The morning is bright and the sunshine is pleasantly warm.
Birds fly through the velvet sky, below the giant, fluffy clouds.
Su LingYun watches the birds circle the Oak tree as she walks leisurely inside the campus.
She takes a brief stop and tilts her head upwards, feeling the soft touch of the daylight.
A smile forms on her lips at the thought of seeing her friends again. She spent the whole summer at her hometown so she has not seen them for quite a long time.
She continues to walk while scanning the campus where she has studied since her middle school years.
Today, the atmosphere feels different.
Perhaps, because it is her first day as a senior high school student at XY University.
There are so many new faces, so many that she feels like she went into a different school.
She takes out her earphones from her pocket and plugs it on her ears.
A familiar, comforting melody starts to play.
~Stay With Me by Chanyeol and Punch~
She continues to walk towards the main building and removes her earphones as she nears the entrance.
The building is packed with students and the huge bulletin board is nowhere to be seen.
Although Su LingYun is not a consistent top student during her middle school years, she has managed to maintain good grades and remain in Class 1. Credits to her friends who are always there to help her when she falls behind the deadlines.
She takes out her phone from her pocket and reluctantly approaches the crowded bulletin board.
She tries to take a shot of the Students' Class Listing when a group of students bump into her.
Her phone instantly falls into the floor but the students do not bother to apologize. They continue to squeeze themselves into the crowd.
Su LingYun's mouth drops open and a sigh of irritation escapes.
She is about to pick-up her phone when the crowd starts to sweep it from here and there.
She struggles to pick-up the phone for a few moments until it is kicked into a less crowded area.
She is about to lose her temper and her face contorts in rage.
She bends to pick-up her phone but before she could even reach for it, someone suddenly steps onto it.
The sound of the screen cracking pierces her ears.
Su LingYun's eyes widen and she freezes for a moment.
"Ah! Seriously?" she screams in agony.
She turns to see who stepped into her phone but the place is too crowded for her to catch the culprit.
She only gets to see a silhouette of a guy who has been running like thunder.
"Hey!" her scream melts into the crowd.
She covers her face in frustration and her rage begins to surge.
She then picks-up her phone and wipes the broken screen with her bare hands. Tiny particles fall-off as she does the process.
She takes a deep breath, trying to suppress her anger.
"Ey! What took you so long?" Su LingYun turns, surprised to hear the familiar voice.
Her mood quickly changes when she sees her friend, Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu glances at the crowded bulletin board. "You don't have to squeeze in there. We already saw the list."
"Oh. I wanted to see it for myself." Su LingYun turns to look at the bulletin board once again. Only to find out that it is still crammed.
"Let's just go to the canteen and have a breakfast." Xiao Yu drags her along without waiting for her to agree.
Su LingYun sits at the table with Xiao Yu and her three other friends, Xi Weiwei, Chen Mi and Zi Yue.
She opens her soda drink and takes a sip, quenching her thirst.
"Hey, have you all seen the list of the most handsome guys in campus for this school year?" Xi Weiwei asks with excitement.
Xiao Yu folds her arms and replies in a stern voice "So...You are more concerned about the handsome guys than being in a different class?"
"Oh? Why are you in a different class?" Su LingYun asks with a frown on her forehead.
" Su LingYun!" Xi Weiwei pouts and stares at her with puppy eyes. "Zi Yue and me has been transferred to a different class. Aren't you going to miss me?"
Su LingYun chuckles softly. She couldn't help but admire Weiwei's cuteness. "Of course. I am going to miss you both. But we can still have our lunch together, like we always do." Su LingYun flashes a smile of reassurance to her friend.
"Ah. That's right!" Weiwei smiles in relief. "So, have you seen the list?" she goes back to the previous topic.
"Tsk." Xiao Yu huffs, noticing that Xi Weiwei is deliberately changing the topic.
Chen Mi answers proudly. "Of course I have. There are quite a lot of freshmen who made it to this year's list. Cheng Liu made it to top 5 (gestures with her hand) and Zhe Yuan is on top 2 (gestures again). They're both transfer students."
Zi Yue retaliates bitterly "Tss. Cheng Liu deserves to be in a higher rank than Zhe Yuan."
"Why would you say that? I think Zhe Yuan deserves the spot. He is handsome, tall, white, his eyes are very charming and he is very talented as well." Chen Mi disagrees as she dreamily imagines this Zhe Yuan.
"Yeah. Right. Only that he is also very ill-tempered, harsh and unapproachable." Xiao Yu unexpectedly joins the conversation.
"Eh? Wait. What are you talking about? I don't know any of these people." Su LingYun innocently asks.
"You sure don't have any interest in non-academic matters. Do you?" Zi Yue scoffs.
"It's not like that." Su LingYun replies in a low tone.
"Oh, why are you so disappointed? Don't worry. Look." Zi Yue flashes her phone to Su LingYun. "Hao Yu is still on number 1."
Su LingYun's face lights up a bit as she reads the list.
She has always admired Hao Yu from afar since their middle school years but she never got the courage to talk to him. And now he only has a year before he finally graduates.
"Aren't you disappointed that you never got the chance to talk to Hao Yu?" Xiao Yu asks.
Su LingYun responds with a sigh.
"Then...Why don't you just casually chat him? Xi Weiwei suggests.
"How will I do that now?" Su LingYun takes out her phone from her bag and places it on the table.
"Ah! What happened? Why is your screen broken?" Xiao Yu asks.
"I was trying to take a picture of the Class Listing when a group of students bumped into me. My phone got kicked from here and there and someone stepped into it." Su LingYun's face turns sour as she relives the scenario on her head.
"That's awful. Did the culprit offer to take your phone into a repair shop?" Zi Yue asks.
"Offer what? He kept running like nothing happened. He did not even stop to apologize to me." Su LingYun blurts in disappointment.
"Eh? How shameless. So, that means you were not able to catch him?" Weiwei, clarifies.
"No. I wasn't. I was too stunned to move or even call him out. And the place was also very crowded. He disappeared so fast."
"Oh poor Su LingYun. You could have at least seen his ID," Xiao Yu shakes her head.
"Even if she has seen his ID, there is no way she could have read it in a split second. She is near-sighted after-all." Chen Mi says in a low tone.
A brief moment of silence fills the air.
An image suddenly pops in Su LingYun's mind.
"Ah. That's right! I haven't seen his ID. But I can clearly remember his shoes and his socks!" she gasps.
"His socks?!" Xiao Yu asks in confusion.
Su LingYun nods "Mn. His socks".
"A senior high still wearing a child's socks. It is surely remarkable and ridiculous." Su LingYun murmurs as she grits her teeth. "I will surely make him pay for my broken screen." she punches the table.
Her friends stare at her, trying to contain their laughter.
"Okay. Okay." Xiao Yu glances at her watch, "But we should go and meet our homeroom teacher first."
"Ahhh..." Xi Weiwei complains and buries her head on the table.
"What's wrong? It's your fault for not taking the final tests seriously." Xiao Yu glares at Xi Weiwei.
Xi Weiwei unburies herself. That's not true at all." she retaliates, batting her eyelashes at Xiao Yu.
"Okay. Okay. Let's just go for now." Su LingYun wraps her arm around WeiWei's and signals XiaoYu not to provoke her anymore.