Song Liu seriously couldn't catch a break, man. All the humiliation and the constant fear of seeing Liang Xu's smug face were finally taking a massive toll on his brain. He couldn't concentrate for more than five minutes straight in any damn class. He'd sit there, staring at the textbook, but all he could hear was Liang Xu's voice calling him "loser" or remembering those trashy pictures of his love letter pasted on the locker. It was a nightmare.
Today, he got back his last three major quizzes, and they were all F's. Seriously, straight F's. Before all this miserable crap started, Song Liu was a decent student, at least. Now, his grades were completely plummeting, crashing hard and fast. He knew he was letting his parents down, who sacrificed everything just to keep him in this stupid school. He felt a terrible sense of failure on top of all the other misery.
His English teacher, a tired old lady named Ms. Davis, pulled him aside after class. She didn't know about the psycho bully, of course. She just looked at him with this worried expression. "Song Liu, you look exhausted. You've been missing assignments and your test scores are shocking. Is everything alright at home?" she asked, like she cared, but also like she was judging his pathetic life.
Song Liu just lied right through his teeth, muttering, "I'm just tired, ma'am. I'll study harder." He was too ashamed to tell her the truth: that every minute he wasn't staring at his reflection, he was worrying about when the next attack was coming from that rich bastard. How was he supposed to focus on stupid polynomials when his entire existence felt like it was about to be destroyed?
He knew if his grades kept dropping like this, he wouldn't graduate, and he certainly wouldn't be able to get a scholarship to help his family. Liang Xu wasn't just bullying him; he was actively destroying Song Liu's future, which was the most evil part of this whole goddamn thing. The hatred just got hotter and sharper inside him, a desperate fire burning against the cold terror.