TBBS 09

Chapter 09…

It didn’t seem like my answer was going to be the kind she was hoping for…

“Just… a friend from elementary school.”

At that, Olivia’s eyes grew even rounder.

“From elementary school? But Liam and I went to the same school.”

Of course—that was exactly the kind of response you’d hear at Brangell.

After all, there were only a handful of schools in Stockholm that kids from wealthy families attended. The odds of having gone to the same elementary or middle school were fairly high.

So I explained again.

“Liam transferred in the fourth grade, I think? Before that, he went to the same school as me.”

“Oh, really? I had no idea. So he transferred in?”

Olivia sounded genuinely intrigued, then said with surprising cheer,

“Wow, so that means we’ve found something in common! We both went to the same elementary school as Liam!”

That counts as a big common ground, even if it’s not the same school?

I couldn’t completely agree with that logic, but if Olivia was satisfied, then fine.

She went on, sounding a little regretful.

“Actually, he asked me for your contact info, but I couldn’t just give out your number, so I told him to ask again later. Should I have just given it to him?”

Olivia and I had exchanged numbers on the first day for dorm check-in, so she had it. I smiled brightly to reassure her.

“It’s fine. I’ll see him at school anyway. Plus, there’s Instagram.”

Olivia speared a fat sausage from her stroganoff and nodded.

“Mm, I follow Liam on Instagram too.”

“Really? Then you’re close with him too!”

I answered warmly this time, but Olivia just burst out laughing.

“What? No way. He’s the rowing team captain! At Brangell, it’s harder to find someone not following Liam Gardie.”

“Oh, is that so?”

I played along, but I was honestly surprised.

Was being rowing captain really that big of a deal?

Olivia caught my puzzled look and kindly explained.

“If Erik Brangell is the girls’ idol, then Liam Gardie is basically Captain Brangell himself. Ever since he joined, our rowing team places every time we compete. And when he’s rowing… he really looks amazing.”

As she mimicked rowing with her arms, I almost felt like I could picture Liam right there.

I really should go watch a practice sometime.

After dinner, back in my room, I opened the Instagram app.

Liam Gardie

I typed in the name, and multiple accounts popped up.

How had I not realized before and even rejected his follow request?

The Liam I knew was right there at the top, and even from the tiny profile photo, I could tell it was him.

I tapped the account. A short bio appeared.

Liam Gardie
Captain of the Brangell High Rowing Team

Above the simple profile was a shocking number of followers.

“Six thousand one hundred ninety-five?”

I read the number aloud in disbelief. It was dozens of times more than my follower count.

At that level, wasn’t he basically an influencer?

I suddenly understood why my past self had rejected his request.

If his profile picture back then didn’t show his face, I’d probably assumed from the follower count alone that it was some kind of spam or ad account.

I chuckled to myself and hit “Follow.”

When Liam saw it later, I could just tell him it was payback for rejecting him last time.

Then Olivia’s words popped into my head:

“If Erik Brangell is the girls’ idol, then Liam Gardie is basically Captain Brangell himself.”

In that case…

Maybe I could dig up something about Liam’s dating history? Something to tease him with?

I opened the WG app and typed in a search.

G-kun

It was inspired by the endless posts I’d seen about W-kun, and sure enough, a ton of results came up.

The very top one read:

WGStudentbostäders

[Hammarskjöld] Today the rowing captain came to our classroom and got some guy’s contact info.
Again. Another guy.
He’s definitely gay, right? Someone confirm this already. Then I’ll just give up clean.

Replies:

• [Siegbahn] At this point, just assume he’s gay. It’ll be better for your mental health.
  ↳ [Hammarskjöld] Shut up, Siegbahn.

• [Tiselius] Chill, Hammarskjöld. Our G-kun is just obsessed with rowing… You just lost to a 600,000-kronor boat. Better than losing to another girl, right?

• [Hammarskjöld] Has anyone actually seen him date?
  ↳ [Lagerlöf] He dated one of our dorm seniors last year. She went to Yale. Unless he’s only rowing all the time, they’ll meet again.
  ↳ [Tiselius] Worry about yourself, Lagerlöf. Captain can go to any school he wants.
  ↳ [Lagerlöf] Oh, please. The Tiselius losers bragging about nothing but the rowing captain.
  ↳ [Tiselius] Still better than your stuck-up queen.

Well…

It sounded like Liam hadn’t really changed from the boy I used to know. Except his old obsession with multi-legged creatures had been replaced with rowing.

I scrolled through a few more posts and stopped at one comparing Liam and Erik’s pros and cons, debating who was better.

The fact that those posts had been around for a whole year without being deleted said a lot about both of them.

The next day.

It was Saturday, so I was lazily sprawled in bed when my phone buzzed. An Instagram notification.

Sure enough, it was from Liam.

“For Bibi Han to follow humble little me first… I’m moved to tears…”

The crying emoji at the end was ridiculous.

I quickly typed back:

Don’t be absurd, Liam.
I don’t have a single person with that many followers in my entire following list.
I honestly thought your account was an ad at first.

This time, he sent a whole row of crying emojis.

I won’t advertise a single thing, I promise. Just give me your phone number already.

Laughing, I sent him my number, and almost immediately a FaceTalk call came through.

I hadn’t even washed my face yet, which was a little embarrassing…

But come on, it was Liam.

We used to roll around in the dirt catching ants together.

I accepted the call, and his face popped up right away. Behind him was a wide stretch of blue sky.

I instantly regretted accepting so casually, still wrapped in my blanket like this.

—“Bibi! They say beauties are always sleepyheads. Were you still sleeping?”

“Oh my god, Liam. So Erik was right—you really do torture your teammates from dawn with practice!”

—“What? Erik actually told you that nonsense? No, wait, never mind. Bibi! It’s not even dawn. It’s past nine in the morning!”

It was Saturday—what was wrong with nine a.m.?

But clearly, Liam felt differently.

—“And do you even realize how gorgeous the weather is right now? Stockholm’s autumn is precious. Every single day counts—you can’t waste it like this!”

He didn’t even let me defend myself before continuing:

—“Nope, this won’t do. I’ve got practice now, but… let’s meet at noon, yeah? How’s that?”

Well, noon was lunchtime anyway… and better than sitting alone with crackers and spread.

“Alright, I’ll come to the gym then.”

I hurried to say it first, before Liam could suggest coming to pick me up.

Yesterday I’d learned from the anonymous forum just how much attention being seen with Liam could draw.

11 a.m., by the lakeside near school.

Liam stood on the dock, leaning over an eight-man boat (*Eight: an eight-seater racing shell) that was just pulling in.

“Good! Now reach for the dock! Grab it!”

It was the first outdoor training session with the new freshmen, so Liam was chattier than usual.

Rowing was a sport where victories were decided in under eight minutes, so for beginners, indoor training was normally much more important.

But starting outdoor practice in the very first week? That was Liam’s ambition showing.

Soccer was popular anywhere, anytime, but at Brangell, rowing reigned supreme—and nothing showcased it better than an outdoor session.

In truth, rowing was far too expensive to pursue without school and alumni support.

That’s why, each new term, it was tradition for Brangell’s rowing team to flaunt its prestige early and recruit as many promising rookies as possible.

As the boat drew close to the dock, Liam called out again:

“Stay focused! Port side, oars out! Starboard, grab the riggers and stand! Careful not to cross paths!”

Then suddenly, someone wobbled in the boat.

“Whoa—!”

The startled cry wasn’t loud.

But the boat was still floating on the water, and in a blink, the unsteady rookie toppled right out.

—Splash!

A huge spray of water exploded upward.