I was 13 years old that year. Whether in class, in the cafeteria, or in the dorm room, I was always alone.
In the eyes of my classmates, I was a curse. They couldn't wait to avoid me, let alone approach me.
But I was accustomed to this situation and did not take their cold eyes to heart.
It was a new school with new classmates but after two weeks, most of the classmates had their own circle of friends. In those circles, no matter how many people they had, it was harder than I thought for me to integrate.
I was still alone.
Later on, I found out that Lin Xiao and I were admitted to the same middle school. I was in class one, and he was in class five. Occasionally, when we met at the small retail shop attached to the school, I would greet him first, but he seemingly didn't want to greet me back. At that time, he would look around impatiently, afraid that someone would see me talking to him. I would never forget that cowardice attitude.
In the morning, I had self study. But one morning, as soon as I entered the teaching building, I found that my table and chairs had been thrown into the hallway by somebody. The words "Monster" and "Ghost Eyed Girl" were scribbled all over in watercolor pens.
I struggled to move the table and chairs back to the classroom and when I reached, I found that there were only two people in there.
The class monitor Su Rui, and the famous school belle Cheng Fengfeng. Both of whom were excellent students in the class. Cheng Fengfeng also shared a dormitory with me. Everytime she saw me, she would habitually roll her eyes at me. Often, she would also complain about our dormitory being 'mystifying' and scold me from time to time.
She didn't say it blatantly, but all her words seemed to be against me.
But I was too lazy to care about her. Without putting in too much thought, I knew that she was the one that moved my table and chairs into the corridor.
I dragged the table and chairs back to their original position, pulled out a pack of paper towels from my shoulder bag, and rubbed on the the dried watercolor pen marks on the table.
My seat was in the last row near the window. Everyone else had a deskmate, but I didn't.
At first, I also had a deskmate. My seat was relatively at the front too. Later on, my deskmate requested to the teacher if she could change seats. And then my seat was also swapped a few times. In the end, no one was willing to be my deskmate and such, I was moved all the way to the back, alone.
It's not too bad, it's quiet here.
I took a long time to wipe it, but the marks of the watercolor were still there. I guess I couldn't wipe it off.
Several students came into the class one after another. One of the girls was Bai Xiaomeng. She was short, fat, and covered with freckles. She also shared the same dormitory with me and had a good friendship with Cheng Fengfeng. They were both inseparable and would go everywhere together.
But today Bai Xiaomeng dawdled in bed and Cheng Fengfeng did not wait for her.
As soon as she came in, she yelled at Cheng Fengfeng, "Why didn't you wait for me? Didn't you say we will have a self-study together this morning last night?"
Cheng Fengfeng smiled without uttering a word and gave her a wink. Bai Xiaomeng followed Cheng Fengfeng's gaze and looked at me. She couldn't help but smile.
I stared at them fiercely, got up, and threw the tissues in the trash can by the back door of the classroom. When I turned around, Cheng Fengfeng and Bai Xiaomeng had blocked my path.
Cheng Fengfeng was taller than Biao Xiaomeng by half a head. She was thin and tall, with a relatively paler skin tone. Standing with Bai Xiaomeng, she was beautiful like a little princess in the fairy tale. In other words, Bai Xiaomeng was simply too ugly which further just emphasized Cheng Fengfeng's beauty.
"Geek, show your left eye to me."
Cheng Fengfeng slightly raised her chin and looked at me like an arrogant bully.
I ignored her and tried to side step her in order to return to my seat, but Bai Xiaomeng stretched out her arm to stop me.
There was still fifteen minutes before the bell marking the end of the morning self-study session rang. These girls did not even take advantage of this time to make up for sleep or read a book. Obviously, they just had nothing better to do! I would rather they avoid me like they used to, and stop pestering me as they did now.
"Show me your left eye."
Cheng Fengfeng repeated the words just now.
I sneered, "Who do you think you are?"
"I'm just curious. There's nothing wrong with taking a peek?"
Silly girl! What's so special about it?
"I'm not letting you."
I reached out and pushed Bai Xiaomeng away, taking long strides back to my seat.
As I just sat down, I saw my class monitor coming in through the front door with a damp rag in his hand. I didn't know when he went out, but he walked straight to my side with the rag, making me a little stunned.
There were only a few people in the class at the moment, but they all stared at him in unison.
He came to me, threw the rag on my desk, and began to wipe the words written with watercolor pens on the desk.
"Su Rui, what are you doing? I advise you to stay away from her."
"Yeah! You better to stay away from her."
...
My classmates started to become rowdy, giving me a headache.
Su Rui ignored all their voices and wiped all the writing on my desk. He smiled at me and said, "It's clean now."
I was dumbfounded.
His smile was very clean; his eyes were crystal clear. He was tall with a pair of rimless glasses, painting a scholar-like vibe on him. He had delicate skin too which made him pleasing to the eye.
I hadn't looked at him carefully before, but today, I found out that he indeed looked very handsome.
"Thank you."
After recollecting my thoughts, I thanked him. He smiled warmly in response, "You're welcome."
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Cheng Fengfeng and Bai Xiaomeng. His tone was a little harsher, "Stop teasing your classmates. Please study more if you have the time."
Cheng Fengfeng and Bai Xiaomeng pouted, but Cheng Fengfeng glared at me and returned to her seat.
After the night classes ended, I hurriedly tidied up my desk. As the crowd left the teaching building, I rushed to the girls' dorm.
After going to middle school, I learned that evening self-study started at 8:30 pm in the evening. For me, it was just a little bit too late.
When I was at home, Auntie didn't allow me to go out during the night. However, I had to follow the school's system, I was not like I could be an exception.
I walked in a hurry and lowered my head.
Even though I wore my blindfold and couldn't see those scary entities, I still felt that this school was spooky, especially at night. It was quite eerie and had chilly air that was constantly around me.
I heard that many schools were built on graveyards, so I was scared.
Back in the dorm, taking advantage of the crowded washrooms, I took a washbasin and towel to wash my face.
I brushed my teeth before washing my face just as usual.
The place I normally stood at to brush my teeth was in the corner. I lowered my head to take off the blindfold and put it on the toothbrush cup because it was never to get wet. A sign was specially encrypted on by Shang Yi which would temporarily seal my left eyes, so it had to be kept safe.
I dipped my head to wash my face, and the people around me starting leaving one by one.
When I wiped my face clean with a towel, the washroom was already empty, and the last students all ran out in a matter of seconds. My heart twitched a little and I started trembling on the spot, unsure of what was happening. I quickly reached out to wear my blindfold but when I looked at my toothbrush cup, my blindfold was gone!
I looked down on the ground and couldn't see the blindfold.
What the hell! Did my blindfold grow legs?
I looked around again as I squatted on the ground timidly.
The light above my head suddenly went 'Cila.' The orange light bulb flickered, and somehow a gust of chilly wind blew toward me. The wire hanging the light bulb swayed a few times and the washroom instantly became abnormally quiet; becoming increasingly eerie.