Ms. Lozada called my name again to recite an another stupid Spanish translation of numbers first thing in the morning and I fought the urge to hurl my thick Foreign Language textbook right at her hideous face. She seemed to look amused everytime I struggle to pronounce the Spanish terms.

And god, I hate that woman.

When the bell rang for recess, I slammed my textbook against the desk angrily before storming out of the classroom, ignoring the stares of other students. I was in a really bad mood.

If Ms. Lozada will keep embarrassing me in front of the whole class, then I'll just have to prove her that she messed with the wrong person!

I stopped by the library and walked over to the references section to borrow an English-Spanish dictionary. Afterwards, I sat down on an empty table to do a little leisure reading.

"Let's see... Buenos días means good morning. And then good afternoon is buenas tardes in Spanish." I said and kept reciting the Spanish terms to myself a few times.

"You're struggling with Spanish this time?" A voice said from behind me before taking a seat on an empty chair next to me. I groaned.

"Meredith, I swear if you surprise me one more time I'm gonna strangle you."

"Try me." She said bluntly, crossing her arms. Little by little, Meredith was starting to feel at ease during our conversations. Although, she'd still regard me coldly and respond bluntly but I guess that's just really part of her personality.

"Do you live under a rock or something? How come you're so brainless?" She said dryly. My eye twitched in annoyance.

"I'm not brainless, I've just never studied this kind of stuff before." I protested. She tilted her head.

"Home schooled?" Damn. She catches on pretty quick. I nodded.

"Yeah."

"For what reason?" My lips quivered as the horrible events at my old school flashed through my mind.

"I-I... I can't tell you that.." I croaked out, my voice cracking. Out of the corner of my eye, Meredith's cold expression immediately softens as her green eyes bore into my trembling form. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something before closing it, her lips pressed into a thin line. She then stood up abruptly, making me look up at her in wonder.

"Sorry, that was insensitive of me. I'll be going now." She said monotonously, wearing her usual stoic expression as she headed towards the door before I could say something else.

Meredith... Just what is going on inside your head?

During English class, we were instructed to do our narrative essay. Excitedly, I took out my laptop and began to think of my favorite scene in The Iliad. Personally, I really liked the one-on-one sword battle between Achilles and Hector which took place outside the gates of Troy city. I racked my brain for a few moments, thinking of a perfect way to start the scenario.

"Maybe I should start by describing the whole setting and the atmosphere. Most writers do that kind of style as a way to to get the readers' attention." I said to myself as I began typing on my laptop.

Thousands of lives were taken away as blood was shed on the battlefield, dead bodies of soldiers laid on the ground lifelessly. A soft breeze passed by as one warrior remained standing outside the gates of Troy, his blue eyes filled with murderous glint and his long blonde hair floating from the wind. He gripped onto the sword, his knuckles turning white while holding a shield in the other hand. Achilles, the leader of the Myrmidons and the fiercest warrior in the Greek army.

I stopped typing to admire my work with a satisfied smile.

"So far, so good. Now I can start with his dialogue." I muttered.

"Hector!!!" He screamed at top of his lungs, looking angrier as ever. He kept yelling out his name, as he glared at the large closed doors before him.

Hector on the other hand, was at the balcony above the gates of Troy, his fists clenching and his brown eyes full of determination.

I paused typing after the last paragraph to research about the following events of the scene to make sure I was on the right track. I frowned when the bell rang for the next class.

Well, there's always another time to continue it.

At lunch period, going to the library was my first instinct as it became my usual spot during breaks. Stopping by the teen fiction shelf, I grabbed the Harry Potter: Philosopher's Stone novel and flipped through a few pages, looking for the part where I've left off.

Walking towards the wooden tables to continue my leisure reading, I caught a glimpse of a guy wearing a black beanie by a table at the far end, his back turned to me.

Huh, it's the weird math prodigy.

Curiosity takes over me as I walked closer towards him cautiously. He seemed too engrossed with writing something as I stood behind him. Peeking over his shoulder, my mouth hung open in shock.

His math notebook was filled with complicated trigonometric equations and long solutions that I can barely understand. He placed his pencil down after writing before turning to the next page of the thick textbook. He sighed softly, running a hand through his black beanie.

"Just one more item to go." I heard him say to himself as he flicked the pencil between his fingers.

"You're quite studious, aren't you?" I said before I could stop myself and I cursed to myself mentally.

Ugh. Me and my big fat mouth.

The guy jerked his head towards me in genuine surprise, his expression completely flustered. He glanced between me and his study materials anxiously before standing up timidly to gather all his things in a clumsy manner.

"S-Sorry, I need to go." He stammered as he brushed past me, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. I sighed.

What's up with people avoiding me like I'm some kind of disease?

Apparently, I got an F grade in the Algebra quiz. Again. I fought the urge to rip the quiz paper to shreds and throw them out of the window. I basically studied my butt off for the whole night and yet all my efforts seemed to die in vain. I groaned as I laid my head down sideways on the desk.

"Algebra and I just really don't go well with each other." I muttered under my breath, huffing in annoyance.

When I was in kindergarten, math used to be so easy and fun. There was this one time when I used to be the smartest student in class and would always obtain A+ in my math tests. In one of the classes in my old school, our teacher showed us a jar of candies and instructed us to count its quantity. And when we got the correct
answer, she gave us the candies as the prize. Unfortunately, math became the complete opposite when I got in high school. Like seriously, what's the point of involving all other kinds of variables? It just makes it even more complicated.

"For this quiz, only one student in the class was able to get a perfect score." Ms. Merryl announced. Automatically, students began whispering amongst themselves.

"It's him, isn't it?"

"Obviously, there's no way anyone can outrank him."

"Yeah, he has always been the top student since freshman."

"And not to mention that he has such a high reputation."

I was left baffled. Just who are they talking about that made them feel so certain about this mysterious smarty-pants?

"Jack Ross. Please stand to be recognized." My eyes immediately found the person who stood up by the aisle and I blinked in surprise.

It's him again.

Jack felt extremely uncomfortable being the center of attention in the class as his shoulders were stiff and his gaze was wandering elsewhere, probably trying to make himself feel less awkward. The class applauded him in return as he regarded them with a nervous smile before sitting back down on his seat.

The rest of the period was boring as usual. Ms. Merryl was discussing about nonlinear equations and I had to stop myself from dozing off. I tapped my foot impatiently as I stared at the clock above the blackboard intently, biting my lip in anticipation as I begged the time to reach 2:05 PM for dismissal.

"Alright for your performance task, you will be working in pairs that I assigned you with. Your task is to create a mini urban diorama and you'll be needing to measure and graph the buildings and infrastructures that you created. The submission will be in two weeks. Now, let me announce the following pairs." She said as she scanned through a paper on her clipboard.

"Ash Rockwell and Jack Ross."

Holy molly, I'm paired with the math prodigy.

This means that I can finally get a high grade!

Grinning idiotically to myself, I proceeded to look for my partner and easily caught sight of a black beanie across the room. Jack was still sitting on his desk, scribbling down on his notebook. Walking over to the aisle, I stopped right in front of his desk.

"So, hey. I'm not sure if you know me but we're partners for the algebra project." I said casually with a friendly smile. Jack jolted on his seat in surprise as he jerked his head towards me with wide eyes.

"Y-You're.. a girl?" He uttered, completely dumbfounded as he pointed a finger at me. I was taken aback by his words as my smile faded and it was replaced into a frown.

"What do you think? Can't a math genius even differentiate between two genders?" I huffed, placing my hands on my hips. Jack waved his hands in front of him vigorously.

"No, it's not that. Your name is Ash so I assumed you're a guy." He admitted, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well, most people do assume most of the time that I'm a guy. Because of that, I'm not really fond of my name."

"But I think your name is really nice. It's unique." He said quietly, sending me a shy smile.

"Thanks. I think yours is pretty cool, Jack and the beanstalk." I teased, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. He pouted at the nickname, a red hue visible on his cheeks.

"Hey, that's really mean." He protested timidly, but I could tell he was starting to warm up to me.

"I could be mean whenever I want." I said and flashed him a playful wink, earning a flustered expression from the shy prodigy as his blush darkened.

For the last ten minutes, Jack and I commenced our planning on the design of the mini diorama. I was highly impressed at his professional-like skills in doing rough sketches of buildings at a certain angle, helping me to fully understand how the infrastructures should look like. He instructed me to provide the materials needed for the project and I immediately approved his decision. Even if Jack is known as the prodigy in Rosewood, I can't rely everything on him. The bell rang for dismissal and we bid each other goodbye.

"Hold up a minute, Ash. Did you just say that you've been paired up with Jack Ross?! Like Jack Ross from the Ross family?" I glared at Soren's roommate irritatedly as I shoved him away from me. The guy was literally screaming right at my face and I could feel his breath which smelled like cheese pizza.

"Could you stop overreacting over him? I don't get what's the big deal with Jack. Like, I mean I'm aware that he's a prodigy but so what? And yeah, duh! How could he be not part of the Ross family when his name is obviously Jack Ross?" I said in a matter-of-factly tone, emphasising the word, Ross. Mason rolled his eyes.

"Oh, dear Ash. You have no idea how big of a deal the Ross family is when it comes to their reputation and status." He said firmly as if he were scolding a naive child.

"Tell me about it."

"Okay, so the Ross family owns a very huge and wealthy scientific research company called the LR Corporation with the acronym originated from the name of Jack's father, Lincoln Ross. It's where they conduct research studies before executing these in numerous experiments to see if they would benefit to the world." My jaw dropped in surprise.

That was hella mind-blowing.

"Oh, I didn't quite expect that. I thought you're just gonna say something like he's rich, handsome, and he lives in a mansion. Now I get it why Jack has a high reputation here in Rosewood." Mason wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"So you admit that he's handsome?" He teased, nudging my arm playfully.

"Shut up, I don't see him that way. We're just randomly paired up in a project. Period." I deadpanned.

"Yeah, sure. That's what girls usually say in romance movies but in the end, they'll end up with the said guy." He said in a sing-song voice in attempt to further tease me.

"You're such an ass. You watch too much Korean drama shows." I said nonchalantly as I opened Mason's refrigerator and grabbed a canned soda.

"Hey, that was my last drink!" He exclaimed. I casually opened the soda and took a big gulp, smirking at his deflated expression.

"Payback for teasing me." Before Mason could make a comeback, the door creaked open to reveal Soren, holding up a plastic bag.

"Hey guys. I just got food from the convenience store."

"Soren! You're such a life saver!" Mason cheered as he snatched the bag from Soren's grasp almost immediately. I rolled my eyes.

"Uhh, what's up with him?" Soren asked as he sat beside me on his bed.

"He sulked over his last soda that I drank and now he looks so happy-go-lucky because you brought him food." I said bluntly.

"Sis, you should really stop eating everything in his refrigerator. His food is always short in supply."

"Don't care. He deserves it." Soren frowned at my response.

"Anyway, my soccer training starts tomorrow after school. Will you watch me practice?"

"Sure thing, I like watching you practice. And good luck at your try-outs as a goalkeeper."

"Yeah, thanks sis."

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

A/N: So sorry for the late chapter update! For the past week, I've been very busy studying for my mid-term exams 😭😭😭

Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed my chapter somehow. The writing style looks really jumbled cause I literally forced myself to do this chapter despite the fact that I still have an english test tomorrow. Btw I'd appreciate it very much if you vote my story! Ciao!

Word count: 2513