First days of school were supposed to be stressful, to an extent. You're either entering a new life stage or leaving behind everything you've known for something entirely new. It was supposed to be stressful, exciting, excitingly stressful!

Li Tingting couldn't help but think that this was a bit much over the line of 'stressful'.

She had expected a lot of different things to happen when attending a prestigious school, especially the best one in City A. She had expected to be ridiculed or at the very least judged by her peers as an outsider. She had expected to have to study harder to keep her grades up. She had expected to have to sacrifice some of her part-time jobs and hours in order to compensate for a more rigorous schedule and advanced classes. She had expected her mother to give one of her tearful smiles as she took pictures of her in front of their apartment complex in her new uniform before promptly passing out on the couch from her long night at work.

What she hadn't expected was to almost be hit by a car that definitely could've paid for her funeral 80 times over.

She didn't remember much about what had actually transpired, just that her bookbag went flying in her shock, lots of honking, shouting, snickering, and then money in the air before the car pulled away. The most she could actually remember was that she had to get all her things back into her bag, she didn't know for sure if the scholarship would provide her with new ones. The air felt like melted sugar and she moved robotically to pick up her things, ignoring the colorful bills on the asphalt around her.

"Some people should never be given licenses I swear- Oh, Xiaobai get those textbooks over there and check for water damage, I think they touched the puddle. Are you alright?"

Li Tingting also didn't expect to burst into tears as soon as someone asked if she was okay. Lots of things weren't happened the way she expected today.

Xu Xingjuan blinked in shock as the girl began to cry, reddening her clear eyes and sniffling and snuffling. Well, actually, she had just almost gotten hit by a car. That kind of thing was traumatic. She often forgot how the concept of death was so terrifying for humans. Reaching into her skirt pocket and pulling out a handkerchief, she began to lightly dab away at Li Tingting's tears. 

"There, there. It's okay, everything will be alright. Let's get you off of the road, okay?" Her voice was soft and lulling, slightly reducing the sobbing to shaking and loud sniffs of air. Xiaobai had returned with the aforementioned textbooks which were thankfully unharmed apart from some scuff marks on their covers. "Let's move her to the infirmary, where ever that may be."

Xiaobai nodded, taking the bookbag from Li Tingting's shaking arms and putting away any of the loose materials and carrying it while Xingjuan supported her, giving soft assurances as the trio began walking as other passing students watched.

"Classmate, I wonder if I can ask your name?"

"L, L, Li Ting" Another sniffle. "Li Tingting."

The graceful girl smiled. "What a nice name. I'm Xu Xingjuan."

"And I'm Wu Xiaobai." Xiaobai's energetic voice interrupted as she walked backwards facing the two. "Mark my words, as soon as I find out who was driving so recklessly with students crossing the streets, I'll beat them and burn their license and car! Hmph!" One couldn't deny the pouting expression on her face was adorable, causing a laugh to spring from Tingting's mouth.

"Xiaobai, it'll be enough to report them to school security. No need to get involved yourself." Although it sounded like Xu Xingjuan was admonishing the girl, her wide smile said otherwise. "We'll go talk to them after we have you checked at the infirmary. Hopefully all you walked away with were scrapes."

"Mhm..."

Tingting wasn't quite sure what to make of her current situation, finding herself being looked over by the school nurse after a decent while of looking for the infirmary. As expected, her had damage to her knees and legs from hitting the road and her socks were torn but not much else, a quick clean up and the application of bandages was all it took.

But the two girls stayed in the infirmary with her, asking the nurse how to report things to the school security, what details might be important for the report, and an excused absence from the entrance ceremony due to the fact it had long started whilst they brought her here.

To put things simply, both of them were different ends of the spectrum of beautiful. Xu Xingjuan had long, silky black hair and dark, serious eyes with a softened light to them, the airs of the daughter of a noble family and the postures to prove it. Wu Xiaobai, in contrast, had chocolate brown hair in two low pigtails tied with bows, a soft, pinchable baby face, and wide brown eyes that gave away everything she was thinking and feeling like a baby animal. Standing together, they were a strange mix of older and younger sister, maybe even mother and daughter if one were to ignore their true ages.

Strange. They were strange, unexpected people.

"Tingting, what class are you in?" She was snapped out of her musings by the adorable face of Wu Xiaobai popping up right in front of her, eyes curious and smelling lightly of honeysuckle and cream.

"Ah, um, Class A-1."

At that, Xiaobai pouted and stomped her foot. "No fair! You get to be in class with Xingjuan! I wanna be in A-1 too!"

Xingjuan smiled from where she was leaning against the infirmary window. "Then get better grades. Once you enter the top 20 you can be in Class A-1." And Xiaobai flustered, stuttering out excuses.

City A's number 1 school was number 1 for a reason, particularly its strict and rigorous curriculum which separated students into not just their age groups but abilities on a scale from A to F, with students in the top 20 being in A and those in the bottom 20 being in F. The higher you went, the more intense things got in the classroom but more access to even better teachers was given, along with special permission for things like independent studies to replace a class and higher positions in school committees.

"What class is Xiaobai in then?" Li Tingting couldn't help asking with Xiaobai's reaction to Xingjuan teasing.

"T, That's not really important-"

"Class D-1."

Both Li Tingting and Wu Xiaobai's faces went blank with Xingjuan's announcement.

After a while, Tingting finally stuttered out something. "C... Class D?"

Xiaobai turned away with a face as red as a strawberry. "Grades don't matter that much if you have good character and social skills! I have both, so it's not that bad-"

Xingjuan smiled wider. "Barely in Class D-1."

Xiaobai finally fell to her knees in the infirmary after being stabbed right where it hurt. Her attention span. Xingjuan softly pat her back while she cried without tears, promising to tutor her so she could join them in Class A by 2nd year.

Li Tingting couldn't help but watch the two in silence, having not expected her first day to go at all how it did. But she had made some friends, at least she thought so. That was nice. Unexpectedly nice.