Ling Yue burst into Xiao Lin’s classroom, “Xiaoxiao, it’s lunchtime now!” Ling exclaimed, “Let’s sit together!”

Xiao heaved a sigh, “Yue, please stop making such a scene when entering the classroom…” She said, “I realize you are excited to go to university soon, but please calm down,”

“Nah, not a chance! I gotta keep up my energy so that I can uh… Keep up my energy and do things!” Ling explained.

“Oh? And what exactly are you using all that energy for? Oh, I bet I know,” Xiao said, “You’re saving up energy for the track tournament this weekend, aren’t you?”

“Of course, Xiaoxiao! You’ve gotta join us!” Ling said as she began to dig into her food, “It’ll ve shup’r en-”

“I’m going to stop you there, don’t talk with your mouth full, I can’t understand you at all,” Xiao responded.

Ling gulped down her food and sighed in relief, “Anyway, do you wanna hang out today after school? It’ll be fun! I found a really nice ice cream shop!”

“We have afterschool classes, Yue,” Xiao replied, “Your schooling is important, you know, you can’t rely on the track team,”

Ling heaved a heavy sigh, “Yeah… I thought you’d say that, let’s just skip this one! Please please please!”

Xiao stared long and hard at Ling, probably to glare into her soul, “You won’t let this go, will you?”

“Nope, nope, nope! Not at all!” Ling exclaimed.

“Hey, Xiaoxiao, you hear about Xue and Li? I hear those two are dating! Isn’t it so weird, like, two girls?” Ling asked.

“Xue? Xue Meili?”

“Yep, her and Li Ming… I mean, they’re both pretty cool, but do you think it’s weird if the rumors are true?”

Xiao looked to Ling and stared for a moment, “Mm, not really… Not my business to pry into things like that, if they want to, they can, I just don’t want it to interrupt their studies,”

“D’awww, you love seeing people happy, don’t’cha, Xiaoxiao?” Ling teased, “I bet that’s why you agreed to skip today’s tutoring!”

“That’s- No! I mean… I just didn’t feel like I could study at my best today! That’s all!” Xiao exclaimed.

Ling rested her arm on Xiao’s shoulder, stared at her, and just smiled for a moment. The two of them erupted into laughter for absolutely no reason.

“That’s the first time you’ve laughed in a long time, Xiaoxiao,” Ling remarked, “You’ve been suuuuper cold lately, you feeling alright?”

“Mhm… It’s just that, you know, university is so close, right around the corner, and we have the Gaokao coming up in a couple months, so it’s really crunch time, you know?”

“Well, what I always do is just go with the flow, you know? Whatever happens, happens!” Ling snickered, “And you better not forget that we’re going to the same university!”

Xiao smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by an excited squeal from Ling as they approached the ice cream shop.

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“This-is-it!” Ling squeaked, “Let’s-go-in!”

The two entered the shop. Looking around, there were so many people! All of the seats were already taken and there was a solid line forming.

“Ah man… There’s so many people here, are you okay waiting?” Ling asked, “I didn’t expect so many people would be here so quickly,”

“If it’s alright with you, I’ll go find us a place to sit, I do need to catch up on some reading, after all,” Xiao responded.

“Oh! Yeah yeah, that’s fine! Don’t worry, I remember your favorite flavor! You can count on me!” Ling exclaimed.

Xiao drifted off from the line, scanning around the shop to find any free tables at all. Eventually, she did find one! There was some trash left over on it, so she grabbed it, tossed it away, and sat down.

Xiao set down her bag and took a book out from it. She read for a while until a tray was set on the table.

“Oh, that was quick, hey, Yue-” She started, but as she looked up, it wasn’t Ling that stood in front of her, it was someone she didn’t really know. They were familiar, but she couldn’t put a finger as to where she had seen this person before.

“Oh, can I help you?” Xiao asked.

“Xiao Lin, right?” The man asked.

“Mhm… Need something from me?”

The man took a seat just across from Xiao, wearing a smug smirk on his face, “So, I’m sure you’re aware, but my family is quite rich, and I get everything I want,”

“Who are you exactly?”

“Xiang Luoyi, pleasure to meet you, now, let’s cut to the chase, I would like to bring you in as my wife, with you at the top of the school, we'd be unstoppable!”

Xiao stared into his eyes for a little while before looking down at his tray, “Can I take that bread?”

“Of course,”

“Thanks,” Xiao replied as she took the bread, stood up, and met back up with Ling in the line, leaving Xiang sputtering at the table, “Sorry, no luck finding a good table, I’ll wait in line with you,”

“Oh, hey Xiaoxiao! That’s okay, we can eat this outside! Oh- we’re at the front now!” Ling blurted out, “One mint cone and one vanilla cone, please!”

Xiao moved to take something out of her pocket, but Ling stopped her, “Don’t worry, Xiaoxiao, this is my treat, I’ll pay!” 

Xiao shook her head, “No no, I couldn’t let you do all that,”

“Nah, it’s all ‘kay, I saved up enough specifically to treat you on days like this!” Ling snickered, “Lemme pay,”

“Yeah… Alright then, thank you very much,” 

Ling paid for the cones, took them, almost dropped one, and handed the vanilla cone to Xiao, “Tadah! Your favorite! Plain vanilla!”

“It isn’t that plain…” Xiao murmured, walking to the exit with Ling.

“Xiaoxiao, try some of mine! It’s so good!” Ling teased, “You gotta try it!”

“Alright,” Xiao said, taking a small bite from Ling’s ice cream, she was surprised at how good it was, for mint, that was, “It’s good,”

“Ah, it always freaks me out that you can just bite into ice cream like that,” Ling joked, “It’s honestly one of the most intimidating things someone can do,”

Xiao opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by a loud yell coming from the door, “Xiao Lin! I, Xiang Luoyi, will have what I want!”

Xiao took the bread from before and tossed it back to him, “Sorry, I remembered I’m on a no bread diet, bad for the waist, you know?”

“Eh? Who’s this? He’s kinda creepy honestly,” Ling whispered to Xiao.

“Yue, be nice, this is Xiang Luoyi, he’s a strange businessman around our area,” Xiao explained, “He gets what he wants, you know,”

Ling glared daggers at Xiang, “Xiang Luobi, what do you want from my Xiao Lin?” She asked, glooming over Xiang like a mother after their child has done something bad.

Xiang backed off for a moment, “Oh uhm… I just wanted to let her know she dropped her pencil, but I think I had the wrong person, goodbye!”

Xiao giggled, “Thank you for that, Yue, have some of mine, as a reward,” She said, offering Ling some of her ice cream.

Ling jumped at the opportunity and took a bite of Xiao’s ice cream, “I was wrong, it isn’t so plain, it’s got a sweetness to it!”

“Yeah, that’s why I like vanilla,” Xiao replied.

“That isn’t why,” Ling remarked, “But you’ll get it when you’re older,” She teased.