Between-Class Exercises

Of course, borrowing wasn't stealing, so she could contact the other party through the magic book.

Once a wizard was chosen by a wand, the other party could see what she wrote in the magic book. If their magical connection became strong enough, they could even exchange gifts through it.

After two Chinese classes, Lin Er followed her classmates to the field. The first-year students' lines for the between-class exercises were a complete mess.

But she had plenty of experience. All she had to do was follow Shi Meng.

When she had first entered middle school, she had been withdrawn and poor, with the second-worst grades in the class. The worst had been Xu Duoduo, who slept in the next bed.

Shi Meng had been the first girl to accept her. Knowing her own habits, she definitely wouldn't have left Shi Meng's side. They were about the same height, too, so she had to be right behind her in line.

Sure enough, when she stood behind Shi Meng, no one said she was in the wrong place.

As soon as The Times Are Calling began, all the first-years started waving their arms along with the older students beside them. Their movements might not have been right yet, but this was the quickest way to learn.

They would first learn the general routine, then work on the details in PE. In less than two weeks, the first-years as a whole would surpass the older students who were just going through the motions.

That was how newcomers were: always easier to fool than old hands.

School had just started, and the school leaders had an endless supply of lessons and rules to go over. Once again, the students weren't dismissed until the class bell rang.

Instead of following Shi Meng, Lin Er headed to the restroom by herself.

She was going against the flow of students. Shi Meng said something to her friends, then hurried over and caught hold of her.

"Lin Er, class is starting. Where are you going?"

Lin Er paused, suddenly finding Shi Meng's tone familiar. Right, that was how she had spoken to Xu Duoduo that morning after remembering who slept in the next bed.

Slowly and a little coaxingly, afraid she wouldn't understand.

Could Shi Meng have been looking after her like this because she thought Lin Er had an intellectual disability too?

"I need to use the restroom. Do you want to come?"

Shi Meng glanced at the students strolling along and the homeroom teacher at the back, then looked toward the classroom. She hesitated for only a second before pulling Lin Er into a run.

"Then hurry. English is next. I heard our English teacher is really strict."

Caught off guard, Lin Er found herself being pulled along at a run. The camphor trees gave off a faint fragrance in the summer air, and a crowd was lined up outside the restroom. Clearly, plenty of students had seized the chance to spend a little less time in class.

Shi Meng hadn't expected so many people. After waiting a little while, she began to fidget. The old Lin Er would certainly have been the first to back down and pull Shi Meng back to the classroom.

Then she wouldn't have used the restroom, and she would have been late for class anyway.

But Lin Er was no longer afraid of teachers, and she also knew they were quite tolerant of reasonable excuses like this.

Or rather, the newer the students, the more tolerant the teachers were. Apart from troublemakers, few elementary school graduates weren't afraid of their teachers, and they didn't dare break the rules without good reason.

Neither Shi Meng, a good student, nor Lin Er, whom the teachers considered a withdrawn problem child, fell into that category. Even if they got back a little late, the teacher wouldn't give them a hard time as long as they asked permission to enter and explained themselves.

So Lin Er simply held on to her and reassured her quietly.

"It's okay. I'll explain to the teacher."

This might have been the first time Lin Er had started a conversation with Shi Meng, and Shi Meng was a little taken aback. But having someone else say they would share the responsibility clearly eased her nerves somewhat.

She turned and reassured Lin Er in a low voice. "Okay. Actually, our English teacher is very reasonable. I heard she's the best English teacher at our school. If her whole family didn't live here, another school would have poached her long ago."

Lin Er knew that, of course. Why else would Shi Meng, a good student from another town, have come to their school? It was for this teacher. She also knew now that their year had gotten quite lucky with its teachers.

The reason this teacher had suddenly decided to start teaching first-years this year was that her son was in their class.

Besides him, the principal's son was also in the first year, as were the children of several teachers' relatives.

As a result, something unusual had happened with their year: the core subject teachers who normally taught only third-years had suddenly all decided to start with the first-years.

And their class had landed two experienced teachers thanks to the English teacher's son and the math teacher's younger female cousin.

By coincidence, both teachers also taught Class Three, the top class in the school. And, even more coincidentally, the principal's son was in that class.

That was why their year also had the most students from other towns. Some well-informed parents had sent their children here.

Lin Er had been purely lucky, but unfortunately she hadn't made the most of it.

Take their English teacher. Their little township had only two middle schools, but eight schools took part in the joint exams.

Whenever any of those eight middle schools had foreign guests, they would bring in their school's English teacher, all five feet of her, to receive them.

It was hard to describe just how impressive she was, but rumor had it that she was the only English teacher among the eight schools who had no accent and could communicate entirely in English.

She was a strict teacher, and even in old age she remained a spirited old lady. She usually wore a frown, and a single look from her could make the old Lin Er turn pale-literally change color.

She had been so frightened that this teacher was a little kinder whenever dealing with her alone. Lin Er had worked especially hard at English because of that small kindness, only to start strong and finish poorly, until she was too ashamed to face her in the end.

In her previous life, Lin Er had entered middle school under rumors that she had an intellectual disability. Because of her and Xu Duoduo, their homeroom teacher had been given one more place than the other two classes when competing for good students. That was also why their class later had two of the school's top three students.

None of the teachers had expected anything from her or Xu Duoduo at first.

Only after living it over did she realize that Shi Meng had probably been assigned by the teacher to keep an eye on her, while Xu Duoduo had been assigned another good student with a kind temper, Yan Jingting.

But after seeing the dormitory accommodations, Yan Jingting had applied to commute from home. That was why Lin Er had never realized that she, too, was among those receiving special care.

By the time the two came out of the restroom, hardly anyone was left, as expected. Though Shi Meng pretended not to be afraid, her hurried steps still betrayed her anxiety.

Holding on to Shi Meng, Lin Er reached the classroom door, pushed it open first, and called out for permission to enter.

Teacher Yang had just stepped onto the platform in her sky-high heels and hadn't even put down the book in her hand. Clearly, she had only just arrived herself.

She was a little surprised to see Lin Er and Shi Meng, but, as expected, she said nothing. She didn't even ask any questions, just nodded and said flatly, "Come in."

In her memory, having the whole class's eyes on her had always frightened her and even made her fidget, but now she found it was no big deal.

Shi Meng sat in the third row in the middle, while Lin Er sat in the fourth row on the right.

When they had first entered school, they had chosen their own seats on a first-come, first-served basis.

Because she had gone back for her luggage, someone had taken the seat she'd claimed. Too timid to ask for it back, she had ended up carrying her payment slip to the seat she now occupied.

It was against the wall, and her deskmate was a boy. He clearly knew a lot of people and was still whispering to someone in the row behind him.

He didn't even notice Lin Er walk over.