Xie Liao Liao just stared at him in silence.

Of course she did not want to be late, but she hesitated as she looked at where she was to sit behind He Lin. That’s not even a place for one to sit and how is he going to carry my weight?
　　
As though he could read her thoughts, He Lin stopped smiling and straightened his posture slightly, “You’re not sitting at the back.”

With his knuckles, he gently tapped at the bicycle frame in front of him, “You will be sitting here.”

Wordlessly, Xie Liao Liao accepted He Lin’s offer.

Since only 40 minutes was needed to reach the school from the residential area, He Lin rode his bike very fast.

He Lin retrofitted the bike himself. So, it weighed light and the speed would remain constant despite any extra weight the bike may carry. There was no strain at all.

Maybe it was also due to the fact that Xie Liao Liao was small and light, which didn’t burden him too much.

The only shortcoming was the distance between the frame and the handlebar that was too far apart. Xie Liao Liao couldn’t reach the handlebar, so she had no other choice but to hold onto the bike’s tube behind her.

When she did that, it only brought her body much closer to him.

Xie Liao Liao’s hand was less than three centimetres away from He Lin’s inner thigh, and her hand grazed against him as she moved slightly. As if she got an electric shock, she immediately jerked away, raising her hands high in the air.

At that moment the bicycle suddenly tilted as it turned around the corner, making her lose her balance and fall sideways.
　
He Lin quickly grabbed onto her shoulders to help her gain her balance. He lowered his head and spoke to her.

Xie Liao Liao could not hear clearly over the noises from the driveway and rushing wind as they rode fast, “What did you say?”

He Lin leaned close until his lips were against her ear and punctuated his words as he repeated, "Grab onto my clothes."

Xie Liao Liao hesitated for a second and looked at his blue-white school uniform being blown by the wind. She wanted to refuse, but when she had lost her balance, she had instinctively grabbed on tightly to both sides of his waist.

He Lin was of a slender build and when they were close, she could smell a pleasant scent from him.
 
His arms were placed at both of her sides, completely surrounding her.
　
His chin was propped on top of her head and his slightly heavy breathing sound rang in her ears.

Xie Liao Liao’s hand loosen, then tighten as she held onto the sides of He Lin’s clothes. She repeated the action, loosening and tightening as though holding a steamy hot yam.

Xie Liao Liao kept quiet for the rest of the journey.

They arrived at the school gate by 7.38am. They have made it in time.

With much ease, He Lin pulled the bike to a stop.

There were currently not many students standing by the school gate as most were having a morning reading session in class. Only a few student council members and regular latecomers were there.

Xie Liao Liao grabbed her bag and got off the bicycle.

He Lin got off the bicycle as well and followed after her slowly as he pushed the bicycle.
　　
Students who have seen the two riding together on the same bicycle, started jeering and whistling noisily.

One of the student council members who seemed to know He Lin, grinned and walked towards He Lin as he kept away his notebook, "You just got expelled from your last school due to fighting, and now you're hooking up a girl in your new school. What a man!"

He Lin’s footsteps paused. He watched Liao Liao walking in front and explained solemnly, “She’s my neighbour. Her mother had asked me to look after her. So, I brought her on my bike today when she was running late.”

He Lin then pointed at the student council member, warning him with a slim smile on his lips, “Careful with your words.”

The boy licked his lips and looked disapprovingly. He had a grasp of the situation as he looked at both He Lin and Liao Liao, “Yeah, yeah. I got it.”　
　　
However, to the boy, things seem more than what He Lin had explained.

***

The week passed smoothly and peacefully.

Xie Liao Liao didn't arrive late nor had any deduction of disciplinary marks, which enabled their class to successfully be picked as the excellent class.
Note: In many Asian schools, only one excellent class will be picked out of the whole grade or year. This is to motivate students to behave appropriately, hand in assignments in time, study hard, etc.

At the end of the week, the school management had started moving students into different classes according to their grades in classes and requests between being in the science stream and arts stream.

There were a total of 14 science and 12 arts stream classes for their batch that year, including an elite class in each stream. Xia Liao Liao was assigned to Class 1, which was in science stream. The class was located next to the elite class of the science stream. A few of the students from her old class were assigned to Class 1 as well.

Xu Nian, on the other hand, was assigned to Class 15, which was in the arts stream.

Only the students in the elite classes were assigned based on their grades. As for the other classes, the students were assigned randomly.

Xu Nian, who found out that Xie Liao Liao was assigned to an ordinary class, immediately rushed off to see her friend after the first period of class. She could not wait for school to end to finally ask her friend. Spotting Liao Liao at the door of the washroom, Xu Nian blocked the way and started asking, “What happened? Now that students are being assigned to science and art stream classes, why are you still here- in an ordinary class? What’s your grade?”
　　
Xie Liao Liao, who was abruptly stopped at the door of the washroom when heading in, pulled Xu Nian aside. She did not want any of her new classmates to overheard the conversation. “Why are you here?”, she asked her friend.

Xu Nian didn't beat around the bush and asked, "Did you get 41st place again?"

Xie Liao Liao remained silent.
　　
Looking at her friend’s expression, Xu Nian knew that she had guessed right and rolled her eyes. She was pissed.

Back when they were not divided into two streams, there was only one elite class, and Xie Liao Liao's overall grades placed her one seating away from entering that class- the 41st place.
Note: In most schools, there is an overall standing for students based on their grades. The standing will determine which class a student will be assigned to.

Now that the classes are divided into two streams, Xu Nian had assumed that her friend would have a better chance of getting into the elite class. However, Xie Liao Liao was still in the 41st place.

Is she doing this on purpose?! Xu Nian thought skeptically. "Where’s your report card? I want to see it."

After a moment of hesitation, Xie Liao Liao replied, “It’s in class, but I can’t take it out now.”

Honestly, Xie Liao Liao did not want to retrieve it because she knew that Xu Nian would definitely criticize her.

But Xu Nian was not someone who could be easily fooled, “Fine.If you can’t get it now, just tell me the marks you’ve gotten for each subject.”

There was no avoiding it now.

Xie Liao Liao knew that Xu Nian would persist until she had gotten the answers she was seeking for. There was no stopping her.
　　
Resignedly, Xie Liao Liao began reciting her marks for each subject.
　　
“Maths 141, Chinese 115, General Science 274--”, all of her marks were good except for one. 
　　
Xie Liao Liao hesitated before saying the marks of the final subject, “and 53 for English.”

Xu Nian was shocked, “Do you have the understanding of a primary schooler when it comes to English? How could you get such low marks?!”

As the school had substantially lowered the level of difficulty for English, the average grade for this year is well above 70. Xu Nian had thought that Xie Liao Liao would at least have gotten 75. Never did she expect her friend to get marks lower than any of her previous tests.

Xie Liao Liao lowered her head and leaned against the railing of the corridor, “I’m terrible at English… I’ve read repetitively for the cloze test, but I really can’t understand the difference between ‘had done’ and ‘have done’. Aren’t they both ‘perfect tenses’? Maybe I was just born to be awful at English… I don’t even plan on studying overseas in the future.”
　
Her tone was filled with self-loath.

But this wasn’t something she could avoid even if she wanted to.

Sitting for the English test for the college entrance examination is just like the sky wanting to rain or a girl wanting to get married. It’s unavoidable.

Xu Nian took a deep breath before advising her friend, “You should try to work more on your English. The school will reassign students to the elite class every semester. If you could even improve on your English just a little, you should be able to get into the elite class.”

However, Xie Liao Liao was unenthusiastic, “What’s the big deal of getting into the elite class? I could still learn in the normal class. It would be less stressful as well.”

“You…”
　　
Xu Nian was stunned by her friend’s resignation and pointed at one of the boys in Class 1, “Would there be such a student in the elite class? Wouldn’t he affect your studies?! Or do you think it is no longer important whether or not you get into a good university in the future?!”

The boy Xu Nian had pointed to was tall and had mint-colored hair. He was leaning against the table next to the podium with his hands in his pockets. He was talking and laughing with the boys seated in the first row.
Note: In a number of Asian schools, (even if the room itself is small and not of a lecture hall size) there is a podium in the classroom. It is usually for classes that have many students which requires the teacher to use a microphone during the lessons.

As if sensing that someone was talking about him, he started looking around. His bright hair made his skin look whiter under the sunlight as it shone through the windows.

His gaze searched around, and finally fell on Xie Liao Liao.

“Little Cicada…”
Note: This is a nickname he uses to call the female lead because her name is Xie Liao Liao. What he called her in Chinese is ‘Xiao Zhi Liao’, which sounds similar to her name but carries the meaning of ‘little cicada’.
　　
Before the boy could continue, a man around 40 in a plaid shirt and a pair of rimless glasses appeared at the door. There was anger in his eyes, “Lan Shao Qin! You dyed your hair again?!”

Lan Shao Qin’s expression changed, swallowing back his words.

The head teacher strode towards the classroom, “Dye it back to its original color today!”

Before anyone could react, Lan Shao Qing moved. He patted the shoulder of the boy in front of him and said,  “Brother, help me hand in the homework later.”

Then, Lan Shao Qing’s figure flickered. One moment he was there and the next, he was gone. He had run out of the class.

The head teacher got so enraged and yelled, “Stop right there-”
　　
Xie Liao Liao and Xu Nian watched in silence. Although there was a lot of shouting and a student had even ran out of class, the girls were not surprised at all. They have gotten used to seeing the same routine as it occurs at least once every week.

Once everything was finally peaceful again, Xie Liao Liao said goodbye to Xu Nian and headed back to her class.

Unknown to either Xie Liao Liao or Xu Ning, there was a tall boy who had been standing at the back door of the elite class. It was within earshot distance from where the girls were talking and he had overheard everything. He was deep in thought when a fellow classmate who was carrying a pile of books, called out to him, “He Lin, our Maths teacher wants to see you in his office. Why are you still standing there? Classes are about to start!”

He Lin smiled at his classmate, “I’m going now.”

Then he pressed the tip of his tongue against his cheek as he attempted to ask in a casual manner, “Oh, right. Do you know what’s the total score of the person who got last in our class?”
　　
The boy laughed, “Why would the guy who is placed first in class want to know about the total score of the last person?”

His lips pursed, “Just wondering.”

Seeing He Lin’s expression, the boy was slightly intimidated and answered, “Alright, I get it. Here’s the thing, I’m the one who’s last in class. My total score is 595… Why did you ask?”
　　
He Lin didn’t answer. Rolling his eyes, he looked towards the spot where Xie Liao Liao stood and thought to himself, The difference in their total score is only 12 marks.