Love To Hate Me

07. A Sense of Normalcy

When Yu Yan returned to school three days later, everyone greeted her the same. Even Keyin, who clearly had a broken nose, managed to smile at her and wave. It was like... nothing ever happened.

"Hey! Sandcastle girl!" Keyin smiled at her cheekily and then grimaced in pain. "Ow! Fuck! My nose!"

"Language!" came Lisa-laoshi's voice from the other side of the hall.

"So, so, so, sorry, my dear laoshi," Shaking did a ninety-degree bow. "I swear it will never happen again."

"Nice pun," Lisa deadpanned, "but you aren't getting away with cussing this easily, young lady."

While Keyin was busy apologizing to and joking around with Lisa-laoshi, Yu Yan quickly scrambled along the hall.

Why is my skin crawling?

Shaking the thoughts away, Yu Yan quickly trudged to her locker. When she got there, she was greeted with the usual sight. Zihan, the owner of the locker on her right, was leaning against her own locker door, dozing off. Normally, Yu Yan would have slammed the locker door open. But since the girl was sleeping so soundly, which was very odd, Yu Yan decided to be a little considerate. She bent down to turn the locker combination.

1. 4. 9. 7.

Click!

Yu Yan quickly opened the door and grabbed her textbooks she needed for the day.

Chemistry, math, language arts, social studies-

"Yo bro!"

Slap!

A very familiar hand patted Yu Yan on the back. Yu Yan slightly grimaced in pain.

"Hey xiong di!" Kiki greeted her enthusiastically. "Long time no see!"

"It's only been three days, Xu Jiaqi," Yu Yan said as she slammed her locker door shut, startling a sleeping Zihan in the process.

"I know, but bro we missed you!" Kiki gave her the puppy eyes.

"No, you didn't," Yu Yan curled her lips in feigned disgust.

"Now, don't be like that, Yu Yan," Kiki tutted. "Even though you barely say anything or contribute to the discussion, we really missed you."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Yu Yan snorted. "I mean even Xueer is mad at me-"

"YU YANNNNNN!!!!" came a shrill scream.

Yu Yan and Kiki turned around. Anqi was running full-speed towards them, followed by Xiai, Yuxin, and Chen Jue.

"Oh my god!" Yu Yan screamed. "Anqi, slow down- OOF!"

Too late. Anqi had collided into Yu Yan's sore body like a meteor that hit the earth. Tears of pain welled up in Yu Yan's eyes. Her bones ached. Her back was stinging. Her bruises were pulsing. Yu Yan wanted to scream in pain.

"Look what you have done, Anqi!" Xiai scolded the shorter girl. "You literally squished the tears out of our Yu Yan!"

"But I missed her!" Anqi wailed as she squeezed Yu Yan. "My poor baby!"

"Your poor little baby broke my poor little Keyin's nose," Xueer said as she approached the group.

"Baobei!" Kiki hissed as she pulled her girlfriend closer. "We talked about this!"

"It still doesn't change the fact that Keyin's nose is broken," Xueer glared.

"Her nose is broken?" Yu Yan asked.