Reputations-Beiguang

Chapter three

"Hey Beidou!" her classmate yells to catch her attention. It works and she turns around before walking out the large school gates. She dashed towards her, but stops until she's only feet away from her. The small figured peer takes a moment to catch her breath before speaking again. "I was..huff..wondering if.." breathing heavily, she barely spoke. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the arcade with me and Xinyan!"

Beidou smiles widely and immediately accepts the offer. "Sure! Where is she?" she exclaims. Her classmate keeps her composure and starts breathing normally. "She should be in the bathroom right now, but I'm sure she'll be here shortly!" she chimes back, slightly jumping up and down. "Alright. You're lucky I trust you Xiangling." Beidou jokes.

Xiangling giggles a bit, sprinting away to find Xinyan shortly after. Beidou stands the by the gate and leans on the stiff brick walls. Her eyes fall onto all the people that walk out and she finds herself daydreaming a bit and she stares into space. Her headspace is immediately interrupted by the vision of Ningguang walking alone. She smiles more and decided to approach her.

"Hey." she greets with another sneaky curve around her lips. Ningguang recognizes her pestering tone and figure from the corner of her eye. Still, she doesn't let that effect her routine. "Hello." she responds back. Beidou's vision of Ningguang's stays for a long time.

"You're much more beautiful in person, you know that?" Beidou teases kindly, leaving Ningguang speechless. It wasn't bad for her to give such a nice compliment, but it felt so odd from their previous history together. Ningguang's poker face nudged a bit as the tension between them grew stronger.

"Do you expect me to fall for your fake charm?" Ningguang booms back. Beidou felt her cheeks grow warm again, noticing what this meant. "You..you think I have charm?" Beidou chuckles loudly and Ningguang smiles in return. "Maybe I do." Ningguang smirks.

"Good to know I've still got it!" Beidou's laughter became louder, a couple stared before walking out. Ningguang notices this and quickly hides her smile again.

"So, what did you come to talk to me for?" Ningguang orders the truth. Beidou calms back down and looks at her in the eye. "I just wanted to say goodbye. Was there something you wanted me to say?" the brunette explains, following with a tone of sarcasm.

"Not particularly, but I do have one question." she answers. This felt important to Beidou since Ningguang had been reluctant of her conversation from the moment they met.

"Go on." she chirps back, interested in her friend's question. "I was curious. Where are you from? Most of the people who attend here are some that I can recognize from all the way into grade school, but you," she interrogated, "I don't think I remember seeing you. Enlighten me."

Beidou gulps in surprise of her concern. Beidou didn't really mention anything about her past unless it was brought up or it was a minor detail. A question like this felt a little out of place. Nevertheless, she knew she had to answer truthfully. "I went to grade school with Childe if that's what you're wondering." she remarks proudly, hiding her shock shamefully.

Ningguang raises an eyebrow. "Right. But are you from this town? Surely I would've seen you at school field trips that had all other schools involved."

"I just never went to school field trips, they were all boring. Stuff like museums and shows are boring." Beidou plays it off quick. Ningguang, still not convinced, sighs and looks away. "Interesting, so you don't mind me asking Childe about you?" the white haired woman proposes. "Ah..no, don't." Beidou sighs worryingly, "Him and I don't have a good relationship."