A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Lotte's POV

Everyone in class stopped chatting when our World History teacher walked into the room.

My heart was beating fast when the teacher said that he was going to announce the results of yesterday's end of semester test.

The teacher usually announced only the top three scorers.

"The third highest score was achieved by..."

I hated it whenever Mr. Sivakorn made a dramatic pause before his announcement.

"Aungpao Suwanacheep!"

Damn, Aungpao was another classmate that I had to look out for. He was seriously competing with me for highest honors in our class.

I watched as Aungpao stood from his chair and walked towards Mr. Sivakorn's desk to claim his test paper.

Aungpao winked at me as he passed by me on his way back to his desk. I glared at him, giving him the middle finger behind my backpack so that Mr. Sivakorn would not see.

"The second highest score was achieved by..."

Please let it be me... please let it be me... I prayed silently.

"Pongsapak Oudompoch!"

Pongsapak better known as Santa by evryone, slowly stood up from his chair, as if he was not expecting his name to be called by Mr. Sivakorn.

Pongsapak, or Santa, was a dark horse. He didn't mingle much with the rest of the class. He tended to keep to himself. From time to time he would get either the third highest or the second highest grade in any subject. I wouldn't be surprised if he graduated with highest honors. But I wasn't going to let that happen. I was going to make sure of that.

"And the student who got the highest score... in fact, a perfect score on the test is..."

Almost everyone in class started making the sound of a drum roll on his desk while Mr. Sivakorn made his dramatic pause.

"JJ Chayakorn Jutamas! Please come forward and claim your test paper with the gold star on it!"

Well, at least it was not Euro Tanaset who got the highest score. Neither one of us did. I would have absolutely hated it if it had been Euro who had bested me in class.

Ever since Euro had been my classmate I felt a certain animosity towards him that I could not help feeling. He was my arch rival not only in academics but for JJ's attention.

Yes, all this time I have secretly admired JJ from afar but his attention was always for Euro. He and Euro were attached at the hips.

But today... and hopefully, from today onward, he and Euro would no longer be best buddies. Because today, they came to school separately again.

I watched as JJ walked towards Mr. Sivakorn's desk to claim his test paper.

As he walked back to his chair, I quickly stood up from mine and walked over to him and gave him a tight hug.

"Congratulations, JJ," I said close to his ear. "More power to you!"

"Thanks, buddy." he responded, as he hugged me back.

Buddy! He called me 'buddy'!

My heart was swelling with happiness.

Before I loosened my hold on him I said, "I wanna treat you to a congratulatory dinner after school. You okay with that?"

He looked at me in surprise before he replied, "Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure in my life," I said solemnly.

"Okay! Thanks!" he said and we broke apart and he walked back to his chair.

I turned to look at Euro. He seemed to be busy scribbling something on his notebook.

Mr. Sivakorn started calling the names of the rest of us who did not make it to the top three.

My name was called right after Euro's. We both came close to the lowest scorers.

"Euro, Lotte, I want to talk to both of you after class," Mr. Sivakorn said just before the end of the new lesson.

As everybody filed out of the classroom, I grabbed JJ's wrist as he walked past me.

"Wait for me at school gate," I said. "I will ask my mom to drop us off at the mall later."

"Sure," JJ said before walking out of the classroom.

Euro was already standing beside Mr. Sivakorn's desk by the time I walked up to Mr. Sivakorn.

"What's going on with both of you?" Mr. Sivakorn asked without any preliminaries.

Euro and I looked at each other. We both kept quiet.

"Answer me!" Mr. Sivakorn demanded.

"I... I actually prepared for the test the night before," Euro started to say.

"And what happened?" Mr. Sivakorn asked.

Euro stared hard at me before replying.

"Just before class, something happened..."

"What happened?" Mr. Sivakorn interrupted.

Euro looked away... out the classroom window...

"I started to have chest pains... it was on and off... before, during and after the test," I heard Euro say.

Mr. Sivakorn's face became dead serious.

"Did you tell your parents about it when you got home?" Mr. Sivakorn asked.

Euro shook his head.

"If it happens again, tell your parents to bring you to a doctor for consultation," Mr. Sivakorn advised Euro.

"And as for you, young man..." Mr. Sivakorn turned his attention to me.

"I did study hard the night before the test," I declared before Mr. Sivakorn could say another word.

"So why was your test score so low?" he asked.

"I was also experiencing chest pains during the exam," I replied.

"Do you think I will fall for that excuse?" Mr. Sivakorn glared at me.

How was I going to explain to Mr. Sivakorn that actually, every school day I experienced heartache at seeing JJ and Euro always in each other's company, laughing, talking, hugging...