A warm-cold welcome

"The first day back..." The tall girl thought to herself questioning if she should even go. Standing in her washroom at home making sure her outfit was in order. Her usually hoodie and tank top. The washroom was one of the few rooms in aria's place that she turned the light on so she'd often have to take a wild guess when it came to clothes in the morning but she had made a point to leave her best clothes out so to do go to school in some random outfit. "Well I guess I really don't have a choice in this," She said out loud to herself as she collected everything she'd need for the day, books and the like.
 Just before she left as she always does before she leaves her room she would look in the mirror next to the door and see the sad looking person glaring back. "No, you stay here," she said sternly to the face before turning and walking out the door with the happy expression on her face she sported almost all the time.

                                                              -Sometime later-


The hallway... Oh, the hallway was packed with kids walking to class, hanging out by lockers, picking on other kids. The first thing that aria noticed was the fact that she was taller than most of the other girls so she stood out. Then a wave of uneasy spelt over the normally overly cheerful girl. Something that didn't happen often. Aria pushed up her glasses and started walking faster trying to find the faculty office so she could meet her new homeroom teacher and be out of this awful and seemingly endless hallway. 

After speaking to the teacher for a while and explaining the reason she's a year off of this grade, she was, of course, the age of most third years. Then finally she was escorted to her class, the hallway had empty and the classrooms filled.  For the second time that day she felt everyone's eyes on her as she was introduced to the class 

"Uh, my name is Aria Polman, and I'm happy to be here," she said those last words so fast they seeming to blur together as she walked to and open desk next to the window.

The morning had been silent, like too many others had been as of late. By the time Isaac was dressed for school, in his usual white long-shirt, black vest, and black slacks, Cyrus had already left for his new job. They hadn't seen each other in a few days...Isaac wasn't even certain what this new job was. He just hoped it wasn't too stressful on his brother.

Still, Isaac...tried not to let his circumstances get him down. So he kept a small smile on his face as he walked the usual path to school. That would be a disservice to Cyrus' sacrifice. He needed to do well in school, that way he'd be able to secure a career to infinitely lighten Cyrus' own burden. Perhaps Cyrus could wind up going back to some sort of post-secondary education and pursue a career he truly desired.

He had more than earned that much.

So Isaac paid little mind on his burdens, instead focusing in on his surroundings. Just in time, too. He saw an old lady struggling to make across the street in time! Isaac moved between her and the would-be oncoming traffic, giving the woman a gentle smile as he helped her make it across. He did feel sorry for the drivers he had stalled, especially as some of them honked their horns. Isaac was sure they, too, would be busy.

-

As class began to start Isaac had settled into his desk. A few of his acquaintances gave quick greetings from across the class room, but eventually they fell silent. As Isaac's homeroom teacher began to speak, she made it clear that they would be welcoming a new student. Either a transfer, or just a late applier. Apparently she was a year older? It was...eh, not that odd. There were some who had already turned 18. Isaac had an early birthday as well, for that matter, so he could relate.

Then, of course, the girl in question was brought in. Her name was Aria. Bright red-orange hair, fairly tall, and she seemed a bit shy. Again, Isaac could relate. It was never easy having all eyes on you in a completely new environment. People probably had some questions as to why she wasa late applier as well.

So Isaac decided that the least he could do was give her a smile and nod after she introduced herself. Chance had it that she took the seat to his left, which was thankfully vacant. Isaac was curious, but they wouldn't have much time to have a chat before the class began. Still, he had to take up this chance. A smile and warm greeting could change one's entire day.

"Hi Aria. My name is Isaac, it's nice to meet you." The young man said, shooting Aria another smile before settling back into his seat.

The walk to her new desk felt like ages and the more people she passed the more eyes she could feel drilling into the back of her head. To her, each person's eye's felt like they were judging her deeply. For once in a long time, she felt out of her element and just wanted to retreat to the place she hated most.  

by the time she reached her desk it had felt like an hour, maybe more. She had been sapped totally of her normal upbeat self. almost as if the class leached it out of her. she sat down a tried to appear shorter than she was.

That's was about same time she heard a voice directed at her from the table next to her. There was a boy who happily greeted her. For some reason it made her feel a bit better, She smiled happily at the boy who called himself Isaac giving a little wave as she went back to looking at the teacher.


The class was overall boring, just a normal history class mostly things that aria already knew but she took notes anyway but mostly just hoped the class would end so she could go home sooner. by the time it finally did end, however. All the students stood up and walk to their friends desks but aria just sat there look at her phone and out the window

History wasn't Isaac's favourite subject, but he did his best to remain attentive all the same. His little introduction/greeting to the new girl earlier seemed to cheer her up, at least a little bit. That fact alone left Isaac in a good mood for the duration of the period.

As class came to a close and Isaac began to set his books away, he surveyed the area. As usual most of the kids gathered around the tables of their friends, talking about what they wanted to do after school, or on the weekend. Etc. Isaac would likely be receiving at least one or two texts to cover the same thing. Still, most of his friends...or acquaintances, really, weren't in Isaac's class.

The silver haired boy sat up straight, his eyes moving towards the window. Lunch was about to start, and the weather seemed fair. Maybe he'd spend his lunch break outdoors...

From the window, though, his gaze drifted to Aria. There were no students at her desk, and instead she simply gazed down at her phone. Right, she probably didn't have many friends in the school, if any.

...Well, Isaac knew how he was spending his lunch then.

Slipping his backpack on, he stood up and stepped towards Aria's desk. “Hi there! The weather seems nice, so I was going to enjoy my lunch outdoors. Would you like to come with?”

It was probably best that Isaac didn't announce his ulterior motive, even if it wasn't a sinister one. The best thing he could probably do for Aria would be to treat her not as a new student, but simply as another fellow classmate. Isaac knew he'd appreciate that much if he was in her shoes...and he had been, once.

Aria leant against her window and flicked through her phone, happy to finally be out the main focus even though she could still see some guys pointing at her sometimes. Doing her best to ignore them as she waited out lunch.
 
Then the last thing she wanted to happened, someone walked up to her and started talking. It was the guy who had smiled at her earlier. A lot rushed through her head what'd he want, was he going to make fun of her. hit on her, what was going on. Aria still hadn't got back to her normal self.


Coming back to her sense, she caught the end of what he was saying, She nodded a little bit and said Sure, pretty quietly but loud enough for Isaac to hear.


"I mean I don't really have anything for lunch, and I don't know this place at all so you lead the way," She said after pulling herself out of her chair 

To Isaac's delight Aria had agreed, though...she seemed to be lacking a lunch. She was also unfamiliar with the school, which was to be expected. Thankfully Isaac considered the contents of his lunch. It was the usual: ham and cheese sandwich, with an apple on the side. Not much, but enough to get Isaac through the day...

“All right. I'll show you one of my favourite spots, then, and give you a bit of a tour along the way.” Wouldn't hurt, right? They had roughly an hour before they'd be late to their next class, so Isaac just needed to show her what would be along the way. With a determined nod, he headed out of the class to do just that.

“The school is rather large, so I understand if it feels overwhelming at first.” Isaac began, speaking gently, but keeping a smile on his face. “But really, aside from our classroom, you mostly just have to worry about some key locations. Like if you want to join up with any clubs, you'll want to know about Sorority Hall. Pretty much every club has their main room down there...oh! You'll want to know about the Gym and Pool, too. They're both on the first floor.”

As Isaac explained he led Aria out of their classroom and towards the stairs to a higher floor. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be headed to any of the location he talked about, but it was at least better that Aria knew about them than if she didn't.

“Speaking of clubs...” Isaac continued as he walked up the stair well, looking back at the girl. “Do you have any hobbies? Joining a club is a pretty decent way to get familiar with the school and some of the students, especially if you're in one that shares your interests.”

"Hobbies...?, Well I do a lot of photography", aria said still pretty quite and not herself still "Is there any of that?" She finally asked after more walking around. She was still not really sure where she was headed but anything was better than walking around the halls alone again. "So, how long have you been going here," Aria asked attempting to make small talk. Why I'm I so quite she thought to herself, what's wrong with me today.



About halfway up the stairwell to where ever the pair was going. Thought that she could swear she heard something or someone whisper something to her, but before she could ask Isaac if he heard anything. A massive headache just cut through her causing her vision to become hazy and making her fall against the hall "Ah... give me a sec my head really hurts" Aria struggled to say as she sat on against the wall