Of course, it was the last month, so Mrs. Johnson couldn’t possibly give her a special seat. After scolding her for half the day, she figured the girl hadn’t listened to a word. It wasn’t until she saw the math teacher put away his phone and quietly slip out to eat that she waved her hand and stormed out of the classroom as well.

The students immediately swarmed out in a rush.

If you were even a little slow at this time, you’d probably have to order takeout through the dog hole.

William Carter didn’t want to squeeze through the crowd, so he slowed down.

Emily Thompson, on the other hand, was in a great mood. Anyone who didn’t know better would think she’d just been praised. She was humming some random tune she didn’t even know herself: “Going home for dinner, going home for dinner…”

Before leaving, she called out to William Carter, “I’m off!”

William Carter nodded, “See you, Emily.”

Then he carried his bowl out of the classroom too—one heading to the cafeteria, the other straight for the bike parking area.

For third-year day students, once they entered school in the morning, they couldn’t leave until after evening self-study. The security guard at the gate would check, and it was even stricter as the college entrance exam approached. This was to prevent students from being tempted by the many snack stalls outside the gate—at this time, even a minor stomach upset could have a big impact.

But Emily had her own ways.

The cafeteria food was decent—certainly not as good as Aunt Jiang’s cooking, but at least it was nutritious. After eating, William Carter noticed ‘that one’ wandering aimlessly on the playground. Not wanting to attract his attention, he stayed in the cafeteria until he left.

Dusk arrived, breathtakingly beautiful.

Chapter 3: The Monster at School

It was already quite late when he returned to the classroom.

His deskmate Emily Thompson didn’t swagger in until just before class started. She tossed her black shoulder bag onto the desk with a thud, like a hammer striking the tabletop.

Then, as usual, she greeted William Carter—

“Hey… uh!”

Accompanied by a crisp little burp.

Evening English self-study. William Carter didn’t like English; he couldn’t focus on the book, and his eyes wandered all over the place.

There were forty-seven students in the class, seats arranged in a 2-4-2 pattern, with one seat left empty in the sixth row. The seating arrangement was pretty complicated, taking into account both height and eyesight, as well as students’ personal preferences—and, of course, the teacher’s wishes mattered too. All in all, it was much better than the neighboring class, where seats were chosen strictly by academic ranking.

Because William Carter was tall and had good eyesight, he sat in the last row, farthest right by the window.

Originally, the homeroom teacher had required that seats be shifted every two weeks so everyone would have a chance to sit by the window, but in the past two months, everyone had gotten lazy and the arrangement had pretty much settled.

William Carter quite liked this spot. He could look out at the playground through the window, enjoy the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, and see the whole classroom when he looked inside.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t right next to the window, but next to the aisle, with a tuft of messy hair between him and the window.

In the afternoon, everyone was full of energy and there was a lot of horsing around. The students in front, Grace Brooks and Sarah Bolton, were sneak-attacking each other, always targeting the most embarrassing spots.

A few guys who’d just come back from basketball lifted their shirts to wipe off sweat, faintly revealing the outlines of their abs.

Every five to ten seconds, his deskmate would let out another burp.

As for outside the window, it was the end of dusk. A few clouds, dyed gold by the setting sun, floated at the edge of the sky, light as feathers. A patch of dark cloud overhead was also rimmed with gold, its outline like a dog. Only a handful of people were still strolling slowly toward the teaching building on the playground. From afar, William Carter could see that one standing by a tree—his huge figure very conspicuous, yet he didn’t move at all.

That one had been at this school for a long time—at least longer than William Carter.

He usually hung out in the small grove, which was basically the school’s backyard, with only abandoned teachers’ dorms that few people visited. William Carter figured he probably lived there, though he didn’t have a hut or a cave or anything like that. William Carter had never seen how he spent the night, only once saw him slip into an abandoned dorm during a heavy rain.

That day, the rain was especially heavy—even he couldn’t stand it.

Normally, he was just like his kind—unless something special happened, he’d never interact with ordinary people, and would actively avoid them if encountered. William Carter felt there must be something restraining them.

Plus, William Carter had gained some experience dealing with them since childhood, so he usually avoided him on purpose. That’s why, for the first few months of high school, they’d coexisted peacefully. Until one day, during the sports meet, he accidentally discovered that William Carter could see him, and from then on, William Carter was removed from the list of ordinary people.

William Carter felt he might have become his ‘plaything’. After that, he always found William Carter, treating him like a little pet, which caused William Carter a lot of trouble.

“What are you looking at… uh!”

A question ending in a burp startled him back to reality. He looked up to see Emily Thompson’s curious expression.

“Nothing.” William Carter’s gaze couldn’t help drifting upward again.

“Later when Mrs. Johnson comes and sees you spacing out, she’ll definitely pull a long face,” Emily Thompson sighed. “Then she’ll say I’m distracting you from your studies again.”

“She won’t.” William Carter could always spot Mrs. Johnson before she arrived.