Wizard of Oz || Zuo Hang✓

Two

Zuo's eyes were set on Yanni, she sat in the front as opposed to him who sat somewhere near the back by the window. She always looked seemingly perfect, but he couldn't believe all the smiles she gave everybody. Even though they never talked, he still felt like he knew her quite well.

Zuo's thought were interrupted by his friend Vicky sitting in front of him. He had his own circle of friends, rather, he had a friend. Vicky was his closest friend, and she was someone who enjoyed computers as much as he did.

'Are you zoning out again?' Vicky asked him once she had sat on her chair in front of him.

'Hmm no,' Zuo answered quickly and looked outside the window.

Vicky looked in the direction where Zuo was looking through her glasses, and noticed he must have been looking at Yanni. She didn't like Yanni, and she believed Zuo didn't like her too. She was part of the popular crew who seemed to trample on everyone.

'Gosh that girl is annoying,' Vicky said to Zuo who was too focused on the sky to even answer anything.

'Ehem, guys,' Su Xinhao, one of Yanni's close friends, walked to the front of the class. 'As you all know, I've just recorded a video singing the school's official song which was written by yours truly.' He announced proudly.

Of course people would have been more excited if Xinhao got the privilege to write the song because he was actually the most talented, not because he was the principal's son. Still more, they agreed to simply support it because it represented their school.

'Anyway, I hope all of you are gonna stream it so that we can get on the "hot videos list", and if you don't mind, please click on the ads. It's pay per click, so the money we generate is going to be donated to the school.' he continued.

Xinhao wasn't Yanni's favorite person, but it wasn't like she had a choice but to be around him. He was one of the most popular kids in the school and her boyfriend's best friend, so they ultimately had to be a crew. It wasn't as if Yanni showed her dislike for him though, but she somehow had a feeling he didn't really like her as well. Either way, they smiled at each other whenever they were around each other.

Everyone was now talking about viewing Xinhao's video on the website for the school's sake, and Xinhao walked back to his seat next to Yanni.

'You'll definitely watch the video and click the ads right? Of course you will, you're like my good buddy.' he said to Yanni with a smile.

And of course, he wasn't wrong. Yanni was definitely going to view it for the sake of their "friendship" and that so-called responsibility she had towards her friends in their trio. She nodded her head with forced excitement, and Xinhao patted her shoulder before focusing on his cellphone.

Zuo knew for sure that he wasn't going to waste his time streaming the video or clicking on any ads, he had way more important things to do. He knew Vicky was definitely not going to involve herself in that activity either. They didn't care much about the school anyway unless it had something to do with their grades.

...

After classes, Zuo was ready to leave school for the weekend which almost felt like it wouldn't come. School had been tiresome, probably because everyone's focus was on Xinhao's video the entire week rather than anything else, and it honestly made Zuo feel kind of sick. The school seemed to be run by popularity.

'So any plans for the weekend?' Vicky asked Zuo as if he ever had any plans aside from staying indoors and working on his computer, or if he got tired of that, watch some anime.

'The usual,' Zuo shrugged his shoulders. He put his hand in his pocket to take out his cellphone, but he gasped when he was met by emptiness. 'Oh no.'

'What?'

'I think I forgot my cellphone in class. Let me go get it.' Zuo told Vicky, and she nodded and watched him go. She looked towards the school building exit as she waited for him.

Zuo ran over to the classroom, but he started to slow down when he heard people having what seemed to be an intimate conversation. He continued to walk to the door slowly, before stopping completely when he heard sobs. He didn't want to interrupt whoever were talking inside. He didn't want to be met with faces who felt awkward when he walked in.

As he looked through the window, he noticed that Yanni was sitting on her desk leaning her head on it, while Zhixin bent next to it and put his hand on her shoulder. She seemed to be bothered. Zuo backed up a little bit to make sure he wasn't in view, but he was curious to hear what they were talking about. He was peeking and listening from his hidden spot.

'Come on Yanni, cheer up,' Zhixin told her. 'If you don't cheer up, we won't be able to play games today.'

'You guys can go without me.' She answered in a teary voice. Zuo was surprised she actually seemed very emotional.

'It won't be any fun without you.' Zhixin stood up straight and grabbed the strap of his bag. 'Can you at least tell me what's wrong? You just switch your moods and expect me to guess why you're sad.'

She sighed. 'I didn't mean to bother you. I'm really sorry.'

'So we're going to play games then? Xinhao is already waiting for us.' Zhixin shrugged.

'Yeah sure,' Yanni got up from her seat. Even though Zuo wasn't inside, he could tell that Yanni was only going to play games for Zhixin's sake. He felt kind of angry at Zhixin for ignoring Yanni's emotions, but then again, Zuo didn't know if Zhixin had ever tried before.

He was too focused on his thoughts to realize that Yanni and Zhixin had now walked out of the classroom, finding him standing by the window. He felt embarrassed by his position and quickly turned away from it, not wanting to seem like an eavesdropper.

Thankfully, Zhixin and Yanni ignored him. They went on to walk past him, hand in hand as usual.

'Honestly Zhixin, I wish there was some kind of app or software to help me make decisions...like totally personalized decisions. Then maybe I wouldn't really be in a mess all the time.' Yanni said to her boyfriend.

'There you go again with your weird ideas.' Zhixin answered her, his mind focused on games.

Just then, Zuo got an idea as he walked into the classroom. He reached underneath the desk and grabbed his cellphone, smiling to himself that it was there. But he had to go home quickly, he had a lot of work to do.