Arthit turned to face the front but occasionally took a glance to observe his new classmate. Wanfahmai on the other hand had taken out her notebook and pencil case along with the book she was reading earlier, which she placed it in the slot under the table, before she slowly took the book out again and began to read it silently while hiding it away from the teacher’s view. A concerned Arthit passed her a note, causing her to be distracted from her reading. But she simply put it aside without reading it. Yet again Arthit passed her another note and this time she decided to read it just because she wants to put a stop to it;

You need to pay attention to this class. We have a monthly test coming up, and its tomorrow.

This time, after reading it she then put it aside where the previous note was at and still continued to read her book at hand.

The more she pushed Arthit away, the more interesting she had become to him - definitely the opposite effect of what Wanfahmai had initially intended it to be.

The bell finally rang for the next lesson and Arthit took it upon himself, even though he knew that she would be prickly for interrupting her reading, to inform her that they need to go to another classroom for the next lesson, which was not indicated on the schedule that was given to her.

“Hmmm… Wanfahmai right? We need to go…”

“Huh? Where to?”

“For Ms Mira’s lesson. Most of the time the lesson is held here in this classroom but today it’s in another.”

“Oh ok…”

She began picking up her stuff while Arthit was waiting on her, but his friends tugged him along with Wanfahmai trudging slowly at the end of the pack. When she entered the mini-AVA auditorium class, she took a seat right at the back on her own, looking around unsure of what to expect as she had never experienced such a place in her old school. A couple of minutes later, the teacher came in and Arthit led the class in greeting the teacher. When they have settled down,

“I heard there’s a new student joining us today? And I assume that would be you, young lady at the back.”

“Yes,” was all she could utter awkwardly.

“Alright… Welcome to my class and I hope you’ll enjoy my lesson,” said Ms Mira smiling with Wanfahmai nodding in acknowledgment.

“Now class… Before we start anyone wants to share what they have read regarding current social issues?”

There was silence in the class as they all shook their heads indicating for the teacher to continue with the lesson much to the disappointment of Ms Mira but she tried to probe again,

“On the news perhaps? Or articles?”

Again, her question was left unanswered.

“Alright then… Since no one wants to share we’ll proceed with today’s lesson. For today, we will be continuing from where we left off from two days ago. I promised the other day that we will be watching a video in regards to social issues that we faced in the world today.”

There was something about Ms Mira that attracted Wanfahmai away from her book. Her poise, the charisma along with her apparent intellect made Wanfahmai paid attention to the teacher right from the start even though the other students in the class showed indifference. Furthermore, the video that Ms Mira showed left an impression on her. Unbeknownst to Wanfahmai, Arthit took notice of her listening to the teacher when he turned around to check on her, in total opposite of her earlier actions even after he had told her that there would be a test tomorrow. When the video ended, Ms Mira made an announcement that would receive plenty of groans from many in the class,

“You will be working in pairs for this assignment. Now that the class count is even, there should be no problem in making groups of two. So you are to choose a topic, any topic based on or related to population segregation and its impact. So please go ahead and choose your partner now. And you may have the rest of the time left for this lesson to start your discussion.”

Wanfahmai just sat there as she scanned through the room, half anticipating because she was indeed eager to work on the topic, yet the other half of her was dreading about the fact that the assignment requires a partner. Arthit on the other hand was approached by some of the girls in the class including one who was considered to be the belle of the school. 

“Arthit~ shall we do the assignment together?”

“Ermm… Sorry Yatida… Not this time…”

“You already have a partner?”

“Yeah…”

“You mean one of them?” as she pointed to their male classmates whom he was sitting with, “You know I’m the best assignment partner anyone can ask for…”

“Nah… Not them… But her…” said Arthit smiling and pointing towards a clueless Wanfahmai.

“What?! You are doing the assignment with the new girl?!”

“I am unsure whether she wants me as her assignment partner or not though…”

“Who is crazy enough to not to want you as their assignment partner?”

“I think she IS crazy enough as you said… But we’ll see...”

“You are just going to jeopardise your grades by doing it with someone like her,” said Yatida with irritancy in her voice.

“Just an assignment won’t hurt… By the way why are you worried about my grades all of a sudden?  You broke up with me, remember?” as Arthit shook his head, passing Yatida by and walked over towards Wanfahmai.

“Hello again…” greeted Arthit as he took a seat beside her.

“Hi…”

“So… Do you want to do the assignment with me?”

Wanfahmai started to look around but no one else was approaching her nor does she want to approach anyone since her personality dictates otherwise, and Arthit just made her life a little easier in that sense.

“So, I take your silence as a yes?”

To which Wanfahmai simply nodded.

“Whew~” as Arthit heaved an expression of relief.

“Why?” came an unexpected question from his now confirmed assignment partner.

“Why what?” said Arthit with a questioning look upon his face.

“You were sighing earlier,” stated Wanfahmai as a matter of fact.

“Oh, that… It’s nothing, I didn’t think it would be this easy to get you to be my assignment partner based on the incident earlier back in the principal’s office.”

Wanfahmai remained silent as soon as she heard his reply, knowing very well that she was indeed rude to him on purpose. Arthit who was looking at her cold reaction questioned her again, “You've changed your mind and don't wish to be my assignment partner?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Great! It’s settled then… We shall do this assignment together. I’ll be the best assignment partner y