Love To Hate Me

09. When Push Becomes Shove

Xiaotang snuck around the darkness. She looked around and sniffed the air.

"All clear," she whispered.

Xiaotang proceeded to roll underneath the row of benches. She then crouched down.

"Intruder alert!" she whispered and rolled away to hide behind the lockers.

Xiai stopped dead in her track. She looked across the hall where the whisper came from. There, in the middle of the hall, stood Xu Xinwen. Xiai's eyes widened when she saw what was on the floor. Zhao Xiaotang had curled herself up into a ball and rolled behind the lockers. Xiai raised a brow towards Xinwen. Xinwen shook her head in dismay.

"Zhao Xiaotang," she sighed exasperatedly. "Please walk normally."

Xiaotang crawled out from behind the locker, disappointment written all over her face.

"Stupid, Xinwen," she pouted quietly, "raining on my parade."

"What did you say?" Xinwen turned around with a menacing smile.

"Nothing," Xiaotang recomposed herself and put on her poker face. "Nothing at all."

Xinwen did not buy what Xiaotang said, but nevertheless trotted on to where Xiai was. Xiaotang trailed behind.

"Are you sure this is going to work, Xiai?" Xinwen asked.

"Yes," Xiai replied. "Yu Yan likes to post poems that Chloe sends to her on Weibo."

"But why videotape Shaking?"

"Because," Xiai smirked, "it's time we nudge them into meeting in real life."

Xiai led Xinwen and Xiaotang to the poetry clubroom. There was no one in the room just yet. Afterall, everyone had headed off to get food before the afterschool activities began. Xiaotang took a good look around the room. The desks were set in a neat circle. In the middle was a small soapbox.

Oh, so they stand on this little thing while they recite their poems, Xiaotang thought. How cute!

"Xiaotang, we need to set up the phone where no one can find it," Xiai nudged her out of her thoughts. "Especially Shaking."

"Shaking?" Xiaotang raised a brow and laughed. "Pfft! She's so out of it sometimes that she can't even see a big green snake looking into her eyes."

"Yeah, but other people have eyes," Xinwen said pointedly. "So, we need to find a good place to hide the phone."

"Guys," Xiai said from the back of the room. "What about this cabinet?"

Xiaotang and Xinwen walked over to where Xiai was to take a closer look. The cabinet that Xiai was talking about was grey in color. It was long but also quite thin, but at least one person can fit inside it.

"That's not bad!" Xiaotang mused. "Let me see if I can aim the camera towards Shaking from between the three gaps on the door."

With that, Xiaotang shoved her lanky body in between the gaps. She took her phone out and tried to aim the camera through the gaps.

"Oh, it works better than I thought!" said Xiaotang excitedly. "Xinwen, give me the tripod!"

Just as Xinwen was about to hand her the tripod, a clutter of giggles approached the room.

"Fuck, they're back!" Xiai exclaimed.

"Shit, shit, shit," Xinwen fretted. "Take this!"

Xinwen threw the tripod into Xiaotang's arms and then stuffed her her into the cabinet all together.