announced to the class. "And I believe she's been raised in Quebec, Canada for ten years. Isn't that correct?"
Dianne nodded. "Yes, since I was born. But I moved to Singapore when I turned eleven," she explained shortly. all eyes in the classroom were focused on her.
"Ah, I see. Well then, please have a seat anywhere you like. Nice to have you joining our class," Ms.Wheeler the teacher said as she gestured Dianne to sit. Alicia on the second row waved her arms, telling the new student that she knew to sit on the empty chair behind her.
Dianne was enrolled in a popular high school in Sydney. She never thought that she would be in the same class as Alicia. She didn't even know that Alicia was in that school. It didn't matter at all to her. She was cheered and felt lucky to be Alicia's classmate. She took six subjects which were her favourites: calculus, english, computing, science, art, and French as she used to live in Quebec. She spoke three languages: English, French, and Chinese. But she loved French the most because it was a beautiful and unique language. As a matter of fact, it was a language specifically for first-class socialites in the middle ages. She was proud that she had a fluent accent for each language she spoke.
In the middle of the lesson, Alicia introduced Dianne to her best friend who sat next to her. "Dianne, this is Rainee. Rainee, meet Dianne." They said hi to each other and shook hands. Dianne had always had a psychic instinct. From the minute she shook hadns with Rainee, she had a positive feeling that she was going to be her close friend; even closer than she was with Alicia. But she knew no matter one of them would be closer to her, the three of them would still be close together as a whole.
The time flew fast, and it was recess already. The three of them had lunch in the school cafeteria. After that they walked around the school to let Dianne be familiar with the area. When Alicia was about to lead them back inside the school building, she stopped, turned around, and walked back. "I forgot to show you something," she told Dianne. Then they went to the side of the school ground. They got past the thick bushes that were the borders between the school and another place they were about to see. Finally they could see blocks of buildings in front of their eyes.
"Aah, so you want to show this to her," Rainee said to Alicia. Alicia replied, "Yeah, I'm sure Dianne will be interested."
"Dianne," Alicia turned to the Singaporean girl. "You see those buildings and the large sports field?" She pointed to what she was showing. "That's a university. And it's where Andy and Brad are."
Dianne looked at her in amazement. "Really? That university looks so architectural!"
"Uhuh, and it has the best reputation in Sydney," Rainee added.
"Hey wait a minute, I knew that Andy's already in the university. But I thought Brad is still in high school. How old is he anyway?" Dianne asked interestingly.
Alicia answered with detail. "He's seventeen, and at that age he still has to be in high school. But he had excellent marks last year and got away with it. He was lucky to be accepted in a popular university, and at least he didn't fail Andy's challenge."
"Andy's challenge?" Dianne and Rainee asked at the same time.
"Yes, Andy entered the university when he was seventeen. My brothers have always been rivals. They both are smart, but Andy is smarter. Brad wanted to prevail Andy's intelligence. He was eager to graduate from high school at that age. So Andy challenged him if he could enter the university that easily at seventeen years of age. When the exams came, Brad studied hard and tried the best he could. He accomplished his goal. And he proved that he wasn't less intelligent than Andy. But still, Andy's better than him at almost everything," Alicia fully explained.
"Everything?"
"No, but ALMOST everything. Brad's talents and skills are not the same or better than Andy's. He's been overshadowed by Andy. Sometimes he's sad and sits there by himself because he feels that he's the loser."
Dianne and Rainee looked sad as they listened. Dianne never thought that the easy-going and cool-looking Brad would ever feel that way. "Poor Brad. I'd feel like a loser too if I were him," she told Alicia and Rainee. "But I'm proud of him, because he's still strong. He proved that he could achieve what Andy achieved," she continued.
Rainee and Alicia agreed. "Well, I think it's because Andy is older, so he's smarter and better in many ways," Rainee commented.
"You're possibly right. But no matter what, Andy is Andy. Brad is Brad, and Brad could never be Andy. He just has to be himself. But it's good if Andy's challenge was a motivation for Brad to achieve his goal," Dianne said.
Suddenly the bell rang, and it was time for them to go back to class. On the way to her class, Dianne felt truly unhappy. Her head was facing down all the time. With her walking in a slow pace and hads held behind her, she was thinking about Andy's dominance over Brad. She could feel his despair and jealousy at Andy. She could sense his parents loving and supporting Andy more than they did to him. But she was relieved that he wasn't pessimistic. She was sure that he believed in himself in what he did. That was another thing that increased her desire to know him much better.
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