Haoran realized that Emma had let go of his hand. He turned to the girl and narrowed his eyes."You don"t want to pay for my services?" he asked in a cheerful voice. "Fine ... I can think of another type of payment."
Emma just rolled her eyes and walked away from the young man. She had seen a sign showing the direction to the princ.i.p.al"s office. Haoran walked after Emma and did not force her to hold hands with him. He seemed already very happy to just walk beside her.
In his heart, Haoran was determined not to let Emma, who was very attractive, be bullied. Usually, new students, especially those with unique appearances, would be the target of bullying by other students.
Emma was really an attention-magnet. Fifty percent of students at St. Catherine consisted of ex-pat from other countries; thus their physical appearances were quite diverse. Still, the girl had a look that differentiated her from everyone.
Like Hong Kong, Singapore was one of the few countries in the world with a population consisting of mixed races. It was a melting pot for international citizens. St. Catherine was quite a popular school which had many international students. It could be seen how the students were of different nationalities.
However, none of the students of St. Catherine, had a face as beautiful as a fairy, skin as polished as marble, long platinum hair that reminds one of flowing silver, and light blue eyes that shone like topaz. From the first time he laid his eyes on Emma, Haoran was fascinated.
He did not expect this beautiful girl to have a personality that was quite different from most girls he had met. She didn"t talk much. She was also very strong and did not hesitate to slam him on the ground when she was annoyed. Besides, she also seemed to have a look of difference plastered on her face most of the time. For a new student, the girl did not look shy nor timid.
"All of these combined will be like a formula for asking to be bullied", Haoran thought as he glanced at Emma, who was beside him walking toward the princ.i.p.al"s office. He knew in St. Catherine High School, there were several groups of students who would not like seeing people like Emma come in and attract attention.
"Where did you come from?" Haoran asked when they were only a few meters from the princ.i.p.al"s door.
Emma stopped. She pointed at the office in front of her and nodded at Haoran. "I"ve arrived. Thank you for walking me here."
She then knocked on the door twice and went in, leaving Haoran standing outside.
***
Emma was invited to sit by Mr. Albert Young, the princ.i.p.al. The man who was in his late 30s examined Emma"s doc.u.ments and nodded briefly. He then called someone and told her to come to the office.
"Welcome to St. Catherine. You transferred in the middle of the school year, so you will definitely need some time to adjust." He looked at the girl with a friendly expression on his face that immediately made her like him. The princ.i.p.al seemed to be a good person, unlike Mabel, who always looked at her with hatred.
"Thank you, Sir. I will study as well as I can." Emma nodded.
"I see that your grades are very good. Keep up your achievements here, okay..."
There was a knock at the door to the princ.i.p.al"s office, and a neatly dressed middle-aged woman entered.
"Good morning, Mr. Young. Has my new student arrived?" the woman asked, glancing at Emma.
Mr. Young nodded. "Emma, this is Mrs. Sharon Wen, she is your homeroom teacher in Cla.s.s 2 A."
The girl got up and nodded slightly. "Good morning, Ma"am. My name is Emma Stardust."
"Nice to meet you, Emma." Mrs. Wen smiled and reached out to Emma. The two of them shook hands before Mrs. Wen turned to the princ.i.p.al. "Then, I will bring Emma to measure her uniform and then take her to cla.s.s."
"Please, Ma"am."
When Emma and Mrs. Wen left the headmaster"s office, Haoran was no longer outside. Ah, it was almost time for the school bell to ring. Of course, he must be walking towards his own cla.s.s now.
"Well, you can take this uniform and start wearing it tomorrow. Now it"s okay to wear your own clothes," Mrs. Wen said after accompanying Emma to get her measurement for her uniform in the administration room. "Now, let me take you to cla.s.s."
Emma followed Mrs. Wen"s steps across the enormous courtyard and toward the blue building in front with a row of large cla.s.srooms. They climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked past five rooms before stopping at the end of the corridor.
"This is Cla.s.s 2A. You could say this is the place for the smartest children in this school. We put you here based on the grades in your transcript."
Emma nodded. A row of cla.s.srooms were on that side of the corridor, a total of six. She immediately managed to conclude that the first cla.s.sroom must be for cla.s.s F, the place where students considered to be the stupidest went to. Following that was cla.s.s E and so on and so forth until cla.s.s A which located at the end of the corridor.
Hmm ... Emma was happy with the arrangement. Based on her experience, smart kids don"t usually like to interfere in other people"s business. They only focused on their lessons and their own personal concerns. St. Catherine was so big that it could divide its students into six different cla.s.ses per year level. When she was in the orphanage, Emma was placed in a general cla.s.sroom with 30 students.
She entered the room after Mrs. Wen. This would be her cla.s.s for the next half-semester. After that, they would move up to third grade, graduate, and then go to university or work. Emma was already thinking of looking for work once she graduated from high school.
"Good morning, Students. I brought a new student here. She will be your new friend. So, please treat her well ..." Mrs. Wen gave a signal for the students in cla.s.s 2A to pay attention to Emma. She then nodded at the girl. "Emma, please introduce yourself."
Emma nodded and looked at her cla.s.smates, attentively.
"Good morning, my name is Emma Stardust. I transferred from another school."
"Did you move here from abroad?" asked one of the students while raising his hand. "It"s quite unusual to transfer in the middle of a semester."
Mrs. Wen answered for Emma.
"No. Emma is from Singapore too. She moved house, so she is closer to school here. Right, Emma?"
Emma nodded. She felt that there was no need for her to explain at length how she was a child adopted by the state.
"Cla.s.s leader?" Mrs. Wen turned her head to the right corner where a beautiful mixed-looking girl raised her face. "Bianca, please help Emma with all the school rules and midterm activities currently underway."
"Will do, Ma"am." Bianca gave the transferee a complicated look. At first glance, Emma already felt hostility from the girl. Bianca had a slim body similar to a model and a half oriental, half European face, like many students at St. Catherine. She was very pretty. If Emma was not there, it would be easy to say that Bianca was the most beautiful girl in St. Catherine.
"All right. In that case, Emma please sit down, there is still an empty chair at the back. We will begin today"s lesson in chapter 10. Please open your books."
Emma walked towards the empty table at the very back and put her bag on the chair. When she plopped herself on the chair, her gaze suddenly got stuck on the large poster on the cla.s.sroom wall.
SCHOOL TRIP TO PARIS THIS SUMMER
The caption on the poster was with an image showing the beautiful Eiffel Tower.
There would be a school trip to Paris??
Her heart instantly raced. For almost 12 years, Emma had been dreaming of going to France. She only knew that she was brought to this country from an orphanage in Paris. All the information about her parents and her background must have been kept there. Emma really missed her father and mother. She had not seen them for so long that she almost forgot their faces.
Her mother was a stunning and loving woman. She had a lovely voice that could even make birds stop singing when she sang. They would be ashamed to show off their voices before Arreya Stardust.
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As Emma grew older, the image of her mother returned to her memory through the mirror. She was her beautiful mother"s spitting image, after all. They both had long platinum hair, a pair of light blue eyes like topaz, and skin as beautiful as marble.
But Emma"s personality almost took entirely after her father, Kaos.h.i.+n Stardust. The man did not talk much and loved taking care of plants. He rarely spoke, but somehow the couple seemed to always understand each other well. It was more like Arreya always knew what her husband would be thinking. Emma almost thought her mother could read minds.
Emma had forgotten her father"s face. She only knew her father was the most handsome man she had ever known.
The last time Emma saw them was on that one night in winter, thirteen years ago. She was almost four years old. Arreya Stardust cried silently and kissed Emma"s face many times before leaving her in front of the orphanage. Kaos.h.i.+n Stardust seemed more devastated than his wife. His firm shoulders became so weak, and his usually calm face became wreathed in sadness.
It was her father"s devastated expression that Emma always remembered. It was also what made her understand that her parents never intended to abandon her. They were forced to put her in an orphanage. But why? She really wanted to know the answer.
She really wanted to find her parents and ask them why ...
Even if they were in such a big problem, why didn"t they take Emma with them?
Emma would rather die with her parents than live in this world alone.