The alarm went off. Zhuang Fanxin reached out from his duvet to smack the alarm clock without opening his eyes, then went back to sleep with a grumble. Then the phone by his pillow received a message.
"Let's go together. See you at the gate." It was from Gu Zhuoyan.
Zhuang Fanxin sat up, puzzled. He looked out the window at the bright sky, and remembered that it was the first day of school. Slowly, he shuffled into the shower, and then changed into his school uniform. There was no time left for breakfast, so he pulled his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door.
His bicycle was next to the gate. Zhuang Fanxin went over and peeked outside, only to find that Gu Zhuoyan was already waiting there. "Want to ride on the back of my bike?" he asked.
Gu Baoyan was starting school today too, so Xue Maochen had taken her there in the off-road vehicle, and there were no other vehicles in their house. Gu Zhuoyan looked at the boy's slender limbs and declined. "Let's hail a ride."
Zhuang Fanxin didn't mind either way. He chucked his keys into the bicycle basket and set off with Gu Zhuoyan. The sun wasn't out; the atmosphere felt heavy and damp, like a storm was brewing.
They got into the taxi. It was hard to avoid heavy traffic on Monday mornings; the road was full of annoyed drivers. Zhuang Fanxin turned to look at Gu Zhuoyan. In his white tennis shirt, his shoulders were straight and broad, his neck long; bending his knees as he sat, the school-issued track bottoms didn't quite reach his ankles.
Perhaps his gaze seemed a little dewy-eyed, and also a little heated. Gu Zhuoyan returned the look. "What is it, o fellow student?"
"Your uniform's very new," Zhuang Fanxin complimented.
After all that staring, all he had to say was that his uniform was new? Involuntarily, Gu Zhuoyan began to wonder, but then quickly reminded himself to be kind and considerate. He reached out to fold down the back of Zhuang Fanxin's collar, and said, "I can give the red one to you, it's just as new."
Zhuang Fanxin didn't want it. "No thanks, your size is too big."
Why was he always getting turned down? Not discouraged, Gu Zhuoyan replied, "It'll fit once you grow into it."
Zhuang Fanxin turned away, annoyed. Why was this guy rubbing salt onto his wounds? He was going to be an adult in a year, and he wasn't even sure if he could reach those two extra centimeters he had falsely added to his height by then. He thought about it. Maybe he should go to the hospital and check his bone age…?
Sigh… a youth checking his bone age and a middle-aged man losing his hair were the most pitiful sights to be seen.
The atmosphere in the car was uncomfortable. Gu Zhuoyan didn't bother to change it, simply shutting his mouth and playing the part of a strong, silent, handsome boy. Suddenly, Zhuang Fanxin's phone rang wildly. He fished it out and looked: their class teacher was nagging everyone in the group not to forget their uniforms, their student ID cards, their summer homework, and to be on time for school. After this was a string of replies from his classmates.
Following this, the class teacher sent another announcement: We have a transfer student joining us this term.
Since Zhuang Fanxin had already spoiled it beforehand, the boys didn't react. Only the class president replied with a pretentious clap emoji. Zhuang Fanxin showed his phone to Gu Zhuoyan. "Mr. Xia made an official announcement about you."
"Oh, okay," said Gu Zhuoyan placidly.
Zhuang Fanxin couldn't help but continue, "Actually, I already told the boys in my class." Thinking of how they had responded, he grinned as he said, "They were all hoping it was a girl, haha."
Seeing Gu Zhuoyan's lack of response, as if none of it concerned him, Zhuang Fanxin pushed the boy's shoulder. "Hey, transfer student, can't you react a little?"
"Wow," said Gu Zhuoyan obediently.
Wow…? Zhuang Fanxin was speechless. He turned back to look outside again. Gu Zhuoyan looked out the window too: the traffic had lessened, and they passed many walking students as they drove on.
After a while, he asked suddenly, "Do you wish it were a girl?"
He may have been imagining it, but Zhuang Fanxin felt as if Gu Zhuoyan had asked the question both casually and yet somewhat seriously. "No," he replied, "I knew you were a guy anyway."
They reached the school at seven-thirty sharp. Gu Zhuoyan and Zhuang Fanxin followed the crowd in; one of them went to the office building to look for the teacher, while the other went to the Science building classrooms.
When they split up in the corridor, Zhuang Fanxin said, "I'll wait for you in class."
Gu Zhuoyan walked to the office block. All around him were upper secondary students of roughly similar age; a summer apart didn't stop them from causing a ruckus. The unfamiliar smiling faces passed him by; all of this, the people, the classrooms, the library, even the textbooks and the tree by the corridor, all of it felt incomparably foreign to him.
But there was Zhuang Fanxin, who had come with him for his exams the other day and complimented his school uniform on the way to school; who, in the midst of all that was foreign and unknown, had so familiarly said: I'll wait for you in class.
He walked a little faster.
The entire Science building was bedlam. Year Two Class Three was no exception to this; their noise and laughter could be heard from the end of the corridor. Suddenly Zhuang Fanxin ran in with his school bag, yelling, "Mr. Xia is here!"
All at once, everyone panicked and scrambled back to their seats, opening their books and pretending to behave themselves. Their eyes were guiltily trained on the classroom door. Ten seconds later, the doorway was as empty and silent as ever. They peeked at Zhuang Fanxin: the unlucky bastard was shaking, fighting back his laughter.
With untrammelled fury, everyone attacked Zhuang Fanxin, pressing his small form against the table and pulling at his clothes. His hair was messed up so badly it looked as if he'd been electrocuted.
At that exact moment, someone else shouted as he dashed into the classroom: "Yinan has a twenty-percent back-to-school discount today, isn't that great?!" It was Qi Nan.
Hearing this, Zhuang Fanxin groaned, "Stop advertising… Come save me…"
Qi Nan looked over. "The fuck? What are you doing to my little deskmate?!"
The answer was unanimous. "Beating him up!"
"Why didn't you wait for me!" said Qi Nan, annoyed.
The classroom was even more raucous than it had been before. Both boys and girls entered the fray, undivided; the tables and chairs were all knocked askew. Zhuang Fanxin lay on the table panting for a while—he was sweating from all the abuse.
When everyone had tired and quieted down a little, Zhuang Fanxin popped his messy head up and said, "Hand in your English homework. If you haven't finished it, hurry up and do it now."
Every subject's class rep began to call out for homework, sounding like scrap collectors. Silently, Zhuang Fanxin did some housekeeping. He moved the table and chair by the window, where they normally put their workbooks, to the back of the classroom. Then he took a cloth and wiped them down until they were nice and clean, so that Gu Zhuoyan could come in and sit there right away.
One after the other, the students filled the class. The homeroom bell rang, sending everyone to their seats. The class representative for general affairs came back in, carrying various things, and announced that the class teacher was arriving with the transfer student in tow: this time, it was true.
"Is the transfer student handsome?" someone asked.
The general rep nodded vigorously. "Yup!"
"Better-looking than Zhuang Fanxin?"
"Manlier!"
Zhuang Fanxin's ears pricked up; when he heard the response, he burned with embarrassment. But everyone had their right to free speech. "Speak softly. Don't let me hear it!" he chided.
The teacher arrived at the door of the classroom. The whole class fell completely silent. Zhuang Fanxin hugged the large stack of English workbooks in front of him with both arms and placed his chin on top, looking perfectly well-behaved and obedient.
Xia Wei walked around the classroom. He took attendance, looked over the tables to make sure they were neatly arranged, and checked the corner of the classroom to see if the mops were properly put away. When there were no other faults to be noted, he cleared his throat. "You're all in second year now, and there will be a new student in Class Three. Everyone, please welcome the new student. Please, introduce yourself."
Gu Zhuoyan stood by the doorway. After Xia Wei spoke, he heard thunderous applause, even some whoops and cheers. Walking into the classroom felt a bit like stepping onto the stage of a Spring Festival event.
He stepped up to the podium, facing the forty-odd pairs of eyes that fell upon him and took measure of him from head to toe.
Qi Nan nudged Zhuang Fanxin. "Who's more handsome, him or me?"
"There are people you needn't wait for, and there are questions you needn't ask," quoted Zhuang Fanxin.
Normally, a teacher standing at the podium would notice anyone speaking below. Gu Zhuoyan quickly spotted Zhuang Fanxin and Qi Nan. His gaze swept across them and stopped on Zhuang Fanxin, sitting in the third row. His hair was slightly lighter in colour than everyone else's, and his arms a little slimmer. Right then, he was in the middle of a hushed conversation.
Zhuang Fanxin raised his head after he finished and met Gu Zhuoyan's gaze. It seemed a little solemn, even a little cold. Mistakenly assuming Gu Zhuoyan was nervous, he raised his index fingers to the corners of his mouth and pushed up lightly.
Gu Zhuoyan understood. A slow smile bloomed on his face.
"My name is Gu Zhuoyan. I'm glad to join you all in Class Three," he said.
The class waited in silence for a while before they realized that he had completed his introduction. "Don't be shy," said Xia Wei. "Tell us more, help your classmates get to know you."
Gu Zhuoyan turned and wrote his phone number on the blackboard, then chucked the chalk into its box. "Here's my number. Don't hesitate to contact me," he said, in a stiff and formal tone.
Everyone took his number down. After another moment, Xia Wei continued, "Anything else? Go on and tell the class. What are you good at, for instance?"
This was the sort of question that often appeared on school entry survey forms, for the school to learn more about a student's academic interests, competitive leanings, co-curricular activities, so on and so forth. Gu Zhuoyan thought about it. What was he good at? If he said studying, he would sound like a nerd. Fencing? But he hadn't practiced in quite a while. Musical instruments? What if they asked him to perform at the next cultural event?
After some thought, he gave the most inconsequential answer he could. "I'm good at claw machines."
Nobody expected this. "You mean, the kind where you pick up dolls?" asked Xia Wei.
"Yup," said Gu Zhuoyan. "I only need one go."
Perhaps the stereotypes he held were too fixed, but such a skill didn't seem to match with the boy's image, so Xia Wei asked curiously, "Why are you good at claw machines? Do you play them often?"
Gu Zhuoyan laughed. "I've had to pick lots of dolls for a girl, so I got good at it."
The boys below couldn't hold back their excitement. Qi Nan leaned his head against Zhuang Fanxin, and said rather dreamily, "Ahh, why aren't there any girls asking me to pick dolls for them?"
Before Zhuang Fanxin could speak, Xia Wei reminded everyone that studying was more important right now, not romance. Gu Zhuoyan stepped down from the podium. As he passed Zhuang Fanxin, he couldn't help but reach out and touch the ends of the boy's hair. Unexpectedly, Zhuang Fanxin was lying in wait for him, and jabbed him in the thigh.
They began cleaning up at nine o'clock; everyone was self-aware enough to clean their corners of the classroom after the teacher left, while the class reps for each subject took the workbooks they had collected to the staff room. But Zhuang Fanxin, the English rep, didn't move.
Gu Zhuoyan put his new booklist into his desk. He raised his head and saw Zhuang Fanxin twisting in his seat.
"Hey, deskmate." Zhuang Fanxin undid his first button. "I've got something cool to show you."
Qi Nan was frantically trying to complete his English homework, and responded flippantly, "What, a new phone?" He glanced over very quickly and saw Zhuang Fanxin opening the third button, exposing part of his pale chest. "The fuck? Is it that hot?"
Zhuang Fanxin beckoned mysteriously. "Come closer!"
Gu Zhuoyan stared expressionlessly. He knew what it was. Zhuang Fanxin was showing off his tattoo. Just as he had pulled his collar open to show him before, he was now unbuttoning his shirt for Qi Nan's appreciation.
He watched the pair of them from three or four rows away, leaning back in his chair, twirling his pen between his fingers. He saw Qi Nan approach Zhuang Fanxin, his head closing in on Zhuang Fanxin's neck, as if he was burying his face into Zhuang Fanxin's clavicle; naturally, his gaze peered at the shoulder beneath the uniform.
"Well?" Zhuang Fanxin asked proudly. "Doesn't it look good?"
"It isn't fake, is it?" asked Qi Nan in return.
"Of course not!"
"Did it hurt?"
"No, not at all."
The two jabbered on. Clack. Gu Zhuoyan uncapped his pen. It's just a little heart. Looking at it for three seconds is too long, he thought. With a snap of his fingers, the pen cap flew straight forward and hit Qi Nan on the back of the head.
"Ouch! Who did that!" Qi Nan yelled. He and Zhuang Fanxin both looked around them.
Gu Zhuoyan turned his head to the window, as if the view he had was the best in the world.
Time biting at his heels, Qi Nan continued to write. Zhuang Fanxin waited next to him. He bent down and picked up the pen cap: it was black, with little star-shaped sticker on it. He remembered seeing a similar one stuck to Gu Baoyan's forehead.
Brr. Gu Zhuoyan pulled out his vibrating phone and unlocked it. It was a text.
Zhuang Fanxin: "Why did you hit my deskmate?"
Gu Zhuoyan: "Are you upset?"
Zhuang Fanxin: "Invite me to join you next time!"