Love To Hate Me

02. The Patty, the Bet, and Ella Laoshi

Throughout the rest of the day, Shaking's obnoxious presence rarely bothered Yu Yan. Yu Yan barely had time to focus on Shaking anyway. Some classes, especially the STEM classes, were pretty fast-paced, even on the first day. Yu Yan had to do good.

She just had to.

Yu Yan sighed as she looked out the window. She couldn't wait for class to end.

Rrriiiiiingggg!

At the sound of the shrill bell, many sleepy students suddenly jolted upright. All eyes turned to the teacher as if they wanted her to say something.

"That's the bell, kids," the teacher told them. "Get out there and enjoy your lunch!"

"Yayyyyy!!!!" Shaking cheered not a minute later. "Master has given Dobby a break! Dobby is free!!!!!!

Yu Yan rolled her eyes at Shaking's childish antics as she cleaned up her things. Shaking and her friends noisily left the classroom, leaving Yu Yan in serene silence.

Silence truly is golden, Yu Yan thought.

The silence, however, was short-lived. As soon as she stepped out of class for lunch, Yu Yan was bombarded by Xu Jiaqi and the rest of her crowd.

"Yu Yan~" Jiaqi whined as she clung onto Yu Yan. "Come eat with us~"

"Yeah!" Xiai agreed. "We don't bite! I promise!"

"That's a lie! You bit me back in fourth grade!" Yuxin indignantly said. "But yes, come sit with us!"

"We have lots of food!" Anqi added, hopefully batting her eyelashes.

"I... don't really liked eating," Yu Yan said.

As soon as those words left Yu Yan's mouth, everyone became dead silent. Anqi suddenly leaned very close, making their foreheads touch. Yu Yan could hear her own heart beating in her ribcage. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead.

Ba-thump! Ba-thump!

"HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU DO NOT LIKE EATING?!?!?!" Anqi seethed. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT IN FRONT OF MY FACE, YU YAN?!!!"

With that, the shortie bunched up Yu Yan's uniform (Shaking's uniform) shirt and yanked her forward, catching Yu Yan off-guard.

Wow! I didn't think she would be stronger than the kids at military school!

"How dare you - wait a second!" Anqi stopped in the middle of her scolding and peered into Yu Yan's collar. "Is this Xie Keyin's shirt???"

"How the fuck did you- oh!"

Yu Yan looked down at where Anqi was tugging at her. The top button had come off and she could see a little bit of the inner part of the collar. There, stitched on the right inner collar was the initials XKY in nice blue threads.

"What grade is she in? Elementary school?" Yu Yan wondered out loud.

"Wait, how did you end up with Shaking's clothes?" Yuxin asked.

"She spilled coffee all over my uniform," Yu Yan said as she yanked herself away from Anqi's hold and straightened her clothes out. "Now can you guys please let me go?"

"Not so fast, Yu Yan," Anqi said as she dragged Yu Yan along. "You are coming with us to eat, whether you like it or not."

Just like that, Yu Yan was pulled along by Anqi. Kiki and Xueer trailed close behind.

"Wow," Xiai whispered. "Xie Keyin lent Yu Yan her clothes?"

"I know right," Yuxin agreed. "I can't believe it!"