Whisk. Whisk.

I squinted, feeling something cold touching my face. At first, I couldn't point out what it was exactly. I was still half in dreamland and hearing something else at the same time.

"You're not getting up?" Finn asked. He was the same old boy I remembered him to be. He still got that well-known smile he always carried before and those blue eyes that were as clear as I could recall. His teeth were still crooked, and he was just that boy. And just like the old times, it was only the two of us.

"Five minutes," I said to him.

Whisk. Whisk.

"Okay, I'm heading out now," Finn said in a very peculiar tone.

I paused, thinking. It took me a moment to realize that the Finn in my dreams wasn't actually saying anything. He was only smiling at me.

"Finn?" I said his name, confused.

In a while, Mom came and took his hand. They were laughing about something as I turned my gaze away. I looked around to see who was talking to me. No one was in sight. I looked back to where Finn and Mom were, only to see that they had already left.

Okay, so it wasn't that pleasing to be left alone in the middle of nowhere. But aside from that, who was talking to me a moment ago?

Whisk. Whisk.

"I give up. Don't blame me if you get late again," said the voice.

My eyelids flew open, and I immediately got up from bed. Turning to my left, I saw that KN, who was already wearing his uniform, was standing by my bedside. As I squinted once more, staggered by the morning sunshine that came into our room when the breeze swayed the curtains, I felt something dripping down my face. Wiping it, I looked at what KN was holding. With all due shock, it was a water sprayer.

"Did you just water me?" I asked with complete astonishment. I couldn't believe that he thought I was part of the native flora of this room. He meticulously held that smirk in place, not in the least apologetic for my soaked face and almost drenched shirt. I already knew that he was strange and not your typical Mr. Nice Guy. What I couldn't comprehend was that he had already taken his animosity to a different level.

"I was watering my plant and thought that this might be the best way to wake you up. No touching done. So we're both okay, right?"

"But..."

"Oh, come on, I did you a favor," KN pointed out. Handing me back my alarm clock, he added, "I gave it two minutes. That's the limit of my patience. I think it's better if you buy a louder one, probably one that can wake you up."

"Two minutes? That's it?"

"That's long," KN said with utmost conviction.

I usually got up after five snoozes. It worked for the last few days, because KN wasn't around when my alarm clock started ringing and snoozing for the entire length of fifteen minutes.

"You could have called me," I said back, as I was heading down my bed. Seeing the clock, I blurted, "Oh, shit!"

"Yup, you're late. I'll be heading out first," he said, putting down the sprayer beside his plant, and walking towards the door.

"Wait! Can I come along with you? I don't know where the new room—"

And the door shut close.

Why should I be surprised by that? KN never waited for me, anyway. Even though we had the same classes, he never really bothered. I was used to getting lost as I tried finding the classrooms if ever I wasn't able to go with someone. And if only our teacher and room for the first period hadn't changed, I wouldn't bother asking him of all people.

Snagging a towel, I wiped away the remaining droplets of water on my face. Grabbing my clothes, I headed towards the bathroom, still disbelieving that KN used a water sprayer to wake me up. I closed the bathroom door and hurriedly changed my clothes. The uniform fitted me well, even if it felt odd. The schools I went to before didn't require uniforms. In fact, Corner Stone was the only one around the city who required their students to wear a uniform.

Before, when Paige and I were still drooling over these guys, I thought that their uniform was so cool. They were different, but in an entirely good way. However, right now, it wasn't. Three layers of clothes when you were running late?

Not good.

Sliding into the dark brown upper garment, I quickly combed my hair and brushed my teeth. Forgetting about taking a quick shower or anything of the like, I hurriedly picked up my bag. It was almost eight o'clock, and I was still in the dorm.

My stomach agreed with the time. It grumbled along. KN didn't even have the tiniest bit of heart to wake me up for breakfast. Instead, he had taken the liberty of shutting off my alarm and letting me sleep in. He surely grabbed one. He never missed it.

Yesterday, I'd found out that his aunt was working in the canteen, so he got to have his meals at his convenience. Sometimes, I saw him eating in our room. But mostly, he ate somewhere else. Wherever that was, I didn't know anymore. Not that I should care.

KN was the epitome of the word weirdness. He even had a plant that he was diligently taking care of. No other guy in this school had the hobby of taking care of plants. I had confirmed that with Jayden. Maybe it was his outlet for his 'motherly'—monsterly—instinct. Yeah, whichever way worked.

Monster, mostly.

I held the water sprayer, thinking of over watering his plant. Shaking my head and restraining myself from harming an innocent plant, I put it down. Instead, I just grabbed the piece of bread that he didn't finish last night before heading out of the room. This was a good enough revenge, and I prevented the bread from catching molds.

Rushing out of the door, I saw nothing but an empty hall. No one was running around while chewing bread, late like I was. Everyone must probably be in the classroom right now. KN was also likely sitting in his chair, legs-crossed, and laughing secretly to himself.

Pressing the elevator button, I waited for the doors to close right away. It didn't. It very much took its normal and now seemingly slow toll.

"Please close now. No one is around here anymore," I pleaded, still pressing the Close Door button. After a moment, the doors finally started closing. However, it stopped when a hand appeared in between the sensor.

Oh, great. I had to wait again.

But despite my building resentment, my worries instantly faded away when I saw that it was no other than suspect no. 1—Grayson Phillips.

"Yo," I greeted Grayson, holding back that cutesy 'hi'. I was still honing my boyish manners, but I was cautious now, especially around Grayson. He was already suspicious of me, and there was no need to strengthen his hunches.

Grayson didn't respond, like the usual, but only pressed the elevator button repeatedly. He looked like he just got out of bed, like me. In an all-boys school, I'd discovered that no one really paid attention to their hair. Bed hairs were the usual style you'd see around.

The more I saw Grayson in class, the more I imagined him to be my missing brother. He had the same strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I wasn't the only one on the boat. I called Dad last night, and he also believed that Grayson could be Finn.

But because of some unfathomable reason, the similarity only ended up with that. I was waiting for that sibling recognition to kick in because I hadn't felt it at all.

I held on to the straps of my bag more tightly, not knowing what else to do in this confined space. Suddenly feeling that I wanted to just go home and end this torture, I thought about blurting out the magic question to Grayson, but I held it back.

I couldn't act without thinking. I couldn't give up now, either. Not when I was already in the school. Not when I finally had a list. And not when my prime suspect was currently inside the elevator with me.

I just resolved to stalk him some more for now.

The elevator opened, and we got out. Grayson hurried his steps, because obviously, we were both late. Since his legs were longer, I ended up walking several footfalls behind him. And halfway through the semi-walk and semi-run that we did, I noticed him slowing a bit and letting me catch up.

I initially felt surprised. KN had such a great impact on me I'd forgotten all about the normality of being treated in a nice, or at least civil, manner.

"Hurry," Grayson told me. I was already at my limits. I was far from being the athletic type of person.

"Sorry. You can go ahead." I offered, but of course I didn't mean it all the way. I could really use some help with the directions.

"Man, you sound so much like a girl. Come on," he said, taking me by the arm and dragging me around the empty hall.

That intense attraction came creeping in as we ran around the hall. I felt like a heroine in a movie, and the lead guy was taking me by the hand. Okay, he wasn't holding my hand. Yes, he was dragging me with a bit of force, but I let myself imagine he was holding my hand instead. And then, everything around us started sparkling. I saw flower petals falling around everywhere. The romantic music played along, taking us both to another dimension far away from reality.

"Jules!" Grayson called out.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I replied. Realizing that I was having delusional thoughts again, I shook my head furiously. I cursed my tendency to get attracted to nerdy guys. I couldn't fall in love with Grayson, especially if he would later on be Finn.

"We're here," he pointed out to me, breathing in and out.

The bell rang exactly as we were standing in front of the classroom, both of us catching our breaths. Everyone looked at us, and even KN threw me that familiar stare of amusement.

The one nearest to us offered the water bottle he was drinking. "Water?"

I felt tempted to take it, but then the door on the other side of the room opened, and the new teacher entered. The class straightened their seats and looked up front. I followed Grayson inside, taking a seat beside Jayden.

"Forgot to alarm?" Jayden asked.

"No," I said with resentment, quickly glancing at KN, who was still looking at me. He was only a few seats away, so I purposely made him hear me when I said, "Someone turned it off without waking me up."

"Oh," Jayden noted, realizing whom I was talking about. With a hushed voice, he added, "I feel sorry for you, man."

I just nodded. Everyone who had overheard us got that same apologetic look on their faces. This was what I got for sticking with my decision about not changing rooms. It wasn't like I deserved it or anything, but they all looked sincerely sympathetic about my state.

"You could always transfer to my room," Daniel said behind me, hushing his voice so that the teacher wouldn't hear us. Despite flaunting my rocking hair and sporting this charming uniform, my inner instincts quivered at his notion. He was being nice by giving me another option, but I couldn't help but feel goosebumps crept in whenever I imagined Daniel climbing up to my bed while sleep walking. And I'd never forget what his ex-roommate said before—he also snuggled!

Shudder.

The teacher carried on with discussing the course subject and what he wanted to see from all of us this year. I was paying half of my attention to KN, whom I was still angry with, and the other to the class itself, trying to know more about my other suspects.

Grayson was still on top priority, so I planned to hang out with him after last period, but first, I had to find out where he was spending his leisure time. If only I didn't have that Spanish class during the senior's vacant period, I would have more time to get to know my other Finn suspects: the self-satisfied Austin; the normal guy Micah; Daniel, whose room I'd kindly declined; and Luke "Sky" Walker.

I had already excluded KN from the list, only because I didn't like him to be my brother. He was too detestable. And for Christoffer, he had an extra class with me. I'd actually enrolled in that class, after knowing that he was interested in it. He didn't seem to be the Jayden-type of guy. He was more like Grayson, only a little friendlier. And so I had gone through the extremes of adding more study materials to my desk, in order to spend some unsuspicious time with him.

Hola, Español. Te voy a utilizar para saber si Christoffer es Finn. Or something like that. I was never good in Spanish anyway, or in any other foreign languages.

"Mr. Kensey?" the teacher said.

I was staring at our teacher, like what two-third of the class was doing. For a minute, I wondered why he seemed to hold his gaze at me. I thought his eyes only landed on mine for a second or two as he was calling Mr. Kensey, but it seemed like they were lingering on mine longer than I assumed they would.

The look on our teacher's face changed. He suddenly appeared a bit perplexed. His eyes were still on me, though. I blinked. He blinked. That was when I realized it—I was Mr. Kensey! How could I ever forget such a thing?

He forced a smile. "Nervous, are we?"

"No, sir. I'm sorry for..."

The class laughed. Austin, who was on my right, said to me, "He called your name for about five times now."

"Really?" I said back with astonishment. Then, looking back at our teacher, I muttered, "I'm so sorry for spacing out, sir."

"So why don't you tell us what you expect?" the teacher asked me.

"Formulas?"

"And how they are derived and connected," he concluded on my behalf. I heard some laughing from the class again. Did I get my schedule wrong, and we actually had literature right now? Even the teacher looked humored by what I did. He chortled softly, shaking his head before turning his gaze elsewhere, utterly amused.

"What did I do?" I obliviously asked Jayden.

Then I knew why when the teacher asked KN instead, "But aside from the course itself that we had finished discussing a moment ago, Mr. Cosgrove, what do you expect from me as your teacher?"

KN got up and instantly answered, "There are several things that I'm looking forward to in this class. It is important to display professionalism at all times. Considering that we will discuss mathematics at eight o'clock in the morning, it is important to introduce the subject in an interesting way. Some of us, obviously, are having a hard time waking up, and I'll probably guess staying awake as well."

Was he talking about me? As I looked at KN, it was like there was a third hand at his back that was pointing to me. KN carried on with his speech. This was the first time that I heard him speak in class. Seriously, he didn't sound like my roommate.

With due hesitation, I leaned towards Jayden. "Does he really talk that way during class?"

"Aye. Everyone's betting he'll end up being class valedictorian. Not that many care or want that spot," Jayden said with a yawn. The teacher seemed to be very engaged with what KN was saying and totally forgot that he had fifty-three more students.

And so KN and the teacher talked for about ten minutes. Jayden and I ended up talking about some other things instead. When they finished, half of the class was already asleep. Our new teacher for calculus, Mr. Turner, cleared his throat in order to wake up the sleepy heads in the classroom. Then he proceeded to our very first assignment.

Bummer.

I yawned behind my book a couple of times until the bell rang. Putting my things inside my bag, I was focused on keeping my eyes open. So when someone tapped me from behind, it startled me. That made the person behind me laugh.

Turning my head, I saw Christoffer with some other guys from our class. "Do you want to come with us?"

I nodded and got up from my seat. Spanish 2 was the time I'd allotted for Christoffer. As we were walking to class, I didn't waste any time and quickly carried on a conversation with him. "So you like Spanish?"

"I like it," he replied. "Although we're only required to take one here, I considered taking another."

"What about Austin?"

He smiled. "Austin and the others are not interested at all."

"How long have you two known each other?" I continued asking. This was like killing two birds with one stone. I'd ask about his life and entangle Austin's along with it. The two of them were close from what I heard.

"Since last year. We're roommates," Christoffer answered.

"Have you two met before or only here?" I asked. In the finding Finn language, it meant, 'Where were you staying before you came here? And can you tell me about Austin's as well?'

"Nope, met him here." He smiled, pointing to the classroom in front of us. "Here we are."

Why was this classroom only a few feet away from where we had our first period? Why not a building apart? Or at least a floor apart? That could buy me some more time. There were so many questions I had in mind for Christoffer. But since I ran out of steps to take with him, I kept it simple by just letting it end like that.

We still got five minutes before class would start. Looking around, I saw a peculiar poster hanging on one side. I asked Christoffer, who was sitting beside me, "What's this White Canvas Art Exhibit?"

"We get to see girls," Larry, the one on my right, replied.

"Girls?" I repeated.

Christoffer and the others laughed. I must have sounded like one big idiot just now. Then he answered, "It's an open event."

"Oh, an open event. Right. Like it's an event where girls could also come?"

"Yup! But they limit the admission to only a hundred guests. It's an art exhibit, actually," he added.

"I wish they'd at least make the admission two hundred or more than that. The school can accommodate that much," Josh muttered. He played chess with Larry during dinner, and they both loved Spanish. I was getting good at remembering people now.

"I wonder if I should get a haircut for that event," Larry said, running his fingers through his hair. It wasn't a perfect scenario. His fingers barely made it through with all those stuck ends. And yes, he could use a haircut now if he ever wanted to make an impression on those girls.

"So, do you think we'd see his work again?" Josh suddenly asked Larry and Christoffer, looking from one to the other.

"I think so, if he will join again this year." Christoffer was the one who answered. Larry had that look of uncertainty on his face.

I wondered who they were talking about, so I asked, "Does this event showcase a particular person?"

"Not really," Christoffer said. "All the students can submit their works early this week, and a few will be chosen."

"I see."

Other students entered the room. We stayed at the back, letting the younger ones occupy the front seats. Then Christoffer continued, "There's a theme each year. Last year, I think it was spring. There was this certain entry that made everyone gawk in awe."

Larry added, "He had captured every single bit of reality in his work."

From the tone of their voices, I could sense that it must have been a brilliant piece of art. One could never miss the appreciation in all of their eyes.

A little later, as their conversation went on, I heard it was a portrait of a girl who was running one morning with blooming flower fields behind her. Even the wind, they said, was captivating. It was as if the painting was alive.

"So who is he?" I asked, after they had described the piece of art as an absolute beauty.

"The thing is, they did not name the painter," Josh answered me.

"He's kind of unknown?" I echoed, surprised. Surely, he must be proud of his work.

"We badly wanted a name then," Larry added. "Like we must know who."

"It was a fine piece. Everyone got crazy for a while. And for a school who teaches their students art throughout the length of their stay here, it's now a big mystery. Like White Canvas is now all about him," said Christoffer.

"I wonder why he doesn't want his identity to be known," I said in a low voice. Despite my curiosity taking control again, I shoved the thoughts aside. I still got one mystery that I needed to solve, so I shouldn't bother thinking of adding another one to the list.

"But we found the girl," Larry said, taking his notebook out of his bag.

"She's just as beautiful in real life. I think Austin asked her out after," Josh said to me.

"Unfortunately, they're not together anymore," Christoffer informed us, leaning back his chair.

"Did you guys try asking around? Oh, wait, you found the girl. Did you ask her about him?" I sucked my breath, suddenly feeling excited about all this. I never thought that I would be interested in mysteries until now.

"We did. But she said that he was wearing a mask when he had sketched her. It was an out of the blue thing. She gave him permission, but she didn't know it was for an exhibit. Regardless, she was delighted by it," explained Josh.

"You can't blame her. It was one fine piece of art," said Larry evenly.

"Ma...sked?" I stammered nervously, as worry started creeping into my mind. After all, a masked guy had sketched me a few days ago.

"Yes, half-mask, actually. Like the ones you see in masquerade balls," Christoffer answered. Where did I hear that before? That sounded a lot like the one I'd met at Channing's party. Even the way he asked and what he was wearing. Crap. Come to think of it, he used a Corner Stone sketchpad.

Oh, my goodness. Why didn't I decline? But I didn't know. I had no clue what was going on with Finn.

And even though that masked guy knew me as Clark, my face was exactly the same as, well, my face. Of course, it was my face. It was Fiona's, to be exact—the last face I wanted to be seen around here in Corner Stone. What if he would use my face for this event? After all, the story of the girl he drew before did sound awfully familiar.

Starting to be anxious, I asked again, "Did you try asking about him?"

"We tried, but we hadn't succeeded," Larry told me.

"Yup," Josh said. After giving it a thought, he continued, "Even the art teacher who was in charge of the event refused to name him."

Whoever that masked guy was, one thing was for sure—he had my face nicely drawn on his sketchpad. There was this slightest chance that he could use it for this White Canvas Art Exhibit event. He could expose me unknowingly, even if he named his piece something like "Clark Eating Lots of Crab Cakes".

I would be so busted.

"Are you okay?" Christoffer asked me, looking worried.

I wanted to say that I was fine, but my head began spinning suddenly. From the moment they mentioned he was wearing a mask, all I could think about was my face sketched in his pad and the White Canvas Art Exhibit in three weeks.

FINDING FINN JOURNAL NO. 6

Why did I let that dude sketch me? Why? *wallows in sadness*