The bell rang.

I had to go before someone come for me.

I hoped I would be able to find out more about the suspicious and mysterious Mrs Richards.

I took the lift down to the first floor and went to my locker. My entire locker was spray-painted white as I loved the colour. Spray-painting lockers were not prohibited in my school and almost everyone did it.

I unlocked it after the fingerprint scan and that was when I saw two letters. One looked extremely official and the other one was from my good friend, Lia Corell Newman.

The official letter was put in a sealed, large, dark yellow envelope. After I opened it, there was another white envelope.

And another.

I pulled out the document and it read:

Dear Ms Hayden,
Please go to the East Subway exactly one week after today and arrive at the same timing you read this letter.
Get rid of this paper by tomorrow 0000 after you read it or it will explode.

This was bullshit. There was no sender's name. Someone probably wanted to pick on me because she hates me or because she was jealous that I was the second prettiest on campus. She wanted to meet me at this timing exactly one week after? I checked the time now using my phone-9.15a.m. How would the sender even know what timing I had read this letter? And this letter would explode? This person got to be kidding me. Why would a sane person like me fall for the trick?

I wanted to wait and see if this would really explode and hence I still left the envelope in my locker. I laughed, thinking how stupid the person who wrote the letter was again.

I looked at the next letter-note-I got from Lia.

Lia was this lovely girl whom I sat next to in my first few grades. She had a nickname "Fairy" as she was short, slender and nimble like a real one. She was in the Dance Society and the most famous of her dances was the Enchanted Forest, where she danced as a fairy. I've been her friend since Grade One.

Her note read:

Heyy Seal. Meet you after school at the same time and place :) Talk 'bout the lists later.
Liaa

Later, I would probably tell her to bring me to a pub to relax and chill out like always because this "lists" issue was not going to interrupt my life. When someone makes you feel like crying, smile instead to show them that they have lost.

I grabbed my books, haversack and the essentials-pencil case, phone, notebook for the day. Then, I hurried to class. It was Geography.

I knocked on the door before I entered the dark classroom. Mr Lee was using the projector and he switched off all the lights, even the ones in the front row. I pushed my way to the center end of the classroom, expecting to see Ronnie, the wheat head beside me but he was away.

"Where's he?" I asked Shermaine, a girl sitting right in front of me.

"Shut up, Seal. He's talking!" She said dramatically and emphasised on both the "he's" and "talking".

"Look here people!" Mr Lee used his laser pointer to direct our attention to the diagram of an oceanic-continental plate on the projector screen. "So... This continental plate will first buckle and fold to form fold mountains. Then at the subduction zone, the sinking plate will cause the mantle material above it to melt, forming magma." He took a glance around the class. "Any questions?"

Everyone was either listening blindly, sleeping or copying down notes hurriedly before he changed the screen. Everyone remained silent.

"Okay then. I'll carry on with the lesson."

Class was always like this. The same cycle over and over everyday. Following Geography, I had English and Mathematics before break time.

I always sat with Ronnie and Preston during break time. They were my closest guy friends. Since Ronnie wasn't here today, I guessed it would be just us.

"Hey. You know who was the ultimate person who collated the names on the lists this year?" I asked Preston as I bit on my apple.

"Nope. No rumours yet. I think the name will be revealed in a week's time."

"But seriously, I'm not the most hated right? I mean I don't have mad people throwing rotten eggs at me." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I think so. There's some people who are more hated by people than you."

"Who?"

"Jessie? The hottest girl?"

I smirked at Preston. "Haha. Then it's probably her who made the list. Anyways, she didn't like me that much from long ago..." I finished the last bites of my apple.

"Life really is confusing sometimes..." He used his knuckle to massage his own forehead.

"Sure is."

"And what's up with Ronnie? Fallen ill or something like that?"

"Not sure. You could call him later."

"Truth is that me and Lia are hanging out later. I'll probably be going to the pub near my house. You want to join us? I'll probably try to call on Ronnie to ask him to join us if he's feeling better too."

"Hey. There's a quiz on Geography tomorrow. You sure you're not studying?"

"I'm smart. I'll just drink more juice. Fruit juice-brain juice."

"Chew on more apples too!"

"Yes definitely!" I giggled. Preston did humour well.

"So you coming?"

"No. I guess I'm staying in school till the wee hours of the morning to study."

"Ooh well. Fine."

Just then, the bell sounded. We strolled back to class.

On the second period after the break, Mrs Richards appeared outside the door of my classroom.

"Sorry. May I speak to Miss Venessa Hayden for a moment?" Mrs Richards pulled up her black spectacles onto her forehead to speak to my current Chemistry teacher.

Without replying Mrs Richards, he continued with the lesson. He just gave a thumbs-up hand signal to Mrs Richards to let her know that it would be alright to borrow me for a while.

"Can you guess what I am here for?"

"Um... To help me sign up for Government?" I said with just a little hesitation.

"Yes. You're right. Smart girl as always, darling..."