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墨書 Inktalez
After arriving at the gym, Zhongqi Senior and Bing Ge were practicing basketball. "Huh? Where is everyone else?" I asked. "Yeah, they should be here soon," Zhongqi Senior replied. Just as he finished speaking, Zhou Litong, Zhang Yingjie, Qiu Junze, and Zhang Ruizhi arrived. "Now everyone is here," Zhongqi Senior said with a smile. "And me!" We turned to the entrance to see Ouyang. "Ouyang, why is your mouth swollen?" Zhang Jun asked upon seeing Ouyang's injury. Ouyang shot me a sharp glare and said, "It's nothing, just got bitten by a rabid dog." "Stop joking, where would a dog come from at school? Did you get into a fight with someone?" Zhongqi Senior asked. "If I say it's nothing, then it's nothing! I just got bitten by a rabid dog," Ouyang sneered at me. "Ouyang Shangqiang, who the hell are you calling a rabid dog?" After hearing this, I clenched my fists and wanted to charge at him, but everyone stopped me. "Xiang Jie, I'm talking about you! You're just a scum! Hypocritical and insidious!" Ouyang was getting agitated. "What the hell is going on between you two?" Bing Ge pushed us apart and asked. Ouyang, feeling both wronged and angry, briefly explained the situation to everyone: "Bing Ge, you tell me, whose fault is this?" Suddenly, the gym door opened. "What are you all doing?" Teacher Qiu walked in, and we quickly stood up straight. "I heard Xiang Jie and Ouyang yelling from far away. You two come with me! The rest continue training as usual." Ouyang and I were called to the sports department's office. "What’s going on? With the big match coming up, everyone is training hard for the semifinals while you two are causing internal strife at this time!" Teacher Qiu was genuinely angry. "Teacher, it's nothing; we just have some private conflicts that are resolved now," I said to Teacher Qiu. "Well, as long as it's resolved. I don't care what conflicts you have; after this City High League match and during the summer break, you both will have two months to sort it out. Right now, what you need to focus on is how to win the game, understood?" "Understood," Ouyang and I replied. "Go back to training!" Teacher Qiu let us return. This was my first time receiving criticism from Teacher Qiu and also the first time seeing him so emotionally charged; it was clear that collective honor mattered more than anything in his eyes.
After we returned, everyone stopped training and came over to greet us. Ouyang and I didn't say anything and went to practice shooting instead while everyone looked at us in confusion for a while before continuing their training. After school, A Fei and Sha Xiaomei bid farewell with expressions of concern as we rode our bikes home. "Jie, you like Xia Ying," A Fei said without looking up from his bike. I suddenly paused my steps upon hearing this: "A Fei, stop joking; how could I possibly like that dead girl?" I continued pedaling forward. "Then why did you get so angry when you saw her with Ouyang? Are you jealous?" A Fei asked calmly. "I... I just can't stand Ouyang clinging to a good girl; I'm just being chivalrous!" My gaze faltered slightly. "Jie, stop lying to yourself; anyone can see that you like Xia Ying; you're just too afraid to admit it." "Stop being so nosy! I don't like her; I just don't!" I said impatiently as I rode off on my bike while questioning myself: Xiang Jie, do you really not like Xia Ying?
That night after dinner, I lay in bed repeatedly thinking about this matter. I put on my headphones and played a song while logging onto QQ; Xue Er was finally online! I quickly messaged her: "Xue Er, where have you been lately? Dao Dao missed you so much." Xue Er replied: "I missed you too! Something unexpected happened recently but everything is fine now; hehe." Seeing Xue Er happy made me feel much more at ease. After chatting for a bit, she logged off. I opened her space and saw her status updated: 'Everything bad has passed; hey there, we'll never be apart.' She was showing off her sweetness! I commented: 'You need to tone it down in public; hehe, Xue Er must be happy!' Then I opened her space again to leave her a message but found that A Fei had already left one saying: 'Welcome back! This time I'll never let go!' A Fei was flirting online again; no way! Tomorrow I'll have to criticize him for this! Returning to my own space, I noticed Cookie's status had also been updated: 'Was it my fault?' Huh? That's strange; when did Cookie become so vulnerable? She's always been so strong-willed; this isn't like her at all! I commented: 'Cookie, right and wrong are not absolute.' Cookie wasn't online either—sigh! The series of events today left me mentally exhausted. Turning up the volume on my headphones, I decided not to think about anything anymore and just get a good night's sleep.
The next morning I woke up early but didn't get out of bed right away. Lying under the covers while reading Slam Dunk—a comic I've read no less than five times—I still couldn't get enough of it; Japanese comics really are something else! Just then my phone rang beside my pillow—it was A Fei. "Hey, do we really need to call each other? Isn't that wasting phone credit?" I joked. "It's Saturday; what time are we going to school?" A Fei asked. This was strange; he usually handled these kinds of questions well—why was he asking me today? Looking at the clock showed it was exactly six o'clock. Jokingly I said: “Why don’t we just go now?” “Sure! That’s what I was thinking too! The competition is tomorrow; we should be proactive about it! Hurry up; I'm right outside your door!” A Fei replied enthusiastically! What’s gotten into A Fei today? “No way! A Fei, I'm joking; you actually took me seriously…” Before I could finish explaining myself, A Fei calmly said: “But I'm serious—hurry up!” Then he hung up the phone on me before I could react—what a shocker! No choice but to get out of bed!
After getting up, A Fei really was waiting outside my door. “Feige (Brother Fei), please don’t tell me you're going to…” Before I could finish saying “run to school,” A Fei nodded firmly and ran ahead of me while I followed behind him feeling hopeless—A Fei, I hate you!
When we arrived at school there was no one around except Uncle Liu at the gate—no teachers or classmates since they were all enjoying their weekend break. We greeted Uncle Liu before heading toward the gym. Walking through the quiet school in the morning felt particularly refreshing. Upon reaching the gym we found it completely empty—we were the first ones there! Just as I was about to pick up a basketball, A Fei told me to sit down instead—wasn't he here early to practice? Confusedly I asked him: “Hey Ai II (A Fei), aren't we here to practice? Why aren't we practicing?” A Fei looked at me seriously: “Jie, I'd like to talk heart-to-heart.” “Why can't we talk somewhere else? Why does it have to be so early in school?” My patience was wearing thin as A Fei smiled lightly: “Because it's quiet here; ever since that time when you comforted me here last time, I've grown fond of this place.” His words left me utterly speechless.
A Fei continued: “Jie, do you know? In the past, I was very timid and introverted—when liking someone I'd not know how to express it; when disliking someone I'd not know how to refuse them—even dating Sha Xiaomei was initiated by her.” “Yeah, I know—so what?” Not understanding what A Fei wanted from me now.
A Fei smiled calmly again and continued: “But after what happened with Sha Xiaomei and Zhao Bin made me realize many things—I understood how immature I've been before and that I'm really not good at dating…” Lowering my head quietly listening as A Fei spoke on: “Love should be expressed loudly—don't try making others guess or suppressing or hiding yourself because that would be exhausting—you'd miss out on many things.” A Fei shared so much with me while listening made me reflect on many things—I realized many doubts were cleared up.
“A Fei thank you—I will remember your words,” I sincerely thanked him when suddenly something came to mind: “A Fei hey hey hey—you’re quite unrestrained aren’t you? Having Sha Xiaomei yet still flirting around…” Mischievously grinning at him.
“Stop messing around! When did I flirt around? You know my temper and personality—I’m not that kind of person,” A Fei replied earnestly.
“Then who left that comment saying ‘this time I'll never let go’?” Teasingly asking him.
Seeing his face flush bright red made me feel accomplished—“How did you know?” A Fei blushed.
“Ha ha—you didn’t deny it did you? That’s evidence!” Feeling quite proud of myself.
Suddenly A Fei returned his expression back to calmness: “What’s wrong with that? It’s not like I'm with someone else—leaving comments for Sha Xiaomei is perfectly normal—isn’t that just flirting around?”
“What?! Say that again!” My mind nearly collapsed realizing that Xue Er was actually Sha Xiaomei—that meant I'd known Sha Xiaomei longer than A Fei had by several months! It turned out my close online friend since Junior High School third grade had been Sha Xiaomei!
“What’s wrong?” A Fei looked confused.
“Oh nothing—I just wanted to surprise you,” forcing a smile.
“Surprise me? What good does that do for you?” He laughed innocently.
I chuckled without saying anything further before standing up to grab a basketball for shooting practice again.
A Fei stood up too walking over: “Let’s see who can dunk!” Yes indeed—we had never tried dunking all these years!
“Sure!” Excitedly agreeing.
I went first standing outside the three-point line then started dribbling towards the basket—jumping high when reaching under it—but unfortunately fell short by just a little bit—the basketball hit the rim before flying out.
“I’ll try again!” Picking up the ball again walking back outside the three-point line once more—I dribbled then jumped again but failed once more—always missing by just that little bit—only five centimeters short—I could touch the rim but couldn’t dunk it.
“Watch me this time.” A Fei dribbled over standing outside the three-point line taking a deep breath before starting his run—when reaching the key area he tucked in his stomach then leaped high smashing the ball into the basket!
“Good job! Didn’t expect Ai II could dunk!” Excitedly shouting out loud.
Suddenly hearing applause from behind made me turn around—it was Zhongqi Senior and Bing Ge.
“A Fei—not bad! Didn’t expect you could dunk,” Zhongqi Senior walked over patting A Fei's shoulder.
“Just messing around for fun—it wouldn’t work during an actual game,” A Fei humbly replied.
Bing Ge asked: “Why did both of you come so early today?”
A Fei answered: “Since there’s a match tomorrow we thought we’d come early for extra practice.”
Wow—that excuse sounded pretty rehearsed—I didn’t expect usually low-key honest A Fei would lie too!
Zhongqi Senior seriously stated: “Tomorrow's match against Sangyue High School is our most important game because if we lose at home then away games will be extremely difficult—so tomorrow's match is crucial.”
“Exactly! Teacher Qiu mentioned Sangyue's ‘Zhuge Coach’ Fu Guoqiang has strong coaching abilities—and Sangyue's overall strength ranks among the best in the city…” Perhaps tomorrow's gym would indeed welcome an exceptionally strong opponent—a rival much stronger than Twenty-Four Middle School…
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