Cheering Messages

Grading the test papers took less than twenty minutes. The remaining class and a half was for writing the essays on the two papers.

Everyone worked overtime. They exchanged only a few jokes, and the classroom was frighteningly quiet throughout evening self-study.

Lin Er had always written essays quickly. It was only eight hundred words, and she finished in less than thirty minutes, as if she didn't need to think.

The rest of the class was used to writing quickly too. Some took only a few minutes to grade the papers and spent the rest of the time on their essays.

By the end of evening self-study, only seven or eight students hadn't finished.

The homeroom teacher had said he'd punish them, and he did. They weren't allowed back to the dorm after evening self-study: one lap for every hundred words they were short, and they couldn't leave until they finished.

The worst of them hadn't written a single word of either essay. Who knew how long sixteen laps would take?

When they reached the track, some still hoped they'd get lucky. So many laps would take a long time, so perhaps the homeroom teacher would watch them for a bit and then leave.

Instead, he ran behind them the whole way. If anyone dared leave the group, he kicked them, boys and girls alike.

Lin Er and her friends had followed along at first, but they all quietly dropped out later. It was too scary; they were afraid the homeroom teacher's foot might mistake them for someone else.

The resentful looks from their classmates also made it hard to keep going, as if they'd come to make fun of them.

Two of them exchanged a look while passing the baton. Lin Er asked, "Shall we go?"

"Let's go!"

One lap later, good, they were all in agreement. When the homeroom teacher ran to the opposite side of the track, the four of them took off.

"Hahaha, I'm dying! Just now, when the homeroom teacher kicked Li Xiang, Wu You thought he could sneak away. But the homeroom teacher flung a shoe at him. Damn, it almost hit me! Scared me to death!"

Wang Juan couldn't hold it in as soon as they left the track. One lap of their track was almost exactly four hundred meters, and the four of them had each been at a different corner while practicing, so they hadn't been together.

Now that they'd gathered, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Wasn't he running after them? He threw a shoe while he was running?" Shi Meng couldn't picture it.

None of them could quite imagine the scene. Their homeroom teacher was a little too unconcerned with appearances.

"Yeah! Don't be fooled by how bad-tempered our homeroom teacher usually is. He was even worse chasing people just now, kicking them as he ran and yelling at anyone who dared talk back. Li Xiang even tried to lie down and refuse to move, but when he saw the homeroom teacher really kicking people, he ran faster than a rabbit."

"Hurry, hurry, they're coming around again! We'll talk tomorrow!"

The four parted ways. Yan Jingting left school to go home. Lin Er and the others had fetched their water at dinner, so they could wash up as soon as they got back. The two girls who'd been running laps didn't return until ten.

They were too tired to keep grumbling for long. They wiped themselves down and went to sleep.

The whole school was buzzing for the winter sports meet, especially the second- and third-year students. It was hard enough for them to get a day off now, and breaks outside the statutory holidays were even rarer.

As soon as the bell rang for first period, the homeroom teacher came to call them over to form their marching group. Their school track was too small to fit the formations from all nine classes across three grades, so everyone except the competitors waited at the entrance. Whenever one formation passed, they hurried into position.

The formations had all been arranged in advance. Because of that, none of their recent PE classes had been taken over for other lessons.

The class monitor called out "one, two, one" at the front as everyone marched in step toward the entrance to the track, then marched in place while they waited for the formation ahead to pass the reviewing stand.

"Now approaching us is the representative team from Year One, Class One. Look, they..."

They marched in step to the music while shouting the slogan their class had chosen in advance.

Lin Er was just glad she was in the middle of the group. Her skin was fair now, and otherwise everyone would have seen her blush, which she couldn't hide.

"Class One united, strong enough to cut through metal! Strive with all our might, fight for first place!"

At last they passed the reviewing stand, and the announcer began introducing the next formation. Their group switched to a regular marching step.

Finally, the formations finished marching, the speeches ended, and the events began. The athletes who'd signed up searched all over the field for their event locations.

The first-years were still looking for their places when cheering messages written by the second- and third-years began pouring out over the speakers.

When the first-year announcer heard them, she thought, How can we let this stand? This is exclusion!

She immediately rushed to the broadcasting room.

"Everyone, I'm going to grab the microphone! Get your messages over here, quick!"

The honor of everyone was at stake, so the monitors of all three classes immediately began rallying people.

Lin Er was famous for how quickly she wrote essays, so she was assigned three messages on the spot.

"Where am I supposed to find the time? Did you forget I have two events?"

"Oh, come on, Lin Er, your long-distance race is this afternoon, and there's still a while before the relay. Come on, write them quickly! I'll be back to get them!"

The monitor ran off before Lin Er could refuse. She had to run, or no one would write them. How embarrassing would it be if every other class had people cheering them on and theirs didn't?

"We face the bitter cold with burning passion and write our youth through hard work! Win or lose, anyone who steps onto the track is a hero! Go, Year Three, Class Three!"

Cheering messages followed one after another over the speakers. Holding her pen and slips of paper, Lin Er looked at Shi Meng, then at Wang Juan. Well, they each had three slips; there was no getting out of it.

"How are you writing yours? Let me see!"

Yan Jingting took a big step over, and Shi Meng, who had already started writing, immediately hid her slip of paper and dodged away, her face red.

"No! Write your own!"

Fortunately, the messages were anonymous. If names had to go on them, probably no one would have been willing to let what they'd written be read over the speakers.

Lin Er quietly crept up behind Shi Meng, but unfortunately, Shi Meng was on guard against the whole world now. Before Lin Er could get a good look, she folded the paper into her palm.

"Don't come over here! Write your own, or I'll put your names on all your cheering messages!"

Good, the threat worked. Everyone immediately started writing their own messages.

Lin Er thought, Right, they're anonymous. When they're read out later, it'll be the announcer who's embarrassed.

She hurriedly scribbled away, filling both sides of the slips with six messages. It was thoroughly satisfying.

"What have you written? Does it have to be packed so full?"

Lin Er gathered up her slips and shot Shi Meng a sidelong glance. "They're anonymous. Even if I write more, I'm not the one who'll be embarrassed!"

The monitor's eyes lit up when she came to collect them. She didn't have time to read the slips, so she grabbed the whole stack and rushed to the broadcasting room.

It seemed their homeroom teacher had trained their class well. In such a short time, the monitors of the other two first-year classes were still begging people to hand in messages.

Sure enough, before long, messages cheering on Year One, Class One could occasionally be heard among all those from the second- and third-years.

The four exchanged silent looks, none of them saying which messages they'd written, while the cheering messages from the broadcasting room grew more and more brazen.

"Damn, are they cheering or picking a fight?"

Even the students from the neighboring class were startled when they heard them. The students of Class One looked at one another, but not one admitted to having written them.