Xing Xing was walking along the edge of the pavement. It had just rained and it was slippery.
Slippery.
Her foot slipped and she saw the wet floors getting dangerously close as she fell...
A pair of hands caught her just before she could touch the ground.
Small hands
A kid.
Xing Xing's eyes hurriedly traveled up. He was wearing the necklace. 'The Nacklace...' She ran the tips of her fingers along the length of the necklace. 'I finally found you. You know... I've been searching everywhere for you.'
She tried standing upright and slipped again. She landed on the wet floors and looked up. The boy wasn't there.
Xing Xing opened her eyes and found herself seated on the floor. She must have fallen off the chair. But she had seen him.
She sadly smiled to herself. She had really seen him so he must be okay. His face hadn't changed a bit. Just like the first time she had seen him... he still hadn't said a word. He must be having speech complications or perhaps mute.
Either way, he was still okay and that was all that mattered. At least she might still have a chance to save him
Xing Xing stopped smiling. Right. It was just a dream but she had really fallen to the ground. It was strange. Speaking of strange, she had never seen the boy in her dreams before. She had always been searching to no avail. But this time she had seen him without even searching.
No, the boy had actually found her. Did he recognize her? No, that didn't matter, it was only a dream. But why did she see the mute boy in her dream this time?
Xing Xing froze as her eyes fell on the boy with white her that fell over his shoulders. Raluca.
Was this another dream?
Looking around, the class was empty. She was alone with Raluca who was seated with nothing on the table and had headsets on.
Must be a dream but... Raluca walked out of the class. Xing Xing checked her lesson plan. She had PE now. Dream or not, being late for PE was everyone's nightmare. Xing Xing ran out to the changerooms and slipped into her PE shorts in a second.
Sure enough, everyone including Raluca was there, in their PE gears.
'Xing Xing, you're late.1 The PE conductor Mr. Aiguo noticed her. 'I'll assume it took you long to walk from class to the field because you are unfit. Give me two rounds.'
As she ran for the tracks, she knew Raluca was watching her, as well as her other classmates. Exactly why she always avoided being late for the PE class. She had seen other students give rounds for being late. Raluca perhaps was saved for being a newly transferred student.
'But why hadn't he woken her when he noticed she was asleep? Had he sat there and simply watched her sleep? Had he?
'Not like I care about him.' She told herself. 'I must really be... unfit. I'm not even done with the first round but... I feel like I've run ten rounds... I wish I'd have slept earlier last night or at least had my break... fast... I feel... really... dizz...'
Xing Xing felt herself hit the tracks and...
Slowly she opened her eyes. She was hurting everywhere. Her head... it was as though it would explode any moment now. And where was she?
'You are up.'
Xing Xing turned to see their school nurse. Then she remembered the fall in the field.
'How are you feeling?' the elderly school nurse asked.
'I'm hurting everywhere.' Xing Xing sat up and pain shot right through her. She yelped.
'You must be.' The nurse gave her a glass of water and painkillers. 'Looking at your frail body it's a surprise you haven't broken a bone. In our time, everyone wanted to have a well-fed body but your generation is competing to look like live corpses. Tut.'
Xing Xing drank the water and hid the painkillers. There was nothing she hated more than pills.
'You have a fever.' The nurse continued. 'Have you been feeling ill lately?'
Xing Xing shook her head and wished she hadn't. It was like awakening the master pain.
'You must be hungry then. I bet you skipped breakfast.' The nurse said. 'I've decided to give you a day off since it's already lunch time. I couldn't find a family number close enough on your emergency list but your friend offered to take you home.'
Friend?
The nurse did an act of lowering her voice though it made no difference. 'You must have a tough time picking the boy for yourself, am I right?'
Xing Xing looked at the nurse in confusion.
'Listen to your heart dear. My heart tells me either choice is best for you.' The nurse softly petted Xing Xing's knee, nodded towards the wall and walked off with a pleased smile.
Xing Xing didn't understand what choices the nurse spoke about. She looked towards "the wall". Not just a wall, there were waiting couches there. Not just entirely empty couches, there was Raluca there. And he wasn't just seated there, he was watching her.
Xing Xing looked away.
The nurse returned. 'Here you go. Your home pass. I've left an open space for you to fill in who will take you home.' She winked a little.
'No, no I'm fine now. I can manage till the last lesson.' Somehow the idea of Raluca knowing where she stayed sounded bad enough to make all her pain disappear.
She jumped off the bed and winced. Not all the pain had disappeared.
'Are you sure?' the nurse watched her. 'Have them anyway. In case you change your mind.'
'Thank you.' Xing Xing thanked her and turned to the door. Li-me was on the other side of the door.
'Are you already up? Do you ever stay down?' Li-me gawped at her friend.
'This generation turns down all opportunities anyways.' Xing Xing heard the nurse say as she closed the door. 'She didn't even glance at you. Have you upset her?'
'Who is she talking to?' Li-me asked.
'I don't know.' Xing started walking away.
'You don't know? Is that even possible?' Li-me glanced at the door. 'Aren't you just coming from there? How don't you know who you left in there?'
'What happened to me?' Xing Xing asked.
'Huh?' Li-me frowned. 'Oh, you fainted and Felix sent you to the nurse's office.'
'Felix?' Xing Xing came to a stop.
'I smell something fishy.' Jia Li said as she slowly walked past Xing Xing. 'Do you too, Caihong?'
'Something like staging a fall to have the new boy run over and carry you to the nurse's office?' Caihong said smoothly. 'Yeah, I do smell it.'
'Me too, and...' Yu Jie did an act of sniffing the air. 'The aroma is so strong.'
Li-me nudged Xing Xing to continue walking. 'By your reaction, is Felix the one the nurse was talking to? That must be why he isn't in the cafeteria now.'
Xing Xing said nothing and entered the empty class.
'Ah Xing, there's still an hour before lunch break is over.' Li-me said. 'Aren't you going for lunch?'
'No.' Xing Xing said.
Li-me shrugged. 'Alright. I'm leaving.'
A couple of minutes later, Xing Xing lay her head on the table. 'Why do I feel so down all of a sudden?'