Chapter 55
Is everyone here?
The homeroom teacher's voice rang out on the playground in the early morning, slightly hoarse from not being fully awake, as he routinely counted the number of students running for morning exercises.
Lin Li, keeping time, moved silently to the end of the line like a slippery fish and stood still.
He yawned widely, tears welling up in his eyes, looking like a wilted blade of grass that hadn't woken up, moving mechanically with the formation.
Five minutes later.
Standing at the front of the line, Luo Yan took advantage of a turn to look over the layers of shoulders and landed precisely on the sleepy-eyed figure in the back row.
Her eyes held a complex emotion that she herself could not fully understand, like a tangled ball of yarn.
My name is Luo Yan, and I am sixteen years old.
If youth is a painting, then I am probably that dark, accidentally spilled ink spot on the canvas.
Acne stubbornly clung to her face, her features were so plain they were almost blurry, and her height was fixed at 1.55 meters, as if she were a corner forgotten by fate.
Perhaps God closed all the doors for me, leaving only a narrow window—my grades.
Thanks to my decent grades, I was able to have a quiet corner in my school days where I wasn't bullied, but that was all. No one was close to me, especially the boys.
When I entered high school, I was prepared to trek through those three years on my own.
Until that day, I walked into the classroom and found that my deskmate was a boy. He had a neat, short Japanese-style haircut, clean-cut features, and gave off a... perhaps "bad student" vibe?
I sat down in silence, my inner alarm bells ringing. However, he—Lin Li—turned around on his own initiative, revealing a genuine smile, and greeted me naturally.
I froze, the long period of social isolation had made me almost forget how to respond to a kind greeting. I mumbled an "uh-huh," and almost hastily lowered my head, using indifference to mask my bewilderment.
I thought this would make him back down, like everyone else.
But he seems... different.
In the lecture hall, I was drawing at my seat when he came over, his eyes shining, and said, "You draw really well." I could tell it wasn't just politeness.
I responded stiffly, like a startled hedgehog, raising my quills.
My heart is screaming: Go away! You'll eventually find me boring and ugly anyway, and then you'll leave...
---
After morning exercises, the group dispersed.
Luo Yan stood there, slightly out of breath, trying to calm herself.
At that moment, Lin Li's clear voice pierced through the noisy crowd and reached her ears:
"Huang Wen, are you having breakfast? Could you get me an egg?"
"Go find your deskmate. I'm not eating, I'm going to play ball. Are you coming?"
He's here. Luo Yan's heart skipped a beat, and almost the next second, that familiar figure appeared in front of her.
The boy had just finished exercising; his forehead was damp with sweat, and a few beads of sweat slid down his clearly defined jawline. So close...
Luo Yan could even smell the scent emanating from him, a mixture of sunshine and faint laundry detergent. It wasn't unpleasant; in fact, it made her heart skip a beat.
"Luo Yan, are you having breakfast? Could you please get me an egg? Please?"
It was "Please" again. Those two words seemed to possess a magical power, instantly soothing all the unease and sharpness in her heart. She nodded, her movement very light, yet carrying a solemn meaning.
Lin Li immediately flashed a bright smile, revealing her small canine tooth, which dazzled her: "Thank you! You're so kind!"
She stood there, watching the boy run towards the basketball court like a gust of wind, her smile still lingering.
“Hey, look at her like that…”
"How disgusting, that smile is so lewd."
The whispers from nearby pierced her eardrums like cold needles. Her facial muscles stiffened for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure. It didn't matter; she didn't care. She only cared about that person's gaze.
As soon as she sat down in the cafeteria, she heard several girls whispering excitedly and nervously, their topic clearly being "Lin Li from Class 5".
"I heard he..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the group of girls screamed excitedly.
These explicit rumors were like a fire, instantly shattering Luo Yan's inner peace, leaving her agitated, yet also mixed with a hint of unspeakable restlessness and excitement.
In the subsequent physical education class, she watched Lin Li run and jump on the basketball court, his sweat glistening in the sunlight.
Seeing him sneak away, she figured he was going back to the classroom to enjoy the air conditioning. Almost inexplicably, she took a shortcut and got back to the empty classroom before him.
She sat in her seat, pretending to be engrossed in her book, but her heart was pounding like a madman.
Lin Li returned as expected, radiating heat and the smell of sweat. Wearing a loose basketball vest, he slumped onto the table next to him without any warning, as if he were exhausted.
Luo Yan tilted the upright Chinese textbook slightly, creating a concealed angle for observation. Through the wide side seam of his vest, she could clearly see his smooth armpits.
No--
The confirmation made her breath catch in her throat, and she felt inexplicably excited, her cheeks burning. Her gaze greedily traveled downwards, sweeping over the outline of the firm chest muscles slightly squeezed out by the prone position, and further down... Unfortunately, the loose sweatpants concealed everything, making it all seem unremarkable.
Suddenly, the person lying down moved, abruptly raised their head, looked like they urgently needed to urinate, grabbed a tissue, and rushed out of the classroom.
Luo Yan reluctantly withdrew her gaze, almost trembling as she opened the thick diary and excitedly recorded her "discovery," the pen tip slightly tearing the pages with excitement.
---
Lin Li came out of the restroom and splashed cold water on her face, trying to shake off the afternoon drowsiness. Water droplets trickled down her neck and into her collar, bringing a touch of coolness.
He shook his head and, as he passed the grade office in the middle of the corridor, he vaguely heard a familiar voice.
The door was ajar, and he moved closer.
"For the student council officer selection, each class has two slots. After comprehensive evaluation, the decision is made between you and Zhou Mingfang," came the steady voice of Huo Li, the grade director.
"Thank you, teacher. I will try my best," was Tong Yao's obedient reply.
With a click, the door opened. Tong Yao stepped out and was immediately met with Lin Li's incredibly bright eyes.
"You skipped class again!" she said in a low voice, glaring at him as usual.
Lin Li playfully nudged her with her shoulder: "Can you call PE class skipping class? That's free time!"
Tong Yao smelled the lingering sweat on him and recoiled in disgust, saying, "Stay away from me, you stink!"
Instead of backing down, Lin Li took advantage of the situation and hugged her from behind, deliberately rubbing the wet droplets on his face onto her back.
Tong Yao gasped in anger, then reached out and precisely pinched his ear, spinning it 180 degrees.
"Hiss—" Lin Li winced in pain, but because other classes were in session and the grade director was in the office next door, she forced back her cry and could only silently beg for mercy.
Tong Yao let go of his hand, rolled her eyes at him, and left without looking back, calling him a "childish brat."
Lin Li rubbed her bright red ears, watching her retreating figure, and muttered, "Student Council?"
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning—did he also have a chance?
He strode back to the classroom, went straight to his seat, and asked Luo Yan, who was reading a book, "Luo Yan, do you know about the student council selection? I haven't heard about it."
Luo Yan paused in her book-turning motion. She looked up, her gaze quickly sweeping over his still-reddened right ear, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, before replying in her usual indifferent tone, "I know."
"How did you choose?" Lin Li's eyes lit up.
"Let's look at the results."
Lin Li immediately perked up, jumped up, and ran to the podium, rummaging through the messy stack of test papers and notices. He hadn't paid any attention to the last monthly exam since it was over.
He quickly found the class report card.
First place: Luo Yan, 820 points, ranked 83rd in the grade.
Second place: Lin Li, 815 points, ranked 95th in the grade.
(Grade 11, no subject specialization, total score 1050)
Thinking of Huo Li's words about "two spots per class," if the selection is strictly based on grades, then Lin Li and Luo Yan will be the ones representing the class in the student council selection!
This realization left him with a somewhat complicated feeling. Two spots per class didn't mean they were partners; rather, they were competitors. Their grades were similar, and he wondered how the assignments would be made. However, if it was strictly based on grades, then he had nothing to say.
“Hey, Luo Yan,” he sat back down, gently poked her arm with his pen cap, and said with a resigned ease, “Looks like we’ll be running for student council together.”
Luo Yan's body stiffened almost imperceptibly. She didn't look up, but the fingers holding the pen tightened slightly, and she only let out a muffled "hmm" from her nose.
"What do you think the election will test? A speech? Or just an interview?" Lin Li speculated to herself. "If it's a speech, that would be troublesome. I'm most afraid of reading a prepared speech in front of so many people..."
His rambling was like background noise; Luo Yan didn't hear a single word. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and blood rushed to her eardrums.
"With him..." These four words were like a spell, swirling in her mind and bringing a dizzying pleasure.
This means more time spent together, closer observation... and perhaps, even more... unique "scenery" that she unexpectedly gains.
A secret, guilty excitement, like a vine, quietly wrapped around her heart, tightening its grip.
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