8.1

2 weeks had passed since the examinations. Because of the relaxed tension, no one was paying attention in any lesson. Miss Locke had a hard time keeping the class together, despite trying her best to be engaging. However, the results came out today. Bets would be defined. Dates were on the line. As such, everyone was ready to hear them.

"Not half bad! I was expecting a lot worse, but it seems you took these fairly seriously. That is, for most exams. I'm afraid your maths marks were not brilliant: but don't be too hard on yourselves. The median mark among the whole cohort was 35%, so please use that as a suitable benchmark when you get your results."

Asahi was a little surprised, but he kept his thoughts to himself. As the papers were handed out, he could see the visible shock on people's faces. 30% seemed to be the average for the class.

"Well done, Rachel, your score was in the top 10! I hope you realise how brilliant your performance was,"

"Thanks, Miss, but I still think I could have done better,"

"It's perfectly fine - 75% is a good score because it means you have room for improvement for the upcoming exams."

Asahi received his paper. 94%.

"A decent score, I'll take that" he muttered to himself.

"Asahi, please keep your score to yourself - I think the rest of the class might be a little insecure if you told them. You placed third in the cohort, and you actually managed to break the school record for this paper. It's unfortunate 2 other people broke it as well."

"Oh, fair enough. I'll have to refine myself and try harder next time"

"That's a great attitude to have. Good luck with that venture. Oh, by the way, could you explain your answer to the first question on the paper to the class? Your method was very easy to follow."

"Yeah, of course, I'll just find my lost 6 marks and correct them,"

He analysed his paper and noticed his mistake. A simple calculation error, so no harm done.

He then walked to the front of the class.

"Hey, erm, I'm going to explain how I answered the first question,"

A few people in the class looked a little shocked - they were surprised he managed to get it correct. I guess his terrible first impression was still dictating their opinions of him. That should probably change soon enough, though.

"With this question, you can try to find random patterns and try to spot things, but it won't work - it's a very deductive problem, so induction is useless. Because of that, you can treat it very mechanically.

Adrian, Brielle, and Chloe can be in any of the 6 combinations

- random, liar, contrarian: because Chloe is after Brielle, the liar, statement 3 has to be true, but it isn't. That doesn't work.

- liar, contrarian, random: Brielle is after Adrian, the liar, but she ends up lying in statement 2. That doesn't work.

- contrarian, random, liar: because Adrian is after Chloe, the liar, statement 4 has to be true, but it isn't. That doesn't work

- random, contrarian, liar: In this case, statement Adrian lies in statement 4, so Brielle must tell the truth in statement 5, but she says Adrian is the liar when it's Chloe. That doesn't work

Between the combinations (contrarian, liar, random) and (liar, random, contrarian) I couldn't deduce any more, so I had to think of something to separate them. The main question is who starts first: the liar or the contrarian? If I were a contrarian, I would believe a state of nothingness to be the effective "truth", so I would lie in the first statement. But, because in scenario 1, Adrian the contrary tells the truth, I chose the second option"

A few people quickly wrote down his analysis, and some people were genuinely impressed. His critical methodology was worth praising.

"I personally think his solution to the question was the most intricate one among the year group. Well, only 3 people got it right, but that doesn't matter. Learning to think critically is the best way of having success in the real world. I hope you all watched carefully because there is a lot to learn about here. However, Asahi, your last deduction was a little farfetched... it was simply a typing error, so we would have given you credit for either option. They forgot to mention that the contrarian lies if he goes first. A good, philosophical interpretation of the question, though."

You could see his visible embarrassment. He poured his heart into that last part, and his whole philosophy was shattered. I pity him.

Pity.

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Across the other side of the classroom, Noah was anxiously waiting by Yora's desk.

"So... what did you get, Yora..."

"No, you first,"

"47%..."

"Ah, you got lucky, I got 44%. Looks like I'll be paying for your date with Rachel."

Noah's face lit up. Considering how shamelessly he was talking about all the girls on the first day of school, his reactions were rather innocent.

Rachel came over, quickly.

"Guys, we need to calculate our average to compare with Evelyn and Ari's groups, remember!"

"Yeah, let's see what we got!"

They asked Miss Locke to provide their average for the group.

"So across Yora, Asahi, Rachel, Micah, and Noah... the average was 73.2%. Evelyn's group averaged 39%, and Ari's group averaged 33%"

Everyone was visibly shocked. 73.2% probably didn't make sense to anyone apart from Asahi, given it was his score that was bringing up the average.

"Damn... Asahi, you must be lying about your score," Micah said blatantly.

Asahi must have felt a little bad for deceiving his friends, so he admitted it.

"I'd rather not tell you my exact score though..."

"No, no, that's respectable," Yora replied.

And so, having attained their achievement, the next weekend, the group headed off to the theme park. It's nice seeing them all forget about their responsibilities and truly enjoy their youth.

8.2

Baking! The flour gives rise to a rich aroma, that pleases the human palate, and instigates insatiable desire. The golden crust entices the eye, drawing attention to any poor, hungry soul walking by.

Okay, I don't know why I'm so captivated by bread... but it looks so appetizing!

The next 5 chemistry lessons would be based on food, with theoretical lectures on its chemistry, and practical lessons detecting alcohols and esters from mixing certain foods. The student body affectionately called it the "masterclass". Every student taking chemistry would be paired up, and 5 sets of pairs would take their 5 lessons in succession, randomly chosen, throughout the year. It was Asahi's turn for the next week, and he was paired up with a girl named Bianca. He didn't know what to expect, so when we walked into the laboratory, he was a little disheartened to find the only unpaired girl to be a womanly, blue-haired individual.

"Are you... Bianca?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing your Asahi, right? Nice to meet you!"

"Has she forgotten me or something?" his face said.

"Y-Yeah, nice to meet you too,"

"What class are you in?"

"Oh, I'm in... E,"

"Oh cool! I'm in F, so you'll be safe with me!"

She chuckled to herself. She was in a very relaxed state, which completely contradicted the image of her he had created in his head.

The first lesson was about making bread, and the properties of yeast that make it rise. It was a rather short lecture, and they were given plenty of time to make their dishes. The scent of the room was agonizingly delicious... to me, at least.

"I've always liked baking things... It's a nice escape from the real world, and I think it's a good way to learn about chemical coherence,"

"But I thought you hated people who try to escape the world," he whispered, quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind. Do you enjoy chemistry? I heard it's the hardest course offered at this school,"

"I mean, I didn't really put too much thought into it, to be honest. My parents just filled the letter and sent it in without telling me,"

"They must care about you, because they're making you take a pretty well-regarded subject,"

He didn't believe that in the slightest - he just wanted to gauge how she responded to such an emotionally blind retort.

"Yeah, of course, which parent doesn't care about their child!"

She played it off effortlessly.

"Shit! I spilled the coffee beans! Sorry, I'm really stupid."

"No, it's alright. Let me help you."

...

"Hey, it's quite private down here, in the corner, tucked away... no one would know if I placed my finger... here,"

She gently graced his collarbone.

"Then if I slowly trailed my finger... up... onto your neck,"

She tilted his head upwards, gently, forcing their eyes to meet sharply.

"You can feel the tension, right?"

Their faces were a couple of inches away, and he felt drawn to her.

She then broke away quickly, chuckling into her hands.

"Hahahaha! Look at your face!"

He stood there, puzzled, before (somewhat) regaining his composure.

"Woww, toying with a guy's emotions like that... how cruel,"

"Boys are all the same, you know. You all love sex. It's not a problem, but surely you can add some more character to yourself. You don't have to be enticed by every slut that throws herself at you,"

"What are you talking about, no-one's ever thrown themselves at me,"

"Yeah, I guessed, you're not all that attractive."

I felt that was quite harsh.

"Hey, there was no need for that."

"Whatever. Let's just finish the bread."

The air was tense, and they concluded the lesson in complete silence.