Be Careful With Your Heartbeat

Chapter 1

#Chapter 1# (Please be careful with your hearbeat, Andie Hung)

"No! Stop it." Andie kept screaming and she swirmed on the bed. "Please leave me!!"

"Uyyyyy!!!!!"  Marie grabbed the pillow and struck it to her face. "Shouting again on your dreams!"

"Ey," Her eyes opened at the hit and she saw blurdness. It is a struggle to wake up with eyes not able to see anything but a hazy light of the day. If she did not remind herself every night to rest her eyeglasses on the desk, she would fluster finding for clear sight. It became her instict then, to touch the table after waking up until she felt the eyeglasses.

Andie yanked them up to her eyes and her mother's appearance at the room became clear to her and glancing back, the bed was all but a messed up. "Just a dream again? I still dream about those stuffs."

"Get up or else you'll be hastening again for the second time." Marie pushed aside the window curtains  and the sunrays came through, hurting Andie's eyes that she squinted and ditch the light. The irritation had just worsened her sleepiness.

The sun was mounting and the crown over it seems to be the finest image Andie had never seen before. Andie closed her eyes though determined not to fall to sleep again just to make gratitude for this kind of day.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to make a way to sleep  back?!" Marie's voice had struck her senses and she thump a bit. "I said get up for class!"

"Uh! no. No, I am not sleeping." she shook her head. "I am thanking God for the day." she managed to smiled.

" First of all, I want you to brush your teeth. I see something fishy."

Andie closed her mouth.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Huh?" 

"I said Get up now!!!"

"Oh, yes! yes!" Andie rushed out of bed and fixed the crampled blanket and mattress in an instant and tried to leave the room in case her mother who keep watching her with hands on waist would say anything again.

Minutes before her wristwatch tells her the campus bell would ring, Andie paced in slowly to the small hardware shop and she spotted her father had just hauled up the liftgate. She saw the new materials Rey had added and that just describe the increase of sales nowadays. The hardware became their primary source for income and if Rey had not earned capital to built it, the family would strain from finances. Andie usually came to the shop before leaving for school to see her father being well since he seems to be making himself look like a huggard with all that's in the store.

Andie offered to help though he insist he could work alone. But she persist and since then she worked for the inventories in the shop. She glanced the new materials.

"Hey, its almost school time. What are you up to in here? You're supposed to prepare."

"I already did and I'll be going later."

"Later? The door is waiting for you to leave now or else you'll be crying cause you're late again."

Andie saddened at his pressings. Coming to school early just means drawing yourself to series of unfortunate events. With the professor still  not yet in the room, her classmates would spend the time chit chatting and the moment she would come in the room, she again will be the center of their ridicules. Worse, because her friends had just transferred to another school last month and she became alone. She have to enter the class after the teacher arrives and in that way she can avoid their tease.

She doesn't need anymore to tell her father the reason why she wanted to be a little late. He would reply again,"What tease you're talking about? Are you focusing on those people than your studies.?"

Well, yeah he is right. She should concentrate on her subjects but her father had not known what it is to be mocked in class. Unfortunately, not just in class, but the entire school knew her and worse, the whole town of Fei Hun snorted at her. She pressed her lips with these horrible thoughts and she was more determined not to go early.

"Andie, you're late."

Andie started to bit her fingers and her heart likely to palpitate knowing his voice will then alter.

"Andie!!!! You!!"

Andie turned and her arms had knocked the bottle of paint opened at the shelf and it spilled towards her skirt. "Oh shocks!"

"What happened?"

Andie spun and Rey saw the paint stained her uniform. 

"Pa, I think I have to be really be late for class." She tried to persuade. "Not my fault."

"Stained or not, Go now!" Rey chided and Andie was forced to take the gate out of the house while still looking at the stain.

"This is the start of the series of unfortunate events, Andie." She whimpered. "Brace yourself." she took the streets.

She should not be thinking about negativities now that she ought to hurried for class and the quizzes will be awaiting but she can't help anticipating what would occur next. Most of the time, after a disaster happens it became a sequence. On the way, Andie saw the folks just doing their own businesses and no one seems to be seeing her for now. It was odd though, although she was relieved to see that. Instead of thinking they could be tired from teasing her for this day, she afraid there are something these folks are up to with their silence.

Andie felt her shoe had stepped on something other than the dusty road. She peep down and  found a thousand bill stuck on. Her eyes widened,

"What a!" she glanced around the people who could be finding for the lost bill but everyone just seems not to noticed at all. "Hey, a thousand."

She ought to bring this to the Town's office in case anyone would find it. She picked the bill and tried to know any counterfiet sides. Then she heard the cackling voices she always meet at the town.

"Congratulations Andie, A thousand Bill!! You planning to pocket it?"

Andie looked and she saw the men laughing at her again. She glanced back the bill and saw the name of "play money"

"Impossible!" Andie muttered and she throw the bill. "Not again." she ran away, ditching them.

The laughings can still be heard and that means the men are still seeing her. She kept running across the townstreets until a bike passed and they both struck, knocking Andie down. She fell on the mud, staining terribly her uniform and the boys cackled.

"Grandma Andie, be careful your knees are too weak now." they kid.

"Grandma Andie, mud is not use to take a bath."

Andie took her bag and pressed on her face to scream on it. The campus bell rang and she ran again.

The large crowd of students that likely to form stampede on the gate had allowed her to hide from the guard who would prevent her from entering school with the dirtied uniform. But she had not escaped from the students who kept staring at her on her way to the class room. The teacher had not yet arrived and she hurried to take her seat.

"Oh, Woo, man. Where have you been?" Her classmate asked. 

"Please stop looking at me."

Professor Clarice had came in and the discussion started. Relieved Andie was, knowing she was not noticed.

"Class, where does that kind of smell comes from?" Clarice sniffed in. "Its like a cow's dung."

Everyone followed sniffing. Andie smelled her uniformed.

Knocked down again.

"Want to tell me your secret?" her classmates spoke again and he aimed to raise a hand.

"Nooooo...." she whimpered.

"Miss Clarice. Andie Xing."