Wan Da didn't give them a chance to speak. He kept repeating, "Please, wake up," the whole way back to his seat.
Xie Yu stood in the doorway, his feelings complicated. "...We're wide awake."
He Zhao was still in the same pose, one arm hooked around Xie Yu's neck, stunned by Wan Da's words. "...Really, we're awake."
He yelled at Wan Da's departing back, "Trust me! A perfect score isn't hard to get..."
Now Wan Da was not the only person breaking down. Liu Cunhao nearly threw his English vocabulary handbook at the two of them. "Trust what? There's no trust between us! If you get a perfect score, I'll eat my mid-term test!"
"......"
The bell rang to signal the start of morning self-study and the various classrooms gradually quieted.
The English teacher walked out of the faculty office holding a stack of books and saw two figures standing in Class 3's doorway. "—What are you two doing standing in the doorway? Get back to your seats. Class is starting, don't you know?"
Xie Yu internally sighed and didn't keep quibbling with them on the topic. He walked to the last row and pulled out his chair.
"Class 3's studying hard today." The English teacher stepped into the classroom and immediately felt the unusual atmosphere. She bent over the computer and adjusted the listening comprehension file. "You're memorizing vocabulary so intently. Are you feeling the pressure of the midterms?"
The English teacher increased the volume, then said, "You don't have to be so worried. Just take the midterm exams like you usually do. Adjust your expectations..."
She could never have imagined that Class 3 just wanted to compete with Class 4 next door. They'd sworn an oath to get their own back.
Xie Yu did one of the listening comprehension questions.
He had gotten up at five something a.m. to catch the bus and started to get sleepy after two questions. He lay down on the desk, pen still held between his fingers, and the English letters he wrote grew messier and messier.
He Zhao turned and saw his little friend with his eyes half-closed, looking very sleepy. Xie Yu did questions very quickly and ticked off his answer before the test finished asking the question.
As Xie Yu ticked the answers off, he was thinking. He admitted to himself that he had left himself some wiggle room since entering high school. Sometimes, he would do half a question and give the subject teachers a little surprise. "Look at this question. Didn't you figure out how to solve it? You should memorize the solution steps properly. Then you wouldn't get stuck after writing the beginning..."
But these careful little surprises had not left much of an impression on his classmates or the teachers.
"Do you have an extra pen?" He Zhao asked.
"Where's yours?"
"I got used to... not bringing one."
The outcome of having acted for so long and gaining experience enough to be a pro at slacking off... was that Xie Yu went through the entire interior of his desk and did not find a second pen. He was still as poor as before.
They stared at each other in silence. "......"
Xie Yu looked away and nudged the student in front of him with his pen, about to ask if he had extra pens, but the student—who was usually respectful of the two big bros in the back row—was now being obstinate.
