New Life : A Second Chance

The other three members had been instructed to stay away while Hank and Claude had "taught" the new members a lesson. Little did they know that it was the other way around. Kyle had already did his background on the three and they were relatively clean. Although they had been "pro" Dobbins, they had not been involved in any of the activities Dobbins had been up to. She didn"t trust anyone easily and preferred those that she could control.

Although the other members didn"t quite know what had gone down, they did realise something was different. For one thing, Hank appeared much calmer these days - whereas Claude was a bit more ... sulky? He wasn"t as vocal or temperamental as before and would often just either sit sullenly in one corner or not show up. Many felt this to be a good change as they didn"t like his rather volatile fiery moods.

Throughout the rest of the year, the Student Council went through several changes.

One of the things that saw a rather immediate change was that the Student Council room was much livelier than before. This was because the other members of the Elite Five would often come round and hang out at the room rather than the library during their free time.

At first, it had been annoying as they had gotten used to the fact that the Student Council room was their "exclusive" domain but as time went by, they welcomed the rather warm atmosphere that was slowly filling up the room. Although it had to be said that Beatrice also found the lively room to be a bit uncomfortable at first.

Beatrice wasn"t used to such an atmosphere since she was basically a loner and no one else in her cla.s.s really included her in anything. Here, however, the Elite Five presence not only warmed up the whole place but the way they interacted with each other seemed to pull everyone else in as well. It was not to say that she suddenly developed a warm and outgoing nature, but she was able to sit among them without having her eye twitch.

Lastly, they also found that their work was suddenly easier. Kay reorganised the files and Sam created a system that allowed Denise the Treasurer to find information and past records easily. Ali"s father had donated some equipment and they now had their own printer and scanner, along with an upgraded computer and several laptops for official use.

As for Xing Han ... well, he was the clown of the group really. He did, help by having his father"s company pledging to donate money for the next project, and several other companies that had a connection with Xing Han"s father also expressed their interest for future projects. Liam the Marketing Officer was overjoyed at having more contacts and added the names and their pledges into his records.

Beatrice worked together with Francis the Secretary to find out the past records and activities of the Student Council, often helping out in clarifying the minutes and making a timeline of all the major activities so that it would not be left out.

Basically, it was only Kyle that appeared to do nothing. He would come in, hang around and order people around but did nothing on his own. Only the Elite Five knew how much work Kyle had done in the background but which he did not want it to be known. He preferred to be low key.

It was Kyle that asked Sam to create the programme and showed him what was required. Sam would not have been able to come up with such a perfect system if he did not know what data was required and what needed to be achieved. Only one who knew how the Student Council worked would be able to provide the necessary details.

It was Kyle who had persuaded Ali and Xing Han"s parents about the donation and pledge by giving them a detailed proposal of their future plans and what their contributions would do to benefit not only the Student Council but also their companies. This proposal had also been sent to the other companies that had expressed their interest to help out. Although it was Ali and Xing Han that helped Kyle meet up with the top people in the company, it was Kyle that did all the detailed work to make it a success. No company would be willing to make such a pledge or donation simply because they were asked.

To Kyle, it didn"t matter that his work was not known to the others. It was enough that those who knew, did know. The Princ.i.p.al and the Elite Five knew and he couldn"t be bothered about the other members of the Student Council. After all, he hardly knew them and they would be replaced by the end of the year anyway. What was important was what was achieved, rather than who actually did most of the work.

One of the final jobs to be completed before the end of the year was to select the new Student Council members. Liam had already advertised the position and it was up to Kyle and Beatrice to narrow down the choices and call up the shortlisted candidates for an interview.

Kyle handed three boxes of applications to Beatrice with a smile as he said, "Look Vice-President! It"s for you!"

Beatrice"s eye twitched and she glared at him, "You DO realise that 99% of these applications are most likely girls who want to work next to you, don"t you?"

"Re-ally?" Kyle gasped, "I didn"t know that!"

Kay smacked the back of Kyle"s head with a rolled-up magazine as she walked pa.s.sed him and Xing Han laughed out loud. Ali just smirked while Sam ignored the whole lot of them, as he sat there reading a book by Myke Predko on "Programming Robot Controllers". It was a book detailing some advanced software and programming guides for the robot. He was using it as a basis to build up on the current robot he was building.

Beatrice looked at the big boxes, then at Kyle and frowned again, "I can"t possibly go through all of that alone!"

"I"ll help," said Sam unexpectedly.

Beatrice jumped a bit at that for she had not expected him to say anything. Truth be told, she was actually extremely nervous whenever Sam was around although her face never showed it. Sam was smart, good looking and not as loud as the others. She found that he had quite a calming presence, which was a refres.h.i.+ng change to the other Elite Five members. She even found it weird that he was in the group in the first place.

She also found that it was rather ironic that she would be nervous around his calming presence yet calm around the loud members. She sighed, wondering what was wrong with her that she could feel that way when Sam was so much younger than her. It should be that she is the older and more matured one yet somehow, Sam didn"t appear his age. Her cousin-sister was his age and would be attending Sakura Academy next year yet the difference in temperament was so obvious.

"Thanks, Samuel" said Beatrice.

"It"s Sam," he corrected.

Beatrice shook her head. Sam had told her many times to call him by his nickname but somehow, she couldn"t. Even though they were cla.s.smates in Sage Cla.s.s and she saw him often in the Student Council, she still found it difficult to use his nickname. She needed to be more professional and adult. Samuel was his given name and Samuel is what she"ll call him.

Sam saw that she would not change her mind and he sighed internally. Maybe by working together, she"ll loosen up and start calling him Sam. Having his full name being called all the time made him think he was some young master or something. It was so stiff and formal! Yet, he couldn"t force someone to change just because he didn"t like it. He could try, but he wouldn"t force it.

"Just choose the most suitable candidates for Treasurer and Secretary," said Kyle, "We already have a Marketing-slash-Liason Officer."

"We do?" said Beatrice in surprise, "How come I do not know about this?"

"Er, well, I am telling you now," Kyle said with a smile, giving her that dazzling Colgate Smile of his.

Beatrice"s eye twitched and she said, "Don"t give me that. The normal procedure is to short-list it and have the interview."

"Well, ye-e-es, ordinarily I would agree but this is a special case," Kyle said.

"Why is it a special case? Is she your girlfriend or something?" Beatrice demanded, frowning.

"Girlfriend? I don"t have a girlfriend," said Kyle, shaking his hand in front of him, then he looked in the far distance as he sighed dramatically, "I have yet to find that special someone. That someone who would complete me. The one that would fill my lonely soul and warm my heart. Until then, I guess this supreme creature that is me just have to continue looking and suffer by going out with lots and lots of girls until I find THE one."

"Ah, the tragedy," said Kyle, with a forlorn look on his face, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye.

Xing Han and Ali gagged while Sam snorted. Kay just rolled her eyes and didn"t say a thing, typing away at the computer.

"Be serious, Kyle," said Beatrice.

"But you asked about my girlfriend!" Kyle protested then smiled and said quickly as he saw that she was about to lose it, "It"s actually the person who tied with you for the second place."

"What?!" Beatrice said, astonished, "Who was it? Then why was I chosen as the Vice-President and not her?"

"First, why not you and secondly, said person is a he."

"Okay, fine. He. Still doesn"t answer my question. I mean, if we both had the same results, then why me as Vice-President and not him, and vice-versa?"

"Simple. He may be smart but he"s completely hopeless in what you"re strong at, that is being meticulous and detailed in planning while you are hopeless at what he"s strong at which is talking and making contacts with people. So tdah!" Kyle explained.

Beatrice nodded, understanding and agreeing, "I see. So who is it?"

"Isn"t it obvious?" Kyle said with surprise.

"Me," replied Sam.