Emily Carter looked over in the direction they were both staring, feeling bored. The girl passing by outside the window was indeed outstanding—snow-white skin, well-proportioned features, and long black hair that fluttered in the wind with her steps. The way she walked with her head down made her look very quiet, and the occasional smile she showed while chatting with her friend was also extremely attractive.

She had excellent grades, was neither aloof nor arrogant, very approachable, and had great popularity.

This was the school beauty recognized within Qiuzhi High School—the one from Class 1, Grade 11, Olivia Smith.

“A real beauty, and what’s rare is that up to now, there hasn’t been any rumor about her being involved with any boy.” Brian Ford’s gaze followed Olivia Smith the whole time, until she disappeared around the corner outside the cafeteria.

“Hmm, I heard she prefers sporty guys. Looks like we don’t stand a chance.” David Clark suddenly became dejected, lowering his head to poke at his food.

“Even if she didn’t like sporty types, you still wouldn’t have a chance! Stop daydreaming. Girls like her are best admired from afar.” Brian Ford took the opportunity to crush his rival’s confidence.

David Clark was Brian Ford’s deskmate, and from junior high all the way to high school, they had miraculously always ended up sitting together. The teachers, for convenience, always assigned seats based on academic performance—the best students picked first, the worst picked last. Brian Ford and David Clark always picked last, because they were always ranked at the very bottom. The only difference was that sometimes Brian Ford was dead last, and sometimes David Clark managed to surpass Brian Ford and claim the bottom spot.

David Clark always complained that the reason he was always the worst student was because he’d spent all three years of junior high sitting next to the infamous “loser” Brian Ford. Of course, Brian Ford flatly denied this—he wasn’t dumb enough to admit he was an idiot. Although the two always blamed each other for their poor grades, they had been best friends since junior high and remained so to this day, because they understood each other in a way no one else could.

Brian Ford and David Clark became famous as a pair at Qiuzhi High School right from the start of freshman year. At that time, the school posted the class assignments for new students on the bulletin board at the main gate. Since the list was, as usual, arranged by entrance exam scores, Brian Ford and David Clark’s names naturally appeared as the last two in Class 3, Grade 10.

Many people laughed when they saw those two names.

Later, as Brian Ford quickly became notorious, David Clark, who was always with him, also became well-known. “Loser” Brian Ford and “Idiot” David Clark—the two of them were dubbed the “Idiot Duo.”

※※※

Because he’d had a close encounter with the school beauty at lunch—even if it was separated by a pane of glass, it still counted as close—Brian Ford was excited for the entire lunch break. While everyone else was napping at their desks, he kept running out to the hallway or fidgeting in his seat. He was disturbing everyone’s rest so much that finally Emily Carter had to step in and scold him before he settled down.

Emily Carter and Brian Ford had grown up together as childhood friends, and she had always looked after this “older brother” who was only half an hour older than her. As a result, Brian Ford had developed a conditioned reflex to obey Emily Carter. Even though he was increasingly unhappy about being bossed around by her, his body just wouldn’t let him act otherwise.

Especially after their parents had been living abroad for a long time and officially entrusted him to Emily Carter’s “care.”

Because he hadn’t rested well at noon, Brian Ford spent the entire afternoon class dozing off. Since the homeroom teacher Henry Grant’s office was right next to the classroom, few students dared to openly sleep under the teacher’s nose. Even the usually thick-skinned Brian Ford didn’t dare, so he could only prop his chin on his hand, pretending to listen while actually nodding off. Every so often, he’d wake up, nod as if he was listening, or twirl his pen.

As Brian Ford kept pretending, he felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, and eventually, even his willpower couldn’t keep him awake. In the end, he just fell asleep.

David Clark was doodling in his textbook, not paying any attention to his deskmate.

The geography teacher was explaining plate tectonics, describing how the Himalayas were formed by the collision of the Eurasian and Indian plates. To make her explanation more vivid, she borrowed two students’ pencil cases from the front row and bumped them together.

Of course, the female teacher’s movements were very gentle, so there was no noise.

“Class, look, just like this—two plates collide, and after years and years of this kind of impact, the Himalayas…”

In his sleep, Brian Ford felt as if a fly had landed on his nose. He hated being disturbed while sleeping—he wouldn’t tolerate even a fly and had to shoo it away.

So he waved his hand.

“Crash!”

“Ouch!”

“Crash! Crash!”

The two pencil cases in the geography teacher’s hands fell onto the podium, scattering everywhere. And behind Emily Carter, a pencil case also fell to the floor and burst open. She herself was covering her mouth, lying on her desk—the “Ouch!” just now was her reaction to being hit on the back by Brian Ford’s pencil case.