Sarah Thompson turned to William Carter and whispered, “Damn, No.1 High really is different— even the teachers curse! Damn it, what an annoying face.”

William Carter snorted and said, “People like that are everywhere, not just at No.1 High!”

“Hey, what are you two talking about?” The teacher glared at William Carter and Sarah Thompson. Sarah Thompson turned his head to look at him but held back from saying anything.

The teacher picked up a sheet of paper and then said loudly, “Now I’m going to call roll. When your name is called, raise your hand and say ‘here.’ Let’s begin! Lu Tao.” “Here!”

“…Wang Boyuan!” “Here!” “Sarah Thompson.” Sarah Thompson raised his hand weakly and muttered ‘here.’ The teacher shot him a glare and continued, “William Carter…” At this, the teacher paused, chuckled, and said, “What a strange name. I remember before the liberation of the Northeast, there was a bandit leader also called William Carter!” Sarah Thompson almost exploded with anger when he heard this, and was about to stand up when William Carter held him back.

The teacher completely ignored the dozen or so murderous glares from below and continued, “I really wonder what your parents were thinking when they named you?!”

William Carter slowly stood up. “Teacher, it’s very rude to insult someone’s name. Didn’t your parents ever teach you that?”

【Volume One: Youthful Passion】 Chapter 7

“What are you, to dare talk to me like that!” The teacher felt his dignity was being challenged, and shouted in anger, waving his hands in the air.

William Carter stared unblinkingly at this middle-aged man flailing in front of him, an irritated feeling rising inside. William Carter pointed at him and said, “You’re nothing in front of me! You’d better not mess with me, or you’ll know the bitterness of regret.” With that, he pulled up his pant leg and sat back down.

“You…” The teacher wanted to say more, but when he saw the beast-like look in William Carter’s eyes, he swallowed his words. He didn’t want to admit he’d been intimidated by a new student, but his trembling legs betrayed him.

He silently made a note of William Carter’s name, chuckled to himself, and continued calling roll. Sarah Thompson turned to William Carter and asked, “Dong-ge, are we just going to let this go?”

William Carter narrowed his eyes. “There’ll be a chance later!” Then he lay down on the desk, getting ready to sleep.

Lately, for some reason, William Carter had been feeling especially sleepy. He used to wake up at four thirty, but now even at six he didn’t want to get out of bed. If anyone interrupted his sleep, he’d get extremely irritable.

After roll call, the teacher selected the class officers. Of course, even though William Carter had the best grades, his impression on the teacher was just too ‘memorable,’ so he didn’t get any position. What the teacher didn’t know was that William Carter was actually very satisfied with this outcome. In the end, the class officers ‘happily’ went to fetch the new textbooks. Once the books were handed out, the teacher said, “Class is dismissed. Remember to be at school by seven tomorrow, class starts at eight. No one better be late.” With that, he walked toward the classroom door, thinking about how to deal with William Carter, who had just made him lose face.

William Carter and Sarah Thompson left the classroom, followed by their buddies from the same class. They saw a few people standing in the hallway, all wearing No.1 High uniforms. When they saw William Carter and Sarah Thompson, one student with a face swollen like a pig’s head pointed and said to the person next to him, “Tiger, that’s them, ow—” He pointed so hard it hurt.

William Carter looked closely and realized it was ‘Small Eyes,’ the one Sarah Thompson had beaten up that morning. He couldn’t help but admire him—after such a beating, he could still walk, which showed just how ‘tough’ he was. Sarah Thompson recognized him too and sneered, “What, still not convinced?”

The student called Tiger by ‘Small Eyes’ walked over and sized up Sally Miller, saying, “Bro, you’re new here, and you didn’t show respect to the seniors as soon as you arrived. You beat someone up like this—I can’t just let it go.” This Tiger was over 1.8 meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with three deep lines on his forehead when he raised his eyebrows—he really did look a bit like a tiger.

“So what do you want to do?” Sally Miller didn’t dare underestimate this Tiger; if it came to a one-on-one fight, he wasn’t sure he could win.

Tiger nodded. “Meet me in the grove behind the sports field in a bit. Let’s settle this.” With that, he turned and left. ‘Small Eyes’ limped after him, turning back to look at Sally Miller as he left: “You little punk, you’d better get a stretcher ready. Whoever doesn’t show up is the loser’s son!”

“Screw you, just wait till I get a few guys together—you’re really asking for it! Just wait for me.”

At that moment, George Miller arrived and asked William Carter, “Dong-ge, what’s going on?”

Before William Carter could answer, Sarah Thompson jumped in: “Those two punks from the bike shed this morning brought people over. They want us to settle things in the grove behind the sports field.”

After hearing this, George Miller grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Dong-ge, it’s been a while since we had a good fight. Today’s the perfect chance to ‘stretch our muscles.’”

William Carter nodded. Looks like there’s no way to establish himself here without a fight. After all, this is No.1 High, a ‘concentration camp’ for delinquents. “Qiangzi, go get all the brothers. I’ve got a plan!” George Miller agreed and ran off.