WM: My thanks to Lady Huli Jing for inspiring me to write this story. I borrowed some ideas!
Xue: You're such a thief.
WM: Look who's talking?
"One-hundred ninety-nine, two-hundred!"
Cheng lay on the cold wood. He sat up. Many kids had collapsed at one-hundred push-ups. Some had managed, like him. Some were still doing it.
"Xue, I can't believe you got it done before me."
Xue shrugged. "Not that hard."
Cheng snarled. "You think everything is easy."
"How did you know?" asked Xue, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Three-hundred sit-ups, Xue! Now! I'm giving you five minutes!" Master Li shouted.
Cheng smirked as he saw Xue doing sit-ups as fast as she could. Her dark brown eyes glared coldly back at him. "Dung-head."
"Idiot."
"Jerk."
"Dork."
"Xue, if you keep on talking then I will add three-hundred more sit-ups in the time limit of three minutes! You hear me?" growled Master Li.
Xue finished her sit-ups and lay down on the floor.
"You still obsessed with Mei Ying?"
Cheng immediately flushed red. "Shut up."
"Ah, I see. You definitely are obsessed. Infatuated. Whatever you call it."
"I said, shut up."
"But you're-"
"SHUT UP!" roared Cheng, slugging her in the arm.
Xue grinned at him and made a face. Cheng sighed. Obviously, she wasn't hurt at all.
Master Li made the students complete the exercises. Then he put them in an intense session of kung-fu in which Cheng had backed away, clutching a black eye, and with Xue tending to a bloody nose. Xue tilted her head up and pinched her nose to keep the blood from flowing out. Cheng tried to ignore the throbbing in his right eye as he fought student after student.
"Class dismissed!" Master Li roared. "I'll know if you didn't practice!"
"Hey, Cheng! It's Mei Ying! I'll try to get her to-"
"Xue, if you do anything of the sort, I swear I'll punch you until the sky turns black."
"MEI-YING!" screamed Xue. "CHENG WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"
Xue was immediately lifted by Cheng off the park bench and thrown fifteen feet, all while Xue laughed hysterically.
"Cheng?"
Damn it, Cheng thought as Mei Ying breezed over. "You wanted to say something?"
Xue was running over again, yelling, "He only wants to say that he thinks that you're really hot and he wants to-"
Cheng stood from the park bench, took Xue's arm in one hand, and pinched her until she howled in pain. He sat back down again.
"Well, you DO!" shrieked Xue.
Ohmygod. Xue, you-
"Just ignore her," said Cheng. "She's an immature brat."
Mei Ying's face was pink, but she managed to smile. "Well, okay then," while Xue shouted, "HE WANTS TO KISS YOU! HE WANTS TO KISS YOU!"
"Well, anyway, I need to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"Well-"
Xue was jumping up and down, her black ponytail bucking like a horse. Her face was now bright red from bouncing. "HE WANTS TO KISS YOU HE WANTS TO KISS YOU-"
"-there's a new kid coming," said Mei. She looked at Cheng disapprovingly. "And I don't want you beating anymore people up."
"You expect me to ignore annoying Americans who always nose into my business?"
"Yes, I do, Cheng."
"Unfortunately for me, that's impossible. And for the gang too."
"Please? Just this once?" Mei Ying touched his arm.
Cheng felt dizzy. "You're crazy."
Mei Ying laughed. "Thanks."
"Fine. I won't fight him if he doesn't...attach…himself to you."
Xue tottered over again. "Cheng. Loves. You."
Cheng leaped off the park bench for the second time and chased her around the park. Mei Ying watched quietly while smiling at Xue's antics.
"Xue, I wish you had never come into my life," said Cheng as he and Xue walked towards their homes.
"I know."
"I can't believe that you're my next-door neighbor."
"I know."
"Just shut up for one second, please."
Xue quieted. "Th-" started Cheng in relief.
Xue shrieked again. "CHENG LOVES MEI YING!" Then she laughed and ran off again.
Cheng stared after her. Xue turned. Cheng covered his ears.
Xue ran to Cheng and slapped his arm. "I was kidding."
"That might be funny to you, but you just embarrassed me in front of the whole entire park!"
"That's exactly what I did. Nice summary."
Cheng grabbed Xue and punched her face. Xue didn't seem to feel anything. She merely stuck her tongue out and wriggled out of his grasp.
"Xue, you are SO ANNOYING!" yelled Cheng at the top of his lungs.
"I AM!" screeched Xue. "I AM!"
Cheng sighed. "Xue, please."
"Please what?"
"Please SHUT UP!"
Xue quieted down.
Cheng stared at Xue. She was such a jerk. But she was the one he always came to for advice. He wondered how such a smart person could be such a dork.
"I'm going home, Cheng. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Xue…"
"Yeah?"
"Please, don't nose in when Mei Ying and I are talking."
Xue thought for a moment.
"I will."
"I will what?"
"Nose in when you and Mei are talking!" Xue laughed. She scampered away while Cheng called after her, "YOU WON'T UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET ALL OF YOUR TEETH PUNCHED OUT!"
Cheng yawned as he sat on the thick, gnarled tree branch. He loved this spot. Unfortunately, this was also Xue's favorite spot.
"Cheng! Move over!" whined Xue.
Cheng smirked. He didn't budge.
Xue sighed, pushed against Cheng until he nearly fell off the branch, and scooted onto the branch.
"You're fat," said Xue.
"You're the one who's fat."
"You're an idiot."
Cheng shoved Xue off the branch and yelled as she plummeted towards the ground, "YOU'RE the one who's an idiot!"
Xue fell into the pile of leaves and grass meant to cushion the fall. She clambered back up again. "Okay, I give up."
Cheng settled down back on the branch. Xue scrambled up to a higher branch, swung upside-down, like a possum, and whispered into Cheng's face: "Cheng…likes…Mei…Ying!"
Cheng sighed, grabbed her feet, and dangled her from the branch he was sitting on. "Are you going to apologize or am I going to drop you?"
Xue stuck her tongue out at him. "You're going to drop me!"
Cheng dropped her.
Xue laughed as she fell twenty feet towards the ground. She did a graceful back-flip and landed on her feet. "Sucker!" she yelled at him.
Cheng shook his head in exasperation. Above him, Liang, Zhuang, Feng, Jian, and Yang snickered.
"Oh, shut up," snarled Cheng.
Yang cocked his head. "Says who?"
Cheng raised an eyebrow. "Says me. You want to argue?"
Yang shrugged. "Sure."
So the boys jumped off the tree, argued, shouted, and then eventually wrestled, laughing and flinging curses at each other.
"See? This proves that boys are immature-"
"-and girls aren't?" scowled Cheng, brushing dirt off his shirt.
"Yeah."
"Too bad for you, Xue. My hypothesis directly opposes that."
"You wanna fight with me?"
"Nah. Wouldn't want to send you home in pieces," Cheng said.
Xue launched herself at Cheng.
"Time-out," gasped Xue, laughing so hard that she doubled over.
"What kind of laughing sickness do you have? CLD? Crazy Laughing Disorder?" demanded Cheng.
This, of course, made Xue laugh so much that she fell on the ground, choking.
"You've got to be kidding me," groaned Cheng as he walked over to thump Xue on the back.
Later, they resumed their game of tag-with some altered rules. Instead of the person who was tagged being 'it', the Tagger would wrestle the person to the ground and hit them until they gave up. Xue always won because she never gave up.
"You're crazy," said Cheng, panting.
"We're gonna be late for school," warned Xue.
Cheng rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's go."
WM: And we'll end it there!
Cheng: It's too short! Make it longer!
WM: *scowl*