White Roses Dyed Blood Red

Next day

Yaorui's day started the minute the clock hit 4:30 am. She brushed her teeth and got ready to go to the gym for a simple morning exercise. The school did not provide classes to exercise unless you specifically choose them, but students still had to spend at least six hours at the gym per week. Students had to check-in and out using the ID cards provided by the school.

On her way out the door, Yaorui grabbed a banana and an energy shake that was prepared the night before. At 4:50, she was on the monorail and on her way to the gym.

When Yaorui arrived at the gym, there was one other person who was attempting to operate the new treadmill.

"Can you help me with this please?" Yaorui turned towards the other person and walked towards him.

The guy looked to be around fifteen or sixteen and was skinny looking, he looked half Asian and half white.

"It says that I can listen to music here, but where do I plug my headphones in?"

"You don't," He looked at me in absolute confusion. "You pull the handle, the headphones should be in the drawer," I said while showing him how to do it on my own treadmill. "Make sure that the treadmill and the headphones are synced, pick a music app, and then play whatever song you want."

"Thanks," I hummed at him and started my fifteen-minute run.

At six, I went to the locker rooms to shower and change, she wanted to be at her class at least thirty minutes before class so that she could have some extra time to read or study.

"Hey, wait up." Yaorui turned around and was met with a familiar face.

"How can I help you?" She tried her best to sound distant yet friendly at the same time.

"I don't know where the cafeteria is, could you take me there?" I looked him up and down and walked away towards the monorail station.

After a few steps, I realized that he wasn't following me, when I turned around, he was still awkwardly standing the same place.

"Are you coming or not?" I looked at him, annoyed and irritated.

On the monorail, he chatted non-stop, "I'm a new second year. What year are you in? How old are you? I'm fifteen, I transferred here from America. Do you speak English? You don't talk much do you?" twenty minutes later the monorail stopped at the dormitories, several students filed in from both the boys and girls side. As the seniors started to enter the cart, Yaorui stood up, offering her seat to a senior in a sign of respect.

After all the seniors had boarded the forth years followed behind, then the third, second and first.

"Yaorui! Yaorui, over here! Excuse me, sorry." Yaorui watched as her friends struggled towards her squeezing past the sea of navy bodies.

"Finally, what's your homeroom?" Gebao wheezed.

"Class A, 26, what about you?"

"We are all in the same class!" Gebao gave Sheng Rong and I a tight hug as she squealed.

"Did you go to the gym without me today?" This time it was Sheng Rong who spoke.

"Hmm, I didn't want to wake you, so I left," By this time, Yaorui had already forgotten about the guy from the gym.

Five minutes later, the monorail finally arrived at the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was split into six sections. The first five were meant for the students according to year, the remaining one was meant for the staff. The food was ordered on tablets that were displayed on the tables, each table had twelve seats and six tablets.

As the three girls focused on creating their meal, three other presences were patiently waiting for them to be noticed. All three had their cards out and were waiting for the perfect moment to offer them.

"What are you going to get?" Sheng Rong asked, still looking down at the screen

"Egg waffles, chocolate milk, fruits, and chocolate truffle cake," Gebao answered.

"Of course your meal would contain tons of sugar, how about you Yaorui?"

"Sunnyside eggs, toast, salad, fruits and an energy smoothie. What did you pick?"

"Cereal and yogurt."

"Is that it?" Gebao questioned.

"Hmm,"

"How do you survive like that?" Sheng Rong shrugged.

The girls all finalized their orders and reached for their individual cards.

"Use mine." Three voices spoke out.

Yaorui, Sheng Rong, and Gebao all jolted at the sudden intrusion of voices. They looked over the tablets and saw three boys each with their card out.

"Who are you?" Gebao asked the boy in front of her.

"I bumped into you yesterday so I thought that I could pay for your meal as an apology. I'm Ran Jiexu, in case you didn't know." On the outside, he seemed completely unfazed, but both his friends could see that he was screaming inside.

"You don't have to pay, I can pay for myself."

"I'll feel guilty if I don't though," Ran Jiexu tried playing the guilt card.

"Then ... I guess you can pay..." he smiled and walked over to her side and inserted his card.

Meanwhile...

"Y-Yah! Why do you want to pay for my meal? What did you do this time?" Sheng Rong projected her voice.

"Aish~! Do you have to be so loud?! Plus it's not me who wants to pay, they said that if I didn't then I would have to ask you out!" Mu Jian Nu screamed back.

"Even if you asked me out I'd say no,"

"Just take the card." he shoved the card into Sheng Rong's hands.

"NO!" Not taking no as an answer, Jian Nu shoved Sheng Rong out of the way and inserted his card.

"You happy now?" He looked at his lovesick friends and sat down across from Sheng Rong. By then Hu Angli had already paid for Yaorui's meal, he had taken advantage of the fact that she couldn't reject him.

When the food arrived Hu Angli snatched it away from Yaorui and proceeded to spoon-feed her.

"Open your mouth, if you don't eat you will do badly in class and you don't want that now do you?" Yaorui was hesitant, but after hearing Angli's coaxing, she finally gave in and allowed him to feed her.

When Angli was done feeding her, Yaorui whispered into Gebao's ear

"She says that your punishment is shortened by two days."

Hearing that, Hu Angli was bursting with joy. Even though it was just two days less, it was still an accomplishment for him.

"The little prick's advice was right after all!" He thought.

At six-fifty the group set off for their classes.

"Can I carry your bag for you?" Jiexu looked at Gebao with hopeful eyes. "If you reject me, you'll hurt my feelings."

"O-okay then." Contented, Jiexu grabbed her bag and offered his arm to here. Gebao hooked her arm around his and allowed him to lead her off.

Seeing the affectionate future couple Yaorui suddenly got an idea. Yaorui tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to squat down. Angli who was confused got the hint and complied to her request, Yaorui climbed onto his shoulders' and felt his hands grip firmly on her calves as he stood up.

"Jian Nu!" Angli called out, "How about you and your lightbulb [1] buddy race us to class?"

"What do you say Lu Sheng Rong? Should we accept their challenge?" Jian Nu looked the feisty girl next to him.

"Are you sure you're fast enough?"

"Are you doubting me?!"

"Yes,"

"Get on. I'll show just how fast I can run."

"What class?" Angli asked.

"A26,"

"You ready?" Jian Nu looked at Angli.

"3...2...1...GO!"

Both boys ran at top speed, their feet pounded on the floor as they ran. Their partners were laughing and screaming, along the way. Even Yaorui had forgotten about the punishment she had set for Angli, instead, she urged him faster, and encouraged him to win. And of course, Angli was ecstatic hearing her voice once again, her words and squeals drove him faster towards the classroom.

It was exhilarating.

And he loved it.

He loved her voice, her squeals, her laughs, her words of encouragement.

He loved everything about the moment.

At that moment he didn't care about the fact that they were running down the halls or creating loud noises, he didn't care about the fact that they went to a school for geniuses and were expected to act refined and elegant, they still kids and kids needed to have fun.

"We did it! You did it! You were amazing, I can't imagine the last time I had that much fun." Yaorui was over the moon! She honestly couldn't remember the last time she was so excited over something as silly as a race.

Angli listened blissfully at Yaorui's praises as he set her down and enveloped her in his arms. He was tall enough to be able to rest his chin on top of her head, her arms moved to wrap around him as well. Both of them were reliving their victory together.

"Can you guys stop with the dog food yet?" Sheng Rong stood behind them with her arms crossed,

"Yes, please do. You are torturing my poor single heart Yaorui-ah." Gebao rested her hand over her heart and pretended to faint onto Jiexu.

"Since we are torturing you so much, why don't you go on a date with Ran Jiexu? Hmmm~," Yaorui couldn't help herself, she was a sucker for romance novels and could instantly sense something going on with the two.

"Didn't you ground brother-in-law? So why are you talking to him now?"

"Good point," She turned towards Angli, "Your curse has been lifted."

"Let's go inside now, class starts in fifteen," Sheng Rong said and walked into the class.

"That reminds me. Where is your class Ran Jiexu?" Gebao turned towards him and locked her doe eyes with his deep-set eyes.

"I-I'm in your class." He stuttered.

"WHAT!?" Both Angli and Jian Nu exclaimed.

"That's great! You can be my new desk buddy,"

"R-really," Jiexu was too shocked to care about his blushing face and stuttering voice.

"Of course! We're friends after all." All it took was one second for Ran Jiexu's world to fall apart.

Friends...friends...he was being friend-zoned!

Oh well, that just meant that he would have to try harder to get her to fall in love with him.

The group of five entered the classroom and were met with a mindblowing sight. Lu Sheng Rong was allowing another male to sit next to her. Not only that, but they were laughing and talking together!

The short melody played on the speakers signalling that class was to begin soon. Yaorui and Angli took the seats in front of Sheng Rong and the mystery boy in the second row, Gebao and Ran Jiexu sat in the first row in front of Yaorui and Angli, whereas Jian Nu sat right in the middle of a group of his own fangirls.

"Good morning Class A 26 students." A tall and imposing lady walked in.

"Good morning Teacher of Class A 26," The whole class stood up and greeted her.

"I am Mrs. Shi, you may address me as Teacher Shi."

"Yes, Teacher Shi."

"You may take a seat," She waited until the whole class was seated before continuing, "This year's new student will be in our class, please treat him well. You may come in!"

A boy walked in dressed in the school's uniform, the moment he walked in almost the girls admired him. He was very handsome for his age, but for people like Gebao, Sheng Rong, and Yaorui who already had their share of handsome boys they were not affected by his looks.

"Hello, my name is An Samuel and I am fifteen years old. I was transferred here from America. Please take care of me, and I hope that we will all be friends in the future."

It was him.