fifteen

"Zhan, stop," I muffled, trying to turn my head to the side. Eventually, he released my wrists and sat back with a pout.

"Yibo, come on, live a little." The corner of his lips twitched up into a smile that was just so damn sexy. I glanced towards the clock on the small table by my bed, and shook my head.

"We can't. I bet the driver's here already." I tapped him on the thigh in a sign to get up, which he obeyed with a heavy sigh of disappointment.

"Come on, grab your shit." I picked up my schoolbag from the floor at the bottom of my bed and heaved it over one shoulder. Seeing Zhan doing the same, I headed on towards the door. He followed with heavy footsteps, trying to remind me I did not impress him.

He continued the heavy footsteps until we reached the bottom of the stairs, where we were greeted by my father who, the lucky bastard, doesn't have to go into work until ten this morning.

"Hello Zhan, it's been a while since I've seen you around here." He smiled in that usual way again, like he was floating on cloud nine or something. I don't know, my parents have always been overly weird.

"Mr.Wang," Zhan greeted politely. "Yeah, home life's been a little crazy, but I've been told it's okay for me to stay around here for a while?"

"Absolutely!" My father's words practically sprung from his mouth. My eyes shot wide open, and I just stared at him with complete bewilderment. Anyway, your ride to school is waiting outside for you, so I suggest you head on out," we gave him a quick nod and I dragged Zhan outside the front doors and into my chauffeur's sleek, black car like it was a lifesaving decision. After that, I took a moment to just breathe.

"Your dad seemed like he was on fuckin' happy pills. What the hell was up with his eyes? Could they get any wider?" Zhan laughed, and I had to let a small chuckle out too. But I was slightly worried after hearing the word pills. I spent mostly the rest of the car journey in silence. I was too preoccupied with keeping the past away from the front of my mind focus on starting up a conversation. Zhan didn't seem to care. He was texting away on his phone, anyway.

When the car finally pulled up outside the school gates, I slowly slid out the door in realisation that me and Zhan would have to act normal again today. I rolled my eyes and lolled my head forward, watching my feet as they walked around the back of the car to join Zhan on the sidewalk. I kept my head down until we were past the school entrance and into the halls that lead to our lockers. Zhan branched off from my direction to go ditch his stuff in his own locker, whilst I continued ahead to mine.

Unlocking it, with only slight irritation after forgetting the code three times, I threw all the books I didn't need until after lunch inside, slammed the damn door shut and almost forgot about Zhan completely as I walked straight past him.

"Yibo, hang on," he called, placing a hand on my shoulder in a way of slowing himself down after running towards me. His touch lingered a little too long before sliding down the length of my arm and gently running over my hand. I chose not to bring it up, thinking that maybe he's always done that and maybe I've just never noticed it until now.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Was in a completely different place," I mumbled, still not really listening to anything he said. But I heard him laugh and mutter something about me, always zoning out a lot. After that, I wasn't paying much attention.

We reached the sixth form room a couple minutes later, greeted in the usual fashion. I fixed a grin on my lips and kept my tone happy and light, hoping that was how I normally acted before all this shit happened between Zhan and I. I saw Ji Li standing on his own by the window, sneakily puffing a cigarette. He was always pushing his luck inside the school building with shit like that. Gotta love him for it though.

Walking over to him and silently leaning against the wall by his side, he turned his head to greet me with a nod whilst taking a drag of his cig. After sending a cloud of smoke out the window, he turned back to me and said, "Hey Yibo, how're you doing'?"

"I'm alright mate. You keep smoking them things and you will not be too well in a couple of years though," I tell him this every day, but it just goes in one ear and out the other.

"Aye," he chuckles, taking another inhale and pointing his hand over towards the other side of the room, where a bunch of girls were conversing. Hey, you see the' lass over there, yeah? Her name's Tami. You see her? I spotted a brunette girl standing just out of the circle, a few girls speaking to her, but she didn't seem overly popular. I didn't recognize her face a bit, though.

"What about her?" I asked, intrigued.

"She just started today and I think I'm in- fuckin'-love with her, Yibo," he chuckled again, but I could see a slight hint of a blush sneaking into his cheeks. I smacked him on the arm with the back of my hand.

"Fucking yeah right, Ji Li. More like you just want to get in her pants." I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"You can't be serious. You're in bed with a girl one night, and the next with another. I'd fuckin' bet you couldn't keep faithful for one hour," I raised my eyebrows at him in humour, but he just laughed and agreed.

"'Spose you're right. But I heard a rumor going around that Meng Ziyi was into you," he slipped me a wink, smirking.