New Life : A Second Chance

"Of course not, Betty," Beatrice said with a warm smile, "Come in. You know you can come here anytime."

Irene, upon hearing this, snorted a bit but decided that since the Vice-President said it was okay, then who was she to complain? So long as Betty didn't disturb them doing their work, it was fine. She felt it was a pity though, that Kyle hadn't been coming in lately.

She sighed, tapping her pencil on the table as she concentrated on her work, hardly sparing Betty a glance.

Betty entered tentatively, and when she noticed that no one had any objection, her face quickly broke into a smile and she skipped over to Beatrice.

Sam quickly turned away, his hands shaking a bit as he held the paper in his hands. He pretended to be studying it intently as he went back to his seat to sit down.

Betty pulled a chair next to Beatrice and whispered, as she looked at the serious face of Sam, "Any progress yet?"

Beatrice hissed at her, "Not here!"

Betty pouted but complied, knowing how worried Beatrice was should Sam overhear them. She didn't think it was possible, but respected Beatrice's feelings about it. So she sat quietly next to Beatrice, often stealing glances to observe Sam.

He really did cut a very dashing figure. He wasn't as muscular as Kyle, but he wasn't skinny either. It was a normal body frame, she supposed but he still looked very nice. With his dark-rimmed glasses on his face, his serious expression would melt any girl's heart.

Betty sighed, leaning her chin on her arm as she rested on the table.

"Sam really is very good looking." she whispered to Beatrice, "I could sit here all day just looking at him."

Beatrice's face flushed a bit as she peeked at Sam. Betty was right.

"And you have the best position to look at that all day. Well, not all day but you know what I mean," Betty continued.

She lay her head on her arm, so her view of Sam was now at an angle, "He even looks good crooked."

Beatrice couldn't help but laugh at that, "Yes, yes, we have established that he is good looking at any angle."

While the two girls were whispering, Sam was busy pondering on the next step. Since he couldn't find an opportunity to bump into Betty without arousing suspicion, he should seize this chance, right?

After all, carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.*

A Latin phrase, which translated says: Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow (the future). It basically means that one should do all that one could today, in order to make the future better. One should never just "trust to Fate" - what you do today (now) shapes tomorrow (the future).

In other words, if you do not put in the effort, your future is bleak. You can't expect things to just 'fall into place' for you. You are what you make yourself out to be.

So right now, he was thinking hard about the best possible move at the moment. Since Betty likes to drop by the Student Council to hang out with Beatrice, how could he utilise on that without looking so obvious?

The words on the document swam in front of his eyes, his eyes not seeing it nor his head thinking about it.

"What are you looking at so intently?" a sweet melodious voice filled his ear.

Sam jumped up in shock, stumbling and nearly falling down to the side.

Betty couldn't help but laugh at Sam's reaction. She quickly put her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide open as she struggled to get her laughter under control.

"Sorry, sorry," Betty said after a while, "I didn't mean to startle you."

Sam cleared his throat, pulling down his shirt and sat back down, highly embarrassed. Luckily, he is not the type to blush but his expression made it seem like he was highly displeased.

Betty twitched her nose and started twirling her fingers on her twintails, then sat down tentatively next to Sam. She leaned over to the side, trying to look at his face as she looked at him worriedly, "I really am sorry, Senior Sam. I didn't realise you were so focused on the paper."

Sam's couldn't think straight.

He was trying very, very hard not to look at her as her lethal cuteness was playing havoc with his heart. He knew that if he turned to look at her, he would most likely start babbling some nonsensical thing and he wanted to at least preserve some dignity.

"It's fine," Sam said tersely, struggling to keep his voice steady, "Not your fault."

Betty bit the inside of her cheeks, berating herself for acting so stupidly. She had, on impulse, come over to talk to Sam in the hopes of digging some information out of him. Did he have someone he's interested in or not? Was the said person in first year or not? Did he like Beatrice or not?

Betty was appalled - but not surprised that Beatrice hadn't done anything yet. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, it's most likely she never would. With her personality, Beatrice would probably just sit there and watch the whole thing pass her by without doing anything.

That cannot happen!

You can't just sit back and let life pass you by. If you like someone, you go for it. Leave it to Fate? Betty scoffed at that. You have to grab your future with your own hands and work for it. If it doesn't work out, it's fine - at least you tried!

If Sam had someone he was interested in, then Beatrice only needed to show that she was more interesting. Betty was sure that Beatrice would top anyone that Sam could possibly have an eye on. He just needed to see Beatrice for the special person that she is. Beatrice was just too low key!

Now, however, it seems that she, herself, may not be able to get anything out of Sam. He looked rather annoyed and Betty realised belatedly that she was disturbing him doing work. Why would he talk about personal matters when he's diligently working?

Betty wanted to hit her head on the table repeatedly. She was always like this: act first, think later. Beatrice was the clever one, while she was the impulsive one. If she wanted to do something, she just did. More often than not, it worked out.

This time, however, it failed. Failed miserably.

A loud and long sigh passed through Betty's lips as she lay her head on the table. She was frustrated.

"Bored?" Sam asked casually.

Betty sat up straight immediately, "No, no. Not at all Senior Sam. I must be bothering you, right? Sorry, sorry ... I will just ..."

"If you're that bored, you can just help me then," Sam mustered the courage to say, his head not moving from viewing the paper but he looked at her through the side of his eye.

He noted how she looked surprised, then happy, and that made him happy in return.

"Sure! What can I do?" Betty asked excitedly, thinking that this was a golden opportunity for her.

Sam slipped the paper over to her, saying, "What do you think of these rules for Valentine's Day?"

"First, you need to know that we don't want Valentine's Day to be a day to exclude people, or have it being used as an excuse to form clique's. Banning it is out of the question as well as it would only give the impression or message that we are banning emotions," Sam explained as he tapped the paper in front of Betty.

"These set of rules are meant to reflect that and at the same time, ensure that it doesn't disrupt the learning process of the school. We're not going to have a big celebration but we certainly will have Valentine Day theme for it"

Betty picked up the paper and read it.

✔ Gifts cannot cost more than $5

✔ Hand-made goods are preferred

✔ Cards are to be hand-made, not store bought

✔ Cards need to be given personally - no placing in desk or lockers or have other people send it

✔ Confessions must be personal, not by cards

✔ Cards and gifts can only be given during break time or during Valentine's Day celebration at 3-5pm

"Why must one deliver the cards personally?" asked Betty curiously, "Wouldn't that put the person on the spot? It's embarrassing!"

"As a filter," Sam replied, "Kyle said that if you are unable to confess, at the very least, you should be able to look at your crush in the deliver your words."

Personally, Sam agreed with Kyle's point.

If this rule wasn't there, Sam was sure he would have slipped a card into Betty's desk and wait all day in complete fearful anticipation as to her reaction. It was the coward's way out, really. If Betty didn't feel the same way, she would be put in a spot and have to turn him down. Things would be very awkward then.

As it was, he couldn't give her a card.

He hardly knew her and suddenly having him confess on Valentine's Day sounded too far-fetched. With the rule, he wouldn't be acting reckless and in that sense, no one would. Only those with serious intentions would be able to take that final leap.

"Wait, what?!" gasped Betty, "Confessions must be made in person?!"

Betty turned to look at Sam with wide-eyes, "Doesn't that defeat the purpose of giving a Valentine's Day card then?!"

Sam looked at her and asked simply, "Why?"

"B-be-because it's scary!" Betty said, "If one had the courage to confess in person, why wait until Valentine's Day then?"

"Exactly," Sam replied, "Also, shouldn't showing your love be done everyday, and not just on Valentine's Day? If you can't confess in person, can you truly say that you will work at the relationship?"

Sam scoffed at himself. He was a fine one to talk. He agreed with the fact but it didn't mean he had the courage to confess.

Yet.

"So ...." Betty dragged the sentence, "Are you going to confess to someone on that day?"

"No. Maybe," Sam replied, "I'll confess to her once I'm confident enough to confess. If it happens to be on Valentine's Day, then so be it. I wouldn't wait just for Valentine's Day to do so."

Betty gasped and nearly screeched out loudly, looking at him in amazement, "So you DO have someone you like right now! Who is she? Is it someone I know?"

Sam blinked and realised what he had just said earlier. He looked at Betty, who was now looking at him in fascination, eagerly awaiting his answer.

Should he tell her?