Michelle Cindy was so frightened she tried to break free, but Zoe Young was like an unstoppable bull. This kind of momentum startled Monica Zack as well. She was busy fiddling with the purple umbrella she was using as a sunshade, and absentmindedly nodded her head. By then, Zoe Young had already shot off like a rocket.

She moved forward without looking back, so she didn’t see the complicated look in Michelle Cindy’s eyes behind her.

Finally, Michelle Cindy, looking relieved, walked back a bit awkwardly to where Zoe Young was waiting at the door. Naturally, her embarrassment usually showed as a blank face and downcast eyes.

“You can’t just... suffocate a living person. Don’t do that next time.” Zoe Young tugged at Michelle Cindy’s sleeve.

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“When I went to the bathroom just now, the jelly I was holding fell into the squat toilet.”

Zoe Young laughed and handed her the last one she had: “Here, you can have this one. It’s pineapple flavor.”

Michelle Cindy took it, gently rubbed the top layer of the packaging against her nose, and finally smiled.

“I drank too much water this morning. Every time I drink too much water, this happens.” Michelle Cindy said slowly.

Zoe Young widened her eyes, then smiled so much her eyes turned into crescents: “Hey, let me ask you, when you get up in the middle of the night, do you drink water first or go to the bathroom first?”

Michelle Cindy was stunned for a long time before she slowly said, “Every time I get up at night, I have to think about that question for a long time.”

“Have you read Charles Carter’s ‘Zhuangzi Speaks’? I think his drawings are really good!”

“Yeah, I also like Japanese manga and anime.”

“Do you watch ‘Shaman King’?”

“Yeah, but my favorite is still ‘Slam Dunk’.”

“Have you seen the part about the national tournament?”

Michelle Cindy nodded lightly.

Zoe Young always used “whether you’ve seen the ending of the national tournament arc” as a childish standard to judge kindred spirits.

She almost wanted to rush over and hug Michelle Cindy.

Michelle Cindy had also read the “Mysterious Max” series, and also thought Chris Lawrence and Max were a pair, but she also found the foreign “Bantam Series” horror stories with multiple endings and plotlines more interesting, especially the one called “Deadly Arcade”; when she was little, Michelle Cindy also liked to catch caterpillars and squash them into pieces, then squat nearby and carefully watch the sticky green fluid ooze out; Michelle Cindy also used a magnifying glass to roast ants with sunlight; Michelle Cindy also liked peach-flavored bayberries, liked “Lonely God” snacks, liked “Dollhead” ice cream, and she liked eating milk powder straight...

“Be my friend.”

Zoe Young couldn’t help but squeeze Michelle Cindy’s cold hand tighter.

“Did you ever buy those coloring books when you were little? The ones where you color in Sailor Moon? I suddenly remembered yesterday and wanted to buy one, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. Sigh, I feel like I’m getting old.”

Zoe Young scrunched her brows and cupped her face in mock seriousness, just trying to make Michelle Cindy laugh. But the other rarely showed any expression, only occasionally smiling, yet her eyes always shone with a burning passion, making Zoe Young sure that talking about these things made her happy too.

Michelle Cindy heard Zoe Young’s feigned complaint and didn’t react at all. After a few seconds, she softly said, “If that’s all it takes to be old, I’m not willing.”

Many years later, Zoe Young could no longer remember whether that oddly out-of-place remark was actually said by Michelle Cindy, or if her own memory, after everything that happened, had made it up for the Michelle Cindy of that moment.

But she did remember the unwillingness in Michelle Cindy’s eyes.

Like a sleeping, young volcano.

------------

8. Spring Sports Day (Part 2)

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“Alan Carter, you know what? The thing I enjoy most about Sports Day isn’t cheering for my classmates, or sitting there constantly snacking, or foolishly waving props to welcome the school leaders. None of that.

“I like standing in the middle of the field, watching them run lap after lap around the track, giving it their all; watching the audience excitedly shout slogans; watching the girls shyly throw javelins that never stick in the ground; watching the boys use all their strength, but the shot put still only flies a short distance... Uh, I’m not just laughing at others. If you look up, you can see the especially blue sky, no tall buildings around, and all the students in the distance become tiny blurry dots.

“In that moment, I feel like I’m the center of the world.”

Michelle Cindy was nervous from the start, but Zoe Young was completely at ease. She strolled past the third-year stands, tugged on Michelle Cindy’s sleeve and exclaimed, “Look, they’re all doing exercises on their laps! No wonder, the high school entrance exam is coming up. I heard a lot of people are making excuses not to come to Sports Day.”

High school entrance exam, Zhenhua, Sean Sherman.

After saying this, Zoe Young’s heart suddenly sank. She put away her smile, grabbed Michelle Cindy’s hand, and ran along the edge of the track toward Class 2’s area, but slowed down as they got closer.

“Zoe Young, you...”

Zoe Young didn’t have time to answer Michelle Cindy’s question. She quietly circled to a spot not too close or too far from Class 2, stopped moving forward, and craned her neck to look.

It wasn’t easy to pick out the not-so-familiar Sean Sherman in a crowd. Finally, she found her: Sean Sherman was sitting in the second-to-last row in the corner, head down, doing something.

Whatever she was doing, Zoe Young was sure she was working on an exercise book.

She had to be.

Suddenly, a surge of ambition welled up in her chest, as if the blue sky, white clouds, sunshine, grass, and the third-year students struggling to keep their exercise books from being blown by the wind all disappeared. She was standing in the auditorium at the opening ceremony, a big red flower on her chest, holding a script and smiling modestly as she said, “Thank you to my alma mater. I owe my achievements to the care and encouragement of my teachers...”

Junior students crowded around, chattering and asking for study tips. Monica Zack and the other teachers stood on the outside, watching her with satisfaction, saying cheerfully, “Look, a once-in-a-century student at our school. So promising. I knew she’d do well from the moment she enrolled...”

This kind of fantasy made Zoe Young lower her head and giggle, then quickly rein in her smile into a modest, serious expression, her eyes full of kind, enthusiastic sparks, patiently answering all sorts of questions from the admiring younger students around her.

“Zoe Young... are you okay?”

Zoe Young was startled, her face quickly turning red.

“I’m fine.” She pulled Michelle Cindy away in big strides. As they passed Class 2’s area, she even turned back to smile at Michelle Cindy and made a couple of boring comments about the weather, acting completely natural.

“Alan Carter, those unrealistic fantasies bring me huge happiness, but then they vanish in an instant, leaving only a huge sense of disappointment.”

Sitting dejectedly on the steps, staring at her bag, she realized there wasn’t a single exercise book or study guide inside. The gap wasn’t small.

“How about you eat some of the snacks I brought!”

Michelle Cindy thought Zoe Young was sighing because there was nothing she liked to eat in her bag. She was grateful that Zoe Young had switched seats with someone to sit next to her, so she awkwardly opened her own bag and held it out to Zoe Young.

At that moment, Zoe Young turned her head and looked seriously at Michelle Cindy. Michelle Cindy felt like she could see her own reflection in the other’s clear eyes.

“Alan Carter, I’ve never dared to say I want to be first in the grade. I have to pretend I don’t care about rankings. When others try to please me by saying, ‘That Sean Sherman isn’t as pretty as you, she’s weird, only knows how to bury her head in studying,’ I can only awkwardly smile and say everyone has their strengths. Do you remember why I said I like ‘Slam Dunk’? Because they dare to say, ‘I want to beat you.’ Even if they don’t succeed, no one laughs at them.

“I think that’s what youth is.”

Saying something like that, Zoe Young herself felt a little melodramatic, but she really believed that only with the confidence to win or lose, to boldly declare a challenge, could it be called youth.

For a moment, Zoe Young really wanted to look into Michelle Cindy’s eyes and tell her, You know what? I’m a little jealous of Sean Sherman. I envy that she doesn’t care what others think, doesn’t care about popularity, is always focused on studying, and works so hard.

I really want to beat her.

After turning these words over in her mind a few times, Zoe Young finally just lowered her head, rummaged through Michelle Cindy’s bag, and asked, “What snacks did you bring? Let me see.”