‘...It can’t be helped.” She raised her head and opened her eyes in order see the board. She slowly stood up while the class became silent as she walked toward the front. She took a nearby chalk and started to write. After less than 30 seconds she put down the chalk and returned to her seat.

To the other students, everything that was on the board was like a foreign language to them. Even Williams could only admit his lack of knowledge. Only Smith looked at her answer with a serious expression. He then turned toward Talia.

“Correct. As my lesson will not teach you anything more you have the right to do what you want as long as you don’t disturb the lecture. You also have to get full marks on the test, otherwise, I take back the right that I just gave you.”

Everyone was astonished. Smith, the most neutral teacher, gave a preferential treatment to a student?! The truth was that Smith found his action logic. By allowing Talia to do what she wants, it would prevent her from distracting the class. Of course, if she could not mark full points it would mean she still had things to learn. For Smith, it was a totally normal thing to do.

Talia jumped on the occasion and raised her hand, while Smith was erasing the board. “So that means I can also change my seat and help others students if it does not disturb you?”

“Yes, if you want.”

Hearing his reply, Talia happily stood up and turned around. She looked at Sanya with a smile on her face. “Sanya, can I go next to you ?”

Sanya was quite overwhelmed by the situation. She took a second before understanding what Talia said. She nodded.”Y-Yes of course…” The class was not full, so there were some empty seats here and there. As there was one just beside Sanya, Talia took the opportunity

Talia carried her belongings and went toward her new seat, under the eyes of the other classmates. She now was on the seat on the left of Sanya’s. Her smile reached her ears. As the lesson resumed she whispered to Sanya. “ If you don’t understand something ask me right away”

Seeing her small smile Sanya confirmed something. She confirmed that even if something happened these last 10 days, even if Talia appeared different, she was still the gentle Talia that will smile at her. Sanya smiled in response and whispered back “Yes!”

For some, the interactions between Talia and Sanya could be seen as only ones between friends, but others realized that there was something else behind Tali’s gaze full of warmth and Sanya’s happy little face.

After two hours of the most awkward math lesson that everyone ever had, it was time for a small break before the start of the next period. This period allowed them to rest a bit while the teacher of the next period would come to the class. Each class was assigned to a room and it was the teachers that would move to the different classes. The reason behind the assignment of the seats at the start of the year was to allow everyone to have a neighbor and limiting the isolation of students. Of course after a while, if some students changed their seat no teachers will raise a fuss about it. The only reason why the past Talia had not done so was that she was afraid of others’ judgment. But now she could not care less.

When the break started William and Arthur immediately headed toward the Talia and Sanya. The reason was simple. They wanted to ask Talia what was that during the previous period. She seemed like an entirely different person. Not only them, even some in the class were looking at Talia like they could not believe it. Talia was currently asking Sanya about what she missed during the past days.

“We didn’t see a lot in History because Ms. N’Guyen was sick over the entire week. As for Chemistry…”

Sanya stopped as she saw Arthur and William stopping just before them. Arthur was with his ever-lasting naive expression while William seemed unhappy for some reasons. Talia also raised her head and flashed a small smile. Arthur’s face could not help but redden a bit and William’s eyebrows arched downward. She asked. “What is it?”

William directly replied. “Are you really Talia?” His blunt question surprised everyone quite a bit and they quickly understood what he meant. Her actions were very unordinary. In response, Talia just smiled a little bit more. As she was to answer, Sanya raised her voice. “What do you mean William? Of course, she is Talia. I will never mistake someone for Talia.” Her voice was filled with a little bit of anger.

Sanya was totally confident that if a shapeshifter-ability user transformed into Talia she could tell the difference with a simple look, even without the original beside her. It was not because she memorized everything about her, but more like a special intuition. It was for this reason that even if Talia acted differently she was not wary.

Everyone, including Talia, couldn’t help but be a bit surprised. The usual quiet Sanya could be angry. Talia grinned and patted her head.

“Thanks.”

“A-Ah, n-no it’s…” Sanya blushed a bit as she realized what she just said. William gritted his teeth as he was rebuked by the girl he liked. Arthur kept stealing glances at Talia.

“Hmph” William wanted to ask more questions but the blow he just took was powerful enough to make him leave. Arthur decided to follow his friend. He had not the guts to talk to Talia. Seeing them going Talia only smiled, but after a few seconds her smile faded and her expression turned sharper as she scanned the class.

‘These two clearly have ulterior motives by being close to us. William to Sanya and Arthur to me. So the best is to drive them out if they really don’t want to only be friends. But after this, I will be the only one close to Sanya in the school. I’m fine only with Sanya, but she will surely want to make friend with others. I will make it happen!’

The past Talia was totally not aware of the two boys’ feelings, but to her now it was as clear as water. Naturally, she was a close friend of Sanya, so she knew she didn’t harbor special feelings for William, Arthur or any other boy. But the problem was, at school, Sanya didn’t have other friends. She was not really close to the others in the class and the few friends that she had in middle school had not gone to the same school as her. Talia also felt guilty about this. She knew that because Sanya remained always with her, she could not socialize a lot with the other classmates.

So she decided to act! Of course, she could not let anyone be her friend. Somes could have ulterior motives like William and she was too pure to notice it. The first thing she will do is to change their past routine. She remembered they had never tried to interact with others, even to the other students alone. Her first target will be those lone students. The tactic will be to engage a conversation like it was by pure luck and sway the conversation to include Sanya into it.

And by doing this it will also improve the atmosphere in the school. For the moment, the presence of bullies and loners make everyone, including Sanya, a bit dispirited. Improving the school, in general, will also make Sanya’s life better.

Now that Talia had a goal, she just needed an opportunity to start. she first has to familiarize herself with the school once again. Now that she had a far better memory than before, she would not forget easily this time. She also had to solve the problem with the two boys.

The break ended and the next teacher came. As it was also a subject where she could not learn from the lesson she felt quite bored. But, it was still ok because she could steal glances of Sanya from time to time. 2 hours passed quickly.