"—hua! Yunhua!"
I blinked and plucked the earphones from my ears. Muqin's[1] voice seemed too cheerful for 8 AM. "...Yeah, Mom?"
I sat in the back seat of my mom's car, watching the road roll by, the streetlights blurring into rivers of light from the rain that pitter-pattered down and drummed on the roof.
I watched the grey droplets sliding off the windows instead of focusing on my mom.
Shivering, I tucked my hands into the pockets of my blazer along with my earphones. My backpack sat on the next seat, staring back at me like a passenger I didn't want.
Muqin sighed. "Really, Yunhua. It's your first day back. Aren't you excited? You get to see your girlfriend Guiying again."
…Right.
My stomach twisted. I'd never told my mom that we broke up. I… never really wanted to correct her. Maybe part of me didn't want to say it out loud. Girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend. Past tense, Muqin. Sigh…
I leaned my head against the window. The glass was cold and stung. I didn't say another word and sullenly crossed my legs that were bare beneath the short skirt that made up the bottom half of my school uniform.
"You should smile more," Muqin said, half-joking. "Guiying will be happy to see you."
"Yeah," I lied.
The word tasted like rain.
We pulled up in front of Fourth High, the headlights cutting through the mist. I tugged at my collar, the fabric too tight against the choker necklace hidden underneath. I wasn't supposed to wear it, but I didn't care.
I fingered a tiny stud earring that was buried along with my ears in my hair. I wasn't supposed to have piercings either, but…
Muqin called over her shoulder as I wrenched open the car door. "Have a good day—oh, okay."
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and stepped out into the pelting rain that soaked through my blazer in seconds. I shivered, looking at the school gates through the gray blur.
…I might just get this over with. Pretend it doesn't matter. Pretend that she doesn't matter.
Other students rushed past, blurring past me in their new raincoats. Did they issue those after I'd left? They looked fresh. …Either way, they probably weren't the kind of people who'd messed up badly enough to run away for two years.
Messy shoulder-lengthed hair plastered to my neck and my bangs clung to my forehead. I hugged myself with my arms, feeling the buckets of wintry water run down my body as I started forwards.
My footsteps were drowned by the psh-psh-psh of incessant rain around me.
Then—
"Meimei, aren't you going to run inside? You're going to get soaked."
The voice was soft but clear, cutting cleanly through the downpour of droplets splashing onto concrete. I turned slightly, but the downpour blurred everything beyond a few meters. Someone was following behind me—a girl holding a pale white umbrella that barely looked wet.
"I'm fine," I muttered and kept walking. Maybe if I kept to myself this time, I could survive the year. No friends. No drama. No one to leave.
The footsteps came quicker, then stopped right beside me, pushing the pale umbrella into my hands with a sigh. When I looked up, I caught a flash of long black hair and glowing cherry-red eyes.
"Take it," she said. "I don't want you getting a cold."
Before I could respond, she turned and ran toward the school, her skirt and blazer clinging to her as the rain swallowed her up.
I just stood there, holding the umbrella. The rain around me sounded… quieter.
"...What the heck?"
When I looked up again, she was already gone.
[1] 母亲 (CN) - Mother. Usually, people say 妈妈, or mama, as that's the informal version that's used when speaking to or referring to your own mother. Yunhua's been away from home for a long while, which is why she's using Muqin (she isn't as close to her mother)