High School Reunion

I got up early on May 5th. All previous gatherings had been missed, so today became my first meeting with high school classmates in over a year.

I put on my clothes, pants, and took a look in the mirror, discovering that I still looked the same as I did a year ago. Nothing had changed.

Then, I drank some water and headed out.

The familiar road, the familiar bus, and I still got off at Anzhen Bridge to wait for her.

She was late again, but this time I didn’t urge her. If she didn’t come, I would leave.

Then she arrived, and we got on the bus.

Along the way, I was the one finding topics to talk about.

After getting off the bus, we arrived at the entrance of Shidu, which had already gone out of business. I remembered that we used to hang out inside, a long, long time ago.

Then, we came to that intersection again. I recalled a time when she waited for me at this intersection, and we went to school together.

We walked past and met Gao Ge.

Same old style, that 28-inch bike, two sizes too big for him, still looked the same, unchanged.

We chatted casually along the way. She said she needed to withdraw some money, and I didn’t need to follow her anymore.

We met up with old classmates, Xiao Pangzi, Guai Li, and they still looked the same.

Even their hairstyles hadn’t changed.

After a while, Malone, Lulu, and Huang Chao arrived.

Everyone exchanged greetings.

“Xiao Zhi”

Haha, it had been over a year since I last heard this name.

Then, Jiaojiao and Feifei arrived, followed by Xu Hao, Lin Huan, Su Wei, Shi Jia, and Da Tou.

There were also many classmates from the liberal arts class.

We stood at the school gate, chatting casually, and suddenly it felt like time had turned back to before the college entrance exams.

However, we had already spent a year in college.

Suddenly, it felt like this year could be completely ignored because I had once again become part of that group, a group that had existed for three years.

Lin Huan suddenly said with deep feeling, “Remember when Liu Xinghua said at the beginning of high school that after we go to college, we will never find friendships like the ones we had in high school? Now that I think about it, it’s really true. Being with college classmates is not the same as being with high school classmates; it’s not as if our hearts are open to each other.”

I nodded in agreement.

However, I was originally a loner, so whether in high school or college, it was all the same. I liked to be alone, but I felt that high school had an extra bit of warmth. I think it was because we were still young, and because we were all under the pressure of the college entrance exams, we needed companions.

More and more people arrived, and we went to eat.

At the dinner table, the conversation was still lively.

Lao Da was still talking about those intellectual problems that only he found interesting, but now he was from Tsinghua University.

He kept asking us about our lives, and it felt like everything had just begun, like we had just finished the college entrance exams a few weeks ago.

Oh, right, the invincible kid who repeated a grade is now preparing for the college entrance exams again.

Maybe when I get home, I can sleep, but he has to do homework. What kind of life is that?

I suddenly felt that I was really great back then, even though the results were not satisfactory.

Xu Hao continued to tease me, saying, “You wanted to go to Peking University, but why did you end up at an agricultural university?”

I was speechless. In the past, I would say, “Just watch, I’ll get over 620 on the next mock exam.”

Now, there are no more mock exams, no more college entrance exams. I can only admit that I’m an agricultural university student.

Then, we continued chatting, and there was always something to talk about.

After dinner, we went to Gao Ge’s home.

In three years, I had been to his doorstep twice but never entered.

Finally, after going to college, I visited his home for the first time.

Along the way, we talked about those who had participated in the Olympics, the top students in the experimental class, and those who were my goals or had defeated me. Another circle.

Listening to their stories, I felt like it was my own story.

We also talked about philosophy, school, and a bunch of trivial matters.

Then, we said our goodbyes.

Xu Hao and I went to a bookstore, Wangfujing Bookstore. I had come here before to buy competition books, and now, looking at the college entrance exam section, there were still so many test papers and mock exams. I knew that even if I took the exam 10 more times, I would never be able to finish all the questions, despite having had such “ambitions” in the past.

I bought an English teaching reference book and felt regretful that I still hadn’t learned much English.

Xu Hao and I walked back to school, strolling along that familiar street. We didn’t care about time.

There were many people on Wangfujing Street. I had been here many times over the past three years, sometimes with her, sometimes alone, and sometimes with another her, and sometimes with him, him, and him.

Today was another time. I knew that life was like this, familiar yet strange, one time after another.

As I sat on the bus heading home, I suddenly felt like I was a high school student or a middle school student on my way home.

Haha, I’ve already completed 1/4 of my college life, or maybe 3/4.

I really miss that difficult-to-describe high school life.