Entry 13: High School Again [02]

Daniel Gray was what one would consider the equivalent of the American high school jock. Unfortunately, his behaviour was that of the stereotypical egotistical and arrogant jock, and not that of the somewhat decent guys that just had too many women around them. Hell, even his name sounded like that of a leading actor in a movie.

Daniel, as the prime forward for the school football team, who played well in both the wing and as a striker, had garnered a hefty amount of prestige at Little Grove High School. With the ability to play at the level he did in the most popular sport of Polaria- football, a culture passed on from the once colonial rulers of Polaria- the British Empire- and through the generations of Brit and Irish migrants who had settled on the uninhabited land, Daniel was destined to rise in the social hierarchy of LGHS.

With his illustrious reputation as the top scorer for the school football team in the second year, coupled with his handsome face, girls practically threw themselves at him while the student and teaching bodies held a very respectable impression of him. And Daniel, despite his lack of academic ability, was no idiot to let the popularity pass over him without taking full advantage of it. He was well-known for using his charisma- and through some rumours, underhanded means- to get into the pants of several of the girls at LGHS and the neighbouring schools.

That same Daniel was also seen as the ‘group leader’ of sorts amongst the group of students currently sitting together right now. A group that had tormented Samuel to no end in his previous life.

Sat opposite Daniel, on the desk in front of him, was a beautiful brunette who was currently checking her varnished nails for any imperfections. Leaning back on the arm placed behind her with her legs crossed over each other and her high-waisted mini skirt exposing much of her smooth, pale legs for all to see, she looked wholly unbothered by the reunion of the group.

As one could imagine, Tara Williams was the cheerleading captain and was known to be in an open relationship with Daniel. Rumours were going around of her being a slut that spread her legs for most of the hot guys at LGHS but none could confirm their validity as few spoke of it in Samuel’s past life for fear of earning Daniel’s ire.

From this small group of people, one could directly see the predominant ethnic groups that resided in Polaria. After the British Empire took over the uninhabited island in the late 17th century, which was wedged in between Siberia and Alaska in the Bering Sea, Japanese migrants relocated to the land in the late 19th century, only shortly after the British and Irish had settled on the fertile plains. As the country was about the same size as Britain itself and consisted of several small islands- including but not limited to the Aleutian isles (of Alaska)- and because it had volcanic activity as it was situated above the pacific plate, many saw the vast opportunity in settling there.

The settlers didn’t have to accommodate much for the climate as despite being slightly cooler than Britain and Japan, it still had 4 distinct seasons. But despite the fertile soils, as the frost-free season was relatively short, the population had not grown to the extent Britain and Japan had grown. The current population was only just under 4 million, with its hand in only a few different, but key, industries- investments, energy, agriculture and pharmaceuticals.

With a culture heavily dominated by British and Japanese migrants, there were many communities of such people living in Polaria and attending schools together. While its history was fraught with its own difficulties and tribulations, Polaria followed the current world trend of racial tolerance, diversity and globalisation.

In this way, a group such as Daniel’s, with the Caucasian forward and cheerleader, and the East Asian centre-back and badminton captain, could exist at LGHS.

Samuel, who was looking discretely at the group while waiting for the first period to begin, noticed Tara finishing up checking out her nails. While Jun and Daniel were exchanging small talk, the cheerleader noticed the form of her friend as she sat idly tapping away at her flip phone.

“Eh? Did you go on a diet over the summer babe? You look way too thin.”

“Ugh… Fuck Tara, hasn’t anyone told you that you’re too blunt? It just kind of happened… I don’t know.” Mai, who was slightly stupefied by the sudden focus on her slimmer form, which could be seen by the prominent protrusions of her collar bones peeking through the undone top of her shirt, looked slightly embarrassed as she replied with a disgruntled response.

“Yeah, whatever, you should get that checked out. It doesn’t look right.”

Samuel couldn’t be bothered to keep listening to the conversations of the group and patiently waited in his seat for class to begin. Usually, he wouldn’t sit in the classroom as early as he did today, but because his lower body was still aching from his ‘workout’ the night prior, he’d decided to come straight to the class to rest. He had considered taking a stamina potion to relieve the discomfort in his muscles, but upon reflection, the fact that potions had a cost and since they could be used in more critical situations- i.e before sex- Samuel opted to put aside the thought.

[Stamina 61/100]

[Stamina Potion (Grade 1)]

[Effect: Raises recipient’s current stamina by 20 points. Potion efficacy will be capped at 75/100 stamina.]

[Side Effect: Decrease recipient’s current health by 5 points.]

With his head resting in the embrace of his arms, Samuel lay on his desk with his eyes closed, trying to get in a short snooze before the lesson began. As most classes took place in one classroom, Samuel wouldn’t have to move around too much and was thinking of the different times he could rest.

While he was mulling over these thoughts with his eyes shut, a sudden shout of a particular name brought him out of his sleeping state.

“Faith!”

It wasn’t so much the fact that the shout was quite loud, but the contents of the shout that had him turn his head, which had been buried in his arms, to the side.

Samuel’s eyes settled upon his younger sister who was approaching the group of four third-year students at LGHS. Garbed in the classic girls’ uniform with a frilly collar and a fashionable headband, both in white, adding a touch of femininity to her look, the 5’4 second year approached Tara who had called her name.

With a bit of makeup to make her look older than she truly was, she fit into the group of beautiful students perfectly with her jet-black hair and hazel eyes.

Samuel’s thoughts upon seeing his sister trailed back to her looks before she dolled up from what he could vaguely remember 20 years back. Her sharp facial features and prominent jawline had given her a refreshingly innocent look. And with a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, it had accentuated the nerdy charm.

If he could remember correctly, it was over the summer that just passed that she had begun to make changes in her fashion and looks, and had evidently become acquainted with the enigmatic character that was Tara.

As Faith Brianna Cooper was making her way to the group to greet her friend and hopefully integrate into Tara’s friendship group, her eyes searched around briefly. All of a sudden, the siblings’ eyes met, and after an inconspicuous amount of time examining the other, neither showed any reaction to the eye contact.

Samuel went back to burying his head in his arms, though with his head slightly tilted so he could peek at the group if they mentioned anything interesting. It was a good decision on his part because he noticed the look on Daniel’s face when he looked over at his sister. As a nerd with her own friendship group, the two would never have met in the previous year. And from the reaction he displayed, Faith hadn’t met up with anyone in the group besides Tara over the summer.

‘Looks like he hasn’t got his grubby hands on my baby sister yet. After all, he’s notorious for dumping ‘goods’ he’s used once. Sooner or later I’ll be wiping that look off of his face for the path he lead my sister down in my past life.’

Despite his sister’s intentions to integrate herself into the group that bullied Samuel, the young adult bore no grudges. No. It would be more appropriate to say he bore no grudges in the current timeline, as in his past timeline he hated the guts of the sister that he felt had betrayed him.

But decades of reflecting upon the situation and his sister’s behaviour and eventual path to degeneracy had made Samuel change his views on his sister. He’d made some realisations too late, and without a way to contact her, he’d ended up similarly losing his sister in a fashion not unlike his mother, adding to his pile of regrets.

‘In this life, I’ll get to the bottom of things. That’s why I’m here in this school. And I won’t let that asshole touch my cute little sister.’

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