EXT. RURAL SCHOOL ROAD - MORNING
A sleek, black sedan, a capsule of chilled, perfumed air, pulls to a stop on a dusty gravel road. It looks like a spaceship that has landed in the wrong century.
INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS
NANA (17) stares out the window. Not at the shocking green of rice paddies, but at her own ghostly reflection in the glass. She is a still life of elegant rebellion. Her hair is perfectly sleek, her new country-school uniform , a simple blue skirt and white blouse is pristine. It is the uniform of her exile.
FLASHBACK - INT. PRIVATE TUTOR'S STUDY - BANGKOK - TWO WEEKS AGO
CLOSE ON an international baccalaureate practice exam. The questions are complex, dizzying. Nana's pen flies across the page, solving advanced calculus problems with effortless, ruthless grace. Her TUTOR, Khun Anan, watches, beaming.
KHUN ANAN
Brilliant, Nana. Truly. A perfect score. With this mind, the world is yours to choose. Medicine at Chulalongkorn? Engineering at MIT? Just say the word.
The camera holds on NANA'S FACE. There is no pride, no excitement. Only a profound, hollow emptiness. Her eyes are on a future that looks to her like a series of identical, gilded corridors.
BACK TO CAR - PRESENT
The DRIVER, an older man who has known her since she was small, sighs softly.
DRIVER
We're here, Nong Nana.
FLASHBACK - INT. HEADMASTER'S OFFICE - BANGKOK - ONE WEEK AGO
Nana sits across from her elegant, anxious MOTHER and her stern HEADMASTER. An exam paper lies between them. It is blank. Not a single answer.
HEADMASTER
(Flabbergasted)
I have reviewed the CCTV. She did not struggle. She did not panic. She simply… sat. For three hours. This is a deliberate act of sabotage.
MOTHER
(Voice trembling with confusion and hurt)
But why? You are at the top of your class! Your mock exam scores…
NANA
(Cutting in, her voice quiet, dead flat)
And then what?
She looks at them, this time letting them see the void inside.
NANA
I get the top score. I go to the top university. I get the top job. And I will spend every day of my life feeling exactly as empty as I do right now. So why should I run towards that? What is the point of running towards a finish line I don't want to cross?
Her mother's face crumples, not from anger, but from a terrifying understanding: her daughter isn't lazy. She is lost in a way privilege cannot fix.
BACK TO PRESENT - EXT. SCHOOL ROAD
Nana gets out of the car. The heat and scent of earth and blossoms hit her like a wall. This is her punishment. Let it be a waste, she thinks, the cold anger from that office still coiled in her gut. Let everything be a waste.
She turns, leaning into the car's cool refuge, her composure cracking.
NANA
Please. Take me back. You know I don't like this. I don't want to go to school. Uncle… don't leave me here.
Across the road, under a sprawling rain tree, teacher SARAWAT (28) and his brother, student IN (17), watch.
IN (whispering)
Phi, look! That must be the new student!
SARAWAT (observant)
Hmm. Maybe.
IN
Spoiled. City-grade spoiled.
Sarawat just sighed . He sees more than spoiled; he sees a shield, hard and polished.
FLASHBACK - INT. NANA'S BEDROOM - BANGKOK - NIGHT
Nana's mother stands in the doorway, her decision made, her heart breaking.
MOTHER
You are too smart for your own good, Nana. You have turned your intelligence into a weapon against yourself. You think life is a theory you can disprove. It is not.
Nana packs, her movements robotic.
MOTHER
If you have the luxury to reject your future, then you have lost touch with reality. You will go to Nan Province. You will live alone. You will attend the school there. You will see what a life without aim really looks like. Perhaps there, you will learn the difference between a problem that is in your head, and a problem that is in front of your eyes.
BACK TO PRESENT - SCHOOL ROAD
DRIVER (gently firm)
I've sent the location of your house to your phone. I'll leave your things there. Your mother's instructions were clear.
The car door shuts. The sedan pulls away, abandoning her. For three long seconds, Nana is just a girl standing in red dust, completely alone.
Then, the performance resumes. She straightens, tosses her hair with defiant theatricality.
NANA (to the sky, to the trees)
Well the acting didn't work ! You know what? Fine. You can do this!
She flicks her hair back. From across the road, In muffles his laughter.
Chin high, she marches through the school gate. Sarawat and In trail behind.
Inside, Nana instantly spots a TEACHER. Her mask of perfect deference snaps into place. A graceful wai.
NANA
Sawasdee khrap, khru. Chan chue Nana na kha. I am a new student for Mathayom 5.
TEACHER
Oh! The new student from Bangkok! Come, your homeroom teacher will take you.
Nana follows, her city shoes clicking a foreign rhythm. Sarawat and In watch her go.
SARAWAT
Did she say her name was Nana?
IN
Er! Yeah. Nana.
Sarawat taps his folder, a slow smile forming.
SARAWAT
Then you have a new classmate. She's for Section B.
IN
How do you…?
SARAWAT
I'm your homeroom teacher. I get the transfer notes.
(His tone lowers, insightful)
"Seeking Disciplinary Re-engagement."
In's just smirked
SARAWAT
Go on to class.
(In walks away, stunned)
Sarawat stays, looking at the office door. He thinks of the brilliant, self-sabotaging city girl and the blank exam paper described in her file. He thinks of his classroom, where the lessons are about soil pH and local history and how to fix a leaking roof.
A puzzle has been delivered to him. A mind that rejects abstract futures, now stranded in a world of concrete presents.
He doesn't see a problem student. He sees a fascinating question. And for the first time in her academic life, Nana is heading for a test she cannot anticipate, on a subject she has never studied: herself.
...