The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

Chapter 9

'HERE'S YOUR CLASSROOM. Enjoy your stay!' Miss Brown says, smiling at me as she hands back my I.D card. It still feels strange to see another person who isn't originally from Zone 1. But this school—Yamato International School, located in the Tetsubun area of Kobushi, a city in the western portion of Mizuchi—is a melting pot of race, nationalities, and cultures.

They also don't follow the usual age groups. If you've completed a year in another Zone, repeating the same grade wouldn't be necessary here. Because of this policy, I'll be among the youngest since I'm only sixteen. Which is good, they say. I'll have more time to review before I take an entrance exam at any university. As if I'm gonna do that.

I know I should feel I finally belong, but after everything I've found out about myself, getting excited has become taxing.

Sure, having the ability to produce fire seems cool, I mean, hot—OK, that was terrible, I'm sorry—but Ally and Mum lied to me. They thought I wouldn't be able to handle myself well. I'm emotional, so they didn't know how to break the news to me. I wanted to prove them wrong, so by the time I got a call from the school, I told myself I wouldn't be involved in any trouble. Or at least, I would be more discreet. It's in my blood, don't blame me.

Back in Zone 3, I could neglect school, be a troublemaker, and still be a model. My people are forgiving. Either that or they don't care what you do behind the camera as long as you're good-looking. The more scandalous you are, the more people are going to like you. Of course, they feign this admiration by boycotting you once in a while but give it a day or so, and they'll love you again.

Not in Zone 1, though. Before landing here, I did some gen up, and Mum was right. They're obsessed with a clean image. Nothing's wrong with that, I guess. Except for tolerating bigotry. That's not fine and will never be.

I look down and observe my uniform before stepping in. Frankly, I do like this school's uniform. Yeah, it looks simple with its white shirt underneath a dark red waistcoat, a black tie, and black trousers. But everything is obviously costly. You wouldn't find such quality in markets. It makes me wonder how much my mother has paid for all of this. I asked Ally, but he said he also had no idea. Who would have thought that a dentist could afford this much? What else has she been hiding from me?

There are only a few students inside. It doesn't surprise me since Ally badgered me to get up early. He wants me so badly to fit in. I'm still new to this school, but I don't think being too early gives the message that 'Hey, you should count me in your clique or whatever.' Then again, I don't think he meant the students. He meant the teachers, of course.

Pulling out my phone, I tap Cupcake and go over to the nearest student. He's a bespectacled guy with clean-cut, thick, straight black hair. He's busy reading a textbook with eyebrows so scrunched together that I wonder if he's concentrating or if he's holding diarrhoea. Is he projecting a swot image? But really, he's more of an anorak. So not the right guy to ask.

Three desks behind the diarrhoea guy is a redhead. I wonder if the colour of his hair is real. It's too red, like human blood, yeah it's a grim image, but hey, it does the job. I also notice he's got no freckles. I'd met other redheads with no freckles. Then again, I am not facing him directly, so who knows? From this angle, I can see that he's got a sharp nose; everything in him looks sharp. He sits like a bayden. He's got that proud look on his face. It's subtle, but if you've had worked with different types of people, you could identify them. They'd like to think they are not obvious, but that's never the case.

I read the redhead's nametag, which he has left lying on the table: Alasdair Yamato. That can't be it...I'm sure it's a coincidence that his last name is the same as our school.

Alasdair looks up at me and gives me a brief smile. 'Yes? May I help you?' Just like the first student, he's also holding a book. But unlike the other one, he seems relaxed. So he's a psycho. Who enjoys reading textbooks?