CHAPTER 4
~Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.~
:Earl Nightingale:
****Samantha’s POV****Twenty minutes before the bell was about to ring: Mr. McAllen declared that we should have an election for the class representatives for this year.
“Two representatives, if possible,” he stressed.
I was
petrified. To everyone’s anticipation—including me, Mr. McAllen instantly wrote my name on the board.
“I knowingly wrote here Ms. Hayes name since she’s been a representative for three consecutive years, and who can do a better job than her, right? Now, any objections from the class?” He boomed.
“Nay!” my classmates replied enthusiastically.
Oh, how I hate our homeroom teacher—this Solar guy! Sheesh, is this even an election?
“Now,” he said,
“We need another fellow for support—if! There will be any…”Minutes ticked by and none of my classmates uttered a word—these morons never wanted to become representatives anyway since it entails
many obligations. That’s why I hate it as much as they hate it.
Every year, I’m pushed into it by the joint effort of Mr. Solar and my classmates—and as what I will later expect it to be, no one would nominate anyone, and once again, I’ll be the only representative;
alone and defeated, hassled and exhausted…I gloomily hunched over my desk expecting the bell to ring any minute just to get this election over with…
But!Much, much, much, muuuuuch to my complete dismay, Luke stood right up and said,
“I’ll be glad to take up the role, sir.”I jerked right up from my desk. I almost felt my eyes leave their sockets as I gaped at him.
“Whaaa—?” 
Shrill screams erupted inside the room as the entire girl-power population
(except me) gawked at him—and except Mark too who isn’t a girl, but is included in this population anyway.
Mr. McAllen beamed,
“I’m surprised… Really surprised, sonny.”The bell started to ring.
“Now that’s all for today, Ms. Hayes and Mr. Richens, please see me in my office once the day ends, I have some important tasks for you already.”Mark looked at me,
“Sister, you’re sooooo lucky…! You can spend time with him as much as you like…! Awww, sister… Once again, good luck is yours, and….”I ignored Mark’s chatter.
Okay, maybe I do appreciate it that he volunteered, but the way I see it—he just volunteered so he could taunt me more or something…
Once Luke took his seat, I stared at him with a blank expression on my face. He looked back at me and tipped an imaginary hat.
Gaaaaah. I hate this guy.
****Samantha’s POV****Economics class. It was a new subject for us and everyone was really giddy since the teacher unpredictably declared a graded recitation for the day. Fortunately, I read the book over the summer so I was really psyched to recite!
“Now, who can delineate to me the word Econometrics?” Mrs. Loran asked eyeing us like an eagle.
I immediately rose from my seat and recited:
“Econometrics applies mathematical and statistical methods to analyze data related to economic models.”
I slowly glanced to my right and sure enough, Luke and I recited at the same time and at the same pace.
“You damn pervert.” I whispered devilishly as he shrugged, flashing that smug smile of his.
Mrs. Loran was glancing at the two of us
, “Brilliant, marvelous… marvelous… I see that the two of you are very ardent… Miss…?”“Samantha Hayes.” I replied through gritted teeth.
“And you Mister?”“Luke Richens.”“I see, I see… Now take your seats.” She instructed,
“For my subsequent query… What is marginalism?”Once again, I rose up.
“Marginalism describes consumers as attempting to reach a most-preferred position, subject to constraints, including income and wealth”…You might have guessed it already; we were both reciting the same and exact words at the same time… and pace!
Darn it…! This guy is getting on my
nerves!
We looked at each other and we mutually had this determined expressions on our faces.
I won’t lose to you, I thought.
“Macroeconomics?”“Macroeconomics examines the economy as a whole 'top down' to explain broad aggregates and their interactions.”“The Physiocrats?”“Physiocrats are a group of 18th century French thinkers and writers who developed the idea of the economy as a circular flow of income and output.”“Opportunity Cost?”“Opportunity cost is the cost of the next best alternative.”
“Elasticity?”"Elasticity is the measure of sensitiveness or responsiveness of quantity demanded to factors affecting demand for the product.”With a big heave of a sigh, Mrs. Loran stopped asking questions since the two of us were obviously the only ones reciting.
Mark fanned himself using his right hand,
“What a heated recitation… But you saved the class there, sister! Along with this prince-charming, Luke….” And then he made a silent
‘meow’ sound which sent Luke smiling warily.
I wasn’t listening too much to what Mark was saying, though.
Luke and I looked at each other. As we gasped for air, some of our classmates were looking at us once more with frozen faces of wonder.
I quickly turned my head from Luke with an air of arrogance.
This guy is unbelievable, I thought.
****Luke’s POV****Samantha is unbelievable, I thought.
I just planned on mocking her but from the look she had a while ago, I was really drained into the idea of continuing such a scene.
While Mrs. Loran started blabbering about stuff that I didn’t bother to pay attention to, I on the other hand, kept on glancing sideways at Samantha.
I took one last look at her and then I started to concentrate on the lesson—which was really
hard since she’s was really, really close to me now.
Woot. She's undeniably angry.
…I should stop teasing her already—I might be getting overboard… But...! You see, when she’s mad… well, I had to admit, she gets
waaaay too gorgeous than I thought… I don’t know why, but her attitude excites me—and it always does.
So I guess I couldn’t stop myself… just yet. But then again, we’ve always teased on each other since we were kids....
This is just okay, right? Right? 
