Chapter 8 Spicy Gluten Snacks

The emotions of shyness, love, expectation, and joy that Joseph used to see on Alina's face were all gone. He sensed feelings of alienation and indifference from her instead.

'She doesn't like you anymore,' a voice in his mind told him.

'So what? I don't care if she likes me or not! A lot of girls want to be with me!' he thought to himself. Joseph's brows furrowed, and he quickly looked away from her. He stuffed a large bite of food into his mouth and said, "Even if you say we're from the same school, we're completely different. You're in Class B!"

'This boy is impossible,' Alina thought to herself. She had no interest in arguing with him. The only thing she wanted to do was finish her food and leave the table as soon as possible.

Joseph made the atmosphere tense, which made Sam feel helpless. However, it wasn't like he was particularly close to Alina, so he didn't speak another word to her.

The four of them ate their meals in silence.

Alina didn't have much to eat, so she finished her food in a few minutes. She quickly stood up, said her goodbyes, then left.

As soon as she was gone, Joseph whipped his head to Sam and asked, "What's wrong with you? How could you speak for an outsider? Are you her friend or mine?"

"It's not like that! What do you think, Howard?" Howard was a handsome boy with tanned skin who sat across from Alina.

He sensed that he was about to be dragged into this issue, so he quickly ate his food and stood to leave. "I'm done. You can take your time," he said in an indifferent tone before turning to leave.

"Why are you in such a rush, Howard? Wait for me!" Sam picked up his plate and quickly followed after Howard. The two weren't only classmates, but also good friends.

Joseph was left alone at the table. He scoffed as he watched them walk away, and took his time eating in silence.

Alina prepared a bowl of multi-grain porridge before she left the canteen. When she got back to the classroom, she saw Yana hunch over in her seat. She quietly placed the bowl in front of her and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yana, did you have anything to eat? I brought you some multi-grain porridge."

Yana raised her head, and there was a red mark on her cheek. She glanced at the bowl of porridge in front of her and then to Alina, feeling embarrassed. "I didn't ask you to buy food for me."

Alina could tell that Yana was hungry, but she didn't want to admit it for some reason. She smiled gently and said, "I know, but I thought you should have something to eat. Don't waste it and have a bite."

Yana swallowed and pretended like she was forced to take the food. "I shouldn't waste this, so I'll eat a bit of it."

Alina nudged the porridge closer to her and didn't say another word. She didn't want to make Yana feel more uncomfortable.

Students in MH High School had two hours for their lunch break. In addition to the forty minutes allotted for lunch, all students had to return to the classrooms to continue their lunch break.

The school wasn't too concerned with how they spent their time during their break, as long as they stayed in the classroom and didn't disturb the other students.

Mandy walked into the classroom with various snacks in her hands with two other girls, and they talked and laughed. When they noticed Yana eating, they were all surprised. Mandy approached her and asked, "Why are you eating here?"

Yana raised her head and gave them a small smile. "I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't go to the canteen."

Her response flustered Mandy, and she unintentionally raised her voice at Yana when she asked, "I'm your friend! Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

Mandy's voice was so loud that it made Yana's head throb. "Calm down. I'm okay now."

"You were fine this morning! What happened to you?"

"I... I got my period today. You know how it is," Yana replied awkwardly.

Mandy immediately understood what she meant. "Oh, no wonder. By the way, I bought some crisps and your favorite spicy gluten snacks. Here you go!" Mandy tossed the package of spicy gluten snacks onto Yana's desk.

"Thank you!" Yana's eyes brightened, and she spoke in a more cheerful voice.

Mandy smiled at her, then returned to her seat.

Alina was busy copying the English vocabulary next to them, and she overheard their conversation.

At the sound of Yana's cheerful voice, Alina stopped writing. 'What a fearless girl! She's on her period and isn't feeling well. Now she wants to eat spicy food?'

Yana stopped eating the porridge and moved to open the spicy gluten snacks.

"If you eat spicy food when you're on your period, you'll make your cramps worse," Alina warned. She had made the same mistake before.

Yana hesitated for a moment but ended up opening the spicy gluten snacks anyway.

'It's already painful; it doesn't matter if it gets a bit worse. Nothing can stop me from eating spicy food, not even my period!' Yana thought to herself.

'She's too young to care about these things,'

Alina silently thought to herself. When she was young, her parents used to warn her often like she just did to Yana, but she never listened.

You will never heed others' words if you haven't experienced it yourself. Only when you experience it will you feel regret.

There were a dozen sticks in one package, and Yana quickly finished them.

After that, she longingly stared at the empty bag and wished there was more.

Alina, who had graduated high school a few years ago, didn't take a break for the rest of the afternoon. It was her exams next week, and she had to work hard to catch up.

She didn't want to fail her exams. After all, she was a student in one of the best high schools. If she passed the exams only to be ranked at the bottom, she would be too ashamed to face her parents.

It had been more than an hour since Alina began studying. It wasn't until the bell rang that she yawned and stretched her body.

Before class started that afternoon, students had ten minutes to prepare. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they had to read the newspaper. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they would sing songs together.

Today was Thursday, so they had to sing together with an art commissioner as the lead.

The commissioner was a petite girl with an innocent look to her. When the bell rang, she stood up and announced what the class had to sing today. "Ready? Go!"

It was a song Alina had never heard of, so she had no idea how to sing it.

At first, the students sang in a loud and clear voice together, but after a while, their voices dropped one by one until only the commissioner and a few other girls continued to sing.

Alina looked around and opened her mouth. Should she just close her mouth or continue to pretend singing?

When the song finished, the commissioner asked in a frustrated voice, "What's going on? Why weren't you singing? If the representatives from the students' union find out, we will lose points!"

"So what? It's not like we want to be awarded or anything," a naughty boy shouted.

The art commissioner's cheeks flushed deep scarlet. "All the other classes sing well! We're the only ones like this! Aren't you embarrassed?"

Cary snickered, "We're completely fine!"

Eddie echoed, "Yeah! I agree with him! If you want to sing so much, you can go to the KTV! The classroom is for learning, am I right?"

Several boys giggled and echoed, "Right!"

The other students joined in on their teasing, and soon after, the entire classroom was as noisy as a marketplace.

The art commissioner's protests were drowned out by the other students. No one cared about what she was saying. The girl felt wronged, and her eyes soon welled up with angry tears.

Alina cast a glance at the naughty boys. They were the same boys who searched her desk and read her love letter out loud to humiliate her.

Bang! A loud sound startled the boisterous crowd. They all turned to see where the sound had come from.

It turned out that the sound came from Alina, who slammed a few books onto her desk to catch their attention.

"You're taller and stronger than this poor girl! Aren't you ashamed that you're bullying her?" Alina's reprimanding voice resounded in the classroom.

For a few moments, the entire classroom was silent. The girls were surprised by her sudden outburst. Shortly after, some boys began to defend themselves.

"What are you talking about? Who said anything about bullying?"

"Who do you think you are, Alaina? Who gave you the right to speak to us like this?"

"You never acted like you were a part of this class before. It's none of your business even if we were bullying someone!"

"Yeah!"

"She's lost her mind because Leo rejected her! Does she think she's a superhero?"

Alina was irritated by the boys' shallow insults. She had the sudden realization that boys' tongues were just as sharp as girls'.

She regretted slamming her books and calling their attention. However, she couldn't let this pass. She couldn't let these boys humiliate the poor girl.

If she were a heroine, maybe this would've caused them to reflect on themselves rather than point their aggression towards her.

Things have already been set in motion, and it would be no use to feel regret. 'Just as the saying goes, a brave warrior never backs down on their principles, even if they face a miserable life or a brutal death because of it,'

Alina thought bitterly to herself. She stood her ground and remained silent as they hurled nasty words in her direction. Her indifference irked the boys even more.

When they finally lowered their voices, Alina replied in an apathetic voice, "You're all yelling and criticizing me. Isn't that bullying?"

The boys were all rendered speechless.

At this moment, a student seated by the window warned, "The representatives from the students' union are here!"

The monitor immediately approached the art commissioner and ordered, "Mary, hurry up! They are here!"

With a heavy sigh, Mary Hu, the art commissioner, sang a song that most of them could sing along with.

The last thing the boys wanted to do was sing, but when they heard that the representatives from the students' union were here, they sang loudly.

Mid-way through the song, they noticed a pair of students passing by their classroom with a notebook in their hands. They scribbled notes as they passed by.

Alina continued to pretend singing. However, Yana noticed no sound coming out of her mouth, which puzzled her.

When the song was about to finish, the head teacher, Mr. Su, entered through the back door.

He stepped onto the stage and looked around the classroom with a satisfied smile. "You're all great singers! Your voices are much louder than Class 125's!"

"Really? We are better than them?" Most of the students were delighted to receive praise from the head teacher.

"Why would I lie to you? You have a few minutes before the class begins. Let's sing another song! Mary, please take the lead."

"No problem, Mr. Su!" It was the third time Mary stood up and led the class to sing.

With the head teacher closely watching them, the students sang even better this time around.

It was also Alina's third time faking her singing. 'What a hard life,' she silently lamented.

The bell rang as soon as they finished the song. Alina was exhausted from pretending.

There were three classes in the afternoon: Physics, Geography, and Chemistry.

In the middle of their physics glass, Alina began to get drowsy. She squinted her eyes and nodded absently at the teacher. It was getting harder and harder for her to focus.

Many of the students were already slumped over their desks.

The teacher was a short-haired woman in her forties. When she looked towards the class, she pulled a long face.

Bang! Bang! Bang! She loudly tapped the blackboard with her knuckles. "Stand up! Stop sleeping! It's not nap time!"

Alina was jolted awake, and her head was suddenly clear. She patted her face and shook her head to wake herself up. She felt ashamed that she struggled to stay awake in class.

Most of the students jolted awake, but a few were still unwilling to sit straight.

The teacher didn't force them after that. She knocked on the blackboard one last time and continued her class.

It was obvious that most of the teachers had lost interest in Class 126 because only a few were serious about their education.

When the teachers taught, they wanted to see students that were eager to learn. It was hard for them to be enthusiastic about teaching when the students were uninterested and unresponsive.

"The class is over. This is today's homework. Please hand your homework in tomorrow morning." She quickly gathered her papers and left the room.

During the lunch break, Alina wasn't able to use the bathroom. By this time, she couldn't hold it in any longer and hurried outside the classroom.

The naughty boys all looked at one another and snickered when they saw her rush out.

When she finished using the bathroom, Alina felt more relaxed and went over to wash her hands.

While she washed her hands, two students came over to her. Alina moved aside to make way for them. She noticed that one of the girls was the one who made her enter the wrong class this morning. She remembered that her name was Lily.

"Humph!" At the sight of Alina, Lily scoffed and turned away from her.

She still remembered what had happened that morning. Lily refused to forgive Alina unless she apologized first.

The girl beside her was an ordinary girl who wore glasses with a ponytail and had a square-shaped face. She glanced at Alina with disdain, then pushed her glasses up with a wrinkle of her nose. After doing so, she spoke to Lily in a tone as if she were giving advice. "You shouldn't hang around the students from Class B. I'm sure you know what I mean by that. If you hang out with losers, you'll eventually become one yourself."

'Why are these kids so nasty? I wonder what kind of person they'll be when they grow up!' Alina thought to herself.

She didn't bother to reply to them and chose to roll her eyes instead. Alina didn't even spare them a glance. She walked out of the bathroom with her chin held high.

As soon as she returned to the classroom, Alina could feel the students' eyes on her. She frowned and thought, 'What are they looking at?'