“Woaahhh! This is really good!” Jackson continued chomping down on his favorite snack. Hara seemed to be enjoying it as well, but I couldn’t find Youngji anywhere in the room.

“Guys, where’s Youngji?” I asked. Both of them immediately stopped eating and looked around. Hara’s face distorted into a weird look, and Jackson just shrugged as he continued going through the bag of chips he was holding. “She was just here…” my nose crinkled. “What’s that smell?” I stared straight at Jackson. Hara’s weird look distorted even more.

“JACKSON FARTED.” Hara screeched. I backed up against the wall and hurt my back, then looked at the window. I narrowed my eyes at him and ran straight for it. He obviously wasn’t going to let me do it, so I pushed him out of the way and pulled the window as up as far as possible. I stuck my face out and took in the fresh air.

“Dammit!” Jackson burst out laughing. “Should’ve seen your guys’s faces! It was hilarious.” Hara only shook her head and continued trying to push the air out towards the window. Jackson wiped a tear from his eye. “I’ll go find her.” he said and left the room.

“So, what did you guys talk about?” I asked Hara. She just shrugged and smiled a little. My heart flipped a little. Did she have feelings for Jackson? Then again, why am I so curious? I looked at her face closely. Her features still looked oddly beautiful even though her condition isn’t at its best. She pushed the hair off of her forehead and stretched her arms out.

“We just talked about crushes and stuff.” Hara said quietly. She looked at the end of her bed and seemed to be more interested in whatever was there. I thought for sure that her face had turned slightly red. “I-it’s nothing important, don’t worry.” she stuttered. The tension was starting to grow so I laughed just to ease it a little. She looked at me and asked, “Why are you laughing?”

I didn’t know how to answer so I just stared at her. “Just..just go to sleep. I’ll watch over you like a guardian angel.” I pulled out my biggest grin and patted her head.

It was morning, 7:50 am. I still felt extremely exhausted, but forced myself to get up. Like every other day, I checked my phone. Monday. It’s Monday. I blinked a couple times and looked at the clock again. Slowly, I felt a panicky sensation creep up on me. Hara was still asleep and she was excused from school, but I’m not. I quickly grabbed my backpack and ran out the door, not before I took one last glance at her. That wasn’t a good idea, though, because I ran straight into the door. I couldn’t care less about my bleeding nose.

I calculated the time it would take from Hara’s house to the school, which was about fifteen minutes. I will have just enough time right before the bell rings at 8:05 am. However, I’m not willing to take the risk just yet and figured I would arrive at least five minutes ahead by going through the dark tunnel. Though it’s considered a great shortcut, no one has ever been willing to go through it because of all the rumors about kidnapping and ghosts. I’m not really sure how long the tunnel is, but I’m thinking of running through it and hope I don’t trip midway. It gradually came into view and I dashed straight at it like it was my worse enemy.

Surprisingly, I’m still alive and made it to school exactly at how I calculated it--8:00 am. I walked into my homeroom.

“BamBam! You’re later than usual today.” said Youngji. “Did something happen?” She looked at me curiously and smiled. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Holding up her papers, which seems to be the class roster, she waved her hand and walked out the classroom. Behind her, Jackson was eating a banana and playing some type of game on his phone. I looked around again, looking for Hara because I usually spend the morning with her. Jackson looked up and saw me. He smiled. His phone went back into his front pants pocket and walked towards me.

“Hey, what’s up?” he put out his hand, getting ready to do our secret handshake. I was still distracted, looking for Hara but placed my hand out. “Uh, BamBam? This isn’t a bed for your hand.” I felt another nudge.

“Huh? What is it, Jackson?” I asked in confusion. He stared at me with the same look.

“Why are you acting so weird?” he said.

“Oh. I’m just looking for Hara.” I replied, looking around the room once more.

“You’re such an idiot. She’s in the hospital, remember?” Jackson smacked me in the arm.

I looked at him. “Oh,” was all I could say. He started getting extremely close to me and whispered in my ear.

“Do you like Hara? I can tell,” he said in a sultry tone as I felt another nudge push against the same exact arm again. “Don’t worry, your secret’s with me. I’m just disappointed in our bromance though, I thought we had something.” He dramatically wiped an invisible tear off his cheek and winked. I started laughing and realized that maybe I do like Hara. I thought about it again and the school bell suddenly hit my ears.