Rumors are like the wind, and every time they get passed around, they get stronger. Sometimes, they get twisted and go in the wrong direction.
There is a joke which is not a joke: A parent sent her child to the store to buy a crate of eggs, a box of chocolate, and three loaves of bread. The child went to the store singing what his parent asked him to buy, but when he arrived home, he had three boxes of chocolate, two crates of eggs, and one loaf of bread.
The child knew what he was asked to buy, but along the way, his desire for chocolate got ahead of him.
That is the same with rumors; people put more potency on what they want to hear.
The rumor may start true, but by the distance it travels, it will turn out to be a lie.
Mickey finally got a chance to get to school after the 'unexpected' incident. The students' desks were arranged according to grades, and thanks to their class having 31 students, Mickey was the only one at the back bench.
Mickey didn't mind this setting. He had his feet on the table with one leg above the other, his eyes absorbed by the cars passing on the main street outside the school.
He had this lethargic aura about him; in all honesty, he didn't want to come to school. If it weren't for Hugh Qian, who berated him last night, he wouldn't have come. His soul is 23, but he already considers school his enemy.
With nothing left to do, he let his ears wander across the room. He knew that at this age, people would be in all sorts of dramatic situations, whether it be academics, sports, group fights, or even romance.
He was planning to add fuel to the fire, although he wouldn't get anything out of it. He liked trouble! He wanted people to suffer for his own entertainment purposes!
"Mickey, no, F-Grader is back."
"I thought he would transfer after what happened to him."
"Tsk, lucky bastard, how come he is the only one who got felt up by Miss. Hugh?"
"I feel your pain. I should lie that I fell from a three-story building and use my body to let Miss. Hugh heal me. I can't believe Mickey got to feel all that ass himself. I curse, I say! I curse his 12 generations!"
'This...' Mickey's lips twitched after hearing the rumors. He didn't expect that the drama going around was going to be based on him.
Within a few minutes, a student walked up to him. The boy had a complex expression on his face, filled with sadness and rage. "F-Grader, did you really do it, have sex with Miss. Hugh, I mean?"
Mickey didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In his past life, he was in the same shoes as the boy. There was a female teacher he had a crush on, and when word got around that she was fucked in the locker room, he went to ask the boy in the rumor. The result was that he got his ass beat up. The only thing he did was find the video and post it on the internet. That didn't remove the fact that he had many sleepless nights because of the pain.
Mickey smiled inwardly, but his face remained indifferent. He took out a spirit coin with '1' written in the middle and handed it to the boy.
"What do I need this for? Do you think I am broke like you?" The boy's voice was hoarse and full of arrogance. His face was contorted in rage, and he was one step from punching Mickey.
The red-eyed boy's lips curled up a little. He squeezed the hand he left the spirit coin in until it crushed. "I am hungry, buy me a full pizza and a soft drink, and give me 30 spirit coins change, do you understand?"
"Yes, yes…please let me go." The boy cried out in pain and didn't have the strength to refuse. The kid who gets bullied by everyone was bullying him. It felt odd, but the smile Mickey had told him he would regret it if he refused.
Mickey got his pizza and drink together with a little pocket change. He let the boy go and just sipped his beverage. His eyes would sometimes wander towards the protagonist's grandmother who had caused this rumor, and also the handsome grandfather.
"F-Grader! Stop drinking in class! Remove your feet from the table!" A charming voice called out to Mickey from the door, and anyone could tell how pissed off it was.
If it were anyone else, Mickey wouldn't have done it, but this person was the one in the rumors, Hugh Qian.
The girl with a pixie cut threw a disdainful gaze at him. She had tried hard to explain that nothing actually went on between her and Mickey, but it seemed like she was only saying that to protect her reputation as an 'esteemed Book Lord'.
She wanted Mickey to come to school with an injured head, but now he is like a newborn. No blemishes are on his skin. He looked far better than she expected him to be.
'Are those tattoos?' Hugh Qian opened her mouth lightly, 'What is he thinking to ink his body like that? Well, it is not my body. I will talk to him later.'
Hugh Qian just sighed and tried to ignore him to the best of her abilities. However, that wasn't for long, as she noticed Mickey almost falling asleep in her class. She had given him face because of their 'friendship', but he didn't seem to be giving her face at all.
"Mickey, come and balance the question on the board."
The young man turned to look at her. Although normal people couldn't feel it, she detected something in him, 'The bloodlust in his eyes has gotten sharper...did he kill someone?'
Hugh Qian couldn't remove the worry in her heart. She had known Mickey for a long time, and his chances of killing were higher than him saving a life. He was weak but violent and didn't care much about his body.
What made her worry even more is that this isn't something he got through facing troubles in life; he was born like that!
Mickey didn't know what was going on in the tranquil teacher's mind and smiled with his head leaning against his palm. "If I get the correct balance, will I have the rest of the day off? My head still hurts. Ouch, ouch. Even talking to you like this hurts and keeps on swaying to the side every time. If I stay here any longer, I might collapse again. Maybe this time I will fall on a sharp object."
Hugh Qian scorned in her mind at how shameless Mickey was acting. 'Does he think I don't know he has been failing his grades on purpose so that he avoids getting bullied even more? Gu Mickey, you can fool everybody, but not me!'
A lot of chit-chat started taking place after Mickey's request. No one was in his favor; everyone could tell this boy was completely fine and just wanted to goof off somewhere.
Hugh Qian knew that agreeing with Mickey would add fuel to the rumor, but so what? She could 'talk' to these people spreading the rumor and see if they dared to say it again.
Her expression became stiff, and she gave Mickey a cold look for using her. "You will go home during break time."
Hugh Qian is a Book Lord, and if she said Mickey will go home at break time, he will go!
Mickey had already found the solution to solving the balance sheet on the whiteboard. 'I can't believe I am in an accounts lesson again.'
The teacher he had a crush on taught accounts, and although he was good at it, he hated the whole subject when he saw the video of her being treated like a dog, screaming "Oh God!".
'Seriously, these teenage hormones are something. Wasn't I going out with the principal's daughter at that time?' Mickey cleared his thoughts and walked to the board. He would spend the whole day speaking about how many girlfriends he had in his past life. He had his first kiss when he was 10!
Mickey's steps were neither fast nor slow and had this arrogant aura that made the students scoff at him in their minds.
Damn F-Grader! I wish for him to trip and fall!
I hope he fails and stays the whole day in detention!
'There is nothing stopping me now. If you are watching, then watch! Nothing is going to change because you dislike me!' Mickey smiled at the students, and his thoughts were reflected in his eyes, which made them portray all sorts of disdainful faces at him.
Mickey took a marker and started filling in the incomplete balance sheet. After a few minutes, he had balanced everything and slowly walked back to his seat.
"Good. Everybody, clap your hands for Mickey."
The students didn't want to do it, but they had to clap their hands for that F-Grader. The feeling left a bitter taste in their mouths that Mickey enjoyed watching in his heart.
'I wonder how they would react if they knew that I actually embezzled some of the funds in the balance sheet to tease Qian.'
'I see now. He must have realized his mistakes and is now hanging on a rope out of hell.' Hugh Qian couldn't hide her smile before telling the students to be silent and continuing with her lessons.
Break time arrived, and Mickey was leading the "going home club" and was already making his way to the gate when one of his bullies was blocking his path.
Crack-!
The boy cracked the knuckles of his big hands. "Gu Mickey! Where are you running to?! Why don't you go on your knees and beg for mercy? Maybe I will let you go for old times' sake."
Seeing that haughty smile, Mickey snickered in his mind. 'It's that cliché third-rate villain who always finds trouble with the main characters.'
The person before Mickey is the principal's son, and in the future, he really does become a Book Lord who will cause a lot of things for the characters.
'We are both going to be killed by the same person, but I am going to kill him soon. However, let's take advantage of him first.'
Mickey suppressed his urge to kill and smiled. "Someone is touching your girl's sweet behind at the moment."