Skaters 101 (but without the skating)

凑热闹

Shoma heaved a long heavy sigh.

Crouching behind tall, leafy green potted plants wasn't really what he had pictured as a 'safe hideout' when Yuzuru had told him that he was going to talk to Maia and her group of friends.

Apparently, Yuzuru was, for some reason, afraid that Shoma would get hurt, so he was hidden behind some potted plants and told to stay in place.

He was behaving like some kind of secret agent on a risky mission. Shoma had determined that from the way he spoke, in hushed urgent whispers, and how he left Pooh back at the bunk, and the way he phrased his words to Shoma whilst forcing him down into the hiding place. (He said gravely: I fear for your life, Sho-chan.)

Nevertheless, Shoma wasn't complaining. He got a good view and the hearing range was not too bad as well. Shoma was absolutely sure, that he could predict every move Yuzuru made, and would be able to be in standby mode in case Yuzuru desperately needed his back up in any situation. He knew his bunkmate, deskmate and friend inside out anyway.

But he didn't expect Yuzuru to come strutting over to the table, one hand on his hip, imitating the way models cat-walked.

~

"Hey girls!"

Shoma winced slightly at the horribly high-pitched greeting that emitted from his (Best) friend's mouth.

Yuzuru changed his pose into another, shoulder jutting out towards them, head twisted to face them, with a hand behind his head, after flicking his fringe to one side. (Where did he learn all these poses, Shoma thought.)

"So like, I was wondering," he continued in his faux accent, "If-"

The girls, who were bemusedly watching him the whole time, finally decided to take action.

"Hey, uhm, Yuzuru?" Maia said, "You don't have to act like that. We speak English."

"Oh," Yuzuru blinked, breaking out of his act. "Okay."

"You had a question?" Yuna probed.

"Well, yeah." Yuzuru smiled sheepishly, "Did you guys notice the bruise on Cheng's face?"

His voice took a turn for a more lower, darker tone of voice. (Like he when he narrated that bedtime story to me before I went to sleep the night before. Shoma mused, 'It was a dark and stormy night'.)

"Yeah. Why?" Gabrielle asked curiously.

The questions started rolling in. Shoma never knew girls liked asking questions that much. For once, he felt grateful to Yuzuru's sheltered parenting skills, protecting him from being exposed to frontline interrogation.

"How do you know she had a bruise?"

"Are you always staring at her?" 

"Do you like her?"

Patrick instantly appeared, cheeks resting on his palms. "Spill the beans." He ordered.

Shoma was amazed at how Patrick could hear any conversation with that magic sentence and rush over in less than a minute to join in the conversation. (In Mandarin, the perfect sentence to describe this phenomenon is 凑热闹）

Yuzuru shook his head. "No, I don't like her in that way. And no, I don't always stare at Cheng. I knew she had a bruise because- it's quite obvious, isn't it? On her cheek." He stopped to take a breath, "But I was concerned about the reason she got the bruise, and worried that she might have been hurt by someone."

There were a few loud gasps. (The loudest was, of course, Patrick. He treated the conversation as some sort of gossip forum.)

"What do you mean hurt by someone?"