My desk-mate is the school beauty
"Ah! Late again!"
I wake up and check the time, it was already 6:50am. I was already 30 minutes late.
I frantically cleaned myself up, then got on my bike and sprinted towards school.
Today is first day of the second half of my second year in high school. As spring begins, the signs of winter start to fade away. The temperature in my city, located not too north or south, has just started to rise.
Wouldn"t it be great if I could make it to school in time, before the start of the first lesson?
If only the events played out as well as I imagined, then I"d have nothing to worry. However, some people have such poor character1, no matter what they think may happen, it will always get worse.
That"s right, I"m that type of guy. Also, I"m pretty sure I"ve forgotten something.
Today"s Monday, so it"s not morning exercise but flag raising2. What"s so significant about flag raising again?
Of course, it"s lining up for role calling!
As soon as I rushed to the cla.s.sroom door, it was already morning self-study time. My homeroom teacher stood in front of the cla.s.s, emphasising the important matters of the week.
"Here."
"Come in."
Usually any other teacher would say "please come in". But when it comes to me, she always leaves the "please" out. It seems she really likes to pick on me.
It"s no use, I could only walk towards my seat under the gaze of the whole cla.s.s.
Whilst walking to my seat with my head down, my ears picked up the interrogating voice of the teacher. "Mister Yeyue, how many times have you been late then?"
"Fourth time this term." I reply to the old witch3.
In the past I had already left many bad impressions of myself to the old witch, so this time it would be impossible for her to let me off.
"Have you heard the phrase "don"t do something more than three times"?"
"I have."
"So you know I won"t left you off like before, right?"
Clean the toilet for a week, sweep the cla.s.sroom for a week… Surely that"s it? What else could she make me do?
Despite feeling unpleasant within, I did not show it on the outside. If I tried arguing back at her it would only make the situation even worse.
Thus, after quietly answering her, I turned my head so that I no longer directly faced her.
But her evil self once again lashed out at me. "How about this then. Since we share a floor with cla.s.s 11 and 13, you can go clean up their cla.s.srooms too."
"What?!"
Just cleaning our own cla.s.s is fair enough, but cleaning theirs too? This is just bullying! What have other cla.s.ses got to do with me messing up in my own?
"What, is it not justified?" The evil witch stared at me in a menacing manner.
Ahh! She really couldn"t pick on me anymore!
At this moment I could feel the flames rise up inside of me, but my inner voice was able to calm myself back down.
"No, I was just about to ask if it was for a day or a week." I said in a composed tone.
"One week? Mister Yeyue you sure think positively! I"m punishing you for a month!"
"One month? Miss that"s…". On the edge of losing my cool, I took a deep breath and asked again. "Could you possibly reduce it a bit? One month is a bit too…"
But before I could finish speaking, the evil witch once again b.u.t.ts in. "Yeyue who said you could bargain with me? But… fine, reduce it is."
Her tone shifted halfway through her sentence, and to my surprise she actually agreed to reduce my punishment. Although not knowing what tricks she may be pulling, I guess a lighter sentence can only be a good thing?
At least that"s how it should"ve been, but what the evil witch says after ruined my only just recovering mood. "You can find someone to sweep up with you, then you"ll have less to do right? Don"t worry, I won"t stop anyone helping you."
I"m too naïve! The point is, due to certain reasons, I currently don"t have even a single friend. What she said was clearly intended to embarra.s.s me even more!
I could feel the anger once again building up inside of me, but the old witch continues irritate me. "Hey, are there any students willing to help Mister Yeyue? Anyone? If you do want to feel free to stand up."
I"ve decided! I"m committing suicide right after killing her! n.o.body stop me!
But then, just at that moment, I abruptly heard the squeak from a moving chair. s.h.i.t, someone"s about to stand up.
I turned my head towards the source of the sound. From the third table to my right, a girl, who I"m very familiar with.
Wait, I don"t have any friends. Yet she still seemed so familiar, it must be because how much I usually focus my attention on her.
Of course, it"s not just me who so interested in her. Most of the boys in the school are the same.
It"s because she"s one of the two "queens" at 13th Feng High School, Wei Tang.
To a large extent, the reason for me staying in this cla.s.s was because of her being in this cla.s.s.
Generally, for a school to have a "queen" figure, there are two possibilities:
One, most of the female students at the school are unbearably ugly. From here a "queen" can appear, as if a beautiful swan in a flock of ducks. Two, the female students are average or above average looking. Here, the "queen" is more like a phoenix compared to the "swans" of the school, they were more like a princess from a fairy tale than a real person.
The "queens" of our school are of the second type, so Wei Tang"s looks takes beauty to the extreme. She"s also incredibly popular in school, although that"s probably a given.
Due to her incredible popularity, her actions now lead to an uproar in the cla.s.s.
At this point I could hear the faint chatter of the cla.s.s.
"Why on earth would Wei Tang help Yeyue?"
"Is Wei Tang really going to oppose the homeroom teacher for the sake of Yeyue?"
After hearing such discussions, I subconsciously turned my head towards Wei Tang. She was looking at the evil witch, while speaking to her in such a sweet tone, but not showing an ounce of weakness. "Teacher, let me help Yeyue."
Woah. Wait a moment, is the dignified "queen" Wei Tang about to help ME?
While I was still reacting to what just happened, the smug expression on the evil witch"s face quickly changed to an awkward look.
The evil witch usually treats Wei Tang extremely well, not only giving her the position of cla.s.s representative, but also catering to her every request. The way the evil witch treats her way exceeds any other student.
The reason for such treatment is because Wei Tang is forever first place in the year for liberal arts, often being forty or fifty points ahead of second place.
I"ll let you know, the second place score is already insane enough! Add another forty, fifty points and that surely violates what is physically possible!
In addition, the head teacher often praises our cla.s.s for our "outstanding students" and "high cla.s.s average".
That"s why the evil witch always treats us as if were the top students of the school, aiming to bring us above all the other average cla.s.ses.
Hence, it"s not unusual for her to be so p.i.s.sed off by the current situation.
For the same reason, do you think the evil witch would let an honour student like Wei Tang waste precious studying time so she can face punishment with me?
Holding an awkward expression, she asked, "Wei Tang, it"s not you who did anything wrong and it"s so much work that it will interfere with your studying."
"You just said you wouldn"t stop anyone helping him, right?"
"But Wei Tang you"re not the same, what would happen if this affected your grades?"
"Oh, so you"re worried about that? Then aren"t you worried about Yeyue"s grades too?
"That…" The evil witch was lost for words, how could she admit her favouritism in front of the whole cla.s.s?
Yet Wei Tang did not care for the evil witch"s pride at all. "Teacher, is the reason you"re doing this only because Yeyue has bad grades?"
d.a.m.n right!
The evil witch was angry and stuck in a tight spot, but she could still never be angry at Wei Tang; her situation looked dire indeed.
Seeing how stuck she was, I was immensely delighted. Yet at the same time I started to feel concerned about Wei Tang, in case the evil witch could no longer hold herself back and lashes out at her.
But Wei Tang did not fear the evil witch"s aggravation a single bit, not waiting for the evil witch to finish speaking she spoke again. "How about this, let"s make a bet. Since you"re punishing Yeyue because of his low scores, then I bet next month his test scores will go up by 100 points. If he does so, then you"ll remove his punishment. If he doesn"t, then he"ll receive the punishment by himself and I won"t get involved with this. What do you think?"
Hey… wait! Why are they betting? And it"s for me to improve by 100 points? This means…
Next test I must score 480!
Is that even possible?!
I once again look towards Wei Tang, her expression looks… How can she be so confident? Could she really be so sure that I can deliver?
Despite feeling unconvinced, I decided to continue observe the situation. The evil witch stared blankly, as if she was considering the offer.
Shortly after, the evil witch indeed accepted the proposal. "Ok! Miss Wei Tang, I"ll accept your judgement of him. However, you must not let you own results slip while helping others.
To those outside it may seem the evil witch is being very liberal in this situation, but in reality it"s that which is so fishy about this! For her to make such a decision, she must have already made her own plans.
I guess for her to agree, one is because she doesn"t want to deal with Wei Tang and this gives her a way to get out of the awkward situation. Two, she expects that there"s no way for me to improve such a large amount, so waiting until after winning the bet to punish me will still be fine.
Despite this, Wei Tang retains with her confidence att.i.tude. "Rest a.s.sured teacher, I will make sure Yeyue will improve his scores by 100!"
The bell rang to signal the end of cla.s.s. The evil witch softly nodded, sorted out her things, said "goodbye" and left the cla.s.sroom looking as if nothing happened.
Suddenly the whole cla.s.s erupts into chaos, everyone discussing the drama that occurred just a moment ago. But still, the one least clear about what just occurred was me.
"Why would Wei Tang help me?"
I asked myself this, while subconsciously turning to look at Wei Tang. She was already smiling towards me and our eyes met.
I felt a b.u.mp in my chest and blush on my face. Not knowing what to do, I guess I should thank her first.
"Wei Tang, thank you."
Before I could finish speaking, Wei Tang suddenly got out of her seat and walked towards me. "What is there to thank? We"re friends, it"s what was right."
Friends? Since when did I become friends with Wei Tang?
Before I could react, Wei Tang was already right in front of me. All of a sudden, she reached out for my hand.
Wait, wait! Did I touch the school beauty"s hand?!
In this baffling circ.u.mstance, the intriguing sensation from the touch of her small hands meant I could no longer prevent myself being dragged next to her seat.
"Yeyue, help me move this table." Wei Tang smiled sweetly at me, her eyes showing a slight sense of a plea.
"Move the table?"
"Yeah, from today I"ll be sitting next to you, how could I otherwise mentor your studying and improve your scores by 100?"
[1] The author uses 人品 here which usually refers to moral standings or character. Not entirely sure what they are trying to say. [2] Flag raising is a military style exercise where students line up while a few go and raise a flag to pay respect. [3] The teacher is referred to as the “evil witch” a lot in this chapter.