"Everybody come this way!" I hear a teacher shout from beside us.
We were all on a giant stone wall that overlooks a dark dirt battlefield. There were still rusting armor and rusting weapons poking out of the ground. Dark stains could be seen seeping into the dirt resembling dried blood.
Some of the students cringed and grimaced at the sight but continued down the wall where we saw the rest of the students that had been called. We walked down a spiral staircase and then onto an open grass field with a small town behind it… well it was small compared to New York.
It was bigger than most suburban cities but the houses were a bit smaller than the normal ones. In New York, it's rare to see an actual house because they are extremely expensive and are usually towards the outskirts of the rich New York area.
But when there were houses in the rich New York area, they were massive and grand. Probably as big as the auction house that I sold the power stone at.
Now the houses in front of me looked to be medieval-style houses but progressed just a bit further. They have glass and armor stands with clothing but that was just about it. The glass carried the appeal but the only thing I could think of was,
"Why would they ever do this? They could've just made stronger buildings," I accidentally think out loud.
As if Auntie read my mind, she projected her voice saying,
"You might be wondering why this town looks like this and not your normal city… well, it's pretty simple to answer. These types of houses cost much less and when they are destroyed by a type of… storm, they can easily afford to build new ones,"
All the students had looks of confusion on their faces which Auntie read once again.
"Now you may ask, why not build stronger houses that can withstand the storm? Or, why not just move away from here?
I can answer one of those questions, but the other one is classified info that even this town doesn't know much about… Okay, for why they can't build stronger houses… well, no house can withstand the storm," Auntie explains.
Hmmm… there are many different things I don't know yet. Maybe I could go info diving here but without a computer. I'm no good at hacking but… I could torture info out of the bad people roaming these streets.
"You all may find a place to stay wherever you want and do whatever you want today. You must move with your group at all times so nobody gets lost. If one of your group members does disappear, please contact one of the teachers in this field but do expect to receive a harsh punishment.
Tomorrow we're going somewhere so come back to this field by 8 in the morning… if you are late, you will be punished as well," Auntie says with a cold voice.
It sent shivers down the student's spine and even mine, even though I've heard it many times. (A/N - That shit rhymes…)
Now, my group… well I don't want to be the leader.
"Anybody want to be the leader and tell us where we're going?" I ask the 4 kids beside me.
"I'll be it. I researched this town last night on my mom's ŀȧptop, so I think I know where the best places are," Aria says.
"I don't mind," I respond, with the other students nodding in agreement.
"Okay, first let's go to a very underrated lunch spot that I found… Plus it's out of the way from most bigger food places so you don't have to worry," Aria says with a smile.
Seems she's a better leader than I first thought. She immediately recognized the group's timid behavior and how they're most likely scarred from most of the bullying they received. Then she adjusted her plans to places she researched before…
"Okay… no disagreements? Let's go!" Aria says, pumping her fist with a huge smile.
It easily uplifted the group's mood as we followed her.
…
"Hey, bossman! Let us order 5 medium chicken meals!" Aria shouts out to the bartender.
Bossman?
"Sure, young lady," the bartender says before going into the back kitchen.
We were currently in a pretty mediocre establishment with only about 3 other groups of people here. There were no other groups of students so I ȧssumed the other groups were just citizens.
The inside of this place was taken care of, with a bar full of different wines and beers. It had a mostly rustic design with only wooden furniture.
…
"Don't worry! The food is on me! Since Miss T helped pay for 3/4 of the cost for this trip, I have a lot of money leftover and these meals aren't too expensive," Aria says with a smile.
"W-we couldn't possibly do that to you," Luke stutters.
"It's fine, It's fine… But you guys have to pay for your meals tomorrow," Aria says.
The group starts to laugh slightly and I could see that they were having fun. My group members were adjusting fast due to Aria's presence.
As we ate our pretty bland meal, my group members all started to open up beside me. They might be like me, lonely, but I still can't trust them…
Wait, this is what I'm trying to change, maybe I should try and open up. But it would be awkward if I did that now since they already started only talking amongst themselves without me… AHHH! I don't know!
"I'm going to step out for a bit," I say to my group members who just finished eating.
"Alright, we're almost done here so we'll step out once we're done. You can wait for us outside," Aria says with a warm smile.
"Why do you even bother talking with her. She's not even going to contribute anything, she just knows how to sell her body," Charles says.
Motherfuckers…
…
RING
The doorbell rings slightly as I look towards the restaurant's only door.
"Wow, that was so fun. What should we do next?" A familiar voice says that was exiting the door beside me.
"Oh, Lucy. We're going to try and find something fun, do you have anywhere that you might want to go?" Aria asks, who just stepped out of the exit and onto the sidewalk next to me.
"No, you can pick,"
"Alright, well let's go window shopping," Aria suggests.
"Lucy, can we talk for a second? You guys can go on ahead," Aria says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.
As soon as the group was far enough and nobody was around, Aria asked,
"Is it true that you sell your body?"
"You believe those rumors?" I respond.
"I knew it! Why don't you try and clear your name, then maybe you can be friends with the other group members. If you want we can be friends, I believe that somebody like you would never sell your body," Aria says with a smile.
"S-sure, we can be friends," I say, slightly cringing.
"Why not try and clear your name?"
"I'll try… I guess,"
"Oh, did you just smile? I saw you smile just now. That was the first time I've seen you smile today," Aria teases.
"W-whatever let's just go," I say, escaping her grasp.
My body wasn't reacting as bad as before so talking with her only made me tense up slightly.
…
We window shopped until the sun fell, with only a few of my group members going into the store and buying the clothes that they took a liking to. I didn't get the time to clear my name so Aria decided that we have dinner and then I would explain there.
We entered a pretty run-down establishment where we saw a group of students that went to our school. They aren't from any rich families but they were a group of ċȯċky kids that suċkėd up to the rich students so they could have the slightest bit of power.
They noticed us and a boy with blond hair walked up to Aria, with an ugly expression. Even though Aria was pretty tall, the blonde towered over her.
"Hey, what are you idiots doing here? Can you even afford to eat here?" The tall blonde says mockingly.
I peer into the establishment and see that it was only his group of friends and nobody else. The bartender or owner of the store was an old woman who was frightened.
When I looked towards Aria, I saw that her face was indifferent. She looked like she could take them down if she wanted.
"Hey, did you hear me? I'm telling you to piss off," Blonde says, sneering at Aria.
Blonde grabs her shoulder but before he could push her, Aria grabs his hand and twists it back so he was forced to kneel away from her. She displayed immense strength as she placed her foot on his ankle and pressed his locked arm into his body.
"OW! WHAT THE FUCK! LET GO YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
His friends saw this and they all charged towards her. Aria reacts by snapping the blonde's arm, causing him to fall on his face in pain, and then parrying a punch that was sent flying towards her.
She then grabs the guy's arm and knees the elbow, causing it to break and the piece of shit falls to his knees and then proceeds to fall even farther. But before his face could smack the ground, Aria kicked it so hard that you could hear the snap of his nose, knocking him out.
The remaining 3 friends all stopped in their tracks as they looked at Aria who had a cold glare. Even my groupmates were slightly frightened by her.
"S-SHIT! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Shouts a student with wavy brown hair.
The remaining 3 friends helped their 2 downed friends up and ran through the exit.
The members of my group all cheered and complemented Aria so much that she even started to blush.
Since they're the lackeys of a big family, I ȧssume Aria won't be getting off easy. She might be able to defend herself against some no-name, powerless thugs, but against a large family with power users, she might even end up dying....