My name is Ye Ze. In my first year of high school, I learned one thing.
Not how to fight, and not how to get by on the streets. I learned how to stay on my feet and survive.
On the first day of school, someone barged into our dorm to collect protection money. I paid because I didn't dare refuse. Later, I learned that three factions ruled the school. There was Viper, who always picked on the weak; Black Bear, who wanted me to join his crew; and Zhou Ye, who sat beside the girl I liked and grinned as he slipped something into her drink.
I charged over and beat him up. Then the girl I liked glared at me through red-rimmed eyes and shouted, "What is wrong with you?!"
She helped the guy I'd beaten away, leaving me alone in the hallway beneath the buzzing fluorescent lights.
That night, I crouched on the floor and thought about a lot of things. About my mom saying, "Just put up with it and it'll pass." About my dad saying, "There's no shame in kneeling." About Xiang Yang's brother saying, "Think carefully. You have no idea how murky the waters at this school are."
Eventually, I stood up.
Because I'd figured one thing out: some people won't leave you alone even if you kneel. Some fights are unavoidable, even when you don't want to fight.
So fight.
Better to end up bloody and battered than spend your whole life being a coward.
