“David and Fin.”

Two students stood up and moved to the other side of the classroom.

“Maryanne and Van.”

Another two students stood up and moved.

“Juliet and Kadin.”

I stood up, shocked. What? Am I partnered with Kadin?

Mrs Davis was reading out names for a chemistry assignment. As much as I didn’t like group work, random names from a hat were even worst.

I glanced down at Kat and frowned.

“You’re going to be fine,” Kat smiled, trying to cheer me up. “If Kade lacks off, let me know and I’ll teach him a lesson.”

“Ah, thanks,” I replied and headed to the other side of the room.

Settling down to a desk, Kadin smiled as he sat down next to me.

“Looks like we’re partnered up, just like the old times,” he grinned at me.

“Yeah…”

“So how should we do this?” Kadin asked.

Deflated that I’m not partnered up with Kat, I sighed.

“What’s up with the sighing?” Kadin questioned, frowning at the same time.

“I thought that Mrs Davis would let us chose our partners for this assignment.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to be partnered up with me?” Kadin asked, looking a little sad and offended.

“No. That’s not what I meant,” I defended. “I was hoping to work with Kat since I’m new to this school.”

“I see,” Kadin nodded. “I’m new too, so we’re pretty useless if we want to know how Mrs Davis prefers things when scoring extra marks.”

“Exactly.”

Kadin looked down at the assignment sheet and sighed, “I guess we’re in the same boat then.”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Kadin looked at me with shiny green eyes, “we can compensate our newbieness by starting the project earlier than everyone else.”

“If I remember correctly, you’re pretty good with procrastination,” I stated the fact.

Back in my previous town, I knew Kadin through a group project as well. He was in the same English class as I was. Our Year 8 English teacher decided to pair us up for a creative writing assignment. From there, I learnt that Kadin was great at procrastinating. He just gets distracted too easily.

“Ah,” Kadin scratched his head, “that was when I was a kid. It’s been years now. I’ve changed, Jules.”

Jules? Not that nickname again.

“Don’t call me that,” I gave him the daggers.

“How come?” Kadin frowned. “That’s my personal nickname for you.”

“The only name I allow people to call me is either Julie or Julie.”

“What’s the difference?”

“That’s the point,” I rolled my eyes. “There’s no difference.”

Kadin chuckled, “I see. You’re still the same as ever.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, debating whether I should take his statement as a compliment or an insult.

“Anyway, we’re getting side-tracked.” I changed the subject. “Let’s get this started so that we can get it over and done with.”

“Sure.”

“So which module should we make a model of?” I said, skimming down at the assessment notification.

“Hmm…” Kadin looked down at his notification and scratched his chin.

I gazed at him and noticed his bed hair.

“Oh, I know! We should totally do the fullerene molecule!” he grinned at me.

I quickly typed in ‘fullerene molecule’ into my laptop and hit the search button. Pictures of the soccer ball-like molecule came up onto the screen.

“I like this molecule,” I said, nodding to the screen. “It looks like a soccer ball.”

“Yeah, I know.” Kadin nodded and leant closer to my laptop. “That’s why I chose it.”

“Alright!” I smiled, feeling motivated. “Let’s do this!”

“Yes!” he grinned at me. “Let’s do this and ace it!” He raised his hand in the air.

I tilted my head and looked at his hand in the air.

“Come on,” he pouted, “high-five with me.”

“Nah,” I looked away from him. “I want to leave you hanging there.”

“Geez, this girl.” Kadin nudged me in the shoulder.

“Hey! Don’t ‘geez’ me.” I nudged him back.

He laughed.

“Bye Kat,” I waved to my best friend.

“Where are you going?” Kat asked.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you that Kadin and I are going to start working on the chemistry assignment this afternoon?”

Near the end of our chemistry lesson, Kadin and I agreed to work on the chemistry assignment right after school. That way we could start it earlier than everyone else and get it over and done with.

“Yeah, you did,” Kat smiled as she remembered. “Okay, see you tomorrow then. If Kade ever slacks off, let me know, okay?”

“Sure thing,” I grinned at her.

“See you then!”

“See you!”

I waved and headed to the library.

When I was close to the library entrance, I saw a particular red-head, standing there leaning against the wall. He was looking down at the ground, or his shoes, frowning as he was deep in thought.

I knew that the red-head was Kadin but for some reason, he wasn’t like his usual self. Whenever I see him, he would usually be happy, smiling like there were rainbows in the sky, or at least be as happy as he was during chemistry today. At the moment, that wasn’t the case.

“Hey Kad—” I opened my mouth and stopped.

I just heard some rustling near the bushes. I turned around and scanned my surroundings. Is Ice Pack Stealer here?

My guts were telling me that there might be a prank set up in front of me. I scanned my surroundings again but didn’t notice anything particularly odd.

“Hey Julie!” Kadin called out as he wore his familiar smile. “Just came?”

I guess I stood there too long analysing my surroundings that even Kadin looked up and noticed that I was already here.

“Yeah…” I replied, still concern about the potential prank. “When did you get here?”

Kadin walked towards me. “Just a few minutes before you.”

I walked closer to the library doors and smiled at Kadin. “Did you run here after the bell went? Because I swear, you’re fast.”

Kadin chuckled, “Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, that’s not important at the moment, let’s get in the library and brainstorm on the materials we should buy for the assignment.”

“True,” I nodded in agreement.

Both Kadin and I headed towards the library’s entrance.

“After you, my lady.” Kadin gestured.

I cringed at his words, “Er… thanks?”

He smiled at my loss of words.

The moment I stepped through the door, I felt my legs wobbled. My arms grabbed whatever I could to keep my balance stable.

Now, my legs didn’t wobble because I was weak or anything like that. There was something on the floor that made it slippery. Anyone would’ve wobbled and slipped like I did. For me, I happened to grab onto Kadin because he was the closest thing to me.

He, too, was surprised when I suddenly grabbed his arms. When he realised that I slipped on something, he was already walking onto the substance that was on the floor.

Both Kadin and I feel hard on the ground. Thump!

“Oww…” said Kadin.

“Argh…” I said reaching for my bottom.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.” I rubbed my bottom as I turned to look at Kadin.

I didn’t know I was sitting so closely next to Kadin that when I turned around his face was literally a few centimetres from mine. I blinked, noticing his widened green eyes.

Quickly, I pushed myself away from him and tried to stand up. I slipped again on the first try but on the second try, I grabbed the door knob and pushed myself up.

When I was standing on my two feet, dusting myself, Kadin struggled to stand back up.

“Need a hand?” I asked.

“I should be okay,” Kadin mumbled.

After a few more attempts, Kadin was finally standing up.

I stared at the floor, noticing the pinkish liquid substance.

“Is that soap?” I analysed the slippery floor.

“Looks like it,” Kadin answered my question.

I placed my hands on my hips. “To think that he would use such a pathetic prank is…” I paused to find the right word, “just so sad.”

Look, I thought that Ice Pack Stealer was a pro. But it seemed like his pranks were pretty much C-grade.

“He?” Kadin raised his eyebrows. “Who’s this ‘he’?”

“No one important,” I waved Kadin’s question away.

“Are you perhaps…” Kadin paused, “in a prank war, at the moment?”

I was about to deny his question until I noticed how serious his facial expression was.

Hearing my silence, Kadin sighed. “Juliet, you do know how dangerous pranks can be right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes. Really, I don’t want to hear a lecture from him.

“They why are you—” Kadin stopped. “Let me rephrase this. Is there something you want to tell me?”

I rolled my eyes again. Yes. Mind your own business.

I didn’t want him to get involved with my life like my previous school. In the previous town, Kadin was always telling me not to prank and always told me there were other ways to get back on those students. But they wouldn’t leave me alone every time I tried his method.

“Okay…” Kadin frowned. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then.”

“Kadin,” I said, “thank you for your concern. But I don’t want you to worry about it. I can handle it myself.”

Kadin stared at me, wanting to read my true thoughts in my mind. “If you say that then,” Kadin began, “I won’t ask you about. Let’s get inside the library and start on the assignment.”

“Thanks.”

Ice Pack Stealer’s eyes widened for a bit and our eyes met before he glanced away to Juliette.

“Oh hey,” he said in a calm voice.

“Where are you heading, Rome?” Juliette smiled.

“To the canteen,” he pointed. “But I need to give this to Julie first.” He turned to me.

I glimpsed at Juliette for a bit and noticed her disappointment.

“Here,” Ice Pack Stealer handed me a sheet of paper, “you just hurried off to lunch when Mr Downs was giving this out.”

Looking at the paper, I was wondering if he was pulling a prank on me at this moment. “What’s it about?” I raised my eyebrow.

“The school’s Foundation Day,” Ice Pack Stealer answered me.

Hearing him say that, I grabbed the sheet of paper and skimmed through it.

Kat nudged me and whispered, “I think you should say ‘thank you’.”

That was when I realised there was this awkward heavy air around the four of us.

I stopped reading and looked up at him. He just stood there staring at my sandwich. “Why are you looking at my lunch? Are you that hungry?”

“No,” he shook his head. “Is that apricot jam in there?”

I looked at my sandwich and then at him. “Yeah.” 

Why does everyone knows that I have apricot jam in my sandwich? Am I that predictable?

He stood there silently for a few more moments before Juliette changed the subject, “What are you going to eat for lunch, Rome?”

“Probably a pie.”

“I’ll go with you then,” Juliette said. “One of the teachers on ground duty asked me to buy a salad for her,” she showed us the money in her hand.

“That’s fine with me.”

“Let’s go then,” Juliette started to take a few steps forward. But she stopped when she realised that Ice Pack Stealer wasn’t following her.

“I think someone still owes me something,” Ice Pack Stealer gazed over to my direction.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I placed my hands on my hips.

Kat whispered to me, “I think he still wants his ‘thank you’.”

“Oh,” I replied. “Um, thanks.”

Satisfied, Ice Pack Stealer beamed at me. He had the kind of smile like he was looking at his dog, Hero. But I’m not his dog. Why is he smiling at me like that?

“See you two later then!” Juliette waved at us.

“Byes,” I waved back and realised that Ice Pack Stealer had finally left.

“Tell me,” Kat turned to my direction, “what’s going in your mind at the moment?”

“I’m starting to wonder why Ice Pack Stealer is acting strangely.”

Kat let out a giggle, “Can I just be frank with you?”

“Um, sure.”

Kat was about to open her mouth and answer me until someone called out to us.

“Hey Kat! Hey Julie! Where are you guys heading?”

I know that voice. It was Kadin’s. I turned around and saw him huffing and puffing as he stood in front of us, his hands on his knees.

“Hi Kadin, what’s up?”

“What made you ran a marathon, Kade?” Katrina blinked as she realised it was Kadin.

“Kade?” I questioned.

“Yeah,” Kat replied, blankly. “I used to have other nicknames for him when he was younger.”

Kadin finally caught his breath, “Kade is the only nickname I accept from you. So don’t start calling me with those other weird names okay, sis?”

Sis? What? Did Kadin just called Kat ‘sis’?

“You guys are siblings?” my forest green eyes widened.

Both of them nodded.

“I thought you’ve realised that by now,” Kat turned to me.

“You couldn’t tell?” Kadin asked.

I stopped all of my thoughts and did a quick scan at the both of them.

Both Katrina and Kadin had ruby red hair and both of them had emerald green eyes. Their facial structures were quite similar too. Kat’s face was slim and delicate while Kadin’s was also slim but a bit more angular because his jawline was more prominent. They’re also both quite tall for their age.

“Are you guys twins?” I finally said after coming down to a conclusion that answered the question why they’re both in the same grade.

“Yep,” Kadin smiled, popping the ‘p’.

“If only I wasn’t,” Kat sighed.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Kat looked to somewhere else and answered, “If I told you all the reasons why, we’ll be standing here till next year.”

“So who’s older?” I asked.

“You wanna guess?” Kadin leant closer to me.

“You won’t get offended if I guessed to the wrong person?”

“I don’t mind,” Kat smiled at me. “People tend to get it right, anyway.”

“Okay,” I straightened my back, “I think…”

I paused to look at the both of them again. Kat was waiting patiently for my answer while Kadin was quietly tapping his foot. I knew that both of them were eager to hear my guess. It was as though they always had a competition to see if people could guess the correct older twin.

“I think…” I paused for dramatisation, “Kat’s older!”

“Geez, why do people always think like that?” Kadin mumbled, looking down at his feet.

“I don’t know. I just thought Kat looks more mature for some reason.”

“And I’m not?”

“Hey, she’s right you know?” Kat interjected. “You sometimes still make me wonder what your actual age is.”

“I’m the same age as you are, Kat,” Kadin replied with a voice that sounded quite offended. “And I’ll forever be like that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kat gave him a half-smile. “But I’m talking about the age in your mind.” She pointed to her head. “You stil—”

Kadin rapidly covered Kat’s mouth and glared at her. “Don’t you dare, not in front of Julie.”

Kat’s eyes were full of amusement. She then quickly took Kadin’s hands off her mouth and laughed at him. I weakly smiled at Kadin as he watched her with fury red hair sticking up into the air.

Once Kat was done laughing, she twirled to face her brother. “Next time, don’t put your dirty hands on my mouth. I don’t know how often you wash your hands.”

“I’m leaving,” Kadin turned around. “You’re just going to make me more embarrassed the longer I stay here. See you later, Julie.”

Kat and I watched Kadin leave our lockers and I started to wonder if he was going to be alright.

“Is he mad?”

“He’s just embarrassed,” Kat giggled. “He’ll get over it soon enough.”

“Why would he be embarrassed though? Was the thing you’re about to say really that embarrassing?”

“More or less,” Kat shrugged. “But more importantly, what are you planning to do on the school’s Foundation Day?”

“Oh yeah,” I glanced down at the notification in my hand. “We need to choose something before the teachers decide it for us. What are you planning to do, Kat?”

“I’m going to join the art group and help out with the gallery.”

“That’s a great idea!” I replied. “What made you want to choose the art group?”

“I thought that maybe I’ll learn a thing or two about photography.”

“You do photography?”

Kat nodded, “Yeah. It’s a hobby I picked up a few years ago.”

“Can I see some of your work?” I gave my widest smile.

Kat giggled, “Maybe. Anyway, do you have any idea which group you’re going to join?”

“At the moment, I’m not so sure.”

I wonder which group Ice Pack Stealer is going to join. Wait, why am I even thinking about him?

Staring at my once beautiful normal bike with normal silver metal, it was now covered in pink. Not just any type of pink; it was the hot bright fluoro one. My bike literally looked like it just came out of the circus.

“Can I guess who did this to you?” Kat asked.

“I don’t think you need to guess. I already know who did it,” I replied, taking out the nail polish remover out of my bag.

Wearing a pair of rubber gloves, I tipped the nail polish remover bottle to one side and damped it with a piece of cloth. Carefully wiping the area where the super glue was in effect, I was finding it difficult to remove the stupid glue from the wheel. It seemed as though it was re-glued with extra industrial super glue or something. Then it hit me.

I glanced down at my wonderful pink bike and looked for any paint drippings on the racks. There wasn’t a single drop. That just means that Ice Pack Stealer removed my bike away from the racks before painting it and re-gluing it back on. He probably waited for the paint to dry and used an industrial super glue to make my life extra hard. I’m guessing the glue he used was stronger than the glue I’d used on his shoes yesterday.

Looking at the bike again, the only part that wasn’t painted was the wheels. That was literally the only thing that stayed the same. Usually, nail polish remover would do the trick in removing the stickiness of super glue (I did some research on this yesterday). But in this case, I’ll also need something to scrape the glue off the wheel and rack. This would probably cause damage to my bike’s wheel, but I have no other choice. It was either this or donate my only bike to school as a circus, fluoro pink, art project.

“It isn’t working, is it?” Kat gave me the question look.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Do you happen to have something that I can scrape the glue off?” I looked at her frowning. “Something made out of metal perhaps?”

“I have a metal ruler you can use,” Kat answered as she searched her bag. “Here,” she gave me the ruler, “but doesn’t that mean the wheel will have a hole?”

As much as I didn’t want to answer her question, I nodded. “I’ll probably need to wheel the bike back home, this afternoon, and then replace the wheel by spending forty dollars on it.”

“There, there,” Kat patted my shoulder. “Let’s just look at the bright side, at least Romeo didn’t stick both the wheels to the rack. So you’ll only need to spend forty dollars instead of eighty dollars.”

Scraping the ruler between the wheel and the rack, while dampening the cloth with more nail polish remover, I sighed to her comment. “That’s true,” I replied, still feeling depressed. “But the other problem is now my bike is pink!” I paused and looked at her right in the eye, “Pink! It’s pink! I tell you. I hate pink!”

Kat lowered down next to me and gave me a hug, “I know little Julie, I know.” She stroked my hair and made me feel like a little kindergarten, “It’ll all be over when one of you falls.”

“Falls?” I asked, “What do you mean?”

Kat had that glimmer in the eyes again, “Very soon you’ll know what I mean.” She smiled again and changed the subject, “Okay then, how about I do the cloth dampening and you do the scraping?”

I had a question look all over my face, wondering why she didn’t just directly answer my question. But then again, I had a feeling that if I continued to ask her, her psychic self would simply give me more metaphors and make things more confusing than it already was. So I let that thought fly away and answered her, “Yeah. Thanks for helping me, Kat.”

She smiled with high spirits, “You’re very welcome.”

Did I mention that I was in the same biology class with Ice Pack Stealer? Well if I didn’t, now you know. I was so happy that I was in the same class with Kat and all. I seriously was. But when I found out that Ice Pack Stealer was also in the same class, I was disappointed. The next best thing was (note: I’m being sarcastic here), he just happened to be my lab partner as well. Why on earth did I have to be partners with him?

I had a debate with Mr Downs, my biology teacher, asking if I could change partners. But he said no. I asked him why and he said it was the computer’s sorting who paired us up. I could’ve told him that explosions might happen in class if I’m paired up with Ice Pack Stealer, but this was a biology class and not chemistry. So the chances for that happening would be slim and that wouldn’t be a convincing excuse.

Anyhow, I probably didn’t mention that Ice Pack Stealer was my lab partner earlier because he recently got moved into my class. If you’re asking me why this happened, I’ll tell you it was the computer’s fault for printing out the wrong timetable. So before, I had Kat as my lab partner and since the plans have changed, I’m stuck with Ice Pack Stealer for the rest of the year. Yay me! Not.

“Could you pass me the other beaker?” he looked at me while holding onto the beaker with the seeds.

Ice Pack Stealer examined the onion seeds in the small beaker and frowned. “Why aren’t the seeds growing yet?” He poked some of the seeds with his pen. “Did you water it properly last time?”

“Of course I did,” I glared at him. “Kat and I were preparing those beakers and we put enough water for them to grow over the weekends.”

“So why aren’t they growing?” he glared back at me with a raised eyebrow.

“How am I supposed to know?” I stared at him. “Why don’t you ask the seeds instead? Maybe it’s because the seeds don't like you?”

He pretended to laugh, “Ha ha. Very funny.” He continued to examine the seeds in the beaker.

“Before Mr Downs said that the seeds may not be growing properly because the beakers might still be contaminated with chemicals from other experiments,” I rolled my eyes as I explained it to him. “Didn’t you hear what he just said before?”

“Kind of,” Ice Pack Stealer answered, blankly. “But I was too distracted that I was your lab partner.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever I just said, is whatever it just means.” He looked to my direction, “It’s as simple as that.”

I raised an eyebrow.

He sighed and placed the two beakers down. “It means that I can’t believe that I’m your lab partner for the rest of the year, while we’re still having the prank war,” he said, trying not to raise his voice. “Are you sure that you can understand English?”

Glaring at him, I crossed my arms, “Are you sure that you’re in the right biology class?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question,” he replied, firmly. “Besides, it wasn’t my fault I got the wrong timetable. It was the school’s fault for giving me the wrong timetable. Seriously, I think the school needs to change the computers or something. What if they print out the wrong reports to the wrong students? That’ll cause a major problem.”

I have no idea how he changed the subject, but he just changed the subject from him having the wrong timetable to the whole school population having the wrong reports. I just stood there with my goggles looking at him. “You have a point, but that doesn’t answer the question.”

He wrote something down in his book and looked up, “Well, until you answer my question, I won’t answer yours.”

“You guys are having a ridiculous fight. Seriously, the argument doesn’t even relate to biology.”

We both turned around and saw Kat peacefully looking at her new seeds.

“Were you eavesdropping, Kat?” I asked her quietly, realising that I might be talking too loud.

“Not intentionally.” Kat looked up, “The way you guys talk is actually quite interesting to hear and I just happened to be your next-door neighbour, so it’s quite distracting how you guys always end up having a word fight. But in your case, I guess that’s better than having a physical fight.”

I had always enjoyed biology and being lab partners with Kat. She had this thing with plants that makes her conversation out of the ordinary, but at the same time entertaining. Ever since Ice Pack Stealer appeared, Kat was by herself now. She didn’t have a lab partner.

I told Mr Downs maybe it would be better if Kat just stayed on our bench and make it as a group of three people. Ice Pack Stealer didn’t mind and Mr Downs was about to make an exception. But for some reason Kat insisted being alone, saying that she’ll be able to concentrate better if she didn’t have a lab partner for now. So she ended up doing the experiments by herself behind our bench.

But I know that she was doing this for another purpose. Something that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. That was when my question was answered.

Knocking on the doorframe twice, the classroom door was opened and a student appeared holding a piece of paper. Looking from afar the paper looked like a timetable, but more importantly, the student was familiar. Way too familiar, I was worried to say his name. It was Kadin.

Mr Downs quickly checked his timetable and nodded, acknowledging that he was in the right class. He said a few quick words, probably telling him to join Kat’s bench since she doesn’t have a partner, and Kadin headed to our direction.

I happened to meet his gaze and when I looked at him; he smiled, greeting me like he normally does. That was when I heard Ice Pack Stealer’s voice.

“What’s he doing here?”

I turned to my left and glanced back at Ice Pack Stealer. His eyes were locked onto Kadin, looking like he was hunting down a rabbit. But I just kept quiet.

Mr Downs got to the whiteboard and started to write something. Kadin came to my direction and stopped, “I told you we’re going to see each other again.”

A small flashback came to me. Yesterday night, my parents had dinner at the restaurant and I happened to see Kadin working there as a waiter. Before he left, he said something to me.

“I guess I’ll be going. See you tomorrow then.”

That left me a few unanswered questions as I wondered why I would be seeing him again. But I guess that’s all answered now that his right in front of me.

“It’s good to see you again,” I half-smiled.

“And we’ll be seeing each other more often too!” he beamed. “Just like the old times.”

I just smiled, but in my head I was worried, very worried.

Kadin moved away from me and went to the bench behind. “Hi Kat,” he smiled casually. “I guess we’ll be seeing each other more often too.”

Kat smiled back. “Yeah,” she looked at Kadin. “Maybe a bit too often.”

Kadin chuckled, “That’s true.”

I stood there wondering a bit. Does Kat know Kadin? How come she never told me this?

“You guys know each other?”

“Yep,” Kat answered. “A bit too well.”

Kadin interjected, “We’re actually—”

“Alright class, there are only ten minutes left before the bell rings so it’s time to pack up. Just finish what you’re doing and place the beakers with the seeds over there on the window sill,” Mr Downs announced. The moment our teacher finished, everyone started shuffling around the classroom.

Ice Pack Stealer got off his stool and passed me the beakers, “I’d just put some more water into it, so you can just put it on the window sill and I’ll tidy up the bench.”

I glanced down at the beakers with my eyes widened, “Ice Pack Stealer! You put too much water! The seeds are going to drown like this.”

He frowned a bit. “What do you mean, Mermaid? You’re the one who put too less water and forbid the seeds from growing.”

“But look!” I showed him the beakers in his face, “You literally submerged the seeds like submarines in the ocean. Onions don’t grow underwater. You do know that right?”

He kept silent.

“I’m going to pour some of the water out,” I quickly said.

“Yeah whatever,” he replied. “But if the seeds don’t grow by next lesson, you’re going to do something about it.” He turned away from me and started packing up the equipment.

I gazed at him for a while before I headed over to the window sill. I wonder why he isn’t arguing back.

“There,” I said to myself, as I smiled at my organised locker. I spent the last ten minutes cleaning up my locker and after placing the last textbook on the right shelf. I locked the door and nibbled on my lunch.

“Still eating apricot jam and bread?” Kat gazed at my sandwich.

I smiled weakly, “Yeah. How did you know?”

She raised an eyebrow at me, “Julie, that’s what you’ve been eating for the last two weeks.” She crossed her arms, “I don’t even need to use my powers and I can predict what you’re eating for the next three days. Seriously, why don’t you get proper lunch or something else that is nicer?”

“I can’t be bothered waking up early to make lunch,” I murmured.

“But you’re bothered to wake up early to prepare for a prank?”

I nodded.

“There’s no point talking you out of the prank war you’re having with Romeo, isn’t it?” Kat sighed. “I’m quite worried about you.”

“Is something going to happen to me?”

“I’m not quite sure,” she glanced at me. “I just have a feeling that you’ll be in—”

“Oh, hi there, Juliet!”

Kat didn’t finish her sentence and I turned around to see who was calling me.

Smiling to me, I saw the other Juliette.

“Um, hi,” I said awkwardly.

Juliette smiled as she flipped her hair to the back and greeted me, “How’s school today?”

I was wondering why she was talking to me when she didn’t seem to like me so much when we first met. Besides, I wasn’t close with her and she made it seem like we were friends or something.

“Um… school’s good,” I answered directly. “How about you?”

“I just enrolled today,” she smiled sweetly. “I find the uniform a bit uncomfortable but I guess I’ll get used to it by next week.”

“Yeah,” I said as I chewed on my sandwich.

“Oooo,” her green eyes shined, “is that apricot jam in your bread?”

My eye twitched for a second before I answered, “Yeah. How did you know?”

The other Juliette was smiling at me and I couldn’t help but smile back as she replied. “I love apricot jam so much that I can smell it from a few metres away. Weird huh? But unfortunately, I have strawberry jam today,” she frowned.

“Strawberry jam isn’t too bad,” I defended the good old jam.

“Yeah, but—” she paused and her eyes were drifted to somewhere else. “Oh, hi Rome!” she waved to Ice Pack Stealer.

I turned around and saw Ice Pack Stealer looking to our direction. Does she know Ice Pack Stealer?

His nose was literally three centimetres from mine. How did he get here so fast? That was when I heard his breathing and I reacted by taking a step back.

Luckily we were outside the restaurant doors by now, if we were still inside, I would probably cause a commotion. But now that I think about it when I stood up and headed for the doors, Ice Pack Stealer was already behind me. It was until a little later that he decided to say: “I’m done as well. Please excuse me too.” So by the time I turned around to see where he was, he was already in my face.

“What’s the hurry?” he asked.

I ignored his question, pretended that he wasn’t front of me and turned away.

“I know you can hear me Juli— I mean Mermaid. So why aren’t you answering me?”

Ah nah. I can’t hear you. I continued to walk away from him, passing the marble fountain that was in the centre of the garden. Is he calling me Mermaid again? Then out of nowhere, he grabbed my shoulder and stopped me.

“Why are you always annoying me?” I glared at him and then at the hand which was holding onto my shoulder.

“Annoying you?” he raised his eyebrows. “You’re the one who declared the prank war. You’re the one who’s annoying me. Thanks to you my shoes will never be the same again.”

Geez, why is he so weird? One moment he was calm and quiet. The next moment he’s like this. Talk about anger management issues. I glanced at my shoulder again. And what’s with the shoulder contact?

“You’re welcome!” I said still feeling annoyed that his hand was resting on my shoulder. “And don’t touch me.” I snapped and shrugged his hand off.

He looked shocked for a bit. Probably because of my ‘don’t touch me’ statement. But really, what made him think that he has the right to even touch me, making us seem like we’re so close and all. Wait, did I just use the word ‘us’? That’s it! I need to clear my head.

Seeing Ice Pack Stealer still flabbergasted, I just rolled my eyes and tried to get away from him as far as possible and as fast as possible. It seemed like he wasn’t following me anymore. That’s a relief.

Near the fountain at the centre, I found a wooden bench and settled myself down. Finally some peace and quiet.

Sitting there and thinking about how I’m going to get to school tomorrow, I wondered if I could catch the bus on time. I probably would need to wake up an extra thirty minutes earlier. But I guess I have no other choice. That also reminded me that I need to find the nail polish remover without Mum knowing as well. If I directly ask her where it was, she would probably be suspicious of me. Then again would the nail polish remover do the trick to get rid of the glue? Well, I really hope so because that super glue was quite strong.

When I glanced at the time on my watch, I realised that I’ve been thinking for almost fifteen minutes. Time really does fly when you’re thinking about pranks.

“What were you thinking, Juliet?”

I had a mini heart attack when I heard a male’s voice behind my back. But at the same time, my mind recognised that it wasn’t Ice Pack Stealer’s voice.

I turned around and saw Kadin’s smiling face. “Did I scare you?” he chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

Where did he come from? Do all guys learn this sneaking up technique from somewhere? Because one thing I’m certain that all guys have in common is that they can scare people from literally out of nowhere.

I turned my back to him, “Aren’t you supposed to be working?” I asked with my annoyed voice. I seriously want to shoo him away because I’m practically not in the mood to be talking to anyone.

“I just finished my shift today,” he said casually. “So what were you just thinking before?”

I narrowed my eyes, “Don’t you have better things to do, other than creeping up on people?”

“You’re still the same as ever Juliet,” he chuckled. “Besides does it hurt anyone for you to answer my question?”

“Yes,” I stated, “me.”

Kadin took a step closer and sat down on the bench. I glared at him, but at the same time, I was glad that he left big a space between us. If he didn’t I would of move away from him and end the conversation.

He sighed, “This conversation isn’t going anywhere right?” He paused. “Did you get the paper I gave you?”

A light bulb shined over me. “That reminds me,” I replied as I started to search in my handbag for the piece of paper that he slipped under my plate. “Here,” I returned it to him, “I don’t think I need it.”

Kadin looked at me with his emerald green eyes. That was when I realised that his eyes looked familiar to someone. “Why are you returning it to me?” He pointed at the paper. “My dear friend, it’s for you to keep.”

“Well then, my dear friend, I don’t want it.”

He sighed, “Fine, I won’t force you.”

I was glad that he took the paper back. Though it made me wondered what else he had under his sleeves. The way he said that statement sounded quite suspicious.

Kadin stood up and smiled, “I guess I’ll be going.” He waved, “See you tomorrow then.”

His last sentence gave me an alarming thought. What did he mean by ‘see you tomorrow then’? Are my parents planning to have dinner here again?

By the time I hit my head onto my pillow, I remembered what happened after I got back to the dining tables. As always, my parents were having a happy conversation with Mr and Mrs Jones. Ice Pack Stealer and I stopped having the avoiding eye contact competition and he kept quiet for the rest of the dinner session. He even stopped kicking my shoes as well!

As for me, I was minding my own business by thinking where Mum would keep the nail polish remover in the house.

Lifting my head up and looking at the digital clock that was at the side of my bed, I never knew that Mum kept the nail polish remover in the bathroom cupboards. So while I was brushing my teeth, I managed to magically find it. Now that I’ve finished planning how to rescue my bike from the previous prank, I wondered what Ice Pack Stealer had installed for me tomorrow. Not wanting to think about him anymore, I just flipped my blanket over and slept.

“Juliet,” Mum smiled, “if you need to, I can drop you off at school.”

Twirling the fork in my hand into the honey pancakes, I paused and looked up at her. “It’s fine Mum, I can take the bus so don’t worry about.” I chewed with my mouth half-full, “Besides, didn’t you say you have an important meeting today?”

“Your father is currently taking care of it for me today. So I’m pretty much free for the rest of the day,” she giggled, feeling proud of her pancake cooking. “I can even come to your school and inspire kids like you to write books as well.”

I widened my eyes, “No way.” I dropped my fork and literally stared at her, “Did the librarian really called you to come?”

Let me just explain this. Since my parents are authors, sometimes they visit schools and universities to give an inspirational speech to encourage students to read as well as write their own stories. For the most of my lifetime, they haven’t visited the schools that I’ve gone to, so I was safe from dying from embarrassment. But every time Mum jokes around in the morning, it usually becomes a reality. Now that she’s joking so early in the morning like this, I have a bad feeling of what she was going to say next.

“Yep!” Mum took off her apron and settled down opposite to me. “Your school librarian called me two weeks ago. She said that it would be great if I could visit your school sometime next week. And you know what? The librarian is also a fan of my books!”

“Oh, yay me!” I said, sarcastically.

Finishing off my last bite, I quickly placed the plate into the sink and was about to grab my bag that was on the couch, until I heard the doorbell rang.

When I opened the wooden door, I was surprised to see the radiating sunlight shining onto her red hair. But at the same time, I wondered how she knew where I lived.

“Hey, Julie!” Kat grinned at me. “How’s your morning? Surprised that I’m here?”

“Eh, yeah,” I replied, still wondering how she knew my address. “What’s up?” I unlocked the screen door and invited her in.

“Is that your friend?” Mum called from the kitchen and as I was about to turn around and say ‘yep’, Mum was already behind me.

“Nice to meet you,” Mum greeted. “I’m Mary.”

“Hello Mary, nice to meet you too. I’m Katrina, but please call me Kat.” Kat smiled gently with her shiny green eyes. For some reason, Kat seemed more polite than the usual.

“Are you here to catch the bus with Juliet?” Mum asked, casually. It really felt like they were already friends long before I’ve existed.

“Yep,” Kat replied, confidently.

Mum nodded. Then placing her hands on my shoulders, “You should be going then, sweetie.” Mum gave me her usual smile, “You don’t want to make your friend Kat wait too long.”

For the first time, my mum remembered one of my friend’s names without me repeating myself. It wasn’t like I had so many friends that she couldn’t keep up with their names. It was just because she wasn’t really good at remembering people’s names in general. Dad told me that when he first met her, he had to re-introduce himself every time he wanted to talk to her. He also said that when my mum was young, she can be a little clueless at times. But he never really told her that. She actually finds it offensive to be called clueless, which I have no idea why.

Holding onto my bag and stepping out of the house with my shoes on, I waved to Mum and headed to the bus stop with Kat.

“Still curious?” Kat smiled.

“Um, yeah.” I nodded, automatically. “How did you know my address?”

“I didn’t.” Kat giggled. “I just came here with my other self.”

Oh, that’s right. Kat has her other psychic self too. No wonder she knew where I lived. Honestly, she can make a living with this kind of power.

“Your powers are really strong, Kat,” I complimented her.

“It’s also part of my brother’s skateboard you borrowed yesterday.” Kat winked at me. “As long as I have something that lives with me for more than one year, I can start tracking down where it is.”

“So you mean, you were able to find my house because your brother’s skateboard acted like a tracker?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s pretty amazing!” My eyes widened. “You don’t have to worry about things if you lose them anymore. You can literally track down the thief if someone stole something from you.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But most people believe that if they receive something from me, they’ll be cursed or whatever.”

“That’s quite a mean rumour,” I stated.

“Well, to be honest, it’s not exactly a rumour.”

I wanted to ask more about what she just meant. But then her emerald eyes glimmered at me as she pointed to the front, “Oh mighty moons! The bus is coming! We’re going to miss it!”

“Not if we’re going to run for it!” I said as I pulled her with me.

When we got off the bus, we were early to school. Not many people were around so it was pretty quiet. But from the distance, I saw something bright pink near the entrance of the main hallway. At first, I just thought that it was some kind of weird art sculpture from the art club (no offence, art people). But as I got closer, I realised it was near the bike racks.

“Let me guess,” Kat stood there looking at my bike, “this is a part of the prank war?”

“Yep,” I responded with a frowned.