New Life: A Second Chance

"Huh?"

Beatrice looked at the outstretched hand in front of her and the words ringing in her ears. Vice President? Many things went through her mind now in a flash. All the things she said were her basically listing out the skills needed to be a good Vice President and she had, in the end, agreed to be the Vice President.

But could the top scorer be downgraded to be the Vice President? The Principal didn't look like one who would change it simply because she refused the President's post, would he?

Wait.

Principal Godric never said it was the President's post. He just said she was one of the top scorers and he kept on saying 'Student Council'. She had automatically assumed she was the top scorer and the position offered was the President seat. In her long speech and argument to refuse the position of the President, she laid herself as the perfect candidate for the Vice President.

Principal Godric waved his outstretched hand and she took it reluctantly. She was not one to back down out of a promise, once made. Now she was shocked. If she is the Vice President, who is the President?

Principal Godric couldn't believe how smoothly that went. This tactic had been suggested by Kyle and it worked far better than he ever thought it would be. Beatrice was a recluse and she would never have agreed to be in the student council and Godric wasn't the type to force the issue.

Kyle, however, suggested that he make the offer vague and then let Beatrice carry on talking. In fact, he said that she, herself, would offer to be the Vice President and when she did, Godric was to accept. Godric was hesitant and thought the plan was very far fetched but Kyle just smiled and asked him to just try it out. Godric knew that Kyle was right about the likelihood of Beatrice rejecting the offer was high, but he didn't think the plan was feasible.

Still, he did it in the end. After all, there was no loss for doing it and Beatrice's involvement in the Student Council would be important for its future. If the tactic didn't work, then so be it. They'll figure out another candidate.

"Sir, if I may ask," she said as they both sat down, "Who is the President?"

Principal Godric gave her a paper and she looked at it. There was no name on the paper, but the results of the test were laid out there. Her eyes bulged wide open. There was someone who scored a perfect on it? How was that possible? Her hands started to tremble a bit and she lifted her head to ask when Principal Godric answered.

"Kyle Smith"

Her mouth hung open wide. Her brain shut down for a second.

Wait. No. It couldn't be. He didn't say ... he couldn't have said ...

"Yes, it is Kyle Smith. The same first-year student who was at the bottom of the list in the mid-term examinations."

How could someone who was at the bottom now be the top??

"Actually, Kyle bombed the mid-terms on purpose. Apparently, he didn't like Principal Dobbins."

What? No way.

"Yes, way," Godric said seriously..

Beatrice was just sitting there, staring at Principal Godric.

It was as if Principal Godric could read her mind.

Principal Godric laughed, and said, "No, I can't read your mind. You're actually saying it out loud."

Beatrice closed her mouth quickly. She was in such a state of shock that she never realised she was stating what was on her mind.

"I don't blame you for not believing it," Principal Godric replied, "I saw Kyle earlier. When he told me the reason, I was shocked beyond belief." Godric was actually flabbergasted when Kyle told him that and he was truly glad that Kyle liked him enough to do the test properly. Otherwise, he would have lost out on a gem.

"He ... he bombed it on purpose?" Beatrice couldn't imagine doing such a thing just for fun. Exams were her whole life and she took it very seriously. Yet, he bombed it just because he didn't like the Principal? What sort of nonsensical excuse was that? How could he play around with his future like that? Or was he so confident about his skills that this mid-term test was nothing in the overall picture? If that was the case, wouldn't that meant that he truly calculated everything?

She was utterly confused. It was hard to reconcile her belief about smarts and looks. Now, not only was there a good looking person who is smart, he was so smart that he could even afford to play around with his exam results? She didn't know what to think. All she knew was that she had to keep a very close eye on Kyle.

And that's why she's now at the door of Kyle's classroom, waiting for him. He just bounced over to her like it was a natural thing to do: her, waiting for him. Her eye twitched slightly at that.

"Hey, it's nice of you to come over," Kyle said with a smile as he walked side-by-side with the silent Beatrice, "Isn't this exciting? Student Council. Man, what a ride it's going to be."

"You think it's going to be easy?" Beatrice asked, her eye twitching again. She hated that quirk of hers. When she sees something she doesn't like or disapprove of, her right eye would twitch. Perhaps that developed when she learned to control her facial expressions to show indifference.

She learned quickly that any displeasure on her face only resulted in more insults or comments. She found that too taxing to deal with. The more she restrained herself, the more the eye twitched. Unknown to her, Kyle found that extremely cute and funny. His lips curled into a half smile while he thought of ways to make that eye twitched more.

One thing he noticed was that she was an extremely serious person. They were like ying and yang. Fire and ice? Nah, perhaps the last one wasn't such a good analogy since he'd like them to be at odd with each other despite their differences. He'll be the chirpy carefree guy while she will be his intense, serious side-kick.

Of course, there were things to do first before they officially took over the Student Council.

When they reached the Student Council room, they entered without knocking. Kyle didn't think it was necessary since they were part of the Council after all. However, as soon as he stepped in, a loud shout of "HEY!" resounded and something flew at him.

Instinctively, Kyle caught it in his hand and found it to be a book. A thick book at that.

He glared at the guy who threw it, who glared at him back (though there was a bit of a shock in his eyes). Without another word, Kyle quickly threw it back at him, with force, and the guy hurriedly caught it. As the book fell into his hands, his face scrunching a bit and he dropped the book quickly, his palms red.

"You could have hurt someone!" the guy blasted, rubbing his hands.

"Oh? Really?" Kyle said, looking at him as if he was an idiot, "I was just returning what you threw at me in the first place. At least you had warning."

The guy was going to say something more when another person put up his hand and said, "Enough, Claude."

Claude sat down, grumbling.

"Sorry about that," the other guy said as he looked at them, "Claude gets jumpy when people walk in without knocking."

Kyle's eyebrow went up and Beatrice's eye twitched.

"So that gives him a right to seriously injure someone?" Kyle muttered out loud as he sat down. The others just stared at him as he did so, "No wonder the Student Council isn't what it used to be."

"Now look here, you -" Claude started again but Hank put up his hand again.

"So you think you're all that just because you got First in the test?" Hank said with a sneer.

Kyle leaned back on the chair and looked at Hank with a smile, "No, I don't think that."

Hank and Claude snickered until Kyle said, "I know that."

"Your arrogance is astounding," Hank said, shaking his head, "You're supposed to be here to learn from us but what's this? Instead of respecting us, you're being so rude."

"Respect is earned, not demanded," Kyle pointed out, "And the moment that book came flying at me, so did any respect I may have had for any of you."

"You entered without knocking! That's an obvious sign of disrespect!!" Claude shouted.

"Do YOU knock when you come in?" Kyle asked in return.

"Of course not! I'm the Vice President!"

"And I'm the future President and a member of the Student Council. And even if I wasn't," Kyle continued, "What right do YOU have to throw something like that to someone walking through? Are you a thug?"

"I don't think I like your attitude," Hank said, "No matter what, I am still the President right now, not you. Without us to guide you, you'll be lost. You need us but we don't need you. Without us, you're nothing and when you take over next year, everyone will see that you're nothing."

Kyle threw his head back and laughed, then suddenly stopped as he looked at them. He sat up straight, his playful demeanor suddenly gone and a coldness entered his eyes as he stared at the both of them. Claude and Hank suddenly felt their hearts hammering in their chest, their indignance and anger at having this fresh-nose snot kid taking over their duties fly out the window.

Why did they feel like their souls were slowly flying away ...?