Orange soda

Xu Suiran gave it no further thought, waved, and dashed into the cafeteria first.

"Oh! I'll go save us seats!"

Pu Yu watched her go, the faintest smile forming on her lips.

She turned and headed toward the little shop by the school gate.

She had left some of the money her grandmother had given her at home and used some to top up her meal and water cards.

She had only tucked two ten-yuan notes into her pocket.

The shopkeeper was the same middle-aged man as yesterday.

He was bent over his accounts. At the sound of her approach, he lifted his eyes and glanced at her.

Pu Yu paid no attention to his gaze.

She took a bottle of orange soda from the shelf, along with a small packet of rainbow hard candies.

"I'd like to pay."

She set the items on the counter.

Then she pulled a ten-yuan note from her pocket and handed it over.

The shopkeeper took the money and, this time, said nothing more.

He held it up to the light and felt it with his fingers. Only after making sure it was genuine did he fish a few coins from the drawer for her change.

By the time she returned to the cafeteria, Xu Suiran had already gotten her food.

"Yu, over here!" The girl waved vigorously at her, her face lit with a brilliant smile.

Pu Yu hurried over and set the treats in front of Xu Suiran. "Suiran, these are for you. Thank you for yesterday."

Xu Suiran let out a delighted "Wow!" before looking a little embarrassed.

"You really don't have to be so formal. We're friends."

"I do." Pu Yu's voice was soft, but her tone was earnest. "You helped me."

Seeing the insistence in her eyes, Xu Suiran stopped protesting and happily accepted them.

It was only when she unscrewed the soda bottle that she realized Pu Yu had bought just one.

Xu Suiran paused.

She looked at the soda and candy, then at the plain vegetables and rice on Pu Yu's tray, and suddenly understood.

"Wait here!"

Xu Suiran abruptly stood and ran toward the serving counter.

"Ma'am, ma'am! Sorry for the trouble, but could I have two disposable cups? You're the best!"

The cafeteria worker was busy, but she looked up at the request.

Seeing a familiar young girl, she showed no impatience and pulled out two clear plastic cups from beside her.

"Thank you!"

Xu Suiran ran cheerfully back with the cups.

Under Pu Yu's puzzled gaze, she carefully poured the orange soda into the two cups.

Half for each of them, filled to the brim.

She pushed one cup toward Pu Yu, raised her own, and ceremoniously clinked it against the rim of Pu Yu's cup.

"Woo! To our friendship!"

Orange bubbles danced merrily in the clear cups.

They caught the bright sunlight streaming in through the window.

Pu Yu stared at the girl before her, feeling as though something warm had filled her heart.

She picked up her cup and took a small sip.

The sweet orange flavor, alive with wildly fizzing bubbles,

spread from the tip of her tongue all the way to her tingling heart.

"Good, right?" Xu Suiran winked proudly. "I'm telling you, this soda is the best thing about our school. It tastes better than anything they sell outside!"

Pu Yu's eyes curved into a smile. "Yes, it's good."

After sharing the bottle of soda, they took their time eating and chatting.

"Oh, right, Yu." Xu Suiran stuffed a mouthful of rice into her mouth and asked indistinctly, "What classes do we have this afternoon? I was so half-asleep I forgot the timetable."

Pu Yu thought for a moment before answering, "Physics, I think."

"Ah-Old Wang's physics class again!" Xu Suiran groaned, and the rice in her mouth suddenly lost its appeal. "The moment he starts teaching, I want to fall asleep."

Amused by her reaction, Pu Yu asked softly, "Then why did you choose the science track?"

"Me?" Xu Suiran sat up straight and chuckled. "My parents run a grain and cooking oil shop in town. They don't have any grand ambitions. They just want me to be good enough at math that I won't lose them money. Then I can go back and handle the payments."

As she spoke, she even stretched out a finger and earnestly mimed tapping a calculator in the air, looking utterly adorable.

As Pu Yu watched her, the amusement in her eyes slowly gave way to sincere envy.

"That sounds really nice," she said from the heart.

A definite place she could return to.

A safe, steady path her parents had laid out for her.

For Pu Yu right now, that was a luxury far beyond her reach.

"Nice?" Xu Suiran blinked, apparently not expecting that reaction. "Actually, I didn't think so a couple of years ago."

She lowered her voice and leaned toward Pu Yu as though sharing a secret. "I was pretty rebellious back then, too. All I thought about was getting away. Home felt like such a pain, and I wouldn't listen to anything my parents said. I had a terrible temper, too. I nearly drove my mom crazy."

Pu Yu listened quietly without interrupting.

"Then..."

"Then, well... something happened to your deskmate's family."

"I watched him go from someone so proud and dazzling to someone who'd fallen into the mud overnight, with everyone avoiding him and talking about him."

"That was when I suddenly realized that, compared with all that, worries about school and uncertainty about the future didn't seem like such big problems anymore."

When she finished, she stuck out her tongue, looking embarrassed by her own sentimentality. "Oh, am I making this too heavy? Eat up, eat up! The warning bell's going to ring soon!"

Pu Yu shook her head, a quiet, persistent ache spreading through her heart.

Having a noisy but intact family, and parents who nagged you every day but genuinely cared about you, was already an incredible stroke of luck.

Sadly, neither she nor Yuan Su had been that lucky.

Over the next few days,

Pu Yu gradually adjusted to the rhythm of the town's secondary school.

She and Xu Suiran became inseparable, and she got to know a few other friendly classmates as well.

The only thing she could not get used to was the seat beside her remaining empty.

Xu Suiran was admiring herself in a little mirror when she caught Pu Yu's gaze in the reflection. She turned around and asked, "Yu, what are you looking at?"

Pu Yu hesitated, then asked softly, "Suiran, is he always like this?"

"Who? Yuan Su?" Xu Suiran understood immediately.

She put away the mirror, looking completely unsurprised. "These days, he pretty much comes whenever he feels like it and stays away whenever he doesn't. The teachers don't bother with him anymore, as long as he doesn't cause trouble. My guess is we might not see him again until the next monthly exam."

But just as Xu Suiran finished speaking,

the classroom's back door creaked open.

A tall, slender figure slowly walked in, silhouetted against the light from the corridor.

He looked even thinner than he had a few days ago. Dark shadows beneath his eyes betrayed a lack of sleep, his hair was slightly disheveled, and he radiated an unapproachable weariness and indifference.

It was the very person they had just been discussing.

Yuan Su.

The whole class instinctively fell silent for a moment, then everyone turned away again, pretending nothing had happened, though whispers quietly began to spread.

Xu Suiran's words caught in her throat.

Her mouth hung open in surprise as she looked from Yuan Su in the doorway to Pu Yu.

Finally, she muttered in a low, incredulous voice:

"...Oh my God. Speak of the devil."