Lemon Soda Candy - 3

All Up to Him

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As soon as Chen Luobai sat down, he noticed something different about the person sitting diagonally in front of him. The girl was shorter, her head almost entirely blocked by Zhu Ran's pile of books, only the top half was visible.

Fine, soft black hair was tucked behind her ear, revealing an ear so pale it was almost distracting.

But he was exhausted, his eyes heavy with sleep, and didn't think much of it. He slung his bag onto the back of his chair and slumped onto his desk.

Before he could even close his eyes, Zhu Ran's question cut through the air.

Chen Luobai looked up.

Unable to see what was happening behind her, Zhou Anran felt her grip tighten on the pen in her hand, her fingertips blanching white.

With morning self-study about to start, the classroom was almost full, the noise even louder than before.

Voices rose from every direction.

"Did you finish the homework?"

"Is the English teacher going to quiz us on vocab today?"

"Ugh... why does class have to start again?"

A jumble of voices. All of them unfamiliar.

The one voice she was familiar with, the one she was waiting for, still hadn't come.

Those few seconds stretched into a thin, taut thread, winding around her heart, making it feel tight and constricted.

Then, finally, she heard him speak.

"What senior?" His tone was lazy, like he was genuinely confused.

Like...

Like he had no idea what Zhu Ran was talking about.

Zhou Anran's grip on her pen loosened. She let out a quiet, relieved breath.

But before she could even finish exhaling, Zhu Ran's voice piped up again. "You know, the one who stopped you Thursday afternoon to confess?"

Zhou Anran's heart launched back into her throat.

The reminder jogged Chen Luobai's memory. He rested his head back on the desk, his voice still thick with drowsiness. "Who said she was confessing?"

Zhu Ran was in disbelief. "If she wasn't confessing, why’d she shoo us away to talk to you alone?"

"Asked me about a math problem." Chen Luobai’s voice was muffled, heavy with sleep.

Zhu Ran's eyebrows shot up. "A math problem? You?"

"What, not allowed?" Chen Luobai had already closed his eyes again. "It's not like I can't do eleventh-grade math."

Zhu Ran was silent for a beat. "Right. Forgot you're a learning machine, not a human being."

Chen Luobai was too tired to bother responding.

Up front, Zhou Anran's back was still stiff, but her heart was slowly settling back into place.

He really is amazing at math.

And his attitude was so open, so free of any hidden ambiguity.

So it probably… really just someone stopping him to ask about a problem.

She tried to pull her attention away from the desk behind her and focus on memorizing a few more vocab words. But the conversation behind her wasn't over.

Zhu Ran was quiet for a moment, but his curiosity got the better of him again. His voice dropped to a gossipy whisper. "So, that senior… she seriously just asked you about math that day? Didn't try to get your number or anything? You didn't stay up chatting with her last night?"

Chen Luobai, who had been on the verge of dozing off, was jolted awake again. "Nope. Go bother your sister."

"I don't have a sister," Zhu Ran grinned, completely unrepentant. "If I did, she's all yours. I'd give her to you as a child bride."

Chen Luobai couldn't help but sit up. He stretched out his long leg and gave Zhu Ran's stool a light kick, laughing as he swore at him. "Get lost. Anyone unlucky enough to be your sister would be cursed for life."

Zhu Ran grabbed his stool to steady himself. "So if you weren't chatting with some senior, why do you look like a zombie? What'd you even do last night?"

Chen Luobai yawned. "Watching the game."

"You stayed up for that game too?" Zhu Ran's voice perked up, suddenly more animated. "That final buzzer-beater was epic."

"Epic, my ass." Chen Luobai slumped back onto the desk. "Up by almost 20 after three quarters, and they still blew it in the fourth. Can't break a simple 3-2 zone, no rhythm, whole team's sleepwalking. If it wasn't for that last shot, that game would be a top-ten disaster."

Zhou Anran wasn't trying to eavesdrop.

But the distance between them was so much closer than usual.

And she almost never got to be this close to him. She couldn't focus if she tried. His voice seemed to find its way into her ears all on its own.

3-2 zone defense… what's that?

Next time I watch a game with Dad, I'll have to pay closer attention.

Zhu Ran had a different take. "Who cares about the process? It's the ending that counts. That's the whole point of a buzzer-beater, right? That feeling of one guy saving the whole game, being the hero."

Chen Luobai yawned again. "A hero can save one game. He can't save a team that's already given up."

"Enjoy the moment, will you? Worry about the next game when it gets here." Zhu Ran shrugged, then asked, "But the game ended at three. How are you this wrecked?"

Chen Luobai: "Got too wired being pissed off. Did a few practice tests before I could sleep."

Zhu Ran: "..."

A look of pure respect crossed his face. "Dude. You're a machine."

Chen Luobai's head was starting to throb from all the talking. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Right, right. Sleep." Zhu Ran was quiet for all of two seconds. "Hey, Luo—"

"Shut up, or those sneakers are history."

Finally, silence reigned in the back of the room.

Sitting diagonally in front of him, Zhou Anran's back was stiff from holding herself so still.

He wasn't talking anymore, but she still couldn't focus on a single word.

Every letter seemed to float in front of her eyes.

But sitting this close to him was a small, temporary perk, one she knew would be taken back soon.

So she stopped trying to force it. She let herself have this one small moment of indulgence.

By the time Wang Qintong came back and Zhou Anran returned to her own seat, the morning self-study bell was ringing. Only then did she manage to refocus, finally immersing herself in her work.

The rest of the day flew by in a blur of back-to-back classes and teachers droning on past the bell.

After the last math period, Zhou Anran stayed behind for a few minutes to clarify a concept she hadn't quite grasped. By the time she figured it out, the classroom had long since emptied out. Yan Xingxi was sitting next to her, chewing on gummy candy.

As soon as Zhou Anran put her pen down, Yan Xingxi popped a candy into her mouth. "All done?"

Zhou Anran ate the candy and nodded, her voice muffled. "Mm."

The back door of Class 2 was right by the stairs, so most students went out that way.

Zhou Anran quickly gathered her things. When she turned around, she realized Chen Luobai was still there.

He was asleep, face buried in his arms on the desk. His hair was a stark, pure black. One of his sleeve was pushed up, revealing the cool-toned pale skin of his forearms.

He'd been grabbing every chance to catch up on sleep today.

He slept during morning self-study. Skipped the flag-raising ceremony during the long break with some excuse and slept through that, too. And he'd slept the whole lunch period and every afternoon break.

There were other people in the classroom, so Zhou Anran didn't dare stare. She swallowed the candy. Its clean, sweet taste seemed to linger on her tongue.

Yan Xingxi came around and linked her arm through hers. "What are we eating?"

Zhou Anran glanced at him one last time and shushed her gently. "Keep your voice down. Someone's sleeping."

Yan Xingxi looked over, then mouthed, "Let's talk outside."

To get out the back, they had to pass his seat.

His elbow was jutting out slightly past the edge of his desk. At their closest point, her school uniform might have brushed against it. Or maybe it didn't. She couldn't be sure.

Where no one could see it, Zhou Anran's heart skipped a beat.

A sudden gust of wind blew in from the window, rustling the practice papers on the nearby desks.

Zhou Anran thought of his pale arm lying on the desk and hesitated, her steps faltering.

Yan Xingxi, already forgetting about the sleeping person, spoke up again. "What's wrong?"

"Shh." Zhou Anran reminded her, then pointed to the window, lowering her voice to make an excuse. "Zhang Yue's test papers are about to blow away. I'm going to close the window."

After closing it, the two girls linked arms and left through the back door together.

Quiet descended on the classroom once more. The boy sleeping on the desk lifted his head slightly, then let it fall back down.

---

Downstairs, Zhou Anran felt the wind pick up even more. Fallen leaves swirled into the air, and the cold air crept in through the loose collar of her uniform, chilling her fingertips.

She pulled her zipper up higher, a small pang of regret hitting her, she should have closed the back door for him when she left.

But people were constantly coming and going; even if she closed it, someone would probably just open it again.

Yan Xingxi was still going on about dinner, stuck in a loop of indecision. "Ranran, what sounds better? Peppers stir-fried with pork, or smoked tofu with twice-cooked pork?"

Zhou Anran's mind was still mostly in the classroom. Nothing sounded particularly appealing. "Get both. I'll order one and we can split it."

Yan Xingxi was about to agree when a strange feeling hit her. She stopped dead in her tracks.

Zhou Anran: "What's wrong?"

"I think my period just started." Yan Xingxi's face fell. "Oh no, oh no, I don't think I have a pad."

"Don't panic, I brought some." Zhou Anran knew her friend's tendency to forget things, even when reminded, so she'd packed extras. "Let's go to the first-floor restroom and check. If it's here, I'll run back to the classroom and get you one."

Yan Xingxi threw her arms around her. "Waaah, Ranran, I love you so much. What would I do without you?"

Zhou Anran laughed and pushed her gently. "You're so cheesy. Come on, let's go. You'll be crying if you stain your pants.”

Yan Xingxi's face paled at the thought. She grabbed Zhou Anran and hurried back the way they came. "Go, go, go."

In the first-floor restroom, Yan Xingxi confirmed it was, in fact, her period.

Zhou Anran headed back to the classroom alone to get the supplies.

Thinking that she could go in through the back door, steal a few more glances at him, and then close the door for him on her way out, her pace quickened.

But as she reached the top of the stairs, the face that had been imprinted in her mind suddenly materialized before her.

The boy who'd been sleeping was now leaning against the wall right by the back door, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion.

And he wasn't alone.

Across from him stood a girl. Tall, with her hair in a high ponytail and perfectly done makeup. She was strikingly beautiful, her gaze fixed intently on him.

The little bubble of happiness in Zhou Anran's chest soured, like rice wine left to ferment too long.

Hearing footsteps, the girl glanced her way, dismissed her with a flick of her eyes, and turned back to Chen Luobai, her expression bright and eager once more.

The boy seemed to have heard it, too. His eyelids lifted slowly, his gaze drifted in her direction.

Zhou Anran's heart clenched. She ducked her head and hurried through the back door.

But the girl's voice followed her, open and impossibly confident.

"I know you already said no last Thursday. I'm not here to confess again. I just… can I get your number? Or your WeChat? I won't bother you, I promise. Can we just be… friends?"

Zhou Anran was already inside, but her steps faltered. She stopped.

From outside the door, the other voice remained silent.

She felt that thin thread winding around her heart again.

And the end of that thread was in the hands of the boy just outside the door. Whether it tightened or loosened was all up to him.

Even if he didn't know it.

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