DesigNing

Chapter 1

    I’m James Ryan.

    I’m eighteen. I’m tall, good-looking, and smart. I’m one of the most popular guys in college. I’m cheerful and friendly. Every girl in school has a crush on me, yet their flirtations are useless for I am dating the most beautiful woman ever to have lived on earth.

    “Hey, Jamey! Wanna go work out after classes with us?”

    Twirl. Smile. “Sure!” Wink.

    Every morning it is like this. I will take my long walk down the student-flooded hall to my locker. Girls will squeal at the sight of me, noticeable swaying their hips more as they walked in front of me. Boys who are closer to me will fill up my after-class schedules with plans for exercise or parties. Other boys who are too shy will still receive the big smile of mine that everyone loves so much. To me, every person I meet is my friend, and I try my best to satisfy everyone’s wishes. I never get frustrated or angry in front of anyone. Although it isn’t easy at times, my signature smile will always cover up the bad colours.

    Except…

    “Hahaha!”

    I would recognize that stupid laugh anywhere.

    “Jame-sy!”

    “Freeman.” I muttered as I kept my head down and continued walking to the end of the hallway where the stairs were.

    “That’s Tutto’s last name. Jamesy should call Tutto by his first name. Tutto always calls Jamesy by his first name, right? Hahaha!”

    I take back everything I said about me always being cheerful and friendly. Whenever I was approached by this guy, an indescribable fire in my stomach would start churning. Tutto Freeman was an idiot who almost always referred to himself in the third person. If you happened to find yourself talking to him, then brace yourself for a meaningless chat that would last forever. Unfortunately for me, I seemed to be the only one in school whom he ever talked to. People in our department disregarded him as if he didn’t exist, and the other people on campus wouldn’t even have heard of him. In fact, he was extremely quiet and shy around others, always sitting in the darkest corner of the classrooms, staring at everyone expressionlessly. To be frank, I would have thought of him to be rather creepy if he weren’t such a maniac around me.

    “Hey, Jame-sy. Guess what?” Oh, no. He’s starting his stupid talks again.

    “I don’t want to know.” I was literally sprinting up the stairs, trying to get rid of him. Yet, no matter how fast I tried to run, I could always hear his dancing footsteps following right behind me.

    “Oh, Jamesy would want to know this! Did you know that angels fall? Haha!”

    “Oh.” I was climbing the stairs five flights at a time.

    “Tutto heard it from Tutto’s daddy.” The pest was still following me without effort.

    “He’s just…joking…with you.” My words were coming out in short bursts for I was running out of breath.

    “Tutto’s daddy never lies.” Freeman whined. Even though he was ascending as fast as I was, he didn’t seem to even have to pant.

    “Come on, Jame-sy! Let Tutto tell you what his daddy told him. It’s a great story. Hahaha!” Freeman, whom I was having extreme trouble outrunning already, hooked a finger onto one of the belt loops of my jeans to ensure my utter captivity. “By the way, Jame-sy, where are we going?”

    “I don’t know about you, but I’m going away from you.” Suddenly, I found myself standing in front of an iron door, panting and sweating violently. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had absentmindedly climbed to the very top of the building.

    “Hey! It’s the roof!” Freeman, not showing any sign of exhaustion, excitedly pushed the iron door open and skipped out, dragging me along. “This place is perfect! From now on, this place is Jame-sy’s and Tutto’s secret hiding place! Hahaha!”

    There is this one person whom I would never have imagined to have wanted to introduce into this story. But I have no choice, because this story is about me and what I saw of this extraordinary boy—Tutto Freeman.

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第一章

　　我是詹姆斯‧萊恩。

　　我十八歲。我很高、很帥、又很聰明。我是我們大學裡最受歡迎的男生之一。我開朗又親切。學校裡每個女生都暗戀我，但是呀，她們的調情我都不看在眼裡，因為我正和一位可說是世上最美的女人交往。

　　「欸，阿詹！今天上完課要不要和我們一起去健身房？」

　　轉身、微笑、「好呀！」、眨眼。

　　每天早上都是像這樣。我在充滿學生的走廊上慢慢散步到我的置物櫃。女生看到我就興奮地尖叫，走在我前面時會故意扭腰擺臀一番。和我比較親的男生會把我上完課後的行程排得滿滿的，不斷邀我去運動或派對。比較害羞的男生也還是會收到我那人人皆愛的開朗微笑。對我來說，我見到的每個人都是我的朋友，我也會盡力滿足大家的期盼。我從來沒有對誰發牢騷或生氣過。雖然有時候要保持好心情很困難，但是我的笑每次都能隱藏住不好的心事。

　　除了…

　　「哈哈哈！」

　　我在哪裡都可以認得那個白痴的笑聲。

　　「小－詹詹！」

　　「福利曼。」我嘴中這樣碎碎念，故意低著頭往走廊一端的樓梯走。

　　「那是土豆的姓。小詹詹要叫土豆真正的名子啦。土豆不是每次都叫小詹詹真正的名子嗎？對不對嘛？哈哈哈！」

　　我之前說我能一直保持開朗和親切是騙人的。每次被這個人抓到時我就會一肚子火。土豆‧福利曼是一個腦袋破洞、只會用第三人稱稱呼自己的怪胎。如果你不小心被他找來聊天，那你可以期待一個無意義卻又無止盡的對話。但是可憐的我好像是他全校唯一會找來講話的人。我們系上的人對他完全無視，而學校裡其他系的人根本不會知道他這號人物。其實，他在別人面前極度安靜害羞。他每次都坐在教室最陰暗的角落，面無表情但眼睛大大地盯著人。老實說，如果他在我身旁時不是像瘋子一樣，我倒會覺得他很陰森。

　　「欸，小－詹詹，你知道嗎？」喔，不，不要又是他那些腦殘話題。

　　「我不想知道。」我到這時已經是跑著上樓梯，想著辦法脫離他。可是，我不管跑多快都還是可以在身後聽到他那凌亂的腳步聲。

　　「唉唷，小詹詹會想知道的啦！你知道天使會跌倒嗎？哈哈！」

　　「喔。」我一次五階樓梯拼命地爬。

　　「土豆的爸爸告訴土豆的。」那跟屁蟲還是緊緊地跟著我。

　　「他…只是…跟你…開玩笑。」我已經累到快無法說話。

　　「土豆的爸爸不會騙人。」福利曼頂著嘴說。他爬樓梯和我爬得一樣快，可是他連一個喘氣都沒有。

　　「好啦，小－詹詹！讓土豆跟你說他爸爸跟他說什麼嘛。是個很好聽的故事唷。哈哈哈！」我完全無法擺脫的福利曼用一根手指扣住我牛仔褲上的腰帶圈，確保我完全的囚禁。「還有啊，小－詹詹，我們要去哪裡呀？」

　　「我不知道你要去哪裡，我是要離開你。」突然間，我起喘吁吁地站在一個鐵門前，過了一會兒才驚覺我無意間就爬到房子的頂層了。

　　「啊，是屋頂吔！」仍然一點勞累感都沒有的福利曼興奮地推開鐵門後跳了出去。我也不情願地被拉了出去。「這個地方太好了！從現在開始，這裡就是小－詹詹和土豆的秘密基地！哈哈哈！」

　　就是有一個人我怎樣也不會想說會想寫進著個故事裡。但是我真的沒選擇，因為這個故事是關於我和這位神奇的男孩─土豆‧福利曼。

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 -羅寗 Michelle Ning Lo