“”

Although they knew nothing could be seen from the audience, both of their hearts still skipped a beat in spite of themselves.

What followed was a deeply hidden sense of pride welling up from the bottom of their hearts.

They wanted to tell everyone: this person is mine.

“Thank you to the students of Class 3, Grade 11, for their dance performance. The whole dance was very cool, and everyone’s reaction was very enthusiastic,” the auditorium lights came on, and the host had already walked out from backstage, standing at the center of the stage. “Next, let’s calm down a bit and enjoy the skit brought to us by the students of Class 8, Grade 11—‘Super Student’.”

“Sean Parker’s class,” Henry Howard had just jumped straight down from the stage and ran to the seating area, and the lights happened to come on at that moment, with no more than two seconds in between. Now sitting in his seat, he was still a bit shaken, and only after a moment did he say, “I watched a bit during rehearsal, it was really funny, they adapted a talent show.”

Ethan Young opened his mouth: “How come I didn’t see them rehearse?”

“What could you see,” Henry Howard said, “You’re either sleeping or playing games, and as soon as you sit to the side, even the student council doesn’t dare talk to you.”

Ethan Young let out a soft “ah,” then said, “So you had a good chat with them.”

“”

Henry Howard hadn’t expected that a casual remark would dig a hole for himself.

During the noon rehearsal, those senior girls kept circling around Henry Howard, listing a bunch of things to pay attention to, from stage positions to how to exit. Emily Shaw, the lead dancer, and Luke Carter, the class monitor, just stood off to the side.

On stage, Sean Parker and his class were quickly moving stools and setting up the scene. Except for the three students playing “judge mentors” who wore suit jackets, everyone else was still in school uniform.

Henry Howard was at a loss for how to explain, when he heard Ethan Young say, “I can see you.”

Henry Howard was stunned for a moment.

Ethan Young repeated, “I can see you, so behave yourself.”

Sean Parker’s class’s skit was indeed quite funny. Right at the start, the three judges had their backs to the contestant. The contestant came on and began introducing himself: “Hello, judges, I’m Xiao Cai from Class 8, Grade 11. I’m participating in Super Student this time, and my dream is to let everyone feel the charm of learning. The act I’m bringing—memorizing thirty English words in one minute.”

“That’s great,” the judge was eager to turn around, “I think this is really good!”

“”

After Ethan Young finished speaking, Henry Howard laughed for a long time at the side, hand pressed to the corner of his mouth, unable to stop.

No one knew whether he was laughing at the skit on stage, or at what Ethan Young had just said.

After a while, when Sean Parker came on stage swaying with a stack of test papers, Henry Howard finally said in a low voice, “Got it, I’ll behave.”

After jumping down, only when the heat faded did he realize he was only wearing a shirt and felt a bit cold.

When Old Tang came, he brought all their school uniform jackets from the classroom, carefully labeling each one with a small tag and their names, and had someone bring the clothes to them from behind.

That boy bent over, carrying a pile of clothes, squatted at the side and said, “Hey, pass these along, everyone claim yours, check the tags, the names are written.”

“Pass it along,” Emily Shaw said as she passed and flipped through the tags, turning her head, “This one’s for Bro Henry.”

Luke Carter took it and handed it to Logan Wright.

Logan Wright patted Ethan Young on the shoulder. Before Ethan Young could say “thank you,” Henry Howard said, “I’m not cold, you wear it first.”

Henry Howard really wasn’t afraid of the cold, but Ethan Young, when he accidentally touched him just now, found his hands were cold.

After Henry Howard spoke, Ethan Young saw a strange look on Logan Wright’s face.

“” Ethan Young put on Henry Howard’s school jacket. The jacket was a size bigger, loose and baggy, the cuffs just reaching the backs of his hands. Logan Wright’s expression was just too odd, so he turned his head and asked, “What’s up?”

Logan Wright waved his hands repeatedly: “No, no, nothing.”

“Class rep, your jacket,” Quinn Shaw found hers and tossed Logan Wright’s over, “Catch.”

Luke Carter shifted to the side, almost getting hit by Quinn Shaw’s throw: “Qing-ge, can’t you learn from Jingjing, she’s so gentle, but you—who are you trying to hit?”

Quinn Shaw threw another one over.

When the last performance ended, the host gave a long closing speech on stage, and the school leaders came up one by one: “Today is a special day for Liyang No. 2 High School, and also a special day for all the students present.”

Ethan Young looked down at the time. At this hour, they probably wouldn’t be able to attend evening self-study after going back.

Henry Howard’s school jacket, besides the smell of laundry detergent, also had an indescribable something—but every time this person got close, it lingered around. Without turning around, he knew it was him.

“Mouse, we’re heading out first,” the school leaders’ speeches were fairly brief, so they didn’t have to wait long. They started leaving from the back, and soon half the people were gone. Henry Howard picked up his jacket and, while getting up, pulled up the half-asleep kid who was about to doze off, “Qing-ge, how are you getting home? Otherwise, Old Young and I can walk you to the station?”

Quinn Shaw said, “It’s fine, my dad’s picking me up. Are you two going straight back to the dorm? Remember to finish your English homework properly. Yesterday the teacher called me over and lectured me for ages about the test paper you guys did—was that even written by humans?”

Henry Howard just smiled and skipped the topic, then patted Logan Wright on the shoulder: “Let’s go, why are you so absent-minded?”

Logan Wright had been absent-minded for a while.

From the moment he got off stage after the performance until now, he hadn’t recovered.

He’d been in a hurry getting off stage, subconsciously wanting to pull the two behind him, but when he turned his head, he vaguely saw something that didn’t seem right.

Or maybe, he was seeing things.

This uncertainty kept fermenting in his mind.

Logan Wright was straightforward by nature, and holding it in made him especially uncomfortable. He walked with Luke Carter and Wanda to the bottom of the comprehensive building, and finally couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, when you guys got off stage just now, did you see anything dreamy or unreal?”

Wanda was pretty calm: “Actually, when you stopped after a couple of steps, I stopped too.”

Luke Carter: “Dazi stopped, so I stopped too.”

Logan Wright: “”

“I really want to tell them, even though the auditorium was dark, within three steps you could see everything clearly,” the three of them squatted by the roadside near the teaching building, forming a small circle, “Can’t you be a bit more careful?”

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

81. Chapter Eighty-One

Actually, the students at No. 2 High didn’t know much about the legendary school bullies.

Although these two had quite the reputation, there weren’t many chances to actually run into them. Most of the time, people just heard a bunch of gossip, and their impression of them stayed at those blurry candid photos on the school forum.

Less than a week after the school anniversary, the forum was flooded with posts about these two, with threads going on for more than a dozen pages.

At first, the tone was pretty normal, things like “School anniversary video, HD, I’m out of blood,” “These two are way too good-looking,” “Damn, look at Ethan Young’s waist.”

But as the thread grew, the tone unconsciously shifted more and more toward a CP (couple pairing) thread.

During lunch break, the guys from the Universe Invincible Handsome Boy Group gathered together, carefully scrolling through the school forum.

“Mouse, look at this one,” Logan Wright scrolled down on his phone and read in a low voice, “Remember the red string on Henry Howard’s wrist at the start, check 3:15 for a surprise.”

At 3:15, it was when Henry Howard and Ethan Young high-fived, and you could see half of a red string on Ethan Young’s wrist. This detail was zoomed in on, and it looked like they had matching ones.

Luke Carter started recalling all the dumb things he’d said before.

Lucky exam bracelet?

Lucky, my ass.

Luke Carter pressed his brow, took a moment, then said, “Reply, reply! Just say everyone in our class has one of those bracelets, nothing special. Tell them not to overthink it.”

Logan Wright: “That’s a strong excuse.”

Wanda: “”

That evening, the few of them squatted under the comprehensive building and chatted for about an hour. They all felt it was unexpected but made sense. They’d joked before that if those two kept being so close, something was bound to happen sooner or later, but they didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

They were the first official couple in Class 3, Grade 11, and the situation was a bit special.

After discussing, they all agreed that since the two hadn’t said anything, they’d just pretend not to know for now, and help keep it a secret.