The flower vases all around the 3,200 square-feet house were being replaced by white daisies. In the living room, countless wilted roses were piled on top of a newspaper that was spread out on the floor.

Aunt May was singing a song inside her head while arranging the flowers in the vase to not look too haphazard, she heard rushed footsteps running down the stairs. The song hasn’t gotten to the chorus yet, but the pounding stopped halfway and it went back up. A few seconds later, the pounding came back again and made its way to the end of the stairs, up to the door.

“Aunt May, I’m going!” A melodious voice rang out in the living room. Aunt May turned her head to where the voice came from. She saw a girl who was about 18 years of age with large brown eyes, her olive skin glowing under the morning sun as two shallow dimples can be seen beside the captivating smile as it bid her goodbye.

No matter how many times she’s seen this young lady smile, she can’t help but be inwardly proud of how pretty she’s grown to be. She can’t help smiling back and waving goodbye.

“The umbrellas’ on the shoe rack,” she reminded the figure that was about to go back upstairs as it made a U-turn. After taking what she needed, the front door was successfully closed. Black hair danced with the motion as the figure ran to the prepared car. Aunt May continued fixing the flowers in the vase, no longer glancing at the window.

When she entered the classroom, the rowdy room grew a little quieter as countless pairs of eyes looked at her. However, this didn’t bother her at all as her eyes continued to roam around the roam. After not being able to spot the person she wanted to see, she went to her seat, which was beside the window, in a slightly dejected manner and slumped on her desk.

How come he's not here again.

What is a student like him being so busy with that he couldn't attend classes for consecutive days?

Screw this. Why? WHY?

While still immersed in her sadness, she heard a laugh before the voice said, “Sylvia, you don’t need to show how disappointed you are for not seeing your childhood sweetheart or you’re going to make all the boys here sad.”

“Dianne, good morning to you, too,” Sylvia said as she removed the consoling hand that was on her shoulder. It belonged to a mature-looking girl with a motherly smile on her lips. This gentle-looking person here is the Student Council Vice President, she is the mother of all senior high students! So gentle. So good.

Sylvia let out a sigh and grumbled, “I haven’t seen him for a week. How come the teachers haven’t told him to come to class yet.”

“It’s just been four days, and two of those days are the weekends.” Seeing Sylvia’s expression that showed she didn’t understand what was said, she continued, “Besides, being the President of the student council and a varsity player on the basketball team isn’t easy. But if you really want to see him, you can join the student council meeting tomorrow. As the twelfth-grade representative, if you want to attend the meeting, you can.”

Hearing the latter part of what Dianne said, Sylvia’s back went ramrod straight and gave Dianne a salute, her lazy disposition gone as she replied, “Aye, aye!”

Dianne only gave a slight smile to this. She started brushing Sylvia’s shoulder-length hair that was flying in all directions due to her energetic movements.

While enjoying the privilege of having her hair fixed by the vice president, the school bell rang indicating the start of class. The students went to their seats and the class quieted down when the first-period teacher appeared. He put the stack of papers on the table, making a loud bang in the ears of the anticipating students.

“The final exams for the first term finally ended. How do you, guys, feel?”

Some students answered okay, some grumbled, and most cheered that the exam week finally ended. Seeing the lively response of the students, he continued, “Now, now. I will be giving back your exam papers. As I call your name, please take your papers.”

“Christian, not here. Dianne. Sylvia…”

When Sylvia got her paper, she read the top page of the test paper ‘General Mathematics’ and beside it is ‘88/100’. The back page of each page was full of solutions, some of the solutions were even overlapping, but on the front were neatly summarized solutions placed in their designated space. In the crowd of checkmarks, the circled ones were very conspicuous.

“This class produced the highest score yet again. Good job.” The math teacher announced and clapped his hands after he finished distributing the papers.

The class clapped along as the murmurs started again.

“Who do you think could it be?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Of course, it’s our top 1.”

“Who knows. Maybe it’s Dianne this time. She’s always been behind the president, she might have surpassed him this time.”

“We just need to wait for the class ranking and we’ll see.”

“Does that really matter? As long our class holds the top in the grade ranking, I don’t care who comes first.”

Hearing the murmurs of her classmates putting someone in high regard, Sylvia continued her day in a good mood.