Picture Us [discontinued]

thirty-nine

f r i e n d l y  d i s c u s s i o n s

On her way out the door, Nam is stopped by her father holding a glass in front of her face, containing his strange, yellow concoction and a crawfish.

"What's this?" she asks, pulling a disgusted face. Please don't make me drink it, please don't make me drink it, please don't make me drink it, Nam thinks, repeating the mantra in her head.

"For last night," Lu Xiangqian answers, simply smiling as if he's pleased with himself.

"Huh? But I didn't do anything wrong?" Nam questioningly says.

"You did something, alright. My precious daughter turned against me! Why else would your brother stop me from spyi- I mean going out!" he cries.

"Because he knows when to listen to me? And... I guess it worked," Nam says, the slightest hint of a smirk present in her proud smile.

"Drink. For your health," Xiangqian says, trying a different approach, once again pushing the glass towards her face.

Nam gulps, and she has to try her best to not gag just by smelling the foul drink. "Uh... I have to leave... for school. Bye!" she says, running out of the house.

-

During the lunch break at school, Qi Ying and Peng Xiang immediately go to crowd around Nam's desk as soon as they see Xia leave the room.

"Um... hi?" Nam asks, flustered.

"You were so distracted during our literature lesson," Xiang says.

"Here's my notes," Ying offers, handing her journal over to Nam.

"Thanks. I've, uh... I don't think I was distracted," Nam replies, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"You were staring out the window, just like Lu Xia does in every class," Ying points out.

"And she knows a lot about Lu Xia," Xiang teases.

Nam smiles as she sees the two girls playfully hit each other.

"Anyways," Ying says, "is there anything that happened?"

Nam's face starts to heat up, along with her ears, as she thinks to the previous day with Zhi.

"Uh... I guess," she quietly says.

"What? Tell us!" Xiang excitedly responds.

"Okay, okay. But... be quieter," she says, embarrassed. "I went to the arcade yesterday," she slowly says.

"That can't be it," Ying responds, sensing that there's more.

Nam sighs, extremely flustered over her own thoughts. "I went with Zhi," she finally admits.

She tries her best to stop the two squealing girls as Xiang excitedly asks, "Was it a date?"

Nam hides her face in her hands as she nods, wishing she could be out of the school uniform and in one of her large hoodies, so she can fully hide herself.

"You should tell us what it was like. After all, our Ying here needs all the help she can get if she's ever to go on a date, too," Xiang says, making Nam giggle slightly at Ying's now-mortified self.

"Well," Nam starts, and Ying does actually perk up. I can't believe that I have the most relationship experience! Nam thinks to herself. "I don't really know what to say. It was... fun, which is probably obvious. I think I was blushing the whole night," she says, feeling her ears heat up just thinking back to it.

"Did you get anything from the arcade?" Xiang asks, curious.

"Uh... Zhi got me a koala plushie," Nam shyly answers.

"That's so cute!" Ying squeals.

Nam quietly giggles at the two girls' reactions. "I think... I just really like spending time with him," she says, looking down with a shy smile.

A/N- ahhhh i've been gone for much longer than i planned (whoopsies). at least now, i'm back to at least writing regularly. (also i changed the cover again haha)