Under Her Cursed Scythe

'The ring!' As she was rounding up her things from the ground, she realised the small burlap bag which held the Reaper's ring was not among them.

Hurriedly, she looked into her pencil case. Nope. It wasn't there. So at once, she dropped her knees onto the ground and scouted for it. Her brows curled into a harried frown and her eyes tightly scanned across her surroundings.

'I'm screwed! I'm totally screwed this time!' Her brain kept on telling her.

All she could think of was how someone was going to pick the burlap bag up before she did, open it, and touch the ring within, and pretty soon, that person's head would kiss the ground with a huge "Bang" sound.

It had only made her more flurried than before when she crawled around, snooping, and some of her classmates nearby became annoyed by her movements and once again directed their attention towards her.

"Sorry…sorry…excuse me… excuse me… sorry... " she mumbled in a timid tone as she moved along, wilting under the hostile stares, and could almost feel tears coming to her eyes when her burlap bag was still out of sight.

'Damn it, Ring! Where the hell are you?' She called at the back of her head… how much she had hoped for the ring to talk back to her, to answer without being asked… but based on the nights of awkward silence that followed after her confessions and whines, she had long understood that voicing out the concerns and questions in mind to that damn ring would not get her a reply nor help her in solving the problems in any way.

Just then, the things she was searching for appeared before her eyes, dropping from above.

"I believe this is yours."

As she lifted her chin, the charming smile of Joshua Eckhart, the boy who volunteered to wake her up in the first place, came into view. As always, it was wide, simple and full of sunshine. There were no holding back, no lies, no hidden depths. Just pure kindness.

Aside from having pink plump lips that naturally curled into a warm smile, Joshua had medium length hair that glowed orangish-brown under the sun; thick arched brows above his two different coloured eyes with one sparkling like a piece of sea blue diamond and the other reflecting a lush meadow; smooth skin like creamy butter; cheekbones that were high and aristocratic; and a nose that was finely chiseled. His face was perfect as though he came out from a comic book.

"We are on Section B now. I can read you some of the phrases so at least you know how to pronounce it." he offered after he had insisted on helping her with picking up the pens from the floor.

The "Sage" the others called him. The kind, sweet boy who was spoken highly of his moral character by many parents and teachers; whose actions and words were said to be wise beyond age. Some of his peers might feel a bit hostile towards him at first, calling him "the teacher's pet" or "a mummy's boy", whereas once they got to know him a little bit more, and got touched by that sunshine smile no matter what they said or did to him, they soon found themselves uncontrollably admiring his confidence as well as his tolerant and genuine nature.

On the contrary, peers often found Alivia pitiful when they learnt about her tragic past of losing her older brother five years ago, and therefore, showered her with compassion and enthusiasm. However, quite often, after being "intimidated" by her long face and cold attitude, sharp criticisms and distaste began to follow her no matter where she went and what she did. But those were not the only things that followed her around. Misfortunes seemed to follow her everywhere as well. One year ago, one of the vases on the first floor suddenly fell down when she walked underneath it. Three days later, she was pushed off from the stairs by accident when two boys fought at school. She was assailed by an angry cat the week later and a baseball smashed through the classroom window near where she sat two months prior to last summer holiday. Hence, it was a matter of time before she was nicknamed as the "Jinx" of the class.

Privately… Alivia didn't see herself highly as well. She had always seen herself as dusts in dark corners- tiny and filthy, and thus, she chose to keep her distance from someone like Joshua- the pure bright sun that was too warm for her to come close.

"I'm fine. I can handle myself." Alivia rejected his offer with a feigned nonchalance and shot him a miffed look when she became conscious of the rivalrous, jealous glances from behind.