"We wasted way too much time. Now, we have to study seriously before Mr. Sloman... I mean, Mr. Smith scolds us." I said as soon as we came back from our little trip.

"Hey, what did you call him? Sloman? That is brilliant, girl!" Jake blurted out.

"Wow, I didn't know you were the kind of girl who gives funny names to the teachers." said Alex looking proud of his sudden discovery.

"Well, you don't know me at all, Alex. And no one would ever."

"May I ask why?"

"Because, you know. Umm... we all wear a mask. A mask which conceals our inner self from the world lying ahead, a mask which stays put on our face the whole while except in solitude. Like me, you all wear it too. The width of the mask may change, very thin in front of your best friend and significantly thick in front of total strangers. But the mask, it stays there. So what you actually are, deep inside, it is known only to you. And in the same way, what I am is known to only me and not any other person in this world."

"I like your thoughts." Said Alex after eyeing me for a while.

"I like your curiosity." I grinned.

"Okay love birds, let's start doing math!" squealed Jake.

"Shut up, Jacob!" smirked Alex.

I sat in the silent class with the students diligently gaping at the petite figure in front of them, Ms. Cameron. She was explaining Othello in detail that day.

She said in a loud, firm voice, "The play starts with Roderigo, a rakish Venetian who is in love with a beautiful lady named Desdemona, getting upset about the fact that Desdemona secretly married Othello, the hero of our story. But let me tell you people, heroes are not always meant to be good. As I told you before, envy, doubt, greed and all such negative emotions can mould a person into an invincible fiend. And that's exactly what takes place here.

Now, of course Roderigo wants Desdemona to be separated from Othello and could do any sin to make that happen. And therefore, comes the other traitorous character, Iago, who is actually Othello's trusted friend but, is utterly jealous of his position and dignity. Now Iago here sows the vicious seeds of doubt in the absolute utopian life of Othello and Desdemona. And yes, as expected, Othello falls in this trap and kills his wife upon blaming her of having a private affair with Cassio, Othello's loyal friend.

Yes, students. The so-called "hero" of this drama killed his wife just because someone else told him that she might have an external affair. Here, I would never blame Roderigo or Iago of this miserable ending of the novel. I would rather blame Othello for not trusting his beloved wife for once."

"And I would blame Othello, not for distrusting Desdemona but for actually trusting his friend, Iago. I always knew that people are not trustworthy, this novel is just another proof of why paranoia should exist among everyone." I mused.

I walked over to my next class, Art, being happy about my psychology being rational. As I entered the class, I saw various students indulging in painting their canvas as beautiful as possible. Among all the nerdy faces, I spotted a face rather un-nerdy and familiar. It was Alex. "Alex! In an Art class?" I wondered. I went towards him and occupied the canvas beside him, waiting for him to notice me. But my attention was caught by something else, something far more beautiful and vibrant. His canvas. I couldn't believe for a second that it was his canvas, Alex's canvas. I don't know if this boy would ever stop surprising me! His canvas was a pure form of art. Light shower of rain descending on the deserted street in front of a vintage building with just a small girl, under her large umbrella covering half of her body, gazing at the sky. In short, it was just the definition of beauty. With utter amazement, I turned my eyes to Alex and asked, "Did you draw this?"

He looked up and said with an excited face, "Hey, Daisy! We have the same class! And yes, I drew this. Do you like it?"

"I didn't know someone like you could paint this beautiful!" I said before I realized that 'someone like you' might sound a little harsh to him.

"Well, looks like you too don't know me at all, Ms. Jordan." He beamed.

I laughed at his allusion to my words and started creating something on my canvas too, which would be nothing in comparison with Alex's. I drew a simple and sober girl with a pretty flower crown on her wavy hair. She apparently looked quite beautiful.

"You are quite an artist as well, Daisy." Said Alex, eyeing my painting.

"Not as much as you!" I replied.

"Yeah, but you are better than me in too many stuffs"

"Like?"

"Math. I got 5 and you got 25. So, you're what, 5 times better than me!"

"I guess, we could say that every single person on this planet is good. It's just our bad luck that we don't realize it." I said modestly.

"You know what, I've met you for like just 24 hours now and you have actually taught me 3 most valuable lessons of life. I'm telling you Jordan, you are special." He said.

"Thank you." I said genuinely as that was the first time ever a guy said that to me.