Orange Dream Story
Xu Yanchi walked to Teacher Xing's office and knocked gently. Teacher Xing pushed the door open and handed her a seating chart: "Yanchi, the seating chart is arranged according to complementary subjects. Go to class meeting and organize the students to change seats. Oh, I forgot to tell you, you'll be sitting next to Xue Su. She's quick with math, and you're solid in humanities, so you can help each other out. Don't disappoint me." Xu Yanchi nodded, took the chart, and immediately felt uneasy. She carefully examined the thin piece of paper, and couldn't help but pray in her heart: "Let me sit with Xiao Fuzhou..." This thought, like a demon's whisper, wouldn't leave her. She felt as if she was no longer herself, completely following her body's instincts. She shook her head and then looked down at the chart.
Xu Yanchi glanced down at the chart—the names "Xu Yanchi and Xue Su" were right next to each other in the fourth group. Further down, Xiao Fuzhou's name was in the back row of the eighth group, several rows away, much further back than in the previous class. She had to turn her head to see him clearly. Xu Yanchi tried her best to suppress her disappointment, feigning indifference. She subtly curled her fingertips, pursed her lips, and softly replied, "Okay, Teacher Xing, I'll organize the seating arrangement in the classroom during class meeting."
As she walked out of the office, the wind in the corridor was hot, making her ears tingle—she had just received the pen from him that morning, how could they be so far apart now?
During the class meeting, she stood on the podium and read out the names, trying to keep her voice steady: "Group 4, Xu Yanchi, Xue Su; Group 8, Xiao Fuzhou..." When she got to Xiao Fuzhou, she didn't dare to look back, and just sped up her speech to finish reading the rest of the names, but her fingertips were clenched tightly.
The classroom was soon filled with the sounds of desks being moved. Xu Yanchi's best friend, Xue Su, rushed over, clutching her schoolbag and a math error notebook. "Chi Bao, I'm finally your deskmate! You have no idea how much I've missed you!" Xue Su reverted to her usual clingy self, trying to pounce on Xu Yanchi like a kitten. She paused, then continued, "From now on, we'll work on those challenging problems together. I'll teach you mental arithmetic, and you can help me with the subjective questions in the humanities!" Xu Yanchi smiled indulgently, gently pinching her nose, and chuckled, "You're such a chatterbox. I'll teach you, little teacher. Remember to teach me a few math problems too. Keep an eye on your humanities grades; if they rise by another ten points, you could be in the top 3 of the grade!" Xu Yanchi chattered on, while Xue Su scratched her head, a little embarrassed. She pulled a handful of orange candies from her pocket and placed them on Xu Yanchi's desk. "Oh, okay, okay, mind your own business. We'll share these candies after class! You'd better teach me humanities properly." Xu Yanchi pushed the candies back and opened his textbook: "First, check your history notes. I've organized the timeline you mentioned." Xue Su pouted: "I'll listen, you stingy girl!" As she spoke, Xue Su wiped away imaginary tears. Xu Yanchi smiled helplessly, took out his pen, and began to explain to Xue Su on his own.
After class started, Xue Su wasn't as distracted as before. When the teacher was explaining physics problems, she would push her scratch paper over, on which she had written down two different approaches to solving the problem. As soon as Xu Yanchi marked the new method in red, she would quickly write it down in her error notebook. Only occasionally, when the teacher turned away, she would nudge Xu Yanchi's arm and hand him a note with a little sun drawn on it, which read, "Go buy a competition question bank after class."
During break, while organizing her notes, Xu Yanchi couldn't help but steal a glance back—Xiao Fuzhou, sitting in the back row of the eighth group, was engrossed in reading. Sunlight fell on his hair, highlighting his handsome, aloof appearance with well-defined features. Xu Yanchi couldn't resist looking at him. When she looked up, she found Xiao Fuzhou's gaze meeting hers. The boy smiled and looked up. Xu Yanchi's heart skipped a beat. For the first time, she realized that those eyes meeting hers could seem to transmit warmth, like the sun. Xu Yanchi quickly turned away, her face flushed. Even though there were several rows of people between them, she was so absorbed in her gaze that she didn't notice Xue Su turning to talk to her until Xue Su's voice rang in her ear: "Yanchi, what are you looking at?"
Xu Yanchi snapped back to reality, quickly pulling her gaze back to her notebook, her ears burning. "N-nothing, I was just distracted by the problems on the blackboard." Xue Su glanced at her notebook with a puzzled look, then looked back at the notebook. Finding nothing amiss, she smiled and peeled an orange candy, stuffing it into her mouth. "Eat up, it's sweet! By the way, how about we quiz each other on a few formulas during break for the math quiz this afternoon?"
Xu Yanchi, with a candy in his mouth and a sweet taste on his tongue, nodded gently—thankfully, Xue Su hadn't noticed. Although he was separated from Xiao Fuzhou by several rows of desks, being able to steal a glance at him occasionally made it all worthwhile.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
