In the second year of junior high school, I finally climbed into the top ten in my grade.

I also managed to squeeze into the experimental class from the parallel class.

I was like a struggling rat in a sewer, finally turning a corner and seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the road.

My mother still had a habit of mentioning the first place. Every time she attended the parent-teacher meeting, she would write down the name of the student who ranked first in the grades.

Her name was Chang Jianing, another replacement for Wang Shiyu.

The seating arrangement in the experimental class was based on grades, and I happened to be seated right behind Chang Jianing.

I vaguely remembered that back then, I also sat behind Wang Shiyu.

I couldn't remember her face, but I vividly remembered the back of her head.

For me, whether it was Wang Shiyu or Chang Jianing, their names and appearances didn't matter.

What mattered was that they were my enemies, my benchmarks, the people I had to defeat one day.

Suddenly, my desk was bumped by my desk mate, causing the eraser to slide off the table and hit Chang Jianing's back before falling to the ground near her feet.

I snapped out of it and was about to bend down to retrieve it when someone handed it to me before I could.

She smiled gently and said, "You could have asked me to pick it up for you, you know? Be careful not to hit your head."

At that moment, I thought that maybe my enemy didn't see me as one.

I took the eraser from her hand, and the warm and soft touch of her palm brushed against my cold fingertips and transmitted to my brain.

It turned out that she really didn't see me as an enemy.

She had a male classmate as her desk mate, but she seemed to have little in common with him. So during break time, she would turn around and face me.

She would watch me take notes and play with my eraser, quietly without disturbing me.

She could see through my hesitation and confusion in an instant and then answer my questions with that gentle voice.

In an instant, I thought of my tutor.

The same warm tone, mixed with the scent of flowers and grass, brushing against my face.

But when I mentioned my tutor's name, she shook her head in confusion and said she didn't know her.

Gradually, our relationship became closer.

She would lend me her notes and teach me every question I didn't understand.

She even bought snacks and shared them with me, one bite at a time.

In the third year of junior high school, my mother sent me to a small study table because every minute and second of the high school entrance exam review was precious, and I couldn't waste time walking home for lunch.

Chang Jianing and I became good friends as well.

We ate at the small study table together, went to school together, and were inseparable.

I followed her shadow and climbed from tenth place to the top five in the grade.

Soon, our mothers also became aware of our friendship.

At that time, I was proud and happy to have such a good friend.

But my mother wasn't.

She angrily poked my head and scolded, "Are you stupid? Do you really think she sees you as a friend?

"She's better than you in every way. What do you have that's worth her being friends with you? She's just using you to make herself look good!

"Only a fool like you would naively believe that she would be friends with you."

I was confused and angry.

My mother always liked to speculate about others with the most malicious thoughts, attaching ulterior motives to any sign of closeness or goodwill.

I once praised my tutor in front of her, but she said, "Just look at how much money she's taken from me. Can she really be good? I paid her to be good."

She habitually measured affection with benefits.

Instinctively, I retorted, "No, it's not like what you said. Chang Jianing is really nice to me. She helps me with my schoolwork, we go to school together, we really are good friends."

My mother sneered, "Good friends? Let's see if she's really that good when it's time for the high school entrance exam.

"But no matter what, you must surpass her. You must be the first."

I was stunned.

I suddenly had a thought that I had never had before. Can good friends really come into the life of someone like me?