“What exactly happened, Zavi?”

A few minutes later, Mrs. Vicente (their class adviser) announced their places.

"1st place is Catrina Smith, Zavia Carlos second, and the third placer is Belle Johnsons."

"Our president isn't the first placer?"

"Well, that's new…"

"Right! I can't believe it!"

"I'm second? No! I'm done for!" Zavia muttered as she clenched her fists.

"Mrs. Vicente, may I meet you after class?" Zavia kept smiling, as if what happened was nothing to her.

"Sure, I also want to talk to you, Zavia.

"So for today's topic, we're going to talk about…"

After class…

"So, Zavia, what did you want to tell me?" Mrs. Vicente said while she's packing her things.

Zavia lowered her head and said, "Ma'am, what's my grade? Is it only 1 percent lower than Catrina's?"

"No, it was 4 percent lower than Catrina's grade… you only got 93 percent while Catrina got, 97 percent." Mrs. Vicente replied and handed Zavia her card.

"But ma'am! I'm more active than her in class! I also scored a lot more than her in surprise tests! I only scored low in this quarterly tests!" Tears flowed down from Zavia's eyes.

No it can't be! NO! There must be something or someone else behind this!

"Do you know what I don't like about you, Zavia? You don't give your other classmates a chance to recite because you always shout your answer before someone could even tell me his/her answer. That's why I changed the way I grade the class, and turned it to, 30 percent for recitation, 50 percent for quarterly tests, and 20 percent for long/short quizzes and surprise tests." Mrs. Vicente put her right hand on Zavia's shoulders, and added, "Change your ways, Zavia."

'No! It can't be! No! No! No! She'll slap me again, no!'

Zavia fell to the ground, and cried for 34 minutes.

At home…

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Zavia said while taking her shoes off.

"Did you get first place?" Catherine asked, feeling excited to hear her daughter say 'yes' so that she can brag to her friends again.

"First place or not, Zavi, I'll always be proud of you!" Zack, Zavia's father said.

"What? How can you be proud with your daughter if she didn't place first? It will mean that she's dumb, because someone beat her! Is your brain working, Zack?!" Catherine pointed at Zack's nose.

Tired, Zavia just wanted to sleep… "I won't eat dinner tonight… and as for my grades, just ask Ms. Vicente." She went to her room and closed the door.

"Hey! Zavia! Haysst!

"Zack, tell me, what's wrong with her?" Catherine said as she crossed her arms.

"How should I know! Ask your mouth! It keeps on talking nonsense all day!" Zack said and went to knock on Zavia's door.

"Never mind, I'll just ask her class adviser." Catherine then hurriedly made a call.

Meanwhile…

'What should I do now?'

'Mom will hate me, mom will disregard me again…'

'Serenna will be embarrassed because of me again…'

What should I do?'

Zavia's mind we're full of negative thoughts… thoughts that she never wanted to have.

Just as she was about to sleep, someone knocked on her door.

"Zavi, this is dad…"

She hurriedly put on a smile and said, "Come in!"

Zack opened her door, and went in. He saw how messy her study table is, and then her pillows, wet. 'Was she crying?' He then focused his eyes on her daughter, her eyes were red, she was smiling but when you look closer, you'll see through her mask.

He hugged Zavia, and said, "Hon, if you have problems, don't keep it to yourself 'kay?"

'How did dad know?' Zavia's hands started trembling, tears flowed down her eyes. She then also hugged her father.

After a few minutes of crying, Zavia felt much better, but her eyelids became too heavy… and so, she fell asleep.

'What exactly happened, Zavi?'