Rogie pulled away from the kiss and stared at me. My cheeks were red because of embarrassment and it burned even brighter when I noticed my classmates looking at me with ridiculous stares. I grimaced and deliberately pushed Rogie away and pulled a handkerchief inside my pocked to wipe my lips.
My sharp glare was still on him. "Bastard," I said between my breathe. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked, my face flushed in anger and frustration.
His shoulders moved up and down. I could hear his heavy breathing and my brows knotted in confusion. What's wrong with this guy?
"Sorry," he whispered and stepped back.
I lowered my gaze and sighed. "Another trick?"
His gaze lingered for seconds before he averted his eyes. Rogie did not say a word when he turned around and left the classroom. Just then, numerous gazes pierced through me and I felt uncomfortable. A burst of laugher was heard on the corner of the room.
I shot a glare there and the girls sitting in that area looked away when I had met their gazes. I knew that it was I whom they were laughing about. But I did not mind. I noticed that my classmates went silent after Rogie's little show, but they never point a finger on me. I sighed in relief. At least, they did not cause me trouble.
"Sydnee," my seatmate whispered suddenly.
I turned to her but I noticed that she was looking at her notebook, skimming through her notes. I cleared my throat. "Yes?"
"Congrats for achieving the highest score in our math quiz," she said while her eyes were locked in her notes. After a few seconds, she closed her notebook and looked sideways at me. Her expression was cold. "I never expected that you'll ace that quiz. You know... it's quite hard."
I blinked and a small smile of truimph was on my lips. "Thanks. I... kind of studied the lesson in advance."
"I see." She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the front. "I should never underestimate a scholar like you."
I frowned.
She cleared her throat. "I mean, in the past months, you sucked in math. You surprised me, and not just me but all of our classmates."
My cheeks blushed in her compliment and I lowered my gaze. "It's nothing."
"It's definitely not 'nothing', Sydnee. Did you notice how the top students glare at you? They envy your score."
I suppresed a laugh and shook my head. "Envy? Well, I only ace that quiz. I wonder what would they think if I ace a quiz again?"
A sly smile spread across her lips. And it motivated me to study more.
Every dismissal, I stayed in the library for thirty minutes before walking my way back home. Mother scolded me because I got home late than usual but I explained the reason to her. She didn't believe me, but when she saw me studying after I washed the dishes, she just shrugged her shoulders and reminded me not to stay late at school.
I only nodded.
Days passed, subjects after subjects, quizzes after quizzes... I got the highest scores. And I noticed that in every highest score, the glare of my classmates began to get sharp. They ignored me at all. I felt more invisible than I felt for years studying in the academy.
The only one who actually talked to me in class was my seatmate. And after months of not minding each other's business, I only knew her name that afternoon.
"Isa. My name is Isa."
I smiled at her and shaked hands with her. I did not attend Claire's debut and that's what they were talking about that morning, after the organizer postphoned Claire's party due to unforeseen events in the venue.
But since I did not attend, I could not relate to it. Isa did not try to narrate what happened to the party and I was thankful for that. Not that I mind mentioning it, but I knew that my classmates deliberately talked about the party because I was not there.
Huh. I was not jealous, either. There's no need for me to perk my ears to their gossips.
The days passed by in my favor. More hateful glares from my classmates because my scores did not disappoint me. All my teachers were surprised that I perform better than the top one student in my class. Teacher Anthony was more than happy. He knew that I was doing well.
"Keep it up," was all my teachers said.
Some of them raised a brow whenever they saw my scores in quizzes. They tried to challenge me and the top one student in oral recitation and that's where I failed.
The subject was not my favorite and I did not expect that the teacher will ask questions that supposedly for the senior students. We were still juniors and that caught me off guard. I just stared at the top one student who, in a confident voice, answered the teacher's questions. He garnered claps from the teacher.
"You're still my number one student," the teacher said to him and glared at me. "Sydnee, you must study more!"
A burst of laugher echoed through the four corners of the classroom. My confidence was shaken but I held my head high and smiled at the teacher. "Sure," was all I could utter.
Her brow raised but did not question me further. I sat and sighed silently but I felt my seatmate's hand pressed down on my shoulder. I looked at her and saw her smile at me. "Slap that teacher with your success," she whispered.
I nodded.
And I did my best to study in advance that subject. I even studied the higher order derivatives which was supposed to be a lesson in Calculus One in college. Well, the teacher was surprised that I got her questions correct in our second oral recitation. Although the top one student had answered the question right, I still made the teacher shut up in her overconfident tone.
"Alright. Let's go back to our lesson," the teacher said.
But I smirked because I knew why she stopped questioning us. The top one student had a hard time thinking of the answer and it took him awhile to answer it correctly. When the teacher asked me, it was a hard question and it took me awhile also to answer it correctly. The teacher even tried to null my answer but I argued with her and she gave up in the end. That's where she stopped with her ridiculous questions.