The doors would be closed by 7:20 am, meaning any student that wished to eat had to be inside before the doors closed. This was to maintain discipline and orderliness in the school and to teach students that everything worked within a time limit. After breakfast was the morning assembly, which always started by 8:00 am and lasted forty-five to fifty minutes, depending on what the principal of the school had to address the students on.
This general assembly, however, only occurred on Mondays and Fridays. On the other days of the week, there were different meetings; Tuesdays being dorm/house assemblies, Wednesdays being free days, and Thursdays being mentoring assemblies.
Leone and Danielle walked into the dining hall, alongside other students, and they headed towards their table specifically reserved for them. Reserved as per, no other student dared to sit down with the famous five in fear of being an outcast and bullied heavily.
Their other three friends were already seated and chatting amongst themselves before one of them, Luka, looked up and yelled out Leone and Danielle's names, making the other two, and practically everyone else, glance at the approaching figures.
"I thought you were going to skip breakfast," Damon fist-bumped Leone before doing the same with Danielle. The five students at the table each had a chance to shake or hug each other before settling at the table big enough for ten students.
That was how it was meant to be. The number of students assigned to a table was ten each, but their table was an exception, mainly because the looks alone they would get from Leone because they weren't part of her clique would send them running.
"I didn't get to eat anything last night." Leone whispered, which was true. When she got back to the dorm, she fell asleep and didn't wake up in time for dinner. The only thing she had throughout yesterday was the lemonade they had in their room.
"Ah," Lois nodded just in time as the kitchen staff placed bread, jam, eggs, and a large jug containing tea in it on their table. The friends muttered their thanks and distributed the food amongst themselves before digging in.
Their table was silent, there was nothing to talk about. The session was just starting so there wasn't anything new or any gossip flying around the student body.
When they were done with their breakfast, the five friends walked together to the school grounds. It was easy to walk amidst the crowd of students who seemed to be going in the same direction because the students parted like the red sea each time they felt the presence of the five.
How couldn't they, when Lois and Luka were practically noisemakers as they walked with their friends?
Leone was immune to the public display the two cousins were up to, her face being void of any emotion. By the time they got to the classroom building, the friends parted ways; Leone and Danielle towards the commercial-class corridor, Damon and Luka towards the science-class corridor, and Lois towards the arts-class corridor.
It was believed that the students in senior high school of Founding Fathers of grades 10 to 12 should focus on the field of study they were interested in, hence the different corridors for each study.
Leone didn't know what she wanted to study; her father was keen on her studying either law or business and her mother wanted her to study medicine. Even though she ended up choosing the commercial corridor, which was a great joy to her father, she only did so because Danielle picked to study business.
She wanted to be comfortable and the idea of being in the same class with strangers without any familiar faces to rely on was a nightmare for the female.
Leone and Danielle placed their bags on the adjoined desks that were closer to the window, farther to the back of the class. They had both agreed that they would never sit at the front of the class, to avoid more attention and teachers always calling on them.
Other students began to file into the room and Leone recognized some from junior high. Other faces were relatively new to her but they weren't new students since they were interacting with other students.
Everyone was quick to pick their new seats with either their friends or where they were comfortable and the sound of chatters filled the air. There were enough desks for each and everyone, as the school management had calculated the number of students they assigned to each class.
Before resumption, as each student picked their course of study, the school counselor gave every student the class they would reside in. On that classroom block, there were four classes assigned to sciences, two assigned to commercial, and four assigned to arts.
Commercial corridors had the lowest population, because of the low desire of students wanting to pursue anything business-related.
The bell rang, notifying the students that it was time for morning assembly and once again, they all filed out of their classes and onto the large space meant for the assembly. Leone found Damon, Lois, and Luka amongst the crowd and they huddled close together as they watched the principal, Mrs. Jacobs, climb the administrative building before facing the students.
They had an assembly hall, but because it was currently under repair, they had to stand outside under the early morning sun.
The students all stood according to their class grades. Those in junior high were on the right of the principal's vision and the senior high students stood on the left. The senior students also arranged themselves according to the different corridors they were in, but not Leone and her friends.
The students had to crane their necks a little before they could see the woman in her forties. She wore glasses that balanced on the edge of her nose and was flanked by the two vice principals of the school: vice-principal for academics and vice-principal for administration and student affairs.
"Hello, students." Mrs. Jacobs smiled at the crowd below her, even though she was in the shade. "It's a pleasure to see you all once again for the start of a new session."
"Good morning, ma'am," They all chorused out, well some did. Not like she could single out a person for not mouthing their greetings to her.
As the reason for the meeting of the assembly began, the order went like this; the students sang the national anthem first and recited the school prayer before the principal graced them with announcements for the day.
"Over the break, our basketball team represented our fine establishment in the bi-annual regional tournaments." She had a big smile on her face, and everyone knew that the news she was about to give was a positive one. "As expected, Leone Martin and her team brought home the gold and a cheque of a hundred thousand dollars."
The crowd of students hooted and hollered, and the teachers nodded in satisfaction. Leone Martin was great in sports and practically everything she touched.
"Please congratulate the basketball team with a round of applause."
Leone, who was amongst her friends, was pushed forward with pats on her back from the people around her. Her teammates were already walking toward the building and she calmly followed behind them as they ascended the stairs.
The cheers were still ongoing as the team stood to the right of the principal in a single line. Mrs. Jacobs proceeded to call every one of them by name, as each teammate stepped forward, bowed their head for the woman to adorn their neck with the medal, and shake her hand, alongside the vice principals too.
When she finally called out Leone's name, the applause got louder, mostly from the people who had a little crush on Leone Martin, and the female collected her medal before facing the large crowd with the large cheque gifted to the school and waving it.
This was something she was used to. Despite standing and staring at the crowd, she never really looked at anyone's faces. Leone always liked to stare ahead so that she could avoid eyes or her paranoia would creep in.
She hated people having their attention on her, which was funny because she was always the center of attention. Either by doing sports or even with her last name, people were always going to have their eyes on her.
She finally stepped back and waited for the principal to give the rest of the announcements before they all sang the school anthem and finally dispersed to their different classes.
Her friends had waited behind to congratulate her as they all walked towards the classroom block together.
"See you guys during lunch?" Damon waved at his friends before pulling Luka along with him toward the science corridor. Leone could only nod, and Lois also bade them goodbye. It was just Danielle that was left with Leone and the duo walked toward their class so that they could prepare for the first period.
When they walked in, Leone could see someone in her seat and she froze in her steps. It was just the first day and someone was already crossing the line by not respecting her space and property.
"Yikes," Danielle could see Leone shoot daggers at the female on her seat and she lunged forward, leaving Leone by the door, to speak to the girl. Danielle could see that the girl was new because she didn't recognize the face from their junior high school days.
"Excuse me, but you are in our seat, hers specifically."
The girl looked up from the bag she was rummaging through and smiled apologetically at Danielle, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was taken."
"It is okay. You are new, right?"
"Yes! How did you know that?"
Danielle smiled at her, "Well, because you wouldn't have sat there if you knew Leone Martin and her addiction to personal space and private property, but you're good to go."
The female was confused as she stood up from the seat and she walked towards another empty seat that was towards the front of the class, but in the second row.
"You can stop glaring now," Danielle laughed at her best friend and sat in her seat, watching her best friend pull the medal from her neck and collapse onto her seat. Leone hoped that there wouldn't be any class for the first period. She badly wanted to close her eyes for a moment and rest her head on the table, avoiding the stares she got from her classmates.
Unfortunately, or partially, fortunately, a teacher entered and attracted the attention of most students to the man instead of the young woman at the back of the class.
"Let us bring out our Mathematics textbook. We will be looking at the first chapter for the next two hours."
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The five friends had met up for lunch at the pavilion. Leone wasn't in the mood to eat but that didn't stop Danielle from dragging the female along with her.
It was better than leaving Leone alone in the classroom. Danielle knew the students would flock around that desk with gifts and letters for her best friend and she didn't want Leone to hurt anyone's feelings on the first day of a new session.
Despite her efforts, it didn't stop a junior high student from approaching the five friends, with his eyes fixed on Leone. They could see what he was holding; a bottle of soda from Danielle's father's company and a plastic bag containing some doughnuts.
"L-leone," The young boy stuttered as Leone stared hard at him. "A senior asked me to give this to you and also tell you how amazing you are."
The friends could see how nervous the boy was, considering he was a junior high student, with his short-sleeved shirt, compared to theirs which was long-sleeved. All eyes in the pavilion were already on them and Leone was irritated.
"I don't take things that people buy for me." She told the boy in a rude voice and stood up to walk away from the group of people she was seated with.
Leone heard the murmurs, but she didn't care. The boy had it coming to him by approaching her in public. Not like she would acknowledge him even if he met her in private, but this was the dumbest thing he would even think about doing. Who even send someone to confess in their place?
Leone walked back to the class, waiting for the lunch break to be over so that the rest of the day could quickly pass by, and she would be on her bed once more. As she waited for the bell to signify lunch was over, she placed her earbuds in her ear to drown out the noise and rested her head on the table.
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