She's there. Amid the hustle and bustle in the literally glimmering posh function room filled with ladies in ball gowns and short halter dresses, there she sits observantly, both feet flat on the ground, wearing a long azure blue wrap dress.
The word to describe her--what is it?
That's it. Precisely.
She's completely PLAIN.
The acquaintance party is our college's tradition. It's an annual event where the seniors get to meet the freshmen and vice versa. The Noblesse College has never hosted anything lower than what meets its high-class standards; thus, the lavish acquaintance party. Even as a sophomore, I at least know that much about our college.
Acquaintance party as they might call it, but I knew that I had to come in a suit. I was right after all. The very moment I enter the room, a crowd of blinding elegance welcomes my presence.
"Wow, a prominent lawyer's son indeed!"
"Here comes Vincent in fine suit as always, eh?"
"That's my bud, alright!" Says Jake, my companion.
"It's because Jake keeps Vincent all to himself that he couldn't get a date for tonight!"
"Hey! You make me sound like a homo!" Jake jokingly rebuts.
I could only make a snicker, but in my mind I wonder why a date's even needed in an "acquaintance" party.
Together with the other sophomores, Jake and I choose the round table fairly close to the mini stage.
"Nice, buddy! You do know how to pick a spot, don't 'ya?" Jake jokingly blurts out with a matching cat-call.
Such is his remark as right across our table is the freshmen ladies' spot. Though this is their first time attending the acquaintance party, they do seem to know the level of elegance that's usually displayed here--they really do--excluding that one lady, the only outlier. While Jake delivers his seemingly endless discourse concerning the ladies' fancy style and superior beauty, I have my eyes and mind busily and strangely glued on the completely plain woman. I couldn't help but be amazed by how much attention I'm paying this lady, when in fact there are so many dazzling women in the room. I try to look away, to avert my eyes from the sickening blandness of her appearance, but my eyes end up looking straight at her.
What's wrong with me? No. What's wrong with her? She doesn't look so bad. She's just... not the kind of a lady The Noblesse College would usually have. Outsiders normally think that Noblessians live up to the name "Noblesse", but this lady...
Let's stop. I'm being unreasonable.
I close my eyes, forcing my mind to focus somewhere else. But the moment I open them, the first thing I see is her. I close my eyes again and breathe deeply, but when I open them again, I see her standing this time! I quickly forget about forgetting her and find myself intently watching her every move. She walks towards the corner where the comfort rooms are and disappears from view. The very moment she disappeared, I feel a surge of relief wash over me. It's as if I'd been under spell for a while.
"HEY! Bud? Hello?" Jake calls out to me, waving his left hand just a few inches from my face.
"Huh? Oh, what?" I ask.
"Knew it! You weren't listening!"
"Sorry. What were you saying?" I ask.
"I bet you didn't even notice that Kristen was here a while ago, trying to look pretty in front of you!"
"Really? Well that's too bad."
Jake's mouth continues to rat on, but I couldn't listen to him. My attention has immediately shifted to that plain freshman the very moment she came out of the corner. She is walking slowly, carefully, probably due to the long dress she's wearing, and sits back down on her seat, back straight, legs together, and feet flat on the ground.
"Nice..." I unconsciously whisper.
Jake is about to give me another lecture for not listening, but the emcee has stood up on the mini stage and caught everybody's attention.
"A pleasant afternoon to you, ladies and gentlemen! I welcome you all to our Noblesse College's annual Acquaintance Party!"
Everybody gives a round of applause. The emcee continues,
"And as you know, our VIPs today are our freshies! Today is the day that you'll meet your seniors and probably build new friendships. We'll be having a couple of activities for you to get a chance to mingle with one another.
Now I'm not keeping you any longer from the fun, so to explain the first activity, let's all welcome our College Student Council President, Harvey Young!"
It is noticeable that the clap is much louder now that all of Harvey's female fans give their full support. I hear Jake whispering, "boo" in my ear, and I could only shake my head.
"Jake, you're my friend, but..."
"OK. OK. Say no more."
I snicker and wonder to myself how I ever became friends with such a bitter brat.
"Good afternoon, Noblessians! For a warm up, we're simply gonna have our freshies introduce themselves! Now you seniors can ask a maximum of three questions to each freshman. You're gonna be called by random, so when you hear your name, please come up the stage. Are you ready?"
Jake shakes my shoulders excitedly and whispers, "I wanna know that girl's name! She kinda looks like she won't fall for a certain College Student Council President."
"What?" I whisper back.
"Look at her, will ya? That beauty in a silver dress! The prettiest one!"
I turn toward the direction Jake's pointing at, but the one my eyes end up looking at is the lady in blue azure wrap dress. And I'm seriously starting to get tired of having to pay needless attention to whoever she is. She remains to be sitting in perfect posture, attentively looking at and listening to the CSC President. Somehow, I'm having the feeling that this is the kind of an ideal student that makes teachers feel that someone listens to their discussion.
My seemingly endless observation comes to an end as my attention gets stolen by Jake when he violently nudges my arm.
"Why're you staring? Don't you dare steal her from me."
I give him an annoyed look, and he shut up.
It doesn't take long before he nudges my arm again. I am about to nudge back, twice the force, but I immediately halt as I see her walking up the stage, with her azure blue wrap dress swaying along her slow-paced movements.
Jake whispers, "Isn't she underdressed?"
I hear him, but surprisingly, I couldn't respond. My full attention is taken away by the plainest girl in the room.
She receives the mic and faces the audience. With the spotlights directed at her, I get a better look at her features. I realize that she has fairly slanted eyes, snow-white skin, ebony hair, and... she is utterly familiar. And the familiarity makes my heart beat faster. I feel my palms getting sweaty and I'm starting to have the urge of leaving the room.
"Good afternoon! I'm Ayla Rain Matsunaga. Call me 'Rain'. I'm looking forward to getting along with you."
Call me 'Rain'.
"Um, how should I call you?"
"Just call me 'Rain'."
"Alright, so that's Rain Matsunaga! Anybody who's curious about something and wanna ask her now? Age, probably?" Harvey says.
I have to get away from here. Why did I pick the spot closest to the stage?
I am about to stand up to go to the men's comfort room but Jake raises his hand and stands up.
"Okay! We have a sophomore here. State your name then ask your question."
Somebody hands a mic to Jake. I nervously bow my head, praying that she doesn't notice and recognize me.
He says,
"Hi, I'm Jake-short for Jacob- and I just wanna ask, don't you think you're too unadorned for a Noblesse College's party?"
Gasps everywhere. Even I forget about hiding from her and shoots a look of disbelief at Jake. I'm sure everybody has the same question in mind, but I never could have imagined that someone would ask directly.
Even the president seems to be taken aback. He stammers a little as he says,
"W-well Jacob, what a question. Did I forget to mention asking only significant questions?"
Jake is about to answer back, but Rain interrupts by saying,
"May I answer now?"
Silence fills the room. The president, indecisive at the moment, didn't have to answer as Rain begins to speak.
"I do think I am underdressed. When I came in here, I saw ladies in elegant dresses and jewelries and I even thought that I had entered the wrong room."
A few snicker.
"But I believe, Sir Jacob-or 'Jake' for short- that how I look right now matters less than achieving the purpose of this party, which is to simply meet and greet my schoolmates. Thank you for your concern, though."
At this, some Noblessians clap their hands. The president, seemingly relieved by her bravery, immediately comments that what she said is correct. Obviously to keep the same embarrassing moment from happening again, he doesn't prompt the audience to ask anymore. Rain goes back to her seat, unfazed by the scrutinizing look her schoolmates are giving her.
Forgetting that I'm supposed to be hiding, I think aloud,
"She hasn't changed."
Before I realize that I just said it out loud, I find that Jake has remained standing. Luckily, he didn't hear what I said.
"Hey, Jake. What's the standing ovation for?"
Jake doesn't seem to hear me. I call him again but he doens't respond. I look at his face and follow where his eyes are looking at. Then I realize that he's looking at Rain with that dumbfounded expression.
I clap my hands once right in front of Jake's face to pull him out of his entrancement. Sure enough, his body jerks a little and looks at me with a surprised look.
"What, oh," Jake puts his hand on his head like he's got a headache. "Sorry."
I look at him skeptically.
"What're you apologizing for? And care to sit down? We're catching needless attention."
Realizing that he has been standing, he immediately sits down. What's wrong with him now?
He puts his hand on his chest and says,
"Vince," I get shivers down my spine when he calls me that. He usually calls me "bud", so when he calls me by my name, I know that he's serious.
"What now?" I respond.
"Did you see how she flashed a smile after that speech of hers?"
"Smile? Did she?" I honestly can't remember.
"She did! She also remembered my name. She said, 'Jake, short for Jacob.' And now, my heart!"
"Are you serious? You're being gross."
"This is the first time I've felt this way! I mean, what plot twist! You know my taste in women, right?"
I just shake my head. I look at Rain and see that some freshmen are talking to her. Probably about what happened earlier. Even when I didn't recognize who she is, she caught my attention. Now she's got not just mine or even Jake's, but everybody else's.
She really hasn't changed.
But I just can't understand. Just how? Just why?
Why does she have to appear in front of me again?