Immature Mistakes | mj.q✓

Twenty

Evelyn had remembered that she had something to check that evening. So while Ava was making supper in the kitchen, Evelyn grabbed Ava's cellphone which was on her bed.

She typed in Ava's password which he had memorized since Ava got her phone last year. She hadn't purposely shared it, but Evelyn had managed to find out that Ava had used the same passwords on all her accounts so that she would never forget it.

When Ava's phone unlocked, she went straight to her messaging apps. She looked for Janine's chats with her, and their last conversation was months ago while Janine was still at their school. But what Evelyn had found was something she didn't expect. She had to keep herself from gasping, then quickly sent herself a screenshot of the conversation.

...

The next morning, Evelyn and Ava walked into the school halls. Jiaqi had just finished having water from the drinking fountain when he felt two arms wrap around him. He was completely surprised and turned around to the person behind him; it was Evelyn.

'Hey there,' he said, trying not to make her feel offended but wanting to push her away from him. 'Hey you really shouldn't hug me in the hallways, you'll give people the wrong idea.'

'What wrong idea?' she continued to keep her arms wrapped around his waist tightly.

'Like that you're dating.' Ava intervened next and attempted pulled her sister away from Jiaqi. She clung to him for a little while longer before Ava finally pried her away from him.

Jiaqi turned around and faced the two girls, a bit relieved that Evelyn had let him go.

'And what's wrong with people thinking we're dating?' Evelyn asked cutely. 'It's not as if I'm ugly, am I?'

Ava rolled her eyes. 'She just wants to hear that she's beautiful yet she already knows that. It's just not right to hug people without permission Evelyn.'

'Oh you mean you and Jiaqi have never hugged before?' Evelyn asked mischievously.

'No.' they both answered simultaneously.

'Well then I guess I just don't waste time like she does.' Evelyn shrugged.

'Uh, I have to go.' Jiaqi awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and walked away from her. He was going into class sooner than he had planned.

He sat down at his desk and started unpacking his books in preparation for the first period. The mere thought that Evelyn might have had a crush on him was disturbing, but he hoped that wasn't the case. Perhaps she was just being flirty for no reason, what he was sure of was that she had a crush on Chengxin.

Chengxin waved at Jiaqi then walked over to his desk.

'Hey you know what, it would be good if you took responsibility for your role.' Jiaqi spoke to his friend.

'What do you mean?' Chengxin raised an eyebrow.

'I think your person, Evelyn, is crushing on me simply because I helped her.'

Chengxin looked at Jiaqi with surprise and started to laugh. He put his hands on his belly, showing how hilarious he found the situation.

'Oh that's funny?' Jiaqi asked with annoyance. 'She should be crushing on you! In fact she did crush on you but you ignored her!'

'You didn't know that broken girls tend to crush on people who help them? Broken people in general. That's why I avoided being very close to her.' Chengxin explained after he had stopped laughing and finished wiping a tear from the edge of his eye.

'That's not always the case. Look at me and Ava. Ava doesn't have a crush on me.'

'You think?' Chengxin chuckled. 'For someone who was a bad boy, you surely don't know how to read women.'

'But I...'

'Do you like Ava?' Chengxin asked him seriously.

'Ava?' for some reason, a blush slightly appeared on Jiaqi's face. 'I don't think so. I just view her as someone I'm helping. It would probably a disaster for me to like her, would be hard to help her.'

Chengxin nodded. 'But she's your friend too isn't she?'

Jiaqi sighed and nodded. 'Friend is okay. Imagine if we started liking each other, it would be a disaster. People who like each other easily get frustrated with each other, mad at each other, argue and the like.'

'Yeah that's true,' Chengxin agreed then changed the subject. 'so you didn't even notice Janine liked you? Makes sense, I guess that's why you hit her that hard. If you knew she liked you, maybe you'd have been a bit more tender.' Chengxin joked.

'Chengxin how many times should I tell you I didn't do that?' Jiaqi put his hands on his chin.

Before they could continue their conversation, the English teacher walked in with her books. All of the students quieted down and returned to their seats, getting ready for the lesson.

...

During lunch period, Jiaqi stood in line along with the other students as they waited to have their lunch served. Jiaqi was the last one to join the line at the moment, and it almost felt like his turn would never come. He looked impatiently at the line which seemed to not be moving.

In the old days when he had friends, he would simply cut in line and join the one who was in front. Even though students would highly oppose it, no one was able to say something because they all feared or respected the group of friends.

As Jiaqi waited with his tray, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him again. He knew who it was, and it irritated him. This time, he didn't waste time to remove her arms from around his waist. He wasn't gentle about it, but neither had he removed her arms so harshly.

'I thought I told you that if you keep doing that people will think we're dating.' Jiaqi turned around to her.

'So what's wrong with me? You don't like me?' she asked him.

Jiaqi sighed and turned back around, wanting to move along with the line which had just moved a few inches. 'I don't really like anyone right now Evelyn. You already know I'm going through a lot so it would be good if you respected that.'

'Well...don't you like Ava?' Evelyn continued as she moved closer to him after he had moved along with the line.

'What?' Jiaqi turned his head to her.

'Okay, let me phrase it this way...who would you pick between me and Ava?'

'That's a weird question,' he looked back to the front. 'I'm not answering that.'

'Well if you don't answer me, I'm gonna keep hugging you.' Evelyn opened her arms teasingly.

'No don't do that!' Jiaqi shouted. 'Okay, I'll give you an answer. I'd rather date Ava because she's not pushy unlike you. And we get along very well...unlike with you. I don't really know you.' he didn't bother to turn around to her, already getting irritated with her presence. He didn't know if his response was harsh, but maybe it would stop Evelyn from what she had been doing.

'Thought so.' she put her hands on her waist and chuckled. 'You picked Ava because you don't know what I know.'

Jiaqi didn't reply, he continued to move with the line.

'Oh you don't want to know what I know?' she asked with exaggerated sadness, a cute pout on her face.

'I don't.' Jiaqi answered coldly.

'Even if it's something to do with you and Janine?'

Jiaqi's interest was piqued. He turned around to Evelyn, not sure if it was wise for him to believe that she even knew what was going on. He didn't trust Evelyn, but he was curious at the same time.

'You're lying.' he finally said.

'Am I?' she raised her cellphone. 'I'll even show you the proof.'

'Show me right now.' he demanded.

Evelyn looked around. 'There's people around us right now okay? Just sit with me at lunch and I'll tell you everything.'

'This better not be a sick joke.' Jiaqi warned.

'Darling, I don't joke.'