The Lost Crown

~2(d)~

Mariya stood in the centre of the canteen, directly in front of Diana, and her friends.
Diana Tennesley.
The sole heiress of one of the most popular make up brands in the world -Urban crème.
Regarding her family history, they were pretty much normal- a middle class family, with a decent income a couple of years ago.
However, everything changed, the moment Diana's mother won a lottery and decided to invest it. Luck was on there side, as after a few years, her mom was walking down the red carpet, with her fifth husband, to collect the 'Best of Beauty ' award, one of the highest honours in the line of makeup. And now, million dollars in their bank, there were doing pretty good, her mom having her seventh marriage this summer, and her charming princess (her daughter), the ambassador of Urban Crème had become the new face for their 'fall collection 2K17. '
Mariya stared at Diana, slightly taking in her appearance. She was beautiful.
Breathtaking.
exquisite.
Her heart shaped face,cleared off any makeup, was slightly tanned, with a hint of rosiness. Her stunning hazel eyes stared back at her, as if she could even peer inside her deepest, darker secrets.
And Mariya had many.
Her long, strawberry blond hair rested on her shoulders, curling naturally at the end. Her lips, oh so soft and plum, felt like tugging and biting on them.
Mariya knew for sure, that if she were a boy then, she would be falling head over heels for the exotic goddess, that sat across the large round table, with the rest of her friends surrounding her.
With one glance at her sharp smirk, and catlike eyes, Mariya could easily make out that she demanded attention.
Authority.
Her behaviour, her face, even the way she was sitting with her long legs,one on top of other, and her hands resting on them, showed that she was a born leader, destined to be a monarch or a queen.
"Mariya Waters." her voice boomed inside the canteen, the glass walls reflecting them everywhere, and it felt like a bucket of cold water fell on top of Mariya, drenching away all the opinions she had formed mentally about Diana.
Her voice, no matter how sweet and melodic it sounded, did not hide the venom and disgust she had, against her. It felt like Mariya was a small particle of dirt, stuck in her manicured nails.
Mariya looked up at her but immediately flinched when she glared at her, her eyes narrowing a little.
"no one looks at me when I'm speaking. " she spat, yet it sounded beautiful to her fellow students as they stared at her with so much admiration that even Mariya found it amusing.
It felt like the entire school was in some sort of trance, completely mesmerised by the mortal goddess in front of them.
It was only then Mariya truly looked at her surrounding.
The tables that once she thought lay scattered where not really placed haphazardly. Instead, the best looking table,with leather chairs was placed in the middle of the hall, and the tables that looked not as luxurious as the one in the centre were surrounding it, almost forming a rough circle. The ordinary or pale looking tables were at the farthest corner, almost secluded from the other two types.
"Natsume, give me her form please? " Diana called out to the pretty looking Japanese girl with pig tails, who was sitting beside her, numerous books lying scattered in front of her.
Natsume looked at Mariya with bored, brown eyes and handed over a form to Diana. She slightly twirled her Raven black hair and smiled at Mariya sweetly, her eyes holding an evil glint.
Mariya felt sick.
Suddenly her eyes darted towards a familiar looking boy, who sat beside Natsume with his own friend circle surrounding him.
The same brown hair and jet black eyes staring directly at her with no emotion.
Oh no! This doesn't look good.
That boy was smirking at her, obviously finding the entire situation quite entertaining.
His voice rang inside Mariya's mind, and she couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what was going to happen next.
I would like to break your arrogance, but that job is Diana's. So I don't need to mind her business. But it would be quite entertaining, to see you on your knees, begging for mercy. "
Natsume looking back and forth at the two, smirked and added, "looks like you already met her Leo. "
Diana held the form, her eyes scanning through every information written on it. Then her eyes widened and a hand flew over her mouth.
"oh God! " she laughed, the sweet soft voice echoing in the silent canteen, the students too busy staring at the drama unfolding in front of them than chatting and gossiping.
"Your parent, is a primary school teacher?!" she laughed loudly, her head falling back a little.
Then slowly Natsume and Miranda started giggling, which turned into a full laugh, and soon the whole canteen started laughing, only a few keeping their heads down pitying Mariya, in their minds. Mariya's checks reddened in embarrassment.
But Diana didn't stop, in fact she had just started.
"and your family income? " she continued, flipping her silky hair back, " is- is even less than the income my servants are paid in a month!"
Miranda's eyes became wide, and Leo simply found the whole thing amusing. He smiled arrogantly, disgustly eyeing Mariya with his eyes.
Several 'oh my God's and 'oh's belched from different parts of the hall, and Mariya's blush only depend.
She was feeling hot all of a sudden, and tried to shake her head to remove her dizziness.
Out of the blue, a girl with curly hair and thick glasses came from behind and stood beside Diana silently.
Diana, noticing her presence took the coffee from her hand and delicately took a sip from the cup.
"good, you are done for now. " she continued, her eyes gazing at the form," kneel. " Diana commanded tartly.
Mariya's eyes became big as the girl sat on her knees , a little behind Diana, between her and Natsume, and began nibbling a piece of bread, she had taken from the buffet. The girl looked so sad, her face marked with emotional agpny, so humiliated that she didn't even protest against it. It felt like this happened daily.
Mariya closed her eyes, her hands balling into tight fists. This was too much.
This was downright disgracing a human!
Suddenly a painful memory flashed in Mariya's mind and before she knew it, it was already surfacing out, screeching and pulling off all the mental barriers Mariya had put to lock it inside the deepest parts of her brain.
————
"kneel. " the voice, so cold yet sharp and grave cut through the tensed atmosphere.
She slowly wobbled, benting her knees and sitting abruptly on them. Her hands automatically touched the filthy tiled floor, to steady her already weak body. The air was stale, the smell of iron hitting her nose immediately.
Blood.
She was not sure, whose blood it was, but the painful sensation of her back burning indicated only one thing.
A small strip of light  of a bulb alighted on her naked, seven year old body, and she slightly winced at the sudden brightness. Then suddenly a plate was shoved towards her bruised, battered self.
It had a small piece of bread and butter.
This was enough for her to just stay alive.
Just.
She lifted her hand, trying to hold the bread piece when suddenly he pulled it away from her.
"crawl"
Her lips quivered.
She steadied herself, pain erupting from all sides as the muscles were stretched. Then slowly she crawled towards the dirty looking, yet deliciously smelling plate, and tried to touch the food, only to be pulled again from her hands.
She crawled again, and as she came near the plate, he immediately pulled it away.
This was what he liked doing.
Giving hope to her and then snatching it away right on time, making her feel shattered, and mentally broken.
She abruptly stopped in front of him, her head bowed, staring at the shiny shoes he was wearing.
Even the shoes were much better than him.
Suddenly he clutched her hair, and pulled her face upwards making her stare at his blue eyes with fear.
"you are nothing but a filthy object. " he said slowly, so that Mariya could hear each word perfectly clear, memorising it in her small head, " I don't need to treat you as a human, or feed you OR take care of you. You are just a key to million dollars I will be reciving. As soon as I get what I want, I will dispose you off and wash my hands clean out of it. Now LICK!"
Mariya slowly lowered her head, and glided her tongue on his shoes, tasting the horrible, vile leather and dirt.
"this is your food tonight, bitch. " he laughed as he kicked her, making her fly away from him and walked out of the room, his menancing laughter fading away in the soundless background.
She lay there, curled up, on the cold frozen floor.
She didn't attempt to move, she knew it was pointless.
Another day without food.
It was alright with her, but the fact which made her feel sad and depressed was that he had successfully accomplished in breaking her.
I am not a human, I am a dog.
I am a dog.
She mentally chanted before falling into a deep slumber.
——————
"stop! "
Miranda and Natsume who were smiling and giggling stopped doing that and looked at her.
Diana's eyes narrowed.
Even Mariya was surprised that she was the one who spoke.
"stop it right now." Mariya spoke, loudly this time, so that everyone could hear it loud and clear.
Then she slowly walked towards the poor girl and touched her shoulders.
Then she helped her stand up, all the while avoiding everyone's stares.
Diana observed her every move, like a tiger trying to catch his tenth pray of the day. "what the hell are you doing? "Miranda asked, surprised at her action.
"she is a human, just like us. " Mariya spoke angrily, " no one has any right to disgrace a person like that. "
Natsume glared at her, " you actually have the courage to talk back to us? "
The students stared at Diana eagerly, clearly waiting for her to snap, and scream at the new girl for daring to do such a thing.
But nothing happened.
Diana stood up and smiled.
She smiled so sweetly that bile rose through Mariya's throat.
It was so evil.
"Mariya, Mariya, Mariya!" she moved her head in disapproval, " do you even know with whom you are playing?"
The  curly haired girl whimpered silently in Mariya's arms, clearly frightened by Diana's demeanour.
Mariya was about to reply when suddenly another voice spoke first, "leave her alone Diana. "Justin growled.
Diana looked at him and immediately it hit her.
"Justin Manson! Mariya's golden ticket. Now I know that how a poor little girl from the slums, has managed to step her dirty feet in C. H. No wonder the chairwoman was behind this. " she said, a finger touching her jaw.
" I think its finally time that you stop your 'princess' games, and let others live their lives peacefully. " Justin muttered angrily, but it reached her ears quite well.
Diana sighed and pretended to check her perfect nails.
Then she rolled her eyes warily, " you know Justin that I cannot insult you because you are one of The Royals, but that doesn't change the fact that you can insult me back. I am the queen. I deserve respect. It took incredible hard work to reach to the top, and you should at least respect that. I am letting it slide , this one time, but don't forget that Mariya is not safe. "
"she straight away falls in group C, and we all know the reason very well. And on top of that, she tried to humiliate me in front of my peers, which I will not let it slide away that easily. No matter how much you try to protect her , no one will be able to save her from me. "
Justin nodded barely, clearly avoiding her eyes, while Diana adjusted her bag on her shoulder and turned towards Mariya giving her a death glare.
Then as if on cue, her minions excluding Leo and his friends stood up and trailed behind her, chatting excitedly about today's incident.
Mariya sighed, as she saw their retreating form.
Diana was just about to leave the hall when suddenly a petite looking girl ran inside the hall,towards her and frantically whispered something in Diana's ears.
"what?" diana shouted, all of a sudden her cool authorative countenance breaking off, and showing a rather weak side.
A side which no one knew existed.
The students, including Mariya and Justin turned at her, noticing the sudden change in demeanour.
She quickly composed herself and turned back, staring intently at Leo who was busy with his cell. Coughing a little to catch everyone's attention, she spoke, her voice loud and clear, and a fake smile breaking on her face, " students of Cro sswell High, our dear X is back. "