Chapter Two

My walk to school the next day was a fast and noisy one. The noise seemed to be endless, and it seemed like every person I walked by was speaking loudly. My eardrums were ringing by the time I was halfway to the school gates.

I would have normally woken up an hour early before the streets became busy, but for some reason I overslept. I had barely any time to do my normal things in my routine. After my shower, I had to immediately leave after getting dressed. This cut out the time I took to blow dry my hair. I had to just rub a towel over it and brush it all back. It didn't bother me too much, but it didn't help my mood. I should've gotten up on time.

I made it to school at the usual time that most came. Students were pouring into the campus with their friends by their side. Although they were loud I had become used to it. I couldn't ask them all to be quiet. I walked at a normal pace ignoring the people who would bump into me. Every time they would do this it would draw the attention of whoever they were with. I didn't say anything to them. All of them would say sorry after doing it, but even if they didn't I wouldn't have cared.

"Ji Nan!"

I pretended like I didn't hear that familiar voice, and kept walking. Even though I sped up my pace those thin arms still found their way around one of mine. Without any other option, I stopped walking.

"Why did you keep walking? Did you not hear me calling you?" I looked down at her flushed face. She must have run over to me. Little beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. Without thinking I reached out and wiped them away with my thumb.

"I didn't hear you," I spoke softly as our eyes met. As I stared in those big globes it was something that I couldn't identify swirling within them. The moment I saw it, it disappeared. I raised an eyebrow at her, and a smile spread across her face. The more the looked at her smile the more I felt like I needed to return it. In the end, I did, but I can't help but wonder if she could tell if it was fake.

"Why is your hair wet," she asked as we started to walk.

"Overslept."

"Why would you not dry your hair? You could've been late." I could hear the worry in her voice as she said those words. It was odd that she would worry about me, but then again this is the same girl that sticks to me all day. I looked down at her and sighed.

"It's not your problem." She let go of my arm and stopped walking. I didn't bother to wait for her, and before long I heard the tap of her shoes catching up to me. I kept my eyes forward as we entered the hall. Sometimes I wished we had a different homeroom, but even if we did I still think she'd come to find me.

I was deep in thought when I felt her hand try to grab mine. Before she could close her fingers I pulled my hand away. I stuffed them in my pockets, and I heard a whine come from beside me. I didn't spare her a glance, and as we walked into the classroom she stomped over to her seat. I glanced at her as I sat down and in all honesty, I wanted to laugh. It wasn't that I found her amusing at all, I just found upsetting her amusing.

Class started as it usually did, and went how it usually went. I paid attention to most of it, but in the middle, I pulled out my phone. I went to the search engine and typed in my father's name. Without hesitating, I hit the search button. I scrolled through the endless articles until I stopped at one.

"Head of Ji Pyramid empire under fire," I mumbled to myself. I clicked on it and started to read through it. Why wouldn't he tell me about this? Why the hell would he not tell me that he was arrested? I immediately went to send him a text.

Me: Why were you arrested?

It didn't take long for me to get a reply.

Father: How do you know about that?

Me: Why did I not know about it?

Father: It was nothing too serious

Me: How is getting arrested nothing too serious?

Father: Aren't you in class?

I stared at my phone for a minute before sliding it back in my pocket. Why couldn't he just give me a reason instead of dodging the question? It wasn't that hard at all. After what happened before we moved I would have thought that he would trust me a little more. I pushed that to the back of my mind and turned my attention back to the lesson.

Throughout the rest of the class, my phone consistently buzzed. I ignored that vibrating sensation and focused the best I could. When lunch finally came I pulled my phone out to see that I had over twenty messages all from my father. I scrolled through them quickly. They weren't anything but apology text, and all of them made my blood boil. He still didn't answer the question I asked him, and he probably never would.

I got up from my seat and walked out of the classroom. I was grateful that Yaling had already left because if she hadn't I most likely wouldn't have been able to getaway. I made my way towards the bathroom and just as I turned the corner I caught a glimpse of an all too familiar person.

"Shit," I mumbled. It was too late to avoid her so I just forced myself to smile.

"I was waiting for you," she explained as I walked up.

"Waiting for me?"

"Yeah, yesterday you went here and never came back so I thought I'd wait here today." I looked at her puzzled. The way I heard that sentence was that she came here to make sure I came back with her.

"Uh, sorry about that?"

"It's fine. Come on, let's go get some food." I glanced at her friends, but they didn't say anything. They just followed her as if they were in a default setting.

I let her drag me with her to buy food, and throughout this process, I didn't say a word. She would say things to me and I never spoke back. She was having a conversation with herself. I also noticed that people were staring at us.

Every time we would move they would look and then start whispering. It was strange to me because since I've been here no one has ever glanced at me other than Yaling. I shrugged it off and focused on the girl pulling me around.

When we finally got to a place she liked I sat down. I leaned back on my hands and just listened to her and her friends' conversation.

"Did you watch the latest episode," Lin Cai asked?

"No, I had to clean the house."

"It was so good. You could come over today and watch it with me."

"I can't," Yaling responded as she glanced back at me.

"Why?"

"I have something planned."

I watched both of them whisper for a few minutes before Lin Cai made an 'ok' gesture with her hand. They went back to talking soon after that about dumb things. I drowned them out and looked at the ceiling. Although it was a lot of people around I didn't mind it. They weren't too noisy, and besides the casual looks, they didn't bother me.

My attention was pulled from the ceiling when I felt something on my lap. I looked in front of me to see Yaling sitting there. I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just kept talking.

"Get up," I said coldly. Yaling jumped a bit and immediately looked at me.

"Why? I'm comfy," she whined.

"Get up." My voice was cold and I know she could tell I wasn't happy about her sitting there. She stared at me for a minute before she slowly got up. I immediately stood up and pushed past her.

"Ji Nan," she yelled!

I didn't even look back, and anyone who could see my face would know that I was anything but happy. I let a lot of things with Yaling slide out of kindness, but she was beginning to truly annoy me. I barely saw her as a friend and at this point, I don't think she saw me as one. I didn't know whether she did these things for attention or shock value, but they weren't cool.

I walked back to the classroom intending to stay there for the rest of lunch. I sat down in my desk and ran my fingers through my hair. I stared at the dull classroom wall until I gradually calmed down. I pulled out my phone and immediately smashed on my father's number. Even though me and my father had a strained relationship I needed to talk to him. I needed to talk to anyone.

"hello."

"Dad," I said coldly.

"What's wrong?"

"Just needed to hear your voice." I let out a small sigh, and let my head fall back.

"Don't lie to me." I didn't know what to say so I just stayed silent. "Did something happen?"

"No."

He sighed, "Are you okay?" I could tell from his voice that he was worried, and because of that, I regretted calling him.

"I'm fine," I said coldly, "I just wanted to speak with you."

"really? Well, you picked a bad time. I paused a meeting to take your call."

"You can go then. I'm sorry for interrupting." I was about to hang up when he suddenly called out to me.

"Ji Nan."

"Yes?"

"Have you been taking your medication?"

"Yes."

The line went dead right after and all I could do was stare at my phone. It had been a while since he asked about my medication. The medication wasn't anything serious, but he took them quite seriously. It's not like they helped at all, but he still insisted I take them so I did.

"I should've never called him," I said aloud. I sat in that room thinking about nothing for the remainder of lunch and went students started pouring back in, I made sure not to look in Yaling's direction. I could feel her eyes on me but Ignored it. I didn't want to talk to her or look at her. It would just sour my mood even more.

I focused my attention on the podium as soon as the science teacher stepped behind it. She began going over the summary of the lesson we would be covering today. I made sure to pay attention since science was something that I was neither good nor bad at. It was my lowest grade, but it was still relatively high. I would probably have to go over this in the tutoring session today, and we both can't struggle with the homework.

---

The last three classes and lessons went by fast, but the information came slow. I had taken so many notes that by the end my hand was cramping. It also didn't help that the literature teacher announced that there would be a test tomorrow. That meant I would have to go over that and science in the tutoring session. Hopefully, Ba Wei was up for double cramming.

I gather all my stuff and take my leave. I immediately made my way to room 205. I walked in expecting it to be empty, but to my surprise, it wasn't. Ba Wei was leaning against the wall doing something on his phone. He glanced up at me but then went back to what he was doing.

"You're early," I said as I sat my things down on the table.

"I've been here since the last class." My eyes widened as I registered what he said. That meant that he skipped class to be here.

"Why would you do that?"

"You told me to not be late," he replied coldly.

I sat down in my seat, "I didn't mean to skip classes to be here."

He put his phone in his pocket and walked over and sat down beside me.

"Then I would've been late."

I didn't say anything else after that. I took out my literature and science books and turned to the homework.

"Both?" I nodded without looking at him, "Why?"

"Because I need to study and I have to go over science today."

"Can't you study at home?"

I immediately looked up at him, and our eyes met. We stared at each other for a brief moment before I shifted my eyes. I closed my literature book and stuffed it back in my bag. If he didn't want to go over it I couldn't force him. I would just have to study tonight when I got home.

"Get your science book out." He pulled the book out and glanced over at mine before turning to the appropriate page. "Try to do the first question. If you cannot start it I will walk you through the steps." He nodded and started working on the problem. I did the same, and even though I started after him; I still finished before him.

I glanced over at him to see that his pencil stopped moving and when I glanced up at his face I noticed that he wore a rather confused expression.

"What part do you not understand," I asked? His eyes snapped to mine then back to the page.

"Part C."

I looked down at my completed problem and read part C. I began explaining where he messed up and demonstrated how he could correct the mistakes he made.

"Do the next problem, and I will check it after."

"Ok."

Again I finished the problem before he did, but instead of waiting for him I went ahead and finished a few more problems.

"I don't know if it's right, but I completed it." He pushed the book over to me and I looked over the problem. Although he did have some missteps he still got the answer right.

"You got the answer, but some of your steps are incorrect." I took out a piece of paper and wrote down the formula he was supposed to use. "Use this formula on the next problem."

He took the paper and started working on the next problem. I took that time to finish the rest of the problems. After I was done I just sat and watched him work. He seemed to notice because he would glance up at me now and then, but then immediately focus back on the homework.

"When you finish that question just move on to the next ones." He as usual only nodded. I swear it was like I was talking to myself. It would be okay if he didn't speak that much, but after briefly speaking at the beginning of the tutoring session he didn't speak at all. I would just watch him work silently and help when I was needed. I don't like a conversation, but he's the only person that I have met that talks less than me.

I pulled out my literature book and opened it to the lesson we went over today. I began reading and answering questions. It wasn't long before I heard the person beside me clear their throat. I put my book down, and he slid his book over to me. I looked over the questions and they were all correct.

"You got them all correct." When I looked up at him I saw a slight smile on his face. It was the first time I had ever seen anything other than his stone expression. I closed his book for him and looked at my watch and raised my eyebrows. We had stayed later than we had yesterday. "We stayed twenty extra minutes today," I explained.

"I know," he said back coldly. He grabbed his book and stuffed it into his bag. He walked towards the door and just as he left I heard a faint, "bye."

Usually, if someone was to just leave like that I would get angry, but I didn't get angry when Ba Wei did it. Maybe it was because I didn't expect him to be respectful. If his grades were bad and he was in need of tutoring he was most likely a delinquent. His skipping of the last class of the day further sells my theory. He also has the look of a delinquent. Although I got to see two expressions paint his face, throughout the rest of the session his face remained like stone. I had a stone face, but the one he had was more intense than mine. I somehow felt that he was more unintentional than mine.

When I exited the room the halls were empty. It was silent, almost to silent. I stood in front of the door thinking about if I wanted to head home. I needed to finish the literature homework I had first. I couldn't sit in that room because the lights would shut off soon, and if I were to walk home now I wouldn't have any time to finish it.

In the end, I chose to go to the roof. When I walked out I was met by the wind. It wasn't too strong, and it wasn't too soft. It was the type of wind that most dreamed of during the summer months. I walked over the railing I sat at yesterday and took a seat. I took out my literature book and my phone. I cut on my flashlight and begin working.

It didn't take me long to finish it, and just when I was about to put up my book the roof door opened. I turned my attention to that direction and to my surprise was Ba Wei. Our eyes immediately met, but this time it was him who moved away from my gaze.

"Why are you up here," he asked as he walked over to me?

I pointed to my bag," had to finish my literature homework." He looked out over the railing in silence as he stood over me. I stared up at him waiting for him to say something else, but as time passed he never did. "Why are you up here?"

He glanced at me, "don't want to go home yet." I nodded and finished pushing my book into my bag and stood up beside him. We looked out onto the city in silence for a good minute before I decided to break the silence.

"Why do you need a tutor?"

"Why does anyone need a tutor?" It was a dumb question, but I'm pretty sure he knew what I meant.

"You know what I meant. I hadn't even heard of you until I was called into my homeroom teachers' office." He glanced over at me with that same stone expression, and then back towards the view.

"I didn't know you either. So we're even." The tone in his voice had changed slightly. Did I offend him? I didn't know what to do in this situation. This was the first time that I had heard him speak regularly, and it was the first time that I felt comfortable speaking with someone.

"I didn't mean I-"

"Why did you take the tutoring gig?"

"What," I asked confused?

"Why did you agree to tutor me?"

I sighed, "It wasn't like I had very much of a choice."

"So if you had one, you would've declined."

"yes," I answered truthfully, "The tutoring session messed up my schedule."

"That's good to know." I didn't know what he meant by that. I chose to just change the subject.

"Why do you come to the sessions," I asked, "you could just not show up."

He didn't glance my way as he said those words, "I'd get in trouble if I didn't."

I didn't say anything after that, and neither did he. We just stood there staring out into the night in silence. After a while, I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was almost midnight. It didn't feel like we had stood up here that long.

"I got to head home," I bent down and picked up my bag, "are you going to leave to?"

He shook his head, "no, I'll stay a bit longer."

"Alright, goodnight then."

He didn't say anything in response and I shrugged. As I was walking towards the door I couldn't help but glance back at him. I wonder how long he would stay up here looking at the view of the city. It could be a whole other hour, but I would never know. It wasn't any of my business anyway.