Chapter 18: Tempest

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Previously...

At the angry scowl on Meiying's face, my smirk widened. "And no matter what, don't forget: your parents forbid you from socializing with him, remember? Cheng, on the other hand? Hah, everyone wants their kid to be friends with him." It was mostly true; all of their parents adored Cheng, just as Cheng's parents adored them.

With a screech of her chair, Meiying suddenly stood up. Jerkily gathering her stuff, she turned on her heel and marched out of the library without looking back.

Suyin and Wen glared at me.

"Dude, that was way harsh!" Wen hissed, gathering her things as well.

Suyin nodded. "Yeah, you went too far there. Meiying's really upset about that."

"Oh, yeah, and I'm not upset about your dumb comments about my best friend and boyfriend," I said sarcastically, my blood boiling.

"Just get lost," Liang snapped.

Without answering, Suyin and Wen just huffed and followed Meiying out.

"Geez," Liang muttered as he and I turned back to face our own table. "How does Chunhua stand them?"

"Chunhua's always been a patient person," I sighed.

~First Person P.O.V~

With only a week until the tournament, it seemed as if everything had started to collapse.

Feng cried out as Cheng's piercing kick sent him slamming harshly onto the dojo floor. Clutching his stomach and panting for breath, he slowly rolled onto his side with a wince. "Damn, Cheng, what's with the aggressiveness?"

Liang and Qing stopped their own spar, both leaning forward with their hands on their knees as they tried to catch their breath.

"Yeah, Cheng, you've been training unusually..." Qing trailed off.

"Diligently?" Liang suggested.

"I was thinking more like 'crazily'?" Qing finished. "Or 'obsessively'?"

Cheng sighed, moving forward to offer Feng a hand up. "Sorry, I've just been so mad lately."

"About Meiying?" Liang asked, frowning. His tone made it clear that he wasn't too pleased with that.

Cheng didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I mean, why's she blaming me for everything? Gosh!"

"Okay, that makes sense for the past few training sessions," Feng said, a hand to his abs. "But that doesn't explain your serious aggressiveness today. Usually, I can handle you decently, but today," he whistled, looking impressed albeit a little confused. "Today, you just totally blew me out of the water."

Cheng sighed, running a hand over his face. "Still Meiying. Last night, my mom was on the phone with her mom. Apparently Dre went to give them a formal apology. Meiying's dad, ever the softy," he scoffed, "agreed to give him another chance."

"Really?" Qing asked incredulously.

"Guys, enough of this conver—" Liang started to say, glancing worriedly over at me, but Cheng was already nodding in response to Qing.

"Yeah, I—" Cheng started to say when I suddenly cut in, getting annoyed.

"Who freaking cares?" I snarled from my corner of the room where I was running through a staff routine. During my sudden outburst, my hand slipped, causing my wooden staff to whack me on the head before clattering to the floor. "Ow!"

Startled, the other four fell silent.

Liang was the first to break the silence. As I knelt to pick up my staff again, he motioned for Qing and Feng to follow him. "Let's give these two some privacy to work things out. Come on, guys, let's go say hi to the basic classes."

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