“Pei Yue—Pei Yue—hey—I won’t laugh at you for being timid anymore—slow down a bit—”
On the first morning of the Sports Meeting, Bai Kou secured second place for their class in the 100-meter final.
Pei Yue came to bring water for Bai Kou to drink. As Bai Kou drank, she caught sight of Pei Yue standing seriously by her side out of the corner of her eye.
She couldn’t help but recall that afternoon when they watched a horror movie in the gymnasium. When they left, Pei Yue’s face had paled a full shade from fright.
Thinking of this, Bai Kou couldn’t hold back her laughter while drinking the water.
Pei Yue, not understanding, smiled lightly along with her. “Hm?”
“Hahaha, I just suddenly remembered how timid you are.” Bai Kou said.
Pei Yue: “…”
Then the two began their wonderful duet of circling the field at a competitive walking pace.
In the afternoon, Bai Kou only had the 4×100 relay. She had just bought water from the small shop with Pei Yue and was heading toward the stands.
Pei Yue: “I just haven’t watched many horror movies. If I watch a few more times later, it won’t be like that anymore.”
Bai Kou: “Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.”
“…” Pei Yue stopped on the stairs and emphasized very seriously, “Bai Kou, you have to forget about that day.”
Bai Kou held back her laughter. “Okay, but it was really cute. Why forget?”
Pei Yue opened her mouth, about to say it was because it made you keep thinking she was timid, when hurried footsteps came down the stairs. Tao Miao and another classmate supported Xiao Ying on either side as they passed Bai Kou. “Disaster, disaster, disaster.”
“What happened, what happened, what happened?” Bai Kou quickly turned and followed.
It was exactly two o’clock, and the 1500-meter preliminary was at two forty.
“Who gets their foot sprained in their sleep without even knowing it? What a klutz you are!” In the infirmary, Tao Miao put her hands on her hips, helpless toward Xiao Ying.
The other person said, “What do we do? The race is about to start. Should one of us sub in for Xiao Ying?”
“1500… I can’t handle it.”
“My long jump clashes with the 1500. Or someone does long jump, and I do the 1500?” Tao Miao bit her lower lip and suddenly swept her gaze over everyone. The others all averted their eyes.
In the end, her eyes met Bai Kou’s, but she didn’t say it directly. Her gaze seemed to ask, Can you do it?
Long jump.
Bai Kou thought about it. Tao Miao’s practice scores for long jump had always been good; she might even take first.
1500 was just under two 800s, and besides, she ran every morning, so she should manage.
“I’ll sub in for Xiao Ying.” Bai Kou said.
“Bai Kou—” After check-in, Bai Kou bent down to pin her number.
Pei Yue’s hands hung at her sides, her eyes full of worry as she kept instructing her. “You must pay attention to safety. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Don’t worry.” Bai Kou clenched her fists. “Xiao Ying passed her secret techniques to me. With eight people, I just need to run into the top four in our group.”
“Phew—”
Talk was cheap. When Bai Kou stood on the track and glanced at the row of people to her left, she felt nervous.
But a blazing fighting spirit ignited in her heart.
No matter what place she ended up in, her goal right now was first!
“Bang!”
“Go for it! Go for it!”
After the gun sounded, cheers erupted around the track.
“Bai Kou’s coming! Bai Kou’s coming!” When Bai Kou ran past their class’s area, her classmates leaned over the railing, joining the deafening roar of the crowd. “Bai Kou, go for it! Bai Kou, go for it!”
But Bai Kou could no longer spare any attention to listen.
She remembered to maintain even speed in the early stages. After grabbing a good position, she stuck tight to the end of the lead pack.
No matter if someone accelerated past her or if someone tired and fell behind.
Her eyes stayed fixed ahead, her heart filled with only one belief: “I’m going to win!”
Some persisted in running alongside Bai Kou, some stood behind a group of students and frowned, some guarded a certain window in the teaching building and could spot the blurry figure of Bai Kou below at a glance.
After two laps, a rusty taste appeared in her mouth, her breathing grew heavier, and Bai Kou felt everything around her distorting.
Only the back ahead remained reflected in her pupils.
The final lap!
Bai Kou gritted her teeth fiercely and began accelerating to pass on the first straightaway, but her legs were really going soft. She overtook one, two… but couldn’t pass the third.
When her eyes bulged and she crossed the finish line, she heard the referee call out beside her ear: “Six twenty-seven.”
Bai Kou slowly stopped, wanting to bend over and catch her breath, but her legs gave out—
A familiar scent entered her nostrils.
The simplest, most straightforward fragrance of Shufujia.
Someone had caught her. They were extremely, extremely close. Bai Kou’s forehead rested against the other’s chest. In disbelief, she slowly lifted her head.
Deep gray lining.
Light striped collar.
Black hair ends dangled messily between the collar.
Bai Kou looked up and saw Bai Yuqiao’s tightly pressed lips, and also saw the tension in Bai Yuqiao’s eyes.
Her breathing was chaotic, her heartbeat heavy, yet she smiled unconsciously.
“Sis…”
Behind them, Pei Yue, who had run the full 1500, stood quietly, panting in disarray. Another person who had gone to check the scores hurried past Pei Yue.
“Bai Doudou, you were awesome—second in the group!” Yang Wanxi called out loudly in praise.
“Thanks!”
In the small shop, Bai Kou recovered her senses and smiled as she took the water Pei Yue handed her.
Yang Wanxi sat across from the two: “…” She couldn’t stand it, propped her chin, and turned her face away.
The card in her hand “click, click” spun back and forth on the table, fire nearly spurting from her eyes.
She could only tell herself in her heart, “It’s fine, it’s fine, not puppy love yet,” and calm down.
“Yang Kuikui, why are you holding your ID card?” Bai Kou asked after finishing her water.
“Click.”
Yang Wanxi’s self-soothing motion paused, then she raised the ID to the right side of her face, mimicking the photo’s smile.
“Dropped it, got a new one. Showing it off to you.”
“Hm?” Bai Kou narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. “Isn’t this the photo from your senior year? The clothes are borrowed from Sis, and the hair tie is mine.”
“I didn’t say it was newly taken.” Yang Wanxi irritably withdrew her hand.
Bai Kou went “oh” and turned to smile at her sister. “Sis, you’re back to see the teachers too?”
Bai Yuqiao seemed not to be listening to them, her head down as she emotionlessly swiped her phone. When Bai Kou asked her, she slowly raised her head.
She curved two fingers to point at her own eyes, then turned to point at Bai Kou, and smiled.
“Watch me?” Bai Kou hugged the plastic bottle with both hands, especially happy, and fired off questions like a machine gun. “You came back specially to see me? Nothing else? Just to see me?”
Bai Yuqiao nodded.
Bai Kou’s eyes immediately crinkled with laughter, then she turned and glared at the person sitting next to her sister. “Hmph.”
“…” Yang Wanxi hadn’t expected her Yuqiao Sis to be so honest this time and was instantly speechless.
Bai Kou stayed with her two sisters until three twenty, when the 4×100 was about to start. Although a classmate from her class had subbed in for her again, she still had to rush to the site to cheer.
The two sisters said they’d sit in the small shop a bit longer.
So Bai Kou and Pei Yue stood up to head out. She was extremely, extremely happy at that moment and forgot for a bit about the puppy love issue with Pei Yue. As they walked, she naturally linked arms with Pei Yue.
Only near the exit did she remember. Bai Kou turned back and shouted, “Sis! Yang Kuikui!”
The unhappy person with arms linked and the pensive person staring at the table both lifted their heads in sync.
Bai Kou pulled Pei Yue along, backlit, and waved at them.
“I’m heading out first! Meet at the gate after it ends!”
With that, Bai Kou turned back. “Ouch, second again. Pei Yue, let me tell you, when I saw you running next to me earlier, I wanted to tell you not to follow me, but I couldn’t even make a sound…” Her voice gradually faded.
Once Bai Kou and the other disappeared, Yang Wanxi slapped the table and turned to complain to Bai Yuqiao.
“Yuqiao Sis, did you see that? Still saying secret crush—Bai Doudou’s practically dating her already. She’s just—”
At this point, Yang Wanxi’s mind filled with the scene of Bai Kou just now actively inviting Pei Yue to a movie over the weekend.
She didn’t even bother saying more.
She truly felt Bai Kou was too young, just a freshman in high school. Even if it were her today, she definitely wouldn’t accept dating Bai—
“…” Would she not?
Yang Wanxi’s heart suddenly went quiet.
And thinking of this question, she inexplicably felt guilty and quietly turned to look at Bai Yuqiao again.
Perhaps Bai Yuqiao finally sensed Yang Wanxi’s gaze this time. She turned her head expressionlessly, but her eyes were still as a deep pool.
Compared to Yang Wanxi’s annoyance and gloom, she seemed not to care much about what just happened. Her expression was like asking back, “Puppy love, so what? What’s the big deal?”
This made Yang Wanxi fall into thought. Yeah, so what?
Actually, during her three high school years, plenty of classmates around her had secret relationships.
Had she cared?
She hadn’t even spared them a sidelong glance. At most, she’d overheard teachers in the office talking about “kids these days with puppy love wasting their studies—look at these scores.” Back then, as Yang Wanxi left the office, she quite agreed with the teacher’s “wasting studies.”
Now Bai Kou seemed to be in puppy love, but in the score sheets that Auntie Bai had secretly shared in the group chat the last two times for them to peek at.
Bai Kou was either first or second, her grades rock steady.
Sigh.
Yang Wanxi sighed. It seemed Yuqiao Sis’s reaction was the normal one—as long as it didn’t affect her studies, it was fine?
It’s me.
I’m the abnormal one.
However, just as Yang Wanxi was doing her self-reflection toward Bai Yuqiao’s calm eyes.
A sudden gale stirred the silent pool’s surface.
In front of Yang Wanxi, Bai Yuqiao frowned, clear anger surfacing in her eyes.
Her chest heaved heavily.
Then she stood up, grabbed Yang Wanxi’s hand, and strode quickly outside.
