“Why would I bother remembering her name?”
On Friday, the midterm exam scores and rankings were officially released.
Chen Luobai remained the undisputed first in the grade, while Class 2 surpassed the second-ranked Class 1 by several points in average score, just as Zhu Ran had predicted.
Zhou Anran didn’t particularly excel in any subjects except English and Biology, but she didn’t lag either. Her overall score ranked 61st in the grade.
There was a full 60-rank gap between her and the first place.
That afternoon, it was Zhou Anran’s turn for cleaning duty again. After finishing, she linked arms with Yan Xingqian as usual and walked out the east gate.
Passing by the basketball courts, Zhou Anran’s gaze unconsciously drifted towards the third court in the first row.
The familiar figure wasn’t there.
As they got closer, she noticed that even Zhu Ran and Zong Kai were absent.
She wondered what he was up to today.
Zhou Anran retracted her gaze, feeling a bit disappointed.
Cleaning had taken some time, conveniently allowing them to avoid the after-school rush for the bus. When the two of them boarded, most of the back seats were empty.
After sitting down, Zhou Anran moved her backpack to the front and pulled out a vocabulary book, flipping to the bookmarked page.
Yan Xingqian had just settled her bag when she noticed this: “You’re studying vocabulary in this little time? Are you planning to surpass Chen Luobai?”
Zhou Anran’s fingertips curled slightly on the page, her voice soft: “I suppose so.”
In truth, it wasn’t quite that.
She just wanted to…
Try a little harder.
Narrow the gap between them, even if just a bit.
Maybe catch his attention, even if just a little.
Yan Xingqian patted her shoulder: “I should learn from you.”
“Huh?” Zhou Anran was taken aback, turning to look at her.
Yan Xingqian continued: “Not being swayed by male beauty, focusing solely on studies. While other girls want to pursue Chen Luobai himself, you only want to catch up to his grades.”
Zhou Anran opened her mouth.
She wanted to say that she was just like those other girls, liking him very, very much.
It’s just that she only dared to like him secretly in her heart.
But as the words reached her lips, somehow she couldn’t voice them again.
She had wanted to tell her friend several times before, but in the end, she never managed to say it.
She had always been the type who struggled to express her inner feelings.
But Yan Xingqian shared everything with her, which made Zhou Anran feel a bit guilty. She pressed her lips together: “I’ll go with you later to try persuading your mom again.”
Yan Xingqian’s performance in math, physics, and chemistry had been mediocre this time, causing her ranking to drop several places.
“Forget it, my mom seems dead set on it this time. There’s no persuading her,” Yan Xingqian’s eyes darted around. “But you should still come over. Help me secretly move some stuff to hide at your place. My mom doesn’t know exactly how many CDs and merchandise I’ve bought anyway.”
Zhou Anran nodded: “Alright.”
Upon reaching the neighborhood, Zhou Anran first went to Yan Xingqian’s home.
The two families lived in opposite buildings, and Zhou Anran was as familiar with her friend’s home as her own. But it was her first time doing something sneaky behind the parents’ backs. When greeting Yan Xingqian’s mother, she felt extremely nervous.
However, in Yan Xingqian’s mother’s eyes, Zhou Anran had always been the obedient and well-behaved type.
Yan Xingqian stuffed her backpack full, and her mother didn’t suspect a thing, only inviting Zhou Anran over for lunch the next day before they left.
Back home, Zhou Anran cleared out a large drawer and carefully stored Yan Xingqian’s CDs and merchandise.
After dinner that evening, Zhou Xianzhong turned on the TV to watch CBA as usual.
Unlike Yan Xingqian, Zhou Anran’s midterm ranking had improved by a few places this time. So He Jiayi didn’t set a TV-watching time limit as she usually did, seemingly allowing her to watch as long as she wanted tonight.
But after some thought, Zhou Anran still fetched her vocabulary book from her room before returning to sit beside her father to watch together.
Zhou Xianzhong didn’t understand her actions: “Are you here to watch the game with me, or to study?”
Zhou Anran replied: “Both. I can review some vocabulary during timeouts.”
Zhou Xianzhong said: “You’re only in your first year of high school. No need to be so tense. The midterms just finished, it’s okay to relax properly today.”
Watching the players running on the court, Zhou Anran’s mind flashed to the tall, slender figure of that boy.
“But my classmate is so outstanding. I kind of want to catch up to him—” Zhou Anran paused, afraid of revealing too much like last time, and deliberately added a word, “them.”
Zhou Xianzhong: “…”
In other families, parents pressured their children to study. How did it seem like their family was about to reverse this trend?
But Zhou Xianzhong was also afraid of dampening her enthusiasm for learning, so he didn’t say much more in the end. He just pushed the fruit platter towards her: “Have some fruit before you start.”
Zhou Anran nodded, peeled an orange, and ate it slowly.