Algebra - Haylie is never good at Maths let alone Algebra. She was a reader and a writer. A creator in the world of arts. But never a practitioner of numbers and equations. Although, she is excellent in calculating money especially her pocket money. Mr Park is not really helping to enlighten the dampering mood. His monotonous lecture is making it even harder to concentrate. And now Haylie's mind has wander away from Algebra. She can't stop thinking about the workload that is piling up for her everyday since class yesterday and she wonders if she will be able to cope with school. 

History shows how she was never the brightest or smartest student in her class ever. She was not stupid either. She is just an average student and as she looks around her classroom, everyone seem to have less than a little trouble coping with Algebra. Joshua, the class president - looks and concentrates like the class president. He looks so serene and studious and he is always nice and calm. She wonders if he ever did anything silly in his life. Seungcheol looks strong and playful and in front of him, Jeonghanis always chilling and cool. 

Her eyes drifted to Jihoon in front of the class - his eyes are so small, she wasn't sure if he is sleeping or listening. Compared to Dino who sits next to him, everyone can tell Dino is listening very hard.

Haylie scans the classroom again, at the varying facial expressions - everyone looks calm and cool. And then she stops and stares at Wonwoo who is leaning against his chair with his arms crossed. Anyone can tell he is dozing off because his eyes are closed. There is something about Wonwoo that seems like he can never get into trouble even though he has a face that reads trouble. One minute he seemed nice and helpful and the next minute, he's just nasty. Right then, Wonwoo's face snaps towards her and before Haylie could turn her face back to the front of the class, Wonwoo smirked knowingly. Haylie grimaced and turned back in her chair feeling worse than she had before. That was Wonwoo's effects on her. 

"Now, if you will please start turn to each other and solve the problems from question 7 until 19." Mr Park exclaimed. "Sara, I assume I won't have problem with Haylie since you will be her partner today?"

"No, Sir." Sara replied confidently. Haylie huffed and grudgingly pulled herself up in her chair. "You don't look estatic." Sara said to Haylie.

"I never really udnerstood Maths to begin with so Algebra really feels like a foreign language." Haylie replied looking down at her textbook and the problems in front of her. 

"Okay, you need to brighten up. You've only been here just over 24 hours. It's overwhelming now but give it a month at least. With our help, I'm sure you'll be okay." sara encouraged but Haylie wasn't buying it. However, she decided to force herself to learn something and pulled herself closer to Sara and listen. Absentmindedly, Haylie reched out her hand towards the end of her table, trying to grab something but her hand found nothing. She turned to look and saw nothing was in front of her except her Algebra workbook and notebook. 

Heylie turned behind her and checke her bag. She knew she had taken out the pencil case and opened them in front of her. As she rummaged through her bag, she could hear Sara calling out to her.

"Haylie? Haylie. What are looking for?"

"My pencil case." Haylie couldn't find her pencil case in her bag either. "It's gone."

"Where you last put it?"

"I think I placed it right here..." Haylie pointed to the front edge of her table. She turned to look around her table and still couldn't find her pencil case. 

"Here, you can use mine first." Sara stated handing her a pencil. "We'll look for your case after class. Right now you need to focus and we need to get this done." Haylie could hear the urgency and impatience in Sara's voice. Huffing, Haylie pulled herself together and turned to Sara, mentally ready for Algebra and trying her best to forget about her misplacing her pencil case. More importantly, forgetting whatever that is torturing her.

Algebra is over and Haylie still hasn't found her pencil case. She rummaged through her bag and under her desk and yet still couldn't find it. With puff of frustration, Haylie slumped down her chair. Less than 48 hours had passed but it seemed like a year had gone by. Suddenly she felt like screaming. 

"How about maybe after classes are over, we'll look for it? It pretty useless to look for it now as the next class will begin soon." Tia suggested but it didn't do much to soothe the frustration inside of her. Haylie nodded obligingly though and took all the books on her table and packed them safely in her bag. "Besides, if you need stationeries, we got them all here...see." Tia continued and turned towards the teacher's table where there are three metal cups - one full of pens, one full of pencils and one full of highlighters. Exasperated, Haylie got up and walked over to the front and took one of each stationery before walking back to her chair. 

*

Once the bell rang signalling the end of Algebra, Haylie could hear herself breathe out in relief. She could feel the heavy burden lifted from her temple the minute the bell rang. With pride, Haylie closed her Algebra textbook and leaned back onto her chair not paying any attention to what the teacher is talking about in front. Lazily, she reached out to her notebook and looked at the class schedule. Before she could concentrate on the schedule, a shadow appeared next to her. Abruptly she turned and looked up only to her the brooding face of her classmate she likes the least. 

"It's free period now." Wonwoo spoke in his gruffy voice. "Let's go to the library." He continued.

"Why?" Haylie replied, a slight annoyance hinted in her voice as she felt slighted with his demanding request. 

"It's not like we hang together after class and we don't share dorms." He replied matter-of-factly. "We haven't even started anything yet."

"I haven't finish reading the book." Haylie answered hoping he would get the hint that she is just not in the mood to do anything at the moment. 

"Who doesnt't know about Alice in Wonderland?" Wonwoo scoffed. "Come on, we wasted five minutes just talking here." He turned and made his way to the door. Haylie wasn't sure if she should follow him or if she should stay. Wonwoo's bossiness turned her off and perhaps she even felt offended but as she turned to look around her classroom, almost everyone is busy discussing about their class project with each other. Even the girls are no longer sitting at thier respective desks. Reluctantly, Haylie got up from her chair and grabbed her notebook before making her way to exit the classroom. As she entered the hallway, she found Wonwoo's back walking further down the hall towards the library. He is so sure that I followed him, Haylie thought. 

Haylie took the seat across from Wonwoo who happened to only brought his book, a pen and a few fullscape papers. He was spinning the pen between his fingers and didn't bother to look up as he turned the pages on his books. Haylie pursed her lips and followed what he did when she suddenly realized, she really have no idea what she was supposed to do or why the class had to be paired up for this. 

"Exactly what do we have to do?" Scoffing, Wonwoo pulled his body to sit straight in his chair and smirked at Haylie.

"It's as easy as picking out a character from the book and research about him. Or her. Then write a report about how the character's story arch developed and how relevant they are to the story." For a good few seconds, Haylie thought Wonwoo would about her lack of knowledge on how to write a book report. She was utterly surprised that he was actually helpful. However, the tone of his voice although he sounds helpful it was lacking sincerity. With another smirk, he leaned back into his chair.

"So which character are we going to choose from?" Haylie asked as her mind goes through the list of characters from the book.

"I chose the Queen of Hearts."

"Why her? she's evil?"

"That's why." Wonwoo replied matter-of-factly. Halie looked up at him and rolled her eyes. 

"But aside from screaming and yelling, she has no substance in her character."

"She's a lot better than The Dormouse. Or her husband."

"I don't like her." Haylie quietly replied.

"Then you can choose someone else." Wonwoo replied very nonchalantly.

"I can?" Haylie asked, bewildered than cold Wonwoo would actually allowed her to choose another character. Little did she know, the project is individual, not a group project. Wonwoo looked up from his book with bored eyes.

"It's your report, not mine." Wonwoo stated. Haylie cocked her head as she tries to process what Wonwoo had just stated. 

"Oh." Haylie managed. 

"You thought this was a group project?" Wonwoo asked, a hint of mischief laced in his eyes as he leaned closer to Haylie across the table with a smirk. Haylie frowned back at him, disturbed at his amusement of finding her feeling confused and flustered. Haylie turned to her book and there pops her inspiration. The page she had turned to had an illustration of the tea party with The Madhatter, The March Hare and The Dormouse. Even though the white rabbit is appealing but none appeals to her than the other bunny in the story - The March Hare. 

There has been so many stories written around the many characters in Alice and most of the stories revolves around the famous characters like Alice herself, The Queen of Hearts, The Madhatter, The White Rabbit, The Dum Twins and even The Cheshire Cat. Not many has ever acknowledged the smaller characters in the book like the King or as the character that Haylie slowly ran her fingers across the illustration of The March Hare. The Hare is as crazy and weird as the Hatter but what would Hatter be without his crazy best friend who can't stop giggle and of course can't stop drinking tea. The quirky brown haired bunny deserved the spotlight as much as others according to Haylie's feelings. For one thing, the tea party will be incomplete without him and Hatter would be grievely depressed if his best friend isn't around. Haylie made up her mind, she will be writing about the infamous hare from the book. Suddenly the idea of this book report seemed to appealed to her and Haylie smiled to herself. Until she heard a comical giggling coming from the bookshelf behind her. Haylie turned and the area behind her are empty. As she looked around, there seem to be no one around the library besides herself and Wonwoo, sitting across the table from her.