Holly Winslow was so amused by her two friends she could barely contain her laughter. "Alright, alright, you two are the greatest."
"Holly's the most impressive one, though. She even used English to chew him out," Iris Kensington teased, tilting her head.
That sent Anna Willow into a fit of boisterous laughter. "I could laugh about that for a whole year."
The three of them were so caught up in the moment that they didn't realize the paths had emptied of students.
Just as they were about to head upstairs, they bumped into a panting Xavier Jennings. Gasping for air, he asked in bewilderment, "Morning study hall has already started. Why aren't you guys rushing?"
There was no bell for morning study hall; students were supposed to keep an eye on the time themselves.
Upon hearing this, Holly Winslow quickly glanced at her watch. It was already two minutes past seven. "Anna! Ellie! We're late!" she cried in alarm.
The three of them—no, the four of them—were caught red-handed by Julian Carlton, who was standing guard at the classroom door.
"Get in a line," Mr. Carlton said, his face stern as he pointed at the four of them. "Alright, start talking. Why are you late? Iris Kensington, you first."
Iris Kensington flinched, all her earlier fire completely gone. She glanced at Holly Winslow and Anna Willow, hoping to get their story straight, and stammered weakly, "Mr. Carlton, I…"
Just then, Holly Winslow raised her hand and cut in, "Mr. Carlton, I have something to say."
Julian Carlton's expression softened slightly at her polite gesture.
Holly Winslow recounted the morning's events. "Mr. Carlton, we didn't mean to be late. A boy was giving me trouble, and Iris Kensington and Anna Willow were late because they were protecting me."
The class had a rule: students who were late for morning study hall had to go read on the balcony. That wasn't so bad. What was worse was that Mr. Carlton would call their parents.
She couldn't let Iris Kensington and Anna Willow get in trouble because of her.
"Who was giving you trouble? And why?" Julian Carlton asked, his tone skeptical.
"I don't know him. He put his arm around my shoulder and told me to be his girlfriend."
Any other girl would have been mortified to say something like that, but Holly Winslow was long past the age of embarrassment.
"Who was it? He's asking for a…" Xavier Jennings snarled, but immediately clammed up when Mr. Carlton shot him a glare.
Anna Willow and Iris Kensington fought back laughter, lowering their heads to hide their smiles.
"What does he look like?" Mr. Carlton asked.
"He has a lot of pimples, is about five-foot-seven, and his hair is kind of blondish," Holly Winslow said after a moment of thought.
Mr. Carlton knew who she meant. There was only one kid in the whole school with bleached-blond hair. "That delinquent, Clark York," he muttered. "Never studies. What does he think he's doing!"
A student inside the classroom poked their head out to see what was going on.
Then, Mr. Carlton looked at Holly Winslow. "If he ever dares to bother you again, you come tell me. I'll go be his 'girlfriend.'"
"Go on, back to class. Study hard and don't worry. I'll handle this."
"Thank you, Mr. Carlton."
The three girls entered the classroom with Xavier Jennings following behind. He leaned close to Holly Winslow. "Holly, don't be scared. I'm gonna go rough him up after study hall."
Holly Winslow wanted to say something, but she saw Mr. Carlton watching from the doorway, so she just obediently took her seat.
Anna Willow propped up her Language Arts textbook to hide her face, grinning so wide her gums showed. "Mr. Carlton is hilarious."
Iris Kensington couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter. Fortunately, the chorus of students reading aloud masked the sound.
"Hurry up and study. The teacher's going to call on people for recitation in Language Arts," Holly Winslow said, glancing at her friends before turning back to memorizing the classical poems.
Seeing how focused she was, Iris Kensington and Anna Willow got serious too.
Mr. Carlton watched the three of them for a moment, feeling a sense of gratification.
At seven thirty, morning study hall ended. Students started banging on their meal containers as they headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Holly Winslow turned to look for Xavier Jennings, but he had already left the classroom. She jumped up to follow, but by the time she got out, he was already heading down the stairs.
Anna Willow and Iris Kensington brought her meal container out. "Holly, what's wrong?" Anna asked, confused.
"Xavier Jennings might have gone to find Clark York," Holly Winslow said, taking the container.
Iris Kensington gave her shoulder a little nudge and grinned. "Holly, you know, Xavier Jennings is actually a pretty great guy. He's tall, handsome, and he's so good to you."
"I think so too."
Anna Willow lowered her voice. "Lynn Hayes in our class has a crush on him."
"What? How did I not know that?" Iris Kensington's expression was pure gossip.
Just then, Holly Winslow caught sight of Lynn Hayes coming out of the classroom. She quickly pulled her two friends away. "Let's hurry and get breakfast, or all the seats will be taken."
The subject was successfully changed. Anna Willow tugged them into a run. "Let's go, then! I don't want to eat standing up," she said urgently.
Once in the cafeteria, they followed their usual routine: one person saved a table while the other two got food. Today, it was Anna Willow's turn to find a spot.
Anna Willow handed her meal card to Holly Winslow and dashed off after calling out her order, "Holly, I want two steamed buns and a bowl of congee!"
After a three-minute wait in line, Iris Kensington and Holly Winslow had their food.
"Ellie! Holly! Over here!" Anna Willow called out, waving from a table in the very back row of the cafeteria.
The two of them walked over.
Holly Winslow handed the meal card back to Anna Willow. "Anna, you need to add money to your card. You only have ten yuan left on it."
Anna Willow took a bite of her bun. "I'll get my brother to top it up later," she said, her cheeks puffed out. "The line to add money is always super long on Mondays. Do you guys need to add any? He can do it all at once."
Holly Winslow and Iris Kensington both shook their heads.
Speak of the devil.
Anna Willow suddenly saw two boys and waved happily, "Bro, over here!"
Holly Winslow and Iris Kensington turned their heads to look. Anna Willow's brother, Brian Willow, was wearing a dark green jacket and black jeans. His layered hair was a bit long, and he was quite handsome.
The other boy was Brian Willow's classmate, Chris Chaucer, who was apparently their class president. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and light-blue sweatpants. He had fair skin, double eyelids, two small dimples, and looked a bit like a K-pop star.
Remembering something, she turned to glance at Iris Kensington next to her, only to find Iris had already turned away. She was staring intently into her bowl of congee, obviously flustered.
Brian Willow and Chris Chaucer walked over. Brian sat next to his sister, and Chris sat next to Holly Winslow.
Holly Winslow saw that Iris Kensington's face was beet red. She took a bite of her bun to hide a smile.
'In my past life, Iris and Chris got married. They were the first of us three to tie the knot.'
Brian Willow glanced at her. "What's so funny, Holly?" he asked, his voice low and magnetic.
'His voice was really nice. He was often the one who made school announcements over the PA system.'
Of course, Holly Winslow couldn't tell the truth. She held up the bun in her hand. "Just thinking how good this bun is."
"Oh? Well, here, you can have this one. I got an extra one today by mistake," Brian Willow said, casually placing a bun from his tray onto hers.
'Holly Winslow didn't think much of it. Brian Willow had always treated her and Iris Kensington like his own little sisters.'
"Hey, Bro, you're playing favorites! You give one to Holly but not to me," Anna Willow whined, pouting playfully.
Holly quickly passed it to her. "Fine, you can have it, you little grump."
"Oh, Holly, I was just kidding! You have it. I'm trying to lose weight anyway," Anna Willow said, passing it back again.
At that moment, Chris Chaucer glanced at Iris Kensington. "Ellie, how come you're only having congee? Here," he said, "I happened to get an extra bun today, too." With that, he placed one on her plate.
'Holly Winslow leaned back. If she weren't afraid of embarrassing Iris Kensington, she would've offered him her seat.'
Iris Kensington looked up, her face flushed as red as a cooked lobster. Holly Winslow and Anna Willow snickered shamelessly.
Anna Willow teased, "Chris, you got an extra bun too? What a coincidence."
"Yeah, what a coincidence," Chris Chaucer mumbled, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Just eat. Less talking," Brian Willow said, tapping Anna Willow's meal container with his chopsticks.