“The class next door seems to have ordered matching uniforms for their formation. Should we get a set too?” Quinn Shaw cared a lot about clothing. “We can lose in anything, but not in spirit.”

Wanda said, “The class next door even has a cross-dressing king. Shouldn’t our class have one too?”

The topic got more and more off track.

By the time the bell rang, they still hadn’t come to any conclusion.

The students returning sports equipment went to the equipment room, with Logan Wright in charge of counting and organizing. The big circle from Class Three had almost finished, with only a few people left.

Wanda sidled up to Henry Howard and whispered, “Actually, when they mentioned the cross-dressing king, my first thought was Ethan Bro.”

Henry Howard: “If you want to die, I can help you with that.”

“No, it’s mainly because Ethan Bro’s looks—absolutely not saying he’s girly, he’s not at all, he’s very manly.” Wanda searched his brain for the right words but couldn’t find any. “Just, anyway, both I and Sister Qing think so. Do you think Ethan Bro would agree?”

“You really will die.”

Henry Howard added, “And you’ll leave this world at a speed you can’t even imagine.”

When Quinn Shaw heard the news, she was a bit disappointed, but quickly let it go and came up with a new idea: “Since we can’t be the prettiest in the grade, we should go for the most eye-catching cross-dressing king, like a muscle Barbie.”

Logan Wright felt a chill down his spine.

Then countless pairs of eyes stared at him.

Ethan Young still didn’t know about this cross-dressing king joke. He had gone out to take a call, and when he came back, Logan Wright was already sitting in the classroom, crying his eyes out: “I don’t want to, I refuse—why are you doing this to me?”

“Your muscles are very sexy,” Wanda comforted him. “You have to believe in yourself.”

Henry Howard kept laughing, laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten up. He waved at Ethan Young, then leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Our PE rep, cross-dressing, are you scared?”

“Shooting a horror film?”

Henry Howard said, “Yeah.”

As soon as he finished, Henry Howard asked, “Have you ever worn a skirt?”

Something snapped in Ethan Young’s mind.

His features were more open now, but when he was a kid, even with a short haircut, people thought he was a girl. Ray Jones was one of those idiots. Because of one “little sister,” it took them years longer to become friends, finally going from fighting every time they met to being able to eat skewers together by the roadside.

Ray Jones was also frustrated—he had admitted his mistake, but couldn’t win a fight.

Ms. Miller had also done some mischievous things when she was young. Her son was soft, cute, and good-looking, so for fun, she coaxed him into wearing little dresses. To this day, there are still a few blackmail photos at home that just won’t go away.

Wanda was still comforting the traumatized PE rep when he heard a crash at the back of the classroom. He looked up to see Henry Howard and Ethan Young tangled up for some reason, with a chair knocked over.

Luke Carter watched in awe. “Fighting again? If they don’t fight at least once a day, it feels like something’s missing from Class 2, Grade 11.”

“Bro, I was wrong, I was wrong, okay?” Henry Howard apologized while coaxing, but at the same time added fuel to the fire. “But your reaction is weird, Old Young. Did you really wear one?”

Ethan Young answered entirely with his fists. Henry Howard couldn’t fend him off, but didn’t dare hit back, so he leaned back, clutching his stomach and shouted, “Ah, it hurts.”

Given his long history, Ethan Young’s first reaction was that he was acting again, and acting pretty over the top.

But Ethan Young didn’t know why he still took two steps forward. “Where does it hurt?”

Henry Howard didn’t know what to say for a moment. In one second, he changed his answer three times, finally stopping his hand over his chest. “Here, maybe internal bleeding.”

Internal bleeding, just like that. Impressive.

Ethan Young reached out and touched him through his shirt. “Here?”

Henry Howard looked down at Ethan Young’s hand pressed to his chest, suddenly a bit dazed. “Ah, yes.”

That strange, ambiguous feeling didn’t last long, until he saw Ethan Young flexing his wrist. “Damn, you really want me to have internal bleeding.”

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38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

The cross-dressing king joke was probably here to stay. Luke Carter and the others secretly searched for skirts on the public computer during break when Old Tang wasn’t looking. “How about this one? Lace strap princess style, a touch of romance and nobility.”

Wanda: “Let’s go with this maid outfit. This one’s good, this one’s good, looks super tempting.”

Logan Wright was dead inside: “”

“The one above, scroll up,” after messing around with Ethan Young, Henry Howard bent down, picked up the chair with one hand, and joined in. “Not this one, keep going up.”

“Which one?” Luke Carter scrolled up for a long time but didn’t see anything he liked, getting more and more confused. “Bro Henry, did you see it wrong?”

Next, Henry Howard unreservedly showed off his cross-dressing fashion sense to the whole class. “Count from the top, the third one, this one’s good.”

On the screen was a red and green, garish, peony-patterned, slim-fit long dress.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” Henry Howard sat at his desk, looked at the projector, then at his deskmate. “What do you think? Isn’t this one good?”

Luke Carter and the others were completely stunned by the tacky dress and Henry Howard’s textbook-level taste, left speechless.

Ethan Young said, “Do you have any self-awareness?”

Henry Howard: “I think it’s fine. If this was in a game, it’d definitely get a high score.”

“Pay-to-win players don’t get a say.”

“Trust me.”

“Shut up.”

“Look at these colors, so bright.”

“Bright?” Ethan Young shot back sharply, “Even the square-dancing aunties have better taste than you by a mile.”

As soon as Ethan Young finished, Wanda clapped. “Well said, spot on.”

Luke Carter: “Thumbs up for Ethan Bro.”

Henry Howard: “”

After all this, Logan Wright’s mood was all over the place. With the comparison, he suddenly felt that the earlier romantic princess dresses and maid uniforms weren’t so hard to accept.

So Logan Wright buried his face in his hands and said through gritted teeth, “Let’s just go with that one.”

“Bro Henry, nice!”

Wanda was clearly overthinking it. He realized Henry Howard had deliberately picked the ugliest one to mess with the PE rep, gave Henry Howard a thumbs up, and said admiringly, “You really are the master of schemes.”

“Thanks for letting me win,” Henry Howard was totally confused, but played along smoothly. After that, he leaned over to Ethan Young and whispered, “Why is he complimenting me?”

Ethan Young pushed his head away, not wanting to talk.

For the last class, everyone packed up early to go home. The students on duty wiped the blackboard ahead of time.

The boarders cared more about what was for dinner. Henry Howard had been fiddling with his phone since the last class started, and even snuck out to make a call when Old Wu wasn’t looking.

Jinbang Restaurant had just started a meal delivery service to the school and sent out a mass text to all their customers.

After placing his order, Henry Howard asked, “Where should they deliver? Which gate?”

Sean Parker came out of the bathroom, reeking of smoke and coughing, spraying himself with air freshener to cover the smell. He turned and saw his Bro Henry with one hand in his pocket, standing at the stairwell, leaning against the wall.

“Bro Henry, what are you up to?” Sean Parker asked as he sprayed and walked over.

Henry Howard glanced at him but didn’t answer. After thinking for a moment, he said into the phone, “Add a fish dish,” then moved the phone away and finally looked at Sean Parker. “What was the name of the fish you ordered at Jinbang last time?”

Sean Parker: “Huh? What fish, the one that fell on the floor? Steamed bass. Why?”

“Nothing,” Henry Howard reported the dish, then said, “The kid likes it.”

Sean Parker’s hand shook. “Damn.”

The dismissal bell rang, and the delivery guy called at the same time.

Henry Howard went downstairs to get the food. The classroom was almost empty, with only the students on duty left cleaning up.

It was much quieter in the classroom.

Ethan Young sat there bored, not knowing what Henry Howard was up to. Before class ended, he’d told him, “Stay here, don’t move,” but before he finished, Ethan Young had kicked him.

In the last math class, Old Wu mentioned a new question type from the key school’s monthly exam, but didn’t go into detail.

With nothing better to do, Ethan Young started writing out the solution steps in his phone’s memo, and casually pulled out a sheet of paper to draft it.