The students were filled with excitement, especially seeing two charming guys in front of them. They whistled and drummed on their desks, chanting all the way.
Chen Zhao hailed and gave free handshakes to the students, showing off his biceps. "Hi, I'm Chen, but you can call me pretty boy Chenny" he winked at one of Jade's minion. Her cheeks turned pink and she bit her lower lips, twirling her hair.
Jade pushed her friend off, requesting her to go sit somewhere else. Then she tucked her hair behind her ears, talking in a sweet tone "Come seat with me pretty boy Chenny" Her face lit up with a radiant smile as she blushed, tapping on the vacant seat.
"Judging by the authority she has, she must be the one" Chen thought, flashing back a smile showing off his diamond incisors as he concurred with her offer.
Mr. Muyi turned to Prince Liang who had been observing the human environment, scanning through the classroom to find the girl he met in the cave.
The classroom desks were designed for the students to seat in pairs.
"Liang, go on.. Introduce yourself" The teacher motivated.
With pursed lips, he raised his right hand, with the other in his pocket, slightly lifting his eyebrows which formed wrinkles on his forehead.
"Omg.. He is so hot" a girl thought, caressing her lips as she gave an alluring stare.
"Tsk, look at how he walks like he owns the school." a guy thought, rolling his eyes as he felt intimidated.
"Oh my.. he is coming towards this direction." another student thought, brushing her hair with her fingertips.
"No way... He looks so mysterious and cool. Is he one of the rich kids with prestigious parents?" A guy in the class thought in curiosity.
"Wow.. Is he single? I hope he asks me out" Another girl giggled shyly as she wondered.
"With two handsome boys in my class, I'm def gonna win prom this year" Jade smirked.
His ears twitched as he could read the thoughts of the students. He felt irksome, then he rubbed his fingers in his ear as he walked through the students to the back where he had spotted Mae sitting alone, with a vacant seat beside her.
"Scotch over" he spoke in a smoky voice, pointing at her school bag that was lying on the vacant seat.
She paused for a second, blinking frequently as she looked up at him, standing really tall with fitted uniform. She was flabbergasted a guy like him would want to sit near her. She picked up her backpack from the chair, dusting the seat for him.
Mr. Muyi had assigned Jade Qing to show the new students around the school. Chen said he could work around it. Liang Fang laid aloof, going with whatever that comes.
As the teacher went on with the lecture, Liang was only focused on listening to Mae's thought. It upsets him that she only thinks about food, lunch time and why dumplings isn't on the menu today. She constantly checked the time on her wristwatch, grunting quietly.
She began to chew the cap of her pen when her eyes met with the scar on her arm. Then the thought of the mysterious cave comes back messing with her head.
"What? She doesn't know how she got there too? Was the cave also calling her? But why? What connection do I have with the Amethyst? I understand she's the bloodline of Jin Li but how come I found myself wandering in that cave the previous night?" He pondered for a while.
Soon, it was leisure hour.
Chen was surrounded by the students. They chatted, laughing loudly as they got to know themselves. He got disappointed when he got to know Jade wasn't Mae Li and he couldn't just pop up the question because it would sound fishy but then, he was somehow distracted by how Jade Qing bragged about her dad's wealth. Not so bad killing two birds with one stone yeah? He could benefit a lot from the rich kid.
"So what was your old school like? Why did you transfer?" a student asked, and all eyes fixed on him with eagerness.
"Uh.. Uh.." his eyes circled around then he held up Jade's wrist. "Wow, what precious beauty does my eyes behold". He knew she loves being the center of attraction and this trick would work.
Jade blushed, "Thank you.. Actually my dad got it for me two days ago.. You know, my dad is the mayor of this town. You won't believe it if I tell you the actual price of this bracelet" she chuckled softly, covering her mouth.
"Um, lemme guess.. 60k? Chen teased, poking her soft cheeks.
"Oh, pretty boy Chenny.. So close" She held up a pinch finger gesture "It's 65k" she corrected, giggling.
"The bracelet is braceleting. Gurl you ate and left no crumbs purr..." her minion friend complimented.
"And that is on period" the other girl said and they all laughed simultaneously.
"What is your IG handle? I need to follow you. You are cool man" a guy said, bringing out his phone from his pocket.
Chen has been living with the humans for years. He could understand the gen-z language and he had thousands of followers on social media. Getting along with the humans wouldn't be a difficult task for him.
On the other hand, Prince Liang was new to the environment. He has a lot to learn and how would he cope in this different world after sacrificing his conscience and inability to love and care about people, in other to live in human form?
He stalked Mae Li, following her where ever she goes without her noticing. She felt it was a coincidence seeing him everywhere.
She walked down to Hall C to pick up some stuff in her locker when she encountered Saleem bullying a junior student. He was three times the boy's size so it was easy for him to intimidate the kid.
"Hey! I asked you to get me some steamed buns and you got back here with baked bread?!" he yelled at the minor, jamming his head against the lockers as he bites on the baked bread in his hand at intervals.
"You have been a very naughty boy. Why can't you obey simple instructions?" Saleem jammed his head on the locker again, biting on the bread in his hand.
"Are you suddenly deaf? Answer me!!!" he banged his fist on the locker and the kid quivered with terror.
"I'm I'm sorry please. For-forgive me. It-it wasn't in ten-intentional. Steamed buns was-was not av-available today." the kid cried, struggling to explain the situation.
"Oh now you have the effrontery to talk back at me? Have you gone bananas??" Saleem provoked, lifting the kid by his shirt with one hand and throwing him to the ground.
The boy landed at Mae's feet, crawling out of the scene in pain.
Saleem looked up to see Mae. He scoffed with a smirk, then he stuffed the remaining bread in his mouth as he approaches Mae.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here.. my favorite student" he teased, stroking down her hair, then he got hold of the book she was holding.
She held onto the book tightly but he overpowered her, forcefully snatching it from her.
"Well.. Well.. Well... Let's see what we have here" he laughed, exhaling a deep breath of fresh air. Then he flipped through the pages of her sketchbook.
Before now, Mae had been having series of visions. Seeing weird creatures in her sleep and visited strange places she had never been before.
She had sketched out the few she could visualize; the landscape of Marinda, portraits of the three clans, and some magic spells which she did not realize the meaning of all these things in her sketchbook.
The bully shrugged his shoulder with an inverted lip, that formed a smile line from the corner of his nose to the side of his mouth. "Hm! Not bad..." he said, tearing out the pages of the book.
"No..." she rushed to retrieve it from him.
He raised his hand higher, pushing her off, with his big palm covering her face.
She stood with the tip of her toes, struggling to reach the book in his hand as she jumped periodically.
He landed a slap on her cheek with the back of his hand, and she fell to the ground, whimpering.
At that time, Jade Qing was showing Liang Fang around the premises. They walked together, side by side. She was talking a lot and all he did was walk with his hands in his pocket, nodding or shrugging his shoulder when a question is being directed to him.
"Shall we get a peek at students and teacher relations? Although the teachers are having a staff meeting now, but the non-academic staffs are present in the classrooms. Let's see what's going on in that classroom" she said in a confident and lovely voice, showing an enchanting smile as she played with her hair.
Liang held her by the hand, redirecting her to the other way. He had sighted Mae Li from a distance.
She giggled, licking her lips as she hid those red ears in her hair. "Omg! Omg! He is holding my hand. It feels so warm and comfy".
Liang's ears twitched as he heard her thought. He immediately let go of her hand and shook his hands back in his pocket.
"You want us to go that way right?" she pointed at Hall C and he barely nodded.
They were both moving toward the scene of Mae and the bully, Saleem.
With teary eyes, Mae looked up to Liang. "Help me.. Please save me.." she cried out in her thoughts.
Liang's ears twitched when he heard her thoughts. He stopped to look at her, then he crossed his legs over her as she was lying on the ground whimpering.
The queen bee stopped to glimpse at her, she scoffed, rolling her tongue in her mouth as she curled her fingers in her hair. She stepped on Mae's palm spreading on the floor and walked away.
Jade held onto Liang's arm as they walked together through Hall C.
Liang halted suddenly when he heard a loud bang. His ears twitched as the sound wave came from Hall C.
"Wha..??" she turned to ask him.
He took her hands off him and ran back, with Jade following behind him, hollering for him to slow down.
They got to the scene, with other students flocking around the space as they murmured within the circle. He pushed through the crowd to see the big bully on the ground, groaning in pain. The shape of his huge body was sculpted on the lockers. It was evident he was smashed on the locker.
The student gasped to see him defeated by timid Mae Li.
"S-she.. she.. S-she... H-her... her eyes.." Saleem stammered, pointing at her with his arms trembling.
Her eyes had turned purple and were fiercely struck by lightning bolts. Her nose flares as she pants heavily with sweat dripping from her pores.
"Ah!!! Monster!!" Jade screamed and the students joined in, Panicking.
"What is wrong with her eyes?" Someone asked from the crowd.
"Everyone, she's a witch! A hungry beast seeking for whom to devour." Jade became dramatic, standing out from the crowd. "Run for cover" she said, fleeing the scene.
The school emergency alarm was turned on and the students rampaged through the halls, wrecking some classrooms.
Mae became conscious of her environment. She looked around, nervous, wondering what just happened.
A girl ran by screaming and pointing at her "Ahh!! Look at her purple eyes...Freak!!!" then she fainted, collapsing on the ground".
"Purple eyes?" Mae thought to herself holding out her hands to examine herself. "Why are they running away from me" Her lips trembled.
A hand was stretched towards her, she looked up from the ground to see Chen Zhao reaching out to her. She shoved his hand away and burst into tears as she ran to the school's washroom, covering her eyes with the back of her palm.
Some group of girls putting on some makeup and applying lip gloss to their lips were in the washroom. They gossiped amongst themselves, chortling, and immediately she entered, they screamed running out of the restroom.
She shut the door behind her, slumping to sit on the floor and cried out her eyes, with her face bent in between her legs. Soon she was sniffing and sobbing quietly. She got up and walked to the sink to rinse her face and hands.
Mae was walking away from the sink when a moment of epiphany occurred to her.
She stumbled back to the sink, looks in the mirror slowly, cautiously, as if not sure of what she was seeing. Then she leaned forward to look deeper at her reflection, dragging down her lower eyelid.
"Oh my God.. Oh my God.. No.. No.." she startled, with constricting muscles, pressing her fist tightly on her chest, gasping for air as her heart aches. Slowly she took a few steps back, away from the sink. Then she toiled, forcefully curving the door handle open, and runs out of the washroom.
She bumped into Chen on the way but did not stop running.
"Hey... Your book". He called out, waving his hands in the air.
Then he looked at the cover of the sketchbook. Designed with varieties of inks. It looked creative and he had to peek inside.
He turned to the first page to see a landscape of Marinda, sketched in different colors of pen inks.
"What?? His eyes widened as he flipped through the pages in a stunner.
He flipped to see a torn page showing half of Master Yuze's face. Chen searched thoroughly on the ground merging each piece of paper with that page.
Then the puzzle became a vivid sketch of Master Yuze with a whip in his hand, standing beside a muscular creature in chains. It was unclear to know who the creature was as its face was covered with long disheveled hair with blisters on its body.
"Hmm.. what is this about?" he became curious.
Then he went back to look at the name on the cover of the book, written in Calligraphy 'Mae Li'.
"I found you." he spoke in a hollow voice.