108. Chapter One Hundred and Eight

Henry Howard was chased by them with no way out, so he stopped and took a few hits.

A group of people crowded at the stairway entrance, Logan Wright's slipper fell off, and he hopped down on one leg to pick it up.

Henry Howard leaned against the handrail, and while they weren't paying attention, mouthed two words to his boyfriend: 'save me'.

"Are you done messing around?"

Ethan Young glanced at the time with a smile, then said, "Are we going back to class or not?"

Old Thompson told them to tidy up a bit, and that they'd have a meeting in the classroom in the afternoon. It was probably either to hand out new books or talk about the final exams.

Hearing this, Luke Carter let go, glanced down at his watch, and said, "Damn, it's already this late."

Henry Howard quickly walked down the stairs, hooked his arm around Ethan Young's neck, and leaned in to whisper, "Do you have a conscience? I was chased by them for half the day and you just stood there watching the show."

Ethan Young looked at him and, without any hesitation, leaned in close to his ear as well: "Be content, honestly, I wanted to hit you too."

""

The group walked out of the dorm building. The road was surrounded by greenery, but it didn't really provide any shade.

The hot, dry wind hit them in the face.

Only the senior year had extra classes during the break; the other teaching buildings were empty, so quiet it felt a bit strange.

They hadn't even reached the classroom door when Old Thompson already started his speech, his voice drifting out the window: "We're not rearranging your seats, just sit as before. It's really hot, so hang in there. Let's try to finish the first round of review early so you can have a few more days off."

About half the students were in the Class 3 classroom, all cleaning up.

Ethan Young walked to the door, glanced inside twice, and saw the sign:

Senior Year (3) Class.

The cleaning duties were almost all assigned. By the time Ethan Young went in, there wasn't much left to do, so in the end, he and Henry Howard each took half of the blackboard: "This half is mine, you go over there."

Even with clear division of labor, when Ethan Young came back after washing the rag, he found his half of the territory had already been taken over by Henry Howard.

"Stealing my turf?"

Henry Howard: "This is the law of the jungle."

Ethan Young's hand was still wet, and he almost wanted to throw the rag at his head.

The boys were all tall, and they jostled in front of the blackboard for a while. Ethan Young reached for the rag in Henry Howard's hand, but Henry Howard turned sideways and looked down at him: "Alright, I'll stop messing with you."

Old Thompson had pretty much finished saying what he needed to, stood to the side drinking water, watching the two of them with amusement, then shook his head and looked out the window.

Quinn Shaw was wiping the window, but was clearly absent-minded.

She kept wiping the same spot over and over, only snapping out of it after a while.

"I know you're all interested in your final exam results. The rankings are all sorted out, and our class did pretty well this time, better than expected. You should have confidence in yourselves."

Old Thompson brought the grade sheets from the office, ready to analyze the test papers for them. Before starting, he couldn't help but mention something else.

The whole class heard Old Thompson slowly say, "This time, our school took two spots in the top five citywide."

""

The room fell silent.

Even though the two big shots in the class had made a splash in the four-school joint exam, that was just four schools—there was still a big gap compared to the key schools.

Now, with the news of making the citywide top five, everyone was stunned, unable to speak for a long time.

It wasn't just the students in Class 3 who couldn't process it.

The day Old Thompson recorded the grades, the office phone rang nonstop all afternoon. Not only did the school leaders come to ask, but other key schools were also shocked, wondering what kind of wild card these two were.

Luke Carter was the first to recover, rummaged in his pocket for a while, finally pulled out a five-yuan bill, and slapped it on the desk: "I'm betting the top spot is Brother Yu."

Wanda: "Me too, I'm betting on Brother Yu. Bro Henry is too wild, not a man I can hold onto."

Logan Wright: "I'm betting my dignity today, I'm picking Boss Xie too!"

Ethan Young didn't really care about the ranking, casually flipped through a few pages of the new textbook, and found that these guys had already started betting, and it was completely one-sided. He found it a bit funny: "What's there to bet on?"

Maybe they just wanted a sense of ceremony.

Henry Howard waited for a long time, but no one bet on him, so he couldn't sit still: "Are you guys even human? Even if it's just for show, you should at least pretend to care about brotherhood. You really don't get it."

Luke Carter: "Sorry, we don't want to pretend."

""

Henry Howard got up and walked to the front row, planning to bet on himself, but after searching for a while, he couldn't find any change. He leaned over and knocked on Wanda's desk: "Hey, can I borrow some change?"

Before Wanda could say no, Henry Howard added, "This is your chance to get rich, think it over, you only get one shot. Lend me ten yuan today, and in the future I—"

Wanda: "No! I refuse!"

Ethan Young leaned back with a smile.

But to everyone's surprise, the "low-quality stock" that no one wanted to bet on, the one who always lost a couple points for showy moves, actually made a comeback this time.

Old Thompson looked down at the grade sheet and said, "This time, Henry Howard ranked second in the city with a total score of 743, just two points behind first place."

The stack of money in Wanda's hand almost slipped, and he thought to himself that he really missed his chance to get rich this time.

They'd seen the top students from the key schools before, and their strength was terrifying. Just looking at their scores was enough to make your heart race.

Even among the top five, the difference between each person was only a few points.

Plus, there was still a year until the college entrance exam. Next time, who knows who will be ahead.

Ethan Young's essay score in Chinese was two points lower than expected this time, so he ranked behind Henry Howard, in third place. But with essays, the grading teacher's personal bias always played a role, so a one or two point difference was normal.

Ethan Young felt a bit of a headache after hearing the results. He could already imagine the school history giving him another page, writing something like "Dominating the city, creating a glorious legend".

He didn't even dare to recall the last time he was in the principal's office.

Henry Howard ruffled his hair: "What are you thinking about, kid?"

Ethan Young expressionless: "Thinking about what kind of dumb pose I'll be in for the school history this time."

Old Thompson kept nagging, and after a while, Henry Howard reached for his phone.

His phone had been vibrating in his pocket for a while, but he hadn't checked it.

Ethan Young: "Who is it?"

"Sean Parker," Henry Howard said, "asking if you have time later to help him draw two cards."

Ethan Young didn't even think: "No time."

Henry Howard put his phone under the desk, the screen kept dimming and lighting up. He sneaked a glance and said, "Can't I draw? I'm lucky too, you know."

From dress-up games to wild men, Ethan Young really hadn't seen any of his so-called good luck.

Clearly, as a good bro, Sean Parker had never experienced it either.

[Sean Parker]: Chao bro, know yourself.

[Henry Howard]: I think I know myself very well.

Sean Parker was honestly getting a headache.

[Sean Parker]: Stop it! How can you compare to your Old Young? He's the real luck god. Did you forget? Want me to help you remember?

He'd known Henry Howard for years, and this guy never played by the rules. Even if he had good luck, he could waste it all with his antics.

After saying that, Sean Parker really planned to serve up a string of black history, but before he could organize his words, he saw a reply:

[Henry Howard]: But Old Young is mine.

Sean Parker: ""

After Henry Howard sent that, Sean Parker's avatar instantly went gray, like a magic trick.

Not even a goodbye, just disappeared.

So rude.

After sharing the two exciting pieces of news, Old Thompson started reporting the rest of the class's grades according to the rankings.

He said the class did well this time, and it wasn't just to comfort them. Even though the scores were lower, the test was harder, so overall, there was improvement.

After reporting Xavier Stone, next was their Qing-ge, but unexpectedly, Quinn Shaw's ranking dropped several places this time.

"What happened," Henry Howard said quietly, "Qing-ge didn't do well?"

"No idea."

Ethan Young looked over, but could only see Quinn Shaw's straight back and ponytail.