Chapter 3.

"You must be the other new student. Kindly introduce yourself." Mrs. Zhong motioned her hands in front of the class.

The new girl smiled sweetly before standing in front of her new classmates. "Hi! My name is Aveline Cassie Navarro. You can call me Cassie for short."

"Alright Cassie, take a seat beside Ms. Mago. I am Mrs. Zhong, your adviser for this school year." Mrs. Zhong then pointed at an unoccupied chair in the front row before handing the nameplate and tool to Cassie.

Explaining to her what were those for.

Cassie nodded and went to sit beside Mago. The two exchange hi's and hello's before listening to their teacher as the discussion started.

It's already an hour and a half when the door opened, revealing a zombie-looking Artheena. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked like it was just force out of the closet.

"Ms. Tuan? Why are you late?" Mrs. Zhong asked.

Artheena runs her hands through her hair. "Oh, I just..." she shrugged. "Almost forgot to wake up."

Her tone was not sarcastic. Mrs. Zhong walked towards her and fixed her hair. "Well then at least brush your hair," she said.

Artheena flinches at the touch. "Yeah whatever," was all she replied and walked over to where she was sitting.

"Alright, I want you all to group yourselves into four. You can just basically group with your seatmates, much easier." Mrs. Zhong then writes something on the board.

Mark and Haechan exchanged looks. Their other two seatmates which were Artheena and Jeno was too quiet. Given the commotion that happened yesterday, it was indeed awkward to talk to them.

"So, I'm going to give you each a topic to discuss within your group. And I want you to do some background research and some brainstorming with your group mates. You will report it to me the day after tomorrow. Are we all clear?" Mrs. Zhong handed each table a paper that contains their given topic.

Artheena and Jeno remained unmoving. Mark cleared his throat before facing them.

"So uhmm... yo, it'll be lunch after this. We don't have class in the afternoon too so I suggest we take our free time and do this activity. Let's meet at the library, sounds good?" he suggested nervously.

The two didn't even bother to respond, and when the bell rang, Artheena was the first one who stood up and walked her way out of their classroom.

Haechan hissed at the sight. "Man she got an attitude," he commented.

Jeno also stood up and quietly exited the room. Haechan followed him with his eyes. "Him too. Tsk! Tsk!" he added.

"Renjun," Chenle called out to his friend when the guy didn't move and just stared outside the window.

"Renjun," Chenle called again but still no answer.

"Renjun," and again.

He sighed in annoyance. "Renjun!" he yelled.

Renjun jolted from his seat and looked at Chenle. "Nǐ hǎn shénme?!" he yelled back.

TRNSLTN: What are you yelling for?!

"Yǐjīng shì wǔfàn shíjiānle! Bié zuò bái rì mèngle gōngzhǔ! Tch!" Chenle threw a piece of paper at him and went outside.

TRNSLTN: It's lunch time already! Stop daydreaming princess! Tch!

Renjun shooked his head, stood up, and followed his friends who were already outside waiting for him.

The gang was busy laughing when Haechan cracked a joke while they were on their way to the cafeteria. Well, except for Jeno of course. He was just walking quietly behind them.

"Yeah like that! Pour some more!"

"Wooohh!!! This leech deserves it!"

"How dare you act like that to our Jeno huh?!"

"Take this! Hah!"

"You attention seeker!"

"Why won't you grab us like what you did to Jeno huh?!"

"C'mon leech! Grab us! Show us what you got!"

"You piece of trash! Why won't you act tough now huh?!"

"Ugh! Looking at you is already disgusting yuck!"

"What's going on?" Jaemin asked particularly to no one.

Haechan didn't say anything and went closer to the crowd full of girls and some boys. He squeezed himself through and when he finally got in the middle, the sight shocked him.

It was Artheena. She's covered in flour and eggs. Maverick could guess it was ketchup and mayo too. He didn't hesitate to walk over to her and help her stand up.

"What the?!" Jaemin exclaimed.

"What is wrong with you all?!" Renjun yelled. He went over to where Artheena was."Nǐ hái hǎo ma?" he asked softly.

TRNSLTN: Are you ok?

Artheena was clenching her teeth and was busy wiping the mixed mayo, ketchup, egg, and flour when she looked up and was greeted by Renjun's worried eyes.

She came to a halt. The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Renjun decided to break it.

He looked away and faced the crowd with anger visible in his eyes.

"Here, use this." Jisung offered Artheena a handkerchief. "Don't worry, I never use those. It's only for emergency purposes," he added when Artheena only looked at it.

A bunch of guys helping her doesn't sit right with Artheena. She didn't like it. Worse, she hated it. Never in her life did someone helped her. So seeing them helping her disgusts the very core of her being.

Jeno who was only watching the entire time from a distance scoffed and continued walking towards the cafeteria. Chenle who was with him noticed Jeno walking away. He looked back to where his friends and Artheena were, checking the situation for the last time and making sure everything was settled before he followed suit.

Artheena brushed off the remaining eggshells before quietly leaving the controversy and decided to proceed to the school's exit gate.

She gets in a cab, which she earned an odd look from the driver. Artheena didn't mind it and told the driver her address. The moment the cab started to move, she let out a sigh.

It seems like trouble is a good friend of hers. Her goal to not have bad records again ay gawa gawa lamang ng illuminati. 'So much for trying...'

DAMZELinWHITE