"What were you talking about with Li Zeyan just now?"
Hai Lin flinched.
Sun Lingmei stood in front of her like a storm about to thunder.
"Nothing, he just… misunderstood me," Hai Lin replied quickly, waving her hands in defense.
Lingmei's eyes narrowed. "Li Zeyan is never wrong."
Okay, that was dramatic.
"I knew from the moment you showed up," Lingmei continued, "something was off about you."
Wait, what?! Hai Lin blinked. Is she talking about me like I'm some cursed artifact?!
Before she could say anything, Lingmei turned and stormed off like a tornado in heels.
---
When Hai Lin entered the classroom, it was like walking into a zoo. Whispers. Stares. People pretending not to look but absolutely looking.
She sat down slowly, feeling like an alien beamed into a high school soap opera.
Then came the final blow.
Plop.
A maths paper dropped onto her desk.
From Li Zeyan.
Hai Lin frowned. "What's this?"
Li Zeyan leaned in and whispered with the evil smirk of someone who's watched too many dramas.
"If you don't do this, I'll tell everyone you like me."
WHAT?!
She gawked at him. When did I ever say I liked him?! Has he lost his mind?!
But he was already lying down again like nothing happened.
Hai Lin clenched her fist, gestured like she was beating him up in her imagination, and began writing. Ugh, fine! You smug cactus!
---
Unfortunately, Sun Lingmei's fury levels reached maximum.
She turned and saw Hai Lin writing in Li Zeyan's notebook.
Like a bullet, she stomped over.
"What are you doing? Are you copying his homework?!"
Hai Lin's eyes widened. "Wha—no! I'm just helping him!"
Li Zeyan, of course, woke up, looked at Hai Lin instead of the one shouting, and said absolutely nothing useful.
The class now had full popcorn mode activated.
Lingmei folded her arms. "Helping him? Please. I saw your marks in the office yesterday—you barely passed math last year."
Hai Lin's soul left her body again.
"And you're helping the guy who used to rank first?" Lingmei shouted. "Don't joke."
She snatched both notebooks and marched off dramatically. "As math class rep, I'm showing these to the teacher!"
---
In the corridor, she bumped into none other than…
Sun Shian.
"What happened?" he asked.
Lingmei dramatically huffed. "That girl, Hai Lin—she tried to copy Li Zeyan's homework!"
Sun Shian looked past her.
Hai Lin stood frozen near the door, eyes shimmering with tears so thick she could barely see.
Sun Shian took the notebooks from Lingmei calmly and flipped through them.
"This isn't Zeyan's handwriting," he said, voice low. "This looks like Hai Lin's."
Lingmei snatched it back, squinted… and her face dropped.
It wasn't Zeyan's handwriting.
She blinked, muttered something unintelligible, and slinked back toward class.
Hai Lin was still rooted there, blinking hard.
Sun Shian walked over gently. "Did Zeyan make you do this? Is he… blackmailing you?"
Her heart did a weird backflip at how kind he sounded.
It was true. But if she said yes, that thug might really spread weird rumors about her.
"No… I did it on my own," she said quietly, taking the notes.
"Thanks," she mumbled, and walked back to class, head low.
Behind her, Sun Shian watched silently, frowning.