Finally, today was the D day. Mum walked me to exam site with my backpack. My brain was blank but mum looked more nervous than I did. We did not talk simply held hands like two peers. The school gate showed up and a large number of people had already crowded there. Guards checked the exam certificate of each student, and only students taking the exam here can be admitted. Mum gave the bag to me and cuddled me “Don’t panic. Trust yourself and break a leg.”

“I would. Don’t wait me here. You can go home first. I want to have spicy beef, the really spicy one.” I said goodbye to her.

“OK. Bye!”

“Good Morning, Mengmeng.” Jolin suddenly showed up. She came here alone but her red dress looked fabulous. Red was quite suitable for today. I laughed at her for the superstition acting.

“It’s not my idea. My mum insisted me putting it on when I got up. She went to the mall and specially bought it for today. At least, it looked not bad.”

“Red is a good symbol. Surely you would perform well today.” I giggled.

Since we were not allocated in the same building, we parted in the main building. We had prepared for it since primary school, and studied day and night throughout high school. Fight or never. This was the moment that decided the future of our life. That’s what our parents and teachers said on the importance of the exam. It’s the truth recognized by people around the world, in particular for people living in the third-tier cities and the rural areas.

Two-day exam exhausted me. When I walked out the exam site after the final subject English, I eventually realized that my high school life was over. From now on, I am an adult with the freedom to do whatever I want. With this mind, I went to the classroom and united with my friends, all of who were incredibly excited. We had already booked a room for Karaoke, where we can have buffet, sing, and dance for the whole night. It’s a party to celebrate the end of miserable high school and the start of becoming adult.

There, I saw Qingkai, monitor of our class and the leader of our little group. He was dressed in white shirt and light blue jeans. It’s neat, comfortable, and charming. My eyes followed him the moment he arrived. Jolin knew my feelings for him, and encouraged me to say that to him. “You have to seize the chance. Today is the best one. Afterwards, it would be difficult for us to get together again.” She said. She’s true, but I still lacked the courage. It was not until next morning that I plucked up and went towards him. He was footing the bill at the cashier. The moment I opened my mouth, a photo slipped onto the ground. I picked up and found it a photo of a young girl with pony tail who smiled like sunshine.

“Thank you” he said, quickly took the photo back, and set it on the first layer of his wallet.

It is the photo of the monitor of neighbor class. Qingkai cherished the photo so much, which meant he was hooked on her, or even they two were in a serious relationship. They did not tell others just because of the college entrance exam. Teachers and parents would say no and even tear them apart for fear that the relationships would distract them and hamper their performance in the exam. Both of them are straight A students with the hope of getting into the top university. But wait, what about me? My secret love was over while waiting at the starting point. 

“What did you say?”Qingkai asked me as I kept standing there even though he had already taken the photo away.

“Nothing.” I smiled bitterly and left Karaoke without telling anyone or saying goodbye, even to Jolin. I took the bus home. There were few people on bus and I sat in the last row. The photo of the girl and Qingkai’s cherishing attitude towards the photo kept showing up in my mind. Tears ran down from my cheeks, but I tightly bit my lip to prevent myself from bursting out in public. Never did I want others, acquaintance or strangers, to see me be cornered in such a position. But the reality always went out of control. With watering eyes, I got off the bus, but I decided to sit down on the bench of the bus station to calm down first.

“Why do you sit here alone crying?” a familiar voice dragged me out of the seemingly endless sadness. It was Ziqian. He stood leaning against the pillar with his hands in the blue jeans. Even he was making fun of me now. I glared at him and sourly replied: “Get away from me. I’m not in the mood to have fun with you.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I am just wondering who can make a strong woman like you to cry.”

“Then, why are you still fooling around at midnight? Your parents have fought, and neither of them are home, right?” I hated the feeling of being teased by a little boy and rebuked.

He frowned and yelled back “You are so annoying. Whether they are at home or not has no relation with you.” The topic of parents can always easily irritate him.

“Such a short-temper kid. Nobody would make friends with you. You must away be alone in school, right?” I provoked again.

“You have no rights to lecture me. You temper is no better than mine.” He refuted.

“…”

What on earth was I thinking; being lovelorn but sitting in the wind to argue with a kid? I did not want to continue this childish chat and stopped talking.

Aware of my depression, he walked away eventually. However, he came back minutes later with a bottle of milk and a strip of chocolate. “Here you are. You might need some sugar.”

“Why are you still here?” he startled me, but I still accepted the milk and chocolate. I was hungry after such a long day, and I barely had anything in Karaoke.

“It’s not tasty. You should buy ‘sunshine’ and ‘ferrero’, which are much better.” I took a bite and complained.

“At least they are edible. Don’t be so particular.” he filled a strip of chocolate into his mouth as well.

“There, there, good boy.” I lightly patted his shoulder to praise him, at least he did something nice .

“Don’t touch me” he jumped up to avoid my hand as if I was virus.

“A gentleman should not be rude to a lady, ok? You would never get a girlfriend if being rudeness all the time. ” I teased him.

Ziqian raised eyebrow but did not respond. He took out two cans of beer and passed one to me. I should have known that a rebellious kid would not only smoke, but also drink. But I was not intended to reprove him. Instead, I took the beer over and cheered with him.

“My parents got divorced and my mother got my custody. ” he told me like it was not a big deal or it was other's story, and swigged down beer out of the can.

I was surprised by the news and the attitude he mentioned it. It would be difficult for a minor to accept this, even though his parents were in a terrible relationship, and honestly it would be better for their two got separated. But I could not say that to him, and I totally didn’t know how to react to this. Suddenly, an idea occurred to me.

“Have you heard the story of polar bear?” I tried to break the awkwardness by making up jokes. Ziqian turned up his nose at it, but his attitude did not change anything.

“Once upon a time, there was a polar bear living in the south pole.”

“Please, polar bear only exists in the north pole. Haven’t you learnt in geography classes? As such a lousy student majoring in liberal arts, how can you get high scores in the college entrance exam?”

“Don’t nibble those unimportant details. The polar bear takes a rest on the iceberg but it is too bored and starts to play its own fur, and finally becomes bold. My question is how does the polar bear die?” I proposed the questions on the high ropes.

Ziqian was impatient and answered: “It's frozen to death because it plunks all hairs that keeps it warm from the freezing cold in the north pole.”

“Exactly, it dies from cold.”

“What kind of joke is it?”

“Cold joke” I looked at him seriously “Don’t you think telling cold joke is perfect in hot summer?”

“You are a weirdo” he taunted me with another swig of beer.

My mood got better after talking with Ziqian, but he was still trapped in the glooming look.

“Have you watched the animation Nezha? I heard it is one of the best this summer.” I asked.

“Not yet.”

“Maybe we can go to the theater over there and watch it.” I proposed and Ziqian said yes. So we two went to the movie theater and we were the only visitors because no one would come here at 5 o’clock, no matter how wonderful the movie was. Therefore, it looked like we two made a block booking. The movie was really fantastic. I was satisfied with the plot, the humor sense, and the special effect. I smiled into tears because of some interesting parts, and tears kept running down. Whether it is because of the movie or my dead puppy love. Ziqian passed the tissue to me, but I ignored it and wiped tears with sleeves.

“What a wonderful movie.” we said unanimously.