CHAPTER #13

Lu He watched his seat mate sleeping, waiting to see if she started to drool, like in the past. This was the first day of their final semester, before they graduated to start senior high school. He'd had classes with his seat mate in the last semester too. He noticed a girl lean across the isle towards them.

She tapped his shoulder. "Do you like her?"

He turned her way and replied, "is that important?"

She looked down and moved to sit properly in her seat, "yes it's important."

Lu He move closer to her, raising one eyebrow and propping his head up on one hand. While staring into her eyes, he asked, "who does this matter to?"

The girl looked away first and returned to writing something in a notebook.

Lu He smirked, which was hidden by the mask. This semester might just hold some interesting possibilities. The curious girl, wasn't someone he recognized and that in itself caught his attention. However the rest of the class, she avoided making contact. Like most classes, this one would be easy for him too.

Once class ended she put in ear buds and left. Lu He turned his attention to the girl beside him, "you drooled again. Have a napkin."

"Shut up… thanks. Did I miss anything important."

He handed her the copy of class notes he'd already made for her. "Buy me lunch."

"That's two classes away and we might not share the next ones."

"You know where to find me."

She rolled her eyes, "basketball courts?"

"Yup." He stood up and walked out into the hall.

"Lu He!" A guy shouted down the hall.

"Feifei, what's up?"

"Do you have physics next?"

"Yes, do you?"

"Awesome!" Feifei caught up to him, "finally I won't be bothered by all the dumb people in class."

Lu He chuckled, "you're the only one who gives me a challenge for top grades."

"Not true, your bro Qihe still is top. He beat both of us for best grade point average, which is so frustrating because he rarely shows up to class."

"What I meant was that you're the only one not related to me, that has excellent brain capacity."

"Why don't you ever skip?"

"I don't want people to think I'm like Qihe… or associated with the shit Mafia Boy does."

"Right, sorry I asked." Feifei regretted making Lu He upset. He'd run into the other twin before, due to liking the same girl. It hadn't ended in blows from Qihe, but the threat had been very clear.

"Let's go to class, I don't want to get stuck sitting close to the blackboard," Lu He suggested.

As soon as they got seated, Lu He rested his head on one arm, watching the door to see who was in their class. He closed his eyes for a while, just listening to the gossip around them, trying to match voices to the person without looking. He felt something on his hand, but remained still.

Feifei watched a girl start drawing on Lu He's hand. She turned to him and whispered, "shh… don't tell him it was me."

Feifei smirked, "he's not sleeping."

"Ah?!" She responded in shock, taking her hand back suddenly. When Lu He didn't move, she tried to see if his eyes were open, but was ignored.

The teacher arrived then and everyone sat up, except Lu He. That irritated the teacher. He knew about the twins who wore masks. One was the school fighter named Mafia Boy, that most feared and the other was Mask Man. This semester the twins had different hair colours and thus easier to identify. Lu He had blackish blue hair and Qihe was platinum silver. The physics teacher knew both always had top grades and were untouchable as the principle had warned. He didn't think these boys should be allowed to go to school in this district, due to who their father was and resented that nothing could be done about it. While the rest of the class worked on solving the problems put on the board, the one called Mask Man looked to be sleeping.

"Lu He, come to the board and answer question number 5." The teacher almost smirked, thinking he'd caught the twin unaware.

With an exaggerated sigh, Lu He stood up and sauntered to the board. He took one look and then went to work. It wasn't even a full minute, when he returned to his seat, problem solved.

"That's incorrect." The teacher circled a section of the result.

It was Feifei who spoke up. "Actually it is correct. He even showed you every step you just told us were the five major strategy steps; focus the problem, physics description, plan a solution, execute the plan and evaluate the solution. The part you circled, shows him using algebra and calculus, as he carried the units through the calculations, which not only produced the correct numerical answer, but gave its units. Lu He didn't stop there, because that stage is only one third of the overall problem solving process!"

The teacher checked the rest of the solution and grudgingly conceded. "I stand corrected. Thank you for clarifying Feifei. Well done Lu He."

When the teacher turned around to face the blackboard again, Lu He raised an eyebrow and bumped knuckles with his seat mate Feifei. This just proved what he had already guessed; this teacher hated anyone with the last name Crane. He also noticed the girl that had drawn on his hand previously, was the same girl that had asked if he'd liked the other seat mate. She was staring at him. When he made eye contact she blushed beat red and quickly turned around to watch the teacher.

For the rest of the class, both Lu He and Feifei weren't asked to answer anything by the teacher. Lu He did observe the girl go to the board and answer the question she was told to solve, correctly. Around him, it was rare for a girl to show her intelligence, because even if they knew the answer they acted dumb so they could ask him and thus get attention. He was intrigued by her. She was pretty, but didn't wear too much makeup like other girls. Lu He remembered her name was Chyou.

Towards the end of class, he received a text from Qihe. 'Li na is here and looking for you.'

He replied what room he would be in. It was the first text in ages that he'd received from his twin. Did Li na have the power to reunite them? As soon as class let out, Lu He went into the hall to wait for her arrival.

"You changed your hair colour, I like it." Li na said in greeting.

"It was for an acting role. So, where's the stuff?"

She laughed and handed him a gift bag, "don't worry I didn't forget your birthday, even though it's not until November."

"Or this could be considered a belated gift for last year's birthday." Lu He peaked into the gift bag. When he looked up, he saw Chyou watching them.

She came by and said, "congratulations on finding someone you like."

Lu He raised an eyebrow and asked, "jealous?"

Chyou lied, but was unable to hide her disappointment, "no."

Lu He stopped her, by putting an arm around her shoulders. Over his shoulder he said, "sister you go home first."

Chyou gasped, "sister?"

Lu He nodded confirmation and thought to himself, 'she was angry, I'll coax her first.'

But no sooner had he walked off with her, when the seat mate Chu-hua waved at him. "Lu He let's go to lunch now, I've got a spare!"

Chyou shot daggers at him with her eyes and dropped her shoulder, effectively getting his arm off of her. Pivoting on her heal, she went in the other direction. Lu He didn't pursue and waited for Chu-hua to arrive in front of him. "You don't have a spare, we have the same class next."

She laughed, "sorry did I just ruin your chance to hook up with that girl?"

"No. Why'd you lie?"

"Your sister gave me money to do that. She didn't appreciate being dismissed."

"Is she still here?"

"Don't know, she went to find your twin."

"Thanks. See you in class." Lu He quickly sent a message with both LINE and Weibo, hoping to find his sister's location. "Found you," he grinned and then went down the stairs to the main floor of the school.

Qihe saw Lu He coming and gave his older sister a quick hug. "I'll come home tonight, if you're going to be there. See you later, thanks for the cologne."

"Wait, why are you going….?"

Lu He arrived and explained, "he's avoiding me still. And no I don't know why."

"I hate it when you two fight. I'll be home tonight, maybe he'll be in a better mood."

"Do Mom and Dad know you're here?"

"Yes. Mom can't make it home tonight, she's working on a big court case. Dad will be home though."

"It's sad that not even your presence can get both our parents to be home for dinner at the same time."

Li na hugged her brother. "Aren't you use to that by now?"

He sighed, "I guess so."

"Go to class, I'll order some of your favourite take-out! Be good and see you later." She kissed him on the mouth and then laughed when he protested. "It's how we greet people in Australia and it's not like I opened my mouth!"

"You are so annoying, but I love you!" He yelled at her retreating back.