Bad Boys

As she neared the gate, she saw Teacher Wang. He was doing his usual chore of punishing the defaulters. She tried to stop but she accidentally tripped over a small rock. Just as she was about to fall on her face, she immediately shut her eyes. A hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her. She heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you for saving me. How will I ever repay..."

"Save it." It was her best friend Nie Ankai. She was a daring and courageous girl who was skilled in judo and loved being a leader. Common to both was the love for movies and dramas.

Bei Shiyi continued with her dialogues, "Please at least accept a token of my gratitude," she said as she acted like removing a bangle from her hand.

"Enough...Enough.. I don't want to accept a token and then, wait for three lifetimes for such a small thing." Nie Ankai said and they both started laughing.

"Of course, I really don't understand how can people wait for three lifetimes, just to return a bangle and meet the person they love."

"It all happens in movies and dramas. People feel the love of the characters for each other and accept it to be real. Dramas and movies are just peoples' utopian* vision of how they want the real life to be."

<*Utopia- Too good to be true.>

Both of them walked to the gate and greeted Teacher Wang.

"Good Morning Teacher Wang." Both of them said.

"Good Morning students. I see, the two girls have become more chirpy after a month of holidays. But you must remember that you are no more kids, and already in grade three now. You will be going to the university next year. So, brace yourself up to work hard. Anyway, I am really glad to see both of you. I was too tired of seeing the faces of those regular defaulters." He said as he pointed towards a bunch of kids standing at a distance with their hands up.

There they were! It was the group of 'Bad Boys'.

<It is not me who is calling them so. But they themselves named them their group 'Bad Boys'.>

They were the group of the most popular three boys of the school. They were in the same class as Bei Shiyi. They were the regular defaulters. Not just unform but also, homework, books, stationery.

They were only interested in sports. They were the part of the school basketball team and always up for the annual sports day. No teacher punished them too hard as they were the ones who had the responsibility of making the school proud in annual sports meet. They were usually on duty for various championships and seldom came to school. Whenever, they came to school, they were usually out of their class 'enjoying' their punishments.

Bei Shiyi and Nie Ankai walked further inside the school campus. The huge building painted in off-white, with CHENGNUO* written in the center. That was their school, Chengnuo High School.

<The word 'chengnuo' means a promise.>

The school was surrounded by lush green gardens with various flowers. The grass was neatly cut. In the middle of the garden, there was a statue of two eagles crossing each other's wings and 'chenguo' was written below it. The eagles looked as if crossing their pinkies and making a promise.

They walked on the red-tiled path which separated the two gardens and led to the main building. As they entered the building, they scanned their id-cards and walked to the stairs. Their classroom was on the first floor. They alighted the stairs and reached their new classroom. It was similar to their previous classroom. But it was a little bigger and much more airy. The two-seater benches were made into three rows, each row having seven benches.

Both of them, made their way to the row facing the windows. They sat on the fourth bench as all the front benches were occupied. Nie Ankai sat on the inner-side while, Bei Shiyi on the outer-side, as Bei Shiyi was used to sitting on the outer side ever since, she was a kid.

This was not out of liking but out of habit. Bei Shiyi had been the class monitor since, she was in kindergarten. So, she had to go in and out more often, as compared to rest of the kids. So, she always sat on the outer-side, so as not to disturb the child sitting by her side. By now, she was used to sitting on the outer-side.

When, they had settled down, they ran their eyes down on the rest of their classmates. They were all familiar faces.

Then, she came and Bei Shiyi and Nie Ankai's faces turned sour at her arrival.