I woke up to the sound of my phone beeping.

There was a notification on the screen.

"Student Council Alert - New rule passed!"

I guess the student council actually did things here.

Whilst they were technically called 'student body captain' and 'student body vice-captain, there were actually two in each year level. The captain and vice-captain of the year twelves were also the student council president and vice president, thus having more power than the other years. 

The respective captains of each year level were able to propose ideas that affected just the year level, but the student council president and vice-president were able to propose ideas that affected the entire school.

It seemed this was something that affected the entire school quite significantly.

"New rule - for 2500 points a student is able to send one letter or parcel containing a gift to a friend or relative outside of the school. All parcels are checked by the school to make sure not to contain excessive information. They are then able to receive one letter in response.

Votes : Yes - 27, No - 12"

The school was generally very strict in terms of contact with the outside world. It was quite surprising that they would let something like this be introduced, then again, the price was quite extravagant.

I didn't really have anyone to who I would send a letter. The thought sat in the back of my mind as I prepared myself for class.

 

*

 

I took my seat next to Noah.

"Hey Ollie, you should join the External Olympiad Team."

The EOT was a team of students from this school who participated in a contest against other schools. It was one of the only real competitions our school had against other schools, generally, most of the events and competitions were internal.

Despite that, nearly no one from the higher ranks ever joined the team. There was no real benefit for entering except a little medal for winning. Even with only the lower ranks joining, our school still often won by a landslide.

I myself was not interested in this activity.

"I don't really feel like it."

I could feel a cold glare upon me from the direction of Saha. It was interesting honestly, I often thought that she was just glaring at me because she was cranky all the time, little did I know

she was just jealous.

On second thought, maybe she just realised I was in possession of her diary.

I decided that I would help her out, just a little, in return for seeing some of her most sensitive information, albeit unintentionally.

"Noah, let's have a little study session to prepare for midterms which are coming soon."

Noah looked down at his desk, pretending to be contemplating hard about the offer.

"I guess that sounds like a good idea."

Immediately I turned around and asked Saha,

"You want to come along for the study session?"

Normally she would just reply with something like, "no, I do not enjoy associating myself with insects," or something along those lines, but this time, both she and I knew that she needed to clear some details with me.

I also knew that deep down she wanted to come because of Noah.

"I suppose I wouldn't want to fall down to the level of a pig, so I gues-"

"That's a great idea, Oliver!"

The person who was eavesdropping and abruptly interrupted Saha before she could finish her sentence was Layla. She was the highest-ranked in class C and quite charismatic. She was generally the person who organised any events within class C.

"We should all have a study session together!"

The person standing beside Layla was Louis, the two of them were often together. All I really knew is that Louis was like Layla's self-proclaimed personal assistant, always agreeing with what she said.

I had not planned for this sudden increase in participants, it didn't really matter though.

So, it was decided that we would host a study session tonight.

It wasn’t like I had anything else to do.

 

*

 

Eight people showed up at the study session.

Amongst them, were the seven highest-ranked in the class and me.

This study session seemed to have missed its target demographic.

The school library provided a very comfortable space for group study. We all sat around a table, everyone pulled out their equipment. The table was based beside a large window with a clear view of the well-kept courtyard with its tidy green grass and water fountain in the middle

Everyone began looking at their textbooks and discussing questions.

I had shown up for the study session but I didn't really need it. I filled out a few questions on my workbook to fit in with everyone else.

"Hey Oliver, are you struggling with anything in particular?"

Layla was likely looking out for me as I was the lowest-ranked in class C.

"No, I'm fine at the moment."

She smiled at me and walked back to her seat.

Everyone continued working together until someone else walked towards our study group.

It was someone with whom I was rather familiar.

"Maia, what are you doing here?"

Louis immediately questioned Maia.

"Oh, am I not allowed to be here?"

Her voice was back to her regular cold distant tone. It felt quite different after experiencing the way she spoke to me.

"You're up to no good aren't you, if you have something to say, say it to me."

"Actually, you're not the person I want to speak to."

Louis was embarrassed by the statement.

"Noah, I want you to come with me for a second."

Noah was shocked by the request.

"Me? Why me?"

"I'll explain."

Noah became somewhat restless and excited by the opportunity. He quickly stood up from his seat and followed Maia outside the library.

I wonder what she was planning to do.

As the two of them, walked away, Saha's eyes were glued on Maia and Noah, she was obviously annoyed by what was happening. Saha attempted to stand up but she hit her knee on the tabled and winced subtly. The pain was enough to bring her back to reality and she quickly sat back down without anyone noticing.

I took the opportunity to hand her books back to her, making sure to place the diary at the bottom. She quickly snatched the books out of my hands and placed them into her bag.

 

**

 

Run and Don’t Look Back – Sayuri

 

"I think there's a child next door."

"No way, didn't the husband take their daughter with him?"

"I think there is another... a boy."

Sayuri held a comfortably sized, fluffy teddy bear. The bear was dressed like a prince, wearing a dark red cape with white edges, brown boots and a shiny gold crown. She had made all these accessories for it herself.

"There might be another kid, Bear."

She was not very good at naming things.

"I wonder what he would be like?"

She looked out the window of her large house.

"I want to go see him."

With one hand she firmly gripped onto Bear and snuck out the back door of the house. She crouched and slowly made her way towards the edge of her residence. There was a large white fence separating the two houses.

She quickly climbed to the top of the fence and looked towards the neighbouring house.

Through a tiny window, she saw a little boy sitting on some blankets, reading a book.