Alice's Inner Genius

It was already the resumption of classes and Alice is definitely not happy about it so are all the other students of their school. She arrived at her classroom and she noticed that Mark was at her seat and he had a smug grin on his face and she also noticed that Mia was glaring at her from the door of the classroom.

"Go away," she huffed once she got to her desk. Mark did as he was told and he sat on his seat which was right in front of Alice's.

"Hey, happy new year Alice. Want another gift?" he asked with a grin. Heat rose to Alice's cheeks when she remembered Mark's 'gift'.

"I have a gift for you Mark," she said with a smirk.

Mark leaned towards her and to his surprise, Alice grabbed a hold of his hair and slammed his face onto her desk. "Happy New Year you sneaky bastard," she chuckled.

They had regular classes after that then soon it was already their lunchtime. They were currently staying at the school cafeteria. "So what happened during Christmas Eve?" Lance curiously asked.

"Nothing," Alice replied quickly before Mark said anything stupid. "And do you know that we're having our test in two weeks?"

"Really? That was quick. We just had the unit tests last time," Josh asked.

"It's because we'll be preparing for prom so we'll have our tests in advance," he added.

"This sucks," Vincent sighed.

Alice saw some people approaching them. She looked at them in confusion, she did not expect Tiffany and Mia to approach her together. "Hi Alice," Mia greeted cheerfully.

Alice only got more confused, while Mark immediately sensed that something is wrong. "Why are you here?" Mark asked.

"We're just here to invite Alice for an advance meeting for prom. She's one of the assigned leaders after all." Mia narrated.

"And don't forget that she's also good at arts and crafts. We're going to be planning for the draft for the stage," Tiffany added.

Alice smiled mischievously. "Okay, where will I meet you guys?" she asked.

"At the gymnasium. Head over there after class, we wouldn't want you to be scolded if you get late," Mia grinned. Alice nodded then they left.

"Something doesn't feel right. Be careful Alice." Mark told her. Alice only laughed at him.

"Don't be silly Mark. Mia's a good girl and Tiffany and I are on good terms now." she told him.

Once their classes were over, Alice headed straight to the gymnasium. She looked around and there was no one else around besides Tiffany who was currently sitting on the stage. "Hi Alice!" she waved.

Alice went inside. "Where are the others?" she asked.

She heard the door shut, she turned and she saw Mia. "It's only the three of us Alice," she said.

"Surprised Alice?" Tiffany smirked as she took out a pair of scissors. "Mia and I have been talking and we both think that no hair suits you," she laughed. Mia also approached her and she too was holding a pair of scissors. Alice rolled her eyes then she laughed loudly afterward.

"How stupid though," she said causing the two to stop on their tracks. "You think I wouldn't know? I'm way steps ahead of you girls. You are not aware of two things. First, I already know I'm an assigned leader ever since the Christmas vacation. Two, I hack Tiffany's account from time to time and I know that you've been chatting about me and I know about your plan," the two were left dumbfounded by the situation.

"That's invading privacy Alice!" Tiffany growled.

"Yeah, well it isn't my fault that you're way too obvious in faking a friendship with me. So of course I know you're up to something, I just happened to check." Alice smirked.

Mia moved next to Tiffany and Alice casually went near them. "So you were planning on cutting my hair right?" she asked. "As if I'd care," she shrugged.

Tiffany ran towards her but Alice grabbed her wrist and snatched the scissors away from her. She spun the scissors in her fingers.

"Run unless you want me to cut your skirts, you won't be able to go home if I do that right?" she said with a playful smile.

"You're crazy" Mia exclaimed before she and Tiffany ran outside.

Alice laughed as she went outside the gym as well. She was about to exit the school gates when she saw Mark. "How did the meeting go?" he asked.

"Fun," Alice smiled as she continued walking.

She noticed that Mark was following her. "Why are you still here?" she asked.

"I'm walking you home," he answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "How long will you keep doing that? It's starting to get annoying. I'm strong enough to protect myself." she growled.

"I'm no longer here to protect you. I just wanna be with you," Mark smiled.

Alice pointed an accusing finger at him. "Stalker!" she shouted.

"That's too harsh," he said

"I don't care just go!" Alice ran to her house and closed the gate. Mark chuckled before he turned around and headed home.

The next day, they were hanging out at the rooftop as usual. "So since the exams are getting near, why don't we have a group study? We could stay at the library during vacant period," Gerald suggested.

"Yeah, sure." the guys agreed

"Yeah, good luck with that guys, have fun reviewing," Alice said.

"What do you mean good luck? You'll review with us," Lance said suddenly. Before Alice could voice out her opinion Matthew interrupted her.

"It's bonding time for academic purposes,"

Alice blew the hair on her face "Fine, I'll go but I won't review. I'll just fool around."

"Are you serious? There's a major examination coming up you know," Alex pointed out.

"Yeah but I don't like reviewing, it sucks." she sighed.

"You are an idiot, don't go crying if you failed the tests." Vincent warned.

"I won't fail," she stated as if it was a fact.

"Just attend, five to six every day. I'll follow you anyway when you go home," Mark noted.

"Would you just quit stalking me!" Alice shouted.

For the following days, they did review and as expected Alice did fool around, she just brought different fictional books and read them instead of the academic books she brought. She was able to finish the Percy Jackson series within that week.

"So you really have no intention of studying, do you?" Mark asked.

"Nope, maybe next time." she replied without taking her eyes off the book.

The guys would only sigh since for the next days Alice didn't even bother to open her book. At last, the day of the examinations came

"Are you worried yet?" Josh asked.

"Not at all," she said in a rather too relaxed tone.

Once the examination started the students answered through the test papers. The guys stared at Alice with totally confused looks on their faces. "She seems to be relaxed and she hasn't reviewed at all." Josh whispered.

"She must be messing with the test," Matthew whispered back.

"Hey Matthew, Josh would you like to share what you are whispering about?" their teacher accused.

"Sorry ma'am, I was just asking him what's the date today." Josh chuckled nervously.

"So how'd the test go?" Mark asked Alice as they left the room.

"Fine, I think." Alice shrugged.

"Eh? You didn't find it difficult at all?" he asked again.

"Kinda but I'm not worried though," she assured.

"I won't be surprised if you fail," Alex laughed.

"Nah, I'm not aiming for high grades but I'm sure I'm not failing."

A week later, it was the distribution of report cards. Their parents are about to arrive anytime soon. Meanwhile, their class secretary posted their ranks in class right outside the classroom. Their classmates immediately flooded the halls. Alice and the others had to squeeze through just to see their ranks. Once they saw it, they thought their eyes deceived them. Their names were all arranged by their ranks.

Rank---- Name ----------------------General Average

#8 Marie Allison Villanueva 93.45

#18 Mark Zachary de los Reyes 89.89

#20 Gerald Lopez 87.43

#25.5 Alexander Torres 86.02

#25.5 Joshua Ocampo 86.02

#32 Matthew Manzano 84.23

#35 Lance Fernandez 83.56

#39 Vincent Arceo 82.01

"How did this happen?" Lance whined. "Thirty-five out of forty-five?!" he said in dismay and Vincent looked even more disappointed than him.

"Hey, at least you're smarter than ten other people," Alice gave him a pat on the back.

"How are you ranked eight when you didn't even study?" Mark asked.

"I studied the night before the tests. There wasn't much to study, I'm actually surprised with my grade, I mean I failed like... two math quizzes," she shrugged.

"You are unbelievable," they groaned.

The next day, it was their first meeting for prom. Their teacher separated all of them into groups. For some reason, Alice, Mark, and Tiffany ended in the same committee while the other guys got separated into two other committees.

"Is this fate Mark? You're always with Tiffany" Alice teased as she elbowed him on the ribs.

"Are you kidding me? It could also be us Alice," he pointed out. Alice stopped and she shook her head.

"Nope, it's you and Tiffy." Mark groaned in disbelief.

"Starting tomorrow you're all going to start, the people assigned for venue decoration will go to our venue while the others will meet in any place within the school vicinity." Their teacher simply smiled. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Venue decoration? That sucks, it also means for the next two weeks we'll be separated from you." Alice whined.

"Its okay, Mark's with you anyway," Alex said.

"That's the sad part," she sighed.

"Oh come on Alice, is that really what you think?" Mark said as he placed his hand on Alice's shoulder which Alice immediately slapped away.

"Yup," she said bluntly.

"Liar"

Mark accompanied Alice home once again that day. "One question, when will you stop walking me home?" Alice asked impatiently

"Don't know, I'm a stalker right?" he grinned.

"I only said that! It's because you're creeping me out!" she ranted.

Mark just laughed. "I have a question too," he said causing Alice to stop walking." Do you like me?"

"I don't hate you," she muttered as she looked away from him.

"You're a sly one Alice. Why don't you just say you like me?" Mark chuckled.

"It's because I don't!" I hate you!"

"You just said that you don't hate me, I'm confused."

"You deserve a confusing answer creepy stalker!" she exclaimed before she dashed away.

"Bye Alice!" Mark shouted.