Light in Dawn

Chapter Two - Reversed Time

Surprise birthday present Ember~ ^_^ I'm not sure if I can keep up with this though, since it had taken me a lot of hard work.

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What a delightful surprise.

"In my impression, class has started. Am I correct?"

A young female teacher at stepped in the classroom and eyed the crowd of girls pointedly, her sapphire eyes shaded by disgust.

The girls gasped and visibly recoiled, obviously not expecting Her appearance in classroom. "Yes miss." None of them even dared to murmur a complaint as they fled back to their seats, tidying their desks for the lesson with abnormal speed.

If Mrs Lynn was revered in the school, Miss Madison was downright feared.

Around the start of last year when Miss Madison first began teaching, a boy in her eleventh-year Maths class named Kenith Brandon refused to hand in an entire term of homework. After receiving his report - a very blunt one - he convened his friends and protested outside the staff's office. There was no shortage of large banners and posters with degrading words and images. Someone even hijacked the speaker and broadcasted a message containing every insulting word known in the English language, directed at Miss Madison, to the entire school.

Yes the principal was outraged. Mrs Lynn was furious. The Kelsley High Executive Board was fuming.

Everyone expected Miss Madison's resignation by the next day along with Kenith's expulsion.

What came instead was the news that the student in question and three of his best friends were involved in an accident associated with drink driving. Quite coincidentally the four were the main organizers of the protest in the same morning. While recovering in the hospital, the boys write a formal apology letter to the Miss Madison, which they read out jointly in the assembly two months later after hospitalization.

That wasn't all. It was said that during the two months Kenith Brandon was absent for, his usual seat in Maths class was cursed. Everyone who sat there swore that they heard an eerie howling sound saying "COME TO ME..." whenever they stopped paying attention in class.

The legend made Miss Madison insanely famous. Of course there were skeptics, but the recount was so recent and detailed that no one dared to take the risk to offend her.

"I won't be the next Kenith Brandon, will I?" was the thought that crossed everyone's mind as the teacher casted one glance at them and made her way to the dais. She stacked her books up to clear the desk, unflinchingly accepting the nervous and questioning peeks from the girls.

She had slightly wavy auburn hair, perfectly resembling her fiery temper. Actually, she wasn't really fiery at all, only stern, Andriana noted. Legend aside, she was only occasionally enraged by those who were disrespectful. In no time, the classroom was filled with panicky murmurs of anxious conversations, the noise level building up upon each small voice of individuals.

"Be silent while I mark the roll." Miss Madison yelled without lifting her head.

Naturally the mere sound of her voice overawed the class. The class was immediately quiet enough for the sound of a dropping needle to be heard even on the carpeted floor.

Andriana scanned the classroom leisurely, blissfully composed and unaffected.

"Excuse me miss," Andriana shifted her eyes to the source of sound to find Julyan casting her a baffled gaze, but the question was clearly directed at the teacher, "I thought we were supposed to have Art first, instructed by Mrs. North?"