Artheena sighed as she stared at the huge banner that was hanged on the arch of the school gate that says 'WELCOME TO DREAM UNIVERSITY!'

This University was built for young individuals who have an interest in singing and dancing. It has other courses too, but the system focuses more on enhancing the capabilities of those who bear the talent for dancing and singing.

Artheena got expelled from her former school due to her countless bad records and numerous reports from students who claimed that they were 'beaten' by her. Though half of it was true, the other half wasn't.

Many students and most of her professors dislike her. The only reason she lasted four years in that school was that the higher-ups couldn't deny her intelligence and even though she had caused trouble left and right, she managed to maintain straight A's for four consecutive years.

Sadly, she failed this time. Supposedly, it's her last year, and then she'll finally finish her horrid nightmare. Unfortunately, the records were even more than what was written in the school's 'RULES AND REGULATIONS' book, so the majority of the school's staff, professors, and the Principal itself ended up expelling her.

Her father went through thick and thin begging from University to University just to accept her, but none did. Luckily, Dream University was owned by one of her father's old friends and they went through discussions about her issue. It took a good week before class starts when they agreed to accept her.

"Artheena Veronique Tuan," she introduced herself in front of her new classmates.

Mrs. Zhong, her new adviser, smiled at her. "Take a seat, darling. You can carve your name here, and then put it in front of your table for ownership." Mrs. Zhong then handed her a nameplate and a sharp tool for carving.

She didn't say anything in response and just accepted it before walking towards an empty chair second to the last row from the first column at the right.

The table is long and can accommodate four students. Two chairs on each side and in the middle is a mini drawer. Artheena wanted to sit on the chair beside the window, but she saw a nameplate, and in it was carved the name 'Jeno Lee'

She sighed and sat on the chair beside it. "Yo! My name's Mark, this my friend, Haechan. And the one you're sitting with is Jeno. Though he's not here at the moment," Mark greeted. The guy who was her seatmate from the right and was only separated 3 inches by the drawer.

Artheena looked at them flatly before dragging her gaze lazily at the front. "Pfft-"

Haechan and Mark rolled their eyes before slowly looking at the person behind them. Jisung flashed an innocent smile while shrugging.

"Ok class, let's start from the basics." Mrs. Zhong started and wrote something on the board.

Half an hour had passed when someone knocked on the door. Mrs. Zhong halted from her discussion. "Oh, you're here. How's the meeting?"

Jaemin smiled. "Everything's cleared, ma'am," he answered.

Mrs. Zhong let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. Alright, go to your seats. We're in the middle of a lesson."

They no longer say anything before heading towards their respective chairs. Chenle noticed Artheena, so as the others.

Artheena didn't look at them ever since they entered the room. She was looking at the front, staring particularly at nothing. Jeno sat aggressively beside her. She even heard the creaking sound of the chair.

Mrs. Zhong went back to her discussion and as she discussed the lesson deeper, the more Artheena was spacing out. She can hear Mrs. Zhong talking, but she paid no attention.

Her gaze dropped at the empty nameplate. She almost forgot to carve her name in it. She sat straight as she grabbed the plate and the tool used for carving.

She wanted to carve her initials only, but she noticed that most students wrote their first and last names. She scanned the tool before carving her name.

~Veronique Tuan~

Artheena was so preoccupied that she didn't realize she cut her finger. Jeno, Mark, and Haechan saw how the tool dug right through her skin as fresh blood started streaming down to her arms.

Before Artheena could attempt to dig the tool once again, Mark gripped her hand tightly. Artheena jolted at the sudden touch. She glared at Mark.

"You cut yourself," Mark said worriedly while staring at her left hand soaked with blood.

Artheena looked down at her hand and that's when she felt the discomfort and pain. Mark pressed his lips before raising his hands. "Excuse me, ma'am," he called out.

Mrs. Zhong motioned her hands to let him speak. "Artheena accidentally cut her fingers, will you please excuse her?" He said.

"Tiān a!" Mrs. Zhong exclaimed as she runs closer to where Artheena is. "Jaemin, dài tā qù zhěnsuǒ! Kuài diǎn! Kuài diǎn!"

TRNSLTN: Oh my gosh! Jaemin, bring her to the clinic! Hurry! Hurry!

Jaemin stood up immediately and held Artheena's arms to help her stand up. "Excuse us, ma'am," he slightly bowed his head before assisting Artheena out of their classroom.

When they were outside, Artheena instantly withdraws her arms from Jaemin's grip. "Don't touch me," she said coldly while glaring at the hallway.

Jaemin was taken aback and awkwardly scratched his head. "Sorry..." he mumbled. Enough for her to hear.

Their walk to the clinic was enveloped in silence. Jaemin held the door open for Artheena to enter. He motioned his hands to a chair to let her sit. "Mish," he called out.

A petite girl wearing a white coat with fair skin and cute specs that perfectly matched her messy bun hair peeped through the curtain. "Oh, Jaem. Need anything?"

Jaemin turns to his side for her to see Artheena. "She's our new classmate," he introduced.

"Oooh..." Mishka nodded before waving her hands to Artheena. "Hi!" She greeted.

Artheena only blinked before looking to the other side. Mishka slowly dropped her hands out of embarrassment. She looked at Jaemin.

"She...she's just not used to it, I guess," he explained.

Mishka smiled and nodded her head. "What happened?" She asked and went to Artheena.

"The usual. It's that tool again," Jaemin answered and sat at the table beside Artheena's chair as he watched Mishka examined her wounds.

"Tsk! Tsk! They should replace it with something not so sharp and harmful." Mishka stood up and grabbed a kit. "Many students have been accidentally wounded and yet they haven't done anything!"

Mishka gently cleaned Artheena's wound before applying a disinfectant ointment and carefully wrapped it with gauze.

"Right, you're the school's president Jaem, exactly what are you doing?" Mishka perked up at him.

He chuckled. "Oh, I have done a lot, ok? The final decision should still be decided by them. Not me."

Mishka snorted as she gently rested Artheena's hand back on her lap. "There, all done," she said and smiled at her.

"Thanks," was all Artheena said and didn't spare any seconds to leave.

Mishka stood there. Speechless. "What's her name?" she asked Jaemin while still looking at the door.

"Artheena Veronique Tuan."

'Tuan...' Mishka said in her thoughts.

AT THE CAFETERIA, Artheena had just finished her lunch when she decided to finally go and take a tour around her new school. As she's walking downstairs, she tried looking for her phone and didn't notice Jeno. The guy didn't notice her too as the stairs were spiral.

When Artheena took a turn, she bumped at Jeno who's carrying his tray with his lunch. The metal clacking and utensils falling off down the stairs echoed through the other side of the cafeteria.

Gasps were everywhere. Artheena looked at the food that was now scattered on the stairs and Jeno's hoodie. She was about to say something when Jeno grab a hold of her leather jacket, pulled her closer, and glared at her with jaw clenched tightly.

"Oh no! Now Jeno's mad!"

"Ugh! She should've said sorry immediately!"

"Tsk! Tsk! I feel sorry for her!"

"She deserves it duh! She bumped at our king on purpose! What an attention seeker!"

"She must be the new student from their class. She's wearing the badge of Class A!"

"Let's see how she's going to escape from our king."

Those were a few gasps, whispers, and feedbacks of the crowd that Artheena heard. She deadass looked at Jeno in the eyes and eyed him from head to toe. He's breathing hard and was clenching her leather jacket tight.

'He's mad alright'  She said in her thought.

"Yo man, take it easy," Mark inserted and gripped both of Jeno's wrists.

Artheena was leaning back and if not for Jeno who was holding her tightly she would've been laying on the stairs now. "Jeno it's ok bro, that was just an accident," Haechan said behind them.

"Let go," Artheena finally said.

"Why would I?" Jeno asked sarcastically.

Artheena smirked. "It was an accident, they say. It's ok, they say. Take it easy, they say." Mark was surprised how calm Artheena was not until "You punk." she added.

Haechan who was at the back peeks a little with wide eyes. "Mworago?" Jeno asked gritting his teeth.

"Aish! Stop it!" Mark exclaimed and used his strength to pull Jeno away from Artheena.

The tension was starting to rise when Artheena fixed her leather jacket and eyed Jeno from head to toe again. She had that blood-boiling smirk plastered all over her face. She blew her hair that was on her face and walk down the stairs.

Jeno's patience snapped and in an instant Artheena was already on the ground. He kicked her. Good thing they were near the end of the stairs, hence a serious injury would happen if they were at the top.

"Lee Jeno!" Mark shouted but his friend didn't even bother to pay attention to him and walked closer towards Artheena.

"Stand up," he ordered while glaring at her.

The crowd was in uproar and started to cheer for their bias. Artheena rolled her tongue on her teeth. Her patience was wearing thin and she's trying hard to hold it in. She doesn't want to leave a bad record on her first day of class.

But some things are better off paying attention. She needed someone to release the anger she's been holding since yesterday anyways. 'This bastard's face will do' she said in her thoughts.

She stood up and let her bag slid off of her shoulder. She licked the side of her cheek and combed her hair using her fingers before turning around, fist formed into a ball and straight-up aimed for Jeno's face.

The impact was so strong that Jeno even fell backward. Man didn't think any second and stood up immediately grabbing her collar and so does she.

"Yo! Yo! Man stop!" Haechan shouted and went to part them but the two didn't even budge.

Both were staring intently at each other. Anger was visible in their eyes. The sarcastic smirk Artheena was wearing earlier was long gone and was replaced by a deadly aura.

"Yah Jeno Lee! She's a girl! Stop it already!" Mark exclaimed.

Jeno gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on her collar. "I would've killed you right here and now..." he whispered in anger.

"I'd like to see you try," she whispered back.

"Pull them away from each other!" Jaemin said while grabbing Jeno's wrist and overpowered his friend's strength causing Jeno to let go.

Jisung held Artheena's shoulder and gently pulled her away from Jeno, blocking her from him. Meanwhile, Jaemin and Mark held the lass from both arms.

Both were still glaring at each other. Jisung cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about him. He has anger issues and just basically fights to whomever he wants," he apologized on behalf of his friend.

Artheena fixed her collar and grabbed her bag in the most harshes manner possible before storming out of the cafeteria.

Almost all students followed Artheena with their eyes when she walked out. Jeno's friends sighed and facepalmed to what just happened.

It's not new for them to see Jeno picking a fight with girls, but this one was new to them. They never saw him grabbing a girl's collar and treat her as if she's a man. Well, Artheena might be a girl but the vibe she gives off is of a man.

Still, it was unreasonable for him to just grab her on the collar. "Are you an idiot?! That was just an accident!" Renjun yelled. "Both of you didn't see each other coming! Why'd you grabbed her like that huh?! Are you out of your mind?!" he continued, not minding the students and the cafeteria staff looking at them.

Jeno just looked away clenching his jaw.

"Get your act together man! Not every time we can understand that anger issues of yours!" Renjun rolled his eyes before walking away. Jisung followed, so did Haechan.

"Renjun's right man-" Mark was cut off.

"Let go!" Jeno said and aggressively pulled his arms from Mark and Jaemin before walking away too.

Jaemin and Mark looked at each other in disappointment before following the others.

...DAMZELinWHITE...

"You must be the other new student. Kindly introduce yourself." Mrs. Zhong motioned her hands in front of the class.

The new girl smiled sweetly before standing in front of her new classmates. "Hi! My name is Aveline Cassie Navarro. You can call me Cassie for short."

"Alright Cassie, take a seat beside Ms. Mago. I am Mrs. Zhong, your adviser for this school year." Mrs. Zhong then pointed at an unoccupied chair in the front row before handing the nameplate and tool to Cassie.

Explaining to her what were those for.

Cassie nodded and went to sit beside Mago. The two exchange hi's and hello's before listening to their teacher as the discussion started.

It's already an hour and a half when the door opened, revealing a zombie-looking Artheena. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked like it was just force out of the closet.

"Ms. Tuan? Why are you late?" Mrs. Zhong asked.

Artheena runs her hands through her hair. "Oh, I just..." she shrugged. "Almost forgot to wake up."

Her tone was not sarcastic. Mrs. Zhong walked towards her and fixed her hair. "Well then at least brush your hair," she said.

Artheena flinches at the touch. "Yeah whatever," was all she replied and walked over to where she was sitting.

"Alright, I want you all to group yourselves into four. You can just basically group with your seatmates, much easier." Mrs. Zhong then writes something on the board.

Mark and Haechan exchanged looks. Their other two seatmates which were Artheena and Jeno was too quiet. Given the commotion that happened yesterday, it was indeed awkward to talk to them.

"So, I'm going to give you each a topic to discuss within your group. And I want you to do some background research and some brainstorming with your group mates. You will report it to me the day after tomorrow. Are we all clear?" Mrs. Zhong handed each table a paper that contains their given topic.

Artheena and Jeno remained unmoving. Mark cleared his throat before facing them.

"So uhmm... yo, it'll be lunch after this. We don't have class in the afternoon too so I suggest we take our free time and do this activity. Let's meet at the library, sounds good?" he suggested nervously.

The two didn't even bother to respond, and when the bell rang, Artheena was the first one who stood up and walked her way out of their classroom.

Haechan hissed at the sight. "Man she got an attitude," he commented.

Jeno also stood up and quietly exited the room. Haechan followed him with his eyes. "Him too. Tsk! Tsk!" he added.

"Renjun," Chenle called out to his friend when the guy didn't move and just stared outside the window.

"Renjun," Chenle called again but still no answer.

"Renjun," and again.

He sighed in annoyance. "Renjun!" he yelled.

Renjun jolted from his seat and looked at Chenle. "Nǐ hǎn shénme?!" he yelled back.

TRNSLTN: What are you yelling for?!

"Yǐjīng shì wǔfàn shíjiānle! Bié zuò bái rì mèngle gōngzhǔ! Tch!" Chenle threw a piece of paper at him and went outside.

TRNSLTN: It's lunch time already! Stop daydreaming princess! Tch!

Renjun shooked his head, stood up, and followed his friends who were already outside waiting for him.

The gang was busy laughing when Haechan cracked a joke while they were on their way to the cafeteria. Well, except for Jeno of course. He was just walking quietly behind them.

"Yeah like that! Pour some more!"

"Wooohh!!! This leech deserves it!"

"How dare you act like that to our Jeno huh?!"

"Take this! Hah!"

"You attention seeker!"

"Why won't you grab us like what you did to Jeno huh?!"

"C'mon leech! Grab us! Show us what you got!"

"You piece of trash! Why won't you act tough now huh?!"

"Ugh! Looking at you is already disgusting yuck!"

"What's going on?" Jaemin asked particularly to no one.

Haechan didn't say anything and went closer to the crowd full of girls and some boys. He squeezed himself through and when he finally got in the middle, the sight shocked him.

It was Artheena. She's covered in flour and eggs. Haechan could guess it was ketchup and mayo too. He didn't hesitate to walk over to her and help her stand up.

"What the?!" Jaemin exclaimed.

"What is wrong with you all?!" Renjun yelled. He went over to where Artheena was."Nǐ hái hǎo ma?" he asked softly.

Artheena was clenching her teeth and was busy wiping the mixed mayo, ketchup, egg, and flour when she looked up and was greeted by Renjun's worried eyes.

She came to a halt. The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Renjun decided to break it.

He looked away and faced the crowd with anger visible in his eyes.

"Here, use this." Jisung offered Artheena a handkerchief. "Don't worry, I never use those. It's only for emergency purposes," he added when Artheena only looked at it.

A bunch of guys helping her doesn't sit right with Artheena. She didn't like it. Worse, she hated it. Never in her life did someone helped her. So seeing them helping her disgusts the very core of her being.

Jeno who was only watching the entire time from a distance scoffed and continued walking towards the cafeteria. Chenle who was with him noticed Jeno walking away. He looked back to where his friends and Artheena were, checking the situation for the last time and making sure everything was settled before he followed suit.

Artheena brushed off the remaining eggshells before quietly leaving the controversy and decided to proceed to the school's exit gate.

She gets in a cab, which she earned an odd look from the driver. Artheena didn't mind it and told the driver her address. The moment the cab started to move, she let out a sigh.

It seems like trouble is a good friend of hers. Her goal to not have bad records again ay gawa gawa lamang ng illuminati. 'So much for trying...'

...DAMZELinWHITE...