Grace Bennett leaned back in his chair, enjoying a killing spree in the game, when he suddenly heard a burst of clattering typing sounds from nearby.

Anna Walker had a strange habit—he liked listening to the default typing sounds on his phone, which were annoyingly loud.

Grace Bennett paused the game and turned to ask him, “Are you sending a telegram?”

“I’m just chatting,” Anna Walker replied. “I’m asking someone about Brian Brooks.”

“?”

Grace Bennett was baffled. “Why are you asking about him?”

“What do you think?” Anna Walker said. “He’s the top student in our grade! I have to find out if he’s easy to talk to, see if I can ask him for help with quizzes or homework in the future.”

Grace Bennett was uninterested. “Oh.”

After a moment, Anna Walker put down his phone and sighed.

He’d contacted a friend who used to be in Class One. Without hesitation, the friend tactfully told him: no chance.

Apparently, this academic star was famous in Class One for being cold and quiet, his personality matching his looks. If you brought him a few tough questions, he might spare a moment to help, but that was it—don’t expect more than ten words from him.

“Oh right, my friend also told me that Brian Brooks’s family is apparently really rich,” Anna Walker said. “He said at the last parent-teacher meeting, Brian Brooks’s mom made quite a scene, super impressive… Hey, that cut on the back of your hand is healing pretty fast.”

Grace Bennett turned his wrist slightly.

Small wounds like this healed quickly; it had already started scabbing over by the time he got home last night.

He stared at the wound for a while, and for some reason, suddenly felt an urge to scratch at it.

If he tore the scab open, it would probably start bleeding again, then fester and get infected.

Just as Grace Bennett bent his other hand to touch the scab, his shoulder was suddenly bumped hard a few times by the person next to him.

He snapped back to reality, dazed for a couple of seconds before asking, “Are you looking for trouble?”

“No, damn, look out the window!” Anna Walker whispered, “Seriously, you can’t talk about people behind their backs—Isn’t that Brian Brooks?”

Grace Bennett instinctively looked outside.

He didn’t even need to see the face—just the sight of that freshly washed green-and-white winter school uniform was enough for Grace Bennett to know who it was.

From this angle, they could only see Brian Brooks’s tall, slender profile.

A girl was standing in front of him.

Anna Walker squinted. “Is that Emily Clark next to him?”

The two people who gave Sarah Grant the biggest headaches in Class 7, Grade 11—one was Grace Bennett, the other was Emily Clark.

Contrary to her name, Emily Clark had permed and dyed her hair in her first year, smoked, skipped class, and had made countless boys cry. She was pretty, and back in her first year, she had a bunch of admirers, but after her reputation spread, most boys started avoiding her.

“What are they doing…” Anna Walker muttered.

As soon as he finished speaking, they saw Emily Clark take a step toward Brian Brooks, her beautiful curls swaying in the wind with the movement.

“Hey, you’re Brian Brooks, right?” she said with a bright smile, her lipstick-painted lips curving upward. “I like you. Will you be my boyfriend?”

Grace Bennett’s eyelid twitched, and he got up to leave.

Anna Walker quickly grabbed him. “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to watch the rest?”

“Not interested.”

“Come on, just watch a bit more,” Anna Walker said. “Do you think Emily Clark is crazy? Someone like Brian Brooks, a model student, would never get into an early relationship!”

Grace Bennett thought of that pink love letter and scoffed inwardly.

Chapter 5

“No.” The flat reply drifted in from outside the window.

“See, I told you!” Anna Walker said smugly.

Grace Bennett ignored him, pulled his chair back over, and sat down with his arms crossed.

Emily Clark pouted in disappointment. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Then why not? You don’t want to date? Or do you like someone else?” Emily Clark glanced at his school uniform, guessing, “Or maybe you don’t like girls with bad grades?”

“No,” Brian Brooks said, “I just don’t like you.”

Emily Clark: “……”

Anna Walker: “……”

Looking at the top student’s cold profile, Anna Walker’s hope of getting help cheating was completely crushed. “Damn, this academic star is brutally blunt, huh?”

Grace Bennett fiddled with his lighter, not surprised at all.

A punchable face saying punchable things—seems about right.

Emily Clark’s disappointment lasted only two seconds. “I get it, it’s fine, you just don’t like me for now. We’ll be in the same class for over a year, so there’s plenty of time. I’m very patient. Actually, I started noticing you back in first year. I even watched your events at the sports meet. I didn’t expect you’d transfer to my class this semester…”

Brian Brooks’s expression finally changed a little. He raised his eyebrows slightly and stared at her for two seconds, as if thinking about something.

After a while, he asked, “We’re in the same class?”

Emily Clark: “……”

Emily Clark’s smile froze as she stated, “I’ve been sitting in front of you for a whole day.”

Brian Brooks thought for a moment. “Sorry, I don’t remember.”

Are you face-blind? I’ve turned around so many times my neck almost broke, and you say you don’t remember?

Emily Clark’s expression was about to crack. She opened her mouth to say something, but was abruptly interrupted by the end-of-class bell.

Brian Brooks heard it too. He glanced toward the sports field, then turned back. “Anything else?”