After Zoe Young and the others graduated, they would be entering another school, while Martin Bates had to grow up.

When the Chinese teacher passed by Martin Bates, she still couldn't help but frown and scold him a couple of times.

"You idle away all day, doing nothing, just look at you, you’re good for nothing, what kind of career could you possibly have in the future?"

This time, Martin Bates didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed.

"Good for nothing? That’s perfect, then I can be a teacher too!"

The whole class burst out laughing, and the Chinese teacher’s face turned red and then white. She was at a complete loss with this soon-to-be-graduated student.

This harmless rebellious joke made Zoe Young smile with a touch of sadness.

Martin Bates, who had always strived to attract attention, finally had his most dazzling exit.

When class ended, he picked up his bag and waved at Zoe Young with a smile.

"Do well on the exam, get into Brightstar High School!" He loudly shouted out the goal that Zoe Young had never mentioned, "I think you’re the only one in our school who can do it."

Zoe Young blushed: "You just can’t let me have it easy, even as you’re leaving."

Martin Bates said seriously, "I mean it."

"I know." Zoe Young smiled.

"And, you must remember me."

"Mm."

"You’re going to be someone amazing. You have to remember me, so that my life won’t have been in vain."

This strange logic made Zoe Young want to laugh, but tears kept swirling in her eyes.

Martin Bates nodded, and looked over at Ethan Xavier’s seat from afar—he wasn’t there at all, who knows which bar he’d run off to this time.

Mia Waters gently patted him and said, "Take care."

He grinned at both Mia Waters and Zoe Young, then turned around and slouched out of the classroom door.

Zoe Young wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and when she looked up, she found that Mia Waters’s eyes were also a little red.

"Are you that close with Martin Bates?"

Mia Waters shook his head: "I was just thinking about myself four months from now."

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

14. The high school entrance exam quietly arrived

For the latest updates on Hello, Old Times!

Monica Zack secretly slipped two crumpled test papers to Zoe Young.

"Don’t tell anyone. These are secret papers left by a teacher who was transferred to the education committee to write exam questions. There’s a good chance the math questions will be very similar to these. Go make a copy for yourself, but don’t let them get out, understand?"

Secret papers, again. Since the end of May, all kinds of prediction classes had sprung up everywhere, and the test papers and lesson plans left by teachers who were transferred to write exam questions for various schools had become the "Sunflower Manual". Everyone was working through set after set of secret papers mechanically, thinking it was better to do three thousand extra than to miss a single one.

Monica Zack seemed to see through Zoe Young’s thoughts: "This set is different, trust me."

Zoe Young nodded vigorously, grinning obsequiously.

"I’ll go copy it right now, immediately. Thank you, teacher!"

Then, back in class, Zoe Young gently tapped on Mia Waters’s desk: "Let’s go, another set of secret papers. I heard this one’s really reliable."

Monica Zack had repeatedly warned not to tell anyone, and Zoe Young knew that Monica Zack had always favored her, but she herself also had someone she favored, like Mia Waters.

Even though Mia Waters was always too lazy to do the papers, every time Zoe Young dragged him to copy various versions of the "Sunflower Manual", he still went along appreciatively.

She didn’t know why, but she avoided Michelle Cindy.

After her stunning performance in the first mock exam, Michelle Cindy had firmly held onto second place in the class. Zoe Young had reclaimed first, but no longer felt any joy. Having someone watching her like a tiger eyeing its prey from behind was an uncomfortable feeling. She had never coveted Sean Sherman’s position like this, but now, the way someone was watching her from behind made her feel a chill in her heart.

After the third mock exam, Zoe Young passed by Michelle Cindy’s desk on her way to get water, and just happened to glance over. Michelle Cindy was especially sensitive, using her elbow to cover the heading of the math paper she was working on.

This kind of secretive behavior was all too familiar to any good student who’d ever had selfish thoughts. Zoe Young understood it well, so she hurried her steps, pretending not to notice Michelle Cindy’s little move—whether intentional or not—but her heart ached.

How did it come to this.

After that, no matter what secret papers or study materials Zoe Young got through various channels, she never took the initiative to give them to Michelle Cindy again.

Only after being hurt did she look back and realize that Michelle Cindy had never shared any study tips or materials with her or Mia Waters. She always listened in silence, never commenting or correcting, no matter if what they said was right or wrong.

Mia Waters had a look that said, "I told you so," and Zoe Young couldn’t help but shout, "When did you ever tell me anything? You’re always so vague, how am I supposed to know what you mean?"

She suddenly remembered that night at the beginning of May before filling out their school choices, which seemed to be the last time the three of them gathered in the library. The high school contracts from University High School had already been handed to all three of them—after the crucial second mock exam, Mia Waters, as if he knew University High School would use those results, had come in third in the class, breaking into the city’s top 100 and earning the right to sign the contract.

Zoe Young tapped the table for a long time, took a deep breath, and said softly, "I’m not signing."

Michelle Cindy was very, very quiet, saying nothing at all.

And Mia Waters, who had always claimed he’d sign the contract without hesitation if he got it, was uncharacteristically decisive: "I’m not signing either."

Zoe Young stared in surprise: "What did you say?"

"I’ll take the Brightstar High School exam with you."

Five crescent moons bloomed on her face, her eyes and mouth full of delight, and Zoe Young didn’t notice Michelle Cindy’s silent withdrawal at all.

That night, the three of them walked together in the late spring evening breeze. The crescent moon in the sky looked especially like a boat, or like Zoe Young’s sweetly smiling mouth, the corners curving up.

"Michelle Cindy, do you have a dream?"

In Zoe Young’s memory, this was the first time Mia Waters had ever spoken to Michelle Cindy on his own initiative.

Before Michelle Cindy could answer, Mia Waters waved his hand: "Getting into Brightstar High School doesn’t count as a dream."

"Getting into a good university doesn’t count either."

"Making a lot of money doesn’t count."

"I mean, something you truly want to do, maybe something you’ll never get the chance to do in your whole life, something you really love, something you’ll think about forever."

Michelle Cindy, who always avoided questions and rarely spoke about her true thoughts, was uncharacteristically shy this time. She lowered her head and thought seriously for a long time before slowly saying, "I hope I can go to Tokyo in the future, learn to draw manga, then come back and make animated films. Make lots of really good cartoons, write lots of really good stories... even if it’s just for myself."

Zoe Young was a little moved. She had never known that Michelle Cindy, who liked to steal and to read, had such a fairy-tale dream buried in her heart.

Mia Waters was silent for a long time, then finally poked his own chest lightly, as if it meant something.

"Tokyo is far away."

He said softly, then fell into a long silence.

Michelle Cindy, your Tokyo, is very far away.

Zoe Young and Mia Waters hurried out of the hot little room of the school copy shop, and ran right into Michelle Cindy and Sean Sherman. They had come from different directions, each holding a test paper.

Narrow paths, four people stared at each other.

Zoe Young smiled, suddenly feeling that this kind of thing was meaningless.

Sean Sherman, on the other hand, came straight over without pretense: "What paper is that?"

Zoe Young generously unfolded it for her to see, and Sean Sherman also unfolded the paper in her own hand. The two of them exchanged, looked over each other’s papers, and then said at the same time, "Lend it to me."

"Let’s just go back and make another copy now." Mia Waters yawned from the side.

They all rushed to the copy room together, while Michelle Cindy, left standing aside, gripped her rolled-up paper so tightly her lips turned white.

On Wednesday morning, Zoe Young woke up very early.