The following Monday found my thoughts escaping towards the Student Affairs and Sanctions Department. As I had predicted, Sojin's credentials were placed in jeopardy in light of Friday night's happenings. She'd been pulled out during second period and had not returned for the rest of our morning classes.

Yixing accompanied me at lunch while Baekhyun, Jongdae and Tao stayed behind in the Sophomores lounge to cram for Trig's assignment that was due at one o'clock. Yixing and I had already handed ours first thing in the morning.

"You don't think she was involved, do you?" Yixing asked over a sip of his soda.

"I thought I told you to stop drinking softdrinks?" I said, scowling.

"What're you, my nutritionist?" He spat back, laughing. "And in case your smart brain didn't know, bubble tea is just as unhealthy. Anyway, you haven't answered my question."

I'd actually been avoiding the topic all morning. I knew she was clean, but I also knew she had withheld hard evidence that would have cleared her slate if it weren't for her strong conviction of my innocence.

"No, I don't," I finally said.

"Me neither. She's just too clever for that. If it really had been her, I doubt she'd have left obvious trails. Two broken windows? That's sick, dude." He seemed to have neglected Sojin's knack at breaking things. He chewed on his chips. "Aren't you gonna help her though? I heard you were the reporting Prefect."

Yixing stabbed the dagger of guilt further down my chest. I frowned. "And I thought I told you to stop eating junkfood."

"Douche."

We cleared our table twenty minutes before the time, eager to catch up with the others by the lounge.

Baekhyun and Jongdae were already having a mini concert to a group of smitten females while Tao was busy checking his reflection on his tab's screen when we joined them.

"Luhan?"

I turned around to a worried-looking Shinji, President of the second class. "Yes?"

"I.. er.. was just wondering.. about Sojin." The mention of her name sent me anxious again. "She's not in trouble, is she? I mean, I just know she didn't do it but.. I heard she hasn't been in her morning classes and I'm really getting worried. I just.. thought I could ask you since you're a Prefect."

As if on cue, the Head Prefect emerged from the mouth of the staircase and beckoned for me to follow. I nodded curtly before facing back Shinji. "She's innocent," I told her with a reassuring smile. I wanted to say more, that Sojin was probably just stuck in the middle of formalities and paperwork but I wasn't so sure of it myself. So I turned away and opted to just follow our Head.

"Yang Sojin's been cleared," he said before opening the entrance to the SASD court room. That was, by far, the greatest news I'd ever been delivered, better than when I learned I graduated top of my class in elementary and middle school put together. "But they wanted second opinion for finality and you were the Prefect on duty so.."

My eyes searched for Sojin the moment we entered the spacious hall. She wasn't hard to miss; she was at the center of the court room's attention after all, both literally and figuratively. Slumped groggily in her seat, she busied herself with playing with her ballpen. She didn't look up for the rest of the session, not even during my statement.

Was she mad at me? Did she now regret trusting my innocence? Was she going to report me after all?

Once the case had been formally closed, Sojin grabbed her bag and dashed out of the room before I had the chance to approach her. But I didn't have to worry; we had double Biology for the entire afternoon and I never thought there would come a time when I'd be grateful we were lab partners.

We were already half an hour behind our classmates' progress but it didn't inspire me to double-time. Instead, I wasted luxurious minutes studying her expression while we arranged crucible tongs and scalpels for the experiment. She looked paler than usual and her lids dipped lower than was necessary - I wondered how she could still manage to see through mere slits of her eyes. Then I remembered she still had not eaten her lunch.

"You haven't eaten anything," I stated carefully, determined to sound as detached as possible.

Unmoved, she replied, "Funny how that should concern you."

What. Was. The. Matter. With. Her.

We spent the next hour in conflicted silence - me, working with a disgruntled heart and her, operating under an empty stomach.

By the end of the first period, only our frog remained alive despite a sliced body. Sojin's hands were undoubtedly deft at handling minute details - a complete paradox from her talent of property destruction. The frog's organs were all intact even after she had examined each.

I decided to stay in the background and do the written report. A few times I'd been tempted to interrogate her regarding her hearing; I had to remind myself that Sojin loved Science and probably didn't want disruptions while she underwent the experiment.