Chapter 6 Taking Something Without Permission Is Stealing

The bell rang, signaling the next class, which would be Chinese.

The Chinese teacher's surname was Liao, and he was a short and stubby middle-aged man. He was known to have a good sense of humor and was fond of quoting classical authors in class, so Alina liked his class.

Students seemed to favor his class compared to others, and liked the Chinese subject more than Math.

It was one of those classes that flew by in a happy and relaxed atmosphere.

After their second class, it was time for morning exercise. Alina didn't know if this was like the morning exercises in her original world.

A small smile appeared on Alina's face as she heard the familiar tune.

When the music started,

the students in the class all stood to walk towards the door. Alina stood up, turned to her seatmate, and asked, "Let's go, shall we?"

Yana was still flustered by Alina's teasing, so she replied in a firm voice, "No!"

Alina wanted to find a guide. Since Yana refused, Alina decided to follow her other classmates.

The morning exercises were held on the campus playground. The students rushed to the stairs, and soon the hallways were bustling with the sounds of students' talking and laughter.

Alina followed closely after her classmates, hoping that she would somehow find her way.

When the students were all gathered on the playground, those who came from the same class huddled together. The boys and girls stood in separate lines. Alina was behind a girl in the middle of the queue.

"The ninth set of morning exercises will begin now."

A student was demonstrating the movements on stage, and Alina focused her attention on memorizing the moves.

By the time the morning exercises finished, she felt more at ease.

When the teacher dismissed them, the students all returned to their classrooms. The hallways and stairwells were packed with students, so Alina decided to wait before she went back upstairs.

She waited under a tree beside the teaching building. A cool breeze wafted past her, cooling her exercise-reddened cheeks. Alina felt cozy and relaxed.

Hand in hand, two girls passed by Alina and whispered among themselves.

"Look! That's Alaina!"

"Is that her? She's not even that pretty. Why is she such a snob?" As the students moved past Alina, she couldn't hear what else they said about her.

Another set of girls deliberately passed by to gossip about Alina.

Alina pretended not to notice them and decided to enjoy the view instead. 'They can't hurt me,' she thought to herself.

When the corridor was mostly empty, she let out a sigh of relief and walked towards the teaching building.

Before she could open the door, she heard noises coming from inside the classroom.

A short and thin boy held a piece of paper in front of him and read it with a smirk. His classmates all burst into laughter.

The paper in his hands looked vaguely familiar to Alina. She braced herself and took a deep breath before she walked into the classroom.

"I like peeking at you, and every time I do, my heart would race..."

When the boy saw Alina enter the classroom, he immediately stopped reading and hid the paper behind him, a look of guilt evident on his face. The other students looked at one another, then they all fixed their eyes on her.

Alina thought she might've been wrong, but now it was evident that the paper in his hand was the love letter she put on her desk.

The students continued to gape at her, so she decided she should probably say something so that they wouldn't be disappointed.

The boy stood awkwardly on the stage and struggled to meet Alina in the eyes.

When their eyes met, a small smile appeared on Alina's lips. She asked, "If you take something without asking, that's called stealing. Do you think it's a good idea to steal from your classmate?"

The boy's face turned bright red at her question. He thought it would be funny, and with his friends' encouragement, he secretly took Alina's love letter and read it on stage.

Now that he was caught, the boy was embarrassed.

However, teenagers usually had a misplaced sense of self-esteem. Even if they realized they were in the wrong, they had too much pride to apologize, especially in public.

"Although you wrote this love letter, you gave it to Leo, which means it belongs to him. What's the big deal if I read it out loud? Leo said nothing!" The more he spoke, the more he was convinced by his words. He gradually calmed down.

Alina couldn't help but laugh at his flawed reasoning. "Did you leave your brain at home today? Yes, it's true that I gave this to Leo, but I think everyone saw him give it back to me this morning. This letter is not his property anymore."

Alina paused for dramatic effect, then continued, "You stole my letter to make fun of me without my permission. Did it ever cross your mind that this might hurt my feelings?"

The boy's face blushed scarlet. He struggled to think of a retort, but his mind went blank. He was clearly in the wrong.

"Eddie just read the love letter. What harm could it do? Besides, you were willing to commit suicide because of Joseph from Class 125. What's the big deal?" Cary Hu was Eddie's friend, and when he saw that Eddie Zhou was being humiliated in front of everyone, he couldn't help but come to his rescue.

The students were all excited to see how the event would unfold. They heard rumors about Alina, but no one dared to ask if they were true.

Now that Cary Hu recklessly asked the question everyone was dying to know, the students all leaned in to hear her answer. They patiently held their breath and waited eagerly.

Alina was rendered speechless by their shamelessness, and at the same time, slightly amused by it. Their words couldn't harm her. "When did I attempt to commit suicide because of Joseph? Who told you that? How come I don't know anything about it?"

"Everyone in our school knows about it! You attempted suicide; that's why you were in the hospital!" Cary accused.

Alina replied, her tone growing fiercer, "Who said that I was hospitalized because of that? I fell down the stairs by accident! That's how I ended up in the hospital! Who started this rumor? Are they crazy?"

Everything suddenly became clear to her. No wonder she had been followed by strange looks all day from the moment she stepped on campus.

"It wasn't true?" one of the boys asked in disbelief.

"Why would I commit suicide because of him? I'm young and attractive, and I come from a loving and wealthy family. Besides, I have a cute seatmate. Why would I do that because of some boy? What's so special about him? It's not like he's particularly handsome or talented. I wouldn't give up my life for any boy!"

The students all looked at one another but said nothing in reply. Her explanation sounded reasonable to them.

Their third class for the day was English, with a teacher named Mr. Su.

Mr. Su had arrived a few minutes early for class, so he accidentally overheard Alina defending herself. He then said, "That's right. There have been rumors about Alina sprouting up from nowhere. None of them was true. She asked for leave because she fell down the stairs by accident. I called her parents to confirm. If you still aren't convinced, I have a copy of her medical certificate."

The bell rang, interrupting them from probing him further.

Upon hearing the teacher, the students realized that they had gravely misunderstood Alina.

They all looked at her with apologetic eyes.

Eddie dropped the letter and fled back to his seat as soon as the teacher finished speaking.

Alina smiled gratefully at her teacher, then bent down to pick up the letter and sat down.

As soon she reached her seat, the bell stopped ringing. When Yana saw her, she awkwardly glanced away from her.

While Eddie searched Alina's desk for the love letter, she didn't stop him.

"Our English class will start now. Please bring out your notebooks. We'll be dictating words in Unit Seven." The second bell had just begun ringing, but the teacher was eager to start class.

"Oh, no! Dictation again?"

"I can't remember any of them! Could we secretly copy them from the book?"

"Go ahead, if you want to take the risk! I'm not doing that!"

"Coward!"

Because they were seated so close to her, Alina could hear the conversation between the boys behind her. She just shook her head with a smile and brought out her notebook and pen. She quickly found the word list in Unit Seven and silently memorized them.

Alina was able to go over English briefly, but she hadn't gotten a chance to review Unit Seven yet, so she had to catch up and memorize.

Soon, the second bell rang.

"Put away your books. We'll begin with word dictation."

Mr. Su dictated eighteen words for the class to learn. Alina managed to write and memorize fourteen of them, but she wasn't sure about the rest.

"Everyone, please hand your notebook to the group leader, and they'll correct your dictation. For every word you get wrong, you need to write them out twenty times and have the group leader check them again by the end of the day before school is over. Are we clear?"

"Yes," the students answered unenthusiastically.

Alina had no idea who the group leader was, so she waited for the other students to see who they would hand their notebooks to.

Although the punishment was tedious, it proved to be effective. Repetitive writing would help the students remember the words better.

"Have you all handed your notebooks to the group leader? If everyone's notebook has been turned in, we'll begin with our class."

With his master's degree, Mr. Su's pronunciation of English words was immaculate. Alina was able to understand most of what he was saying, but she continued to listen intently for the words she missed.

When the bell rang, Alina stretched out in her seat. The fourth class would be History, which she wasn't all too fond of.

During the next ten-minute break, Alina intended to go to the washroom. Because she didn't know where the bathroom was, she turned to Yana and asked, "Would you want to go to the washroom with me?"

It was typical for friends to go to the washroom together in their school days.

Alina had never asked her to go to the washroom before, so Yana was determined to refuse her offer. However, when she remembered the love letter, she changed her mind and agreed to go.

A big smile crept up on Alina's face. 'Great! Now I don't have to worry about not finding the washroom!' she thought happily.

They both walked out of the classroom. As soon as they reached the hallway, Alina slowed her walk and let Yana lead them to the washroom.

They went downstairs to the first floor and walked along the back of the teaching building. There was a separate building where the washroom was.

The washroom smelled clean and fresh, and Alina was grateful that Yana had agreed to come with her. Otherwise, it would've been impossible for her to find the washroom before the next class started.

The washroom was divided into several stalls, and Alina quickly found an empty one and entered. At this moment, she overheard someone speaking.

"Linda, have you heard that rumor about Alaina? She's the girl from Class B."

"No, I haven't heard anything about it. What happened?"

"I heard she attempted to commit suicide a few days ago."

"What? Are you serious? Why would she do that?"

"I heard it was because of Joseph in Class 125."

"Oh, no! Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She came to school today, and I saw her doing morning exercises."

"I heard the students in Class B aren't doing that well. We've been exhausted from studying so much, while they have time for petty crushes! They really are different from us!"

"Everyone says they're losers who got into the school through the back door. We got in because we were qualified. It's a completely different story with them."

'It seems like I'm in the class of underachievers. No wonder I don't feel like studying,' Alina thought as she stood back up.

She opened the door and walked out of the stall.

The sink was located near the entrance of the washroom. When Alina finished washing her hands, she didn't see Yana come out, so she waited for her near the gate.

Soon, a flushing sound came from the washroom. She looked to see if it was Yana, and instead, saw three girls she didn't know.

The girl in front noticed Alina and quickly looked away from her. Another girl washing her hands kept glancing at Alina from the corner of her eye.

'They must've been the ones talking about me,' Alina thought. She glanced at them, then looked away.

The three girls quickly washed their hands and ran past Alina. As soon as they passed her, they all huddled together and whispered amongst themselves. One even dared to look back at her.

'Why hasn't Yana come out yet?' Alina glanced at her watch and noticed there was only two minutes before the next bell rang.

"Yana? Are you still there?" Alina entered the washroom and called out to her.

After a long pause, there was no reply. Just when Alina thought that Yana had left her, a faint voice came from the stall behind her. "I'm here."

Alina sighed in relief and asked, "What are you doing there? Did you forget to bring tissues with you? Or are you feeling sick?"

Yana's face was pale. She tried to support herself with the rail bolted to the wall, but she still felt lightheaded. She knew she was about to faint.

"I'm fine. I'm just on my period."