Ajax and Shaula are walking down a sidewalk towards their high school. They are walking side-by-side and enjoying the breezy air, the bright, blue sky and the tall, green trees buzzing with cicadas; they are also trying to ignore the busy street right next to them where cars zoom by shuttling kids right up to their high school and then onto their workplaces.

Ajax and Shaula had gotten ready for school, eaten a large breakfast, said goodbye to Ajax's mother and his sister Rita, left the house, locking the door behind them, and walked to the subway near Ajax's neighbourhood. They got on the subway that took them two stops to the specific station which was walking distance from their high school. Their high school, the semi-prestigious Cyrus Median Academy public school, was also located in a suburb, but this suburb had higher density traffic than Ajax's suburbs.

Ajax is a man 6 feet in height and of an average, healthy weight. He isn’t physically gifted nor is he particularly weak compared to others in his grade. He isn't handsome, but he isn't ugly either; he has a rather forgettable face as a result. He is an adult, having turned 18 in the first week of January of this year.

Ajax is wearing his school uniform consisting of uniform track pants and a white short-sleeved polo shirt with the crest of the high school on the left breast pocket. The crest is a blue dragon with feathery wings; it’s slightly ostentatious but still Ajax couldn’t deny how cool it looked to him.

He was wearing white socks and a pair of comfortable red running shoes that he got about two years ago. He would have to replace them soon but he wasn't in any physical education class this year so they didn't get too damaged either.

Ajax is carrying his phone and wallet in the side pockets of his track pants. He has an analog watch on his right wrist which his dad got for him as a gift for being accepted to his program at the prestigious ivy-league Samuel Johnson University. He was accepted into the university’s Chemical Engineering program during the third week of April. He worked extremely hard to do so since he wasn’t blessed with Shaula’s natural academic talent. But, his hard work paid off and, so long as he got through this test without doing poorly, he wouldn’t be dropped from the program.

Dangling from his neck is a crucifix that his mother had gotten for him when he entered high school. It is a stainless steel black cross without a depiction of Jesus Christ crucified to it and it was inscribed with bible verses. His mom was also a believer, slightly less so than his father however. Ajax wasn't a believer in Christianity anymore but liked the gift his mother got for him back then; he’s been wearing it everyday ever since he received it.

He carries on his back, his grey backpack which contains the textbooks he wants to look through today after he completes the exam. He can't waste time by celebrating right after it's over. He has to study for the next thing without pausing. Now is the critical time.

Shaula, walking next to Ajax, is wearing an elegant long-sleeved collared white shirt with a uniform tie that is imprinted with the same blue dragon school crest. She is also wearing a blue, plaid uniform skirt at her waist that extends down until a few inches above her knees. She has skin-tight, lavender-coloured yoga pants underneath her skirt. This combination accentuates her firm, sizeable breasts, large, well-defined rear and supple thighs.

Shaula is also carrying a purse which contains her phone, cash, essential writing materials, small notebooks and other miscellaneous items. Most of her school supplies, like her main notebooks and textbooks for example, were kept in her locker at school. Shaula does most, if not all, of her homework, assignments and projects at the school itself so she doesn't need to keep anything at Ajax’s home and she doesn't need to carry her textbooks around in a backpack.

Her shoes are new ones that she bought just three weeks ago; a pair of fashionable white sneakers, fortunately on-discount. She bought these on her own time without taking Ajax along however if Ajax didn't like them, she would have returned them without thinking twice. In any case, Ajax is smart enough to not incur her wrath by criticizing her well-developed aesthetic preferences, so she's never dealt with a time he's disliked her clothing before.

On her left ear was a small earring, a heart with a blood red silhouette of a wolf in the centre of it dangling from a short thin line that was affixed to the earlobe. On her right ear was a small earring made of a musical sixteenth note dangling from a triplet-eighth note that hung from a line attached to the earlobe.

Shaula’s hair, previously tied back into a pony tail, had been adjusted so some long pieces of hair came to hang down at the front of her face. She made this adjustment after she had prepared and eaten her breakfast because she wanted to keep her hair out of her face while cooking and eating. This look was one she preferred over tying up every last strand into a pony tail.

She was trying to present herself as best she could for none other than Ajax; it was not out of sexual interest towards Ajax but because she despises the boys and girls at her school and how they treat Ajax. He became a target of theirs over his high school life and they earned her disdain through their circulation of rumours about him.

She wanted the girls to simply stay away from Ajax but in a way that made the girls seethe with envy towards her and the boys seethe with jealousy towards him.

Ajax never interacts with them anyways, he only interacts with Shaula at school. He is not someone who cares about their opinions, he only cares about what his family thinks and what Shaula thinks. However, he doesn't have a courageous heart. If he was made to sit and hear everything they say about him, he would feel humiliated.

So Shaula became a firm believer in the principle that the best revenge (in the case where you can’t simply achieve the secure and complete destruction of your enemies) is simply living well. Although, she doesn't dislike Ajax appreciating her loveliness and complimenting her either.

In reality, her clothing and appearance aren't that risqué or sensuous when compared to other girls in her grade. However, with her natural beauty taken into consideration, the other girls know that they aren't even in her league of grace and charm.

She likes knowing they know that and have no choice but to stir in envy towards her refinement and sublimity; those cunts should think twice before slandering and belittling Ajax, she would think to herself. Shaula is a very protective and possessive person when it comes to Ajax.

Ajax, sometimes in the past school year, would get embarrassed and nervous around Shaula in her voluptuous fits, but that time has long passed and today, right now on this mid-June Thursday, he simply walks with her enjoying her company, free of embarrassment without a hint of self-depreciation.

"Shaula, you look great today!"

Ajax says so, with a sincere smile on his face, breathing in deeply. He regrets breathing in so deeply because all he gets is a whiff of the road fumes. His face twists into a bitter smile at the somewhat strong smell of gasoline and car exhaust.

"Aw, thanks! It really means a lot that you noticed."

"...noticed?"

"Yeah, I mean, of course you can tell what I did differently today, right?"

"Uh, y-yeah of-of course I can!"

Ajax takes a quick look up and down Shaula's body, just subtly enough that she doesn't see his probing gaze or his uncertainty.

Different? Different!? What's different? Hmm, her hair length or style doesn't look different, no new earrings, I've seen this outfit in her uniform rotation a few times already. The yoga pants? No! Shoes? No! Is she wearing a watch? No, she doesn’t wear those... uhh... wh--

"Hmm? Hmmmm? That look isn't good, Ajax? Could it... *gasp*! Could it be that you didn't even notice what I did different today?"

"Haha, what? Noooooooo, I can definitely--"

Shaula started sniffling, stopping in her tracks and covering her eyes with her right hand. Now the question is whether Ajax is naive enough to fall for her obvious emotional manipulation.

"Whoa- wait, wait, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He is.

"I can't believe my darling Ajax doesn't even notice my new thing! You know, I don’t know how you think girls are like but it takes a lot of work to achieve my level of glamour! It took me weeks to decide whether to try this out in public, I had to test it out by myself so many times before... before I could show it to you..."

“Oh... I-I didn’t know th-that, I didn’t mean to--”

“You know, you could be a little more observant... am I not heavenly to you anymore!?”

“No, it’s not--”

“No, I’m not!?”

Shaula lays on the acting a bit thick here but Ajax still hasn’t seen through her ruse.

Ajax is in a panic. Shaula, still covering her face, looks through the spaces of her fingers to see Ajax's expression of horror at his perceived incompetence as her best friend. She relishes his face appearing as a deer caught in the headlights of her lamenting voice and sad demeanour.

“Uh, uhh, oh... oh! I know what it is! You’re wearing a new deodorant!”

“What!? I've never had to wear deodorant, I’ve never had a BO problem! *gasp* Oh... I see... you think I should wear deodorant... you know... that really... hurts...”

Shaula purposely leads him to the wrong conclusions over and over, to heighten the misunderstandings. She has seen a few TV shows (including the numerous anime that Ajax likes to watch) where the female lead misunderstands and the male lead has to awkwardly stammer through an explanation, followed by an apology. She loves that scenario a lot.

My god, Ajax. How do you keep falling for this? I’m not that good an actor, you know.

She can’t hold back anymore. Shaula bursts into laughter. Tears stream as she cackles at his credulity.

"Haha, ahahahahaha!!"

Ajax is surprised for just a second but then his face falls at the realization, the realization he should have made much earlier, that nothing was actually different today. Ironically enough, he had fallen for this exact trick five times already. Shaula was careful however to space out the times she would pull this antic by months.

Once, it had failed to get him, at which point, she tried it again making sure she only attempted it at times of weakness when he was more unguarded. The last time she got him like this, with the exact same trick, was on the day Ajax was accepted into his chemical engineering program in the second week of May. Today, the day of his English test, was another perfect opportunity she had to grab.

"Your fucking face, wow! The sixth time, you dumb bitch!"

“What the fuck? Do you, like, keep a note of the last time you pulled this off or something? How do you expect me to defend against this advanced level of trickery!?”

Shaula laughs even harder while flipping him her right middle finger. He’s just so easy to get, how could she resist?

Ajax sighs deeply once. Twice. He tries to get angry.

Come on, anger. Where are you? This should make me angry, right? Aren’t you mad that she chose violence right on your test day? What if I had gotten all jittery right before it started and lost focus? Get mad!

But, Ajax can’t really fool himself. He tries to but the minute he looks at her happy face, he can only smile at her infectious laughter. He starts to laugh as well. Of course. Of course, he can't stay mad at her. He simply doesn't want to.