Chapter 1 - I (1/2)

”LAIA, CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME WITH my assignment? I wasn't able to answer it yesterday because I was busy!”

Busy partying obviously, Laia thinks. She fought the urge to roll her eyes at her best friend, Brie. Why is she so reliant on me? We're already in high school! Aren't we supposed to stand on our own feet by now or something? Laia adds to her thoughts.

But of course, she can't say that out loud. She cannot tarnish her crystal clear reputation.

”Sure, Brie,” She smiles brightly at her. Deep breaths, Laia. Don't let her know you're definitely killing her inside your head. Just a little more until you graduate and move to another town to enroll in your dream university. ”Which part do you have difficulty on?”

Brie tugs a strand of her hair behind her ear and pouts. ”Everything, Laia! I hate Mathematics so bad! You're so lucky you're intelligent enough to understand what our teacher teaches us,”

Laia fights the urge to tell her up front that it's only because she happened to listen to their teacher whenever she discusses the lessons. She does not just chat with her boyfriend the entire period, exchanging cringy messages and knowing deep inside that she's still not gonna end up together with him and he will end up breaking her heart and ruin her chances of getting a higher score in the upcoming exams since instead of studying, she will end up crying the entire night.

”... anyway, my boyfriend sent me a bouquet of flowers earlier. He knows I hate roses and yet he still bought them. Oh well, at least he tried. He's so stupid sometimes, I don't even know why I like him--”

Because he's cute. Laia remembered Brie telling her yesterday, the night before yesterday, and for the entirety of the last month.

”Brie, let's start?” Laia cuts her off.

The long-haired girl's eyes widened as she sheepishly grinned. ”Oops, sorry. He texted me that we're going on a date later. Guess what movie are we watching?”

Laia pretended to think but she obviously know they'll be watching that romcom movie Brie was excited about. ”I have no idea, Brie. You know I have no time for that,”

Her friend pouts but says nothing. They then start doing the girl's assignment. Fortunately, Brie is good at the subject and understands how Laia explained the different solutions quite quickly. The reason why she can't do her assignments ahead of time is not that she lacks intelligence, but because she spends her entire time spending it with her boyfriend or she goes on outings with her friends.

”Thank you, Laia! I love you so much!” Brie exclaims, kissing her friend on the cheek before she leaves her side to go to her boyfriend.

Of course, she wasn't the last to ask for Laia's help before their teacher arrived. Laia helped three more of her classmates before their teacher, Ma'am Anne, told them to sit down. Apparently, she had something to announce.

”Good morning students! I am pleased to see that everyone is around,” She claps excitedly. ”We actually have a new student joining us for the rest of the year,”

Everyone turned to the door. There was indeed a boy. Laia wasn't able to see his face clearly for most of her classmates were already standing to get a better glimpse at him. Not only because they rarely get transferees, but also because of their teacher's weird excitement over this new guy. Is the transferee her kid or something? Laia thinks.

She shivers at the thought of it. If he is her kid or relative then I'd have to study even harder, Laia's lips form a fine line. There could be favoritism!

”Do come inside and introduce yourself, Mr. Laurie.”

Upon entering our room, some of the girls in the class squealed. Even the boys in the class appeared to be intrigued. Since Laia took their distraction as an opportunity to review her notes, she wasn't able to see his face immediately as he stopped in front of her. Well, specifically her chair, since she happened to sit in the first row and in the middle to listen to her teachers better without any distractions or disruptions of a random classmate raising their hand in front of her just to go to the bathroom.

Laia raised her head only to see a really handsome boy. He had messy black hair that was enough to cover both his forehead and eyes if he wanted to. He also had bright, blue eyes. He was lean and slender, but it was obvious that he did sports. Laia also noticed how his fingers were really long.

The girl blushed at her indecent thoughts. She turned straight away when their eyes met. How embarrassing!

”Hi everyone,” He starts. ”I'm Samuel Vincent Laurie.”

Some of the people in the room started asking him random questions. He smiled at them and tried his best to answer each and every one of them. People-pleaser, Laia thinks.

Wow, a hypocrite! Her brain tells her. She ignores her thoughts, as she always did. She would only listen to her brain when they had their examinations or a quiz. Also during an essay writing contest.

”You can sit beside Ms. Lopez.” Ma'am Anne tells him once everyone had no more additional questions regarding his personal life.

”Who's Lopez?” He asks. Laia fought the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't like her last name and everyone knew it. Well, except the new guy.

Brie yells from her chair. ”That pretty girl in front of you, silly!”