CHAPTER #15

Back at school, Lu He finished his test early and left the classroom, heading to the basketball court to let off some stress. He saw another guy shooting hoops and headed towards him.

"Hey, want to play a little one on one?"

"Sure. First one to reach forty points wins?"

"Sounds good. I'm Lu He."

"I know, I've played hoops with your twin before. I'm Fai."

They bumped knuckles and then did rock-paper-scissors to see who had possession of the ball first. Fai won and began to dribble, trying to pass Lu He. He managed to dodge him and did a lay-up shot. He caught the rebound and tossed it to Lu He, who immediately did a 3-point shot. Next Fai had the ball stollen from him and Lu He did his own lay up. Both were pretty well matched.

From the school roof, Qihe watched. As expected his twin was dominating the game, but not with a score too far in advance of Fai. He wondered who had initiated the game, because he knew that Fai had a secret crush on Lu He. Qihe had found out accidentally that Fai was bisexual, when the guy came on to him. Qihe declined and said he was only into girls, but appreciated the interest. Then Fai had apologized, explaining he was into Lu He and had mixed them up. After that exchange, Qihe had stomped Fai in basketball. That had been the last interaction with the guy.

The game continued, but now that both knew the other's abilities, the later half of the game was harder to score points. Still Lu He managed to sink more 3-point shots than Fai and reached the forty points first. They were both breathing a little hard by the end.

"Good game, you're as skilled as your twin. I should've known."

"You're pretty good yourself Fai. I need a drink, that was a workout."

"I've got two waters if you want one," Fai offered.

"Perfect, thanks." Lu He accepted the bottle given to him, took off his mask and guzzled half the water down, before recapping it.

Chu-hua saw them and called out, "Fai I told you to wait at the library!"

"Sorry forgot!"

Lu He asked, "you friends with Chu-hua?"

"Best friends since we were little kids." Fai answered turning back to face Lu He.

On arrival Chu-hua pushed Fai hard, and he smacked into Lu He. They both fell down, with Fai on top so he took advantage of the situation and kissed Lu He. While lying on top of him, Fai did it again, forcing his tongue into Lu He's mouth. He only stopped the kiss, when Lu He returned it. Then as if nothing had happened, he pushed himself up using his hands on either side of the shoulders that were under him. Fai got up and offered his hand to a stunned Lu He.

Qihe had seen it all and shook his head, Fai was persistent to get himself a Crane kiss. Lu He didn't seem to have a reaction, other than surprise, even taking the offered hand to stand back up. Qihe raised an eyebrow in interest and kept watching. He could easily hear their exchange too.

Fai turned to Chu-hua, "you pushed me on purpose, what the hell!"

"Sorry, Lu He you're not injured right?"

Lu He put his mask back on, before answering. "I'm fine. I should go freshen up before the next class."

Fai and Lu He's eyes met and the former smirked. "That was a fun game. Let me know if you want to play again." He gave a wink too.

Lu He understood the unsaid meaning of Fai's last words. He heard a sharp whistle and looked up towards the roof, that's when he saw Qihe. His twin had witnessed everything, of that he was sure. "I gotta go, see you in class Chu-hua."

Qihe had just given Lu He a quick exit and took the stairs down to meet him. "Are you okay?"

"You saw him kiss me?"

"Yes, I had a feeling he might follow through on his crush."

Lu He sighed, "let's go somewhere private to talk… back up to the roof maybe?"

"No one but me was up there." Qihe followed his brother and then patiently waited for his twin to voice his response to having kissed a boy.

"He tricked me and forced an open mouth kiss."

"Want me to beat him up?"

Lu He rolled his eyes, "of course not… I…. I think I liked it. I kissed him back. Do you think I'm weird?"

"No, but maybe you're bi-curious. Have you found yourself liking any other guys or taking notice of Fai, any time before today?"

"I don't know…. Maybe." Lu He ran a hand through his hair.

"You should play with him again and see where it goes."

"I'm still working on making Chyou mine, that would complicate things."

Qihe put a hand on his twin's shoulder. "Whatever you decide, I'm here for you. I don't care if you just like girls, or become bisexual, as long as you stay safe and it makes you happy."

"Thanks," Lu He sighed.

"A lot has happened to you recently, no need to rush anything. Whether you just want to talk or need me as your wing man or a bodyguard, you can always turn to me." Qihe reminded his twin, he could trust him with anything.

"I'd hug you, but I need to change my shirt first, I'm too sweaty."

"Until you decide what you want, keep your mask on when around Fai and just lift it to drink."

Lu He could see the laughter in his twin's eyes and tried to throw a punch, but it never connected, not that he expected it to. "See you later and thanks for having my back."

Lu He walked into his English class and found Chyou sleeping at her desk. He noticed she was wearing a green alligator hair clip. He thought it was cute. Moving closer, he carefully took out the alligator clip and put it in his shirt pocket, with the alligator showing. When she didn't wake up, he used a bunch of binder clips to hold her hair. Quietly he left, to get himself something to eat from a vending machine.

Not too long after he left, Chyou woke up and touched her hair. She felt something odd and got mad. "Who took my hairpin?!"

The two girls that were in the room at the front, turned and looked at her, then laughed. "You look stupid."

"Shut up, these aren't mine!" After removing the other binder clips, in a huff, Chyou ran out of the room. She scanned the hall, not seeing anyone. Checking her watch to see if she still had time before class, she ran off to get a hair tie from her locker.

When Lu He returned to the room, he leaned against the desks, where Chyou had been sleeping previously. The two girls in the room turned to him and shared the gossip of what Chyou had looked like. One of those girls got up and went to the door. "She's coming back, better not talk about it anymore."

Lu He quickly sat down in the desk, that was at the rear of the class, but near the isle. His back faced the door. He rested his head on an arm, pretending to sleep. Lu He could hear Chyou come in and sit at a desk, that was diagonally across from him and near the window. Peaking through his eyelashes, he saw that she'd taken the seat closest to the window. He sat up, but Chyou completely ignored him. Lu He smirked and just wondered how long it would take her to notice that he had her hair clip on his shirt pocket.

She didn't look at anyone, while the seats filled and then the teacher arrived. All class she avoided looking at him. Twice he even went up to the board to write out an English sentence, since no one else would volunteer to do so. However, when he walked back to his seat, Chyou avoided making eye contact. So he directed his eyes to her female seat mate and winked. The girl got red in the face.

"Did you see that? Mask Man just winked at me… do you think he likes me?"

"Ask Lu He yourself… that's his name."

"Oh… thanks!"

Chyou was annoyed and really didn't like the overly enthusiastic girl beside her. "Shh… I can't hear the teacher."

The girl whispered, "sorry."

Lu He was practically laughing. With girls, he knew the rules of the game and how to play it. This was him in his element. Gone were the confused thoughts. Just to irk her, very subtly he flirted with Chyou's seat mate. When class finished it was time for lunch and Lu He left the room, before the girls.

In the hall Chyou's seat mate ran and caught up to Lu He. "Seven Cranes, wait! I like you!"

Lu He turned around and saw Chyou approaching. "Seven Cranes is the Entertainment company I work for, not my name."

"Oh sorry. But can I be with you?"

He waited until Chyou was about to pass him by, then grabbed her wrist and held it up. "No, I have a master."

The girl frowned, "Chyou you didn't tell me he was your boyfriend!" The girl ran away, completely humiliated.

Lu He let go of the wrist in his hand. "I never said she was my girlfriend."

"Ugh, you're the worst."

He simply raised an eyebrow at her and then walked away in the other direction. She'd finally looked at him. Just before he turned the corner at the end of the hall, realization hit her.

"Wait! THAT'S MY HAIR PIN!"

Lu He smirked, his eyes dancing with mirth, as he continued on and went down the stairs. He could hear her asking people if they'd seen which direction he'd gone.