Even now the girl as she thought of the boy, who back then had not only destroyed her sandcastle but also kicked sand into her eyes mercilessly. The sheer bitterness of being unjustly attacked had left her wanting to get even with him at that moment.
Especially since she had done nothing to provoke him. To her joy her aunt had found before she could react and took the distressed girl home in order to tend to her injured eyes.
'It will do you no good to retaliate, you never know who you could be insulting' her aunt had said in a tender voice while soothing the distressed girl who wanted to completely avoid the rude boy.
Sadly the boy would often find her even at times she would not normally be out. This resulted in her being mocked or teased, until eventually some other nobles would get involved and bully her leaving her more recluse than ever.
Seeing this had worried her aunt to the point that she was very nervous about leaving her niece alone or allowing her to go outside if it would result in being bullied. Sadly there was so much the aunt could do and she could only pray for her niece's safety.
"Weak and pathetic like a brat, your magic's too good for a dumb rat like you" the boy had jeered even after she didn't retaliate months later, not once did she make a noise nor allow her distressed eyes to release tears.
"Why don't you fight back? Too scared to fight back you wimp?" he challenged while scowling at her as she walked away before wincing as he kicked her to the floor.
However just as things seemed to never get any better a boy, despite enduring challenges of his own slowly but surely became close friends with the girl to the aunt's relief. It was then small child slowly started to smile and laugh happily like she use to before the bullying started.
Looking at her hands now which were slightly covered by sleeves, she then stared at the fair-skinned girl who had orange hair that went up to her lower back, on the tips of her hair contained light blue highlights.
The girl meanwhile continued to smirk at the blank-faced girl, not caring to hide the fact that she was up to no good. The green-eyed girl continued to at her not caring about what the girl would do as she wanted nothing more than to leave before she was made to do something else.
"Thanks, always such a help. I can see why others go to you for stuff" said the orange-haired girl smugly before dropping her ruby earrings on the table in front of the quiet girl as payment.
Sighing mentally the brown-haired girl stared at it knowing that they wouldn't stop going to her for spells or potions, or at worst their homework.
Mostly thanks to the fact she was classified as the 'nerd' and 'bookworm' given how she would always study, even during her spare time outside of class her she would often experiment with potions and spells to improve her knowledge in order to be a sorceress.
Despite being ridiculed and pushed about by others until she would often end up being made to make potions and spells for various people. Very soon it had come to a point when she had come up with the idea of turning what she could do into a small business only known to most students.
Except, she would require a fee of something valuable, that is if they were willing to part with family heirlooms or precious possessions that quickly in order to get ahead. To her surprise most of her 'customers' were leaving her sad at how eager they were to get ahead by taking the easy way out.
Very soon the more students that approached her despite her conditions, caused the dismayed girl to slowly stopped caring as they only cared about themselves.
In a way this gave her more of an excuse to practice and learn even advanced art that resulted in getting high marks in her tests. The repercussions sadly ended up her being a target for bullies and some students forcing her to 'help' them with homework.
This in turn resulted in her needing to complete the works within a set timeframe, but at the same time also tried to make sure she would not be caught out.
In truth it made her sick and miserable that she had to be put through this, after all this was supposed to be the best school in the country only it turned out that it wasn't what it made out to be.
"It's just a shame parents can't see the farce behind this grand school" the girl muttered mentally as she placed a lock of her fringe behind her ear.
Getting up she grabbed her worn brown bag and packed her books away, as expected the teacher had gone to the offices after classes leaving students behind to do whatever they wanted. Which was both good and bad for certain students.
Seeing that it was lunchtime she tucked her chair in and left the storeroom knowing that no one would enter, especially since it was abandoned even by the janitor who refused to clean the place for an odd reason or two.
As a result the girl would see this as a place to hide and study in peace. That was until others would enter and make her help them.
As she walked the girl continued to keep her guard up in case someone would jump out and bother her given that it would happen almost every day.
As she walked she took subtle reflections of herself in the glass windows, there peeking at her was a sad fair-skinned girl wearing a burgundy jacket over her white shirt, she also wore a pair dull grey trousers that hid her burgundy socks and black shoes.
Despite being called a tomboy and other unwanted names thanks to being reduced to wearing trousers instead of skirts, the girl kept her head level while ignoring the people as much as she could.
"Oh look it's the bookworm" a girl's jeering voice came from her right, immediately the girl tensed up as she now predicted a stream of mishaps waiting to happen thanks to being spotted.
"Ugh, the nerve of her acting like she even has any rights to be here. She's not even a noble! What was the king thinking allowing trash to enter the school" another teen girl said as they watched her grab a tray and observe the food that was available.
As brown-haired girl obtained some lunch her stomach twisted in fear, she always resented the nobles who remained stuck up because their parents were higher up in the hierarchy.