Chapter 39 She Wrote His Name...

Chapter 39 She Wrote His Name...
"Are we done here?"
Completely ignoring Sally Hoch's jaw practically hitting the floor, Warren Gale turned around with an infuriatingly relaxed posture and walked back toward the classroom.
Sally finally snapped out of her shock. She desperately wanted to flip him off. She wanted to scream, “YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH JULIE CARVEN!” at the top of her lungs. But she still had a shred of sanity left. If she actually screamed it for the whole world to hear, she would be ruining their lives. Swallowing her rage, she clutched her fifty bucks and marched downstairs.
Warren walked through the back door of the classroom. The very first thing his eyes locked onto was Julie, hunched over her desk. The bell was going to ring in a few minutes, and Tania had already returned to her seat.
He subconsciously slowed his pace. To get to his desk, he had to walk right past hers.
Julie had officially taken over logistics from Lara. Only when her new partner, Tom Stait, casually mentioned, "This is our last high school Field Day, huh?" did it finally hit her. Without a doubt, the most critical event of senior year was the Gaokao next summer, but did that mean these moments didn't matter at all?
Out of all forty-two students in this room, she was the only one who had lived through her youth, lost her youth, and miraculously gotten it back.
She knew better than any of them just how incredibly precious these memories would become in the decades ahead.
Of course, she couldn't exactly go back to Andrew Cantu now and beg to run an event...
But she was determined to squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of herself to contribute to the class. Full of enthusiasm, she had grabbed the roster from Andrew. Right now, she was meticulously using her absolute favorite pen to carefully write out the events in chronological order.
Warren thought she was doing practice problems. He casually glanced down as he walked by, but froze. She was writing his name.
Stroke by stroke, Julie's pen formed the letters on the page. W-a-r-r-e-n. G-a-l-e.
Sensing someone standing beside her, she reflexively looked up. Seeing him staring at what she was writing, she instantly saw a chance to score points. "Warren, look! I'm genuinely perfect for logistics. You definitely got the right person for the job~"
Warren took the half-finished schedule from her hands. His eyes lingered on his own name for a moment longer than necessary. "You are."
Julie smiled, completely satisfied. In her past life, she had been an incredibly competent corporate drone. Back then, her friends and family had been terrified she wouldn't survive the corporate world because she had absolutely zero experience. Her parents had been so worried they even saved up a chunk of money for her to open a bubble tea shop instead. She refused to listen, diving straight into the deep end, and ended up crushing it.
Not only did she survive, but she thrived.
Laughing, she casually slid in some more flattery. "When it's time for your 1500-meter run, I'm absolutely going to be there watching you win that medal!"
It was just a measly 1500 meters. There was no way that could stop her future boss.
Warren laughed softly, handing the sign-up sheet back to her. "It's about participation. I might not win a medal."
"You're being way too humble," Julie flattered him shamelessly.
The two of them chatted casually for another minute until the bell finally cut them off. Once Warren sat down, Beth, who had been eavesdropping the entire time, mimed violently throwing up. "You are such a kiss-ass. You literally have the word 'sycophant' tattooed across your forehead!"
Julie instantly slapped her hands over her cheeks. Was it really that obvious?! She felt like she had been holding back!
Beth turned to Dan behind them. "Am I wrong?"
Dan was currently busy aggressively styling his hair, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "Beth, what do you want me to say? If Julie kisses Warren's ass, that means we are kissing Warren's ass. That means we have connections at the top! If we need to skip class or get out of cleaning duty, it'll be a breeze!"
Julie: "??"
Are you trying to steal my job?!
Beth gasped, acting like she had just experienced a religious epiphany. "Brilliant!"
Julie laughed and cursed at them. "In your dreams!"
Anyone who tried to steal her professional ass-kissing gig would be arrested on sight. No exceptions.
"I'm gorgeous, so obviously I dream big," Beth shot back.
Because of the chaotic distraction, Beth completely forgot the main point she had been trying to make: she had noticed that Warren actually seemed to enjoy Julie aggressively kissing his ass.
—
Amidst the desperate anticipation of the student body, Field Day finally arrived. "Desperate anticipation" wasn't an exaggeration. Even Julie was terrified it might rain and ruin everything, ready to scream at the heavens if a single drop fell. But the weather was absolutely perfect, and the temperature was even a few degrees warmer than the past few days.
Julie was wearing several different hats.
She was writing motivational broadcast scripts, running logistics, and acting as the unofficial class photographer—an idea she had only come up with the day before. If she remembered correctly, the student council had hired someone to take pictures in her past life, but with so many classes, Class 3 barely got any photos at all.
She wanted things to be different this time. Even if it was just a tiny bit different.
She wanted to give these adorable kids at least one photo that would make them smile when they looked back on it years from now.
So, during her lunch break, she had called her aunt and begged to borrow her expensive camera.
Her aunt was thrilled by the idea, praised her endlessly, and drove the camera straight to the school before evening study hall.
Just as Julie expected, her classmates were ecstatic. Both the boys and the girls aggressively struck ridiculous, cocky poses for her to capture.
The downside of wearing so many hats was that she was so insanely busy she barely had time to drink water. She highly suspected she was currently the busiest person in the entire school.
Finally catching a brief moment to breathe, she flipped through her clipboard. Her eyes widened, and she violently grabbed Tom Stait's arm. "Is the men's 1500-meter about to start?!"
Tom was currently sitting in the grass, so physically exhausted he could barely form words. "...I think so?"
"On it." Julie instantly revived. She grabbed several bottles of water and hugged them to her chest. "You rest! I'll run the water over!"
Tom was moved to tears. "You are an angel! I love you!"
Julie didn't waste another second, sprinting across the field with the water bottles, looking completely energized and full of life. Tom lay back down in the grass like a dead fish, thinking to himself that Julie Carven genuinely seemed to have an infinite, terrifying amount of energy...
Over on the track, the boys competing in the 1500 were warming up.
Some looked incredibly determined, while others were lazily yawning, clearly forced into the race to make up the numbers.
Warren stood off to the side, surrounded by a few guys. He looked surprisingly distracted. As he stretched, he kept standing up and scanning the crowd. Gary noticed it instantly. He followed Warren's gaze, completely confused. "What are you looking for?"
"Nothing," Warren replied, looking down.
But a second after saying it, he used taking a drink of water as an excuse to look out into the distance again.
Far away, cutting through the massive crowd, he spotted a familiar figure sprinting toward him through the afternoon sunlight. His shoulders relaxed. He screwed the cap back onto his bottle and shoved it directly into Gary's chest without even looking at him. "Hold this."
Julie arrived panting heavily, unable to get a full sentence out.
Warren took a few long strides over to her. He watched her for a second before taking the heavy load of water bottles from her arms. "What's wrong?"
Julie was burning up. She aggressively fanned her face with her hand, gasping for air. "Thank god I made it! Warren, your race hasn't started yet, right?"
"No," Warren replied. "But it's about to."
"O-okay, good!" Julie had run so fast her cheeks were flushed bright red, but she still didn't forget her main job. "Warren, good luck! I wrote a script just for you, they'll probably read it over the loudspeakers soon!"
Warren smiled helplessly. "It wouldn't have mattered if you missed it. You didn't need to run so fast."
Gary and Vincent walked over, reminding Warren he needed to get to the starting line. Warren pulled his gaze away from Julie, gave a soft "Mm," and muttered something under his breath that didn't seem directed at anyone in particular. "I might not win a medal."
His voice was incredibly low, and the field was deafeningly loud. Julie was still trying to catch her breath and didn't hear a word.

On your marks. Get set.
Julie squeezed her way to the very front of the crowd, anxiously waiting for the whistle to blow. She stared intently at Warren. He didn't look nervous at all. When the whistle shrieked, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow—incredibly free, incredibly powerful. Even though this was just a high school track meet, the adrenaline of the crowd infected her. Her heart leaped into her throat. She raised the camera, tracking his rapid movement, but he was simply too fast, and her photography skills were severely limited. She frantically mashed the shutter button, but failed to get many clear shots.
Hearing the deafening cheers from the other classes around them, she finally snapped back to reality and started screaming. "LET'S GO! LET'S GO WARREN AHHHHH!!"
Gary’s eardrums nearly shattered. He deliberately took a massive step away from her. "...Uh, hey. You can't just yell 'Warren.' According to the roster, there's another guy named Warren from Class 5 running this race. What if he thinks you're aggressively cheering for him? That would be incredibly awkward."
"Seriously?" Julie instantly shut her mouth. She glared suspiciously at the people around her, absolutely refusing to let some random guy steal her incredibly powerful cheers.
She turned back to Gary. "Then what should I do?"
Gary was bewildered. How could a girl who was normally so sharp suddenly act so incredibly dumb? He laughed helplessly. "My guy Warren doesn't just have a first name! Use his full name!"
Julie laughed too.
She either called him "Warren" out loud, or referred to him as "Boss" in her head. Thinking about it, she realized she had literally never yelled his full name before. It felt weird.
Right at that moment, Warren was finishing his first lap. In a few seconds, he would be running right past them. Julie took a massive, deep breath, pulling air straight from her diaphragm, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "WARREN GALE, LET'S GOOOOO AHHHHH!!!"
Gary was genuinely terrified by the sheer volume. He gave her a deeply respectful thumbs up.
This girl’s lungs were made of steel. She completely drowned out everyone else's cheers.
Carried by the wind, her voice naturally reached Warren's ears. For a fraction of a second, he lost focus and stumbled slightly, but his pace visibly accelerated. He didn't turn to look at her, but as he flew past, he could clearly feel her presence.
At the exact same time, the loudspeakers echoed across every inch of the field—
"Warren Gale! The sky is high, the earth is wide! The path beneath your feet is not just a track, it is your unstoppable future!"
He was running so fast his lungs felt like they were burning. He was an arrow, and he could fly anywhere he wanted to go.
Gary laughed and teased Julie. "Warren is a beast. He's got the brains and the brawn! But honestly, his condition today is insane. I need to ask him later if he secretly chugged an entire keg of Red Bull."
"Warren works incredibly hard," Julie replied, her eyes glued to Warren's figure. "Every single morning when I go to the track to memorize my books, I see him out there warming up and running laps."
Nobody succeeded by accident.
God only knew how many 1500-meter practice runs Warren had done in secret.
Gary froze. "Huh??"
He had felt like something was off the past few days. Warren had been waking up early but hadn't been going to the cafeteria for breakfast. When Gary had asked him about it the first day, Warren had simply said he "forgot."
Gary hadn't pushed it.
As the finish line rapidly approached, Julie was too incredibly stressed to chat with Gary anymore. She was squeezing her water bottle so hard it was about to burst. Warren was running incredibly fast, yes, but two other guys were right behind him, constantly threatening to overtake him. It was agonizing to watch.
Gary slowly turned his head to look at Julie. A look of profound, terrifying realization dawned on his face. An incredibly wild thought flashed through his mind.
No way.
No way??
Absolutely no way???
Through sheer willpower, Warren Gale crossed the finish line first. Despite his massive athletic capacity, sprinting the entire 1500 meters without breaking pace had taken its toll. He was gasping for air, unable to speak. He was dripping with sweat, his entire body screaming with a tearing pain, but it felt incredibly euphoric.
He bent over, resting his hands on his knees.
A massive crowd of people surrounded him. Looking down at the shoes, he could tell instantly—the specific pair of white sneakers wasn't there. Looking through the gaps in the crowd, he saw her standing a short distance away, unable to squeeze through the mob.
Vincent threw a cooling towel at him. He caught it.
Gary tried to hand him a half-empty bottle of water. Warren acted like he was completely blind and completely ignored it.
Once he wasn't looking quite so miserable, he walked straight through the crowd toward her. He naturally reached out and took the bottle of water directly from her hands. His voice was rough and raspy, but it carried a faint smile. "Thanks to your script, I won the medal."