Dainty and Dauntless

The Dawn:

"Once upon a time" gives promise to a tale. It could be an exciting one, mystifying truly, terrifying so, boring or outrageously non-existent. Whatever comes next after this statement has been said and cannot be unsaid. On that note,
Once upon a time a girl was a girl.

🦋🦋🦋

"School...Urgh!"

She wanted it to end, forever. Boarding school was the worst, spending time away from the people you call home sucked, always.

"High school is fun dear," Mrs. Simmons had said and went on to tell her how she loved those years.

She, Mrs. Simmons, one of the cool girls and her besties were the happiest girls back then. Their school yearbooks rubbed it in Natalie's face. She smirked at the thought that she would have never engaged with them, or they with her. Their difference, personality-wise was so evident. Mrs. Simmons was a cool extrovert, loved the attention and hummed to pop music. On the other hand, her only daughter, Natalie R. Simmons, was peacefully introverted and took pleasure in art, good music, literature, entertainment, family and minding her business.
The distance between the apple and the tree couldn't be farther. Natalie found the beauty of art mesmerizing while music allowed her to live beyond the physical world. Her black hole of curiosity was always fed by literature and entertainment and family entrusted her the duty to protect and love. For everyone's sake, she minded her business, keeping them safe from her honest opinions. Mrs. Simmons found them triggering. She could never un hear them, and that did give Natalie a good laugh.

She found her dear mother so ordinary, as well as many other people she did listen to. They felt at ease with the world they found, left behind by their ancestors and walked in their steps blindly, but for this world, Natalie had her eyes gawking out at everything that they had missed. Her adventures were not so fun solo though and she had come to accept that this fate was so excruciating.

This big world was too immense for one curious girl.
                                      ...

So much for a good start! The final weeks of vacation turned into a nightmare when Natalie was attacked by acne, and the small bumps made her feel insecure. She had never felt less beautiful.

What an oily way to start high school! Adolescence sucked on all levels.

Natalie could feel the suckers protruding off her face. She hated the thought of having to hold a conversation only for the other party to be distracted by the shiny and painful bumps on her forehead. She had pleaded with Mrs. Simmons to get her an instant cure, anything that could make pimples vanish. All this only made her mother laugh so hard which was quite rude, in Natalie's opinion. This was a crisis.
Why was she laughing in the face of a catastrophe?!

Mrs. Simmons had tried to comfort her fussing teenage daughter, "they will be gone, honey. Just a few years and your beautiful skin will get all better"

... and Natalie had stressed on, "a few years is too long. These things are going to throw me off my groove mum. Please do something."

She still had to go to school despite her insecurity. This was definitely a bad start.
The universe was not cool at all for this.

The next chapter finally caught up; high school.
So, this was it. It wasn't bad at all, she could survive with a bunch of her own or trail through it stealthily solo. Pfft! A bunch? She cackled at the word and quickly trashed the idea.
While here she did notice; tall girls owned the confidence while the pretty ones had the attention. The cool girlies had the friends, and the smart got the respect. High school was interesting. All Natalie got was the upper bunk bed, yay! That was an instant win. There she would sit and watch from her high tower, the life down below. In her silence she caught a glimpse of reunited friends, ecstatic expressions, nervous stares and intimidating personalities. She, small, quiet and blessed with an uninterested expression, was no fun to her audience and It seemed quite a number of people weren't happy with her temperament.

"Yup, ordinary folks," she sighed as she looked around.

Natalie was disappointed at the possibility of trudging through another chapter of life alone.
No one could let her ask or give answers, no one spoke her interests. Their fun wasn't hers.

She was still going to survive, and it was a must-do mission. Surviving was a piece of cake. The legendary tactic of "minding her business" was the most dangerous weapon against the crazy awaiting her. The gods had trusted her to master it, and she had always made them proud. She was not about to let them down.

Fast forward, Natalie's first year was almost to an end, not too bad a year. Her studies were fine, and she actually had at least two friends.
It wasn't going to be lonely after all. The recognition for excellence was coming up soon and an academic assembly was called for the smartest students to get recognized. Natalie thought about the stage anxiety, and it made her belly flip. Good enough she wasn't one of the smart guys. The proceedings began and students gathered around. Natalie, and probably most of the crowd were praying that the ceremony would end sooner than later. Those who were acknowledged loved the honor and kept coming up with wide grins and great energy. Just as the names were beginning to bore her to the afterlife, a name, a boy apparently from her class year was called out in the first position. It jolted her curiosity, then her intrigue. She couldn't tell why.
Who was that guy?

"Ethan Valer" The name rolled off her tongue with ease.

Giggles caught Natalie's attention as two talkative girls, probably from a year higher were sharing information just next to her. One whispered to the other, obviously not whispering.

"Yea, I heard he is quite the smart one, very proud too."

"Oh! Well, that makes this batch more interesting then," the other had that to say.

These girls weren't even in year one, how did they get to know this information? Natalie shook her head a bit at their dedication to gossip. Seconds later said guy walked towards the stage and Natalie squinted her eyes to see him clearer; a tall figure, arms lazily swinging back and forth at his side walked up, his gaze directed forward but to the ground. When he finally stood still, he faced towards the assembly but had his focus into space.

Natalie smirked at his demeanor, "Ethan Valer is not so ordinary"

He squinted his eyes once in a while, bit on his lip a little and rubbed hands before shifting his body weight to the other leg. He was so nervously uninterested in the proceedings but very accepting of the attention.
Natalie couldn't help chuckling, and followed it with rolling her eyes.

Proud? Natalie thought him very proud.
And yet the more she stared at him, the more she found him so fragile. Ordinary or not, he made her feel some kind of way.

Very interesting was this nerd.

🦋🦋🦋