Chapter 27
It was the end of May, and the basketball playoffs were in full swing. After a grueling match, the Ponders barely advanced, while Yonder and McGoose’s Battleships missed their one shot at a championship, suffering a heart–wrenching defeat.
At the time, no one could have predicted that this series would mark Yonder’s last highlight moment in competitive basketball.
After eliminating the Battleships, Cube Briant regained his form and dominated in the finals.
Back then, competitive basketball was truly something to behold, defining the youth of many born in the late ‘80s and early ‘oos.
Meanwhile, the senior students at Linkon First High School were entering the final stretch of their exam preparations.
The weather had grown increasingly stifling. Even the cicadas, usually so noisy in the banyan trees outside the classroom, were starting to sound a little lethargic.
When the sun was out, it wasn’t so bad, but overcast days were the worst. They were hot and humid, making the classroom feel like a steam room.
Saturday, May 30th, 2009, was one of those miserable, cloudy days.
After the fifth period, the students would be released for the weekend. Combined with the
weather, the class was restless.
The first two periods were chemistry. During the first, they took a practice exam, and during the second, the teacher went over it. Any hopes for a break between the two were brutally
denied.
In these final weeks of revision, most of the teachers scheduled classes like this, squeezing out every ounce of effort and time they could.
After the chemistry teacher handed out the practice exam papers, everyone settled in to work.
Among the three science subjects, chemistry was the one that felt the most like a liberal arts subject, full of facts that needed to be memorized
In his previous life, Nathan had been a mediocre student, doing just enough to get by. He had a knack for physics but found chemistry more challenging.
But after some serious effort and filling in the But after some serious effort and filling in the gaps in his knowledge over this period, Nathan’s chemistry grades had improved significantly. Out of a maximum score of 108, he could now get around 100, making him one of the top students in the subject.
Before long, the 50 minutes were up, and it was time to collect the papers. After the class representative gathered them, the teacher shuffled them and redistributed them for peer
Chapter 17
grading, then went over the answers.
To Nathan’s surprise, he ended up with Cheryl’s papers.
He calculated the odds and realized it was less than 2%-technically a rare event.
What could he say? He could only chuckle to himself. “It’s fate.”
He might as well get it over with. He quickly finished grading Cheryl’s paper. She scored 91, which was probably her limit; the rest were questions she just didn’t know how to answer.
One thing was for sure–Cheryl’s handwriting was beautiful. The neat, elegant words were a pleasure to look at, and the papers even had a faint scent to them. Cheryl had a habit of leaning on her desk as she worked.
In the muggy weather, it was only natural that some of her nice fragrance lingered on the
paper.
Maybe it was for this reason that many of the boys in class were particularly eager to grade
Cheryl’s tests.
Ah, adolescence. If you knew, you knew.
What Nathan didn’t expect was that he had also become a favorite among the girls.
Sure enough, a girl named Coral Warbeck let out a gleeful giggle when she got Nathan’s papers,
“Hahaha! I’ve got Nathan’s test!”
Nathan had always been good–looking, but since his rebirth, he carried a calm maturity that only came with age.
Coupled with his skyrocketing grades, his speech in front of the class, and his recent selection as a provincial outstanding student, he was practically glowing.
In the eyes of the girls in class, his status had soared. He was no longer just some guy from a month ago he was the only hunk in Class Six.
After class, Coral approached Nathan’s desk with his paper in hand and said with a bright smile, “Nathan, here’s your test. You scored 105! That’s amazing
Coral wasn’t as pretty as Cheryl, but she wasn’t bad either. She was on the same level as Wendy, one of the top five girls in class. If she went to a tech university, she’d definitely be the department beauty, no doubt about it.
“Thanks.”
Nathan took the papers and checked where he lost points.
It turned out he’d carelessly written the wrong element symbol. Instead of Zn (zinc), he had slipped and written Zr (zirconium). If it weren’t for that, he would have gotten a perfect score.
“Uh, is that all? Just a ‘thanks,‘ Nathan? I even corrected it with a red pen for you!”
.
