I'm in Senior Year, and the System Says I'm Going on a Blind Date with My Childhood Sweetheart

As the pretty girl lifted her face, her high ponytail swept across her light gray sweatshirt. From Shen Yuan’s angle, he could see her collarbone peeking out from the crooked collar.

Faintly visible, it left much to the imagination.

Shen Yuan let out a cold snort. He planted a hand on the seam where their two desks met, his leaning body already crossing the line that divided their space.

"You..."

Shen Yuan lowered his voice in a mock threat.

But before Shen Yuan could finish, Li Zhi suddenly pulled back, one hand covering her collar, her face a mask of vigilance as she stared at him.

"Hey, hey, hey, what’s that supposed to mean? What’s the big idea?" Shen Yuan said, disgruntled.

Li Zhi’s response was to shoot a fierce glare back at him.

"Pervert!"

"No, I..."

"What are you trying to do?!"

Seeing the dangerous look in Li Zhi’s eyes, Shen Yuan reached up and scratched his head.

"Fine, I just wanted to ask what you’re doing for the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Hearing this, Li Zhi gave Shen Yuan an annoyed eye-roll.

Then she turned her head, her ponytail swinging to one side with the movement.

"We’ll see."

With that, Li Zhi focused her attention back on the test paper in front of her.

By the time the rest of the students arrived in the classroom, Li Zhi was already correcting the Huanggang Paper she had taken home yesterday.

If there was one thing to look forward to on a Tuesday, it was probably the morning PE class.

For the beleaguered third-year seniors, PE class was no less than yard time.

What’s more, Class 15 had the rare and coveted fourth period PE!

Most importantly, no teacher had swapped classes today!

When the bell for third period rang, the students of Class 15 could barely contain their excitement.

They were just waiting for the physics teacher’s word to charge out noisily onto the field and start happily messing around.

The physics teacher could probably guess what these idiots were thinking. He knew that if he kept talking, he wouldn’t be able to hold their attention anyway.

"I’ll just finish explaining this problem, and then I’ll let you go."

The physics teacher was pretty fast, finishing the problem in three minutes.

With a single "Class dismissed," the students of Class 15 scrambled out of the classroom.

"Let’s go, let’s go! Today, I’m gonna show you what a ’super basketball idol’ looks like!"

Ah Jie yelled as he stood up.

"You don’t even know the English word for what you’re playing, so stop trying to sound worldly!"

"Heh, I’ll show you what a real skill gap looks like in a bit!"

Clutching a basketball, Ah Jie shot down the hallway, and the boys all flooded toward the field.

After getting to know him for over a month, Ah Jie and the others all knew Shen Yuan wasn’t a big fan of sports like basketball, so they usually didn’t ask him to play.

Unless they were really short on players.

Shen Yuan slowly stuffed his physics paper into his desk drawer, catching a glimpse of Li Zhi out of the corner of his eye. She was looking down, tidying her desk.

He turned and leaned on the edge of her desk, half his body crossing the line. "Young Master Li, want to play badminton later?"

Li Zhi paused her tidying, her ponytail sweeping over her shoulder as she looked up.

"We’ll see."

Li Zhi said nonchalantly, then stood up and greeted He Zhiyu. The two of them walked out of the classroom together.

Seeing this, Zhuo Peipei quickly hurried after them.

"Wait a second..."

Shen Yuan watched helplessly as the three of them walked further and further away, a trace of resignation in his eyes.

He muttered to himself, ’If I’m not there, how are you two shippers supposed to get your sweet moments? I’m the key player here, you know!’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

With that, Shen Yuan also stood up resignedly.

On the field, the PE teacher ran them through the usual warm-up drills, and then it was time for free activity.

Shen Yuan, intent on having a match with Li Zhi, quickly rummaged through the equipment room for two badminton rackets, then picked out a few shuttlecocks that looked to be in decent shape.

When Shen Yuan emerged cheerfully from the equipment room with the gear, he immediately spotted Li Zhi leaning casually against the wall outside, a faint smile on her lips, as if she had been waiting for him all along.

"Young Master Li, a rare opportunity!"

Shen Yuan called out excitedly, handing one of the rackets to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi took the racket with a smile and said, "Let’s make a deal beforehand. The loser has to buy late-night snacks for a week."

"No problem!" Shen Yuan readily agreed.

A gentle breeze brushed past the ends of the pretty girl’s hair, and the sunlight cast a golden edge on the boy’s smile.

The gym had badminton courts, and Shen Yuan and Li Zhi quickly found an open one.

"How should we play?" Li Zhi asked.

"Let’s do 11 points. First to 11 wins, best two out of three."

Since they had to eat lunch after fourth period, they couldn’t play for too long.

Li Zhi nodded and stood behind the line. "You serve first, let’s test the shuttlecock."

THWACK!

The shuttlecock traced a silvery-white arc over the net, and Li Zhi quickly raised her racket to receive Shen Yuan’s serve.

A dull thud sounded as the shuttlecock met the racket.

Shen Yuan watched the shuttlecock fall toward him and returned it with a high clear.

Li Zhi watched Shen Yuan’s move, her head tilted up slightly, her eyes filled with concentration.

The next second, Li Zhi’s arm was already raised.

The moment she swung her racket, a crisp sound rang out from its strings.

SMASH!

A clean, decisive smash!

But Li Zhi didn’t let her guard down for a second.

As childhood friends, Li Zhi knew Shen Yuan’s skill level very well.

Because of their parents, the two had been badminton partners since they were little.

Usually, their parents would play doubles on one court while the two of them played singles on the side.

Although Li Zhi had played less since starting high school, she still knew Shen Yuan’s game inside and out.

Sure enough, Shen Yuan easily returned Li Zhi’s smash.

Watching the shuttlecock fall toward her, Li Zhi swung her racket and sent it back.

But this time, Shen Yuan didn’t hit it back. Instead, he timed it perfectly and caught the shuttlecock gently on his racket.

"Warm-up over?"

Li Zhi nodded.

"In that case..."

Before Shen Yuan could finish, He Zhiyu ran to the side of the net and announced loudly, "The badminton match between Shen Yuan of Class 15 and Li Zhi of Class 15 now officially begins!"

"This match is exclusively presented by the Jiyang Middle School Kissing Association and sponsored by the Campus Confession Wall!"