Lemon Soda Candy - 6

No Reason to Remember Her Name

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Friday. The midterm results and rankings were officially released.

Chen Luobai was still first in the grade by a landslide, untouchable. And just as Zhu Ran had predicted, Class 2's average score beat Class 1's by several points.

Zhou Anran didn't excel in any particular subject besides English and biology, but she didn't have any weak links either. Her overall score placed her 61st in the grade.

A full sixty places behind the top spot.

That afternoon, it was Zhou Anran's turn for cleaning duty. When she finished, she and Yan Xingxi linked arms and headed out the east gate as usual.

Passing the basketball courts, Zhou Anran's gaze drifted, almost automatically, toward the third court in the first row.

No familiar figure.

As she got closer, she realized Zhu Ran and Zong Kai weren't there either.

She wonders where he is today.

A little disappointed, she looked away.

Cleaning duty had taken some time, which meant they'd missed the after-school rush. When they got on the bus, most of the seats in the back were empty.

Zhou Anran sat down, shifted her backpack to her lap, and pulled out a vocabulary book, flipping to the page marked by her bookmark.

Yan Xingxi, having just settled her own bag, saw this. "You're memorizing words now? This little sliver of time? Are you really trying to beat Chen Luobai?”

Zhou Anran's fingers curled slightly around the page. She said softly. "Maybe."

Though that wasn't entirely true.

She just wanted…

To work a little harder.

To close the gap between them, even just a little.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd notice her then. 

Yan Xingxi patted her on the shoulder. "I should learn from you."

"Huh?" Zhou Anran blinked, turning to look at her.

Yan Xingxi: "Not distracted by a pretty face, focusing only on studying. Other girls want to catch Chen Luobai the person. You just want to catch up to his grades."

Zhou Anran opened her mouth.

She wanted to say that she was just like those other girls. She liked him too. Really, really liked him.

It was just that she only dared to like him in secret.

The words were right there, but somehow, they wouldn't come out.

She'd wanted to tell her so many times, yet never managed to.

She'd never been good at expressing her feelings.

But Yan Xingxi told her everything. The thought made Zhou Anran feel guilty. She pressed her lips together. "I'll come with you later and try to talk to autie."

Yan Xingxi's physics, chemistry, and math scores had all been mediocre this time. Her ranking had slipped a few places.

"Forget it. My mom's made up her mind. There's no talking her out of it." Yan Xingxi's eyes darted around, a plan forming in her head. "But you should still come over. Help me smuggle some stuff out. Hide it at your place. It's not like my mom knows exactly how many CDs and how much merch I've bought."

Zhou Anran nodded. "Okay."

At the apartment complex, Zhou Anran went with Yan Xingxi to her place first.

They lived in opposite buildings. Zhou Anran knew Yan Xingxi's home almost as well as her own. But she'd never done anything sneaky behind a parent's back before. When she said hello to Yan Xingxi's mom, she felt so guilty she could barely look her in the eye.

But perhaps in Yan Xingxi's mom's mind, Zhou Anran was the picture of a well-behaved, obedient kid.

Even when Yan Xingxi stuffed Zhou Anran's backpack to the brim, her mother didn't suspect a thing. She just told her to come over for lunch tomorrow.

Back home, Zhou Anran cleared out a big drawer and carefully stored Yan Xingxi's CDs and merchandise.

After dinner, Zhou Xianhong turned on the TV to watch the CBA as usual.

Zhou Anran's ranking had gone up a few spots this time, unlike Yan Xingxi. So He Jiayi didn't put a time limit on TV like she usually did. The implication was clear: watch as long as you want tonight.

But after a moment's thought, Zhou Anran still went to her room, grabbed her vocabulary book, and then joined her dad in the living room to watch the game.

Zhou Xianhong was confused by this. "Are you watching the game with me, or are you studying?"

Zhou Anran: "Both. I can memorize words during the timeouts."

Zhou Xianhong: "You're only a freshman. No need to be so intense. Midterms just ended. You can take a real break today."

Zhou Anran watched the players running on the court. An image flashed through her mind. Tall, lean, familiar.

"But there's this classmate who's so amazing. I want to catch up to hi—" Zhou Anran paused, afraid she'd let something slip like last time, and deliberately added an extra word. "—them."

Zhou Xianhong: "..."

Other parents had to push their kids to study. Was his family... going the opposite direction?

Not wantinh to dampen her enthusiasm, he just pushed the fruit plate toward her. "Eat something first, then study."

Zhou Anran nodded, grabbed an orange, peeled it slowly, and ate it.

On screen, the ref had just called a foul, stopping the game.

Zhou Anran took the chance to look down and memorize two words.

When she looked up, the referee was making a hand signal.

She'd watched several games with her dad this month and could understood most of the signals now. "Dad, why did that foul just get upgraded to flagrant?"

Zhou Xianhong made a slightly disapproving face. "Number four put in a foot-plant."

Right on cue, the screen showed a slow-motion replay of the offending player's foot sliding under the shooter.

It really did look dangerous.

Zhou Anran popped a grape into her mouth and kept watching.

She timed it as usual. After exactly forty-five minutes, she picked up her English book and went back to her room.

He Jiayi was in there, changing her bedsheets. She looked up, surprised. "Why'd you stop watching?"

Zhou Anran pulled out her chair. "Want to do some more math problems."

Studying was probably the one thing that never let you down.

If you put in the effort, you'd get something back. Maybe not perfectly equal, but never nothing.

---

The days passed quickly, mundane yet not entirely so.

When the next monthly exams came around, Zhou Anran could already felt the difference. The questions flowed more easily. She'd put the ones she'd gotten wrong last time in her mistake notebook, then analyzed and redone them. This time, when similar problems appeared, she handled them with ease.

Maybe her scores and ranking wouldn't jump overnight. But she could already see the results of her hard work.

No. 2 High's grading was still lightning fast.

The afternoon after exams ended, Zhou Anran and Yan Xingxi had eaten off-campus and came back. They'd barely sat down when Sheng Xiaowen came running from the back of the room and launched herself at Zhou Anran.

The impact knocked Zhou Anran sideways. Yan Xingxi tried to steady her but lost her own balance in process. The three girls started toppling over together.

Sheng Xiaowen and Yan Xingxi shrieked in unison.

Finally, Dong Chen, with a look of pure exasperation, reached out and steadied Yan Xingxi. The three of them barely managed to right themselves.

Zhou Anran grabbed the desk and sat up. "What's wrong?”

Sheng Xiaowen, still catching her breath, remembered why she'd come. She shrieked again and threw her arms around Zhou Anran.

Completely confused, Zhou Anran was about to ask again when Sheng Xiaowen's voice rang out beside her. "Ranran! You got a 149 on English! Even that inhuman Chen Luobai only got a 148 this time! You got 149!"

Zhou Anran froze.

She'd worked hard to get a little closer to his score. And she'd known she did okay on English. But she hadn't expected to actually beat him. Not this fast.

Sheng Xiaowen kept going. "I don't care, you have to treat. Otherwise, I'm officially resigning as English rep out of shame."

Zhou Anran was still processing.

Sheng Xiaowen pinched her cheek. "Are you listening?"

The touch jolted Zhou Anran back to the present. "Huh?"

"I said, you got a 149. Buy. Me. Food." Sheng Xiaowen repeated.

Zhou Anran finally found herself. A smile curved at the corner of her mouth before she could stop it. She nodded. "Okay. I'll bring you breakfast tomorrow."

Yan Xingxi chimed in. "Me too, me too."

Zhou Anran kept nodding. "Sure. You too."

Dong Chen joined the chorus. "Zhou Anran, is this a 'hearers get a share' kind of deal?"

As he spoke, he elbowed his deskmate, He Mingyu.

He Mingyu adjusted his glasses. "I heard it too."

Zhou Anran's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Okay, okay. I'll bring something for everyone."

Sheng Xiaowen finally let her go. "I'm gonna go check with the teacher again, see what else I can find out."

Once Sheng Xiaowen was gone, the area around them finally quieted down.

But inside Zhou Anran, it felt like fireworks were going off, crackling and popping in every direction, refusing to calm down.

She couldn't focus on a single practice problem in front of her.

She reached for her thermos, then turned to Yan Xingxi. "Xixi, I'm going to get water. You want some?"

Yan Xingxi handed over her cup. "Yeah, help fill mine too."

The water dispenser was at the far end of the hallway. Zhou Anran walked slowly, filled both containers, and screwed the lids on tight.

Yan Xingxi, insisting she was too young for a thermos, used a plastic cup. Filled with hot water, it was almost too hot to hold. Zhou Anran carefully carried it by the little loop on the lid and turned to head back.

As she passed the central stairwell, a voice reached her. It seemed to be Zong Kai’s.

"English scores are out. I heard some girl beat you this time.”

Zhou Anran's heart slammed against her ribs. She knew instantly who he was talking to.

If she kept walking forward, she'd run right into them.

Fireworks were still going off in her head. She couldn't think straight. In the chaos, her body seemed to make the decision for her.

She turned and started up the stairs to the third floor.

Avoiding the impending encounter. 

Zong Kai's voice was still clear. "Pretty sure it's that girl from your class. The one who came in second last time. What's her name again?"

Zhou Anran had just reached the landing, and paused. Her breath caught in her throat.

The silence that followed was probably just a beat, a second. But to her, it stretched, an invisible thread yanking her heart up into the air.

Then Chen Luobai's voice came. "I think her name is Ran... something."

The thread snapped.

Her heart crashed back down.

Zong Kai laughed. "You've been classmates for almost a whole semester. How do you not even remember her name?"

The familiar voice answered, low and casual. Unconcerned. "Got no reason to remember her name."

Zhou Anran's fingers tightened on the plastic loop.

Distracted, the cup full of hot water swayed and brushed against her other hand.

Maybe it was the heat stinging her skin. Maybe it was something else. Her nose suddenly burned.

There were other footsteps of someone running below, rapid and loud.

Then Sheng Xiaowen's voice echoed. "Chen Luobai! There you are. English teacher's looking for you."

Zhou Anran stood there on the landing.

She waited until no familiar voices drifted up from below, then turned and walked slowly back down the stairs.

Back in the classroom, she put Yan Xingxi's cup on her desk. Feeling that her emotions were slipping out of her control, she buried her head in her arms on the desk.

Maybe her shift in mood was too obvious, even oblivious Yan Xingxi noticed.

"Ranran? What's wrong?"

The sting in her nose spread to her eyes.

Zhou Anran forced it back. Her voice came out muffled. "Nothing. Just didn't sleep well last night. A little tired."

Yan Xingxi knew how hard she'd been working this past month. She didn't suspect a thing. "Then get some sleep."

Zhou Anran pressed her forehead against her arms. Her eyes started to burn again.

She shouldn't have been surprised.

He was at the top of the grade in almost every subject.

What did it matter if she'd managed to beat him in one single test? Why would that make her worth noticing?

Knowing something was one thing.

Hearing it from his own mouth was another.

In the small, dim world created by her folded arms, Zhou Anran tried to pull herself together.

The ache would recede, only to well up again.

Footsteps passed her, faded into the distance.

She didn't want anyone to see her like this, even if they'd never know why she was upset.

She stayed there, head down, trying to push the feeling down again.

Another footsteps drew nearer.

Zhou Anran waited for whoever it was to pass.

But this time, the footsteps stopped. Right by her desk.

Then came two soft knocks.

Someone had tapped lightly on her desk.

Unsure if her eyes were red, Zhou Anran didn't dare look up. She just shifted her head slightly, out of the small sanctuary of her arms.

Light flooded back in.

She saw a hand resting on her desk. Cool-toned, pale, long-fingered, slightly curled. And on the wrist bone, was a small, familiar brownish mole.

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