Picture Us | Zhuo Zhi

four

f i r s t d a y

Nam was strolling the school grounds as she occasionally snaps a photo with the camera that she has still strapped around her neck. "Yu Qing" was proudly displayed at the front of the school. She makes her way over to her brother who's sleeping on a bench. Come on, she thinks. We're new, we don't even have our uniforms yet, and this is what you do on our first day! I'm related to a simpleton. She awakes Xia with a start, but not before capturing a photo of his sleeping form. "Get up already!" she shouts to her twin, only to be met with a questioning, sleep-filled stare. Frustration covers Nam's features as she drags Xia into the school building.

Nam nervously fiddles with the sleeves of her oversized hoodie, which actually belongs to Xia, as they make their way to the office. She knows they don't have uniforms yet, but seeing all the girls wearing skirts while she dons leggings makes her self-conscious, even if her own twin was dressed casual as well. With her camera bag slung over her shoulder in the same fashion as Lu Xia's tennis bag, the Lu twins make their way to class, trailing behind their new teacher, Ms. Xiang.

"Hello class," the teacher says as all three people trail through the classroom door. "We have two transfer students from abroad, twins actually." Qi ying perks up, seeing two familiar faces, although her interest leans more towards one Lu Xia rather than Lu Nam. Nam can't help but notice her twin's gaze on Ying, who conveniently sits at the front of the class. Ms. Xiang instructs the twins, "Introduce yourself."

"My name is Lu Xia," the twin brother states.

The class seems dumbfounded. "That's all?" and "It's really awkward" is heard in whispers around the room.

To intervene, Ms. Xiang advises the awkward Lu Xia to talk about his hobbies.

"I like playing tennis," he states.

After an uncomfortable pause, Nam becomes slightly flustered as the room full of eyes shifts its attention from Xia to her. "I'm Lu Nam... I like photography," she says, mimicking her brother as she fiddles with her long, frizzy, hair.

Again, the class seems unsatisfied as chatter fills the air. Thankfully, Ms. Xiang makes her presence known again. "Fine. The Lu twins might be a quiet pair," she states while addressing the class. Looking towards her two new students, she adds, "It's okay. You can talk to your classmates later. Please sit over there." Nam and Xia sit at the two desks near the windows, with Nam behind her twin.

Suddenly, a bell throughout the whole school tolls twice, and Nam and Xia look at each other quizzingly before the whole class stands up with the command from Ying, the class president. A chorus of "Good morning, madam" echoes from the students. Ms. Xiang gives her greeting back.

Addressing the shock on the twins' faces, Ms. Xiang says, "It's okay, Lu Xia and Lu Nam. You both just returned and don't know our school yet." She turns to Ying. "Qi Ying, can you please show them around after school?"

Ying responds with a reluctant "okay" before class resumes.

-

The bell tolls, signalling the end of the day. The whole class shuffles out the door until there's only three people left in the classroom. Nam glances at the sleeping figure of her twin brother, and only softly smiles at the sight of him. She opts to take a long time to pack up her journals, since she actually paid attention unlike her twin, and decided that Ying could wake him up once she worked up the nerve.

But another student beats her to it, shoving Xia awake. Nam giggles to herself as her brother groggily looks at the kid that introduces himself as Mu. She listens as he gushes about tennis. Nam can't hear the rest of his monologue, though, as Xia ushers for them to leave.

The twins are out the door by the time Mu notices, and he frantically follows after them, leaving Ying alone in the classroom.

A/N- I republished this part because part five seemed kind of small (and I didn't know what to do), so I decided to just add it on to the end of part four...