Trinity

Chapter 3- Identity

"Your parents were in this very room three months ago" the dean said, looking at the few papers he shuffled in his hands. “And I must say… You look so much like your mother.” He stared at me in subtlety.

“How’s she?”

“Who?” I asked, unsure of where our conversation led to.

“Your mother? Mrs. Ari. How is she?”

“She’ dead” was my response, and I watched the muscles on his face relax as his tiny smile faded.

“Life” he said, almost with a bitter tone. “Comes with a tragic end, but a joyful beginning. Was she sick? She looked really healthy last time I saw her.”

“She jumped off a mountain’s cliff, Mr. Hems-worth” I uttered his name as imprinted on the door to his office.

He kept shuffling through the papers before handing them to me, alongside a pamphlet above— seeming to be a map.

“Alright, you’re good to go, Miss. Ari. You’re already late for your class, my dear, but just a piece of advice. Melissa didn’t think this school was perfect for her when she came with your father, and I understood why. She was very different from the rest of her kind. Don’t follow the trend here. It will either derail your value or get you killed. Be the difference.” I nodded slowly in concordance, although one question kept lingering in my mind.

‘Since when was mother’s name Melissa?’
Right from my day of birth to this moment, I’ve always known her to be ‘Amber’, and now there’s ‘Melissa?’ Is this why I have two names? I thought while I walked out of the old dean’s office.

Undoubtedly, I was late for class. I scanned the doors in search of lab A17, and all I saw was B12 as the numbers sequentially increased to the right.

The hallway was almost empty, and I began to panic. But my heart was set at ease as a young lad walked out a door in front.

“Hey” I called out, and he turned. A red-haired boy with a large chain on his neck, alongside a hand full of rings on both fingers, squinted.

“Up-stairs” he uttered loudly, making my brows scrunch in confusion. He didn’t even give me a chance to talk to him, yet he said “Up-stairs” like he knew what I wanted.

I watched as he held onto his saggy trouser, running forward like someone chased him. At this point, I had only one thing in mind, ‘he was definitely intoxicated'.

Regardless, I adhered to because the stairs were just beside me. On walking up, I scanned the doors, and I was surprised to see them labelled in A’s. But how could he possibly know? I asked myself. How could he tell what I had in mind?

Not for long, I found the lab, and I walked in. All I dreaded happened to face me in my eyes, although the young looking teacher who wrote on the board gave less care about my entrance.

“Whenever you’re ready, Miss Ari, you can take a seat”. I breathed in, trying not to exhale loudly, for I feared they paid attention to my every act.

The students kept looking, like I was some sort of mommy or zombie— lots of squinting faces with creased brows. Not even Mateo looked different from the rest, of which I believed it was all in the act. Nonetheless, they didn’t stop looking as I motioned to the vacant seat on the last end of the lab— leftwards.

I opened my bag and took out my notebook, along with the pen dad got me as a birthday present. It was my favourite kind of pen, filled with black ink.

I turned to my left, clashing eyes with this brunette dude whose hazel brown eyes pierced deep into mine in concern.
“What?” I asked, and he creased his brows, biting on his bottom lip.

“You’re cute” he replied.

Then he turned towards the white board— pokerfaced and deadly

‘Must they all be staring at me because I’m cute?” I thought. A number of students stifled a laugh just then. And one seated in front, snorted.

I felt highly unwelcomed and unattractive, and it seemed like I was in the wrong class at the wrong time. But Kez said they’ll love me the previous night. Was that all a lie?

“Look up!” the teacher said, catching all the attention. Atop was written ‘COLONY’ neatly underlined? Beneath it were names of several animals with a dash attached to what seemed to be their group or colonial names— a continuation of the nomenclature of living organisms, I suppose.

“Now_” said the teacher, adjusting his red necktie. “_I’ve clearly written a handful of animals and what they’re called when they’re in groups, Okay? We have a Streak of Tigers, A pride of lions, regardless the number” The students faced a boy with full grown blond hair reaching his shoulders, midway the classroom, chuckling at his stature while he reclined on his chair before they all paid attention to the red dot on the white board, touching a colonial name, and this pained me.

So, I walked in, and all they did was snicker, snort, and stare, but somehow the blonde-haired dude gets the affectionate laugh? I scoffed. It’s not like I cared or anything. I couldn’t deny that something about my so-called “Classmates” made me hate school even more.

“We have a shiver of Sharks, a bloat of hippos. Finally, we have a pack of wolves” And my so-called “Classmates” howled, making the classroom a bit noisy.

“Amongst all these animals, there’s something that makes the wolves much more unique. What’s that?” he asked.

Instantly, Keziah threw her right hand up with so much zeal to answer.

“Yes Miss. Stormborn”

“Because our school was named after the first man-wolf in history?”

“I’m afraid not, but nice try regardless” he smiled a bit.

“Yes, anyone? Even if it’s a silly answer?” he paused, grimacing through until his eyes settled on me.

Of all the people present in the classroom, he couldn’t pick any asides the new student? Not even the Cattivo boys who sat in front or willing Mateo with his bright nature attracted him, but me?

His eyes were certain enough that I was meant to answer the question. So I averted my sight, trying not to get his attention.

“You should help us out, Ms. Ari” I was sure I’d signed up for a class in hell.

Immediately, the entire students in class turned backwards towards me. I began hitting the tail of my pen on my left fist, feeling my heartbeat increase with a chill settling above my skin until I felt the accumulation of sweat on my forehead.

“I have no clue sir” I answered, and the whole class turned to the board. The room was dead silent.

“Emotions my dear” he said, right before he faced the whiteboard. “Wolves have more emotions compared to the rest”.

Well, clearly, wolves had more emotions compared to human beings, especially the snubs I took classes with. Unconsciously, I began longing for the attention I didn’t want in the first place.

Luckily, the class ended on a good note. No one spoke to me, and neither did any one care knowing my eye colour because clearly almost every eye in Lycan High was unique. No one cared about my dress or my only Nike shoe. On the brighter side, it was best if they didn’t notice. In that way, I could repeat dress patterns three times a week without their judgement.

Just then, as I walked out the door of the classroom, Keziah stood beside me in hold of my right palm.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“How did what go?”

“Your first class?”

I sighed, recalling the rather odd way it began. “Exactly as expected” I answered, “But they were all rude, I mean, who snickers at a newbie on her first day? That was highly unexpected”

“What are you talking about, Tee?” Kez said with an opposing look. “They adore you so very much! Trust me, you’ll get tired of it”

My eyes creased.

“How does she know this much, and I know nothing? And since when was rude the new sign of adoration?” I asked myself before two blue haired twins joyfully rushed towards us in white and deep blue long sleeved cheerleading gowns. They both held onto white, fluffy pompoms, and their eye lids glittered in blue— like confetti captured in aerial view. Their grins were wide, and they were undoubtedly beautiful. It's beautiful weird, that is.

“My goodness!” Kez exclaimed, jumping low as she held their hands. “You both look beautiful in those sexy uniforms”

“Well, we’re definitely the end of hot and sexy” said the twin at the left, throwing her hair behind. “I had to literally throw Kathy until she made the triple flip. It ended perfect as expected, but the workout routine kills my bones. I feel rheumatism might be the death of me” she breathed out with her mouth pursed in a small circle.

“To be frank,” uttered the other with the same voice “We considered joining only because they literally begged us to join. Now I have to think more about regulating my diet” she sighed, finally settling her eyes on me. “Kez, who’s this sweet heart?” she smiled, and I cringed to myself, holding tight to my bags handle.

“This is our very own, all the way from Tristan da Cunha…” The joy in her tone was definitely breathtakingly fantastic to kill the devil himself. “Trinity Ari!” I closed my eyes at the tone of her voice.

“What kind of name is Trinity?” asked the twin on the left, and I stifled a laugh. ‘The kind that gets you killed, silly’ I said to myself with my face down.

“If you don’t like it, you can call me Zelda. I have two first names”

“I prefer Trinity” she said, right before her twin retorted. “Zelda’s short and kind of native-like. Either way, you’re in the right place, so you’re welcome.”

I wondered why they kept saying the same thing. “I’m in the right place?” almost as if I descended into a different type of hell, and they wanted me to believe that I was in heaven. Somehow, I began to suspect they were hiding something, though I couldn’t figure out what.

“So, Trinity” Kez uttered, standing between us. “Meet Kathy and Keren” I narrowed my eyes, not knowing who was who.

“I’m Kathy” said the one on the left, throwing her left hand towards me while she gave a bright smile. Just then, her twin slapped her hand out in a shocking counter.

“No, I’m Kathy” the other opposed in an instant, in looks of stern. “No, I’m the real Kathy” said the other twin again, birthing little argument I got tired of as they went back and forth on who was Kathy or not.