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?