Evan Lin took the slip of paper and headed to Senior Year Class 32.
At the classroom door, Evan Lin knocked.
Inside, the class was being taught by a male teacher around forty, Byron Yang. He was explaining a math problem when Evan Lin's knock interrupted him, and his face immediately darkened.
Which class are you from? You're not one of ours, are you?
Byron Yang turned his head, frowning at Evan Lin standing outside the door.
All the students in the classroom were now looking at Evan Lin, faces full of curiosity.
Transfer student.
When Evan Lin spoke, Byron Yang's frown deepened.
He was both the math teacher and homeroom teacher for Class 32.
At Capitalview First High School, senior classes are divided based on the results of the final exam in junior year. In other words, students in Senior Year Class 32 are at the bottom of the entire senior grade.
Byron Yang was already at his wits' end trying to boost this class's grades. Not long ago, he heard a student was transferring from Brightsea City, and this kid's scores there were absolutely disastrous.
Byron had resisted taking him, but his protests were ignored—the Academic Affairs Director forced the transfer into his class.
After school started, Byron waited and waited, but the infamous Evan Lin never showed up. He'd just started to relax, only for the kid to show up nearly a month late—talk about bad luck.
A transfer student who turns up a month late isn't just bad at studying—he's basically given up on himself. Byron could almost see Evan Lin dragging the class average straight into the basement.
"Transfer student, huh? You’re Evan Lin, right? From Brightsea?" Byron looked annoyed. Evan nodded, and Byron’s irritation grew, but he couldn’t defy the Academic Affairs Director. He just snapped, "Come in. Sit in the last row. Don’t disrupt my class!"
With that, Byron ignored Evan completely and went back to his math problem.
Evan strolled into the classroom, hands in his pockets, swaggering right in.
"Transfer student, huh? Guess his grades can’t be that great if he ended up in our class."
"From Brightsea? Isn’t Lynn Chen from the Experimental Class also a transfer from Brightsea?"
"You think he and Lynn Chen were classmates?"
As Evan Lin walked into the classroom, everyone stared at him, whispering non-stop.
There was mockery, disdain, and a hint of curiosity in their eyes.
Capitalview is way richer than Brightsea, so to these kids, Brightsea might as well be the countryside.
"No way he was Lynn Chen’s classmate. Lynn’s a top student—when she transferred in, three Experimental Class homeroom teachers fought over her!"
Someone on the side sneered at Evan Lin as he walked in.
Evan took a seat in the corner by the window. He sat down, but all his books were still in that box—which, thanks to Claire Li and the others bolting last night, hadn’t been taken out of the pink Beetle’s trunk. So now Evan Lin was empty-handed, desk totally bare.
"Hey, bro, you transferred from Brightsea?"
No sooner had Evan sat down than the boy next to him—a delicate-looking guy—leaned over, curiosity written all over his face, and whispered to him.
As he spoke, he lifted his math book and propped it up on the desk to block the teacher’s view.
"Yeah."
Evan nodded and glanced at him.
"Oh, I’m Jason Liu."
Hearing Evan’s answer, Jason’s eyes lit up and he quickly stuck out his hand.
After a quick handshake, Jason leaned in eagerly. "So, do you know Lynn Chen?"
"Yeah, I know her."
Jason’s eyes got even brighter, his face all excitement. "Are you two close or what?"
"Not really."
Evan just replied with a few simple words.
As soon as the bell rang for the end of class, Jason hadn’t even spoken yet when the guy in front of Evan—a cocky-looking boy—swung around and stared at him. "Hey, you said you know Lynn Chen? For real?"
He’d overheard Evan and Jason’s conversation, and now he looked at Evan with a surprised expression.
His voice was loud enough to get a crowd—pretty soon, a bunch of students were looking Evan’s way.
Evan lounged in his chair and glanced at the guy in front, but didn’t bother answering.
"I’m talking to you. Can’t understand human speech?"
The boy raised his eyebrows, voice full of swagger and irritation—he felt like Evan was making him lose face.
Jason Liu saw the guy getting mad and shrank his neck, tugging Evan’s sleeve and whispering, "Say something, man! That’s Ryan Luo, the class boss. Don’t mess with him."
Jason got anxious when Evan ignored Ryan Luo.
He was pretty much an outcast in this class—otherwise, the seat next to him wouldn’t be empty. Plus, Ryan Luo bullied him all the time.
"This new kid’s got guts, ignoring Ryan Luo."
"Looks like things are about to get interesting."
"Tsk, coming from a tiny city like Brightsea and still acting all high and mighty. Not afraid of anything, huh?"
The people around watched the scene, all gloating and waiting for drama.
Evan’s expression stayed calm. He looked at Ryan Luo, eyes amused. "Class boss? What’s that—can you eat it?"
"Eat your grandpa! Kid, you think this is your crappy old school? Want to start something? When I ask you a question, you answer me, got it? Otherwise, don’t blame me for getting rough! Did you hear me?"
Ryan Luo shouted, "Keep looking at me like that and I’ll beat the crap out of you right now!"
Ryan Luo was one of those kids with a bit of family money, planning to go abroad after senior year—he acted wild in class.
Jason Liu shrank back, looking worried, about to smooth things over. But before he could, the transfer student next to him spoke up in a flat, indifferent voice: "Sorry, I don’t believe you."