The Secret Lives of Pop Stars

Nuisance

06

NUISANCE

"Whoa," Minamoto, our surprise roommate drawls, his hands holding Zhu Rufeng's to look at his phone's wallpaper which accidentally became visible when Zhu Rufeng checked the time. 

I stare at the dusty blue motorcycle--the size of a mammoth being used as Zhu Rufeng's wallpaper.  In the picture, a slightly ruffled Zhu Rufeng leans on it in his trademark lazy style, a small smile lighting up his face. I am not familiar with motorcycles but I know the basics. And the one in the wallpaper looked like the expensive kind. Minamoto lets out a low whistle. 

"It is a Jawa, right?" 

Zhu Rufeng perks up and his eyes shine with a raw spark. I shake my head when I see that all it takes for this simpleton to be happy is to have someone identifying his motorcycle. 

"Neat, right?" 

Minamoto nods his head. 

They both look like angry dogs and I stifle a sigh. Talk about being stereotypical. 

It is morning and even though my gut is filled to the brim with anxiety, I follow Zhu Rufeng and Minamoto as they walk to the subway. Today is going to be my first day at school. Minamoto's school was in a different part of the city while mine and Zhu Rufeng's was in Tokyo and required the subway to commute. Since Minamoto Chika offered to show us the way to the subway, things turned out pretty easy. 

The duo continue talking about bikes and girls— both of the things alien to me— and I quietly follow without much input. Not that I wanted to contribute to the conversation in the remotest way. It is a win-win situation.

A few minutes later, we bid farewell to Minamoto outside the subway. He looks like a reliable big brother as he waves at us as if he was sending a bunch of kids to kindergarten.

It isn't a surprise when the car we board overflows with bodies, everyone hurrying to either work or to school. It is the beginning of the peak commute hours and crowded subway cars is a natural, though troublesome, thing. 

Almost suffocating, I stand with Zhu Rufeng as close to the door as possible. My hands tightly grip onto the railing above me as I try to ignore someone breathing on my right ear while some other person's bag bumps into my thigh. 

"So crowded," Zhu Rufeng mumbles lightly, holding onto the railing overhead. 

"I heard it gets worse in the evenings," I reply. I move my body, adjusting to accommodate all the discomfort. Since I'm almost a head shorter than Zhu Rufeng, my head bumps into Zhu Rufeng's chin in a dull but probably painful state. I try to move my head away only to be whopped on the back by somebody's elbow. I wince. Zhu Rufeng lets out an invisible sigh as he presses my head to his chest. "It's okay," he mouths. "We just need to get out of the house early tomorrow." 

His accent sounds thicker in the heat and his face has this rare look of displeasure. There are beads of sweat on his forehead and his shirt is already half soaked. Zhu Rufeng tilts his chin away to inconspicuously rub the sore spot which was repeatedly hit by my head whenever someone bumped into me. 

A small sense of remorse fills me but I, myself, was being hit all around, so it isn't like I could leave him much free space. I simply nod.

We travel the rest of the seven kilometres in silence. Only after we're out of the subway do I feel like I can finally breathe. It is not that I've never been in a crowd. I have. But in reality, I am just a country boy who occasionally travelled to the city to attend auditions. Most of them were during weekends so I had never truly experienced the subway in its entire traffic glory. 

To be honest, it is hell.

"I'm so sweaty. Ugh, I smell," my roommate moans as he smells his shirt and armpits. "So much for making a good impression on the first day of school." 

"Even, you care about first impressions?" I learnt rather fast to ignore Zhu Rufeng but I can't help but ask this. Zhu Rufeng did not look like he fit with the norm. 

"Of course I do, xiao tuzi!" Zhu Rufeng laughs, grabbing me in a headlock and ruffling my combed hair. Gone are the displeasure and thick accent. "Who doesn't care about appearances?" 

"You say while ruining mine," I remark. I push Zhu Rufeng away and try to make my hair look decent. My roommate laughs as he slings a hand over my shoulder lazily. I normally hate it when people get too touchy feely with me but pushing Zhu Rufeng's hand off would only result in him putting it around me again, so I don't bother and choose to turn a blind eye to it. 

"You're always presentable, xiao tuzi," Zhu Rufeng says and even adds a despicable wink to it.

I disregard his vacant complimentary jab but my curiosity peaks. "Shou tuthsu?" I ask a second later only for Zhu Rufeng to speak at the same time. 

"Did you visit the school with your father?"

I shake my head. "No. He carried the transfer procedures all by himself." 

"Then do you know the way?" 

I shake my head again. "He said it's a ten minutes walk from the subway. And even if we can't find it, we can always ask around. Plus there is always the GPS." 

But what Zhu Rufeng and I underestimated were the busy streets of Tokyo. We spend the next ten minutes walking in circles and I'm pretty sure we've crossed 'Kebab corner: the ultimate spot to appease your appetite!' five times.  

Zhu Rufeng laughs the whole way. Sounding absolutely mocking. 

"Plus there is always the GPS~" Zhu Rufeng sing-songs jestingly, in a poor imitation of my way of speech. 

Since I'm worried we might end up being late on our first day to school, I postpone my urge to whack Zhu Rufeng's head. But not before I throw a clear glare at Zhu Rufeng. The latter unaffectedly laughs.

I roll my eyes and look down at my wrist watch to find that there were only seven minutes before the bell. I curse internally. I should've just asked my dad for directions clearly instead of relying on the GPS. Technology sucks.

Zhu Rufeng laughs again before straightening.

"Excuse me." He steps forward and stops a pedestrian. The middle-aged man who was clearly hurrying on his way looks annoyed when Zhu Rufeng asks for directions, still he explains politely. I thank the man while Zhu Rufeng bows deeply, in a perfect ninety degrees angle. 

Not wasting any more time, we half run and half jog ignoring the looks of pedestrians, and finally arrive before the school gates in the neck of time. 

"GPS," Zhu Rufeng mouths winking at me and this time, I whack him.

We pant, chest almost bursting as we rest our hands on our knees, mimicking each other. "Normally GPS shows the way but whoa, look at yours. It even has an added bonus of encouraging us to exercise." Even at such a time, Zhu Rufeng has the will to look for trouble. I smack his stomach with the back of my hand and though a younger guy hit him twice in the spam of a minute, Zhu Rufeng doesn't look offended. Rather, his grin widens.

"Quit it," I mutter before regaining his composure. I'm never ever relying on GPS ever again. Even at gunpoint. 

After asking the Student Council member at the gates about where the teacher's lounge is, we make our way towards the teacher's room. Since we did not know our locker numbers yet, we borrowed two pairs of worn out indoor shoes from the watchman and finally arrived at the teacher's lounge. 

"Good luck, xiao tuzi," Zhu Rufeng says before opening the door. 

"What does that even mean?" I mutter but it goes unheard. 

After introducing ourselves to the nearest staff present, we get directed to two others respectively. My homeroom teacher either doesn't notice my disheveled look or chooses to disregard it but either way, I'm thankful for not getting a disciplinary warning on my first day. 

I get sorted into Class 1-B while Zhu Rufeng ends up in Class 3-D. "Let's meet up for lunch. Wait for me, okay?" Zhu Rufeng chirps when we meet outside the lounge. He pinches my right ear but before I could swat his hand away, he turns and jogs away, towards a different corridor. "My class is on the third floor. I was asked to go this way. Bye bye, Char-chan." 

And just like that, my noisy roommate is almost gone. I hurry to politely wave my hands back but when I do, there is only an empty space where Zhu Rufeng was standing before.

Shaking my head, I turn back to find my own class. 

•••

Calling my first day in this new school torturous would be an understatement. 

I was planning to stay in the shadows by arriving early and conquering my seat before most students arrived. I have never transferred schools before but I clearly knew that the whole introduction thing was totally not my thing. It wasn't that I was scared. It just required spending too much of my energy. Energy I simply didn't have.

I was positive I did not have any talents except for singing and dancing (which I've decided to keep a secret). I was not quirky nor did I have any nice hobbies. I just wanted to bypass my school life as quietly as possible while trying to debut. 

But Fate worked against me.

Adding my sweaty limbs and my hair which were made into a bird's nest with my fashionably late appearance, it made a curious sight when I was asked to introduce himself. 

Everything was downhill from there. 

"I made friends. They didn't say anything about my accent. The guy sitting in front of me even asked me for lunch," Zhu Rufeng brags as we eat convenience store rice balls in a secluded part of the stairs leading to the roof. 

Such a cliché spot. But I didn't complain when Zhu Rufeng dragged me here. But on second thoughts, it was quite cosy and silent. Kind of resonating with my taste. 

I bite into my own bland rice ball. 

Zhu Rufeng muzzles his hair which he had re-dyed black because of school rules. I found it strange but I sort of missed his cherry head. "Do you think my hair is strange?" he asks hesitatingly after a while. 

I swallow the last of my rice ball, wipe my cheek clean and tilt my head, taking in my older roommate's messy hair. 

"Why?" 

Zhu Rufeng shrugs and he oddly looks funny. "The girls kept patting it. Maybe it was too unruly?" Zhu Rufeng pulls the tip of his hair strands, looking worried. 

I roll my eyes internally as I choose not to reply. Why did I have to go and become roommates with such a braggy person? 

When Zhu Rufeng sees that I wasn't contributing to the conversation, he decides to direct it towards me. 

"How was your day?" 

"Fine," I mutter. I rest my arms on my lap and then lay my head on it, sighing a little. I feel tired all of a sudden.

"Bad day?" Zhu Rufeng guesses. 

I nod. I couldn't see Zhu Rufeng's expression but somehow I know he would have a sorry expression with a small pout on his face. That has been Zhu Rufeng's expression whenever his conversation with me extended beyond five sentences and when he couldn't take anymore of my cold fish replies. A small, unsightly pout on a boy who was already transitioning into a man.

So ugly. 

"Why?" Zhu Rufeng continues. 

I don't reply as I close my eyes, head still down. Maybe I could take a small nap. 

"Are they ignoring you?" 

No answer. 

Zhu Rufeng does not give up. 

"Tell me. Ge ge will help you?"

"Ge ge?"

"Just tell me." 

I sigh. I crumble the wrapping of my rice ball and pocket it before looking up. Zhu Rufeng glances at me with a small smile, black eyes almost having an outer violet hue in the afternoon sunlight shining through the window by the side. 

"It's actually the opposite." 

Zhu Rufeng looks lost for a second. His eyebrows arch and he looks comical for a second that I get this urge to laugh. He finally asks, confused. "What..?" 

"It's the opposite. Everyone is trying to talk to me. It is sort of tiring." 

Unexpectedly, Zhu Rufeng hits the back of my head. "You dummy, what is wrong about that?" 

I glare at him before smacking him back. No one had ever hit me before. Even for fun. Ah, how he missed Takagi. 

Stop being a hypocrite. You hit him three times today, my conscience reminds and I stomp all over it.

"I don't want to keep repeating things I've told about twenty times since morning." 

Zhu Rufeng chuckles. He looks satisfied for some reason as he shifts his body to face me. Then he proceeds to rest his cheek on his fist and drawls. "Like?" 

"Like where I come from or what I like or if I have a girlfriend." 

Zhu Rufeng laughs more. Louder. "That is called making small talk, xiao tuzi. This is how you make friends." 

I roll my eyes and stand up. At this rate, my eyeballs are bound to fall off the sockets one of these days. 

I dust the rice crumbs on my lap before starting to climb down the stairs. It is already time for the bell. 

"Charlie-ah, that is a good thing." Zhu Rufeng speaks. He sounds almost nasal as he jogs behind me. "Talk more. You'll even get a girlfriend." 

"Quit it." 

To be honest, I could not bear the 'small talk.' It had already surpassed my usual threshold. And adding to that headache, this whole conversation with my supposed roommate was more draining than I had imagined. "I came here to train and debut. Not to go after temporary girls or make short term friends." 

I hear Zhu Rufeng's steps, almost immediately, and so I halt and turn back a little. I can not help but take in the differences between us. My uniform is neatly ironed, even with the way it was tousled and crumbled in the morning. My hair is mostly in place. My eyes are passive, never holding any element of an expression. Almost like still water. Simply put, I looked like a lifeless prisoner living a comfortable life. On the other hand, Zhu Rufeng's uniform is already untucked in most places and it would give any teacher a heart attack if they saw him. His hair is messy and sticking up in all directions, soft but unruly. His eyes are a bright black, twinkling as if the entire universe was trapped in. He looked like a kind troublemaker. 

We were exact opposites. 

If it weren't for our accidental acquaintance in the audition, I would never associate myself with someone like him. Being with people like Zhu Rufeng required energy. I was required to be spontaneous. For someone who only knew how to spend energy on practicing and auditioning, and making polite conversation when needed, this was something way out of my comfort zone. 

"Then what am I? An unwanted short term friend?" Zhu Rufeng demands. His eyes pierce me as they nail my feet to the spot. The same unsightly pout trembles on the verge of popping out and I can't help but wince a little mentally. 

So, so ugly that I want to laugh. 

I shakey head with a sigh before turning back. At this rate, I might end up at my afternoon class late. 

"You smiled right now!" Zhu Rufeng calls behind me. I choose to ignore him and speed up. I'm already on the last step of the stairs when Zhu Rufeng asks loudly. "Charlie, what am I?" 

I take a breath to calm down and look back. 

"A human." 

Zhu Rufeng shoots an unimpressed look back. "You know what I mean," he says, eyes narrowing. 

If this is Takagi, I would leave him and go back. But this is Zhu Rufeng. A familiar stranger. I'm not sure if the latter would put up with my indifference or tantrums the way Takagi would. I sigh inconspicuously.

"A nuisance," I say. Zhu Rufeng visibly relaxes before flashing me a huge smile. With the whole dimples package. Why would any person smile so happily for being called a nuisance?

"Awesome," he says closing up the distance between us, effortlessly ending right in front of me. He thrusts his rice ball wrapping into my chest.

"Awesome?" I can't help but ask. Truth be told, in my measly sixteen years, I had never met someone with a weirder temperament than Zhu Rufeng. 

"Yeah," Zhu Rufeng agrees. His eyes twinkle with an unreadable light. "At least, that means I don't come under the temporary or the short term category." 

He pats my head before flashing a quick wink. "Throw the trash out for me, didi?" 

And with that, Zhu Rufeng leaves me at the bottom of the stairs. Completely and utterly speechless. Only when the bell rings do I regain his composure. 

Ah great, I am late for class.