The Present

[Shall High School]

A tall slender girl with honey-coloured hair entered a large building marked "Shall High School" in big bold letters, smartly dressed in a short knee-length uniform skirt and a t-shirt that perfectly hugged her upper body, emphasizing her tiny waist. Her black school bag was slung on her shoulder as she sauntered towards a locker place along the main corridor.

The long corridor led to various classrooms. Reaching her destination, She found a crowd unusually gathered around the notice board glued on the corridor wall. She walked past the crowd and headed for the lockers situated opposite the notice board and halted in front of a locker labelled '102'.

On the front of the locker door rested a white piece of paper written 'cheater' in large red letters. She nonchalantly tore the paper off and threw it in the trash bin that stood a few inches away from the lockers. She ignored the crowd entirely when a trio of mean-looking girls suddenly approached her.

They wore smug and furious looks as they neared her. One of them suddenly banged the locker beside hers earning her the crowd's attention.

"So, Seyan Murin, right? How can you become the first with full marks, unless you cheated," she voiced out loudly making the crowd murmur doubtfully.

The girl called Seyan simply clicked her tongue and shook her head, closing the door to her locker. She turned to leave when she felt an arm land on her shoulder. The owner of the arm spoke utterly with displeasure, "I'm talking to you, freak. Don't you dare ignore me!"

Shaking off the arm in disgust, she turned and cast her a cold glance, "So what if I cheated, does it eat you? If you have proper opportunities of cheating better use them." With that she left for her morning class, leaving the mean girl speechlessly cursing in fury.

Seyan Murin lives like a carefree and cool teenager and is so mature for her age. That was the first time she appeared first in her class since she always ranked either 5th or 6th

The girl who approached her was called Taylor Darcy, a famous blond mean and arrogant girl who loved attention. She was Seyan's classmate and known as Queen Bee because of her beauty.

However, ever since Seyan Murin stepped into Shall High School, she had been always inflicted by her appearance. She was so jealous at the fact that the most popular rich school hunks were fawning over her.

Seyan silently sat on her desk at the window with an open book in front of her. She got so lost in the book for a long time that she could neither hear the doubtful gossip nor feel the piercing gazes from her classmates.

Her best friend who was also her desk mate waved an arm in front of her, jolting Seyan back to reality. She turned to face her worried and angry look. Seyan rubbed her cheek sheepishly, averting her eyes from her friend's gaze.

Pinching her nose, her friend nagged, "Yan! don't you care about the rumours? I'm so mad at you."

"Uh! Saira, no matter the rumours, let them circulate. I don't care. When they are done they'll shut up."

"You!"

"Ok, ok, I got it. I'll treat you for the whole day today, how about it?" Smiled Seyan widely.

Saira sighed and replied, "Alright, you win."

The two hours class went on smoothly until the bell for the next lesson rang. The solemn female teacher pushed her glasses closer to her eyes and exited the classroom. No sooner had she left when a timid-looking girl entered the classroom.

She headed towards Seyan's direction and softly spoke but loud enough for the whole class to hear, "Big sis I heard that you ranked first so I brought you a present. Open it."

Seyan raised a brow towards the timid girl and narrowed her eyes at a cutely designed envelope that the timid girl placed on her desk.

"Yvonne, what is this?" Asked Seyan casting the girl a wary glance.

"Don't worry sis they are just tickets to a home camp," replied Yvonne softly like a timid young sister would.

The rest of her classmates stared at the girl with amazement and murmured, "She is her stepsister but she loves her. Wow, I wish she was my sister and she is so cute."

These words reached Seyan's ears who immediately smirked and then flashed Yvonne a sweet smile, "Don't worry my little sis. I'll be there."

Seyan ruffled Yvonne's brown hair and murmured a thank you. Yvonne left the classroom with an evil smile on her face as she whispered, "Let's see if you'll continue smiling, Seyan Murin."

A week passed until it was the final day of the home camp. Yvonne and Seyan prepared to leave home as soon as their driver, Mr Sky honked the car horn announcing his arrival. The two girls bid farewell to their parents and entered the car.

After a three-hour drive, the car entered a large black wrought iron gate. The vicinities were surrounded by a forest of trees at which at the end of the forest stood a large building surrounded by people who seemed to have come for the camp.

Soon as the car parked, the two girls exited the car as the driver helped them with their luggage. The girls pulled their luggage into the building and stopped in front of a glass-windowed counter, the word 'reception' carved on it in bold golden letters. They gave out their tickets for checking and turned to leave for their assigned camps.

Barely had they left when they bumped into a tall handsome boy with black obsidian hair and a pair of black eyes. The boy looked unsurprised to see the girls.

Yan, surprised, "Ash? What are you doing here?"

Ash softly chuckled and hooked around her before helping her with her luggage. Ashley Ricans was her boyfriend, a popular rich idol at Shall High School. Seyan had dated two popular guys before Ashley. Yvonne, Seyan stepsister secretly crushed on Ashley so she felt jealous when she witnessed the two acts all affectionate.

Her face turned green with jealousy as she smiled devilishly, "Just wait, sister. Everything that belongs to you will be mine."