In the first two installments, I shared with everyone the events around me during the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school. I won't go into too much detail about the transition to junior high, as I have roughly introduced it in previous writings.

Once I entered junior high, I became much more cautious because I was no longer an administrative child of the school. Sometimes, I couldn't shake off my bad habits, which made me less liked by my classmates. So, those who could get close to me were either often bullied in class or disliked by the entire class. The classmate who was often bullied, Chen, was small in stature and had a timid personality, so whenever he displayed any annoying behavior, he would be bullied by the others. The one who was disliked by the whole class mainly had a strong body odor and rarely spoke. When he did speak, it was often in a stuttering manner, and his volume was also uncontrollable.

I originally got along quite well with the small guy, but he didn't seem to appreciate the kindness others showed him. Over the three years of junior high, he stood me up three times. As the saying goes, "things don't happen more than three times."

The first time, I lost my study outline. Since I lived near the Zhongkai Agricultural College, and he lived on Hailian Road, I called him to agree to meet at the bus stop south of Haiyin Bridge to borrow the outline for photocopying. But at that time, what middle school student carries a mobile phone? I ended up leaving home in a hurry after hanging up the landline. I waited for a long time at the bus stop, but he never showed up. After a while, I returned home to call and confirm, only to find that his mother answered and said he had left with his cousin after hanging up. I had to arrange with his family again to borrow the study outline. However, it was not him who gave me the outline, but his mother.

Furthermore, since I was often ranked in the lower middle of the class, while the small guy consistently ranked in the upper middle, our friendship could have allowed him to tutor me. So, I arranged for him to come to my house during the holidays to do homework together. This time, I was smart and brought my phone with me. I originally went out with my parents to eat at a hot pot restaurant and planned to return home to do homework afterward. So, as I was nearing the end, I called to confirm, but he said he was playing chess with his cousin. I decided to wait a while and eat a little more with my family before heading home. After that, I set off to return home and called again to confirm his whereabouts. His response was that he would be out soon, but I didn't know that the second half of his sentence was that he was still playing chess with his cousin. I thought he would leave at the same time I did. When I got home and called again, the response I got was a short three words: "Not going." When my parents returned, they found me alone doing homework.

The third time was the key that led to the demise of this friendship. We had originally formed a group to complete an after-school assignment assigned by the teacher before the holidays. That day, my family and I happened to go to a beef brisket noodle shop downstairs from his house, and I could conveniently hand him the completed assignment paper. So, I told him in advance, and he said he could do it. Who would have thought that when I arrived, he would say that his computer was occupied by his dad, and there was no space to do the homework? Even if he really encountered difficulties, he had broken his promise for the third time. Following the principle of "things don't happen more than three times," he was no longer worthy of forgiveness.

Perhaps it is not about family background, social connections, grades, or class rankings; these are truly the only standards used to divide peers. If you can't fit in, it's like glutinous rice chicken, all set.