“Amelia! She’s lying! She’s lying!” Judy shrieked.
The classmates watched with a mix of eager excitement and discomfort, trying to lean back and angle their heads away to avoid Judy’s voice.
— Honestly, once Judy stopped putting on a fake voice and let her natural tone slip through, her raspy voice immediately gave her away.
Judy cared a lot about that. Normally, she would have jumped up by now.
But right now she was too busy explaining herself, enduring those stares while desperately shouting “Amelia.”
“The key.” Amelia didn’t waste words with her. “Just hand it over.”
Judy spread her arms, trying to hug Amelia, only to have her hand slapped away. Kingsley stood behind her, wide-eyed and at a loss. Nowhere to be seen was the aloof, haughty air of their little group’s leader.
Amelia lost patience. She grabbed Judy’s hair and yanked it hard, shaking her until Judy let out a squeal like a pig being slaughtered.
“I told you to get the key, key, key!” Amelia snarled, viciously tugging and whipping Judy’s hair around.
Zhao Zhenzhen crossed her arms and stood at a distance, watching the show unfold. She spoke coolly, “Just get it yourself. Isn’t the key right there hanging on her backpack?”
You just had to have someone hand it to you, didn’t you?
What a waste of time.
Hearing this, Amelia turned to look at Judy’s seat and indeed spotted the key hanging by the backpack. She shoved Judy aside, strode over, and ripped the key off.
Before leaving the classroom, she pointed at Zhao Zhenzhen and snarled, “Don’t think just because you helped me, you can talk to me like that. You better watch yourself!”
With that, she slammed the door against the wall—”BANG!”—and stormed out.
“Amelia! Amelia!” Judy scrambled up from the floor, wailing as she ran after her. “There’s really nothing in my locker! I swear there’s nothing!”
Class hadn’t started yet, but all the students had already arrived.
Now that there was drama to watch, everyone rushed out to the hallway.
Zhao Zhenzhen got swept along by the crowd and, to her surprise, ended up in the front row.
When Betty spotted her, she immediately squeezed over, ignoring the dirty looks thrown her way, and sidled up to Zhao Zhenzhen, eagerly asking for gossip. “What’s going on? Why are they fighting?”
“Kingsley cheated on Amelia. The other woman is Judy.” Zhao Zhenzhen said.
A chorus of “Whoa!!” rippled through the crowd. Faces lit up with excitement, and people even turned around to pass the news back, terrified that someone might have missed it.
The classmates who had been throwing dirty looks at Betty earlier were no longer annoyed—instead, they shot her grateful glances.
If she hadn’t come over to ask, how would they have gotten this juicy scoop!
Quick, quick! Dear classmate, ask your Eastern friend more questions, see what else she knows.
Betty gasped, her face a mask of shock as she lowered her voice. “No way! How does Judy even compare to Amelia?”
“She’s got a great body.” Zhao Zhenzhen said.
“That’s true.” A random classmate couldn’t help but lean in to join the gossip. “You guys remember the basketball game last year, right?”
The moment he brought it up, several people caught on and chimed in. “The one where the cheerleaders dressed up in masquerade costumes?”
A chorus of knowing “Ooooh~~” sounds went around.
Zhao Zhenzhen immediately heard a flood of voices.
“That time their faces were covered—Judy really did have the best figure.”
“Yeah.” Someone nodded. “Wonder if the cheerleaders will do the masquerade look again.”
“Don’t even think about it. Judy dared to poach from Amelia’s turf—after today, she’s definitely getting kicked off the cheerleading squad. Even if they bring back the cosplay routine later, what’s that got to do with her?”
“Wait, doesn’t that mean… there’s going to be an open spot on the cheerleading squad?!” A girl who’d been eyeing the squad latched onto the key point, instantly thrilled.
Nice one, Judy!
“But haven’t you noticed? Ever since that cosplay routine last year, the squad hasn’t done that theme again,” someone said. “As for why—well, chew on that, really chew on it.”
The crowd caught on, exchanging knowing glances and winks, signaling “We get it, we all get it.”
Betty had been keeping half her attention on Zhao Zhenzhen the whole time, so the moment she saw her crack a “trying to hold back a laugh but failing” expression, she immediately looked over with curiosity. “Zhao, what are you laughing at?”
“Nothing.” Zhao Zhenzhen pressed her lips together, trying to look serious.
“You definitely know something—you’re sneaking a laugh.” Betty’s eyes lit up, and she leaned in mysteriously. “Did you see it?”
“What? What?” The students nearby craned their necks, straining to eavesdrop.
They looked at Zhao Zhenzhen with plaintive eyes. “Come on, classmate, you’ve gotta share!”
“Yeah, share!” the others chorused.
Zhao Zhenzhen pointed at Amelia. “There. There’s your share.”
Amelia shoved Judy aside and forced both lockers open.
The first locker was Judy’s usual one—plastered with posters of trendy pop stars and such, a perfectly normal American high school girl’s locker.
But the second one was not.
When it swung open, even Amelia froze.
The students who’d been craning their necks got a clear look at the contents and let out an excited “Whoa—” of their own.
Amid the chorus of “What? What? What’s in there?!” they turned and whispered the details to the others.
Plenty of people had already whipped out their phones, fingers flying as they typed away, making Zhao Zhenzhen feel like she was watching paparazzi in action.
Judy let out a shriek, then went silent.
As for Kingsley, he’d been standing off to the side clutching his hair in utter despair this whole time, and he still looked exactly the same.
…Useless man.
Zhao Zhenzhen looked away in disgust.
Judy’s second locker was stuffed full of all kinds of outfits, wigs, and cheap accessories.
Even people who had zero interest in Japanese anime could pick out several recognizable costumes.
“Is that… Catwoman’s outfit?” someone asked uncertainly.
“Whoa! There’s a Superman one too!”
Zhao Zhenzhen heard Betty let out a quiet “Whoa” as well, and she couldn’t help but muffle a laugh at how adorable it was.
Amelia stood in front of the locker for a long moment, frozen, then reached in and pulled out a Sailor Moon costume. She grabbed the blonde wig and glared at it hard for a solid while.
She took a deep breath, struggling to keep her voice level. “Sailor Moon is my absolute favorite. Of all the characters you could’ve dressed up as, you had to pick Sailor Moon. …And you dressed up as her to sleep with this piece of trash!”
Amelia’s voice grew more heated with every word, until she finally shrieked at full volume, hurling the costume and wig straight at Judy. “He doesn’t deserve to sleep with Sailor Moon! He’s not worthy!”
“Today, I—today, I!” Amelia looked around wildly, her gaze landing on the back of the locker. She yanked out a plastic Sailor Moon wand and raised it high in fury. “Today, in the name of Sailor Moon, I will punish you both!”
The scene erupted into total chaos.
Say what you will, but Amelia really was a star member of the cheerleading squad.
Agility, attack power, and explosive force—she had them all.
Judy was clearly agile too, but next to Amelia, she looked as clumsy as a bear!
Judy couldn’t dodge, and even when she fought back, she couldn’t beat Amelia. After taking a heavy beating, she roared at Amelia, “Why are you only hitting me?! Isn’t Kingsley just as guilty?!”
“Judy!” Kingsley shouted in panic, trying to stop Judy from throwing him under the bus.
Actually, the moment Amelia started throwing punches, he’d wanted to sneak out of the crowd and slip away. But for some reason, he couldn’t get through.
Not only couldn’t he escape, he was blocked right at the front of the crowd—close enough that Amelia could spot him with a single glance.
If you’re going to take a beating, just take it yourself—why drag him into it!
Kingsley glared at Judy.
“Get lost! Idiot!” Judy shouted at Kingsley from the ground.
Her makeup had already been ruined earlier when Zhao Zhenzhen smeared ketchup all over her face. But now it was even worse—her eyeliner had smudged into panda eyes from crying, and her cheeks were streaked with black tear tracks.
Her lipstick had smeared off her lips, dragging a long line across her cheek.
Add her disheveled hair to the mix, and she looked like a complete madwoman.
Maybe that was why Judy had completely given up, dropping all the fawning and flattery she usually showed Kingsley.
“You—!” Kingsley wanted to rage, but then remembered Amelia was still there.
His eyes darted nervously, full of guilt, as he timidly glanced over and weakly called out, “Amelia…”
Amelia still gripped the plastic wand in her hand, hands on her hips as she stared coldly at Kingsley.
She let out a cold laugh, then turned her head to Judy and said, “You think I’m letting him off?”
Judy and Kingsley both hung their heads, neither daring to meet Amelia’s gaze.
“Once I’m done with you, it’s his turn!” Amelia said, slowly turning her head toward Kingsley.
“Whoa…” Zhao Zhenzhen whispered.
Betty immediately took notice. “What’s wrong?”
“Hard to explain—just that her rage meter is spiking.” Zhao Zhenzhen watched as Amelia’s name tag shifted from yellow to red.
Then the star cheerleader raised her plastic magic wand high and leaped.
She raised the wand overhead and slammed it hard down onto Kingsley’s head.
Landing nimbly, she braced backward, executed a handspring backflip, and whipped her foot straight into Kingsley’s chin.
Then she landed gracefully on her feet.
Amid the whistles and applause around her, she lifted her chin and looked down at Kingsley with disdain. “You’re dumped.”
She looked him up and down, her face twisting with disgust, and said word by word, “Filthy. Trash.”
The whistles and clapping grew louder and more intense.
“And you!” Amelia pointed at Judy. “From this moment on, you’re kicked off the cheerleading squad!”
With that, she spun her head and tossed her hair arrogantly, about to stride out of the crowd—until her gaze landed on Zhao Zhenzhen.
She looked her up and down, then said in a condescending tone, “You’re not bad. From now on, you can follow me.”
“?” Zhao Zhenzhen shot Amelia a glare. “Psycho.”
“You?!” Amelia’s eyes went wide, her expression screaming, How dare you talk to me like that?
“You don’t actually think I said all that to help you, do you?” Zhao Zhenzhen sneered. “I was just watching dogs fight.”
Sharp gasps rippled through the crowd.
Zhao Zhenzhen immediately felt the space around her clear out.
Betty glanced left and right, then instead took a step closer to Zhao Zhenzhen, standing shoulder to shoulder with her as she glared at Amelia with a look of shared defiance.
As if to say, “There are two of us!”
Should she take the initiative to speak now? Like Judy, playing the trash-talker, handling the provocation?
Betty thought seriously, her brow slightly furrowed.
She only had experience as a sidekick, lacking experience as an enforcer.
Zhao Zhenzhen didn’t turn around. She reached out, pressed her palm against Betty’s face, and pushed her away.
She raised an eyebrow at Amelia. “Your business is settled. Now it’s my turn.”
She walked past Amelia toward Judy, bent down, and gave her a fake smile. “I’ll give you two options.”
“Wash my backpack clean, fill it with brand-new textbooks and stationery, clean up my soaked desk, and put everything back in place. When I come to school tomorrow, I want to see it done.”
“Second option: wash the backpack clean and pay for the textbooks and stationery.”
Judy glared at her furiously.
Zhao Zhenzhen spoke softly. “Don’t be upset. If you don’t do it, I’ll make sure you know.”
“Crossing me will end far worse than crossing Amelia.”
“You don’t want to keep having bad luck, do you? Dear little Piggy?”
Judy’s eyes widened.
How could this Chinese girl call out her childhood nickname!
She had protested vehemently after turning five, and no one had called her that since!
As if reading her thoughts, Zhao Zhenzhen said, “Yes, no one’s called you that since you turned five. But I know it.”
She leaned in closer and whispered even more quietly to Judy, “If I want to.”
“I can know all your secrets.”
“So, Miss Piggy, don’t anger me.”
“Otherwise—” Zhao Zhenzhen made a “pew” gesture at Judy.
“I’ll have to punish you in the name of the moon too.”