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A few months ago, I remembered Nam ranting about a bracelet that Kongpob wore.

She was complaining about why Kongpob wouldn't take off his bracelet even when he's playing basketball.

And even his closest friends couldn't make him take it off.

From what she said, I could already sense the importance of the bracelet to him. I had always seen Kongpob wear it since I could remember from years ago, so I knew Kongpob would definitely get mad if I took it (which is one of my primary missions).

However, I had never considered taking it, because I myself had something precious that I always kept with me. I wouldn't want anyone to take my things away, so I wouldn't take his as well. Ever.

"You stole it?" Daniel asked, suddenly looking at me with disbelief.

Everyone nearby seemed to have sensed the heat of the situation because they suddenly gathered around us.

"Why do you still ask him? Isn't the fact that the bracelet is in his locker enough evidence to show that he really did it?" the girl who opened my locker spoke, glaring angrily at me.

I decided to ignore her and answered Daniel. "Didn't I tell you earlier? I didn't plan this. How can I steal something when I'm with you?" I remarked honestly. "I swear I didn't do it."

"Who said the bracelet went missing during lunch period? It's been missing since early this morning." The girl remarked accusingly. "Why don't you just admit it, huh? It's obvious that you did it but you still continue to deny it. Who could be stupid enough to believe your lies?"

Daniel didn't say anything, but his look was already giving away his inner thoughts. He didn't believe my side of the story at all. And who would blame him? He didn't know me that well to trust me, especially when all the evidences were pointing at me. Seeing how it was hopeless for me to defend myself when it was clear no one was on my side, I turned around and decided to walk away.

"Where are you going? You can't just walk away from this. Not unless you admit to your crime." The girl said, suddenly standing in front of me and blocking my path.

I couldn't believe this. For one, she demanded my key and I didn't even hesitate to give it to her. Now, she wanted me to admit to something I didn't do. If you hadn't noticed yet, I wasn't the type who let people push me around, though I usually tried to avoid getting into fights. "I told you, didn't I? I didn't do it. Why would I admit doing something I didn't do?" I remarked, my voice starting to rise.

She scoffed at me upon hearing my words. "You're raising your voice on me? So you want a fight, huh?" she suddenly answered threateningly, her expression turning really scary with her eyes growing wide and lips pursed.

However, before I could even react to what she had said, Kongpob, his expression dead serious, suddenly appeared from behind her and tapped her on her right shoulder. "I did it. I was the one who placed the bracelet in his locker, not Arthit." He said calmly, his dark eyes fixated only on me.

...What?

Everyone, including the scary girl, turned to him in surprise. "W-what are you talking about?" the girl asked unsurely.

And then there it was again, Kongpob's infamous naive expression coupled up with a wide smile that showed his perfectly white teeth. "Earlier today, I stopped by this locker to tie my shoe. But as I did, my bracelet got stuck in one of the vent holes. So when I was trying to remove it, it fell inside and it happened to be Arthit's locker." He explained calmly, however I could tell his eyes were speaking a different story.

Gosh, he is doing that same cute naive act again that always, always, gets him out of trouble. No matter how ridiculous it sounded.

It was almost funny how everyone believed whatever Kongpob said. It was obvious that he was lying, from the way he talked and from the expression on his face, but unfortunately, people just couldn't see that and I was the only one shaking my head at him. Instead, they were smiling along with Kongpob and nodding their heads in understanding. It was really pathetic.

"Now that you know the truth, don't blame Arthit anymore, okay?" Kongpob finally said, before the people started clearing out of the scene. And he didn't really have a problem with that request because as soon as he finished his sentence, the girls nodded eagerly in agreement.

Once everyone except for me, Daniel, Kongpob and Joss (he was behind Kongpob ever since he came) had gone back to their own businesses, Kongpob turned to me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry for the trouble." He said softly and it almost seemed like he was being apologetic to me.

Almost.

But I knew what he was doing. He was only trying to look good in front of Daniel. "If you think I'm stupid enough to believe everything you just said, you're wrong. And if you think I'm supposed to be grateful for your help, I'm not. In fact, I'd rather not be saved by you at all." I remarked in a hateful tone. I then turned to Daniel with a disappointed face. I just couldn't accept how he didn't believe me when I'd said the truth.

As I started walking away from them, I couldn't help but think about what had just happened. I knew for a fact that Kongpob didn't just accidentally place the bracelet in my locker. In fact, he probably did it intentionally, since we were at war. But then again, if he really wanted to make me suffer, then why did he come to get me out of the mess?

"Arthit, go ahead and eat lunch with someone else. I need to talk to someone first." Nam's words repeated in my mind. It could just be a coincidence that Nam wasn't with me then. Or could it really be her?

Continuing to walk, I noticed the girl who took my key earlier together with another girl and they were holding a key just above the trash bin. For a moment, I wondered who could be their unlucky victim this time. But then I recalled that I hadn't really gotten back my locker key, had I?

Feeling my pocket for my key, I swore my jaw dropped. I immediately ran towards them, shouting at the top of my lungs. "Don't do it!"

But those girls, being heartless, dropped the key just about when my hand was only an inch apart from it. And what was worst was the creepy satisfied smile they had on their faces as they did it. "You're lucky Kongpob doesn't hate you, because we do." They said before they left me standing there, staring at the trash bin.

The first thing I saw in the trash was this half-eaten sandwich that was now filled with ants and to top it off, a dead cockroach was right beside it. Now, I wasn't usually the type that got disgusted easily, but seeing those, I couldn't possibly dig through them to find my locker key, could I? But without my key, I couldn't get my books for my classes after lunch period, which according to my watch was just five minutes away. What should I do?

Out of sheer panic, I decided that I was going to look for my key. But before I got my hands disgustingly dirty, I ran to the nearest bathroom and got as many tissue papers as I could then stuffed them inside my pocket. When I got back to the trash bin, I took out two pieces of tissue paper and used them as gloves as I started rummaging through extremely stinky stuff.

I never really realized how hard it was to find a needle in a haystack until I did this. I already heard the bell signaling the end of our lunch period go off yet I still hadn't found my key. I was even on the verge of giving up when I came across a brown gooey substance that had a very foul odor. I held my nose to not inhale it any longer and luckily, just then I saw familiar blue round key chain a few inches away from my right hand. More than glad to see it, I hurriedly opened it and ran towards the bathroom to wash my hands.

As I held onto my key with a tissue, I noticed paper had stuck to it. I was about to throw it on a nearby trash bin but then I caught a glimpse of a familiar handwriting on the crumpled note. It was Nam's handwriting.

Curious, I uncrumpled it to read it, but before I could, a teacher suddenly appeared before me with a very stern expression. "What are you doing outside the classroom? The lunch period is over." He spoke in a very scary tone. Then he caught sight of my dirty hands and frowned. "Why are your hands so messy?"

He probably thought I was crazy because it was written in his face. I gave him a naive smile. "I-I was looking for my key, so I lost track of time." I told him honestly. But he kept looking at my disgusting hands that I decided to tell him about the trash bin too, leaving out the part where the two girls dropped the key since they would definitely get back at me if I got them into trouble. "I dropped my key in the trash bin, so I looked for it there."

Unfortunately, finding key in the trash bin was not a suitable excuse for being late to class. The teacher gave me an hour's detention after class and told me to wash my hands and get back to class. And so, I did what he said, stuffing the mysterious note inside my pocket first and washing my hands twenty times before going to class.

Nam didn't seem to be aware of what had happened during lunch period so I assumed she really had nothing to do with it. And I didn't even think about it while I continued on with my classes.

But when I got to detention, I decided to check the note I had placed in my pocket.

As I read it, my suspicion grew again.

"Jessica, we need to talk about Arthit. Let's meet this lunch period.

–Nam."

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