Just a day before summer break ended, Dan had finally decided to make the move he and his friends had talked on, concerning a new intake at school–A female transfer student from Akrade High School– who was to arrive the town soon.
The boys and students at school in general, were psyched to receive her while some others were reluctant, as news of her coming had spread throughout the school like wild fire. All thanks to Mrs. Solesdale, the Deans secretary who could never keep her mouth shut. It was a trait of hers that all the students of Orion High knew about, both teachers and the likes. If the minds of the staff and students could be read whenever she walked by, they all would chorus one thing,
"Someday, her blabbing would be the death of her."
Again, one would wonder why they all were elated.
The reason was because, hardly was it heard that Orion High received a transfer student and definitely not in this period of time the school had been living from hand to mouth.
The town the school was situated in wasn't really a dream town for anyone who chose to relocate from either the big city life or run towards tranquility and though Juserchel town wasn't on the google map yet, it was one of the rapid developing towns in the country but Orion high had a shortage of resources both human and otherwise and so it was in due time to be shut down.
Yet, there it was, a FEMALE transfer student that had chosen none other but Orion High.
Now, one could wonder the status of her family financially because at this time, no one would pick Orion high not when it's at its verge of vanishing.
"What exactly could be his reason?" the Dean had been wondering.
"I know I'm not meant to tarnish the image of my school but the truth had to be stated," he thought.
Although the Dean had given the full statistics of the happenings to the school, to Mr. Almart, he had proven dogged to the Deans persuasion.
Dan, the self-proclaimed playboy would say he had the girls wrapped in his hands and his looks made him more cocky. This could be seen in the way he walked. Most students would refer his walking step, to that of a pimp while some others would say, he walked liked a wounded imp. All the same, Dan walked with his inherent pride much higher because he had once dated the hottest girl on campus, but this was before she realized that she had been with an attention seeker, who liked people doing things for him...
"Moreover, he has never had what it takes for even the toughest of women to be submissive," she'd reason to herself. This was her major justification for leaving him, he didn't have what it took, the money to suit her needs.
Dan was still Dan even after his breakup and he still took so much delight in his past relationship, he felt he possessed the charm to chat with any girl and they'd agree without much thinking. Often, questions like,
"How the hell did those two meet?" always sprung up, because both of them were clearly incompatible and Dan on the other hand had never been seen with any other girl than his ex, though he acted like "The Ladies man" cool. He hadn't even tried to fully move on when he had convicted himself, with this thought that getting one chick would be as easy as,
"A smile, wave and Hi. That would do the trick," he always thought, followed by a smugly smirk to himself.
Prior to the vacation period, there had been rumors rattling around that the new girl had all sorts of issues from her previous school as observed by teachers and students there; some said she had problems with her academics, she wasn't as good looking as one would imagine, her uniform was spruced up always and she aced her papers, she always sought solace in weird things, she was gothic, she had won some laurels at state level, she was sick in the head, e.t.c. The truth that no one knew was clogged in a snag of contradictory rumors that had the best of their thoughts.
Some students had planned staying away from her because what they had heard didn't match with expectations of their religion, the goth students at Orion High had planned a welcome party on her arrival, while a majority of the students were eager to receive her, nonetheless.
The speculations of her tainted charisma and successes, kept on amplifying as no one had set eyes on her but had heard her so-called stories.
"When school reopens, she'd be sure to show up, then we'll know," they all convinced themselves.
Summer activities had most students so preoccupied that they didn't have enough time to think about school or anything pertaining to school, not even with the stories that said Mrs. Solesdale had been laid off, such wholesome news didn't spend more than three days on their lips as most thought,
"She had it coming!", "Serves her right!" Others reasoned how they'd get first hand quite confidential information she always disbursed straight from the Deans desk?"
That not withstanding,
"Who the hell wanted to lose out on all the fun, when she, the transfer-girl, was probably out there living her best life?"
" And why the uproar in the first place?"
"I'm sure she'd be proud of herself cause she has the whole school on its feet?" hissed some girls in suicidal fury.
The boys also hadn't been giving the girls much attention lately and they were infuriated by this development. They all wanted to look their best for the spot lit transfer-girl with the, "Whoever had her would become popular" thought.
"What's gotten into them? Arrrrgh!" their thoughts screamed within.
"They're just so annoying!"
It was just a week to resumption when talks about the transfer-girl brewed strongly again, as summer vacation was coming to an end. Friends would sit on park benches gisting about none other than the fantasized transfer-girl.
"I heard she's in town already,"
"C'mon, how true could that be? No one has seen her before or even heard of her family," they'd argue amongst themselves.
Well, soon enough, the whole school and town at large, would come to know of Athena Almart Devine.
"We'd see her this time for real, this time around, maybe things aren't as bad as the stories say," Duncan stated sparingly.
Dan had overheard his friends chat about the transfer-girls halseny, as he walked up to the door post of his room with three soft drinks in his hands. He hadn't fully opened his rooms door before he thundered,
"So what? Who cares anyway?!"
"She hasn't come and y'all are giving her this much attention..."
"Man, chill out," Duncan lashed out interrupting Dan's speech.
"Why so concerned? Moreover, I wasn't even chatting with you but with Hakeem," he added.
"... And the blonde albino just barged in like the sunlight had increased its intensity," mumbled Hakeem rather frivolously.
Dan wasn't an albino neither was he blonde. He was Caucasian, enthralled with conspicuous brown eyes and brown hair to match. Overall, his face was well structured; with his nose shaped like the form professional swimmers take on in the leap just before they hit the water while his lips were as surreal as the surface tension of water breaking, right at the interface when a stone plops in... All these and many more where the reasons he strutted proud– you could say, he knew himself– even with his cocky and ill-tempered attitude, most girls at school had their eyes fixed on him. He was tall, well grounded as there wasn't a single sport he couldn't play, almost well built but he slouched when he stood. Still he was, "Hot!" in their eyes. Though he had girls at his call, he couldn't sober up to initiate a conversation. Every action he took as regards asking a girl out, was done in his head. He was timid to the outside world but this was never portrayed in his expression because his pride was set so high and it was shown through his show of meretricious confidence that kind of helped this timidity. Overall, he was a cool person.
His friends teased him with the albino talk, to infuriate him and often times it worked. This time he was inductive to the white magic.
"You cracked my funny bone," Dan mockingly gestured in pain while touching his elbow as his facial expression changed abruptly to an indisposed look.
"Baka!" belted Dan. He dubbed the word, "Baka" from the anime's he had been watching, which when translated from Japanese to English means,
"Fool!"...

© Cogua