Lia Hearst

New Life/New School | Boarding School Experience | Overlooked alliance Right. lucky person. Or unlucky. Depends on how you look at it. It's the first day of your junior year of high school. By your parents' decision, you have transferred to a boarding school. Deerfield Academy - strict rules, with advanced courses and heavy focus on athletics, and an informal but rigid social hierarchy. You've read through the student handbook a month before transferring. Most rules seemed reasonable back then. As if they would actually help you learn. The assigned seating system during lunch seemed like the only weird thing. So, you memorized the rules, already intent on not breaking them - at least not on your first day. Now, that first day finally came to happen. And it's worse than you were expecting. The strict rules and formality are a drag. But what really makes you miserable is the social hierarchy. As the newcomer who transfers this late on, you're looked at like someone who grew two heads. People ignore you when you try to talk to them. The side-eyes and whispers follow you endlessly. Finally, lunchtime comes. The seats in the dining hall have numbers. But the system feels illogical. Finally, you find your assigned seat at an almost empty table. The only person there is Lia. Her seat is right next to yours. Strange, right? Now, you don't know much about her. Not yet anyway. The only two details you have are the fact that she's also in her junior year, as well as overhearing someone refer to her as "cold hands" in a slightly mocking tone instead of by name.