There were only about a dozen boarders to begin with, so Old Tang told them to all sit as close to the front as possible. As a result, Ethan Young and Henry Howard ended up sitting together in the first row by the window, squeezed inside listening to everyone chat about the autumn outing.

"All you do every day is play, but when it comes to studying, I never see you this enthusiastic," Old Tang complained, but after his long speech, he still went along with everyone’s wishes and revealed, "The autumn outing will probably be this week, tentatively set for Friday, but the exact time isn’t decided yet... Don’t go spreading this to other classes, Manager Jensen didn’t even want me to tell you in advance, just in case you guys..."

The homeroom teacher hadn’t even finished speaking before the class went wild: "Autumn outing! Friday! Autumn outing!"

Old Tang: "..."

Henry Howard perked up at the topic too, quit his game and asked, "Are you going to the autumn outing?"

In the past, Ethan Young always called in sick for autumn outings, reporting to the teacher with a straight face, not even faking a cough, just saying he had a fever. The teachers didn’t dare say anything—having a troublemaker like him skip was actually easier for everyone.

Thinking about it, he realized he hadn’t participated in any spring or autumn outings since starting high school: "...Where do you usually go?"

Henry Howard: "It’s pretty boring, the timeless classics—parks, amusement parks, exhibition halls. Other than those three, there’s nowhere else. If the school has a bigger budget, maybe we’ll get to climb a mountain."

Last year, who knows what the school was thinking, taking them to a park in autumn. All the flowers were gone, just bare tree branches everywhere. After a whole day walking around, they saw nothing, just felt the cold wind and a sense of bleakness and despair.

Ethan Young felt he was wise to have skipped: "If it’s boring, why do you still go?"

"It’s not boring if you’re there," Henry Howard lay on the desk looking at him, and asked again, "Are you going?"

Quinn Shaw and the others had already started discussing what to bring: "After school tomorrow I’ll sneak out to buy some snacks, and some cards. Hey, does anyone want to play truth or dare or something?"

Wanda raised both hands: "Yes, yes! I’m representing Haozi, the two of us are in."

With the way they were acting, anyone who didn’t know better would think midterms had been over for a month. After a while, Ethan Young said, "I’ll think about it."

For a stubborn kid, "I’ll think about it" basically meant yes.

The news about the autumn outing spread through the class early the next morning. Luke Carter had just gotten a scolding at home, but hearing this cheered him up: "This Friday?!"

Wanda high-fived him: "Surprised? Happy?"

Just yesterday, Luke Carter had been crying in Wanda’s arms, even saying he was too sad to eat lunch because he did so badly on the test. But when he was dragged to the cafeteria, he kept saying he couldn’t eat, yet ended up wolfing down two whole bowls of rice.

Seventeen—a very innocent age.

Ethan Young had planned to catch up on sleep, but was kept awake by their noise, though he didn’t feel annoyed.

He just listened quietly for a while, then Ethan Young opened his eyes and saw Henry Howard with his legs crossed, right leg over left knee, sitting with a cocky posture, imitating Luke Carter’s dramatic tone from yesterday: "What am I going to do, I feel like I won’t survive today... No, I really can’t eat."

Luke Carter pointed at Henry Howard and said, "Bro Henry, even though I can’t beat you, it’s still wrong to make fun of your classmates like that."

The class got rowdy again.

Quinn Shaw and the others had already made plans, so as soon as the bell rang after school, four or five of them stood at the door calling out, "Bro Henry, want to come with us? We’re taking the bus to the nearby mall to buy some snacks."

There was only a small convenience store near the school, and no matter how unpicky you were, you couldn’t just buy a few packs of spicy sticks and instant noodles from there for the autumn outing.

The nearest mall was just two bus stops away, and if they were quick, they could make it back before evening self-study.

After getting off the bus, everyone split up to buy their own things.

Ethan Young leaned against a shopping cart, watching Henry Howard carefully check the production dates on the snacks in front of the shelves. For the first time, he realized this guy was actually pretty domestic.

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62. Chapter Sixty-Two

, fastest update of the latest chapters of "Disguised School Scum"!

The feeling of two people, one with the cart and the other tossing things in, was very strange. Every so often, they’d ask each other if they wanted this or that. For no reason, Ethan Young suddenly thought of the phrase "living together".

Even though they were still wearing No. 2 High’s uniforms, even holding hands had to be done sneakily, only daring to do it for a bit when no one was around.

"Do you want this?" Henry Howard leaned in close. From a distance, it just looked like two boys talking together. "It’s a new flavor, want to try it?"

Ethan Young glanced at it. The package said green pepper flavor: "If you want to die, I won’t stop you."

"It should be fine," Henry Howard liked to buy things he’d never tried before, especially the kind that looked interesting but no one else would touch. "Last time I bought a wasabi one, I thought it was okay, but Sean Parker snatched it and almost threw up after eating it."

After all, snacks couldn’t be a main meal. They picked a few and stopped. The sounds of people coming and going around them grew louder. Ethan Young wanted to let go, tried to pull his hand away, but Henry Howard didn’t let go.

"There are people."

"No there aren’t, no one’s here."

Henry Howard was adamant, but as soon as he finished speaking, someone tugged at his pant leg. Looking down, he saw a little girl who’d appeared out of nowhere, with two pigtails, about four or five years old, very small, and she called out to him in a soft, sweet voice: "Gege."

Henry Howard: "..."

Where did she come from? How did she sneak up so quietly?

"Gege, I want that one."

The little girl’s chubby finger pointed at the shelf, her words still a bit unclear: "Strawberry flavor."

Ethan Young looked over—it was a bag of jelly, with a cartoon face on the package, but it was placed a bit high, definitely out of reach for someone her size.

"Get it for her, gege," Ethan Young took two steps to the side and said, "Strawberry flavor."

The strawberry ones were at the very back. Henry Howard moved a few bags out of the way, holding them with one hand so they wouldn’t fall. That "gege" from Ethan Young almost made him drop everything.

Ethan Young’s voice was always cool, and most of the time his words weren’t very nice, but when he softened up, it was especially captivating.

The little girl was still staring longingly at the jelly, her eyes full of desire. Henry Howard pulled out the bag from the back, put the others back, and then said to Ethan Young, word by word, "Just you wait."

The bag of jelly wasn’t big, but the little girl still needed both hands to hold it steady, and she said crisply, "Thank you, gege."

After handing her the jelly, Henry Howard squatted down to chat with her: "Why are you alone? Little kids shouldn’t run off by themselves."

"My mom’s over there," the little girl pointed to a woman across the way weighing bulk candy, with long hair and a gentle-looking back. After pointing, she called out "Mom", then waved at them, "…Gege, bye-bye."

Henry Howard patted her head, then fished around in his pocket for a while and finally found a piece of candy to give her, smiling as he said, "Bye-bye."

It was an ordinary scene, but Ethan Young felt that this usually cocky, wild boy, when he put away all his sharp edges and became gentle, was just incredibly warm.

After the little girl walked away, they were almost done shopping too. They just needed to swing by the drinks section to grab two bottles of water.

It was a small mall, only two floors, not many people, and a few steps could take you halfway around.

"What did you just call me?" Henry Howard leaned in and asked by his ear.

Ethan Young pushed the cart, tilting to the side: "Are you keeping score now?"

Before Henry Howard could reply, Quinn Shaw and the others came over from the other side, their carts bumping together: "Are you guys done shopping?"

Wanda’s cart was full of snacks, just chips alone there were three or four bags. Quinn Shaw’s was better, mostly sweets, with several kinds of desserts.

Ethan Young said, "Not yet."

Henry Howard added, "Still need two bottles of water."

Wanda looked down at his own cart, then said, "I need water too, let’s go together."

There were two aisles in the drinks section, shelves packed with options. Wanda wandered around with his cart, finally torn between Coke and Sprite.

Henry Howard put a bottle of juice back, still unwilling to let the earlier topic drop: "Just now, you…"

Wanda finished deciding, grabbed a Coke, and hummed a tune as he walked over to their aisle.

Ethan Young didn’t give Henry Howard a chance to finish, wanting to tease him, pointed at the bottle of water to Henry Howard’s right, and whispered in his ear, "Gege, I want that one."

"..."

Henry Howard was completely disarmed by him, and could only shout in his heart: This is killing me.