Ep. 6

For the first time in years, Chunhua had an actual conversation with Zhang. She had not expected them to talk about the tension between them, but she was glad because they managed to clear it. At least they would be able to carry out their group project.

After the emotional talk at the party, Zhang offered to escort Jialin back to her dorm. She agreed, and they had walked in silence, not saying a word until he bid her goodnight at her door. They had some stuff to think about away from each other, and it revolved around everything they had said to each other.

Jialin believed Zhang' words. He was right about her rarely taking part in the bullying, but then, a part of her did not agree with him. She was still responsible, no matter what he said. 

When she was a high school student, Chunhua had been a very different person. She had not been the knowledgeable person she currently was, and so she had done a lot of stupid stuff. One of those things included being in a sort of friendship with a cheerleader named Darcy. The cheerleader had been what people referred to as the queen bee of the school. Chunhua could not recall how she had caught Darcy's eyes. What she could remember were the awful acts she had done with her that made her feel ashamed. She had helped Darcy during their first year of high school, and that had helped increase the power she had over the school. And together, they had ruled it.

Like dictators.

At first, Chunhua had not clicked that she had been in a group that bullied everyone whenever they saw fit. She had also not realized that Darcy wanted her to be in the group because she needed some stupid follower she could control. 

It was at the start of the sophomore year that things started to change. Jialin felt more aware of what was happening around her, and it had her doubting her 'friendship' with Darcy when more people were targeted. There was also an addition of a duo in the group that did not help with matters; Zhang and his friend Bohai, who had been scrawny teenagers the year before, had gained muscle over the summer and transformed into hot guys. Chunhua thought they would form some kind of rebellion against the control Darcy had over the school, but instead, they joined the same group that bullied them.

Around that time, the bullying had gotten worse, and she had wanted out. Chunhua came to loathe the times Darcy had her present to watch other kids being mistreated, especially when one unfortunate person had become a target a year later. A new girl, Emma, had just joined the school as a junior. She had looked miserable ever since she entered the school doors. It was obvious that something was very wrong in her life. Nevertheless, Darcy did not hesitate to start mistreating her. She took it further than she had with the others because Emma fought back.

Jialin would rather not go into the details, especially with the last thing that had happened to the girl. No one had seen it coming. But then, she didn't have enough time to worry about that. The bullied girl came to seek out revenge. She had looked manic on that day, and when Darcy tried to prove she had control over her, things progressed quickly.

It turned awful.

Chunhua could still remember the loud screams that had echoed in the school cafeteria. That event was what she and probably anyone who went to her high school referred to as the incident. Nobody from the school wanted to talk about it because it brought unwanted memories everytime it was remembered.

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"Chunhua!" Changying called out as she rushed around the dormitory. The sound of thudding footsteps echoed in the dorm room.

Jialin groaned as she rose to sit on her bed. Her head was aching like crazy, and she was feeling a bit nauseous.

"Chunhua!" Changying yelled again.

"What?" Jialin yelled back, and she winced at the volume of her voice. It seemed to intensify her headache.

"We're going to be late!"

Jialin groaned before asking: "Isn't it a Saturday?"

A pillow smacked her face, and the force of it was close enough to throw her back onto the bed.

Chunhua started grumbling, thinking about the ways she could use the pillow to silence her friend for waking her up so early in the morning.

"It's a Wednesday!" her roommate yelled.

'WHAT?' thought Jialin. She slowly searched for her phone in her comforters. Once she located it, she unlocked it to read the time.

08:20

She had about forty minutes to get ready before her class would start.

Without a minute to waste, she scrambled towards the bathroom. She tried her best to ignore the pain in her head.

It was a good thing she had not drowned herself in an alcoholic stupor on the previous night or else she would have wasted the minutes left puking her guts out.

It had taken a great effort, but after eighteen minutes had passed, Jialin had finished preparing for the day. Her head was still aching, so she went and swallowed a couple of ibuprofen pills.

'I am never drinking again on a weekday,' she vowed, knowing that she might not keep her word.

"Changying?" she called out, but when she heard no reply, she realized her roommate had already left without telling her.

Chunhua considered having a quick breakfast outside. She believed that to be wise, and so she quickly locked and left her dorm.

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A couple of minutes were remaining before Chunhua's class would start. Jialin threw her empty cup of coffee into the hallway trash bin as she made her way through the packed hallway. There were many students who were rushing to head toward their classes. They were late, no doubt from having spent the night at the frat party.

Chunhua thrust herself into her class. Fortunately for her, the lecturer hadn't arrived yet. She moved towards her new spot in the class, and she almost tripped on her feet when she saw who had arrived.

Zhang was present, and he was busy working on the computer designated for his seat. He looked well-dressed with his black cotton shirt like he hadn't been at a party hours ago.

Jialin was, yet again, unsure of what to do. Sure, they had talked on the previous night, and Zhang had even walked her back to her dorm. Did that mean they could talk normally to each other? And if it did, what would she even say to him?

Chunhua approached her seat. As she was moving toward it, Zhang turned to face her.

"Good morning to you too," he said with a smile. "How did you wake up?"

Chunhua was surprised by the calmness radiating off of Zhang. Usually, they would barely say anything to each other unless they had to. Zhang was acting differently toward her...

Chunhua knew that Zhang recalled the conversation they had on the previous night. She also knew that he had to ponder over what she had told him. But then, why was he talking to her as if they hadn't avoided each other for two years?

"Not so well," she decided to reply. She settled herself in her seat, but then she turned to face Zhang in befuddlement.

"How are you even awake right now? Don't you have a headache?" 

"Please," Zhang said, bragging. "I'm used to it."

"Good morning, cla--" Mr. Wang was in the process of introducing himself, but he stopped himself short once he saw the state of the room. Only six students were present, and that included Zhang and Chunhua.

"Does anyone know what happened to the rest?" the professor asked. Everyone who was in the room remained silent.

"Fine. I had an important item to discuss with all of you today, but since most of you are absent, I'd rather we talk about it at a later time. Class dismissed."

A moment of silence passed in the room as the people wondered if they had heard their lecturer right.

"Is he serious?" someone asked in a whisper, but it echoed in the room.

"Yes, I'm serious," Mr. Wang replied. "You are all dismissed. Might as well take this time to focus on something productive."

Everyone stood up with their stationery, ready to leave the class.

"Hey, Jialin," Zhang called out. "Can we go to the library? We could discuss our project there."

Chunhua was thinking about lying to him. But then, she knew it wouldn't be nice to push him away. She had to be fond of him for the sake of their assignment.

"Okay," she replied.

Zhang switched off his PC before turning to the exit. Jialin followed suit, and she found herself following him to the library.

The library was another building by itself. It was a short walk from Chunhua's IT building. It was large, and it housed all the books and sources that students needed for their courses. It even had a cyber section for all things related to the Internet.

Zhang and Chunhua found themselves walking into the gray-painted structure. Once they had checked in, they headed towards a secluded area at the back.

"Did you bring your laptop today?" Zhang questioned.

"No," Jialin replied. "I didn't have enough time to pack it."

They both made their way towards a mahogany table that was hidden behind a large shelf filled with books. Leather seats were arranged on each side of it.

Once Zhang and Chunhua had made themselves comfortable, they both settled into work.

"So, I have been thinking about the story we could use," Zhang started. "What if we make it into one of the medieval time books?"

Jialin blinked at Zhang before saying: "What?"

Zhang looked cautious as he continued: "Well, what about a kingdom of kingdoms?"

"An empire?"

"... Yes. But for the story, I was thinking of having a main king who rules over the others, and the others get greedy for his spot. So--"

"So the kings try to take over as the main ruler, right?" Chunhua cut Zhang off.

"... Yes. How did you know?" Zhang looked surprised.

"You are basically quoting Game of Thrones."

He blinked at Chunhua before asking: "What?"

It was Jialin's turn to look astonished.

"Wait. You don't know Game of Thrones?"

"No, I don't," Zhang replied.

"How? Dude, everyone knows Game of Thrones!"

"Oh! Now I remember what it is about. I just don't watch it."

Jialin frowned at the reply she received.

"You do not know what you are missing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Zhang said, motioning for a change of subject. Chunhua wasn't having it.

"It has everything a guy likes! Magic, fights, boobs, war, blood... Boobs."

"So you think that guys watch TV shows which fully expose a girl's breasts?" Zhang said with a smile, arching an eyebrow.

"You don't?"

"Oh, I do," he replied. "I'm a guy, aren't I?"

Chunhua found herself rolling her eyes at him.

"So, what about you? What story ideas have you come up with?"

Jialin was nervous about her reply.

"Well, I was thinking about making the theme African."

Zhang did not reply, and so she continued: "Like, we can base a story from an African tribe."

"What?"

"We can agree it is something that has rarely been done. Think about it!"

"What about The Lion King?"

"That involves animals. My story would involve human characters, and trust me when I say that it is hard to get the materials for such a story. Question is: what will be the elements for this?"

Zhang looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think we can work with that. Do you have anything for it?"

Jialin sighed before saying: "I'm still working on it. It is a bit hard. I don't have a lot of sources I can use."

"Hmm. We can discuss the story later. For now, let's focus on the animation type."

That was something that was on Jialin's mind. She knew how to draw people and everyday items, and so she had no problem about doing them in the regular 2D animation. However, a year before she had even joined college, she had discovered 3D art.

It had always amazed her, especially with the details in all the 3D models she found posted online. That had urged her to start learning how to turn drawings into their third-dimensional formats.

The activity had turned into a private hobby.

At times, the results were not that excellent. But with a lot of effort and practice, they turned out well. She had even learned to manipulate the positions and shapes of 3D objects, and it helped her know how to animate them in 3D.

"Because I was thinking 3D," Zhang said when Jialin did not reply. At his voice, she turned to face him.

"What did you say?" said Chunhua.

"Um, 3D? Look, it's okay if you aren't--"

Zhang cut himself off when he saw the smile on Chunhua's face.

"Yes, Zhang. We'll do it in 3D."

Zhang furrowed his eyebrows at her before asking, "What? Really?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

He remained silent, eyeing Jialin in disbelief.

"You do know that I'm having a hard time believing what you are saying, right?" he confessed, earning a bored look from Chunhua. "Which programs are you familiar with?"

"Blender and Z-Brush."

"Really?" said an amazed Zhang. "You know about Z-Brush?"

"Of course, I do! It's my favorite modeling software, even if it can mess me up at times, especially with the zspheres." Jialin grumbled.

Zhang grinned in excitement.

"Well, that settles it. We'll do it in 3D."