"Ruoyan, are you going to the restroom?"
Girls often like to go to the restroom together during breaks, and Anran and Liu Ruoyan are no exception.
"I'm not going. I can still memorize a few more words in this short time," Liu Ruoyan said, not looking up as she waved her hand.
"You're so diligent," Anran said, pulling out a carton of milk from her bag, inserting a straw, and pushing it in front of Liu Ruoyan. "Here, have some milk to nourish your little brain."
"Hehe, thank you, my dear Anran," Liu Ruoyan said, taking a sip of the milk and then continuing to mutter and memorize words.
"Liu Ruoyan, cramming at the last minute? Don't struggle too much; losing to me isn't a shame," Lu Chuan teased from behind, poking Liu Ruoyan's back with his pen.
Liu Ruoyan quickly scribbled a few characters on a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it backward. It flew in a graceful arc and landed on Lu Chuan's desk. When Lu Chuan opened it, he saw four neat characters written: "Get lost, stop bothering me."
"Liu Ruoyan, you're scolding me again!"
"Remember the deal: whoever scores lower will be the other's lackey for a month, working hard and complaining without a word! You better keep your promise; don't cry when you lose," Liu Ruoyan said, turning around and covering her ears, not giving Lu Chuan a chance to retort.
Lu Chuan suddenly came up with a mischievous idea. He chuckled, drew a pig's head on the paper, and carefully stuck it on Liu Ruoyan's back.
"Lu Chuan, I never realized you were so childish," Ye Ziming said, shaking his head helplessly as he watched Lu Chuan's antics.
Lu Chuan turned around with a cold, aloof expression, as if the person who had just acted was not him. "You don't understand."
"No, you're not Lu Chuan," Ye Ziming said, elbowing Lu Chuan's head. "Tell me, who are you really? Give me back my little Fangfang."
"Ye Ziming, are you trying to rebel? I'm a taekwondo black belt, you know!" Lu Chuan dodged Ye Ziming's attack, twisted his arm behind his back, and held him down.
"Okay, okay, I admit my mistake, just let go," Ye Ziming quickly pleaded, tapping the desk.
As the two were wrestling, the class bell rang, and a young, stylishly dressed female teacher walked in carrying a stack of papers.
"Is this a new teacher?"
"She's so pretty."
The teacher at the podium smiled when she heard the murmuring from below. "Hello, students. I am your English teacher for the senior year. You can call me Tracy or Ms. Yang."
The change of teacher wasn't surprising because the previous English teacher was pregnant and had struggled a bit with her round belly during class yesterday.
"To better understand everyone's English level, we'll start with a small test before we begin the formal class," Ms. Yang said, skillfully dividing the stack of papers into four piles and handing them out to the first row of each group. "Pass them back."
"Sure enough, beautiful women are always ruthless; starting with a test," Ye Ziming whispered.
"I don't need to emphasize exam rules again, do I? Once you finish, you can hand in your papers directly," Ms. Yang said as she walked up and down the aisles, glancing at the students' papers, frowning here and nodding there.
Finally, she stood beside Lu Chuan, looked at Liu Ruoyan's back where the paper was stuck, lightly tapped Lu Chuan's desk twice, and motioned with her chin for him to remove the note. Then she returned to the podium.
The first to hand in her paper was Liu Meina, who always wanted to be the center of attention.
The second to submit was Anran.
Liu Ruoyan called out to her, "Wait, could you hand in mine too?"
"Wait, hehe, help me hand in mine too," Anran said, just as Ye Ziming pushed her chair.
"Ahem, um, could you also help me hand in mine?" Anran was a bit surprised; if she remembered correctly, this was the first time Lu Chuan had spoken to her voluntarily.
"Okay," Anran nodded, collected the four papers, and handed them in.
Since the papers were all multiple-choice questions, they were easy to grade. Ms. Yang quickly finished grading them before the end of the class.
"Here's how it works: the student with the highest score will be my class representative. Today, one student scored full marks. Liu Ruoyan, you will be the English class representative from now on. Is that alright?"
Liu Ruoyan shook her head, "No problem, teacher." English was her strong suit, and she had been the English class representative at her previous school.
"And another student got only one question wrong. Lu Chuan, when Liu Ruoyan is too busy, could you help her out, please?"
Lu Chuan nodded, "Sure, teacher."
The previous class representative was a chubby boy named Chen Xufeng. Although being replaced suddenly was a bit embarrassing, he accepted it calmly because he wasn't as skilled, and being a class representative was a thankless job.
"Ruoyan, you're amazing! Help me with my English in the future," Ye Ziming said with admiration in his eyes after class.
"No need, I can help you," Lu Chuan said, tossing him a vocabulary book. "Just memorize more words."
"Thank you!"
Wow, look at Lu Chuan's possessiveness.
"I used to think Liu Ruoyan was just a pretty face, but it turns out she's quite good at studying," Song Shuang said casually to Deng Shuangshuang while they were getting water.
"Make sure you don't say that in front of Meina. She'll be unhappy."
"Oh, I know."
Right now, Liu Meina and Liu Ruoyan were at odds because of those posts on the school forum yesterday, which had made her the biggest joke in the school.
The last class of the morning was biology. The biology teacher was an elderly man who didn't seem to understand the students' eagerness to go eat. He often dragged on past the bell, making the last period of the morning especially painful.
To draw the teacher's attention to their urgency, many students had already taken out their meal cards and were ready to rush out the moment the bell rang. The biology teacher finally adjusted his glasses and said, "Alright, you can go now, go eat."
"Thank you, teacher, goodbye!" The kids rushed to the cafeteria as soon as the words were out.
Not eager to eat? Your thinking is problematic!
By the time Liu Ruoyan and Anran reached the cafeteria, a long line had already formed. Liu Ruoyan, holding her growling stomach, tiptoed to look ahead. "I wonder what's good today. Do you think there will be any meat left by the time it's our turn?"
Liu Ruoyan had only eaten at the school cafeteria once before and found it quite tasty, unlike Anran, who had been eating there for a year and had long lost interest.