Ethan Young didn’t know whether the heartbeat in his ears was his own or Henry Howard’s—especially in that moment when Henry Howard pressed down, and for those few seconds, the two of them were briefly pressed together.

Ethan Young stared at the beams above, vaguely sensing that something was off, or rather, that this feeling had been there for a long time, but today it was especially strong.

It was like there was a wild beast living inside his heart, usually dozing quietly, but today it suddenly roared with a heat and near-savagery, making him uneasy, but also inexplicably a little excited.

The PE teacher, aside from calling out the count at the start, used his whistle for the rest, making everyone suspect he was quietly adding extra reps for them. Just as they finished grumbling to themselves, the PE teacher blew the whistle again and called out a round number: “Twenty! Good, keep it up!”

A student questioned, “Teacher, how is it only twenty? I feel like I did thirty.”

The PE teacher replied without missing a beat, “That’s just your imagination.”

Whether it was twenty or thirty, there were two groups of boys who were completely spent.

Even though there was still a boy lying underneath them, and letting go of their wrists and falling could end in disaster, it was still better than continuing to suffer through push-ups. One of them lowered his head and said, “万能通, I can’t do it anymore.”

Wanda: “How can you not? How could your life be defeated by a mere fifty push-ups?”

“I really can’t go on.”

The crowd of onlookers grew, not just those who had been playing badminton in the gym earlier, but a whole bunch of others, from all grades. Luke Carter squeezed in as well: “Wow, you guys are intense.”

Ethan Young raised his hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

“Can you guys stop standing around watching?” Henry Howard turned his head and said, “Especially you, Luke Carter, as class monitor, can’t you defend the dignity of Class 3?”

As for the dignity of Class 3, there was none left.

Even though their dignity was gone, there was still a chance to redeem their push-up prowess—especially since there were several underclassman girls in the crowd. It was just like playing basketball and spotting girls in the audience: even if you’re gasping for breath, you have to show off your strength.

Wanda watched in disbelief as the guy on top of him, who had just said “I can’t do it anymore,” suddenly let go with one hand, made a fist with his left, and started doing one-handed push-ups: “”

Henry Howard was amazed: “Nice, impressive. Can you bring home first place for our class next week?”

Luke Carter led the applause, “Go Frank Miller! Do fifty more!”

Frank Miller tensed his whole body, gritted his teeth, and kept going.

Ethan Young turned his head to look, watched for a while, then suddenly asked, “Frank Miller? Is there someone by that name in Class 3?”

Henry Howard was three away from fifty, and as he went down, he leaned in close to Ethan Young’s ear and said, “He’s in the group next to us, second to last row. At the start of the semester, he got called in by Old Tang for an online dating issue.”

Ethan Young searched his mind but came up empty, his face reading: No impression.

“I knew you wouldn’t remember,” Henry Howard pushed himself up, caught his breath, and said, “You’ve been in our class for over a month now—what do you even remember?”

From Ethan Young’s angle, he could see the boy’s prominent Adam’s apple, and following his neck down, the slightly messy collar of his school uniform.

There’s no way you could do fifty push-ups and feel nothing, especially with nerves on edge. After the last one, Henry Howard felt completely exhausted. He twisted his wrist, collapsed to the side, landing next to Ethan Young, and said lazily, “Fifty. Am I strong or what?”

Ethan Young scooted away and said, “Get lost. I’m an only child.”

Frank Miller was the star of the show, managing over twenty one-armed push-ups, then stopped and quietly asked Wanda, “Were any girls watching me?”

Wanda didn’t have the heart to tell him the harsh truth: all the onlookers, male or female, were watching the two famously handsome guys in their class.

“If you think there were, then there were.” Wanda patted Frank Miller on the shoulder. “Time to get up.”

They were supposed to switch places, with the odd-numbered students on top for another set of fifty, but the PE teacher clearly lost track of time, and just as they were about to switch, the bell rang.

The PE teacher checked his stopwatch, a little regretful: “Class is over, huh? Alright, that’s it then.”

“”

The even-numbered students started wailing about their bad luck, while the odd-numbered ones weren’t sure whether to be happy—they’d just been lying there for nothing, but the thought of doing push-ups on top of someone else wasn’t exactly appealing either.

Back in the classroom, Henry Howard and Ethan Young barely spoke for the entire period.

The atmosphere wasn’t exactly awkward. In the past, it was always Henry Howard chattering away endlessly, but now he was suddenly quiet. Occasionally, he’d try to say something to Ethan Young, but as soon as he saw him, it was like his brain short-circuited and he had nothing to say.

“What exactly do you want to say?”

Ethan Young was interrupted several times, each time just calling his name—Ethan Young, c Old Young, c desk mate—taking turns, but after calling, he’d say nothing, which was getting on his nerves.

Henry Howard opened his English book, pointed at it, and tried to find a question to ask: “Which page are we on?”

Ethan Young said, “Unit three.”

Henry Howard just went “oh” and fell silent again.

The two students sitting in front of them were at a loss, passing notes: Are they fighting? Did they have a quarrel?

The note made its way to the class monitor, Luke Carter, who remembered how affectionate the two school bullies had been during PE. While the English teacher was writing examples on the blackboard, he wrote back: No, they were inseparable last period.

Henry Howard stared at his English book like a lunatic for a long time before remembering he wasn’t supposed to be paying attention—he should be playing on his phone.

So, Ethan Young, who never forgot his mission to play on his phone every class, was chatting with Ray Jones, then went back to his friends list and saw that Henry Howard had updated his status: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Ethan Young: “” Is this guy crazy?

Before the sports meet, the class’s ordered uniforms arrived. Old Tang specifically had them try them on to see how they looked, then came over from the office with an old-fashioned camera.

The class uniform was a custom hoodie, just slip it on. To decide what words to print on the hoodie, the class held a vote. Suggestions included all sorts of things, like “Time never grows old, we never part” c “Youth never ends”.

In the end, the vote turned into a battle between artsy and cocky slogans.

“I’m the coolest!”

“Youth never ends!”

“I’m the coolest!”

“”

The argument got so heated that Old Tang had to step in. This Chinese teacher, who had just entered middle age, bestowed four characters on them: “Love and Peace.”

Henry Howard took out his hoodie, shook it out, and the plain design was unremarkable, but the four characters “Love and Peace” on the back stood out.

Ethan Young hesitated for a long time, not really wanting to wear it.

But the most troubled was Logan Wright, who couldn’t go to the boys’ bathroom to change into a skirt. Henry Howard put on his hoodie and pulled Luke Carter and the others into a human wall: “Don’t worry, bro, just change.”

When Ethan Young came back from the bathroom, Wanda called out to him: “Yu-ge, come here, we’ve got a gap, help us block it.”

“No.”

“Bro Henry, your little buddy—” Once the cold, aloof boss of the west building had walked past, Wanda whispered to Henry Howard, “Can’t you do something?”

Henry Howard had his hands in his pockets, rubbing the wrapper of a lollipop with his thumb, then suddenly laughed and said, “I really can’t control him—if anything, he controls me.”

For some reason, the phrase “henpecked husband” popped into Wanda’s mind, startling him. Luckily, Logan Wright had finished changing and continued to shrink in the corner, miserable, drawing everyone’s attention: “You’re done changing, so come out! Hurry up, are you a man or not, stop dawdling.”

Henry Howard took two steps back and stood by his seat. As he retreated, the large figure curled up in the corner was completely exposed to everyone.

Logan Wright scratched at the wall: “I don’t want to live anymore. You’ve cruelly deprived a pure-hearted high school boy of his chance at young love. I’ll never find a girlfriend in these three years.”

Henry Howard sat on the desk, laughing.

Ethan Young also found it funny, but felt more sympathy than amusement, and decided to give the PE committee member a final bit of respect.

Henry Howard noticed, reached out and patted his head: “Little buddy, feeling down?”

“Screw you and your little buddy.”

Ethan Young couldn’t hold back after saying that, almost laughing out loud, and added, “I don’t want to be too cruel.”