Struggling to know the unknown. To uncover the mysteries that surround him. Since the very beginning, man has tried to uncover the deepest and darkest secrets that involve him, or even if they don't involve him. From the family secrets, to the unknown things that lurk in the depth of the oceans, to what lies beyond the universe, man has always proved that curiosity is his middle name.

I'm a human being, and thus a curious species. And so, I need to know who saw me trick Mr. Collins. I mean I can't just let someone have something to blackmail me with.

It's more important to me than to know what kind of sand is found in the Amazon. And that's saying something. I put aside, 'The Quest' and closed my eyes to relax and think about my life, which is getting pretty complicated, pretty quickly.

The secret admirer. Harvey turning over a new leaf. Lucas wanting me to tutor him and then disappearing off the face of earth. A pair of blue eyes invading my personal thoughts. A stalker stalking my every move.

'Well, it can't get more complicated than that,' I thought as a got ready for school.

~~~

Hilda had struck again. As soon as my locker came into view, I saw a crowd of students gathered around it. I was sure it was the photo again. I guess Hilda found out that Lucas wasn't flirting with a cheerleader and that I had made it up. It was her way of showing me where I stood. Below her. And maybe she murdered Lucas and hid his body somewhere. That's why I couldn't find him anywhere.

I elbowed some students out of the way and went in the direction of my classroom. I had my books for the first lecture with me. And there was no need to go to the locker for anything. Let the idiots see what they wanted to. It wasn't anything new.

I tuned out the words thrown at me, inside the classroom. But I couldn't help sneaking glances at my sketch drawn on the whiteboard. It was hideous. I acted as if I hadn't noticed it was me on the board. For the first time, I wished Miss David would come early.

"Have you seen your sketch, Mary?" asked Hilda, pointing to the picture at the board.

"That's me?" I asked, in a surprised voice. "I thought it was you."

"Quit acting," she snapped.

"Are you sure? I mean, look at it," I said. "It's clearly a drawing of your second face. Ugly and all smudgy."

Before she could come up with a reply, Martin, who could see the hallway from his seat, said, "Miss David is coming."

I jumped up from my seat and ran to the board. I wiped my sketch with my hands before Miss David could could enter the classroom and see it.

The students laughed and I thought, 'so much for the don't care attitude before.'

Miss David entered the class seconds after I had cleaned the board. Phew! I wiped imaginary sweat from my forehead, flopping down on my seat.

There were about ten minutes till the bell, when Miss David ended the lecture and loudly tapped her table with the board eraser.

She cleared her throat, "Students. You all should know that I love all my students equally, and I don't do any kind of discrimination. Whenever I scold you, I do it for your own good. I like to push you forward. It doesn't mean that I have any kind of grudge against you. I always want my best pupils to excel and break their own records. That's why I'm a bit hard on them. For example," she paused for a moment and made a face, "Mary here. See, she is my star pupil and I focus on her more than all of you. Because I want her to try and use all her abilities to the fullest. But that doesn't mean that I ignore any of you."

I had to give it to her. The slight pause she took before my name, and how she blurted it out like on impulse. It was perfect. No one could have guessed that every word was practised to perfection.

I tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

"If any of you have any problem or complain, please come to me and I will try my best to help you all," she concluded her speech and tried to give me a loving smile, which resembled a suppressed snarl.

Only I know what it took to keep myself from laughing out loud, at Miss David's helplessness. Mr. Collins must have threatened her with her job, or something even worse. She totally deserved it.

'Mission accomplished.' I congratulated myself on my success, as I stepped out of the classroom.

I was going to my locker to get rid of the extra books and notes, when I heard Harvey call me from behind, "hey Mary."

"Hey," I replied.

"Nice speech back there, don't you think so?" asked Harvey pointing to the classroom, over his shoulder, with his thumb.

"Yeah. Don't know what came over her though," I said casually.

"How many hours do you think she spent to make it perfect?" he asked.

Oh, so he had noticed it was not on impulse.

"I don't know," I simply said.

"You were smiling," he said abruptly.

"It was funny. Miss David being nice. I was happy that she had a good reason to insult me. And she called me her star pupil. How could I not smile?" I said.

"It didn't look like a happy smile. It looked more of a triumphant kind," he said.

"What are you, crazy? You are turning into a creepy stalker," I laughed.

"Wait, that's it! A creepy stalker. You are the one. Aren't ya?" I said excitedly.

"I'm what?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and widening his brown eyes.

But I knew better than to fall for his trick.

"Oh no. I'm not going to be fooled. You stalked me yesterday," I said. "Spill it! I want the whole story."

"Well, I don't know what you are talking about. I gotta go. As pretty as you are, it wouldn't do good to my reputation if I'm seen with a paranoid," he said raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Your reputation, my foot!" I said getting heated up, and grabbed him by his jacket front.

"Hey, hey you are crinkling my jacket," he said.

"I won't let go until you tell me why you are stalking me," I said.

"Okay. Chill out! I will, but I really have to get to class. I don't want a detention," he said.

"Neither do I. It's the only reason I'm letting you go. Only for now," I added.

"Sure. Talk to you after the last lecture," he shrugged and turned to go to his next class.

~~~

I was waiting for Harvey, outside the classroom. He was talking to Mr. Rolling, our English professor, about some assignment. I was lost in day dreams when a hand covered my eyes from behind.

I jumped with fright and instinctively kicked behind me with all my might.

"Ow! What are you doing?" Harvey uncovered my eyes and bent down to rub his leg.

"What were you doing? Kidnapping me again," I said, a bit annoyed.

"I was joking," he grumbled.

"With a girl who got kidnapped two days ago? I don't think it was very wise of you," I said.

"Come on! It wasn't real kidnapping, it was harmless," he said.

"I don't think so. You just got hurt," I laughed at my own joke.

He rolled his eyes, "what has that anything to do with this?" He pointed at his leg.

"I wouldn't have reacted like this, if I hadn't been kidnapped. You have made me paranoid. I don't think you can blame me for being jumpy whenever a stranger or even a known person comes too close to me. Especially when they cover my eyes," I said.

He just grinned, as if relishing a sweet memory.

"Do you know where Lucas is?" I suddenly asked, remembering how he ran away when I was being kidnapped. I hadn't seen him ever since.

"Yeah, he's gone on a business tour with his father."

"His father takes him to business tours with him?" I asked, astonished.

"He knows his son isn't the brightest bulb in school, so he wants him to know all about practical issues in business," Harvey explained.

Before I could ask him about the whole stalker thing, "do you like cheese?" he asked. "We can talk a lot about cheeses if you want."

I looked at him as if he had gone mad. Then realisation hit me. "You are not going to change the subject," I said firmly, opening my locker to dump in my extra books and taking out the few I needed.

"Fine, let's go to my house. We can hang out for sometime and maybe I'll tell you what you want to know," he said.

"I guess it would be nice to go to your house as a guest, and not as a maid," I said, pushing my locker shut, completely ignoring the picture taped to the door.

"Don't make me feel guilty about it. It wasn't my fault," he said, and ripped the picture from the locker door. He crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the bin. He did it so casually, like he did it on daily basis. So, I decided to ignore it as well.

"I never said... Wait! Do you feel guilty about it?" I asked.

"I told you. I have changed," he said.

"I have a hard time believing that. And you can't blame me for that. I have been bullied by you since primary school," I said.

"I promise, I have changed," he said.

"What amazes me," I started, ignoring his answer, "is that you only bullied me. Nobody else. Why? And even stood up to the bullies, for other kids."

He didn't reply. I looked sideways at him, and saw a mysterious smile playing on his lips.

"No reason," he said, shrugging.

I let it pass. For now.

He opened the front door for me, and circled around his silver Mercedes to sit on the driving seat.

I fastened my seat belt and waited for him to speak, joke, or even say something embarrassing. But he kept quiet. He just started the engine and pressed his foot to the accelerator. He was lost in his thoughts.

'Maybe he's planning something, like a prank,' I thought.

I looked at him intently, and decided that he looked relaxed enough to be innocent. He could put up an innocent face, but I knew him too well. He could never sit relaxed if he was excited about something.

A few times, I had a sudden urge to yell 'BOO' at him, but as he was driving, and I valued my life more than seeing his startled face, I sat like a good little girl, impatiently waiting to reach his house.

My stomach was screaming for food, and I was hoping that maybe I could get a pizza or something good and greasy to eat. Junk food is my life!

What I didn't expect, was to have the most awkward time having an interesting lunch with three grown ups.

Not to mention an egomaniac with sparkly blue eyes.

Author's note:

Hey everybody. I know you all must hate me for being a slow updater, but this chapter is longer than usual and even though Harvey and Mary are not friends yet, they aren't biting off each others heads. Although I like them better the latter way.

A dedication to the reader who guesses why did Harvey only bully Mary.

Who can guess what movie reference is there when Harvey asks Mary, "Do you like cheese?" The only hint I can give is that, it is the most amazing movie ever!

Now to the reason why I update. To thank my readers. In this chapter I'm going to mention some more. I have to follow you to mention, so don't mind ;)

A big thank you to,

PopcornSweetcorn

Teenhijabigirl

AWarriorBehindAVeil

tarasitara

alwaysvintage

Aznah19

Now for the special mention. My wattpad buddy (I'm not the kind of girl who calls everyone buddy) and my very supportive reader, who has been with me since I started this book,

Royal-Ex-Breezy

All my readers, I love reading your comments. Whenever I read them, I smile like a lunatic. Please vote, comment and share, if you like.

Silent readers, please reveal yourselves ;)

Stay happy, always.

See ya. (Soon, I hope)