The Cold Genius And His Clumsy Girl.

Morning came sooner than Anna had expected. Feeling excited about furthering her studies after seven months of doing nothing other than sleeping and playing games, she couldn't get enough sleep last night. After tossing and turning around for almost two hours, she finally fell asleep at around two a.m. Getting up at six thirty due to the sound of her loud alarm, she quickly steps into the bathroom. After spending about half an hour in there, she steps out of the bathroom, walking straight to her dressing table. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she sighs in relief. Luckily, there are no dark circles under her eyes as a result of her lack of sleep last night. Her flawless skin looks glowing as always, thanks to her multi-racial mixed blood. It's her first day of college and she doesn't want any dark circles ruining her looks for the day. Her first ever college experience, however, and she was urged to find out what was waiting for her there. Will the environment suit her well? Will she be able to make new friends? And the most important thing is, will she be able to survive? And as someone who used to get bullied before, she felt a bit worried. Being born multiracial, her appearance is way different from others and it wasn't easy to fit in. Many students in her old school, even teachers, were skeptical as they didn't even hold their tongues to make negative comments about her. In a multi-racial country, Anna can't believe there are still such things. "You awake?" Her mum, Lynn, appeared at the door without even knocking. Probably to check on her, whether she's awake or still tossing in bed. As a very structured person, she's always punctual and values time the most. If she finds out Anna is still sleeping, she might scold her for not waking up at her first alarm ring. But as a heavy sleeper, she understands her mum's struggles to wake her up. Her loud continuous alarm might have woken up the whole building, but she, anyway, is still sound asleep. "Yes, mum!" Anna quickly answered, giving her mum a nod while looking in the mirror. "Hurry and get ready then! It's past seven and we have to be there at nine." Her mum reminded her. As her eyes glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, she let Anna know. "Okay!" Anna replies without much ado. There are almost two hours left, but she doesn't want to argue with her mum first in the morning. Moreover, it's her first day of college and she doesn't want to ruin the mood. She had been waiting for an offer from the government Pre-University Programme but she was unqualified at first. So does the second intake. As her hope is getting lower, she receives a HCE Pre-University offer at the nearest college. So she decides to give it a try. Getting up from her seat, Anna moves to her wardrobe. Staring at her black and white ironed two-piece suit skirt hanging in the wardrobe, she took it out and put it on her bed. It's brand new and she purposely buys it for her college registration day. It's lucky that the college doesn't strictly require the new students to wear uniforms, but only smart casualties. Which is one of the reasons why she accepted the offer. She's eighteen now and already tired of eleven years in the school uniform. Besides, she loves fashion and it's her time to bloom. Anna applies some sunscreen on her face but doesn't put any make-up on her already flawless skin as her mum says, putting on make-up will make her look a few years older than her teen age. After dressing up and tying her long dark brown hair into a top knot bun, Anna grabs her tote canvas bag. Checking everything first before slipping out of the room and making her way to the living room where her mum is nowhere to be seen. Probably still in her room. Sitting on the sofa, she waits for her mum. It's already past eight and she starts getting anxious about the possibility of arriving late. "Are you ready?" Anna turns her head and sees her mum in her yellow casual flowery blouse and black pants. Her black metal chained sling bag hangs on her shoulder. It means she's ready to go. "Yes! Let's go!" Anna quickly got up from the sofa. Putting on their shoes, they walked straight to the front door and got out, heading to the elevator at the end of the corridor. The apartment they live in is a two-room, 14-storey middle-class residence and they are on the tenth floor. Living only with her mum after her parents got divorced and her father moved back to his home country, her mum manages her small restaurant to raise her alone without her father's support. There are times when they struggle with financial problems but still, as a single parent, she does it well. They walk together to the car park in front of the building as soon as they reach the ground floor. Anna slips into her mum's sedan's car, quietly stares at her phone screen, looking at her text to her friend, Sara, while waiting for the car to move out of their residence. Thirty minutes to nine. The college, however, is located only a short drive away and they arrive there about ten minutes later since there aren't many vehicles on the road at that hour. Her mum drops her at the front gate and urges her to go in first, while she still needs to park the car. Anna's dark brown eyes were widened when she looked at the long line in front of her. Ten minutes to nine, but they seemed to come early. Maybe they are excited about starting their college life. Being eighteen, it's everyone's dream to enter a university and further their studies on the desired programme as well as pursue their desired job after graduating. As one of the Pre-University institutes, the college offers programmes in Science Stream and Social Science. As for Anna, despite the HCE exam she will be sitting is well-known as the toughest exams in the world, she still chooses to pursue Science Stream in that college and rejects doing foundation in local university out of her current state. Since it's her dream to further study overseas, the exam is a highly-recognised Pre-University course that allows students entry into renowned public universities in the country, as well as private and international universities. After almost thirty minutes of lining up, Anna finally makes her way to register herself into the Science Stream. From afar, she can see her mum heading into the hall for the guardian's briefing, while she herself is required to go straight to another hall for briefing and orientation right after she's done with her registration. Waving to her mum who is looking at her from afar, she walks to the next building. The briefing starts as soon as all the students enter the hall. It's all about the introduction to college life, courses, rules etc. As for Science Stream students, they are advised to think carefully about choosing the course due to it's tough syllabus. The next thing is, all students are instructed to go to their classroom as given earlier. However, it's only temporary, since some of the students may want to change courses or even transfer to another college nearby. In the classroom, the appointed teacher tells every student to go to the front and introduce themselves to the class, as well as tell everyone about their ambition and reason for choosing the college. Different students come with different ambitions, not to mention various reasons that are given by the students. Some say they are doing this for their parents. Others mention going overseas. And a few exclaim they have no other choice since they have nowhere to go. And sitting for HCE is their only option. "My name is Anna Saunders. I'm from Pearl Girl's High School. I want to be a Chemist and I want to go to Harvard." It's Anna's turn and she receives the loudest claps from her classmates in reaction to her big dream. Harvard is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Everybody seemed to be impressed. Despite her average results in Science subjects, she is determined to be a Chemist. Her original dream was to do Forensic Science and become a Crime Scene Investigator, but due to lack of potential and job opportunities in that field in the country, she decided to be a Chemist since Chemistry is her favourite subject after all. On her way back to her seat, Anna's eyes met with a pair of brown-eyed eyes in a light pink shirt. Just like Anna, the boy wears glasses and his skin is the palest of all, as the rest of the class have darker skin tones. To be said, he has the same skin tones as Anna. Sitting alone next to the window, he looked lonely as ever. Her first college with a different gender; boys, and she notices he is the only boy in the classroom. Her first ever boy's classmate.