“Ah?” Laura Wood was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and handed over his question bank with both hands. “Oh, oh, please go ahead.”

Laura Wood asked to his heart’s content.

He left, hugging his backpack with satisfaction, leaving only Brian Brooks in the classroom.

His phone vibrated again inside his backpack.

Brian Brooks acted as if he hadn’t heard it, continuing to twirl his pen and work on problems.

The setting sun cast a golden glow over the entire campus.

After finishing another test paper, Brian Brooks flipped his wrist, glanced at the ink smudged on the side of his palm, and got up to head to the restroom.

After washing his hands and returning, he caught a glimpse of someone downstairs in the opposite building out of the corner of his eye. Brian Brooks paused in his tracks and stopped where he was.

In front of the dean’s office, Grace Bennett was leaning against the wall with one hand in his pocket, standing there with an impatient look on his face.

His other hand was being held by the dean, who was bringing it up to his own nose—

“Don’t you think you’re a pervert?” Grace Bennett asked.

“What nonsense are you spouting!” David Howard grabbed his hand and demanded, “You say you didn’t smoke, then what’s with the smell of cigarettes on your hand?!”

Grace Bennett turned his head to the other side and fell silent.

Thanks to Anna Walker’s parting words, Grace Bennett hadn’t even left the school before getting caught.

He ran right into Fat Tiger, who had just returned from a meeting. From ten meters away, the guy insisted he smelled smoke on him.

Even a dog’s nose isn’t that sharp.

“Not going to argue anymore?” David Howard let go of him. “Bring your parents here tomorrow!”

For a moment, Grace Bennett’s expression showed a trace of undisguised irritation and disgust.

But soon, he returned to his usual look. “Can’t do that.”

“What, do you want me to have Teacher Zhuang call your family to notify your parents?”

“Even if you call, it’s useless.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no one at home.”

“I don’t have a mom,” Grace Bennett turned his head back and gave him a smile, “and the other one died a long time ago.”

“……”

David Howard stared at his smile, standing there in a daze for a long time before coming back to his senses.

“You…” he was still in shock. “How come I never heard Teacher Zhuang mention this…”

Grace Bennett said indifferently, “Maybe they wanted to keep it a secret for me.”

David Howard was silent for quite a while, then awkwardly rubbed his balding head. “I really didn’t know… So you’re living alone now?”

“Sort of,” Grace Bennett glanced at the darkening sky. “I don’t need to bring my parents, right?”

Who would dare ask now?

David Howard coughed. “No need.”

Grace Bennett straightened up, just about to say goodbye to Fat Tiger, when someone grabbed his shoulder.

“But you still broke school rules, so you have to be punished.” David Howard patted his shoulder in a consoling way. “How about this, go upstairs now and write a 2,000-word self-reflection for me, just as a formality. Hand it in before you go home.”

“……”

“I’ll be playing chess at the school gate. Bring it to me when you’re done.”

Grace Bennett slowly made his way to the classroom corridor, looking down toward the school gate.

Then he met the gaze of David Howard, who had been watching him go upstairs.

David Howard and the old school security guard had set up a game of Go outside the security office. When he saw him, he immediately waved and mouthed—Hurry up and write!

Grace Bennett clicked his tongue and turned into the classroom.

He hadn’t expected anyone to still be in the classroom at this hour.

Brian Brooks sat in the sunset, not even looking up when he heard movement. The only sound in the classroom was the scratch of his pen on paper.

Grace Bennett’s gaze instinctively swept over Brian Brooks’s desk, catching sight of a thin sheet of paper, probably a draft.

Neither of them had any intention of talking. Grace Bennett walked to his seat as if no one else was there, pulled out his chair with his foot, sat down, and took out his phone to kill time.

There were a few unread WeChat messages.

[Anna Walker: Did Fat Tiger catch you?]

[Anna Walker: Hey, why did you go back to the classroom again? I’m waiting for you at the school gate so we can go home together.]

[-: He told me to write a 2,000-word self-reflection.]

[Anna Walker: …So what now? How long will that take? Why not just find one online and copy it?]

[-: Not writing, can’t be bothered to copy.]

[-: You go ahead, I’ll sneak out over the back wall later.]

The school’s back gate is only open after school on Fridays. Usually, it’s closed. He’d have to wait until Fat Tiger got absorbed in his chess game before sneaking out the back.

After replying, Grace Bennett opened the built-in Snake game on his phone and played with a hundred times more focus than he ever had in class.

It was very quiet around him, and with no distractions, he was on a roll this round. As the snake grew to nearly fill the screen, the phone kept prompting him in the upper right corner that he was just a few points away from breaking the record.

The screech of a chair leg scraping the floor shattered the classroom’s calm.

Grace Bennett didn’t pay much attention, his slender fingers still swiping across the screen.

He heard the other person in the classroom stand up, followed by the sound of paper rustling.

Finally leaving?

Grace Bennett was just thinking this when he heard footsteps coming closer and closer, as if heading his way.

Not leaving through the front door, but the back?

Since there was no one else in the classroom, Grace Bennett was sitting rather casually—most of his body was outside the desk, his legs stretched out, blocking the aisle.