knew that my life in the previous school was hell, and life in Metro City was not as good as what they fantasized about.

“Wow! Your phone is the latest model!”

"Hey," I was surprised when someone grabbed my phone from the table. "Give that to me!" I raised my voice.

"Oh, I’m sorry," The boy who grabbed my phone returned it.

Others became silent.

"Sorry, Hestral. He’s just too excited," said the girl who introduced herself to me first a while ago.

“Nevermind. Just… please, at ease? All of you?” I begged them.

They are too hyped, and I still don’t understand what happened to my wallpaper.

I didn't reprimand that boy on purpose. Who doesn't get annoyed when someone grabs your phone with a bloody woman wallpaper on?

"Hey, you haven't introduced yourself to her," said the boy who grabbed my phone to the boy who was behind him.

I looked at that boy he was talking to and…

He was the boy whom I met at the school gate earlier. The one who was supposed to witness me ditching the class on the first day of school.

He turned to me with a stone face.

I didn’t recognize that he was one of my classmates when I introduced myself to the class. I was too stupefied when I saw them headless.

“Don’t be so full of yourself,” he said in a bored tone with no emotion and walked away.