Chapter 13
"Quiet! Listen to me! We're still short one person for the boys' 4x400m relay," the PE committee member said, tapping on the blackboard. "There's still 1000 meters left. Who's signed up?"
There were still ten minutes left before the self-study class ended. Without a teacher to supervise, the students were all chatting, and only a few who were planning to sign up for sports were listening to the sports committee member's speech. Zhang Xiaotian rested his chin on his pen, thinking about the upcoming midterm exam, and didn't think much about the sports meet after that. The results of this midterm exam would determine whether he could stay in Class 1. As long as his score was not lower than the minimum standard of the science experimental class, he would be able to stay here. Since he came to Class 1, he has indeed put more effort into studying than before. He has also done several sets of papers at home in the past two days. After calculating the scores, he feels that he is still confident that he can stay here. However, the exam is getting closer and closer, and he still feels a little unsure.
"Hey, deskmate, what events do you want to sign up for?" Lu Bai raised his hand and signed up for the 400-meter relay. He looked Zhang Xiaotian up and down and said, "You have long legs, why not sign up for the long-distance race?"
"I'm not going." Zhang Xiaotian was not interested.
"Just sign up. The important thing is to participate." Lu Bai winked at him.
"If you want to report it, do it yourself." Zhang Xiaotian curled his lips and turned his head away without looking at him.
"Report it." Lu Bai approached warmly, "It only happens once a year, just treat it as a fun thing."
Running all sweaty, exhausted, and surrounded by onlookers, what fun was there? Zhang Xiaotian was just about to push Lu Baimao's hot head away when the PE committee member on the podium suddenly called his name: "Hey, new student, your name is Zhang Xiaotian, right?"
Hearing Zhang Xiaotian's name being called, Lu Bai and the others stopped and looked towards the podium. The sports committee member looked a little embarrassed, but still spoke:
"Well, we're a little short of people. We're still short of one person for the long jump. Can I sign you up?"
"Guan Yue, don't make any arrangements for him." Li An suddenly spoke up, and the class was silent for a moment.
"We're short of people, aren't we?" explained Guan Yue, the sports committee member. "Zhang Xiaotian, if you're okay with me, I'll put you on the list..."
"I don't know if he can stay in our class after midterm..." Someone next to him kept nudging him. Li An seemed to realize that his words were not right and his voice gradually became quieter. There were whispers everywhere, and some people even glanced at Zhang Xiaotian furtively. Zhang Xiaotian sighed and stopped spinning his pen.
"Um," Guan Yue asked again, holding a pen in his hand, not knowing whether to write or not. He hesitated and asked, "Are you going to report it, Zhang Xiaotian?"
How embarrassing. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Guan Yue who was left on the podium, thinking that he should just agree to it and not make things difficult for him. Just as he was about to speak, Lu Bai suddenly said:
"Report it, why not?"
The classroom was so quiet that even breathing could be heard. Zhang Xiaotian was also startled by Lu Bai's words. He looked at Lu Bai with no expression, but his voice was resounding in the strange atmosphere.
"Lu Bai, you..." Li An's face looked a little ugly, and he wanted to say something, but Lu Bai didn't give him the chance.
"My deskmate has such long legs, and you can tell he can jump far. He will definitely win a place for our class."
As soon as he finished speaking, the bell for the end of class rang like thunder. From the moment Lu Bai opened his mouth until now, Zhang Xiaotian couldn't 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. Teacher Zhang liked everyone to have group discussions in English class, but Zhang Xiaotian looked at the English newspaper in his hand, but not a single English word came to his mind.
He didn't really care about what the monitor Li An said. In fact, ever since he came to this class, he could feel a kind of indifference from his classmates towards him. Transfer students coming and going should be commonplace for them, and they may have lost interest in making friends a long time ago, but it doesn't matter, anyway, he is not here to make friends. Only Lu Bai's attitude towards him is different, but seeing that he can talk to anyone, it is not surprising that Lu Bai is affectionate towards him. But Zhang Xiaotian didn't expect that Lu Bai would speak for him just now, as if he firmly believed that he could stay in Class 1. This inexplicable trust suddenly fell on his shoulders, and Zhang Xiaotian was a little uncomfortable.
"Classmate, did you get question four right?"
Zhang Xiaotian came to his senses when he heard Lu Bai calling him. He glanced at the newspaper in his hand and asked, "Which fourth question?"
"The fourth question of the third reading." Lu Bai looked at him and reached out to take his newspaper. "That's not right. It's the second issue. You took it from the wrong deskmate."
Zhang Xiaotian changed another one.
"Well." Lu Bai put the newspaper on the table. "Don't take what Li An said today seriously. He's like this to everyone. It's not directed at you."
"Yeah." Zhang Xiaotian nodded.
"When will Ang Lee change his ways?" The slightly plump girl sitting in front of Zhang Xiaotian also put down her newspaper and said with her arms folded across her chest, "He has a big mouth that chatters all day long and can't say a single good word."
"That's right." The girl next to her nodded in agreement.
"Lu Bai, are you four supposed to be discussing something?" Teacher Zhang suddenly called out. "Then why did you put down your newspaper while discussing the topic?"
The four of them quickly pretended to be discussing something.
"It's all your fault, Yin Li. You put the newspaper down so violently that Old Zhang noticed it." Lu Bai lowered his voice and winked at the chubby girl.
"It's not my fault. Lao Zhang could only see my back from the front. I think he saw you put the newspaper down." Yin Li said. The two of them were arguing with each other, and they didn't forget to hold up the newspaper to show off.
Zhang Xiaotian looked across the newspaper at the two girls sitting at the table in front of him. The one sitting diagonally across from him was the one who had given him the cookies last time; her name seemed to be "Cheng" or something, and the one in front of him was probably Yin Li. He didn't want to hear them talk about what happened today, so he interrupted and said, "I got it right. The fourth question on the third reading question."
"Ah?" Lu Bai didn't react.
"Didn't you ask this question just now?" Zhang Xiaotian flicked the newspaper with his finger. "Do you want me to explain it?"
"Tell me, tell me!" Lu Bai quickly took out a pen.
The wrong questions in the newspaper were quickly discussed, but Teacher Zhang didn't stop the discussion, so Lu Bai and the two girls resumed their conversation. Zhang Xiaotian didn't join in, just held up the newspaper and listened.
"We have to perform at the sports meet," Yin Li wrote, scribbling on the margins of the newspaper with a red pen, pretending to be serious about the lesson. "I see other classes practicing on the playground when they have free time. They're all dancing, and a few classes even have the same dance routine."
"Won't it be awkward on the day of the performance?" Lu Bai said, crouching behind the front desk. "What are we going to perform? Why is there no movement at all?"
"I heard there's going to be a poetry recitation," Yin Li's deskmate said. "That's what Lao Zhang said himself."
"When did you say that?" Lu Bai sat up straight with a flutter. "How did you know about Han Cheng?"
Teacher Zhang's eyes swept over like a searchlight. Zhang Xiaotian quickly kicked Lu Bai's stool, and Lu Bai crouched back down again.
"Lu Bai, don't make such a big fuss," Han Chengcheng said. "I heard this yesterday when Lao Zhang and Li An were chatting. They said that poetry recitation doesn't require too much rehearsal time."
"It's boring." Lu Bai curled his lips, "No one in our class takes the rehearsal seriously."
Zhang Xiaotian recalled the disjointed chorus performance by Class 1 at last year's sports meet. It really looked like a show that was just to make up the numbers.
"My deskmate, you might not be used to it yet." Lu Bai said to Zhang Xiaotian, "Our class has always prioritized grades. Everything else is secondary. No one cares about that anyway."
"There's nothing to get used to. I don't participate in group activities in Class 4." said Zhang Xiaotian.
"Really?" Lu Bai muttered, then suddenly turned around and asked, "So you didn't want to do the long jump? Oh, did I say too much?"
"Why are you so flustered? Be more careful." Zhang Xiaotian pointed at his newspaper, pretending to explain the topic to him. "Don't be nosy, I wanted to sign up too."
"Oh." Lu Bai looked at him with his head drooped, obviously not believing what he said.
Zhang Xiaotian looked at him and couldn't help asking, "How can you be so sure that I will stay in Class 1?"
"Hmm?" Lu Bai didn't expect him to ask that. He hesitated and said, "I just felt that you should have good grades. Besides, didn't you get the questions that the three of us couldn't do right just now?"
Zhang Xiaotian looked at him without saying a word.
"Well, I think you can do it anyway. I watch you every day, so how can I not know it?" Lu Bai scratched his head and said again.
Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help laughing at his silly look and quickly turned his head away.
"Are you laughing?" Lu Bai pushed him lightly. "What are you laughing at? What's so funny? I trust you so much, and you're still laughing at me."
Zhang Xiaotian took a deep breath and turned around with no expression on his face, except for the unnatural tightness at the corners of his mouth. Lu Bai stretched out his arm and hooked it around his neck: "I told you not to laugh at me! I'll teach you a lesson!" Then he started to ruffle Zhang Xiaotian's hair.
"Stop it!" Zhang Xiaotian wanted to hide but couldn't break free. Just as he was about to push him away, he heard Li An's voice.
"Lu Bai! Are you making a scene right after Ban Ren left?"
The class teacher had left at some point, and now it was Li An who was standing on the podium, holding a small notebook. Lu Bai withdrew his arm, and the two of them looked at Li An.
Li An knocked on the blackboard with his notebook: "We need someone to help me manage the program for the sports meeting. Lu Bai, you can come."
"Ang Lee must have been holding his fart in." As soon as the evening study ended, Lu Bai threw his schoolbag on his back and said to Zhang Xiaotian while standing next to him.
Seeing that he was waiting for him, Zhang Xiaotian moved faster. The two of them walked out of the classroom together.
"He also bullies people?" Zhang Xiaotian asked him.
"Bullying? That's out of the question." Lu Bai said nonchalantly, "He was upset because I didn't speak up for him when I was applying for the project, so he wanted to give me something to do."
It's quite childish. Zhang Xiaotian smiled.
"Do you also think he's childish?" Lu Bai laughed along, "I don't even want to bother with him."
"If you... can't handle it yourself, just tell me." Zhang Xiaotian said, "I can help a little."
"So nice, classmate." Lu Bai was about to fall on Zhang Xiaotian like a boneless person, but Zhang Xiaotian dodged him.
"After all, you are standing up for me." Zhang Xiaotian said.
"Just do your best on the exam, and then you can slap Li An in the face!" Lu Bai chuckled, baring his white teeth. He slapped Zhang Xiaotian on the back and then bolted out. Zhang Xiaotian staggered from the blow, but once he regained his footing, he didn't chase after him. He watched as Lu Bai sprinted to the school gate, then turned and disappeared.
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