Ballqis never really loved nor hated maths. She never had problems with numbers so maths always felt like a place where she could relax. Except today her Calculus 211 deskmate was being ridiculous simply because they had just been asked to join another lecturer's sesion. Their lecturer had just been seconded to another department so everyone had been asked to join Mr Evans' sessions of Calculus 211 for the rest of the semester.

"I heard they call Mr Evans as Mr Evil. All the seniors warned me about him. That's why I signed up for Mr Ora's class instead. I heard Mr Evil asks students who could not answer his questions right to leave his class via the window!" said Agamemnon in full gossip mode.

The half Greek-half American boy Agamemnon was the first person to talk to Ballqis during orientation. When they found out that they were both biotech undergrads, they paired up to choose similar classes and ended up with exactly same schedules. They also have the same advisor Mrs Jogh and even signed up for the bio-engineered tilapia study gig.

"I heard bad things about Mr Ora from the seniors at my hall but he turned out to be ok. Maybe Mr Evans would not be that bad either," Ballqis tried to calm Agamemnon.

"Good or bad, it's not like we have a choice. We can't qualify for Calculus 311 if we don't complete 211 this semester," he sighed like an opera singer on a stage.

Together with 13 others, Ballqis and Agamemnon made it to Mr Evans' class that same afternoon. The new, consolidated session with Mr Evans' existing students was held at a bigger lecture hall in order to accommodate all 32 students. Mr Ora bid them a hasty good bye and left them after a nod of thanks thrown towards Mr Evans.

As the former Mr Ora students stood on one side of the hall to introduce themselves, Balqis found herself trying hard not to fidget. From the corner of her eye, Ballqis spotted Iqball. He seemed taller than she remembered from school days. His hair was also longer. Dressed in white top with flannel shirt and blue jeans, he seemed to have mastered the 'cool' student look.

And he was looking straight at her!

She pretended to be engrossed in Agamemnon's musings about how big the class was and how scary Mr Evans' welcoming note sounded.

"Now I would like students from Mr Ora's class to please spread out and sit amongst my students. We do a lot of things in groups here so I don't want you all to become clique-ish," Mr Evans instructed as he beckoned Ballqis' classmates to quickly do his bidding.

Ballqis departed from Agamemnon's side and headed between two girls who were already seated.

"You, boho girl, your name again please?" Mr Evans suddenly called out to her.

She stopped in her tracks.

"Ballqis, sir."

"Do you have anything against people born with Y genes? If not, please take that seat near the gentleman with the highly curious pink flannel shirt over there," Mr Evans pointed out the very seat next to Iqball.

"Sir, I assure you it is off-red," Iqball quipped.

"Looks pink to me," Mr Evans retorted with a snicker.

Ballqis took the seat. She quickly dug into her tote bag and got the 211 textbook out. Then she pretended to be looking for her pencil case as well as notebook. After that she fiddled with her tablet.

Iqball got her message loud and clear: her body language said, don't talk to me.

***

 It turned out that Iqball had become the teacher's pet in Calculus 211 class but Ballqis' consistently sharp calculations had made her Mr Evans' favourite student to call.

"So Miss Ballqis, where do you see yourself applying chain rule?" he simply cornered her one day.

Ballqis nearly swallowed her pen. Mr Evans had been calling her name for formulas and answers, but never on thoughts of real life application.

"Er ... maybe when I'm calculating temperature changes of ice blocks in relation to the ocean?"

Mr Evans considered her generalised answer for a few seconds.

"Global warming is ok but frankly too scary for me," he said. "Mr Iqball, any thoughts?"

"If a guy claims he saw an alien spaceship traveled faster than the speed of light then crash at a measurable distance from where he stood, we could probably use chain rule to figure out how fast the foo fighter went," Iqball tried.

"Ah, and we would also know the guys was probably high on drugs. Our eyes can't catch movements that travel faster than the speed of light. Speaking of which, Mr Agamemnon, do you happen to have googled the speed of light as I was addressing Miss Ballqis and Mr Iqball?" Mr Evans turned back towards the rest of the class.

Iqball and Ballqis both let out a breathe that they had been holding.

At the unison sound of their breaths they both turned to look at each other. Iqball quickly smiled.

To his surprise, so did Ballqis.

He opened his mouth to whisper something but she quickly flipped her textbook.

Iqball got her message loud and clear: it said, we may have smiled at each other, but don't talk to me.

***

Agamemnon was beside himself upon finding out that he had to partner with Molly Lara, the Indian student he had sat next to, for the Calculus Twins challenge.

Mr Evans did not like giving pop quizzes, but he liked to tie two students together to see how far they could carry each other's marks. His 'CTC' is a test of 10 questions where a student can only answer 5 questions while his partner or twin needs to answer the other 5. Their overall score would be the mark that would contribute 10 percent of their grade.

"She's a genius! She's going to find out just how dumb I am at Calculus," he wailed as he sat on the cafeteria table.

"You just have to study real hard, Aga," Ballqis said emphatically but without gusto.

She had just been partnered with Iqball, and her whole stomach felt quesy.

"Mr Evil is an evil, evil man. How could he make Molly my partner when he knew my standing grade is only B minus? She is an A plus, and if I stumble on my answers she would be dragged down with me! Molly is going to hate me forever," Agamemnon cried.

"Mr Evans hates both of us," Molly said as she put her food tray next to Agamemnon.

"Molly!" Agamemnon exclaimed at the sight of the beautiful girl.

"Aga, you and me, we're going to have to study harder. I am free on Tuesdays, so free up your schedule if you want me to tutor you for free!" Molly said, sounding super serious.

"You should do it, Aga," said Ballqis.

Molly who was stuffing spaghetti real fast agreed.

"But Tuesdays are my time with the tilapias. My turn at the lab, remember?" Agamemnon reminded.

"We can switch. I don't mind taking Tuesdays if you'll take my Fridays," offered Ballqis willingly.

Molly immediately placed her can of orange juice on Ballqis' tray as a token of thanks.

"Ok, it is set, then. This cafe, next Tuesday at 3pm, we shall start!" Molly announced.

She finished her spaghetti in three minutes.

Agamemnon's face crumpled as Molly left their table in search for a drink.

"Did you see how determined she is? My low IQ will soon reveal itself," Agamemnon wailed dramatically.

"Calculus is not just IQ. It is also practice. It's free tuition and you're going to get so much better at Calculus. It's a blessing, Aga! You must do it," Ballqis reprimanded as he was about to open his mouth to complain further.

"Alright, alright. I'll notify my Tilapia lab partner Iqball," Agamemnon said remorsefully.

Ballqis nearly choked on the juice she was just about to swallow.

"I'm sorry, who's your Tilapia lab partner again?"

"Iqball, that same dude from our Calculus 211 class, haven't I told you that before?" 

She shook furiously.

"It was actually a senior but the girl could not do Tuesdays, so she had switched with Iqball since last couple of weeks."

"Thanks, Aga, thanks," Ballqis said without feeling.

"Oh no, thank you, Ballqis. I knew you really like your Friday noons there. The lab is quiet. You could get a lot of work done while minding the fishes," Agamennon thanked her effusively, oblivious to her internal turmoil.