Undying Paternity (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter I - Blue Monday

Sofia packed her things into the backpack before leaving for school. The heavy rain and darkened clouds weren't going away for the rest of the week, so she had to take her thick raincoat and umbrella along.
Somewhere at the back of her mind, she still hoped her father would sneak up on her from behind and scare her.
Sofia spun around, but no one was there.

"Not long left," she said to herself; the school was now less than 5 minutes away. All around her, she could see waves of large and small cars driving past —some red, some black, some white, some blue— but all of those colours in her line of sight couldn't lift her spirits in this depressing weather. Perhaps if the sullen sky above could start to clear, the silent storm below could start to clear too.

Sofia reached the front entrance. Surrounding her were hundreds of other children, all clustered and cramped together, their unmasked faces cackling and spewing germs all over each other. Though there hadn't been a Covid spike in the country for a good while, even after Freedom Day, Sofia wasn't taking any chances, keeping her distance from people wherever she could and putting on her mask; to no surprise, her carefree peers sneered as she cautiously passed them.

"Mate that girl's wearing a mask, what's wrong with her?" Sofia heard a voice close by.

"Oi bruv you reckon she's one of them superspreaders? Smells like it." Two other kids said from behind her.

"These people are so horrible. Dad, I wish you were here to make them stop. I don't want to be alone in this giant school." Sofia thought to herself.

As she mustered the strength to resist the comments, the young girl continued to walk, making her way through the front entrance followed by the rest of her peers.

"Hellooo there! Welcome to Siddvale! My name is Miss Coker. What do you I call you, darling?" The teacher standing before her cheerfully spoke, spooking the young girl. On either side of her, the  other Year 7s walked happily by, while Sofia stood alone.

"Um.. Sofia..." She began to speak.

"Sofia...?"

"Kazara. My, my name is Sofia Kazara." The nervous girl replied, smiling gently.

"How are you feeling, Sofia?

"Um.. Okay. Um, why, why did you decide to talk to me instead of the other students? I can see them all going their own way."

"To be honest, Sofia, I saw you staring around and thought you might be a bit lost. So I decided to talk to you, see if you were alright. These other kids will be fine, so I don't need to worry about them."

"Oh. Okay then."

"You still feeling nervous?" Miss Coker asked.

"A little bit, but I think I'll be okay." Sofia responded.

Smiling with doubt, the teacher replied, "Hm... Nah. Come on, let's walk together. I haven't had my morning coffee yet, so we're going to walk around this floor. While I get my coffee, you get your tour. How's that?"

"Well, I saw most of the floors when I came here in June, so it's not really a problem for me."

"To be honest, you never know what you might've missed when you first came here. Sometimes, when people think they're OK, they're actually not.
As you get older, Sofia, you'll realise that."

Nodding her head with a faint smile, Sofia simply acknowledged the teacher's advice before following her.

"Alright currymuncher?" Another student passed by her, this time barging her shoulder as they casually cast a slur.