By the third day of school, Su Ran had already decided three things:
The last row was the best place in the classroom.
Jiang Chen talked very little but was actually funny sometimes.
Zhao Ming talked too much but made school less boring.
The three of them had somehow started sitting together during lunch every day, even though it had only been two days.
That morning, Su Ran arrived early for once and looked very proud of herself.
"I am ten minutes early today," she announced while sitting down.
Jiang Chen looked at the clock.
"You're eight minutes early."
"Let me be proud in peace," she replied.
Zhao Ming arrived right after, panting like he had just escaped something dangerous.
"I saw the math teacher in the hallway," he said dramatically. "I walked the long way around the building to avoid eye contact."
Su Ran nodded.
"Smart decision. Eye contact leads to questions. Questions lead to suffering."
Jiang Chen shook his head slightly but didn't say anything.
The Disaster
During the third period, the English teacher came in with a very serious face.
"I am very disappointed," she said.
Whenever a teacher said that, it meant someone had done something very stupid.
"Yesterday, someone from this class left trash in the classroom. Because no one admitted it, the whole class will be punished."
The entire class immediately started whispering.
"What? That's not fair."
"I didn't do anything."
"Who left the trash?"
The teacher clapped once loudly.
"Silence. After school, everyone will stay and clean the classroom."
The entire class groaned.
Su Ran slowly turned toward Zhao Ming.
"Was it you?"
Zhao Ming looked offended.
"I may be many things, but I am not a trash-leaving criminal."
She then turned slowly toward Jiang Chen.
He looked at her and said calmly,
"It was not me."
"I didn't even ask yet," she said.
"You were about to."
She nodded.
"True."
After School Punishment
After school, no one was allowed to leave. Buckets, cloths, and brooms were brought into the classroom.
The teacher pointed around the room.
"Groups of three. Clean different sections."
Of course, Su Ran, Jiang Chen, and Zhao Ming ended up in the same group.
Zhao Ming held the broom like it was a sword.
"I was not meant for manual labor."
"You were meant for talking," Su Ran said.
"And unfortunately, that requires no skill."
Jiang Chen was already wiping the desks quietly without saying anything.
Su Ran watched him for a moment.
"You clean like you study."
He looked up.
"What does that mean?"
"Very serious. Very focused. Very responsible. Very… boring."
Zhao Ming almost dropped the broom laughing.
Jiang Chen looked at both of them and said,
"You two talk like this because you don't want to work."
Su Ran immediately started wiping the window.
"I am working very hard actually."
She wiped the same spot on the window for almost a full minute while looking outside.
"Are you cleaning or thinking about life?" Zhao Ming asked.
"Both," she said.
The Locked Classroom
After almost an hour, the classroom was finally clean.
The sun was already starting to set, and the hallway outside was quiet.
Su Ran stretched her arms.
"I am never leaving trash anywhere ever again, even if it's not mine."
Zhao Ming put the broom away.
"I feel like I aged five years today."
Jiang Chen closed the window and picked up his bag.
They walked to the classroom door.
Zhao Ming tried the handle.
It didn't move.
He tried again.
Still locked.
They all stopped.
"Wait," Su Ran said. "Why is it locked?"
Zhao Ming knocked on the door.
"Hello? We are still inside! We are innocent cleaners!"
No answer.
They looked at each other.
"We got locked in," Zhao Ming said slowly.
Su Ran started laughing.
"This is actually kind of funny."
"This is not funny," Zhao Ming said. "I am hungry."
Jiang Chen walked to the teacher's desk and checked the windows again.
"We can wait. Someone will come back," he said calmly.
So the three of them sat in the last row, watching the classroom slowly get darker as the sun went down.
It was quiet for a while.
Then Su Ran suddenly said,
"If we're locked in, we should at least talk about something important."
"Like what?" Zhao Ming asked.
She thought for a moment and then said,
"Let's all say what we want to be in the future."
Zhao Ming immediately said,
"Rich."
She nodded.
"Very realistic. Very ambitious."
Then she looked at Jiang Chen.
"What about you?"
He was quiet for a few seconds before answering.
"I don't know yet."
Then he looked at her.
"What about you?"
She smiled and said,
"I don't know either. But I feel like… the future will be interesting if we're all still friends."
Neither Zhao Ming nor Jiang Chen laughed at that.
Because for some reason, in that quiet classroom, sitting in the last row, it didn't sound like a joke.
It sounded like a promise.
About twenty minutes later, a teacher finally opened the door and looked very surprised to see them.
"Why are you three still here?!"
Zhao Ming immediately said,
"We were abandoned by society."
The teacher just sighed and told them to go home.
As they walked out of the school together, Su Ran walked slightly ahead, talking about random things as usual.
Zhao Ming was complaining about being hungry.
Jiang Chen walked a few steps behind them, watching the two of them argue about whether instant noodles counted as a proper dinner.
He didn't say anything.
But for the first time in a long time, school didn't feel long or boring.
It felt fast.
And he had a feeling that this year…
was going to be very different from all the others!