Chapter Two

Ria closed the door to the general office behind her. Then she sighed heavily. The teachers told her that they couldn't do anything about her grade. She desperately needed them to give her just half a point, but they said it wasn't possible. She lost half a point from full marks to some silly careless mistake, and now her hopes that she could tie for first place were all but gone.

She trudged her way down the empty corridor. She went to the general office after a long day at school and spent about two hours there, trying hard to convince her teachers, and now the sun was already setting and she would have to return home to tell her mother about placing second. She gave another sigh as she walked past more doors and that was when she heard it.

There was a soft grunting sound that came from a particular door. Ria stopped in her tracks, pausing in front of the door. There was a dim light coming from the window beside it and she approached the door, sliding it open slightly.

Perched on top of a table was a familiar boy whose shoulders were rising and falling unevenly. There was a professor on the ground before him, his face going up and down the lower half of the boy's body. The boy had his hands firmly on the professor's shoulders and Ria could see that he was trying to push him away.

"No… No!" the boy protested. "Stop!"

The professor shoved the boy's grip on his shoulders away roughly, and continued doing whatever he was doing to him. Ria shot furiously back from the gap in the door, fear crowding into her mind over what she saw. She raced from the corridor and sped back home.

When she was home, she discovered to her relief that her mother was passed out from drink. She spent the rest of the day with her nose deep in her textbooks, hoping to somehow salvage the situation but she ended up in deep sleep instead. When she awoke again, her heart was racing in her chest, her heartbeat loud in her ears as images of the boy ran through her mind.

Why hadn't she intervened? She knew exactly what sexual assault was like, and yet during moments like that, she did nothing to help. She wondered if she could ever forgive herself, and her pillows collected the moisture from her eyes through the rest of the night.

The next day, she made a beeline towards her class. She knew that boy. His name was Declan and he was known for being a bully. He also happened to be in the same class. The moment she stepped into her classroom, she went up to him and pulled him outside to talk.

"I know what he did to you, Declan," Ria told him.

"What? What are you talking about?" Declan asked, sending her a wary look.

"Our professor was doing things to you that you didn't ask for," she said.

"Well, we all wish he could give us less homework, don't we?" Declan scoffed before trying to head back into the classroom. Ria reached out and caught his arm, pulling him back.

"What he did was sexual assault, do you know that?" Ria said. "You have to tell someone. Anyone. I will help you."

Declan's eyes widened and Ria saw fear creeping into his face. He shook his arm free of her grasp with one rough pull. "Fuck you! Who do you think you are?!"

"I know how you feel," she said. "I am going through the exact same thing too and - "

"Oh, you think you fucking know everything, don't you?" Declan said as he slammed the door to the classroom open. Ria hovered before the open door and watched in horror as he picked up her bag and came back to where she was.

"Wait, no!" He unzipped her bag and emptied everything over the window ledge. Then he disappeared into the classroom again. When he reemerged, he was holding onto her chair and desk. "Declan!" He threw her chair over the window ledge before he reached for her desk. Opening the top, he flung every textbook of hers over the window ledge and she heard the wet plopping noises of them sinking into the pond on the first floor. Her heart sank. How was she going to afford replacements? Those textbooks were expensive and her mother - "Please!" Ria yelled as he heaved her table over the window ledge, and it disappeared down to the first floor with a deafening bam.

"Well," Declan said. "There's only one thing left I haven't thrown, right?"

Then he approached her, hands stretched out towards her waist.

❃❃❃

Ria frowned as Lawson stood before her class beside her professor, whose hand was fixed to his shoulder. Instead of staring at her like he once had, Lawson was looking at anywhere but her. She hated that he was in her class, where he didn't belong.

"Now, Lawson here," the professor announced. "He just transferred to this school not long ago, and since he placed first in the recent exam period across all subjects, the faculty has decided to move him to this class to better cater to his needs. Please welcome him warmly."

Her class was the most elite class in all of school, reserved solely for high performers like her. The fact that he was inside proved to her that he was a threat. Somehow the teachers realised that he wasn't a one-hit wonder, that he had played fair and was talented enough to be here. She had hoped he was a fake or maybe a fluke, but apparently that wasn't the case. He was legitimately an excellent student.

The class murmured their welcome, but she remained silent. "Now," the professor said. "Find a seat."

Lawson left the front of the room, and walked down one aisle of seats, which was on the far left. She was seated in the middle, and she hoped he would sit far away. But as he walked down the aisle, he turned right, heading for her and settled into the seat next to hers. She sent him a glance before looking away, pretending that she didn't care about what he was doing.

"Let's begin the class. Turn your textbooks to page 150," the teacher said and Ria stared at the empty space on her table. She had yet to get another textbook. Lawson placed his textbook on his table and slid it over slowly to the middle of their desks.

"No, thank you," she said.

But he didn't remove the textbook. As the lesson progressed, she finally relented and used the textbook with him. His lips spread into a small smile and for some reason, she wanted very much to wipe it off his face.

"Who can solve this equation?" the professor said, pointing to the numbers on the chalkboard.

Everyone got to work immediately, trying to simplify the equation on their papers. Ria tried hard at it too, but realised halfway that she was hopelessly stuck. She had never encountered such an equation before.

"Well?" he asked again.

"I can't solve it," one student said.

"Me neither," another said.

"How about my star student, Ria?" he said.

Ria stared at him in horror. "I- I don't know how to solve it either."

"Who does then?" the professor asked.

Lawson raised a finger up to the air and Ria glared at him. No way was this happening!

"Lawson?"

"I have the answer," he said and Ria stared at the empty paper on his table. He hadn't even tried to answer it. Was he going to embarrass himself?

"Give us the answer then."

"The answer is," Lawson said before he paused. "That there is no answer."

"What do you mean?" Ria asked.

"The equation can't be solved," he said.

"Correct," the professor announced and the students gave sounds of surprise and respect. He continued with his lesson and soon, the chalkboard was covered with endless equations for everyone to solve.

But all Ria could do was stare at Lawson in awe.