Page 14 of Didn't See That Coming

She narrows her eyes at me for another second before nodding and turning back to the rest of the class. Oookay. I feel like I’m in some sort of high school boot camp. I sneak a glance at Liam, wondering if I should thank him, but he’s staring with rapt attention at the board. I should probably follow his lead.

For the rest of the class, I keep my head firmly down and my attention fully on taking in everything Ms.Tian says. Her class sounds like a real ass kicker, and by the time the period ends, we have an unbelievable amount of homework. Brutal, considering it’s the first day of the semester.

Fortunately, after our second class, it’s time for recess. Or maybe I should say unfortunately, because after the disaster that was my first two classes, I’m left with very little confidence. Me, the Fabulous and Marvelous Kiki Siregar, feeling unsure? Yep. And all it took was two classes at Xingfa.

Still, I rally. I’m sure this school isn’t as bad as my morning made it seem. I mean, there are people like Eleanor Roosevelt and George Clooney enrolled here, so how bad can it be? Eleanor Roosevelt is, as previously mentioned, a future conqueror of the world. Meanwhile, her brother is so incredibly nice. The way he treats and looks up to Sharlot would melt even the coldest heart. Of course, unfortunately, George is spending this semester in California on a study abroad program. He’s told everyone that it’s to further his studies in businessmanagement, but we all know it’s because he wants to be close to Sharlot.

I glance around the classroom as everybody stands, some of the students stretching. People start streaming out in pairs or bigger groups and everybody’s chatting and I feel so impossibly alone. Liam turns to me and looks like he’s about to say something, but Jonas leans back in his chair and says, “Well, you made quite the statement.” He’s still wearing that smirk, and I can’t decide if this is him trying to be friendly or just him being a jerk.

I have no idea how to respond to that, so I just shrug.

Liam gets up from his seat and says, “Take it easy,” as he leaves, and I have no idea if he was saying it to Jonas or to me.

Jonas gives me a once-over. “You have a really pretty smile. You should do it more often.”

“Excuse me?” I blurt out. Seriously? Did he really just tell me to smile?

“Okaaay. Don’t freak out, I was just trying to be nice.” He widens his eyes and looks over his shoulders like he’s expecting an audience. And, to my horror, there are a couple of guys who I’ve just now realized are waiting for Jonas. They both smirk and shake their heads. “Jesus,” Jonas mutters, shaking his head.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” he says to his friends, cocking his head toward the door, and the two guys follow him out of the classroom.

What just happened? I don’t get it. I thought it’s pretty much universally accepted that telling a girl to smile more isan asshole move. I’m still standing there, stunned, when Peishan, on her way toward the back door, leans close to me and mutters, “The fish rots from the head.”

“Sorry?”

She pauses, sighing like she’s annoyed that she has to explain something so obvious to me. “It’s a saying. If the head’s rotten, the rest of the body will follow suit. And Jonas is our head. He’s the class monitor, star tennis player, richest kid here, yada yada.”

“Uh. Right.” This is a lot of information, and I’m struggling to remember everything. I look at Peishan with hope. “Um, but you’re not…like, part of the Jonas fan club?”

She shrugs and adjusts her glasses. “I guess you could say I’m not part of the fish’s body.” She frowns. “Okay, the fish thing is a bad analogy, but let me stay with it. So, Jonas is the head and most of the other kids here are the body, and the body follows the head. I’m…” She waves her hands, trying to think of the right word.

“The sea turtle?” I suggest.

“Nah, that’s too cool for what I am. I’m more like the seaweed. Just hanging out in the background.”

I laugh, feeling much better than I have all morning. “That doesn’t sound so bad. I could be seaweed too.”

Instantly, Peishan’s eyebrows knit together. “No. You’re done for. You’re not even seaweed. You pissed Jonas off. I mean, that whole thing during the project discussion…” She sighs. “Yes, you’re right, that pose is overdone and clichéd, but you don’t just say that stuff to Jonas. You’re krill.”

“Krill?”

“Those little shrimp that fish eat.”

“I know what krill is. I just—”

She doesn’t wait for me to finish talking. She says, “Cool. Okay, see ya.” And with that, she walks off, leaving me alone in the classroom.

Outside, there are the distant, familiar sounds of students filing out of their classrooms, chatting and laughing easily. In here, there’s just me and my own heartbeat, thumping a manic, stressed-out rhythm in my ears. I make myself take a deep breath to slow down my rushing thoughts. Peishan must’ve been exaggerating. Yeah. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me. I’m not krill. I’m not even seaweed! Back at Mingyang, I was, if not the fish’s head, then damn near to the head. I was at the very least the fish’s neck. Do fish have necks? Okay, the gills. I was definitely at least the gills.

This fish analogy sucks.

Okay, focus. So the morning hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. But not everything is lost. I can still come back from my bumpy start. I just need a strategy. A battle plan. Let’s see, I’ve tried going head-to-head with Jonas, which was apparently a really bad idea. Okay, from now on, I am ignoring Jonas. Nothing he says is going to get to me. Good plan.

With that, I stride out of the classroom and follow the last of the students streaming toward the cafeteria. Xingfa’s cafeteria is huge, about three times the size of Mingyang’s. The noise is overwhelming. Due to the school’s immense student population, recess time is staggered into three groups, but still, there are over a thousand pupils in the cafeteria, and all of them seem to be talking and shouting and laughing. There areover twenty different food stalls, each one boasting healthy, organic foods. I walk past the stalls, my mouth watering at the various foods on offer. There’s a nasi and mee goreng stall (fried rice and fried noodles), a nasi uduk stall (coconut rice), a Hokkien mee stall, and even a grilled cheese stall. It’s the first difference from Mingyang that I actually appreciate. At Mingyang, there’s just one serving station, and it rotates between hot dogs, pizza, and frozen nuggets.

I join the line at the soto ayam stall (Indonesian chicken soup). I’m scanning the menu when I hear the familiar sound of Jonas’s voice. Crap. I was so distracted by the food stalls that I completely forgot to look out for Jonas. But seriously, what are the odds that we’d be near each other in this vast food hall? Why, Universe? Why are you doing this to me? I manage to stop myself from turning toward the sound of his voice and, instead, look down at my phone and pray to the universe that he won’t notice I’m there. A subtle glance tells me that he’s in the grilled cheese line to my right. I turn to my left, hiding my face, but my ears are pricked, following his voice the same way that a rabbit listens for the sound of its predators.

“—for tonight?” one of his friends asks.

---