Chapter 1~My New Life

Welcome, reader, to my journal, my past, present, and future, where it never ends, just like the starry skies. My name is Diana Chen, demititan. Here is my story.

I guess you can call today as my unlucky day. I mean, shouldn’t it be my happiest day? I just turned fourteen and my family and friends are planning a surprise in the afternoon. But, either my eyes are playing with me or I have been seeing…unwanted things.

It all started in the morning. When I first woke up, I saw a person in my room. It was…a girl? I think, but I did not see her appearance. My eyes slid down to her body, where she was wearing armor. I think it was brass, designed to protect from the sword, unreliable in present warfare. Her hand was holding…something, but I can’t remember. When I blinked again, she vanished into thin air. Before I could think about it, my nose hit the aroma of fresh, warm pancakes that were waiting for me downstairs. My mom, Artemine Chen, was knocking on my door.

“Hurry up, xiao lao hu, and change. I know you hate cold pancakes, so come downstairs before they cool down,” my mom said. I rushed to change from my pajamas. As I left my large room, I grabbed my backpack before running downstairs to attack my breakfast.

When I went to school, I saw a poster, “Welcome to Kauai Public School, Elpis Grace”. Apparently we got a new student, as that was our tradition in greeting new people at our school. I strolled over to sign my name on the piece of paper, where I saw my friends standing around someone.

“Hey guys,” I called out to my friends, waving.

“Hey Diana, check out who we got here,” my best friend Catherine Blanchard said. “We have the new girl, Elpis Grace. I was just starting to interview her.”

Catherine Blanchard was our Yearbook captain this year. It was also the custom at our school to interview every new student who comes here. This interview was no exception.

In her best imitation of a reporter voice, she asked Elpis, “Elpis, tell us your history.”

Elpis looked at the sky before answering. “I was born in New York on June 21, to my mom, Emma Hamilton and my dad, Julian Grace.” Her voice lingered at her dad’s name. “My father worked as C.E.O. of United Airlines, while my mom worked as the top pilot. Almost every day, I can only see them for a few hours: early before work, and late in the night. We hardly ever stay together. Anyways, because my dad held such a high position, I became rich. I also did not like crowded cities, especially NYC. So I decided to come here to Hawaii, where I will stay for a while.”

During the time that she spoke, I was looking at the sky. It looked as if the clouds and sky are battling each other. Before she started speaking, the sky was cloudless. However, as she spoke, clouds appeared in the sky. The more she talked, the more clouds there were, and the darker they got. When she finished, the sun began to peek out again. I looked at my friends, and they seem to have not noticed the weather.

Not wanting to have that happening again, I interrupted, “Hey, the weather is nice today. Do you want to go out and surf later?”

Each one said yes, but Elpis shook her head. “I have hydrophobia, but I’ll go with you and stay at the beach.”

After of few minutes of chitchat, the bell rang, signaling the start of school. We parted our ways, but Elpis followed me. “The Administration Board told me that I have the exactly the same classes as you. May you show me to our classes?” she asked.

“Yea, sure, our first class is Greek. I love languages, so I’m fortunate to take a so-called dead language,” I said.

Our teacher, Mr. Dranias, appeared as the second bell rang. “Oh look here. It’s the new student, Elpis Grace. Stand up. Welcome to Kauai Public School. We’re very fortunate to have you here. Have you ever learned Greek before?”

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Elpis, a little nervously, glanced at me. I nodded encouragingly, so she stood up, and she said, “Ναι. <span lang="EL" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EL;">Πρώτη γλώσσα <span lang="EL" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EL;"> <span lang="EL" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EL;">μου ήταν <span lang="EL" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EL;"> <span lang="EL" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EL;">Έλληνες <span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">.” (Translation: Yes. Greek was my first language.)

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Mr. Dranias congratulated her. “Excellent, excellent. This is going to be a fun year with you. Now you may sit down.”

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">As Elpis sat next to me, I felt the sudden urge to talk to her, but I managed to test my patience to wait until lunch.

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">When the lunch bell rang, the whole school ran down to the beach, excited to eat lunch and surf. Elpis and I together walked quickly to my friends to chow down. Catherine, still in her reporter mode, asked Elpis, “How was your day so far?”

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">“Excellent, I’m so happy to have friends already,” she responded.

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Catherine, Melanie Brown, Kini Kealoha, and I sprinted down with our surfboard to kill our remaining time for lunch. The rest decided to stay dry and score us. As I dove under the water, I saw another weird creature: a merman, I guess, with a trident. He was fighting another creature, it seemed. However, they disappeared in a second, so my brain processed it as an imagination. I kicked up to fly for my first wave.

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"> Athletiger <font color="CC0099">Talk~<font face="Calibri" size="2" color="#0519FA">Diana Chen 01:38, December 1, 2011 (UTC)