BRIELLE

Mr. Heidreich went on and on so excitedly about the introduction to DNA structures in front of the class, but I’m dying on my desk. I have zero interest in biology, and everything that happened since morning had drained my energy! Right now, I just wanna go home, soak myself in a hot bath, and take a nap until our music theory tutor from the Paris Conservatoire arrives.

During the first week of the new school year, there’s no club activities or talent course track classes yet. I want to enjoy the first week relaxing before getting swamped by assignments, music practices, and final exam preps – not to mention that Elle and I have a big concour in Brussels coming up as well. Man, this year’s gonna to be sooooo hectic! I wish I could just graduate already so I could really focus on my music career…

And just when I thought I couldn’t take more DNA bullshit anymore, the Grandfather’s Clock jingle went blasting through the school speakers.

OH PRAISE THE LORD! HALLELUJAH!

At this time of the day, the crappy school bell sounded like angels opening the gates of heaven. Finally – SCHOOL’S OVER FOR THE DAY!

As soon as the teachers let us go, I marched out of the classroom. I could hear my friends calling my name to wait up for them, but I intentionally hurried my pace and just went straight to the fourth floor for my locker – screw the elevator, I’m taking the stairs! I don’t want to see anyone else today-

No. There’s one thing that I need to see before I go home: that utterly gorgeous new kid.

He’s been bugging my mind ever since this morning. How could I not, when the whole school was raving about him all day long?

And here’s my problem; I haven’t been able to see him. Here are the three reasons why:

1. My friends dragged me to homeroom way too early, so I didn’t see the new kid’s mindblowing red carpet moment – or so what Kathy told me. I could only imagine how dazzling it was, seeing that the girls walked into class with their souls flying out of their mouths!

2. My homeroom session got extended until the third period and ate up half of recess because the teacher gave us a very long briefing about the final exams prep, and I missed the whole locker drama. Oddly enough, nobody wanna told me a single thing about it except the part that ‘some girl’ just beat up the new kid repeatedly with a binder – and I heard this from one of my juniors in band club after some persuasion that included a few knuckle sandwiches.

3. During recess and lunch, people from the band club dragged me to the school studio right after I finished my meal. I was stuck in there the whole time because people kept coming to see me to ask about this and that, and I didn’t have any chance to leave the room at all until the bell rang - yep, I lost another chance there! But I do heard from a bunch of hockey club boys that the new kid did some kung-fu movie stunt in the cafeteria. Well, it happened every year - some idiots haven’t kicked away their summer nights’ party hangovers and pulled some crazy shit on the first day of school. Still, I’m pretty curious about what really happened there because I also heard some names that belonged to my ‘creepy list’ got into serious trouble because of what the new kid did.

Whew- whatta long day!

Don't get me wrong; I’m very grateful to have lots of friends who loved me and would always look for me whenever they needed help or someone to talk to, but sometimes people just couldn’t see that I needed my own space to breathe - and that’s why I decided to just go straight ahead to the parking lot without waiting for anyone else. In case someone called my name, I stuffed my ears with my Walkman earphones and played the entire Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album with maxed volume.

In Sterling, you don’t need to worry where your chauffeur parked your car in the huge ass parking lot - each class have their own parking block, divided into sections separated by wire fences. And because my class’s parking block would always be further than my sister’s, my chauffeur would always use her space instead.

As I passed through the lines of luxury cars behind those wire fences, my mind was filled with thoughts about the handsome newcomer. Dangit, just how good-looking was he? Was he like Brad Pitt? Or maybe Leonardo DiCaprio? But of course, my dearest William will always be number one to me - yes, I already have a super awesome boyfriend and he’s currently in college, and hell no, I don’t plan to cheat on him because I love him sooooo much! But hey, there’s no harm in being a little curious about a new hottie in school, right?

I was distracted off my mind when the music came to an end. Between the static intermezzo from one song to another, I heard a familiar childish laughter whom I recognized as my sister’s. I took off my earphones and looked up, and saw her walking with two boys on her sides. I could tell the guy on right straight away – there's only one idiot in Sterling with a buzz-cut hair and glasses who got that limited edition Manchester United sling bag. But…who the heck is that tall guy on the left, with a crazy hairstyle that looked like a pineapple? Someone in her class got a new haircut? Or a maybe a new kid-

Hang on a second; if I’m not mistaken, the super hot new kid was placed in Prodigium! Could that crazy-haired guy be Sterling’s new hottie? But that’s weird, my baby sister was never the type who’d be keen to make friends with newcomers, especially boys! I wonder-

“…right, Keishi?”

Hang on a sec, did she just mentioned a baby nickname of a certain pretty boy that I haven’t met for ages?

“...Kei?”

The kid turned around and, holy crap - unmistakably, the pineapple-haired kid was really him! 

KEISHIRO

Before I fully recognized the person who just called me, she ran towards me and hugged me- ugh! Okay, correction - she’s grappling me to death.

“KEISHIROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! It’s really yooooouuuu!” she squealed, squeezing her cheeks against mine. Well, there’s only one girl strong enough who could do this to me – that barbaric monster in the face of an angel.

“B-Bree! Let go- mmph!”

I flailed and tried my hardest to get off her, but Bree didn’t care. After a few more seconds of depriving me from air within her arms, Bree finally released me. I quickly gaped for air, while she just giddily bombarded me with questions - not caring that she almost killed me...as usual.

“I can’t believe you’re baaaaaack! And attending Sterling tooooo! Why didn’t you tell us anythiiiiing?”

“Oh, um…it was on short notice,” I said, clearing my throat and readjusting my collar. “Had so many things to wrap up before I leave Japan. I only managed to arrive in Anglova three days ago and I’m still suffering with jetlag.”

Bree twitched one of her eyebrows. “Since when you get really bad jetlags?”

“I’ve been lacking of proper sleep since I left Dusseldorf, not to mention that my flight was caught in a thunderstorm on the way here." 

“Damn, that sounds really bad!”

“Totally – the last three days, I was so dead tired I can’t even see anyone or call you guys even if I wanted to!”

Again, Bree gave me a stink-eye. “Hang on, what do you mean by ‘even if I wanted to?’” she repeated, mocking my voice tone at the end of her sentence.

“Well, I didn’t have any intention to give you both some heads up because I want it to be a surprise to you guys - especially for Elle!”

“Was it worth it?”

Grinning, I gave her a thumbs-up. “Totally! The look on her face this morning was priceless!”

Rob shook his head and sighed. “To the point that she bludgeoned you with a binder…” he muttered.

“Hang on, Elle hit you with a binder? That crazy girl that everyone talked about all day was HER?”

Rob twitched one of his eyebrows. “You didn’t know?”

“No one wanted to tell me who it is! Now I know why!”

Bree stood still with her mouth gaped open for a few seconds before she started to crack up. I laughed along with her, while Rob just sighed even deeper. Meanwhile, Elle just looked away with her arms folded.

“Anyways, since you’re in Prodigium, what talent course track are you taking, Kei?” Bree asked.

“Oh? Athletics – I’m taking soccer, of course!”

Rob’s eyes widened. “Really?”

I gave him an odd look. “Why are you so surprised? We did talk about soccer all day, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but you didn’t told me that you also choose football for your talent course track! I thought you just play casually!”

“What? No!” Bree exclaimed. “Kei’s a youth league star in Japan!”

Rob dropped his jaw. “Bloody hell! You played in the youth league?”

“…Sort of.” I mumbled. Bree instantly nudged me – hard. “Oof!”

“What do you mean ‘sort of’?” she scoffed, “We didn’t meet each other for three years because you always have all these ‘big and important soccer matches’ in Japan!”

“But it wasn’t only me!” I replied, “You guys also have recitals and concours all the time as well, right?”

“Yeah, well, anyways, now that you’re here, you HAVE to come to our house sometime – mama and papa would surely love to see you!”

“Sure, I wanna say hi to them as well! I really miss your mom’s cooking!”

“Oh, she’ll be more than willing to cook for you! Right, Elle?”

She just replied with a nod shy.

Usually, Bree never liked it whenever Elle’s being too shy in front of people - she would scold her sister and forced her to look up and speak louder. But this time, Bree just let it pass with a smirk on her face. Did she grow out of the habit or something?

“Alright, I’ll find out when my parents will be home, and then we’ll invite you for dinner! Anyways, Elle and I should go now; we have a music theory tutor flying from Paris this evening!”

“Oh, all right. I’ll be going home as well – need to check if those movers didn’t mess with my action figures collection.”

Bree rolled her eyes. “Still the same ol’ nerd…” she muttered. “Oh well, see you tomorrow, Kei!”

We hugged once more before she trailed off towards our parking block, while Elle followed behind her. I waved goodbye at her, but she didn’t see me.

Oh well, like Bree said; we’ll see each other tomorrow…

MAURELLE

I’ve been trying really hard to listen to the music on the car radio for the past few minutes, but my older sister wouldn’t stop giggling since we drove past the school gate! She’d glance at me for one second, and went giggling again on the next second. I tried to ignore her, but halfway through the road, I couldn’t take this anymore!

“What in the world is wrong with you, sis?” I finally asked.

She turned to me with this really creepy look in her face, and started to crack up again.

“Did you hit your head somewhere on your way to the parking lot?”

“Eheheh…No, nothing…” she said, “It’s just that... Kei’s turning into a really, really hot guy now, huh? Hee hee hee!”

My heart almost jumped off my chest. Gosh, how did she knew that? I’ve been trying to suppress the feeling in front of my sister, because she would make fun of me! I tried to shrug it off - but the more I tried, the faster my heart would beat! Gosh...my head began to feel like a boiling kettle pot!

Luckily, my sister didn’t seem to notice - she’s still busy babbling about Keishi at the other side of the seat. “…Even when he was little, he’s already soooo cute and handsome! And look at him now - he’s a total dreamboat! No wonder he sent the whole school into a huge shock! I won’t lie to you, Elle; my heart can’t stop beating when we hugged! Eeeeeeeeek!”

BRIELLE


“Cut it out, sis! You got a boyfriend already!”

I blanked. What the hell? Did she just scold me...for being so excited about Kei?

“Pfft!”

And then, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I dropped myself on the backseat of the car and burst out laughing. Oh lord, I think my sides are gone!

“Sis, what in the world is wrong with you? Do we need Simon to drive to the nearest mental hospital or something?”

I glanced at Simon, our chauffeur, and he's also busy trying to hold back his laughter as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. 

When I sat up again, I grabbed one of my sister’s shoulders and patted it gently. “Just chill, will ya? I have no interests to be with another guy than William, with someone younger than me to boot!”

She heaved a sigh of relief and curved a little smile, but she quickly turned her back at me and hid her face away. Aww, cute.

“Elle, if you really, really like him, there’s no harm in trying to make some move on him! He doesn’t have any girlfriend yet, right?”

Elle didn’t budge, but I'm guessing that she's blushing like mad right now. Just imagining that tickled me already, but I won’t say anything else for now.

And, just to add some fuel into the already burning fire, I whispered to Simon and he changed the car radio into cassette mode, and set it to play Grease’s Summer Nights over and over all the way home…

Oh, I can’t wait to tell everything to William when I call him tonight! 

KEISHIRO

“AT-CHOO!”

I briskly rubbed the skin under my nose as I inhaled. Don’t know why, but I’ve been sneezing non-stop ever since I hopped into the car.

“Are you okay, Master Bellrose?” Vierro asked

I nodded. “Uh, yeah, I’m okay- at-choo!”

"Are you sure?” he asked again, gazing questioningly at me through the rear-view mirror.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I muttered, “In Japan, there’s this saying that when you can’t stop sneezing, it means that someone is talking about you.”

Vierro chuckled. “Oh, well…I guess it can’t be helped, huh? Even the arrival of The Viscount of Valenfields became a buzz among valets and chauffeurs in the waiting room.”

“Huh?”

“And I also heard the little ladies from the first grade were raving about a certain prince charming’s arrival in Sterling!”

“Oh... at-choo!”

VIERRO

It was a bit concerning to see Master Bellrose sneezing non-stop since we drive home, but it didn’t seem like he had caught anything; maybe the Japanese superstitions were right after all.

“Well anyways, how was your first day of school?”

“Uh, it’s pretty weird, actually,” he mumbled behind his right palm, while his other hand was scavenging for a box of tissues. “One of my new classmate is a British guy who’s also a fan of Man United, a lot of girls were acting like a banshees around me, and, both Bree and Elle almost killed me-”

The young master stopped to blow his nose. “Sounds like a normal day for the Viscount of Valenfields to me,” I told him.

“Vierro, drop the title. Pwheeze.” he said, the hyponasal tone at the end making him sounded a bit funny. “I’ve had enough of that today.”

“Oh, all right,” I replied. “I apologize, Master Bellrose.”

He then took off his shoes and dropped himself on the leather seat. “Just wake me up when we’re home,” he muttered, and then he rolled his back and dozed off.

When I stopped the car for the traffic light, I reached for the car phone and dialed home, asking the maids to prepare the Jacuzzi for the young master. He didn’t ask for it, but I thought that he would appreciate it.

After all, a nice, warm bath is what everyone needs after an exhausting day.