In the physics class.
William had no idea where his test paper had been stuffed, he played with his phone for a while, felt it was a bit boring, and propped his chin, staring at Ellie who was taking notes seriously.
Ellie felt somewhat inexplicably stared at and turned to glance at him, then turned back to continue taking notes.
William found it quite interesting to watch her in class, her handwriting was not small, very neat, she sat very straight during class, with the strands of hair by her ears casually hooked behind her ears, even her earlobes were small.
Ellie could originally focus on taking notes, but feeling the intermittent gaze from the side, she felt somewhat at a loss, paused her pen, thinking he might not have a test paper, turned to William and said, "Don't you have a test paper?"
"I don't know where it's been lost."
Ellie put her test paper in the middle of the two, and said, "Let's share it."
William pushed her test paper and said, "I'm not listening to the class, you take it."
Ellie paused, then said, "Actually, I think you can listen to the class, your foundation... it shouldn't be bad, you should be able to understand if you listen, and I can teach you if you don't understand..."
William, who had been propping his chin watching her, suddenly leaned closer and said, "Are you lecturing me? Little classmate, did Mr. Johnson ask you to tell me this?"
At this moment, Mr. Johnson in the office sneezed for no reason.
"No," Ellie explained seriously, "Although learning is not the only way out, I think no matter the grades, you should try, how can you know you can't do it without trying?"
The class bell rang.
Many people passing by the window went out to the restroom, the voice on the podium continued, and the fan was creaking and turning.
Ellie saw William smile, as if mocking himself, as if laughing, he said, "I never liked studying."
Ellie inexplicably thought of his words from yesterday, grades are meaningless to me.
What kind of person can say such a thing?
She had no way of knowing.
In the afternoon, Ellie was doing her homework when she felt a sudden shadow on the window next to her.
Looking up, she met Mr. Anderson's face, who gestured to Ellie to be quiet.
Ellie subtly pulled on William's sleeve, reminding him that the teacher was coming, then sat up properly.
Mr. Anderson came in from the front and pulled out the novel hidden under the books of the boy sitting in the front.
The boy was reading attentively, thinking it was his deskmate, swung his arm, and met Mr. Anderson's enlarged face, scaring him almost to death.
Then his gaze fell on William behind him, and he said, "What were you hiding just now? William."
William's hand with the phone was under the desk.
He suddenly felt a pair of soft hands gently touch his hand, he slightly turned his head to look at Ellie, saw Ellie wink at him, he handed his phone to Ellie, her fingertips were warm, their hands briefly touched.
William felt a strange feeling in his heart.
The place she touched felt a bit itchy.
Like the feeling of a feather brushing past.
He put his hand on the desk and said, "Nothing."
Ellie quickly stuffed what he handed over into her bag.
Mr. Anderson came to him, then looked at Ellie and said, "What was he just doing?"
"I don't know." Ellie had never lied to a teacher, but her expression was calm enough.
Mr. Anderson stared at William for a while, then said, "You move aside."
William moved back, Mr. Anderson went to his seat and took out the books in his drawer one by one.
The drawer was clean, nothing was inside.
Mr. Anderson was a bit incredulous, he looked around on the desk again, confirming there was nothing, he was a bit unsure if he had seen wrong just now, he said to William, "Alright, you sit."
He muttered to himself, "Did I get old and see things wrong? I shouldn't have, I just saw it, it's really strange."
William heard all his words and said, "Mr. Anderson, I think you can get a new pair of glasses."
Mr. Anderson was choked by his words, then said, "Your last self-criticism letter hasn't been given to me yet."
"I left the last self-criticism letter on your desk a long time ago." William put his things on the desk away and sat properly.
Mr. Anderson thought for a long time, then remembered the nameless self-criticism on his desk, and said, "You didn't write your name."
William's voice was light: "Mr. Anderson, your eyesight is really bad, the name is on the back of that paper."
"Anyway, it's your problem, who told you not to write your name on the front."
William smiled noncommittally and didn't speak.
Finally, Mr. Anderson left the door of Class 17 with the novels he confiscated, three mobile phones.
He planned to go to other classes and take a few more turns.
"William."
"Hmm?" The boy's voice was a bit puzzled, facing Ellie's beautiful apricot eyes, he inexplicably felt that these eyes were too clear.
Ellie touched the things in her bag, her voice soft and warm: "When should I return this to you?"
"Keep it for me for now, little classmate, he might come back."
"Oh, okay."
"Thanks." William curled his lips at her.
The boy's eyes were a bit darker than others, with black short hair casually covering his forehead, his features were superior, a pair of phoenix eyes, a high nose, even thin lips were just right, but his features were a bit sharp, and with his usual expressionless face, he looked a bit fierce.
Although he looks fierce on weekdays, he looks good when he smiles.
Ellie stared at him for a while.
"Why?"
Ellie raised a smile at him and said, "Nothing, I just think you look good when you smile."
William has heard this kind of thing many times, people who praise him for being good-looking, for smiling well, but no one has ever looked at him with such pure eyes, with nothing in their eyes, just saying you look good when you smile.
"Don't you think I'm fierce?"
"When did I say you were fierce?" Ellie looked at him puzzled.
William looked at her expression and wanted to tease her more, he said, "Didn't you think I was fierce when school just started?"
Ellie couldn't remember what he was talking about, just as she was about to speak, she suddenly saw the boy raise a smile at her: "However, it's better to stay away from me, I'm not a good person, haven't you heard that I directly cracked the heads of those guys from the neighboring school?"