It happened not once or twice But time and time again
The lunch break had ended just five minutes ago, so it was no wonder the upperclassman assigned to oversee Social Studies 3 hadn't shown up yet. The new Social Studies 3 students immediately took advantage of the free time to play, chat, or sprawl out.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the break. Everyone except one girl, who happened to be sitting in the front row today. No one was sitting beside her, and the two students behind her hadn't invited her to join their conversation either.
It looked sad, but the girl didn't seem bothered by it.
She pulled her earphones out of her bag. Since she had nothing better to do, she decided to spend the time on her phone. Cheresse put the right earbud in her ear and lost herself in browsing.
It was 10:45. Someone suddenly knocked on the classroom door, pushed it open slightly, then poked their head through the gap.
“Hi, is this Social Studies 3?”
Almost every Social Studies 3 student was stunned by that face, forgetting to answer her question.
“Yeah, this is Social Studies 3.” Cheresse answered without looking up, her eyes still fixed on her phone screen.
The girl smiled. In a slight hurry, she headed straight for the only remaining seat—naturally, the one beside Cheresse.
“Hi!” she greeted cheerfully. “You’re sitting alone, right? So the seat next to—AAAKKK!”
Every student froze. The scream seemed to turn them all to stone, leaving no one to help the girl who had just gone sprawling on the floor.
Cheresse, however, reflexively pulled out her earbud, tossed her phone onto the desk, and ran over to the new student.
“You okay?” Cheresse asked. She quickly bent down, helped the girl back to her feet, and assisted her into the empty seat.
“I-I’m fine... This happens to me all the time!”
“Sit down first,” Cheresse said firmly.
The girl nodded and immediately obeyed. Out of the corner of her eye, she happened to glance at Cheresse’s phone screen, which was still playing a video. Her eyes widened as if she’d just witnessed a miracle right in front of her.
“Which one’s your bias out of the six of them?!” So excited that she jumped up from her seat, the girl momentarily forgot about the lingering pain in her knee.
For a moment, Cheresse was startled by the reaction. In all the time she’d spent meeting people, this was the first person who wasn’t afraid to talk to her.
Her heart warmed.
“I was really scared that after graduating middle school, I wouldn’t have any friends who were into boy bands or girl groups like this.” Like water flowing freely, she continued talking. “But look—we’re in the same fandom!”
“Oh, right,” she blurted out, just as excitedly. “I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Briana Zora.”
Briana gave a little shake of the uniform she was wearing. With a cheerful expression, she extended her hand, hoping Cheresse would shake it.
“I-I’m Cheresse Damia.”
** I’m Proud to Be Me **
Cheresse wasn’t good at coming up with conversation topics. She could manage once or twice, but once she ran out of responses, Cheresse tended to fall silent, letting the quiet take over the atmosphere.
Now she’d met someone who never ran out of things to talk about. As soon as one topic ended, Zora quickly plucked another one out of thin air. For the first time, Cheresse felt overwhelmed trying to respond to the person she was talking to.
“I’m so stupid, aren’t I? I even got the New Student Orientation schedule wrong,” she suddenly said.
“Don’t say that. Besides, the person who gave you the information was the one who messed up,” Cheresse replied, sounding slightly confused.
“Hmm... I just remembered! The guidance counselor wasn’t actually on the phone that day. Maybe she didn’t answer my question at all, but—”
BANG!!
Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the classroom door being slammed open. The entire room held its breath, unaware of one thing: the slam was a sign that the Discipline Task Force had come to visit.
“Good afternoon, Social Studies 3!” The shrill voice of one of the three uniformed officers made the new students in the classroom fall even more silent. The atmosphere grew darker, like a dementor had just sucked the joy out of everyone in the room.
“Hello? Are you all mute?” the girl scolded again when no one answered her question.
“G-Good afternoon, upperclassman.”
Cheresse glanced at Zora in surprise. She hadn’t expected the girl to follow her lead.
“Tenth-grade Social Studies 3. Only two class members are present today. Great,” a boy sarcastically remarked. He was believed to be the student council president of North Star High School.
Hearing that sarcasm, they had no choice but to speak up so this tense session would end quickly. “GOOD AFTERNOON, UPPERCLASSMEN!”
During New Student Orientation, the student council leadership and the discipline division had a special duty: carrying out surprise discipline inspections like the one they were conducting now. However, only three people had come to Social Studies 3: Dika, the student council president; Felix, the first vice president; and Wulan, the general secretary.
The three of them walked around the classroom with stern expressions. Every tap of their shoes seemed to make time slow down.
“Has everyone eaten?” Dika asked again.
“Yes...” several students answered in low voices.
“HELLO? Why are the Social Studies 3 students ghosting me again?!” The shout was accompanied by a slam of one desk, successfully startling the entire class.
“YES!” the entire Social Studies 3 class answered in unison, without needing anyone to command them.
“Is anyone here who hasn’t eaten?”
“No.”
“Be honest!”
“No one!”
The three student leaders resumed circling the classroom. Every so often, they ordered a student to stand in place and then checked whether their uniform was complete. If the student was following the rules, they were told to sit back down. If not, they had to remain standing as long as the Discipline Task Force was in the classroom.
“Yesterday,” Felix, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. “I confiscated a few students’ motorcycles.”
The young man stood at the front of the classroom, his eyes narrowing further as he swept his gaze across every corner. His expression remained blank, and not a single student dared meet his eyes. Everyone lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact with him.
“Now, be honest.” The young man lifted his chin. “Does one of the students in this class own a motorcycle with the license plate B 2208 DC?”
Checkmate. Cheresse had been caught red-handed.
“You’d better confess,” Dika added, stepping up beside the young man. “If you keep quiet, your punishment could be worse.”
Cheresse’s throat tightened at his words. Her knuckles felt cold. Nervousness clearly washed over her, though no one noticed.
“Come on, confess!”
With her hands still trembling, Cheresse stood up. There was no other way to make the inspection end faster except to turn herself in now.
The three inspectors immediately applauded.
Felix began walking toward her. Every step the young man took felt like a death alarm to Cheresse. Once again, her dry throat ached. The girl almost forgot how to breathe.
“You know what you have to do, right?”
Cheresse was nearly intimidated, but she did her best not to lower her head. If she did, the young man might pressure her even more.
“I know, upperclassman. But I couldn’t yesterday,” the girl said firmly.
“Tsk.” At some point, Wulan had appeared in front of Cheresse. “What an arrogant kid.”
Cheresse wasn’t the only one startled by her sudden appearance. The young man also glanced at the girl, his eyes filled with questions.
“Why?” Felix continued, choosing to ignore his friend.
The girl’s pupils trembled, but she tried not to look afraid. “I had to leave right away yesterday to take care of something.”
At that, Wulan reflexively slammed her hand down on Zora’s desk. The blow made every heart in the classroom stop for a moment.
Today, the three discipline officers—or rather, that female officer—was much harsher than usual.
“Hey, Miss Arrogant! Even if you had personal business, you should’ve taken care of your responsibilities at this school first! You can’t even handle your responsibilities at school, so what would happen if you had some major problem? No one would want to help an arrogant, clueless person like—”
“Wulan!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Felix caught the subtle change in Cheresse’s expression. It had only appeared for a few seconds, but he was sure Wulan’s words had gone too far.
“Dika.” The young man, who had been standing silently in front of the classroom door, began to approach them.
“What’s your name?”
“Cheresse,” she answered stiffly. Her jaw tightened as she struggled to suppress her own emotions.
“Cheresse, could you come with me for a moment?” Dika asked gently. Then he stepped out of the classroom and waited for the girl outside.
To Be Continued