First Time Looking at Each Other

Summer across the corridor ——Preface by Dai I want to tell a story. A story about the corridor, about the water fountain, and about the ten minutes between classes. The boy in the story is named Xu Zhenzhu, and he is in class two. The girl's name is Yu Panxi, and she is in class three. In the first year of junior high school, their classroom was separated by a wall, he was on the right and she was on the left. The two classes never have the same class, but they always find a way to meet again and again in the corridor, on the stairwell, and on the edge of the playground. Met and then missed. Miss it and look forward to seeing you next time. It sounds like such a simple thing. He has light freckles on his face, fair skin, and likes to play basketball. After school in the afternoon, she always walked around the path next to the playground to watch the pause on his wrist when he shot, and his hair dancing in the wind when he ran. Occasionally he would look up in the direction of the path, and when he saw her, he would slow down his hand movements, then lower his head and smile, pretending that nothing happened. She didn't know what he was laughing at. But she knew that when she was lying in bed that night and thinking about that smile, she would toss and turn for a long time before she could fall asleep. There is a water dispenser in the corner of the third floor. The red light is on more often and the green light is on less often. The only time they spoke was there. The light was green that day, she was getting water, and he stood by and waited. She straightened up and he took a step forward and said, "You can get the water too." She said "hmm" and when she turned around, she smelled the smell of laundry detergent on his clothes - not fragrant, but very clean, like cotton that had been exposed to the sun. Just one sentence. In one sentence, she remembered it all autumn. Later, every time she passed by the door of their class, she would take a look inside. Sometimes he's there, sometimes he's not. When she was there, she didn't dare to look more, and her steps speeded up unconsciously. She regretted it after walking past, feeling that she should have looked for a while longer. Is he looking for her too? She doesn't know. But she knew that every time she was in the corridor, on the stairwell, or on the playground, she could always feel a gaze coming from a certain direction, falling gently on her, and then quickly moving away. Like the wind blowing on your cheek, you know it's coming but you can't catch it. We here call this kind of peeking "skimming". A word, light and clever, as if it is unintentional and intentional. He glanced at it, then looked away as if nothing had happened. He glanced at it, then lowered his head and pretended to read. Take a glance, then your heart skips a beat, then makes up for two more. They kept going back and forth like this for the entire first day of the new year. This is a very small story. It was so small that there were no hugs, no holding hands, and no earth-shattering plots. It was so small that there was only the setting sun at the end of the corridor on the fourth floor, only the occasional green light of the water dispenser on the third floor, and only those brief, panicked, tacit glances during the ten minutes between classes. But I still want to write it down. Because those unspoken words, those loves hidden in a glance, and the most clumsy and sincere thoughts at that age are worth remembering. The teaching building of the middle school is an old building with narrow stairs and dark lighting. But that summer, the sunlight shone in from the corridor window, shining on the faint freckles on his face, on her eyes that looked away in panic, and on those moments when the two people secretly looked at each other across the classroom - those moments were bright. This is the preface. ——To Xu Jizhu and Yu Panji ——To the corridor on the fourth floor of the middle school that you can never go back to ——To all those who secretly liked someone in the ten minutes between classes, you Intention: Firm belief and move forward courageously