Guardian: Returns

1

The headmaster looked up from the file he was studying. He frowned, scrutinizing a skinny youth standing in front of his desk.

"Why are you alone? You were supposed to come with your brother."

"Yes, Sir. My brother suffers from severe migraines. He had an attack yesterday and is still resting. But he should be here tomorrow." The boy assured. He stepped nervously from one foot to the other, lowering his head instinctively at the burning gaze of the headmaster. He knew the next question.

"About your hair..."

"It got like that after the accident, sir." The kid nervously combed his grey hair with his long fingers, staring at the old carpet in the office. The headmaster cleared his throat, looking down at the documents. The twins had been in a car accident that caused the death of their parents. The boys came out miraculously uninjured but severely traumatized. They were seven at that time. Since then, their uncle, a sole relative, was taking care of them. Because of his job, he had to move to Dragon City, taking the boys with him.

"Have you ever considered dying them back?"

"I like it this way," the kid shrugged.

"I am only saying it because I don't want you to get bullied. If someone-"

"Don't worry, sir. That won't happen. I know how to deal with that."

The headmaster's frown deepened.

"Do I smell trouble?" he asked.

"Wh- No sir!" the boy looked him straight in the eyes. "I won't cause any trouble. I promise."

"All right." the elderly man scratched his chin, looking back to the documents. Both boys had perfect marks in all the subjects, though they were in different classes. The one standing before him chose the humanistic course, and the other one...

"Wait. Your brother was in the bio-chem class before. Why did he apply for the math-physics here?"

The skinny boy smirked. "He managed to learn everything from that course in one year. So now he wants to try something new. Don't worry. He'll catch up."

The principal's mouth twitched. He had never been told not to worry by a student before. He slowly put down the folder with the papers and rose to his feet, then extended his hand.

"Mister Jiang Xin Bai, welcome to our school." The boy blinked, slightly perplexed to be treated at school as an adult, then took the hand and smiled.

"Thank you, sir!"

The headmaster watched as the secretary led the kid to his first class. He had a feeling that things were going to get interesting in his school. Hopefully, positively interesting.

"Everyone, this is your new classmate, Jiang Xin Bai. Would you like to say anything about yourself, honey?" The literature teacher was a short, plump woman in her sixties. She was all smiles and treated everyone more like her children than students.

"Not really," Jiang shrugged, staring down. There was a low murmur of curious voices.

"All right," the teacher misunderstood his behaviour. " It's ok to be shy. Now..." She looked around, squinting. At sixty, she still pretended that she didn't need glasses to see the classroom clearly. Two students waved to get her attention, then pointed at the vacant place at the back. "Ah, there we go. Go, sit there, honey. We were discussing Shakespear. As you probably haven't-"

"Which play? Or is it the sonnets?" Jang Xin Bai sat down and asked.

"It's 'Mackbeth', dear."

"Oh, I liked this one," he said to himself in monotone.