Brian Bolton rubbed his face, and countless memories quietly surged in his heart: “Grace Lawson, I’m back.”

Three years as high school classmates, with many unforgettable stories.

Back in the first year, when seats were assigned, Brian Bolton sat diagonally behind Grace Lawson. His deskmate was William Lane, a somewhat handsome guy who fancied himself as Tony Leung and had a crush on Grace Lawson. But since he sat rather far away, he often asked Brian Bolton to help pass little notes to her. Although Grace Lawson never replied to the notes, William Lane kept writing them tirelessly.

And Brian Bolton, foolishly, kept delivering them, doing what a background character was supposed to do.

He didn’t understand love, and was rather playful, with his knowledge of boy-girl matters limited to the discussions in the dorm at night—he didn’t care about such things during the day.

But as the saying goes, if you walk by the river often, your shoes will get wet. After delivering notes for William Lane for over half a year, he ended up becoming friends with Grace Lawson instead. They would often chat together, talk about dreams and life. Sometimes during evening self-study, when Brian Bolton wasn’t studying, Grace Lawson would urge him to focus, just like Shen Jiayi did for Ke Jingteng in “You Are the Apple of My Eye.”

When Brian Bolton tried to sneak off to surf the internet during evening study, Grace Lawson would stop him and not allow him to go.

Looking back now, these were actually just simple ways of expressing affection during student days. But at the time, Brian Bolton had no idea, always thinking that Grace Lawson stopped him from going online because her brother, David Lawson, would go with him.

Grace Lawson was David Lawson’s younger sister, two years younger than him, but because David Lawson had suffered from neurasthenia for a while in middle school, they ended up in the same grade.

Neurasthenia is a pretty awesome illness, Brian Bolton always thought, because people with it have no physical damage, but can skip school.

After the classes were split in the second year, Brian Bolton and Grace Lawson both went to the liberal arts slow class.

Oh, and that William Lane also ended up in the liberal arts slow class, Class 7 of the second year.

The story didn’t develop into a love triangle. The pressure in the slow class was no less than in the fast class. At that time, academic performance was strictly emphasized, and the teachers managed everything with an iron fist. With students busy studying all day, those little crushes were constantly suppressed by the teachers, never given a chance to blossom.

Especially in the second year, when a boy and a girl were caught in a puppy love relationship, the boy was expelled from school, which scared countless restless boys and girls into submission.

Though later, Brian Bolton realized that the boy was actually transferred to another school by his parents, and the teachers just used the “expulsion” story to scare them.

So, there was William Lane, always looking for chances to pass notes; Grace Lawson, always coldly rejecting him; and Brian Bolton, just going along for the ride.

The second year passed peacefully, and so did the first semester of the third year.

In the second semester of the third year, as the pressure of the college entrance exam mounted and everyone was about to go their separate ways, the feelings hidden deep inside could no longer be suppressed. Brian Bolton and Grace Lawson grew closer and closer. Although nothing ever happened between them, and nothing was ever made explicit, there seemed to be a tacit understanding.

Brian Bolton knew he had fallen for Grace Lawson, and Grace Lawson also seemed to have feelings for him.

One ordinary noon, they made a promise they would never fulfill. Brian Bolton said he would go to Shanghai, and Grace Lawson said she would go find him. In the end, Brian Bolton didn’t go to Shanghai; he compromised and went to a three-year college. Grace Lawson also went to college, but not the same one. As time passed, they rarely contacted each other.

Eventually, Brian Bolton even lost track of Grace Lawson altogether.

“Who are you looking at?” Ethan Carter patted Brian Bolton on the shoulder. He was tall, so he chose a seat in the back and sat with Brian Bolton.

Brian Bolton snapped out of it and replied quietly, “Looking at... the blackboard.”

Chapter 011 Mr. Brooks

“I feel like there’s something off about your gaze. Come on, who are you looking at? Found a clue so quickly?”

Ethan Carter was quite the gossip.

Brian Bolton wasn’t about to reveal his secrets, so he just brushed it off: “Listening to the teacher carefully.”

He told Ethan Carter to pay attention, but his own eyes wandered, searching his memory for his classmates.

That guy over there scratching his head was his old deskmate William Lane, always thinking he was so handsome, but actually quite annoying; the dark-skinned one over there, staring intently at the teacher, was Jack Ellis, the self-proclaimed captain of Class 7’s soccer team, though the liberal arts class could barely form a team; the guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, always with a slight smile, was the former class monitor Charles Dean.

The chubby girl over here, with a fierce look on her face, was Emily Warren, nicknamed “T-Rex”; the round-faced, gentle-looking girl was the kind-hearted Lily Scott, who once helped Brian Bolton wash his clothes; the girl with glasses and a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth was Brian Bolton’s first dream girl, Jessica Young.

Over there sat someone taller than most people standing—John Thompson, the tallest in Class 5, first year; and here, the guy with a full beard, not much to look at, was Brian Bolton’s fellow townsman Bella Evans—his name is Bingbing, but he’s a guy...

Natalie Young’s speech wasn’t long, so by the time Brian Bolton had looked over the whole class, it was time to assign seats.

The seating arrangement was one row of boys, one row of girls, with taller students in the back and shorter ones in the front. At his current height of 1.65 meters, Brian Bolton was a bit on the short side, so sitting in the middle was just right.