It would be thought that her school was fair in terms of education. They righteously gave the valedictorian certificate to the one that deserved the most but it was not the case. The education system and the examinations in Coral Bells were very open. The question paper and the answer sheets of each student was uploaded on the internet. Any person can view those mark sheet or question and answer sheet easily.Alyssa went near the mic and gave her speech in confidence. Dianna, Marcus, and Kale stood up from their seats and whistled, clapping enthusiastically. Each and every student clapped until Alyssa went to take her seat. That meant a lot for Alyssa. After sitting down at her seat, she asked no one in particular, "How did it go?"
Dianna raised one of her brows and said, "You really need to ask this? Look around yourself girl, they are still cheering on you. You killed it."
Alyssa smiled.
The ceremony ended with the Princ.i.p.al"s speech. Then the silver-haired man, called Albert gave the last speech congratulating students and the school. He then spoke a few words about the school, its history, and Coral Bell. He then proceeded to talk about his country and placements in his cooperation. Alyssa was looking at Albert while he was giving the speech. She could tell Albert was a handsome man with a straight nose and big eyes. His posture was straight and he was tall too. Even though his hairs were long there wasn"t any feminity in his face and aura. His hazel eyes were sharp just like that of Reinhard. But unlike him, he gives a playboy feeling. Alyssa noticed that even though he was addressing everyone, his eyes never left Kale. She looked over towards Kale and found him sitting there lowering his eyes. His cheeks were dusted in pink. If anyone else had seen him, he would have thought that he was feeling warm or his cheeks were naturally pink, but Alyssa knew better. She could see Kale was being shy under Albert"s gaze. Unknown to Kale, he looked so alluring and attractive in his bashful expression that even a playboy like Albert, who had seen his fair share of pretty boys, can"t help himself from staring Kale.
Thinking of Reinhard, Alyssa looked around but couldn"t see him at all. She wanted to curse him again but stopped herself from doing it.
After the ceremony, all of the students were crying and hugging each other, promising to write letters or call and keeping in touch with each other. Alyssa and her group hugged each other. She gave them her new phone number and address of her apartment. They were shocked, but it was getting late so they weren"t able to ask any questions. Alyssa promised to tell them everything in their next meeting. They promised to meet after a week in a random café. They left after saying their goodbyes.
Alyssa was sleeping on her study table with her dead down on the keyboard of her laptop. Her book about "Hacking and Dark Web" lying beside her left hand. It could be seen she was practicing her hacking techniques till late at night. Suddenly loud music blasted in her room, waking Alyssa from a stat. Alyssa groggily opened her eyes and looked around her for her cell phone. She followed the noise and found it near her pillow in the bed. She picked it up and mumbled on the phone in a daze, "h.e.l.lo".
"Happy birthday dear Allie, happy birthday to you." Loud voices came from another end, all at once making disoriented Alyssa more muddled.
"Wrong number", Alyssa said and hanged up.
She slumped on her bed, but before she can sleep, her cell phone rang again.
"h.e.l.lo." She answered.
"Happy birthday you muddlehead." It was Dianna this time.
"What time is it? Did you forget to do your homework?" Alyssa replied, groggily.
"Shut up and get up, alright. We are wis.h.i.+ng you a happy birthday you fool. And we graduated weeks ago dumbo." Dianna shouted on the other side.
By now Alyssa was completely awake. She rubbed her eyes and said, "Thank you. Sorry, I was a bit dazed."
"A bit dazed!!! And here I was thinking you were becoming fre*king crazy" Marcus said. Anyways dumbo, Happy birthday."
"Thank you, Marcus", Alyssa replied.
"Hey don"t call her dumb. She is smarter than you", Kale berated Marcus. "Happy birthday Allie", he continued.
"So got any dress for the ball," Dianna asked.
"Yeah. I bought three. Each for each day." Alyssa answered.
"Cool. Wish we had celebrated your eighteenth birthday with you"., Kale sighed.
There was a short silence on the phone.
"I am so sorry that I couldn"t invite you all to the ball. It"s organized by Lady Silvia and her important guests will be there. Even if it"s my Eighteenth birthday party ball, even I am treated like a guest".
"Yeah, we know". Marcus said.
"I will miss you all. This will be the most boring birthday ever." Alyssa spoke.
"Hey, why don"t you escape from the ball early and hang out with us," Dianna suggested an idea.
Alyssa thought for a second and said, "Sounds cool. Anyway, it doesn"t matter whether I will be present or not."
"Then meet you at our place," Dianna said.
"Sure. Deal?" Alyssa replied.
"Deal." They all shouted simultaneously.
Next morning, Alyssa opened her eyes and smiled to herself. She is eighteen now. She is an adult. Just like every other girl present, Alyssa wanted her birthday to be special and more like a fairy tale so that she can always remember it. But "orphans" don"t have such privileges and she had worst fate along with it. She knew that none of her favorite things will be present in the ball. That ball was just a social gathering rather than celebrating some special occasion. Alyssa sighed and checked on her dress.
Evening rolled on soon. Alyssa was standing in front of her mirror with Dianna by her side.
"How does it look", Dianna asked
"Pretty. So pretty." Alyssa was thrilled when she saw her beautiful reflection in the mirror. She really was looking very beautiful. She was wearing a princess style long royal ballgown. It had diamonds studded in the whole body and when she moves they glittered like s.h.i.+ny stars in the sky. Her pale skin looked more while and translucent against the dark color of the ball. Her hair was in a high bun with diamond clips pinning around it. She wore sapphire studded studs in her ears and a small nail-sized, round sapphire necklace around her neck. She really looked like a fairy descending from the sky.
"Thank you, Dianna." Alyssa thanked her sincerely.
"Anything for my girl. Don"t come late to our party or else you won"t receive your birthday present." Dianna mock threatened her.
"Alright. I will be there on time." Alyssa chucked.
Both of them headed to the driveway, they got into their respective cars and drove to their respective destinations.