White Lines, Black Lines - 白线条，黑边(An Are You Addicted? Fanfic)

03: Seat No. 26 and Seat No. 19

Chapter Three – Seat No. 26 and Seat No. 19

During lunchtime, Bai Luoyin struggled with his locker in the hallway. He had never been to a school with one of these before now. His former schools just had desk lockers where he shoved his books until the end of the class. This degree of fanciness wasn't something Bai Luoyin used to.

Opposite him, another person was struggling with his locker as well. The person's breath hitched in frustration, his soft features and pink lips made him look like a girl. Two guys appeared by the person's side, one of the guys opened his locker with ease, removed the books from his backpack leaving only a notebook in it while he breezily chatted with the guy beside him.

"Can you help me with my locker?" Bai Luoyin heard the person opposite him ask the guy who had just opened his locker.

Bai Luoyin waited. He should ask them as well.

The guy who stood beside the girly looking guy moved closer and assisted him, opening it in seconds.

"I remember you from class," he said to the girly looking guy nicely, "You must be new."

"I am," the girly guy replied answered, "I won a few competitions last year. Got a scholarship to study here until graduation. All expenses paid."

The guy who had just opened the locker and his friend backed away. One of them asked, "So, you're a scholarship kid?"

The girly guy nodded.

The guy whom just opened his locker took a step forward and gripped his collar, "Listen here, pretend you've never talked to us. If you let anyone know that this happened, you'll get it from us."

He laid emphasis on this, referring to the chat and his opening the locker for him.

The girly guy, confused at what was happening, stared at them blankly, his eyes expressionless.

"Do you hear me?" the guy holding his collar shook him wildly, making his rough bang fly around on his face.

"Leave him alone," Bai Luoyin, who had been listening, interrupted them.

"Ah captain, you want a fight?" the other guy started to walk over to Bai Luoyin.

The one guy holding the girly guy let him go, then stopped his friend, "Hey stop. That's Da Hai's brother."

Bai Luoyin raised a brow. So these ruffians were friends of his stepbrother?

The guy approaching Bai Luoyin stopped, and gave his friend a questioning look, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," he replied, and then they both walked away.

Bai Luoyin walked over to the girly guy who was harassed earlier, "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Thanks for that."

Bai Luoyin looked at the guy from head to toe. As dressed up as he was, he did not look like he fit in this environment, and the smugness everyone else wore was missing from his face. Moreover, with his looks, he didn't look like he fitted in with the male gender. Wasn't this exactly how out-of-place he felt? He probably will not mind being friends with this dude.

"Anytime.

"I am going to the canteen for lunch. Want to join me?"

"Are you paying?" the girly guy's eyes lit up with excitement.

Bai Luoyin snickered, "I just heard you tell those guys you have all expenses paid..."

"I do," the guy replied with sad eyes. "But the amount I can spend on lunch is minimal."

Bai Luoyin snickered again. It seemed he has found his yin.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Yang Meng," the little guy answered.

"Oh! Seat number 26?"

That was the seat to his immediate right.

Since this person's surname was Yang, he was probably his yang, right? He was Yin after all.

Yang Meng laughed, his voice light and breezy, carrying with it the naivety of a child. "Did you cram the class layout?"

"No, of course not," Bai Luoyin interjected, "I just have an excellent memory."

As they stood in line at the canteen, Bai Luoyin brought out his wallet and counted the money in it.

He intended to pay for Yang Meng's lunch, but that would put a big dent in his budget. He still had to go to his dad's after school.

Bai Luoyin had always regarded his father as an eyesore but not seeing him for these couple of days was giving him a sense of disquietude. How were he and his grandparents coping without him there?

The guy standing behind Bai Luoyin watched him count his money repeatedly like that would make it magically multiply.

"Just order, I'll get the bill for you," the guy standing behind Bai Luoyin said to him.

Bai Luoyin turned around. The guy behind him had a spotted handkerchief tied around his forehead and a red headphone around his neck. He remembered him clearly. He was seat no. 19, You Qi. He kept staring at him earlier because he was wondering about his name. What kind of a name was You Qi?