sunk-cost fallacy. ᵖˢʰ

seven.

All the remaining summer air has sucked out by now, leaving nothing but the chilly breeze in Ashwood. The sunsets are more glorious, all rosy and salmon-pink in October. All the dead sepia-toned leaves are piling into large heaps by the sidewalks.

"I overheard Ms. Kang talked about taking the two students from 12-A along with her for History today," Sophie—one of the 'gossip girls' in their class says to her friends from a couple tables away from where Chanelle is sitting with Jia.

But it's loud enough for the whole class to hear.

Jia puts her textbook down and whips around to Chanelle, "What the hell are they talking about?"

"I have no idea," Chanelle mutters, still confused. Ms. Kang has never brought in any students from other classes before.

Before the class dissolves into utter chaos around them, Ms. Kang walks in, with the sweetest smile on her face. Everyone stands up to greet her but she simply waves her hand as a silent gesture to tell them to sit down.

"Good morning, everyone," Ms. Kang says, pushing back the strands of her ash-brown hair to the back of her ears. "We won't be doing any exercises for today, but rather another test."

The whole class groans in annoyance. Then a guy from the back whines, "But Miss, we just did a test last Friday."

Ms. Kang doesn't even look slightly bothered by the way the whole class is reacting to this news. She nods, a smile remains on her face.

"Correct. However, last I checked, almost all of you failed the last test—except Chanelle."

Another girl from across the class scoffs, "Seems like she's such a History obsessed chick then."

Chanelle tries her best to ignore the laughter that comes after that and convinces herself it's not an insult but rather a compliment.

"And it seems like your parents forgot to use protection when they were doing it," Jia snaps at her. "Maybe they're also sick of your presence at this point."

"Enough," Ms. Kang taps the desk with her long ruler. "I beg all of you to behave for today's class at least. I have asked two of the top History students from 12-A to be with us for the day," then she glances at the door.

"Please, come in."

And everyone's head turns to the door.

A red haired girl is the first to walk in. Her hair falls loosely around her shoulder blades. Some of the guys already have their heart eyes at her and and some are whistling at her.

"It's Maeve," the girl in front of Chanelle whispers to her friend. "She's always in the top 10 best students every semester and—holy shit." Her words stop when the next person walks in.

Chanelle's eyes snap back to the door, and there he is. The other 'top' student Ms. Kang is referring to is Park Sunghoon.

Other than being called a History obsessed chick, she figures that having your fake boyfriend in the same class as you right now is even more embarrassing.

As he walks to stand next to Maeve, Chanelle takes her time to process the scene. Unlike Maeve, he's not wearing his blazer.

Sunghoon has his sleeves rolled up and one of his shirt's buttons is undone. Both of them are holding a paper in their hands.

Once he's standing in the centre of their class, he looks around as if he's searching for someone. And just seconds later, their eyes intertwine. Chanelle's lips part as she tries to bring back the air in her lungs.

He's handsome. As much as she hates to admit it, Sunghoon is handsome. He gives her a small smile and mouthed 'pay attention' to Chanelle before turning his attention back to Ms.