Kai looked down at the extra shoes he planned on bringing to school and sighed when he felt the hardened glue on his soles. It was ruined on the day of his tryouts, and he hadn't gotten around to replacing them yet.
The only other pair of shoes he had was made out of canvas. It was in better condition, yet it wasn't really suited for the court.
Kai stood from his bed and went to his Grandma to ask her to buy him a new pair of shoes.
However, as he got to the kitchen, he saw Grandma Bingbing sniffing while counting the money she earned yesterday. Her eyes were welling up with tears while a stack of money was in her hands. She wiped her eyes with her hands, but it only made her tear up even more.
Kai pursed his lips as soon as he saw this. Grandma Bingbing must not have made enough money yesterday.
"Abort mission," he whispered, going back to his room to quickly pack the worn-out rubber shoes. He also packed the jersey that Bao had kindly given him.
The white jersey had already been stained pretty badly from the car washing punishment and the unfortunate splatter accident on his way home. In the end, Bao didn't want to take it back, so he just gave it to Kai.
Kai placed his backpack on and was about to leave his room. However, he saw the lone piece of paper on top of his bedside table, causing him to halt. He nearly forgot to bring Mr. Dao's assignment!
He glanced at the time and saw that he only had a few minutes left until class started.
He cursed under his breath and started rushing. In his past body, he never had a hard time being early. However, it seemed like he had acquired this body's mannerisms since he always seemed to sleep through his alarm!
Kai bolted out of his room as soon as he packed his assignment.
"Bye, Grandma!" he exclaimed before leaving their house.
Meanwhile, Grandma, who had just finished cutting up another batch of onions, wiped her eyes with her apron.
"Ah, gosh. These onions are making me cry even though I made quite a lot of money yesterday," she smiled.
***
Fortunately, Kai arrived at their school with two minutes left to spare. His uniform was ruffled, and his hair looked more unkempt than usual, so his classmates evaded their gazes as soon as he walked in.
Kai saw their class representative, Haobin, already preparing to walk out of the room, so he quickly placed his arm across the door to stop him from leaving.
His classmate's eyes widened, wondering why Kai was doing this so early in the morning.
"He's really a good-for-nothing if he's picking a fight with Haobin," a boy in the room whispered.
Kai quickly rummaged through his bag and gave Haobin the crumpled assignment he worked hard on last night.
After that, he calmly went to his seat as the others continued whispering about him.
Bao looked at his friend, concerned. "You didn't get to copy my assignment anymore," he said.
"It's fine," Kai shrugged.
It wasn't that difficult anyway.
Haobin looked at the calm Kai and shook his head. He couldn't deny that he felt a bit afraid when he approached him. Haobin wasn't oblivious to Kai's past, so he wasn't too fond of their tall classmate.
Then, Haobin looked down at his crumpled paper, his frown deepening as he read its contents.
He shook his head before finally going out of the door and walking to the faculty room.
There, he saw Sir Dao and Sir Muchen talking among themselves. Haobin waited outside for a while since he didn't want to interrupt their conversation.
"How is your advisory class, Muchen?" Sir Dao asked the younger teacher, sipping from his favorite coffee cup.
Muchen scratched the back of his head before responding.
"They're alright," he said. "They haven't caused any problems yet, so that's good. However, I'm still not used to the job, so it's harder than I expected."
"Ha!" Sir Dao scoffed. "It's harder than usual because the headmaster gave you the most troublesome class."
Muchen turned to the old man with wide eyes.
Sir Dao chuckled as he looked at his expression. "Goodness, you're more naive than I thought. It's an unwritten rule in the book! The newest teacher gets the hardest class to teach."
"That Kai Guo guy—make sure to keep an eye on him," he continued. "I heard he isn't good news. Report to me any strange behavior you see. I'll make sure he gets expelled once that happens. I just can't stand the likes of him."
Muchen pursed his lips since he didn't know how to respond.
Sir Dao, noticing his silence, patted him on the back.
"Don't worry. You still have some decent kids in your class. Hao's a good student, and Bao's also good. As expected from people with names that rhyme with my last name," he proudly said.
Haobin, hearing his name from their conversation, finally decided to knock and peek his head inside.
"Oh, speaking of—there he is!" Sir Dao exclaimed.
"Come inside here, boy. Did you collect the papers like I had instructed?" he asked.
Haobin nodded and handed the old teacher the stack of papers. Sir Dao smiled in satisfaction.
"Great job. Now, get back to class. Sir Muchen would accompany you shortly," he said.
"Yes, sir," Haobin said, bowing his head as he left the faculty room.
"See?" Sir Dao smiled. "He's a nice boy, isn't he?"
"He is," Muchen said. "He's my current class representative."
"That's a good choice," Sir Dao said.
Muchen nodded and stood from his seat. "Well, l have to head to class now."
Sir Dao hummed and waved him away. Muchen left the faculty room, leaving the old man to check papers all by himself.
"Let's see," he muttered, looking at the piece of paper on the very top of the stack.
He frowned when he saw the condition of the piece of paper. He held it up and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"This looks like the toilet paper I wipe my butthole with," he insulted, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the name.
Kai Guo.
He shook his head. "As expected," he whispered.
Then, he put his reading glasses on so he could check his paper properly. He wasn't expecting a lot, though. For sure, Kai must have gotten a lot of answers wrong.
However, his frown deepened as he continued checking his paper.
That couldn't be right.