Laws of e(Motion)

Seven #CF999E

Something was different the minute Emilia approached the school gates, the kind of buzz in the air that usually came from someone being disproportionately pranked, a public breakup, or someone finding an explicit item somewhere it definitely shouldn't be. The whole school seemed excited about a change of pace, and until Emilia went into the building to meet up with her locker before the school day began, she could only assume it would at least be funny.

The girl in question, the centre of attention as she batted eyelashes and loudly simpered pleas of help finding her way around, was not 'at least funny'. Emilia had to stop herself actually rolling her eyes at the blonde, as she was the first person since Arielle to wear heels to school, and her pink thigh-high boots were the opposite of subtle but definitely breaking dress code. She already had one of the footballers carrying her books that clearly were never going to fit in her designer handbag. The textbooks did at least look like the correct versions though, of course all brand new copies. Taking a quick glance at the titles, Emilia noticed the top one was for chemistry, and suddenly the obvious new girl felt a little more threatening. There was hope too of course, she considered as she hid behind the door of her locker, mentally scolding herself for judging someone else so harshly before even meeting them. A girl with an armful of textbooks already had a lot in common with her, and chemistry students usually studied at least a second scientific discipline. By the time Emilia had gathered her own books for the day and awkwardly shoved them into her bag, the new girl had moved on far enough down the corridor that she was out of sight, leaving Emilia to return to her routine in heading down to the engineering block. After the slight deviation to her morning that would inevitably alter the rest of her year, focussing on robotics sounded like the perfect way to decompress before class officially started.

Emilia had only been working on her current circuitry for a few minutes before Arielle's voice sounded from outside the classroom, unsurprising but anxiety inducing nonetheless.

"It's okay, we'll introduce you. That way she won't be a problem for you either."

The attack on Emilia's early electronics mornings was becoming unfairly routine, for it meant Arielle and her followers were coming in earlier than they needed to just to take a shot at ruining her day.

"Is she there?" Maddie's voice could be heard from around the corner.

"Of course she is." Corrine was the first to appear in the doorway as she replied, Arielle, Jocelyn, Maddie, and the new girl all crowding behind her, staring at Emilia like she was some kind of zoo animal or strange-looking aquarium fish. "Good morning Emilia."

"Hi," she mumbled back as the five girls approached, Arielle taking the new girl's hand after fighting through her long blonde hair, and leading her ahead of the group. Arielle started talking to her like Emilia was behind glass before she could react.

"Don't be fooled Poppy, she's a lot more than she looks," Arielle said, "I've heard that in her physics classes she always makes fun of people who aren't as smart as her, which is everyone." It was the first compliment Arielle had ever given her, and yet it still tore her down. There was nothing Emilia could say back to save herself, and she figured anything she did say would only make things worse, so she just sat in silence.

"Oh," Poppy mumbled, and for a moment it looked as if she might doubt Arielle's story. The words she next spoke didn't match the hollow, slightly threatening tone Poppy used. "It's good to meet you then, Emilia." The next breath Emilia took, she held onto. Time needed to move faster, the group needed to leave and her class needed to start. Usually, Jocelyn would be the next person to make some kind of move, usually taking one of her things and holding it just out of reach, or throwing it on the floor for her to scramble to pick up, but Emilia had a tight hold on the current work-in-progress in front of her. The next thought was the soldering iron, but surely Jocelyn wouldn't cross the line into actual evil. Emilia kept an eye on it just in case, but not once did Jocelyn move from where she stood, at the back of the group just off Maddie's shoulder. She couldn't put it into words, but something wasn't right amongst them.