'Wenchun, I'm bored...'

'Then make some more friends, Xiaobai. Better yet, pay attention in class.'

'But I can't! None of the stuff, or any of them, are interesting...'

'You'll just stay in Class D for the rest of your school life then.'

'Wenchun!!!'

'I'm muting you now. See you at lunch.'

Before anything could be said back, Wenchun's mind went static before returning to the reality that was Class A-1's homeroom. At the front of the room was their homeroom and history teacher, Mr. Gao, a man of chubbier appearance and rosy cheeks who was taking attendance. To her right was Li Tingting, having taken up the seat next to her in the second row of the classroom. And any minute now during roll call she'd find out who Xie Muchen was, because somehow despite him reportedly sleeping through classes, skipping the classes he skipped, and never studying, Xie Muchen was one of the highest scoring students in the school.

Probably World preference of some kind. Then again, it required more memory than full understanding of things to pass in school, one of the many failings of mortal educational institutions in her opinion, but that was a conversation for another time.

"Xu Xingjuan?"

"Present."

"Xie Muchen?" Silence. "Xie Muchen?" Everyone started looking around the class curiously and Mr. Gao made a not-so happy face that looked strange . "Xie Muchen? Does anyone know where Xie Muchen is?"

A chorus of no and headshakes. Mr. Gao could only sigh and mumble as he marked the boy absent before continuing on with taking attendance. It wasn't a good look to be absent on the first day of school without reason or telling the homeroom teacher, not that Xie Muchen seemed like the type to care about appearances from what Xu Xingjuan's grasped on his character. He did almost hit someone with a car and then throw money at them before speeding off into the sunset.

Definitely did not seem like the type to care about appearances.

"Alright class," Mr. Gao had returned to his usually jolly demeanor and relaxed expression. "as you know, I will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year. As I'm sure you also know, this is Class A-1, the highest scoring class of our first-year students and with that status comes expectations to meet." Mr. Gao smiled "However, it is not shameful or bad for any of you to fall into a lower ranked class. I'd rather you score lower on a school-wide test and go into Class B-1 and come back better than ever the next one than have you collapse from exhaustion in the hallway. Everything is a learning experience and it's expected for some of you to stumble and fall behind, but I also believe that with those stumbles you will come back even better and bolder than before. My office will always be open for any help any of you will need, as will all our other teachers. Does everyone understand?"

A chorus of yes' and head nods.

Mr. Gao smiled wider. "Good. Now, that'll be all for homeroom. I'll see you all again for English class."

And with that the school day began proper.

With the ringing of the fifth bell signifying lunch break, Xu Xingjuan turned around to face Li Tingting who was putting her books away. "Tingting, would you like to join Xiaobai and I for lunch?"

"If it's no trouble for the both of you."

"It's no trouble at all." Xingjuan covered her mouth with a giggle. "What sort of trouble could it possibly be?"

Tingting couldn't help but blush. "Oh, I just thought that-"

"Xingjuan! I'm hungry!" The familiar whining of Xiaobai came from the hallway along with a rhythmic stomping of a foot. Xingjuan laughed again and Tingting's blush got deeper.

"I suppose we mustn't keep the princess waiting and throwing a tantrum in the hall." Li Tingting nodded in agreement and grabbed her lunch box from her bag before following Xu Xingjuan out into the hallway where Xiaobai was impatiently bouncing on her feet.

When she caught sight of them her eyes went from dull murky brown agitation to sparkly glazed chocolate joy. "What took you two so long? I wanna find good seats outside before they're all taken. The weathers fit for a picnic." Xiaobai seemed to get even more excited at the prospect of a picnic, outside in the sun instead of trapped within the walls of the classroom watching a clock tick by.

Xingjuan gave her cheek a pinch and tug, pulling Xiaobai out of her fantasies. "Is that any reason to yell in the hallways and disturb others? I thought Xiaobai had more common sense than that."

Xiaobai let out a whine and hid behind Tingting, holding her cheek. "I wasn't that loud, not enough to warrant a pinch. Tingting, tell her I wasn't that loud!"

Tingting looked at Xiaobai in relative silence before lightly patting her head. "I'm almost sure that the third floor heard you from here." And Xiaobai's self-defense collapsed.

"Oh, whatever. Let's just go."

opporoni

i'm in a slowburn typa mood guys, sorry