Song Liu kept going to school, but honestly, he felt like he was just a ghost floating through the hallways. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, and the fear was giving him massive headaches every single day. He knew the mind games wouldn't last forever; Liang Xu was just waiting for the perfect moment to really make him suffer, the sadistic prick.
The next stage of the misery started today, and it was still small, petty bullshit, but it hurt like hell. When Song Liu got to his locker, someone—and he knew exactly who the fucking culprits were—had poured a whole can of cheap, sticky soda right down the grate on his locker door. His books inside were all sticky, and the thing reeked of sugar. He had to spend the entire break scraping the dried soda off his textbooks. It was so childish, but it ruined his whole damn morning.
Later, during gym class, the harassment got a little more physical. While they were running laps, one of Liang Xu's friends, a muscle-bound idiot named Mark, "accidentally" slammed his shoulder into Song Liu's back. It wasn't hard enough to make him fall, but it was enough to make his teeth click together. Mark just laughed and muttered, "Watch where you're going, Pauper." Song Liu was so angry, but he couldn't do a damn thing. He just kept running, feeling the rage build up inside his chest like a painful, hot knot.
The worst part was the vandalism. When he got home that night, he found out that someone had used permanent marker to scrawl the word "NERD" in huge letters on the side of his cheap, old bicycle. His bike was his only way to school and he loved that thing. His dad would have to spend hours trying to scrub that hateful word off, and it just made Song Liu feel sick. Why couldn't they just leave his damn life alone?
He felt the pure hatred for Liang Xu solidifying inside him. It wasn't just fear anymore; it was a desperate, burning resentment. He knew Liang Xu hadn't done the vandalism himself; he was too much of a high-and-mighty rich boy for that kind of dirty work. But he was the one pulling the strings, laughing from the safety of his expensive car. Song Liu swore that one day, somehow, he would make that fucking bully pay for every single petty, cruel thing he was doing to him and his family.
He went to bed feeling completely miserable and exhausted. He was spending all his energy just trying to survive the day, and he knew this was just the beginning. He just wanted the bullying to stop, but he knew with a terrifying certainty that Liang Xu wouldn't be done until Song Liu was totally crushed and maybe even out of the school for good.