There are some days in school life that are loud and exciting, like Sports Day or class trips.
And then there are days that look completely normal from the outside, but for some reason, you remember them for the rest of your life.
---
A Very Normal Morning
The morning started like every other school day.
Su Ran arrived early because she forgot to finish her homework the night before. She rushed into the classroom, dropped her bag on her chair in the last row, and immediately took out her notebook.
"I will finish before the teacher comes," she muttered to herself.
Five minutes later, Zhao Ming walked in slowly, like time did not exist for him.
He looked at her writing quickly and said,
"Copying homework in the morning is the true school tradition."
"I am not copying," she said.
"I am finishing."
"That is just copying from your past self," he replied.
He sat down and took out absolutely nothing from his bag.
"Aren't you going to take out your books?" she asked.
"No," he said.
"First, I must mentally prepare for the day."
"That just means sleeping," she said.
"Yes," he replied proudly.
A few minutes later, Jiang Chen walked in as usual, calm, neat, and on time. He placed his bag down, took out his books, and looked at Su Ran's notebook.
"You forgot homework," he said.
"I did not forget," she replied.
"I strategically postponed."
"That is forgetting," he said.
Zhao Ming raised his hand without opening his eyes.
"I also strategically postponed."
"You didn't even start," Su Ran said.
"That is extreme postponing," Zhao Ming replied.
---
The Pop Quiz Disaster
During the second period, something terrible happened.
The math teacher walked into the classroom with a stack of papers and said the most feared sentence in school history:
"Clear your desks. We are having a pop quiz."
The entire class groaned.
Su Ran turned around slowly toward Jiang Chen.
"Help."
He looked at her.
"You should have studied yesterday."
"I studied… a little," she said.
"How little?" he asked.
She held up her fingers very close together.
"This little."
Zhao Ming leaned over.
"I didn't study at all. So I will emotionally support both of you."
"You are useless," Su Ran said.
"Yes," he replied.
"But I am useless with confidence."
---
During the Quiz
The classroom became completely quiet except for the sound of papers turning and pencils writing.
Su Ran looked at the first question and immediately felt nervous.
"I have seen this before… but where?" she thought.
She looked up slightly and saw Jiang Chen already writing.
"How is he already on question three?" she thought.
Zhao Ming, on the other hand, was staring at the paper like it had personally offended him.
He slowly raised his hand.
The teacher walked over.
"Yes?"
"I have a question," Zhao Ming said.
"Yes?"
"What is this?" he asked, pointing at the paper.
"It is a quiz," the teacher replied.
"Yes, but why?" he asked seriously.
The teacher just looked at him and walked away.
Su Ran tried very hard not to laugh.
---
After the Quiz
When the quiz ended, everyone immediately started talking.
"That was so hard!"
"I didn't finish!"
"I guessed half of it!"
Su Ran turned around.
"How was it?" she asked Jiang Chen.
"It was okay," he said.
"That means it was easy for you," she replied.
Then she looked at Zhao Ming.
"How about you?"
He leaned back in his chair and said,
"I wrote my name very nicely."
"You are going to fail," she said.
"At least I will fail with beautiful handwriting," he replied.
---
Lunch Break on the Stairs
During lunch break, the three of them didn't go to the cafeteria. Instead, they sat on the stairs near the back of the school building where it was quiet and windy.
Su Ran was eating slowly while Zhao Ming was eating like he hadn't eaten in three days.
"Why do you eat so fast?" she asked.
"In case someone tries to steal my food," he replied.
"No one wants your food," she said.
"You want my chips," he said.
She took one chip from his bag.
"You are right."
Jiang Chen was sitting one step above them, reading a book while eating bread.
Su Ran looked up at him.
"Do you ever stop reading?"
"Yes," he said.
"When?"
"When I am thinking."
"That still counts as studying," Zhao Ming said.
---
Talking About the Future
For some reason, the conversation became quiet after a while.
Students passed by in the hallway, laughing and talking, but the three of them stayed on the stairs.
Then Su Ran suddenly asked,
"Where do you think we'll be in ten years?"
Zhao Ming answered immediately,
"I will be rich."
"Doing what?" she asked.
"I don't know yet," he said.
"But I will figure it out after I become rich."
"That is not how it works," she said.
Jiang Chen closed his book slowly and said,
"In ten years, we probably won't be in the same place."
Su Ran looked down at her lunch box.
"Yeah… probably not."
Zhao Ming noticed the mood becoming a little sad, so he said quickly,
"Then we should make a plan."
"What plan?" she asked.
"In ten years, we meet again," he said.
"Same city, same day, and we see who became the most successful."
"That sounds like a movie," she said.
"Yes," he replied.
"And I will be the main character."
"You are the comic relief," she said.
---
The Walk Back to Class
After lunch, they walked slowly back to the classroom.
The hallway was bright from the afternoon sun, and students were talking everywhere.
Su Ran walked between Zhao Ming and Jiang Chen.
"Do you think we'll still talk when we're older?" she asked suddenly.
Zhao Ming answered first.
"Of course. You won't find friends as amazing as us."
She laughed a little.
Then she looked at Jiang Chen.
He thought for a moment before answering.
"I think… even if we don't talk every day, we won't become strangers."
She didn't say anything for a few seconds.
Then she nodded.
"Yeah. I think so too."
---
The Last Period
During the last period of the day, the teacher was writing on the board while everyone copied notes quietly.
Su Ran finished writing and then looked out the window.
The sky was orange from the setting sun, and the classroom looked warm and quiet.
She looked around the classroom slowly.
Students writing.
Some whispering.
Some half asleep.
The sound of chalk on the board.
The sound of pages turning.
Then she looked at the last row.
Zhao Ming was pretending to listen but was actually drawing something in his notebook.
Jiang Chen was writing notes neatly like always.
For some reason, she suddenly thought:
One day, this will all end.
The thought came suddenly and made her feel strange.
School felt like something that would last forever, but at the same time, it felt like it was already moving too fast.
She turned slightly and whispered,
"Hey."
Zhao Ming looked up.
"What?"
"If one day we sit in different places and not the last row, that would be weird," she said.
"It would be illegal," Zhao Ming replied.
"We belong to the last row."
She looked at Jiang Chen.
"What about you?"
He looked at his notebook for a moment before answering quietly.
"I think… it's not the last row that matters."
"Then what matters?" she asked.
He looked at both of them and said,
"Who is sitting next to you."
Neither Su Ran nor Zhao Ming spoke for a few seconds.
Then Zhao Ming said,
"That was unexpectedly deep. I feel like you became the main character for a moment."
Su Ran smiled slightly and looked back out the window again.
The sun was setting slowly, and the classroom was turning orange and gold.
It was just another normal school day.
No big events.
No special celebrations.
Just classes, homework, lunch, and talking.
But many years later, if someone asked them which days they missed the most,
it wouldn't be the big events.
It would be days like this.
A normal morning.
A difficult quiz.
Lunch on the stairs.
A quiet afternoon classroom.
The last row by the window.
Three friends talking about the future like it was very far away.
Because at that time, they didn't realize something very important:
These normal days were not normal at all.
They were the days they would miss the most.