KFN A1C1 - Forever the unfortunate girl
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It is an early spring morning, blanketed by a white mist. The mist shrouds J City"s most prestigious high school, an elegant building of European architecture. Oriental Plane trees line both sides of the road leading to the main building, new leaves sprouting from branches. Azaleas too, have begun blooming, their petals lined with morning dew.
At the school"s main gate, school officials and teachers on duty are checking each students meticulously, ensuring that the school"s badge are worn by the students. Leaf High School is after all, a top high school in J City. Thus, such diligent spot check is normal!
Not far from the main gate, several boys were busy discussing last night"s football match.
"Hey! Why are you taking your sweet time? Don"t you know it"s the Demon Queen"s duty today?"
A boy spoke out to them as he rides his bicycle past them.
As soon as the boys heard that fearful name, their faces changed to that of fear and they ran with much gusto towards the school.
Meanwhile, a short haired girl stands in a crowded bus with a hurried expression. Her dark, black eyes look anxious. Her pet.i.te face is beet red from the heat. An old fashioned gla.s.ses wobbled on the bridge of her nose in tandem with the rocky bus.
In this world, there is no one else more unlucky than this girl named Lin Ling. To think that she is late on her first day of school! To add to that bad luck, both her parents overslept, the alarm clock got busted, she knocked over her neighbour"s trash can, and a Chihuahua chased her for no reason! ... Why on earth are there so many unlucky incidents happening in the same morning! It"s obvious that no one is going to believe such a story.
Dear bus, I beg you, please hurry up! As her eyes wandered around, she noticed a hand slowly making its way to a lady"s handbag in front of her. She exclaimed in her heart, a thief! As she followed the hand with her eyes, a pair of eyes glared at her ferociously, as though daring her to make a peep. Shocked, she looked down, carefully avoiding the stare.
That was scary! I"ll take it as I saw nothing at all...
As soon as the bus reaches her station, she quickly jumped down and make her way towards the school gate. She almost reached the school gate when an n number of students too are bolting madly towards the school. Puzzled, she glanced at the boy"s face closest to her while she ran. His face seems strangely twisted, and it was not just him. All students pa.s.sing her by had the exact strange face, as though their wallet has been s.n.a.t.c.hed and they are desperately chasing the thief to get it back. TL: I did not make this line up.
"Student! Hurry up!"
A tall girl had already caught up to her.
"Or we"ll be late!"
Although they will indeed be late, do they need to exaggerate that much?
While Lin Ling was dazed and confused on the girl"s meaning, the girl ushered Lin Ling to move faster her while she herself sped up too.
"Hurry up!"
Lin Ling nodded and increased her speed. It is not good to be late! It is at this moment that the tragedy happened.
Lin Ling"s school bag"s buckle unfastened with a loud snap all of a sudden. She exclaimed in surprise, and the contents of her bag scattered all over the place, books and paper alike.
"Why am I so unlucky," she muttered to herself, gnashing her teeth and twisting her bookbag strap.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened, nor does she think will be the last. As though born with it, the bad luck has always been following her all her life. As soon as she was born, her mother accidentally kicked her off the bed. This must be the first indication of her bad luck, and the start of her tragic life.
Almost drowning while washing her face, always getting pickpocketed in the supermarket, the phone is always out of battery once there is an emergency, the boys she have crush on hates her, etc.
The tall girl stopped in her tracks once she saw Lin Ling"s predicament. She walked towards Lin Ling, and bent down to help pick up the books off the floor.
Touched by her actions, Lin Ling quietly whispered her grat.i.tude.
"Thank you, but please go. Else you"ll be late as well."
She smiled, and said "It"s okay. It"s not like this is the first time I"m late."
As the two busily picked up the flinged contents of the bag, they were reminded of their predicament by a shrill and loud voice. A fat lady teacher (TL: I know this sounds weird, but "fat lady teacher" is what it says here.) stood in front of the school"s main gate. Holding the stopwatch in one hand, and counting with
the other, she yelled, "9, 8, 7... 3, 2, 1!"
With a loud bang, she closed the gates. Dozen or so students who failed to make it in crowded outside the main gates. The fat lady teacher grinned.
"Well, looks like you are all with me."
The leftover students looked at one another, and all broke out cold sweat.
"Oh no, I think we should go with them as well."
As Lin Ling begin walking towards the crowd, the tall girl pulled her towards a tree, conveniently shielding them from sight while making a "Be quiet!" gesture.
"Wow! Are you new here? If the Demon Queen gets her hand on you, you"re finished!"
The tall girl gave a look of fear before continuing.
"You never experienced the Demon Queen"s 10 Tortures, have you?"
"The Demon Queen?"
Lin Ling rubbed her ears in disbelief.
"Do you mean that fat teacher?"
"So you really are a new student. That Demon Queen is the scariest and a fierce teacher in this school!"
She puts on a horrified face, then laughed.
"That"s right. My name is Guo Ting. What about you?"
"My name is Lin Ling. So... what do we do now?"
Guo Ting smiled at Ling Ling at her question.
"Relax, follow me."
Guo Ting then led Lin Ling to the back of the school, and nodded towards a wall.
"We climb in here."
"Huh?" Lin Ling face changed, and she reflexively took a step back.
"Don"t worry! The wall"s not that high. I"ll climb over first. If everything is okay, follow me. Understand?"
Guo Ting threw her bag over the wall as she said this, and nimbly climbed over the wall.
"Lin Ling..."
On the other side of the wall, Guo Ting quietly whispered to her partner in crime.
"The horizon"s clear. Climb over here quick! ... Oh no no no, I can"t hold it in any longer. I need the toilet! I"ll go first, climb over quickly, okay?"
The flurried footsteps quickly faded away. Lin Ling glanced at the wall helplessly. Climb this wall? This is seriously a challenge to the timid girl.
However, Lin Ling remembered Guo Ting"s warning of the 10 Tortures. The thought of it send shivers to Lin Ling"s bones. Um, oh well let"s just climb this once. Mimicking the tall girl, Lin Ling threw her bag over the wall. As she does this, she heard her bag made a funny noise, an unlikely noise if the bag were to make contact with the ground. Nevertheless, Lin Ling thought nothing of this, and carefully climbed the wall. She"s almost there! She can almost taste the sweetness of victory, until she reached the top of the wall. She suddenly feel very frightened at the newfound height. To make matter worse, she heard a loud bang and was greeted with a blurry sight. Oh no! To think that her gla.s.ses fell to the ground! TL: Basically, she was scared of the height and plopped down onto the school grounds.
"Hey there, why the rush?"
A boy"s voice greeted her from afar as she sat on the cold ground. It was a sweet, alluring voice. A tempting voice that makes people wanting to hear more.
"My... My gla.s.ses fell somewhere around here." Lin Ling softly spoke.
"Can you look for them for me?"
"Your gla.s.ses?"
The boy begin walking towards Lin Ling closer and closer, but for the girl with a bad eyesight, she saw nothing but a silhoutte of a boy in school uniform.
"Can you see my face?" The boy asked with a gentle voice.
Lin Ling shook her head.
"That"s good." The boy"s eyes narrowed slightly, "By the way, when you threw your bag over the wall, it hit my shoulder."
"Huh?" Surprised, Lin Ling quickly apologised.
"I"m sorry! I"m so sorry!"
"It"s okay. I don"t mind that much. Oh, I need to go to cla.s.s now. Goodbye."
The boy"s displeased tone says otherwise, and he kicked the gla.s.ses even further from Lin Ling.
"Pick up your gla.s.ses yourself! But I"m afraid you"ll need more time to look for it."
"Hey!" She could not help but shout in return. "Return my gla.s.ses!" TL: I know this part sounds weird, he just kicked it away. Why on earth are you shouting like that? She kinda meant it in a way, "give it back"!
He ignored her outcry, and simply walked on while smiling devilishly. He whispered softly, "This is the fate of those who crossed me! Four eyed!"
"You come back here!" Lin Ling shouted after him.
Before she had time to get back up, footsteps approached her, followed by a pair of women shoes appearing in her line of sight. (TL: Literal translation. Women shoes lmao.) Her heart tightened at the sight. As she gingerly looked up, she saw a silhoutte of a fat lady. Wait.... a fat lady? Could it be... The voice she heard next confirmed her fears.
"Good morning, is this gla.s.ses yours?"
I"m a goner... Lin Ling suddenly thought of this three word that aptly suited her situation. (TL: Here, she says 2 words actually. English-ized to make it fit.) She daintily received her fallen gla.s.ses from the Demon Queen, and breathe a sigh of relief. The world is clear again. It is also at this moment that she "clearly" saw... (TL: Intentional "clear". Since in Chinese it says that she "clearly saw".) The very same group of late students. And they are bunny hopping... with a student manual on their heads (TL: Unclear. But I think it meant student manual.). The Demon Queen too, glanced at the scene that Lin Ling saw and grinned.
"If the student manual falls off, you need to redo your bunny hopping again. Hehehe..."
Lin Ling break into a cold sweat. Is that one of the 10 Tortures? Seeing that Lin Ling is a new student, the Demon Queen unexpectedly gave her a much more lenient punishment. She released Lin Ling after she has finished copying the student manual 10 times (TL: Guesswork here.). Only then was Lin Ling introduced to her cla.s.smates. However, before Lin Ling was even introduced (?), her "heroic" deeds has already spread to the entire school. Lin Ling is already not accustomed to the whole school transfer thing. Now, she has entered the "famous people" list in school. It is already depressing enough to think about it!
It"s all that boy"s fault!, thought Lin Ling as she bit her pen. She looked out the window and thought, if it"s not for that boy, this would not have happened!
"h.e.l.lo, Lin Ling! I never thought we are cla.s.smates! What a coincident!"
A tall girl suddenly appeared at Lin Ling"s table.
"I"m so sorry about this morning! I never thought you could be this unlucky. I should have waited for you to climb over before I left!" (TL: She"s not being mean. It"s not mean at all in Chinese.)
Lin Ling turned her head towards the girl, just to see it"s Guo Ting from the wall climbing incident this morning.
"It"s not your fault. I have always been this unlucky..." Lin Ling softly spoke.
"Haha!" Guo Ting laughed heartily.
"Come with me after school! I"ll buy you ice cream."
Once the last bell rang, Guo Ting enthusiastically dragged Lin Ling away. As the both walked down the stairs, Lin Ling saw a group of girls gathered at the school"s gate. Some hold gifts, and some flowers. All of them had a smitten expression in their eyes.
"Why are there so many people?" Lin Ling asked.
Guo Ting winked mysteriously and said, "Oh, you"ll know in a bit."
As soon as she finished her words, the chattering girls become dead quiet. Following their line of sight, Lin Ling saw a boy walking out of the teacher"s room.
"AHHHH! Third Prince! It"s the Third Prince!" One of the girls shrieked and with a domino effect, the rest followed as if it"s a chain reaction. The so-called "prince" seems to be accustomed to this and kept his elegant smile.
"What Third Prince?"
Lin Ling pushed her gla.s.ses up. The boy is indeed an eye candy, but such an overwhelming response seems to be too much.
"Oh, his name is Qi Wen Yu. Rumours say that he has a "n.o.ble"s" blood (?). Since he"s the third son, everyone calls him the Third Prince. Oh, that"s right. Have you heard of the Imperial Court Group?"
Guo Ting stared at the Third Prince as she asked.
"The Imperial Court Group? You mean the group that build hotels, convenience stores and supermarkets... "THE" Imperial Court group?!"
Lin Ling is no stranger to this brand name. Their advertis.e.m.e.nts are always plastered on television. In fact, its said that Leaf High School is also under this group (?).
"That"s right. He"s third in line of that group"s succession! Think about it! He"s a high cla.s.s product, rich, handsome and sweet. That"d make any girl go crazy! If I can be his girlfriend..."
Guo Ting soon entered her daydream mode.
"Guo Ting, you are drooling."
Lin Ling quickly produced a paper towel. As Lin Ling busied herself snapping Guo Ting out of her fantasy, a black Rolls Royce stopped at the school gate. A well-dressed chaffeur stepped out of the car, and bowed towards the Third Prince(?). The Third Prince smiled at the chaffeur, and stepped into the car elegantly.
"Third Prince!"
A girl boldly rushed over and handed over the box on her hands to him.
"This... I made this pastry myself! Please, please try it!"
Her voice soon quickly become whispers as deadly glares pierced her body. The Third Prince stretched his fingers towards it, picked up a slice of cake and ate it.
As he slowly chewed, he smiled and said to the girl,
"That was delicious. Thank you."
Delighted at his response, she found herself at lost for words. At the corner, Guo Ting bit her paper towel with a frustrated expression. TL: Like how anime girls do it. Like how your mouth forms a ^ shape and bite a handkerchief!
"The Third Prince smiled at her! I"ll make a cake tomorrow as well!"
"He"s so gentle..."
"The Third Prince is so well-mannered. He"s so kind to anyone!"
"I"m even more in love with the Third Prince than ever!"
All around Lin Ling are girls praising the Third Prince endlessly, but Lin Ling wasn"t paying attention.
Why.. Why does his voice sound like that boy"s voice?!
林零 = Lin Ling. Her first syllable is a normal name, but the next means "zero".
三公子 = Third Prince. Literally.
皇庭集团 = Imperial Court Group. It"s kinda like a conglomerate. Except I have no idea how to translate the name! Let"s just go with Imperial Court.
郭婷 = Guo Ting. Chinese names will remain as such