The first time I joked with Trung was when my lead teacher organized a game for the class. She would ask each team to bet on a winning team.

I tapped his shoulder. “Bet,” I said. “Độ không?”

“Huh?” he said.

Some students yelled in the background. I stood next to him, sniffing and scrunching my nose at the smell of puberty sweat. Trung was in team 3. He sat to the left of the only aisle in the classroom. His team bet on team 1. They lost.

“Oh,” Trung said and looked at me.

Next week, Trung’s homeroom teacher moved him into the corner. His desk touched the wall. When he needed to use the toilet, he had to walk on the chairs of his classmates to get to the aisle.

Trung usually played with his plastic toy plane, which I confiscated once during an observation. Ever since his seat was changed, I never seen his toy again. Every time I looked over, he was lying on the table, head tucked inside his crossed arms. Perhaps it was teenage fatigue.

By the second time, the class had already gotten bored with my lead teacher’s betting game. Nothing would change if I were to say something. My lead teacher didn’t set up the lesson plan, nor did my boss.

“Thầy,”

I turned around.

“Độ không thầy?” Trung said.

He turned his head to see if anyone was looking. “Bet,” he continued.

Trung did the same next week, and the week after, and three weeks later.

I was sitting at the student desk to grade their participation and enjoy the loud chit chats before I left in a week. Trung hadn’t spoken to me for over a month. I lost grip of whatever was going on. If there were an AC, life would be perfect.

Trung was on the list of students who would get a letter from me when I left. I stopped myself from looking at him so as not to invite any conversations.

I sat next to Giang, one of Trung’s friends, instead. We talked about why I was leaving, teachers’ drama ­­­— the things I think that kids their age would love to talk about. I was zoning out for a while when Giang tapped on my shoulder and pointed to his back.

“Độ không thầy?” Trung said. “Bet.”

I looked at my lead teacher, who was making them bet on the winning team.