It was finally the first day of the last semester. It was five in the morning, and Gu Xiao surprisingly woke up when his alarm sounded.
He slept around three, so it was considered a nap. Instantly greeted by the frosty morning air, he curled his body to retain heat but was left shivering like his own bed threw him into Antarctica.
Yet, while he was still lying in his bed trying to preserve body heat, loud footsteps and dishes clashing resonated in his ears that he was forced to get out of his bed since he doubted he could return to sleep.
He quickly took off his clothes and slipped on his school uniform while trembling in the frosty air. It was even worse the moment his school shirt contacted his bare skin that his teeth started chattering.
"I'm going to leave now," Gu Heiyu said.
"Already?"
He heard the door slide open and shut, and soon, all noise ceased except for the ringing of the wind chimes echoing past the thin walls.
Drawing the curtains back from his room, everything was still wet and drippy from last night's rain. The early morning sky still slept in blankets of grey with clouds sharply etched over the hidden sun.
Without wasting any more time, he sluggishly brushed his teeth, washed his face, shoved something into his mouth, and left.
It had been nearly six months since Mr. Shen moved him to sit next to Lan Yuning, and surprisingly, he had also been coming earlier to school now.
...
Riding his bicycle through the damp pathway, the morning wind brushed past his freshly dyed black hair that had once been a soft shade of brown.
"Gu Xiao!" Zhang Yongyin gleamed and ran towards Gu Xiao, who was stationing his bike.
He slung his arm over Gu Xiao's shoulder and commented, "You dyed your hair back to black?"
"I have to. Mr. Shen told me to dye it back a month ago, but I always forgot. Also, school photos are soon."
"I forgot about that."
Near the school's main building entrance, Gu Xiao saw that familiar back.
His shoulders weren't that broad, and his steps were light. The way the school uniform sat so perfectly on him with the same vulnerability and fragility still floating above.
A large grin smeared across his face, and he instantly dashed to the figure.
"Student President!"
Before Lan Yuning could turn around, Gu Xiao collided with him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, hugging him securely so Lan Yuning couldn't break through.
From this angle, Gu Xiao could see the small mole on his neck behind Lan Yuning's ear clearly.
In truth, he prepared his stomach to be jabbed by Lan Yuning's elbow, but surprisingly, he just stayed still and silent.
"You're not going to hit me?" Gu Xiao asked, still having both his arms over Lan Yuning's shoulders with his head rested on the shorter boy.
"I'm not that violent."
A peal of short laughter left Gu Xiao's mouth, and he withdrew his body away before slipping his hands into his pockets. With his sleeves pulled up slightly, the chilly wind brushed past his exposed slender wrists.
Lan Yuning shifted his head slightly, and his lips separated. "Your hair..."
Gu Xiao smiled and pointed to his face. "Does it look good? Don't I look like a well-behaved student now?"
A brief silence loomed between them as Gu Xiao blinked rapidly with a smile on his face while Lan Yuning stared with an indifferent look.
Without saying anything, Lan Yuning fastened his pace to the assembly grounds, and Gu Xiao gaped in shock while touching his hair.
"Wait," he said and quickly dashed by Lan Yuning's side once again. "Does it look bad?"
...
The seniors gathered at the meeting grounds and settled at their stations according to year and class.
The principal offered his address, and the teachers took turns in congratulating the students for making it through the first semester exams and welcoming them to the new seasons.
After morning exercise, the students all head back to their classrooms, and the third years return to their usual routine of completing practice papers and looking over past content.
"Your results for the first semester exams have been calculated," Mr. Shen announced.
Everyone's eyes instantly brightened up as Mr. Shen invited Lan Yuning to hand out the slips of paper that enclosed everybody's ranks for each subject, the average percentage, rank in class, and year.
Usually, Mr. Shen would just call out everybody's results out loud, but it appeared their school had started a different approach.
This was the moment where the most anticipation and excitement went towards to. The paper was folded, with only the student's name at the front, so their marks or ranking wouldn't be exposed to the one handing it out, though Lan Yuning couldn't care less about others.
He sat back down after handing out everything, and everyone started unfolding their papers. Some fingers trembled, while some immediately opened it and lightly cheered themselves on. Some didn't want to open their papers just yet, while some opened it, saw it, closed it, and put it away.
The questions of curiosity filled the room, but this was the time to discuss their marks if they wanted to, so no one was stopping this chatter while Mr. Shen prepared the materials for the next class.
Gu Xiao slowly opened his paper with one eye squinted as though something was going to jump out and claw his skin off the moment he unfolded it.
After taking less than one second of a glance, he instantly closed it and widened his eyes. He took another glimpse and closed the piece of paper once again.
Even though he already knew what Lan Yuning's slip would look like, he turned to Lan Yuning and asked, "Can I see what you got?"
Lan Yuning slid his paper in front of Gu Xiao, who, without hesitation, gaped at the paper.
____________________
Chinese: 149/150 [1] Mathematics: 150/150 [1] English: 148/150 [1]
Specialty subject: NATURAL SCIENCE: Chemistry/Physics/Biology: 298/300 [1]
Percentage calculated: 99.3% Class rank: 1 Year rank: 1
____________________
Although he expected those numbers, he had never physically seen them all on paper. He never believed this slip of paper could ever exist until now.
"As expected of the first ranked student," he said, while nodding his head slowly in shock. "Hey, does that mean I get that wish from you?"
He slid his paper to his side:
____________________
Chinese: 132/150 [156] Mathematics: 95/150 [200] English: 138/150 [111]
Specialty subject: NATURAL SCIENCE: Chemistry/Physics/Biology: 245/300 [150]
Percentage calculated: 81% Class rank: 23 Year rank: 178
____________________
"You said 70% for any test," he grinned.
Lan Yuning stared at the slip and said, "Your class ranking..."
"Hm?" After the first year, Gu Xiao never looked at the rankings and always looked at the marks while briefly brushing past the percentage. But after looking at his class ranking, his eyes widened.
"Who stole my last place streak?"