KAYLA

The crowd dispersed quickly as the Whittman sisters entered the building, clearing a path towards The Board. As always, the two never failed to charm anyone in their way; people would always step aside as their eyes followed the two sisters until their faces were no longer in their sight. They - Brielle Whittman and her little sister Maurelle - are the prima donnas of Sterling International School. I haven’t seen the two all summer, and they didn’t seem to change at all - except for Bree, who had grown her buttery blonde hair over the summer. Meanwhile, Elle still looked sweet and lovely as ever with the same ol’ wavy auburn hair that she kept to the length of her back.

Although they were sisters, the two were completely different! With a striking look, sharp green eyes, and straight blonde hair that seemingly shine like gold in the sun, Bree wouldn’t need to dress like a lady to woo the boys. Despite being a hardcore and rebellious tomboy with sharp tongue, she’s still one of the most popular girls in school. She never buttoned her blazer, always had the top of her school skirt folded up until the edge of her half-knee spandex shorts were exposed. She also replaced the mandatory girls’ scarf with boys’ necktie that once belonged to her now-graduated boyfriend, tied into a lopsided bowknot just under her neck. It’s simple, but I thought that it’s really cool and rebellious. I saw some people trying to copy the style, but Bree’s the only one who could pull it off so awesomely. I once asked her why did she replaced the scarf with her boyfriend’s necktie, and she said that “Ruffles just made me itch!” I found that weird; wearing spandex shorts all day made me itchy!

Despite her obviously rebellious style, the school never seemed to complain about it. They’ve prolly given up on making her behave, and it would be stupid for the school to expel her; other than she always ranked amongst the top ten during midterm exams, all the other schools out there were dying to have an Angelī Musicæ in their school!

As for Elle, I’ll have to warn you: stare at her too long and you’ll get diabetes.

Elle was the complete opposite of her older sister. She’s always kind and soft-spoken, and never failed to keep her uniform proper and tidy - the very image of a young French lady in ancient etiquette books - and she’s absolutely gorgeous; her wavy auburn hair was always soft and silky, I’d mistaken it for a cotton candy had she dyed it in pink! Her skin was always smooth and pretty as polished porcelain, her eyes as green as fresh Granny Smith apples, neatly framed by eyelashes that were so long, thick, and beautiful you would never believe she was born with it! Elle was the perfect image of those antique French porcelain dolls that your mom or your grandma might have given you at one point during your childhood.

Of course, their beauty didn’t spawn out of nowhere; their mom is the famous Melissa Whittman, an American supermodel. Other than her flawless beauty, the sisters also inherited the amazing hourglass figure that never seem to cease no matter how much calorie intake they have – the only thing that I’m dreadfully jealous of!

As Bree and Elle walked towards The Board, everyone else just stared at them, either with adoration or hatred as they hushed their opinions to each other. Some commented how pretty the younger Angelī Musicæ looked in her new high school uniform - I totally agree with that! But another commented that her new side bangs looked ugly and the uniform looks weird on her - I TOTALLY disagree with that! It’s impossible for Maurelle Christina Aurelia Thekla Whittman (yes, lengthy name, I know!) to look ugly even if she hadn’t showered for three days - proven during our charity camp trip in Africa two years ago!

That’s it, I need to calm down - I don’t want to care too much about those meanie, jealous bitches for now because I need to say hi to my best friend!

While Elle was busy paying attention to The Board, I crept behind her back and jumped towards her as I wrapped my arms tightly around her petite figure. She squealed out of surprise, and everyone’s eyes instantly turned towards us.

Annoyed and surprised, Elle wriggled to escape from my grasp and managed to turn around.

“Ugh! Who’s- Kayla?”

The moment she saw me, her expression turned into a delighted smile. “Oh my gosh! Kaylaaaaaaaaaaaa! I miss youuuuuuu!” she squealed.

“Eeeeek! I miss you too, Elleeeeee!”

Even though we regularly send postcards and call each other during the three months being away from each other, there’s nothing that can beat to hugging and squealing together with your best friend!

But our fun moment had to be ruined by a bunch of Academicus girls - they keep glaring at us with their creepy fish-like eyes hidden behind their glass-bottom spectacles. I recognized those freaks, of course; they’re the ones who got caught vandalizing with Elle’s locker on the last week of school before summer break and almost got expelled!

In novels and television, it’s always the popular girls who were bullies and they target bookworms for no reason. In reality, academic frustration can turn anyone into a monster; it’s those A+ deprived zombies who were mean; they’re jealous and frustrated because they couldn’t seem to outrank the pretty, airhead-looking French girl in the school rankings! Well, there’s the clear reason why she’s in Prodigium and you’re not, bitches!

I couldn’t stand being around those creepers anymore, so I took Elle by her hand and, escorted by James and Russell, we walked together to the elevator. I wanted to say hi to Bree as well, but being the humble and social queen she is, everybody is swarming her! Ah well, I’ll just say hi later!

When we’re finally alone in the elevator – um, with James and Russell, of course, I can finally start a real conversation without anyone eavesdropping! Elle and I have been best friends for so long that she didn’t really care if we started some girl talk in front of my bodyguards – excluding really private things like underwear and sex, of course! Those are reserved for trips to the ladies bathroom!

“So? So? Where have you been all summer, Elle? Anything interesting?” I asked, nudging her hips softly.

“Oh, not much, really…” she said timidly, her soft voice giving me warm fuzzies. “I visited my relatives in Nice for two weeks, but me and sis spent most of the summer with dad. You know, traveling around the world for concours, concertos, and practices…”

She then trailed on with her summer break story, while I smiled to her adoringly as I listened. Spending summers being busy with musical concours and performing in socialites’ private parties were nothing unusual when you’re the daughter of the legendary Jean-Louie Whittman - head composer and pianist of Anglovan Royal Palace Orchestra. He was originally from France, but raised in London and Anglova. I wasn’t particularly fond of classical music before, but Monsieur Whittman is amazing; played music was makes me feel as if I was cradled by an angel. Thanks to to his amazing talent, he was then recruited as one of the chairman in The Royal Palace Music and Arts Division.

I’ve met Monsieur Whittman a few times - he seemed to be a very kind and patient man, and a doting father especially to Elle; however, both sisters had always told me that their father is very strict when it comes to music, and they almost have no holidays when it comes to practicing! At a glance, their life seemed like hell to me; but the two never looked unhappy when they told me about their seemingly endless and super strict practices – in fact, they enjoyed it! Even when they’re not practicing, they could talk endlessly for hours about music.

Born into a musical family and always practicing their skills endlessly, their mansion is filled with musical trophies and awards that they’ve earned since they were very little. However, none of those honors could compare to Angelī Musicæ – the honorary title from The Queen of Anglova. Bree and Elle were only ten and eight years old when they received the prestigious title, and even then, the two have already stolen the hearts of people across the world because of their adorable looks; it was only fitting when Her Majesty choose to grant the sisters an honorary title that means ‘The Angels of Music’.

After they received the title, worldwide media wouldn’t stop buzzing about it for months; to receive an honorary title from the Anglovan Monarchy is one of the greatest honors in the country, and it wasn’t easy - even today, the number of people who managed to get one before their twenties is still countable by finger. Also, whether you’re a noble by birth or just a common citizen, a Latin title by your name would impress anyone; for non-Anglovans like the Whittmans, receiving one would automatically gain you an equal status to a Baron or Baroness as long as you’re staying in the country - pretty much the reason why most people in this school, especially men, treated Bree and Elle like goddesses; Anglovans always treated their nobles and its equivalents with the utmost respect.

“What about you, Kayla? What did you do all summer?”

Elle's question snapped me out of my train of thoughts that were filled with cotton candy and warm fuzzies. “Oh, me? I-uh, no, nothing as interesting as yours… Just a few holiday-slash-business-trips with my entire family – we’re expanding to Ibiza and Naples this year!” I replied, and then quickly changed the subject to the one that I’ve been looking forward to. “More importantly, did you get to meet your ‘secret prince’ this summer?”

I could feel the hair behind my neck rising as I waited for her to answer, hoping that she would nod as her cheeks begin to fluster. But when I saw her shook her head, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed…again.

Stories about Elle’s ‘secret prince’ were one of the few things that I looked forward to when I returned to school after summer – I was the one who came up with that nickname, because he’s a figure with no name and face. All that we know about him was that he’s living somewhere in a country far away from Anglova, and he and Elle could only meet once in a while during the holidays.

At first, Elle only mentioned him as a childhood friend. However, as time went by, it became too obvious that she likes him more than a friend! One problem, though; nobody could ever get his name or what he actually looked like! Elle might be naïve at times, but she’s very good at keeping secrets – especially her own. Not even five shots of Smirnoff could make her blurt out the first letter of her secret prince’s name. We’ve also tried asking Bree a few times, but it’s useless; she wouldn’t tell us anything other than what we’ve already known.

This, of course, have driven everyone out of their minds; from ridiculously wealthy princes to top actors and musicians, Maurelle Whittman had turned down every person in Anglovan upper class society that has been listed as every girl’s dream boyfriend. Whenever we asked her about the type of guy that she actually likes, she'd simply say “someone like the secret prince” skipping all the important details so that we couldn't even imagine what he looked like! Elle had made us super curious to the point that we would sell our souls to the demon just to get his name, but most people just gave up - over the years, people began to think that the secret prince thing was just Elle’s made-up excuse for not being ready in a relationship, or maybe she actually liked girls...but I doubt that. I believe that the secret prince is real, because whenever she talked about him, that’s when I get to see her brightest smile.

...Maybe I could just send her to that infamous torture chamber in Aegis Prison so that she would spill out the beans?

“Wait, how long has it been since you met him in person, Elle? Three years?”

She nodded. I groaned.

“Elle, you mentioned that he's Anglovan, and his parents still lives here. He'll come back to his home country one day, right?"

“Umm...maybe. But I don’t think he’ll come back to Anglova until he graduates from school…”

Sighing deeply, I leaned back to the elevator. Great - I guess we won’t ever get to see him, then?

Maybe that torture chamber idea wasn’t so bad after all…

---

ROBERT

Somewhere along the way, Dave, Jim, and I went on our separate ways to greet our friends from our respective sport clubs. After spending some time in the lobby and had no other folks to say hi to anymore, I decided that it’s time head upstairs. The bell won’t go off until another half hour, but I don’t think I wanna be caught up in the bloody elevator rush on my first day - it always happens when you arrive at the lobby minutes before the bell rang, and everyone would try to get into the elevator as quickly as possible. And then, it would be impossible to get to homeroom on time if you waited for the elevator and the only choice left would be climbing the stairs, which would make you as sweaty as a hooker in church - not really a nice way to start the day, especially on your first day of school.

So then, I stepped forward and punched the ‘up’ button with my thumb. The upwards triangle-shaped button turned into a bright shade of orange as I pushed the button, and then I waited for the elevator.

Something’s odd, I thought.

It took me a few seconds to notice that that nobody’s talking or screaming in the lobby anymore. Wait - what the bloody hell is going on? Did I suddenly turn deaf? Or did the elevator button somehow functioned as a mute button by some sort of sorcery?

I turned around and realized that everyone's eyes were drawn to a figure standing in front of the entrance door - a kid with wild-looking jet black hair and the most striking pair of blue eyes I’ve ever seen, clad in the same uniform like mine.