Chapter 8: The Power of a Chupa Chups

“Fang Luo, whose side are you on?!”

Su Xiaoqing planted her hands on her hips and demanded an answer.

Chu Hanya didn’t seem to want to say anything more, but I could tell from the way she bit her lip that she was uneasy. If they’d kept their voices down, it might have been fine, but quite a few people were watching us now.

I had to admit, if I, her new deskmate, embarrassed her in front of the whole class by choosing to play marbles with Su Xiaoqing, it would deal a blow to her authority as class monitor.

Besides, I didn’t particularly want to play marbles.

Of course, I didn’t know whether third-graders cared about that sort of thing. But to be fair, this little monitor had been conscientious in looking after me.

I’d help her save face this once.

I moved Su Xiaoqing aside, pulled my Chinese reader from the desk drawer, and said evenly, “The sandpit’s too dirty. I’ll skip the marbles.

“And it is morning study. I’m going to go over ‘The Feet of the Virginia Creeper’ again. The monthly exam is coming up, so let’s use the time to read.”

That settled it.

The classroom fell silent for a moment.

Su Xiaoqing froze. She apparently hadn’t expected the comrade who usually ate candy and played basketball with her to defect to the class enemy Chu Hanya at the crucial moment.

As though deeply betrayed, she stamped her foot. “Fang Luo! You… traitor! You big traitor! I’m never speaking to you again. Our friendship is over! For the whole day!”

Ah. Only for a day?

With that, she turned away in a huff, ignoring even Zhang Wei, and shot back to her seat like a lit firecracker. She slammed her schoolbag onto her desk.

Zhang Wei, sensing trouble, shrank back, grabbed his marbles, and slipped away to his own seat.

I leaned back and sighed deeply.

Maybe I should have saved the game before making a choice? But this was the life I’d returned to… What was happening to me? No, I couldn’t get absorbed in elementary school life.

Then a little hum came from beside me, almost cheerful.

“Hmph, hmph.”

I turned. Chu Hanya, who had looked ready to face a formidable enemy moments ago, had put away her black notebook. She was glowing, the corners of her mouth threatening to rise.

She looked me up and down with fresh interest, then raised her chin in satisfaction. “At least you know what’s good for you. Well done, Fang Luo.”

She closed the notebook and folded her arms, eyeing me like a victorious Hua Mulan. “So, you finally realize the monthly exam is coming and feel a little pressure? You still remember our bet, don’t you?”

The bet.

That calls for a little background.

Last Friday in math class, Teacher Liu was explaining boring subtraction with borrowing while my spirit wandered far beyond the classroom.

Chu Hanya caught me in the act.

After class she chanted in my ear like a tightening-headband spell, threatening to fill an entire page of her notebook with my daydreaming offenses and have my parents called in.

What a calamity.

She gave me such a headache that I finally made a bet with her.

The terms were simple.

If my total score on the first monthly exam beat hers, the name Fang Luo was never to appear in the class monitor’s notebook again, whether I daydreamed or spun my pen in class.

If I couldn’t beat her, I’d behave properly in class from then on and follow Monitor Chu’s instructions in everything.

That was the bet.

Thinking about it carefully, either outcome wasn’t much of a loss for me. But Chu Hanya clearly took it seriously.

To her, it concerned not only her responsibility to the class as monitor, but also her dignity as the top academic genius at Xia Minghan Primary School.

I already had the System’s mission and was aiming for first place anyway. I’d made the bet for some peace and quiet. Now that it was in place, she generally left me alone as long as I didn’t go too far.

“Of course I remember.” I flipped through my book and answered casually.

Chu Hanya lifted her head proudly. “Do your best.”

Morning study slowly passed like that.

My crisis wasn’t completely over, though.

For the next half hour, I could clearly feel an intensely resentful gaze, almost murderous in its force, fixed on the back of my head from somewhere behind me at a forty-five-degree angle.

I didn’t have to look back.

That was Su Xiaoqing’s resentment.

Staaare.

If looks could kill, I’d have died ten times already.

Tap.

A little paper ball suddenly flew over two desks and struck my textbook.

I opened it to find a line written in Zhang Wei’s crooked pencil marks:

【Luo! You have to make Xiaoqing feel better! She kicked her desk crooked when she got back to her seat and swore that if she said another word to you today, she’d be a puppy!】

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

Sigh. Sigh, sigh. Elementary school relationships could be exhausting in their own way.

As soon as the bell ended first period and Old Wang stepped out, I stood, thought about how an elementary schooler might repair a friendship, and went to the little shop by the school gate for a lollipop.

Two minutes later, I sauntered over to Su Xiaoqing’s desk.

She was slumped over it, the back of her head facing the aisle. Her whole body radiated: Strangers keep away. Approach and die.

I sighed, pulled a strawberry Chupa Chups from my pocket, and held it right in front of her nose.

Its sweet scent drifted through the air. Su Xiaoqing’s nose twitched.

Sniff, sniff.

One second, two seconds, three.

She slowly turned her unhappy little face toward me and glared. Then… then she glanced at the strawberry lollipop.

“What? I thought our friendship was over,” she huffed stiffly.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

It felt like a perfunctory apology without much emotion. “Chu Hanya had her notebook out. If I hadn’t said that, Old Wang would have called you and Zhang Wei into his office for a lecture.

“I actually wanted to play with you.”

At that, most of the fierce look vanished from Su Xiaoqing’s eyes. She even seemed to be suppressing a smile.

She bit her lower lip and struggled for two seconds. Then she gave in, snatched the lollipop, and popped it into her mouth, her cheek puffing up like a hamster’s.

“Hmph, at least you’ve got some conscience!”

She mumbled around the candy, the cloud over her face quickly clearing as though a lovely rainbow had appeared. She even patted my shoulder like a good buddy.

“In that case, for the sake of strawberry flavor, this heroine forgives you! I was going to stop being your friend for a whole day, but now that would be embarrassing!”

Seeing her brilliant smile, I put away the empty wrapper and let out a long breath.

All right, then.

When a five-mao lollipop could settle a relationship crisis completely, life as an elementary schooler really was simple and sweet.