DISCLAIMER – This is a work of fiction. All the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The story is for entertainment purpose only.

"Students, today is your last day of being in junior high school. From tomorrow you will be referred to as seniors as your senior high school will start since you are all promoted after such a phenomenal result," said Ms. Davis who was the class teacher of a wonderful batch of students who were also called the star performers of Liberal International School.

The star performers of the school were students who got exceptional results in all of their exams, and they were clubbed together in one section. Teaching them was much simpler for teachers as compared to the other section. So, teachers would not have to do much work for them in class to make them understand the things that were being taught to them, and they would give them tougher questions as homework.

Whereas, the other batch of students were either average or below average in their studies, and they needed teachers to give them extra attention. Also, explaining course topics to them by breaking it down as much as possible was mandatory in order to impart the maximum knowledge to them so that they could be promoted to the star performers' section.

Ms. Davis was talking to her class after the graduation ceremony which the school hosted for students of the junior high school to make them feel more responsible about the senior classes that they were promoted to. She was letting them know the next course of action that would happen before their summer holidays started.

"A lot of students get excited about the senior years because they get to be a part of dance socials that are organized for all you girls to mingle with the boys from the opposite wing of this school building. Many students look forward to that because it is a fun event and it grows you as a person as well, now that you will be an adult in about two years from now which makes all the more important for you to feel comfortable around the people of the opposite sex," she mentioned to make the kids enthusiastic about the next class which is going to be their second last year of school.

"Now that you all have to go back to your hostel rooms and get ready for tea—time at the cafeteria, let me quickly tell you something about the coming week."

"You will be given five days that will be from Monday to Friday to understand what it is going to be like in senior high classes. It will be like a small introduction that each one of you will get about the three streams that are offered in this school, which are liberal arts, finance and accounting, and science."

She also added, "After an introduction given to you in each of the streams to set your expectations of what you may study in them, which will also give you an idea of what may follow after your senior school is over, you will be given the liberty to choose over the holidays the stream that you want to pursue."

As Ms. Davis continued with her explanation, Marie, who was known for securing the second or the third position academically in the class of star performers in every examination controls her mouth from opening wide as she wants to yawn because she feels sleepy listening to her class teacher concluding the talk that she is having with them after the graduation ceremony that got them very excited but now everyone was getting bored.

The girls were looking forward to the fun weekend in the school hostel and the last week before their month—long holidays started for which each one of them would be going back home to their families. This was the only holiday where they wouldn't have to spend time doing any holiday homework which was given to them almost every other time, even for the weekend.

Rosy, who was a backbencher, couldn't wait to rush to the canteen as she had a big time crush on one of the young looking attendants over there who was just a couple of years elder to her. She would look at him with her eyes expressing interest in him, but he was too busy to be involved with any school girl since his mother worked in the same school as a maid, and I bet he didn't want to get in any trouble of that kind.

Alina, who had formed another group in class that had all the girls who were interested in sports and would often play for school. They would go for interschool tournaments together and had their own way in which they studied. Even the time that they studied at was different. They were a bunch of girls who would pull each other's legs and pass an offensive remark to joke around with them.

Not each girl in class was cool enough as per them to take their jokes lightly. Most of them would get offended and decide to end their friendship with them. The worst would be if they started fighting with them for such petty issues because their fights would turn very bad at times, and thus, they chose to keep separate from all of them.

With their class teacher concluding the talk that she was having, she said, "Girls, be good during the weekend, and try to grasp as much as you can in the following week. I am here for your help but take nothing for granted."

She furrowed her eyebrows as she instructed, "Choose your stream wisely."

The girls hurriedly got up from their seats to rush out of the classroom and talk to their friends regarding how happy they were about starting senior high school in the coming week. They formed groups as they were running from the classroom to go outside in the corridor. And amongst all of them, the loner, Marie, is the last to walk out into the corridor.

Before she left, she made sure to go to the teacher first as Ms. Davis was putting all the belongings that were lying on the teacher's table in her purse. As the class teacher looked at Marie with a raised eyebrow, she asked, "Yes, Marie. What do you want?"

"Nothing, Ms. Davis. I just want to thank you for a wonderful year of teaching me such difficult things so well. Thank you that I was awarded the silver medal in academics for this year," Marie replied and made Ms. Davis smile from ear to ear.

She had never hugged any of her students, but right before she left that batch of class on their own, as she was not their class teacher anymore, she hugged Marie as if she was her own daughter. Marie also smiled as she was not expecting that to happen at all. Her teacher had been pretty strict during the year, which made it very difficult for anyone to even think of her hugging anyone could actually happen in the school building.

Both of them walked out of the classroom together, and they were the last ones to exit the room. Marie started walking towards her hostel building as she bid her teacher a goodbye, and Ms. Davis walked towards the parking lot as she had parked her car over there.

At the time that Marie came to the lobby of her hostel building, she saw her classmates gathered there, and it looked like their warden, Ms. Mejia, was going to address them. At least that is what she could assume from the way the entire set—up looked like with two nannies standing on either side of the chair that was placed in the center for the warden to sit, and all the girls were in the lobby in their respective groups, talking a lot.

The girls would usually talk about other chicks and the stuff they did, clothes, who had bigger changes in their body, the guys that attracted them, and all that jazz. They had nothing else to talk about because discussing studies was not termed "cool" and it was not the trend.

Marie placed her stuff that she was carrying in one corner and stood waiting for the warden to step down from the first floor as her room was there. She wondered why all of a sudden this meeting must have been called. Did any of her friends sneak out again to meet the boys behind the building? Was someone going to get in trouble yet again? She had such thoughts in her mind, and she was not wrong because a lot of things had already happened in the girls' hostel; too many to list rather.