VI

GUI GUI’S POV

I knew something was off, something was definitely off. I looked over to Dean who was sending messages via text messaging like crazy.

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But let’s take a short moment and allow me to take this chance to introduce to you this friend of mine. I don’t think I got the chance since it has been so hectic recently so let’s take this moment to talk about Dean Fujioka.

It was not a string of fate that brought us together, it was a mere coincidence that I believe brought us close. Dean Fujioka and I have been friends ever since I was young, we met one another when he was being harassed by our classmates because he came from a rich family. Why was status so important? It didn’t occur to me how much trouble it would be just to be rich? But it did, it hurts. At that time, I didn’t know my status until one classmate saw my parents dropped me off in an expensive vehicle. It was right than that I was the next victim in the continuous cycle of teasing. I don’t know how we became friends but I assume it was during the teasing since we both knew right then what was going on.

Over the past years, we met those who only branded them as our ‘friends’ but in actual reality, they had ulterior motives. We also met those whose interest was through teasing but that was only the beginning, first it was teasing then it transcended into bullying. So then you will ask why didn’t we contact the authorities? The answer is rather simple and over-rated but it’s the truth, Dean and I wanted to prove to our parents that we can take care of ourselves and not use our family title to solve our issues.

And that’s what we did. When it came to our own issues, we deal with it ourselves.

He always called me a strong girl. I’m sure you guys know that I am not your typical teenage girl who would daydream about her fairytale-like dreams. I did but not anymore, I have grown up and moved on from all that pixie dust and sparkles. Dean on the other hand try to revert me back to that little girl whose sole purpose is to play with dolls and dream about princes, horses, and castles but it’s not me.

Apart from me, he on the other hand is the prince that everyone dreams off! Gentle, check. Cool, check. Handsome, check. Intelligent, check. Charming, check. Like I said, he is a man who was blessed with these qualities.

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I deeply sighed as I looked at my new uniform.

“I told you a million times, I can come and introduce myself to the school myself. You didn’t have to come personally, Mr. My-father-owns-the-national-bank! And besides, don’t you have school?”

“That’s why we are going early.”

“Huh? I looked at my watch.” It reads, 7:42 a.m. but his class starts at 8:00 a.m.!

“I took the liberty to wake you up a little early than usual since I want to check this school out myself. Unfortunately I won’t be attending the same school as you but it’s okay, we can still meet up.”

He showed me the time on his phone and I punched him on the arm.

“IT’S 6:50 A.M! ARE YOU CRAZY? WHO ON EARTH WOULD GO TO SCHOOL THIS EARLY?!”

“You are always snoozing so I did give you a good solid 20 minutes to snooze your way out of dreamland!”

“I HATE YOU!”

“Aww Gui, you can’t possibly hate me. You love me too much to hate me~”

“I seriously don’t want to see your face.”

“You will miss this damn handsome fella sweetie, I believe you will be dying from separation anxiety if you stay away from me for far too long.”

“You and your ego, why didn’t leave it behind this morning?”

“I planned too but it followed me knowing how much it wanted to be with you~” I stared at him in disbelief and he burst into laughter.

“Okay we have arrived, let’s go and meet the principal.” He walked out and I came out to see my new school. “My dear friend, I hope you will stay out of trouble here at your new school.”

 He whispered as I glanced at the name the school referred to.

In bold letters, it read: SHENG YING ACADEMY.

“What are you talking about? I have always been an ‘ghost’ remember? Hence my infamous nickname.”

AARON YAN’S POV

Flashback

The women signalled them to follow her so the grandfather picked his granddaughter up and followed the lady to a house owned by the Yan’s.

And through the open creek from the door, the mischievous boy decided to take a look inside to see what was happening through the gap. After awhile when his parents and the girl’s grandfather walked out to give the girl some rest. He walked inside to see her wide awake and looking out the window.

“Who are you?”

The girl never responded to his question, instead she stared at him, wondering just the same thing.

“A stranger!”

The little girl suddenly yelled out, pointing at Ya Lun with her eyes widen.

End of Flashback

Was that a dream?

“HELLOOO~ EARTH TO AARON!”

Huh?

Everyone looked at me, wondering what was wrong with me.

“YOU! I DIDN’T HAND YOU THE STAR POSITION IF ALL YOU’RE GOING TO DO IS DAY DREAM WHILE YOUR TEAM MATES ARE OUT THERE, RUNNING AROUND LIKE SISSYS!”

“COACH?!!”

The rest of the teammates looked at him in disbelief. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST CALLED US SISSY’S!”

“YEAH, AT LEAST ADD THE WORD ‘HANDSOME’ OR ‘HOT’ IF YOU ARE GOING TO CALL US THAT!” Everyone turned to the person who said it and head-locked him.

Qiu Sheng Yi crossed his arms, knowing this was going to happen. “How about we kick him off the team since all he is seems to be doing is zoning out.” I walked over to him and in response to my reaction, he grinned widely as he tried to hit my face with the soccer ball but I stopped it with my hand.

“Someone needed to snap you back into reality.”

“You can’t be talking about yourself right?”

I grabbed the ball and kicked it towards the field. “POSITIONS!”

Jiro, Calvin, and Wu Chun assumed their positions on the field with Aaron while Sheng Yi watched him run out to the field to start practice. “What gives him the right to give out orders like that? He needs to be taught a lesson.” Sheng Yi murmured over to Fabien, William and Ah Wei as they quickly place themselves in the game.

When the whistle blew, a grow of fans started chanting.

“GO GO GO OUR VERY OWN SOCCER TEAM! GO SHENGYI, AARON, CALVIN, JIRO, AND WUUCHUNN!”

“How annoying.” Sheng Yi whispered but he stopped and waved over to the people cheering for him. “But they are still our fans. How else are we suppose to play without some eye-candy?” One of his teammates waved over to the cheerleaders. “If you ask me, I like to be encouraged with lots and lots of eye-candy. Don’t you Wang Zi?”

Sheng Yi only smirked at his teammates judgement before turning his attention back to the field. He quickly gave the signal and as roughly planned it was, William quickly ventured off to chase after the ball to proceed with their plan.

William blocked the ball from Wu Chun who suddenly stopped to assess the field positions for his teammates. When he located Jiro on the other side, he quickly passed the ball over to him but William stepped in between and stole the ball and to add a bonus, he swiftly stepped on Wu Chun’s foot hard.

Wu Chun’s eyes widen as he let his frustrations out when he stumbled on the field. He glared at William who passed the ball over to Ah Wei who was now running head on with Calvin. Jiro who just ran past Fabien fell down because Fabien decided to take his sweet time to stretch out his legs.

“WHAT GIVES MAN!”

Jiro yelled out as he glared at Fabien who quickly acted like he was tying his shoelaces.

Wu Chun then looked at William who turned around to applaud for his fall with a wide grin plastered on his face.

I stopped and realized what was happening around the field, Wu Chun and Jiro stopped but what about to Calvin? I scanned the field to see Ah Wei and Calvin chase after the ball furiously. Calvin was about to kick it into the goal but all hell broke out when Ah Wei’s foot reached out to take the ball but it tripped Calvin instead.

Calvin eyes widen as everyone on the field stop to watch him get up to punch Ah Wei.

“BREAK IT UP YOU TWO!” The coach instantly appeared with their other teammates to help break the two apart. “GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME SISSYS! IF YOU GUYS DON’T WANT TO BE CALLED SISSYS, THAN PLAY THE GAME RIGHT!”

The coach continue to break the sense between them. I quickly grabbed a ball from the cart and kicked it over to Sheng Yi with his head as my target.

BINGO!

“WHAT THE FCUK!?!#!”

He screamed out in rage as he looked over to me with anger. “THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR PLAYING DIRTY!”

We both ran towards one another and I punched him. He hit me back harder and before I could hit him back, we were pulled apart.

“STOP! RIGHT NOW!”

Everyone stopped moving but everyone was still sending each other death glares.

“DETENTION ALL OF YOU! I WILL HAVE TO STRENGTHEN YOUR TEAMWORK! WE HAVE A GAME COMING UP AND IF YOU SISSYS DO NOT GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, I WILL CUT EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU OUT OF THE TEAM. YOU DON’T SEE THE JUNIOR TEAM BEATING EACH OTHER UP SO WHY ARE SISSYS DOING IT? YOU GUYS ARE SENIOR SOCCER PLAYERS SO ACT LIKE IT! AND FOR TOMORROW’S PRACTICE, IT WILL BE OUR TRAINING SESSION. SO BE READY TO RUN LIKE HELL.”

The coach roared angrily as he took his clipboard and walked away frustrated, agitated and furious.

The teammates who was holding Sheng Yi back loosen their grip, I walked over to him still furious. “If you try this again, you’ll be sorry.” We stared at each other for awhile before making out way to the locker room.

Once we got in, the showers immediately got occupied with the team so Sheng Yi and I stood by our lockers, still mad.

“Sticking up for your friends? Don’t worry Mr. Oil Stains, this is just the beginning so be ready to taste the real thing tomorrow.”

And that’s when I reached my limit. I grabbed onto his collar and pushed him against the lockers. I was dead serious but he was only grinning happily.

Was this what he wanted? To provoke me into doing this?

“Go ahead, hit me. You know who my father is and what I can do to get you expelled so go right ahead!”

“Why are you such an all the time?”

He replaced his grin with a serious expression. “I never forgot. You stole something important from me and I will do the same thing. You better watch yourself Aaron Yan, your wish for a normal life will tear your perfect world apart.”

“And if you cross any lines Sheng Yi, I won’t just sit and watch.”

“You must be forgetting who I am, I am Qiu Sheng Yi. If you do anything to provoke me, I will do the same thing but worse. This is just a short taste of what I will and can do to you, remember this moment Aaron Yan.”

Right when I let him go, he walked into the showers and I punched the lockers. “I never forgot.” Sheng Yi didn’t forget... So how can I? I didn’t forget either.

Seeing how my teammates were starting to come out of the showers, I grabbed my towel but I noticed something fell out. I bent down to pick up the fallen bottle that had fell out of my locker, as I gazed at the bottle, my mind went blank.

Flashback

My grandfather told me this once when I was young, “My friend and I are the best of friends. He made half of this clock while I made the other. What is the clock missing Ya Lun?”

Ya Lun smiled as he looked up his grandpa. “The clock’s hands are gone!”

“Yes, the hands are not there. When my friend and I were making it, we decided to take it apart and pass it down to our grand children. And here I am, passing this glass clock over to you.”

“Why?”

“When you grow up, find the person who the other parts.”

“Parts....? THE CLOCK’S HAND?”

“Yes. The clock’s hands. I believe you can find the other parts if you try hard enough.”

“But Grandpa... Why me?”

End of Flashback

“Find the counterpart... I have forgotten my promise a long time ago gramps...”

I threw the bottle back into my locker and head to the showers.

GUI GUI’S POV

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

The principal firmly stated as he turned back to look at me. I could see his secretary behind him as he held a document in his hands.

“Unfortunately I have other duties to attend to so please, feel free to walk around and ask other students where to go. We have a pleasant group of students that are friendly and they will be more than happy to point you to the right direction. I hope you have a wonderful senior year at Sheng Ying Miss. Wu.”

I thanked the principal for his time as I watch him leave. I deeply sighed as I walked over to the window and stared up at the clear blue sky.

A lot has happened over the last couple of days and I still haven’t gotten a chance to reflect. How did things go wrong? Where did it go wrong? Why did it come to this? ...What will I do now?

My last year in school and this is how I am going to spend it?

Right when my mind started to flash back over the events that lead to where I am, my foot suddenly began to throb. I bent down, took of my shoe off to sneak a peek at my wound.

“HEY! YOU!”

Is he talking to me?

I shot up to see a boy my age look down at me. He dropped his bag on the floor and bent down to meet my eye level.

He looked so familiar, where did I see him before?

Could it be? Have we met at the party? Let’s see...

Flashback

I was so deep in thought that I failed to keep my balance when someone bumped into me. I winced at the sudden pain my feet left me and I dropped to the ground, touching my feet.

“Who are you?“

I looked up to see a man standing before me, looking at me. Although I couldn’t see his face, I stared at him and our gaze met. Right when our gaze met, he revealed himself accompanied by a smile.

End of Flashback

“IT’S YOU!” I exclaimed and before I knew it, his lips curve into a wide grin.