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Since the class outfit is only a white T-shirt with a pattern, it only costs 35, which isn’t even enough for a meal at KFC. That’s why all 45 students in our class agreed to buy it.
The main problem was what to write on the shirt, as everyone had different ideas.
“We should have a picture of Luffy hugging Boa Hancock.” One person suggested.
“You don’t need Luffy, Boa Hancock alone is enough.” another person responded.
The class leader’s face sank: “We’re discussing our class outfits. What does Luffy have to do with class 2-3?”
“We all have to live with rubber.” Someone mumbled.
The class leader knocked on the lectern to make everyone quiet down, then she wrote the word ‘pattern’ on the left side of the blackboard, and the word ‘words’ on the right side of the blackboard.
The words written in chalk were dignified and graceful and had a calming effect.
“Raise your hand if you have a suggestion. Stop shouting it out randomly.”
“I’ll write all the patterns and words on the board, then we can vote for the best one.”
She might have remembered that her main role was to keep order, so she would be missing a person to count the votes. Thus, she looked at Gong CaiCai who was nearby.
“Cai Cai, you come help me count the votes.”
“Me?” Gong CaiCai was reluctant as if the class leader told her to strip in front of the class.
“Yes, you’re the learning committee member, and you can write neatly with chalk, so you’re the best option.”
Gong CaiCai could only walk abashedly next to the class leader. Standing next to the class leader made her appear even shorter.
“Oh right, let me know if you have any good ideas.”
“I… I can’t think of any good ideas…” Gong CaiCai’s voice was as quiet as a mosquito, “I can’t say it even if I do think of something…”
The class leader sighed, “If there’s anyone as shy as Gong CaiCai, you can pass up your suggestion in a paper slip and we’ll help you read it out loud.”
There were a lot of unreasonable suggestions for the pattern like Spongebob, Kung Fu Panda, and one person even suggested Che Guevara.
Apparently, because Spongebob had holes all over his body, it made people think of acne, so all the girls vehemently refused. The other ideas like Kung Fu Panda were called unoriginal, but the class leader wrote down all the options on the board.
Xiao Qin expressed her ideas like Doraemon and Hello Kitty through a paper slip. Although it received a lot of support from the girls, the boys were strongly against it, so it was dropped.
The class leader furrowed her brows and looked at the nearly empty blackboard, “Are there any more suggestions for a pattern? It’s better if it’s related to class 2-3…”
Little Smart raised her hand without spirit: “Why not draw the Star of David and put a 3 in the middle.”
“Oh, it’s basically a hexagram used in Judaism, and occasionally in some curses…”
Little Smart explained as she glanced at me with hate.
“A hexagram is good, at least it’s even…” The class leader mumbled, “Then, does the 3 refer to class 2-3?”
“That’s right, and it can still be used even when we enter our third year…”
Little Smart’s words made the class leader’s eyes light up.
As expected, she thinks like a housewife and tries to save whenever possible. It’s worth it if you can wear a ¥35 for two years. It’s really sad how your brother likes to show off in front of your girlfriend, 35 USD might not even be enough for his daily expenditures.
“Sounds good.” Eunuch Cao suddenly jumped up and said, “Let’s use the hexagram, it’s awesome.”
Everyone looked at Eunuch Cao with doubt as they waited for him to continue.
“Jie jie jie jie… Have you guys seen the Da Vinci Code? In the Da Vinci Code, it says hexagrams are composed of two triangles. The one pointing up represents men and the one pointing down represents women. So our class outfits represent men hooking up with women.”
“As for the 3 in the hexagram, it could represent class 2-3 or it could represent the fact we don’t mind 3somes….”
“Cao JingShen, shut up.” The class leader’s cold gaze made Eunuch Cao quickly sit back down.
But the hexagram idea was completely destroyed by Eunuch Cao, but everyone agreed to keep the number 3.
“How about this.” Niu ShiLi, “We can use a bigger 3 then add a crown on top of the 3.”
Everyone thought it was a good suggestion, and someone suggested: “Make the crown slanted, it would seem more charming.”
We orginally thought we were getting closer to the final design, but it looked like the class leader’s eyes were being pricked by a needle.
Then, everyone remembered the class leader had OCD. Apparently, the world heritage site she destests the most is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If one day the tower falls over, the class leader would mercilessly light up a lantern in celebration as all the Italians mourn.
That’s why it would be torture to make the class leader wear a shirt with a slanted crown.
The class leader was never willing to admit she had a serious case of OCD, so she tried to have a discussion with an unnatural expression:
“Um… wouldn’t it be to informal to have a slanted crown. I mean if we do win, we want to place the crown properly, so it doesn’t fall down…”
Although no one said anything, we all knew we would drive the class leader crazy if we made her wear the shirt, so we unanimously decided to adjust the crown.
The class leader sighed in relief and thanked everyone for their understanding.
After deciding on a pattern, we had to decide on what words to write.
Someone suggested “Our class” written in grids.
“Class 2 is already using it, isn’t it embarrassing copying them?” Loud Mouth was against it.
The skinny and pale literature class representative stood up and said, “Let’s use, Let your dreams fly or Hand in Hand with connected hearts.”
“It sounds alright…” someone said, but a portion of people thought it was too cheesy.
We might as well use ‘Our Youth’.
The English class representative was a serious girl. She raised her hand and stood up and said:
“We might as well write girl for girls and boy for boys.”
“Umm… are you afraid people can’t recognize your gender or something?”
A few people sneered at her.
The other suggestions became more and more outrageous, like ‘Don’t annoy me’, or ‘It’s so hot’…
At this point, someone passed up a noted slip. Gong CaiCai read it out loud:
“Today we’re classmates, tomorrow we’ll be roommates…”
Her face turned red like an apple in an instant. If it was the class leader, she would have definitely skimmed it before reading it aloud. Everyone already knows it must have been Eunuch Cao who wrote the message. He must feel so proud after teasing her.
“Cao JingShen.” The class leader said coldly, “Do you think I can’t recognize your writing? Next time we’re doing a cleanup, you’re in charge of scrubbing the tiles in the hallway.”
“Jie jie jie jie, it’s still worth it.”
Eunuch Cao laughed with no regrets.
Xiong YaoYue suddenly raised her hand and stood up.
“Ban Ban, I have something to say.”
“Ban Ban.” The class leader frowned, “What did you call me?”
“Hehe…” Xiong YaoYue scratched the back of her head, “Because you always called me Xiao Xiong, so I felt it’s more fair if I also give you a nickname. Or maybe I should call you Xiao Ban Ban.”
The class leader’s face darkened and couldn’t find words to say. Why did you stand up if weren’t going to contribute to the topic at hand?
I can’t believe the most handsome guy in school likes someone who derails a conversation as much as you.
I feel like I don’t have a high chance of being the match maker for her.
Some students couldn’t hold back a snicker when they heard Xiong YaoYue call her ‘Xiao Ban Ban’.
“Xiao Ban Ban… I feel like the class leader loses her threatening aura…”
“That’s right, we could even write Xiao Ban Ban and Us on our outfits.”
The nickname made the class leader red with anxiety. She bit down on her lips and announced solemnly:
“I have never been in support of giving classmates nicknames, so I won’t accept it. If anyone calls me by that name, I’ll ignore them. In short, I won’t allow anyone to call me by that name.”
“Okay, okay~~” Xiong YaoYue replied unenergetically, “It took me a while to think of it, so I thought you would be happy.”
She plopped back down in her seat with regret.
In the end, we decided to write ‘We were together that year’, but the words would go on the back with only the 3 with a crown on the front.
Even if the class leader didn’t like the nickname, there were still some naughty girls like Loud Mouth who would purposely use the wrong name when calling the class leader… like “Ban… class leader”. Every time this happens, the class leader would grind her teeth and try to ignore the ones who did it.
I couldn’t help but imagine class leader in elementary school where her nickname was actually Xiao Ban Ban.