Like most of the disasters in Rin's life, this day started late. She sprang out of bed, realized she was wearing mismatched socks, brushed her teeth with her aunt's fancy anti-aging cream, and nearly screamed when her reflection looked like a shiny ghost.
"Perfect," grumbled Rin, "now my mouth is wrinkle-free.
She was an orphan who lived with her uncle and aunt, who snored like a motorcycle with a broken muffler, and an aunt who took to regular scolding as a form of cardio. None of it bothered Rin particularly; she had learned to survive with earplugs and swift escapes.
She had studied at Sunrise High School, which was a normal school, yet weird things happened daily. Rin had two best friends: Hana, who could gossip faster than Wi-Fi, and Leo, who had perfected the art of remaining composed no matter how crazy Rin's life got.
When Rin reached the school gate, panting like she'd run a marathon, Leo said, "You're late again."
Perlis replied haughtily, "I like to call it fashionably delayed entrance."
Hana added, "Yeah, delayed enough to miss the first period."
In class, all was calm until Mira came in. Mira was the definition of drama: loud, self-centered, and jealous with a reason that always made no sense to Rin- maybe because she once outshone her in sports, or maybe because she existed.
But Rin did not care much; there were other thoughts.
Like Aiden.
Aiden was Mira's older brother-and the class topper. Rin really admired him; she wanted to be a class topper like him. She always froze whenever Aiden talked to her. Maybe our girl had a little crush on him, but nobody knew. Not even Hana, who could smell secrets from two miles away.
Whenever Aiden walked by, Rin's brain went into error mode.
"Rin, what's 2+2?" Leo once asked.
"Uh… Aiden—I mean, four!" she blurted.
She thinks no one noticed, but even the class goldfish probably did.
At lunchtime, Rin headed to the football field. Average at studies, maybe, but fantastic with a football. And then she kicked the ball so perfectly that it hit Mira's juice box-splash!-right onto Mira's fancy shoes.
Mira screamed, "RIN!!!"
Rin panicked, "I swear the ball has free will!"
Hana nearly choked with laughter. Leo just silently facepalmed.
After school, sitting in the library, pretending to study, was Rin.
When she finally tried to focus, she thought, Okay, Rin, study like a topper!
Her brain: Let's think about burgers instead.
"Traitor!" she muttered under her breath. At the end of the day, she walked home, dragging her bag like it weighed a ton. Her aunt yelled about her test results, her uncle snored on the couch, and Rin just smiled. Because even though she failed her math test, splashed Mira's shoes, and embarrassed herself in front of Aiden again… Still, it was a pretty good day. She fell onto her bed and sighed, "Tomorrow I will finally focus on studying." And with that, she fell asleep, dreaming about football, exams, and dancing burgers. Suddenly, she hears some noises; first, she ignores them, but then the noises, creeping and getting closer, wake her up completely. She opens her eyes and sees a black crow standing beside her. She became so shocked and shouted.