He only had that one pen—after the ordeal of the monthly exam, he realized that in the gathering place of underachievers, basically everyone was short on stationery. If it wasn’t missing an eraser, it was missing a 2B pencil; some didn’t even have a pen for answering questions.

A group of people scraped things together, you help me, I help you, and there were quite a few who took their exams using refill cores pinched between their fingers.

Ethan Young's pen probably got dropped a few times by accident, and after a while it stopped writing. He simply tossed it and went to Henry Howard's desk to look for a pen.

To cover up for playing games in class, Henry Howard's desk was pretty messy, with books from all subjects piled together.

Ethan Young rummaged for a while, but didn’t find a pen. Instead, he found a strange piece of paper in the math book, covered in wild scribbles that he couldn’t make out. It looked a bit like problem-solving steps, but before he could take a closer look, Henry Howard came into the classroom carrying a bag: “Clean up, take all the books off the desk, there’s nowhere to put dinner.”

Ethan Young stuffed the paper back in.

Four or five dishes, each in a disposable lunchbox, plus two boxes of rice.

Ethan Young looked at the fish and found it especially familiar: “Jinbang?”

Henry Howard unwrapped the chopsticks and picked the shredded scallions off the perch, then pushed the fish toward his deskmate: “Yeah, got it by climbing the wall. They say it’s food delivery to the school, but even over the wall, it still counts as to the school, damn it.”

Ethan Young knew he was picky about food, so Ms. Gu was always careful when cooking. But this time, none of the dishes Henry Howard ordered hit any of his no-go zones.

He vaguely remembered last time Henry Howard asked if he had any food taboos—could it be this idiot actually remembered all along?

“Eat, what are you spacing out for?” Henry Howard said. “Waiting for me to feed you? I mean, I could, just call me ‘brother’ and I’m easy to talk to.”

Ethan Young was about to unwrap his chopsticks: “You got a death wish?”

Wanda finished eating, holding his milk tea, humming a song as he came in from the hallway. He smelled something at the door, walked in and said, “You two are too much. The cafeteria food today was bland as hell, all leftovers from lunch, and here you are living it up.”

Henry Howard shoveled in the last two bites of rice and said, “Aren’t you living it up too? Where’d you get the milk tea? Is it good?”

“That Fudan milk tea place by the gate,” Wanda said. “It’s alright, but you can never get any pearls in the pearl milk tea.”

Ethan Young asked, “Then why do you still buy it?”

Wanda: “To be honest, Fudan is my dream.”

“”

This week, everyone’s mind was on the sports meet.

Quinn Shaw picked the class uniform, a sweatshirt—pretty practical overall, and you could keep wearing it after. Logan Wright wore that elegant, noble princess dress, holding the sign at the very front of the formation during the parade.

The PE teacher also gave everyone free practice time and even offered guidance.

“Who in our class signed up for push-ups?” After coaching the shot putters, the teacher blew his whistle and walked over. “Who’s doing push-ups? Didn’t eight people sign up? All of you, come out and show us your strength.”

Henry Howard, Ethan Young, and the others stepped forward.

“It’s not about how many you do, it’s about whether your form is correct. Last year at the sports meet—wow, that whole row of contestants, they were going at it, racing to see who was fastest, up and down like crazy. But guess what? The slowest one won.”

The PE teacher had them get into position on the ground, then went down the line from one end to the other. He hadn’t even started counting when some boys couldn’t hold it and collapsed.

The first one went down, then it was like dominoes, three or four more fell.

Henry Howard didn’t feel anything—he could have held the position for a long time. But seeing everyone else sitting on the floor, it seemed silly to keep going, so he sat down with Ethan Young.

The PE teacher stopped and said, “You lot are a bit weak, huh? We’re just getting started and you’re already done? Still want to do well at the sports meet?!”

Ethan Young had planned to skip PE and go back to the dorm to study, but Logan Wright insisted on dragging the whole class to prepare for the sports meet.

The eight push-up contestants sat on the gym floor, with a few pairs of freshmen playing badminton nearby.

The shuttlecock flew all over the gym, rising and falling.

“How many can you do?” Henry Howard asked.

Ethan Young watched the person playing badminton run forward a few steps, then jump to hit the shuttlecock, and replied casually, “Don’t know, never counted.”

“Wanna compete later?”

The PE teacher didn’t give them a chance to compete. He pulled out his secret weapon, saying he could raise their push-up level to unprecedented heights in just one class.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Wanda raised his hand, “Coach, I want to learn.”

The PE teacher smiled meaningfully and said, “Then let’s begin.”

Ethan Young had a bad feeling.

Two minutes later, his feeling came true.

The badminton in the gym stopped flying, and all around there were cries of “Wah”.

The PE teacher squatted at the side and said, “Odd-numbered students, lie down. Even-numbered, get started. I’ll count, do one each time I call out, rest after fifty.”

Ethan Young lay under Henry Howard, and after a long, complicated effort, squeezed out a single word: “Fuck.”

Henry Howard had his hands braced outside Ethan Young’s arms, supporting his upper body with arm strength, keeping a distance between them. He kept adjusting his posture, finding this method a bit weird, and couldn’t help but laugh: “Who came up with this? Genius. No wonder they said ‘unprecedented heights’.”

Wanda was on the verge of tears, telling the guy above him, “Hang in there, if you can’t hold it, we’re in trouble.”

The guy above was panicking too: “I-I-I’ll try my best.”

Once they were all set, the PE teacher blew the first whistle: “One!”

Henry Howard lowered himself, and the closer he got, the less distance there was between him and Ethan Young. Even though he tried to control it, their bodies still brushed together through the thin fabric, and it felt like the warmth from the other person seeped right through. The sound of their heartbeats and the faint heat from their breathing seemed to tangle together.

Henry Howard had been able to laugh at this bizarre push-up move just now, but now he couldn’t laugh at all.

The two of them couldn’t help but look at each other’s faces—up close, every detail was magnified: the other’s eyes, nose bridge, eyelashes, even every tiny expression.

Turns out, Ethan Young had a tiny, tiny mole under the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, Henry Howard couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t know who looked away first, but that finally ended the long stare.

He moved his fingers and realized his palm was a little sweaty.

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

39. Chapter Thirty-Nine

“Hang in there, a real man’s ambition knows no bounds. The darkness before your eyes isn’t real darkness.” The PE teacher got tired of squatting and sat down on the floor, checked the time, then blew the whistle again.

Henry Howard had just pushed himself up, but at those words, he had to go down again. He paused, realizing he couldn’t keep staring at a certain someone—if he did, he might not even manage ten. So he turned his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing involuntarily.

This time, Henry Howard didn’t linger. He finished that push-up almost hurriedly.

Their gazes missed each other. Henry Howard kept staring intently at the gym floor, as if he could see flowers in it, until Ethan Young asked, “How many now?”

“Huh?” Henry Howard’s mind was blank, and he hadn’t been counting at all. “I don’t know, you didn’t count either?”

Ethan Young had his head turned, so he could only look diagonally upward. There were several beams across the gym ceiling, and above that, a grid of glass panels. Ethan Young paused, then said, “Didn’t count.”

“Should be more than ten by now.”

After saying that, Henry Howard found he couldn’t keep staring at the floor. His gaze started to wander, slowly landing on Ethan Young’s neck, noticing how unexpectedly beautiful the lines were. In the end, he didn’t know if he was talking to himself or to Ethan Young: “Just hang in there a bit longer.”

Okay, he could.

He would.

When Ethan Young first lay down, he really wanted to lift his knees and send the guy on top of him flying. He kept a cold face, feeling like an idiot—leaving a perfectly good test unfinished to come to PE class.

After calming down, he started thinking about who he should kill first when he got up.

Logan Wright, who had dragged Ethan Young to PE by threatening to die if he didn’t, was out on the track training. He suddenly felt a chill down his back and rubbed his arms, sighing at how quickly the weather had turned cold.

Henry Howard might usually be handsy, but at times like this he was actually pretty restrained. Ethan Young could feel that Henry Howard seemed to have a kind of urge to escape, like he might jump up and run away at any second.