By the time winter reached the city, the final year no longer felt like something far away. Exams were getting closer, teachers were more serious, and even Zhao Ming had started carrying actual textbooks instead of just snacks.
It was a quiet afternoon when everything started.
Their last class teacher didn't show up, so the classroom was loud, students talking, some sleeping, some doing homework. The sunlight came in through the windows at a low angle, making the whole classroom look golden and calm.
Su Ran was cleaning her bag when she found something at the bottom.
A slightly bent photograph.
She pulled it out and stared at it for a moment.
It was their class photo from years ago. The one where she sat in the second row and Jiang Chen stood behind her while Zhao Ming leaned sideways like he couldn't stand still for five seconds.
She smiled without realizing.
"What are you looking at?" Zhao Ming asked, leaning over immediately.
She showed him the photo.
He grabbed it dramatically.
"Look at us! We look so young!"
"We were young," she said.
"We still are," he replied. "But now we are older and more legendary."
Jiang Chen leaned slightly forward from the seat behind them and looked at the photo quietly.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
---
The Back of the Photo
Su Ran flipped the photo over.
On the back were the words they wrote years ago:
Last Row Trio
Seat: Last Row
Goal: Stay friends for a long time
Future Goal: Become rich and buy everyone food
Remember these days
They all read the words silently.
Zhao Ming spoke first.
"I did not become rich yet. Very disappointing."
"You still have time," Su Ran said.
Jiang Chen looked at the last sentence he had written years ago.
Remember these days.
He didn't say anything, but he remembered exactly what he was thinking when he wrote it.
---
Cleaning the Classroom
Later that day, their class had to clean the classroom as part of school duty.
Zhao Ming was sweeping the floor very slowly.
"You are sweeping like you are painting art," Su Ran said.
"I am an artist," he replied.
"This is floor art."
Jiang Chen was wiping the board carefully.
Su Ran was arranging books on the shelf near the back of the classroom.
As she moved the books, she found something else hidden behind them.
A small folded paper.
She opened it.
Inside were random drawings and notes from years ago.
Stick figures.
Bad math jokes.
A drawing of Zhao Ming falling into a hole.
A drawing of Jiang Chen holding a book like a robot.
A drawing of herself sleeping on the desk.
She started laughing.
"What now?" Zhao Ming asked.
She showed him the paper.
He looked at it and immediately said,
"I am very handsome in this drawing."
"You are literally falling into a hole," she said.
"It represents my struggles," he replied.
Jiang Chen looked at the paper too and said quietly,
"You drew these during class."
"Yes," she said.
"Because your lessons were boring."
"They were not my lessons," he replied.
"You were explaining math," she said.
"That was helpful," he said.
"It was boring but helpful," she corrected.
---
Sitting in the Empty Classroom
After cleaning, most students left, but the three of them stayed for a while.
They sat in their usual seats in the last row.
The classroom was quiet now, chairs neatly arranged, board clean, sunlight slowly fading as evening came.
Zhao Ming leaned back in his chair and said,
"We spent too many years in this classroom."
Su Ran looked around slowly.
The windows.
The board.
The teacher's desk.
The last row.
"So many things happened here," she said quietly.
Jiang Chen nodded slightly.
"Yes."
Zhao Ming suddenly said,
"Let's do something."
"What?" Su Ran asked.
He took a pen and wrote very small on the corner of the wooden desk:
Last Row Trio was here.
Su Ran's eyes widened.
"You're going to get in trouble!"
"It's small," he said.
"Future generations will discover this and respect us."
Jiang Chen looked at the small writing but didn't stop him.
Instead, he took the pen and added below it:
Do not forget.
Su Ran looked at the words for a long time.
Then she took the pen and added one more line:
We were very happy here.
The three of them stared at the corner of the desk for a while.
It was just small handwriting on an old desk.
But somehow, it felt important.
---
Walking Home Slowly
They left the classroom together when the sky was already turning dark blue.
They walked slower than usual that day.
"Do you think someone will see what we wrote?" Su Ran asked.
"Maybe," Zhao Ming said.
"Maybe some future student will sit there and wonder who we were."
Jiang Chen said quietly,
"Or maybe no one will notice, but it will still be there."
They walked a little further in silence.
Then Zhao Ming suddenly said,
"When we graduate, we should come back one day and check if the writing is still there."
Su Ran nodded.
"Yes. We should."
Jiang Chen looked ahead at the road and said quietly,
"By then, everything will be different."
Su Ran looked at him but didn't say anything.
Because she knew he was right.
Everything would be different.
Different schools.
Different lives.
Different schedules.
Different people.
But for now, they were still walking home together after school,
still talking about stupid things,
still sitting in the last row every morning,
still pretending that time was moving slowly.
Even though, in reality,
their last year was already beginning to slip away.