She answered questions fluently in both English and Mandarin, and even joked along the way.
And Amy (not her real name), is bright, too.
For her first semester this year, the Secondary 1 (Express) student scored mostly As and Bs for her eight subjects, including Higher Chinese.
It's hard to reconcile this academically smart girl with the impulsive 13-year-old Singaporean who ran away from home.
And that, with a boy whom she had known for only three months.
The reason? Because her mum had scolded and slapped her as she had mutilated herself yet again. When The New Paper caught up with her at her Clementi flat last night, we asked Amy what caused her to run away from home.
She simply said it was because she was "tired of schooling".
Did she regret running away?
"No, we did what made us happy," she replied, with a tinge of smugness.
Her mum Lilian Tan (not her real name), had earlier told us: "You can take pictures of her, she doesn't mind the attention."
Tan, 36, who is separated from her husband, had left Amy in the living room, accompanied only by the girl's best friend, another 13-year-old, to field questions from reporters.
Meanwhile, Tan logged on to her computer in her room.
Not that Amy needed any help from her mum.
She nonchalantly showed us the scars on her right forearm.
When asked, she related what she and her boyfriend, 19-year-old full-time national serviceman, Mark (also not his real name) did during the five days on the run before the police finally caught up with them.
Mark, who allegedly left his camp without permission, was tired of military life, Amy said.
So when her mother slapped her last Thursday and threatened to send her to a girls' home over her habit of cutting herself, she decided to pack up and leave home.
"She had never hit me before, except once when I was in Primary 5," said Amy, who said she became very upset.
After a quick discussion with Mark over the phone, Amy set off from home with three sets of clothes in a backpack.
She also allegedly stole $2,000 (RM4,660) iin cash from her mother.
Then, it was five crazy days on the run.
While both their parents were worried sick, the teens went on a spending spree, splurging on some luxury items.
They discarded their old clothes and shoes and bought new ones.They also dyed their hair.
Amy got new ear piercings and a tattoo of a "flying horse"on her ankle.
"We wanted to change the way we looked so that people on the streets cannot recognise us," she claimed, referring to how news reports on them had been published in the Chinese media over the weekend.
"I also wanted to do things which my mum did not allow me to,"Amy added.
The teenagers watched movies and dined at Japanese restaurants.
In total, they blew about $1,600 (RM3,700) in five days.