A few days after Sports Day, the class teacher walked in with a serious face and said,
"Tomorrow is class photo day. Everyone must wear proper uniform. No messy hair, no sports shoes, and please try to look like students and not like you just woke up."
The whole class started talking immediately.
"Photo day already?"
"I didn't cut my hair."
"I lost my tie."
"I am not coming tomorrow."
Zhao Ming turned around in his chair and whispered to Su Ran and Jiang Chen,
"This is very important."
"Why?" Su Ran asked.
"Because this photo will exist forever," he said dramatically.
"When we are old and ugly, this photo will remind us that we were once young and slightly less ugly."
Su Ran threw a small piece of paper at him.
"Speak for yourself."
The Next Morning
The next day, everyone actually looked different.
Hair was combed.
Uniforms were neat.
Even Zhao Ming looked like a normal student for once.
Su Ran walked into the classroom and looked around.
"Wow," she said.
"Our class looks like a completely different class."
Zhao Ming pointed at Jiang Chen.
"Look at him. He looks like the main character of a school drama."
Su Ran looked at Jiang Chen properly for the first time that day.
His hair was neatly combed, his uniform was clean and straight, and he looked… different. Not really different, just more noticeable.
She looked away quickly before anyone noticed she was staring.
Zhao Ming noticed immediately.
He leaned toward Jiang Chen and whispered,
"Someone is staring again."
"I heard that," Su Ran said without turning around.
Arranging for the Photo
All the students went outside to the school yard where chairs were arranged for the class photo.
The teacher started organizing everyone.
"Tall students in the back, shorter students in the front. Hurry up!"
Zhao Ming immediately stood in the back row.
"I am tall and handsome. Back row is for important people."
"You are back row because you talk too much," Su Ran said.
Jiang Chen ended up standing in the back row too.
Su Ran was placed in the second row, sitting on a chair.
She looked back over her shoulder.
Jiang Chen was standing slightly behind her, and Zhao Ming was next to him making weird faces.
"Stop moving!" the teacher shouted.
"If you move, the photo will be blurry!"
Zhao Ming whispered,
"I will move slightly so future historians will not know my true identity."
Jiang Chen said quietly,
"You are not that important."
The Photo Moment
The photographer raised the camera.
"Everyone look here! Smile!"
At that exact moment, Su Ran didn't look at the camera.
She turned slightly to the side because she heard Zhao Ming whisper something stupid.
And when she turned, she accidentally looked up at Jiang Chen.
He was already looking down at her.
For a second, neither of them looked away.
"Smile!" the photographer said again.
Su Ran quickly turned back to the camera and smiled, her heart beating strangely fast.
Behind her, Jiang Chen looked at the camera again, but Zhao Ming saw everything.
Of course he did.
He leaned slightly toward Jiang Chen and whispered,
"You weren't looking at the camera."
Jiang Chen didn't reply.
Zhao Ming smiled slowly.
"This photo is going to be very interesting when we look at it in ten years."
After the Photo
When the photo session ended, everyone started leaving and talking again.
Su Ran walked back toward the classroom with Zhao Ming and Jiang Chen.
"I hope I don't look weird in the photo," she said.
"You probably look normal," Jiang Chen replied.
"That is not a compliment," she said.
"It is," he said calmly.
Zhao Ming put his arms behind his head and said,
"When we get the photo, we should write something behind it and keep it."
"Like what?" Su Ran asked.
"Like where we sit, what we want to become, and who we are friends with," he said.
Su Ran nodded slowly.
"That's actually a good idea."
Jiang Chen said,
"Then we should keep it safe."
Zhao Ming smiled.
"Yes. Because one day, we'll look at that photo and say…"
He paused dramatically.
"…We were really stupid back then."
Su Ran laughed.
"Yes. But we were also very happy."
Jiang Chen didn't laugh, but he nodded slightly.
And none of them knew yet that the class photo they took that day
would become one of the most important memories of their school life.