The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

30: Puppet Master

The bell rang out around the school the next day, signalling our dismissal. I quickly filed my worksheets into my folder and slipped it into my bag. I hadn't been able to focus at all during lessons today, not hearing a single thing the teachers were telling us. When our History teacher had asked me to answer a question, I had to let her repeat it. It was also pretty disastrous seeing that our Maths teacher was also giving us a new topic to learn, and I was just blindly copying the notes from the blackboard. All I had been thinking of today was of the assault that occurred last night. It was a close shave, and I understood now why everyone, especially Senior Zhuo Zhi, had been telling me to stay safe when it was dark.

"Yue En!" Qiao Chen's voice snapped me awake. "Give me back my notebook, why do you have it?"

I automatically looked to the object I held in my hand-- it was Qiao Chen's notebook, that's for sure. I thought I took my notebook. Sheepishly, I passed Qiao Chen's book back into his hands, muttering a 'sorry'.

"What's with you today, Yue En?" Ai Qi had come over from her side of the classroom to us. "It's like your mind is in another world,"

"Tired, I guess," I shrugged. Truthfully, I was exhausted from not being able to sleep out of anxiousness yesterday.

"You went home pretty late too, yesterday," Bai Yang commented, picking up his tennis bag to go for his training. "Later than you usually do,"

"I'm not used to it," I answered shortly, not wanting to talk to anybody. I just wanted to go home, finish up my homework and revision and go to sleep. Heck no, actually, I just wanted to collapse on the sofa without taking a shower and sleep until dinnertime.

I saw Ai Qi exchanging looks with Qiao Chen and Bai Yang, noticing my mood and wordlessly deciding not to speak to me any longer. I hauled my bag over my shoulder, nodding a quick bye to the three as I trudged out of the classroom.

I still couldn't get last night's incident out of my head. I kept thinking about what would have happened if Xing Long and Jiu Xin hadn't been near, yet I didn't want to imagine so. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't stayed in school till that late. How could I have lost track of time? I blamed myself for being careless and ignorant.

I was still healing from those bruises and faint cuts from yesterday. I pretended to not be bothered by them, nonchalantly going about my day, but in truth, I had to hide every wince I made when my bruises touched something. Or when I had to brush off questions from people around me when they ask what had happened, so I fed them the same story I had told Si Yang-- that I had fallen down the stairs. The only two people who knew what had really happened-- I had made them keep it a secret. I didn't want others to worry about my wellbeing or start treating me like a vulnerable child. I just needed to keep my guard up when I was going around at night, that was all. Or maybe just refrain from going out at night at all. I didn't need anybody's concern.

I thought back to whether Xing Long and Jiu Xin would keep their promise. I recalled how last night after I had told them to not speak to anyone about the incident, Xing Long had nodded reluctantly while Jiu Xin had acknowledged me with a wave of his hand. Xing Long seemed like someone who would keep a secret if he could unless it was urgent and important to let it out. But who was I to judge? I hardly knew him at all. And Jiu Xin... heck, I didn't even know what to think of him. I was very grateful for his timely rescue, but his attitude made me unsure of what kind of person he really was. And all I knew of him was that he was friends with Xing Long.

I sighed as the sound of tennis balls thumping on rackets echoed in the background. Hold on... tennis balls? I whipped my head to the source of the sound, and the realisation hit me hard as I registered that my feet had led me to the tennis courts instead of to the entrance of Yu Qing. Sucking the air through my teeth, I made an awkward turnaround, starting my way back to the entrance and away from the courts.