The bell rang throughout the school like a metal gong and every student took a sigh of relief on being spared from the dull droning of teachers. Children spilt out from their classrooms running in all directions, mingling with other students. Lunch break had begun at the school.
Adrian White strolled through the crowded corridor surrounded by his friends arguing over where they should sit for lunch.
"Oi Adrian," said Michael, a lanky boy with curly brown hair.
"Are you going to join football trials next week to break your record again or what?"
Adrian shrugged nonchalantly with a playful smile, "We'll see. Maybe I'll give someone else a chance this time."
His group burst out laughing. A girl beside him smirked and said, "As if your ego would allow that. You hate not to be the best in football at all times."
Someone nearby nudged his shoulder as they passed by, "Heard you got an A in all subjects last midterm."
There was a collective groan in the group all of a sudden.
"Popular and smart," said Reggie, mock-fainting around him. "Remind me why we are still friends with you?"
"It's not like that, Reggie. You can't blame me for your poor performance if you didn't study before those exams. " Adrian replied jokingly tossing a hand in the air, drawing a few more laughs from the group.
As they reached an open area near the lunch benches where most friend groups sat together during lunch. The atmosphere changed slightly and a gentle silence settled across the crowd.
Walking into the courtyard alone was the new girl who hadn't talked at all since arriving, Delphini Riddle.
Her pale silver hair shimmered slightly in the gleaming sun. Her skin was smooth and unnaturally fair like porcelain untouched by the sun. Her uniform was worn neatly with the folds crisp and untangled. She walked without looking at anyone as her gaze was forward and steadfast, ignoring everyone around her.
Two girls from the senior class rushed towards her. Lisa with her flashy pink headband and Jenny with her fake lip gloss.
"Hey!", said Lisa in an overly cheerful voice.
"You're the new girl, right?"
Delphini stopped walking and turned her head slightly towards them without a change in her expression.
"I'm Lisa and this is Jenny. We just wanted to welcome you! It's not every day we get a mysterious transfer student."
"You seem like you are from a fancy, posh private school. How come you had to come here?", Jenny chimed in eyeing her neat appearance.
"You can sit with us if you want. We'll be sitting on that side.", said Lisa while pointing towards an empty table.
Delphini surveyed them for a few seconds. Her eyes were unreadable. She shook her head slightly and politely said, "I appreciate your words. But I do not wish to talk."
The girls got a small smile as they heard the first sentence, but the next line bewildered them.
Then Delphini did a small nod at them as she moved towards a quiet corner in the courtyard.
When she said that, there was a stillness in her voice. It didn't feel like mockery or arrogance. Just finality. She said it the way a queen would declare a decree in a matter-of-fact tone. Softly said with power that didn't need to shout.
The three girls stood frozen like statues as if they couldn't believe someone had denied their invitation.
Lisa blinked and said, "What… did she just say?"
"She rejected us," whispered Jenny with a scandalised expression.
"We were trying to be nice."
Adrian was watching from across the yard and raised an eyebrow at the humorous situation. His friend beside him stifled a laugh.
"Cold.", muttered Reggie.
"She stunned the mean girls. This was a day worth coming to school for. I feel sad for someone who didn't witness this. "
"She didn't even mean it rudely.", said Michael.
"She just… said it."
Adrian didn't say anything. His eyes followed her as she walked to the edge of the field to a tree in the far corner and sat down alone. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap while her lunch remained untouched.
Throughout the day whenever Delphini came into his sight, Adrian couldn't stop himself from taking a few glances at her.
In class, she never raised her hand to answer any question like some students might do to prove their worthiness to other people and achieve that feeling of validation. But when a question was directed to her, she would answer it softly when called with a composed tone and always be right.
She wasn't like other students of her age. She wrote nothing and didn't doodle even after continuous lectures. Her desk was kept perfectly clean while the book of the current subject being taught was kept in the middle of her table.
In the hallway, she didn't stop to talk or glance at anyone. Her footsteps were soft and light, however, every corridor she passed by lessened the buzz in that corridor by a notch.
In History, while the rest of the class was discussing the Great Fire of London, she wrote something in her notebook and showed it to the teacher. The teacher examined it for a few minutes and then nodded.
Adrian kept watching her. He didn't mean to. But his gaze was drawn to her again and again.
"She's spooky.", muttered Reggie beside him during lunch, munching on a packet of chips.
"Don't get me wrong. She kinda looks like a 'vampire girl' waiting in silence to find her next victim."
"She's just quiet.", replied Adrian absently as his fork was poking the untouched peas on his plate.
"Quiet? Mate, she talks like a medieval ghost and looks like she's going to levitate during assembly."
Adrian didn't laugh at the joke. He just glanced across the yard again.
She was reading a book under the tree. It was a thick book with a leather-bound cover with no title on the cover.
The final class of the day was Physical Education. The football ground was loud and hot as the scent of sweat hung in the air like fog. Students ran across the grassy field while yelling.
Adrian as always, moved like he belonged on the court being fast, focused and precise. He dribbled past three students and scored cleanly with a smooth flick. The PE instructor clapped once, nodding.
"Good work, White!"
Adrian gave a casual thumbs-up.
At the far side of the ground, sat Delphini on the grass observing the game happening.
She wasn't dressed for PE. She'd been excused from participation on her first day. The coach didn't argue.
Adrian caught her in his peripheral vision. She stood like a statuewithout any reaction even if the play was happening near her.
Near the equipment rack, Gregor, a huge bulky boy known more for his foolish antics than any other thing was fooling around with a few others. He was known for knocking people over accidentally… and occasionally on purpose.
He picked up a spare football.
He smirked and said to his friend, "Watch this."
Adrian's gut tensed, thinking Gregor was not up to any good at all.
Gregor turned toward Delphini and kicked the football with a surprising force at her. The ball was hurtling at her head.
Adrian's heart jumped and without thinking about anything else, he yelled at her, "Delphini!"
She turned her head hearing someone shout her name and noticed the ball coming towards her.
Her cold eyes flicked up towards the incoming ball and then something changed.
There was no sound at first, but then a spark shimmered in her eyes flickering. A beautiful shade of violet.
BOOM!
The ball exploded mid-air. It didn't pop or get torn but exploded.
Adrian flinched back instinctively. The blast released a pulse of light. For a split second, the air around that blast was filled with strange fragments, it looked like crimson shards that floated, sparkled and shimmered like crystal fragments caught in light. They spun slowly as they fell and faded into nothing soon.
Adrian stared at it. Everyone gasped, as it had their attention when they heard that sound.
But no one else reacted to the shards.
No one but him.
"Delphini!", called out the PE instructor asking if she was alright.
She didn't move from her place, didn't even flinch at what happened just now.
She turned slowly toward the teacher and with a blank expression she said, "I am alright, teacher. Please excuse me since I am not feeling well."
No panic. No emotion.
Just silence.
The instructor turned toward Gregor who looked like he'd just wet himself and shouted at him, "For God's sake, what were you thinking?!? That could've knocked her out cold!"
"I–I didn't think she'd just stand there-"
"That's no excuse. You're staying after class and we'll be writing an incident report."
Gregor looked at the floor with his face burning red out of embarrassment
Meanwhile, Adrian couldn't stop staring at the outline of Delphini as she walked towards the school.
Delphini was gone but whatever happened just now was imprinted in his mind.
The ball.
The shards.
The glow.
He picked up another ball that had been near the explosion site. There was no evidence of anything wrong with it.
'What just happened right now?'
Adrian stood frozen in his place and said to himself, "That wasn't a hallucination."
He knew what he had just seen.
Delphini Riddle was hiding something.
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