Prev Next
Chapter 1 Part 3

Chapter 1 Part 3

In the classroom, when I am able to see Jessie Hsu, it set in that this was in fact reality.

Jessie Hsu, who everyone just calls Jess, has a doll-like face and a petite but well proportioned body. She is always filled with positive energy, almost like she carries a portable sun around her, spewing light. Even her old-fashioned straight bob with bangs seemed to be filled with joyfulness. She wears the same female uniform as everyone else, but hers always brings a sense of freshness.

A girl like this in the same class, have I never confessed to her? How did I miss her?

While the teacher is speaking up on the podium, my face is facing the front, although my eyes are on Jess. I am quite curious about this girl who suddenly called me.

The moment the bell rings and the teacher dismisses the class, unlike the others, I don't rush out the classroom like a bunch of wild animals unleashed. I stay put, observing Jess until she stands up from her seat and leaves the classroom laughing with another classmate.

I suddenly get it, a type of eureka moment.

Jess is the freaking BFF of Wendy Yang!

No wonder I don't remember Jess that much, it was due to some sort of auto-protection mechanism my brain has that automatically blocks everything that had to do with Wendy, including her friends.

Wendy Yang has more nicknames than a normal person should have, so many that I don't even want to count. This woman is too scary, a super S1, it was as if she had metallic tattoos all over her body, and whoever dare approaches her quickly realize they are about to be hurt.

There are many legends in regards to her. One was that her brother, the star player of the baseball team, was only a step away from being a punk and that he once fought ten gangsters with a baseball bat and won!

Back in tenth grade2 I didn't know about this, so purely based on Wendy's princess-like face and gracefulness, I carefully prepared a rose and a love letter, planning to confess to her after school.

I still remember that day perfectly, since it was such a traumatic experience——

"Open your mouth."

Wendy said that after taking my rose and letter.

Is she telling me to open my mouth so she can kiss me? I was a bit embarrassed.

"Open it wider, as wide as you can."

I tried and pushed the limits of my mouth, I didn't expect a kiss to be like this.

In that moment of confusion, a rose was stuck into my mouth, and in a second moment of confusion, a love letter rolled into a cylinder shape was shoved into my mouth.

"Trash should stay in the trash can."

After saying that, she turned and left. My eyes watched that proud silhouette walk away, she has left a considerable amount of trauma upon my heart. Yet, I wasn't angry at all, as if the way Wendy humiliated me was her destiny and it was my duty to be bullied.

I still remember crying in fifth sis' embrace for that entire night.

"What are you in a daze for?"

Percy wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me from the painful past.

"I wasn't daydreaming, I was remembering the past."

"What happened?"

"It's extremely depressing, don't wanna talk about it."

"Your depression, is it also paired with an unending amounts of pain?"

TN.

Sadist (look up BDSM for more info lol NSFW)In Taiwan, highschool lasts for three years, the American 10th, 11th, and 12th grade.

"Alright, let's stop that edgy talk right there."

"Oh, is your sister coming during lunch? Why don't eat together at the student store?", asks a back-to-normal Percy.

Today when I left the house with sis four and five, I remember seeing extra lunch boxes in fifth sis' hand so I reply helplessly, "Let's eat at the student store then."

"Let's go."

I take out the hundred NTD bill stashed in my bag, and right as I was about to tell fifth sis I had a prior appointment with a teacher, someone calls my name, wait no....

It was two people who called my name.

"Brybry."

"Classmate Bryce."

One comes from the left and the other from the right, this pincer movement nails my legs onto the ground.

From the left is Jess with a lunch box in her hand.

From the right is fifth sis with a lunch box in her hand.

In front is Per...ah whatever, he isn't important anymore.

"Why don't we eat lunch together and talk about the project?"

With Jess' innocent and pure expression, even if she asked me to go eat lunch with her in the septic tank, I'd probably go anyways?

"Fifth sis." I take a lunch box from her hand, "I already have an appointment with a classmate to discuss our project, this could affect the chances of getting a recommendation letter, so that's why I won't be eating with you today."

".......Oh." Fifth sis' face flashes with a trace of doubt, "But three of us can...."

"Thank you for your lunch fifth sis."

I smile genuinely at her. With both hands on her shoulders, I turn her 365 degrees, and send her on her way back to 12th grade classrooms.

Percy knows it was about time he left, so he leaves without another word, going on his way to eat at the student store alone. He deserves to called my best friend, he finally has a clear brain and didn't try to drag me away from a good situation.

Thus, Jess and I with lunch boxes in our hands, walk to a patch of grass besides the track where a couple of wooden benches are present.

As we ate, I didn't know what to talk about, and it isn't due to nervousness. It is more like I didn't know what subjects to speak of, since I have no clue whatsoever in regards to the art project we have. On the other hand, if I make small talk on daily things, I'm not that friendly with Jess yet to know what we share in hobbies. I couldn't talk about LoL or Yui Hatano with her, could I?

Phew, Jess didn't let the awkwardness last for long.

While eating elegantly, she starts to go through the general outline of the project.

So from what I gather, the teacher drew sticks for pairs of opposite sex, and each pair had to work together to take portraits of each other. While you had to utilize basic artistic concepts, there was no theme, any background, location, position, clothing was all game. However, you must have a "reason", and you have to do a presentation. So basically, it wasn't something that we could solve with a few clicks of the shutter.

From Jess' serious face, I could tell that she is quite serious about this project. This is terrible news to me as I am completely incompetent when it comes to art, if I dragged her grades down...... wouldn't that be real embarrassing?

Being truthful is always better, if I pretend I am fine stubbornly, I would be even more embarrassed in the future.

"To be honest..... I don't understand photography at all, and I'm always messing around during class."

I scratch my head feeling embarrassed.

"Yea I know, don't worry about it." Jess kept a calm face while nodding, "That's why the teacher paired us up." She didn't even have the slightest hint of ditching me, what an amiable girl, I say to myself.

"Tomorrow...by the latest the day after tomorrow, I'll send the portrait compositions and a couple of good backdrops to you, and after we finalize it, the shooting can be done on the weekends."

Jess unexpectedly has a sense of maturity that starkly contrasts with her child-like appearance, this interesting contrast makes me want to know more about her.

"Are you not going to eat that chicken?"

Suddenly, Jess asks me while staring.

This is when I realized that I barely ate the lunch box fifth sis made for me.

"Probably not, I'm not very hungry."

"Oh, then can I have it?"

".....Sure."

Without further ado her chopsticks goes straight into my lunch box, grabs the chicken, and pops it into her small and exquisite mouth.

"Were you not full?" I ask absentmindedly.

She smiles slightly and covers her mouth with her hand, "It's not that, it was because your lunch look so delicious."

"Is that so?"

I thought it was pretty normal.

"It tastes really good as well, a lot of time must have been spent on it right?"

"Probably."

Talking about it, I didn't know where fifth sis got the time to prepare lunch for me, we had class 200 days a year, which means 200 lunches......

Jess and I make some small talk, she asks a question, I reply - the awkwardness between us starts to fade away. She got to know me better and I got to understand my fellow classmate as well.

Halfway through our conversation, she suddenly switches topic and her voice gets a bit quieter.

"I think.... we can probably be friends."

"Huh?" I am surprised.

"In our class, other than Wendy, I don't have many friends." Even though Jess' words sounded sad, her face did not show a hint of bitterness, "Originally, when the teacher was randomly choosing groups, I was really worried that I would get matched with someone who hated me."

"Me too......"

I go along with her, even though I didn't care who I got matched with.

"Thank goodness I got matched with you." Jess smiles brightly, "Since you don't have many friends right?"

"......."

I see why she doesn't have many friends now.

"Plus your name, Bryce Lee, sounds like that type that will be a loner forever."

"......."

"Glad to meet you." Jess closes her empty lunch box, wipes her hands, and extends it towards me, "Let's shake hands."

"Shake hands?"

I raise my left hand slowly.

Jess didn't mind it and grabs my hand. She shakes my hand while smiling the sweetest smile, so sweet my blood pressure goes up.

It turns out a girl's hand is so soft.

"Let's eat together again tomorrow."

These words resonate and echo within my mind until Jess lets go, packs her lunch away, says goodbye, and arranges our lunch tomorrow ....... those words still echo endlessly within my head, leaving me with a dumb smile.

I even forgot to say goodbye to her - an unprecedented blank out.

Report error

If you found broken links, wrong episode or any other problems in a anime/cartoon, please tell us. We will try to solve them the first time.

Email:

SubmitCancel

Share