moon child | lai guanlin

one

"ah, seriously, what would you do without me?" heejung sighed loudly as she dragged me across the hall.

"don't underestimate me! i would probably still be alive and well." i huffed. she let go of my arm and gave me a glare, "you must be joking. without me, you would already be dead because apparently you're afraid of talking to guys. did you already forget what happened just now, you ungrateful jelly bean?"

"w-well, no! and i'm not scared of talking to guys, i just can't seem to form any words, that's all!" i tried to defend myself with poor excuses, but heejung didn't buy any of it and continued to stare me down.

"you were about to cry because lee daehwi asked if you had an extra pen! he's probably the least intimidating person in the school apart from you!" the girl yelled in frustration, "plus, this isn't the first time either. i'm so sick of having to drag you away from every guy you interact with!"

"t-then if you're so sick of me, just leave! it's not like i n-need you anyways.. i can fend for myself, too,"

"i think." i stared at the ground, at my black shoes and at my white socks.

"what am i going to do with you.. whatever, come on, we're going to be late for the next class." heejung continued to pull me by my blazer that was about to tear soon, towards the end of the hallway, where our english classroom was.

"there you are! please try to be earlier next time, come in quickly and go back to your seats, the new student is introducing himself." the english teacher rolled his eyes at us, most likely so used to our latecomings that it didn't bother him anymore.

we bowed and scurried to our seats as the new student continued with his introduction.

"-as i was saying, i'm from taipei. please take care of me." he finished and gave the class a small bow with a very uncomfortable facial expression.

my eyes scanned across the class, all the girls were huddled together, whispering things i wish i didn't hear. their whispers started to quiet down as the new student, which i don't know the name of, walked down the classroom and took a seat beside jiyeon.

"this is going to be interesting." heejung whispered into my ear. "hm? why?" i whispered back, my eyebrows furrowed.

"see that look on jiyeon's face? that's the look she gives to her new prey the first time she meets them." i turned my head to look at jiyeon, who wasn't cutting the new guy any slack as she kept glancing at him with a smile.

"she looks funny." i blurted out and laughed loudly, gaining weird looks from the students and a "sh!" from the teacher.

"sorry, that wasn't intentional.." i buried my head in my hands and mentally cursed at myself. i heard a few chuckles and a nudge on the right side of my stomach.

"you done crying over your embarrassing life? the teacher already released us for lunch and i'm starving." heejung chased me out of the classroom and dragged me by blazer for the third time today.

"hey, whatever your name is, come here for a minute." jiyeon raised her hand, her index finger pointed at me, or at least i think so.

"me?" i pointed at myself, confusion washed over my face. "yeah, you. hurry up, i don't have all day to talk with low-lives like you." she rolled her eyes in a manner i've seen way too many times.

"what if i don't want to?" i raised an eyebrow. i could feel my face heating up as more and more students had their eyes fixed on me.

"i didn't give you a choice, did i? just hurry up and come over here, or i'm going to have to drag you over like how your little friend does every single day." jiyeon redirected her gaze towards heejung, who was probably about to tear jiyeon's hair extensions out any moment now.

"fine, what do you want?" i walked over to her table, where she was eating lunch with a few other girls that stared at me weirdly. i stared back at them, raising a brow. they immediately looked away and silently continued to munch down on their salads.

"i just want to warn you, you know the new kid? i saw how you looked at him in class just now, don't think i didn't notice. i'm going to say it once, so listen carefully. don't you dare put your hands on him. got it, lee heeun?"

i snorted, earning a few glares and a really pissed off expression from jiyeon.

"you actually think i'm interested in the new student? i don't even know his name! wow, you are really amusing, shin jiyeon. anyways, you can rest your case, i'm not going to put my hands on that dude, neither am i going to interact with him. i'll graduate without even exchanging a word with him, i'll tell you that." i gave her a grin before walking off, leaving her mouth wide open and her knuckles as pale as her skin.

"what did you say to jiyeon to make her that mad? she looks like someone stole her new branded bag and replaced it with a cheap freebie you get from a supermarket.." i shrugged, "well, i just told her the truth. and the truth hurts sometimes."

heejung furrowed her brows and gave me a suspicious look, but dismissed my vague reply when the school bell rang, indicating that all students in the canteen needed to get their asses back to class before the lunch lady kicks us out. literally.

"aw, damn, i didn't even get a chance to eat anything because of that salty bitch.." i puffed out my cheeks and walked back to class with heejung, who was finally not pulling me by my blazer and letting me roam around by myself for once.

"welcome back, ladies. thank you for being one minute early, i appreciate your punctuality." the teacher smiled at us, sarcasm dripping from her words.

i gave her an equally sarcastic nod and went back to my seat. i could feel jiyeon's glare on the side of my face, piercing into my soul.

i moved my focus from the teacher's boring lesson to where jiyeon was, wanting to catch her staring at me. but instead of the pair of doll-eyes i was used to seeing, a pair of dark orbs (wow i hate that word so much) greeted me.

i immediately looked away, the tip of my ears were burning and sweat was starting to form on my forehead.

"woah, you okay? are you sick or something?" heejung placed her palm on my forehead but quickly retracted and muttered a "ew", wiping her hand on my blazer.

"i'm fine, i just made accidental eye contact with a guy. no big deal.." i took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the lesson instead of the strangely beautiful person i didn't know the name of.