a sun that never sets

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | FEVER

JUNE TWENTY-FIFTH. That was a day I'd remember for the rest of my life. It was the day the last of the JCM exams finished, though mine had finished almost a week prior, and everyone was feeling giddy. But that wasn't the only thing, because that very night, the school had planned out a party/formal dinner, just for us Upper Fifth kids.

There was none of the rigidness in rules from last time. This time we were allowed to go crazy. Most of the full boarders gathered together on one table near the end of the cafeteria, with past grievances ignored and forgotten for the night.

"I'm so fucking glad we made it," Damian grinned before stuffing a large bite of pasta in his mouth. "I'm just so glad."

"It's like I just got released from jail," Nicole gushed, and everyone laughed as we let that sink in, as we let the fact that we were finally all free sink in. We were all sixteen now, basically. We were two years away from becoming adults, two years away from graduating from Bridewater College and going to university and starting a whole different life.

No, actually, even next year was a completely different change. Sixth form was not Fifth Form, the freedom we'd get was not comparable to anything else. Next year was going to be great, since we basically had no exams and nothing to worry about throughout the whole thing.

I was really looking forward to it.

There was adrenaline pumping through my veins, and everything seemed to be in a fever-hazed rush around me as we all laughed and giggled and gossiped through the dinner, ranting about exams and gushing over how glad we were that it was all over.

Yunji was smiling through the whole thing, which was a rare occurrence for her around this particular bunch. She'd never enjoyed spending time with most of the other full boarders, since a majority of them were from Hong Kong. When we all started speaking Cantonese in a group, she could only stare and try to catch a word or two. I was one of the only ones among them who spoke fluent Mandarin, so I'd more often than not end up having to try and translate to her throughout the conversation.

We could speak English, but some words and phrases simply didn't deliver the same message when spoken in a different language. Nothing we could do about it. Some linguistic gaps just couldn't be crossed, even if both sides had a mutual language they spoke fluently. Some things could be easily expressed in one language and not another, and no one was willing to let go of their fun just so Yunji could understand everything we said.

"Diu," Kwanfong laughed, "these few months got me living like a man on death row. I can finally have some fun this summer."

"Don't go too crazy," Theo scolded. "Your mum's going to whoop your sorry ass."

"Do I look like I care?"

"You will when your mum picks up the baton."

Kwanfong's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare threaten me."

"I'm not threatening you," Theo said mildly, "I'm just reminding you of what your mother would do."

"You're threatening me."

"I'm helping you, you absolute dumbass."

"You're really not."

The two were left to their own bickering soon after that, and the conversation turned to gossip. "I saw James Withington talking to Adelina earlier in the week," Nicole revealed, glancing around to make sure no one else was eavesdropping. "He looked absolutely heartbroken. What happened?"

I winced. The question was clearly aimed for me, who, among all of us, was the closest to Adelina. I hadn't interfered in the situation after that initial night Adelina had come to me, but I'd heard snippets from her since. She'd talked to James about it like I'd suggested she did, and while he'd been understanding, he clearly hadn't let the matter rest.