CY – Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

“Quiet down! Listen up! The boys’ 4×400 meter relay is still one person short,” the Sports Committee member announced, tapping the blackboard from the podium. “And there’s the 1000 meters, who’s signing up?”

Ten minutes before self-study ended, with no teacher present, the students were chatting. Only a few who planned to sign up for events were listening to the Sports Committee member. Zhang Xiaotian rested his chin on his hand, twirling a pen, and pondered the upcoming midterm exams, not giving much thought to the sports meet that would follow. The results of this midterm would determine if he could stay in Class One. As long as his score met the minimum standard for the science experimental class, he could remain here. Since joining Class One, he had indeed put more effort into his studies. He had done several practice tests at home these past two days, and after calculating his scores, he felt confident about staying. However, with the exam drawing closer each day, he still felt a bit uncertain.

“Hey, deskmate, are you thinking of signing up for anything?” Lu Bai raised his hand and signed up for the 400-meter relay. He scanned Zhang Xiaotian from head to toe and said, “You have long legs, why not sign up for a long-distance race?”

“I’m not going,” Zhang Xiaotian replied listlessly.

“Sign up for one, it’s about participation,” Lu Bai winked at him.

“If you want to sign up, sign yourself up,” Zhang Xiaotian pouted and turned his head away.

“Sign up,” Lu Bai cozied up to him affectionately. “It’s only once a year, just treat it as fun.”

Running until he was sweaty, tired, and being watched by everyone, what was so fun about that? Just as Zhang Xiaotian was about to push away Lu Bai’s fluffy head, he was suddenly called out by the Sports Committee member on the podium: “Hey, new student, is your name Zhang Xiaotian?”

Hearing Zhang Xiaotian being called, Lu Bai and the others stopped their actions and looked towards the podium. The Sports Committee member seemed a little embarrassed, but still spoke,

“We’re a bit short on people, we still need one more for the long jump. Should I sign you up?”

“Guan Yue, don’t just assign him,” Li An suddenly interjected, and the classroom fell silent for a moment.

“We’re short on people, aren’t we?” the Sports Committee member, Guan Yue, explained. “Zhang Xiaotian, if you don’t have a problem, I’ll write you down…”

“We don’t even know if he can stay in our class after the midterms…” someone next to him nudged Li An. Li An seemed to realize his words were inappropriate and his voice grew quieter. Whispers spread throughout the room, and some people sneakily glanced at Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian sighed, and the hand twirling the pen also stopped.

“Um,” Guan Yue held his pen, unsure whether to write or not, and hesitated before asking again, “Are you signing up, Zhang Xiaotian?”

How awkward. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Guan Yue, left hanging on the podium. Thinking he should just agree and not make things difficult for him, he was about to speak when Lu Bai suddenly said,

“Yes, why not?”

The classroom became so quiet that even breathing could be heard. Zhang Xiaotian was also startled by Lu Bai’s outburst. He looked at Lu Bai, who had a neutral expression, his voice resounding in the strange atmosphere.

“Lu Bai, you…” Li An’s face was grim, and he wanted to say something more, but Lu Bai didn’t give him the chance.

“My deskmate has such long legs, he clearly jumps far. He can definitely bring back a ranking for our class.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the dismissal bell rang like thunder. From the moment Lu Bai opened his mouth until now, Zhang Xiaotian hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Lu Bai. After Lu Bai finished speaking, he looked back and smiled at Zhang Xiaotian.

Because of this incident, Zhang Xiaotian was distracted all day. And to make matters worse, Teacher Zhang liked having group discussions during English class. Zhang Xiaotian looked at the English newspaper in his hands, but not a single English word registered in his mind.

He didn’t really care about what the Class Monitor, Li An, had said. In fact, ever since he arrived in this class, he could feel a certain indifference from his classmates. The arrival and departure of transfer students must be commonplace to them; they had probably lost interest in making friends long ago. But it didn’t matter, he wasn’t here to make friends anyway. Only Lu Bai’s attitude towards him was different. However, seeing how he could strike up a conversation with anyone, Lu Bai’s friendliness towards him wasn’t surprising. But Zhang Xiaotian hadn’t expected Lu Bai to speak up for him just now, as if he firmly believed he would stay in Class One. This inexplicable trust suddenly fell upon his shoulders, and Zhang Xiaotian felt a little unaccustomed to it.

“Deskmate, did you get the fourth question right?”

Zhang Xiaotian heard Lu Bai call him and snapped back to attention. He glanced at the newspaper in his hand, “Which fourth question?”

“The fourth question in the third reading passage.” Lu Bai looked at him and took his newspaper, “Yours is wrong too. This is the second issue, you grabbed the wrong one, deskmate.”

Zhang Xiaotian switched to another one.

“So,” Lu Bai placed the newspaper in his hand on the desk. “Don’t take what Li An said today to heart. He’s like that with everyone, it’s not directed at you.”

“Mm,” Zhang Xiaotian nodded.

“When will Li An ever change?” The slightly chubby girl sitting in front of Zhang Xiaotian also put down her newspaper, crossed her arms, and said, “With that loose mouth, he never says anything good.”

“Exactly,” the girl next to her nodded in agreement.

“Lu Bai, are the four of you discussing, or not!” Teacher Zhang suddenly called out. “How can you put down your newspapers while discussing the questions?”

The four of them quickly pretended to be discussing.

“It’s all your fault, Yin Li. You were too loud with the newspaper,” Lu Bai whispered, winking at the chubby girl.

“Don’t blame me. Old Zhang can only see my back from the front. I think he saw you put down the newspaper,” Yin Li retorted. While bickering, they didn’t forget to hold up their newspapers and pretend to be studying.

Zhang Xiaotian looked at the two girls sitting in front of him through the newspaper. The one sitting diagonally opposite him was the one who gave him cookies last time, named “Cheng” something, and the one in front of him was likely Yin Li. He didn’t want to hear the three of them talking about today’s incident anymore, so he interjected, “I got it right, the fourth question in the third reading passage.”

“Huh?” Lu Bai didn’t react immediately.

“Didn’t you just ask about this question?” Zhang Xiaotian flicked the newspaper with his finger. “Do you want me to explain it?”

“Explain, explain!” Lu Bai quickly took out his pen.

The incorrect questions on one newspaper were quickly finished, but Teacher Zhang didn’t signal for the discussion to stop. Lu Bai and the two girls started chatting again. Zhang Xiaotian didn’t participate, just held his newspaper and listened.

“The sports meet also has a performance,” Yin Li was drawing on the blank space of the newspaper with a red pen, pretending to be seriously explaining the questions. “I see other classes practicing on the field during their free time. They’re all dancing, and some classes have even clashed in their dance routines.”

“Wouldn’t that be awkward on the performance day?” Lu Bai crouched down behind the girl in front of him. “So what are we performing? Why is there no news about it?”

“I heard it’s going to be a poetry recitation,” said Yin Li’s deskmate. “Old Zhang said so himself.”

“When did he say that?” Lu Bai suddenly sat up straight, “Where did you hear that, Han Cheng?”

Teacher Zhang’s eyes swept over them like a searchlight. Zhang Xiaotian quickly kicked Lu Bai’s stool, and Lu Bai crouched back down.

“Lu Bai, don’t make such big movements,” Han Chengcheng said. “Yesterday, I overheard Old Zhang talking with Li An. He said poetry recitation doesn’t require much rehearsal time.”

“Boring,” Lu Bai pouted. “No one in our class is seriously rehearsing for the performance anyway.”

Zhang Xiaotian recalled Class One’s disjointed chorus performance at last year’s sports meet. It truly looked like a perfunctory effort.

“Deskmate, you might not be used to it yet,” Lu Bai said to Zhang Xiaotian. “Our class has always prioritized academic performance. Other things are secondary. No one cares about them anyway.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t participate in group activities in Class Four either,” Zhang Xiaotian replied.

“Really?” Lu Bai murmured, then suddenly turned and asked, “So, you didn’t want to jump in the long jump originally? Oh dear, did I speak out of turn?”

“Why are you so clumsy? Be more careful with your movements,” Zhang Xiaotian tapped his newspaper with his finger, pretending to explain the question to him. “It wasn’t out of turn, I was going to sign up anyway.”

“Oh.” Lu Bai looked dejected, clearly not believing him.

Zhang Xiaotian looked at him and couldn’t help but ask, “Why were you so sure I would stay in Class One?”

“Hmm?” Lu Bai hadn’t expected him to ask that and stammered, “I just felt like your grades should be pretty good. Besides, you got the questions right that the three of us couldn’t answer earlier.”

Zhang Xiaotian looked at him without a word.

“Ah, anyway, I think you’ll definitely make it. I see you every day, I must know,” Lu Bai scratched his head and added.

Zhang Xiaotian couldn’t help but smile at his silly demeanor and quickly turned his head away.

“Did you laugh?” Lu Bai nudged him lightly. “What are you laughing at? What’s so funny? I believe in you so much, and you still laugh at me.”

Zhang Xiaotian took a deep breath. When he turned back, his face was expressionless, except for the corners of his mouth that were pulled unnaturally tight. Lu Bai hooked his arm around his neck, “You laughed at me! See if I don’t deal with you!” He then reached out to mess up Zhang Xiaotian’s hair.

“Stop fooling around!” Zhang Xiaotian tried to dodge but couldn’t break free. Just as he was about to push him away, he heard Li An’s voice.

“Lu Bai! Are you fooling around right after the homeroom teacher left?”

The homeroom teacher had left at some point, and now Li An stood at the podium with a small notebook. Lu Bai retracted his arm, and both of them looked at Li An.

Li An tapped the blackboard with his notebook, “We’re short one person to help manage things for the sports meet. Lu Bai, you’ll do it.”

“Li An definitely has no good intentions,” Lu Bai said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder right after evening self-study ended, standing next to Zhang Xiaotian.

Zhang Xiaotian saw that he seemed to be waiting for him and quickened his pace. They walked out of the classroom together.

“Does he also bully people?” Zhang Xiaotian asked him.

“Bullying? No way,” Lu Bai said indifferently. “It’s just that I didn’t side with him when signing up for events, so he’s unhappy and wants to give me some trouble.”

Quite childish, Zhang Xiaotian chuckled.

“You also think he’s quite childish, right?” Lu Bai also chuckled. “I can’t even be bothered to deal with him.”

“You… if you can’t handle it yourself, tell me,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “I can help out too.”

“That’s great, deskmate.” Lu Bai, like a boneless person, leaned towards Zhang Xiaotian, who dodged him.

“After all, you stood up for me,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“You just focus on your exams, and then you can slap Li An in the face!” Lu Bai grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, and patted Zhang Xiaotian hard on the back before darting out. Zhang Xiaotian stumbled from the force of the pat. When he regained his footing, he didn’t chase after him. He watched Lu Bai run a few steps to the school gate, turn around, and disappear.