chapter five

well, it's time to talk. so much for social butterfly me. Great, and here comes trouble.

        I waited until I heard Minseok’s breathing slow to a nice, rhythmic pace before stealing out into the hallway with my cell phone. On the way back from Yixing’s dormitory building, I’d noticed three old telephone booths built into the wall near the lounge. They looked like they hadn’t been used in a decade, probably because every kid at Hereford had been given a cell phone as soon as they’d said their first word. I deemed it the perfect place for my midnight phone call.

I ducked into the booth closest to the lounge and farthest from any dorm rooms. Sure enough, the inside walls were peppered with graffiti like “S.G. Class of ‘91” and “New Kids Rule!” It seemed the phone booths were the one area that had escaped the recent refurbishment that had left all of Hereford smelling of paint and new carpet.

I closed the glass door behind me. It let out a loud creak that reverberated through the silent dorm, causing my heart to hit my throat. I waited for a moment, holding my breath, but no one seemed interested in checking out the noise.

I closed the glass door behind me. It let out a loud creak that reverberated through the silent dorm, causing my heart to hit my throat. I waited for a moment, holding my breath, but no one seemed interested in checking out the noise.

Sitting back against the hard wooden wall, I hit the speed-dial number for Kris’s cell. And he picked up on the first ring.

“Chief Wu.”

“Hey, Yifan.” I said. “It’s me, calling with my quotidian update.”

“Lu! How’s it going up there?” he asked. “Are you going alright?”

“Well, I’ve talked to all three suspects, although one of them didn’t actually talk back,” I said, cringing slightly as I recalled the encounter with Sehun. “Yixing corroborated the fact that Jongin -er Kai- is here on scholarship, but I haven’t learned anything new—yet. Oh! Except that Oh Sehun was addicted to painkillers a couple of years back. That’s incriminating, right?”

I waited for Yifan to convey his thoughts, wondering whether he'd be proud of the tidbit I’d managed to unearth or irritated that I hadn’t gotten very far.

“That’s great Lu, but I was more concerned about you,” Yifan said. “How are the people up there? How’s your roommate? What are they feeding you?”

For a moment I just sat there, rendered speechless by surprise. I had expected him to interrogate me—to be all business. This was, after all, an important investigation. What did he care if my roommate was cool or not?

“Yifan? Are you okay?”

“What, I can’t be concerned about my friend?” he shot back.

Suddenly I couldn’t help smiling. I relished the rare moments when my old friend would drop his hard- persona and became a least bit caring.

“My roommate is great,” I told him, “But the teachers . Mediocre at best. I definitely got a better education back in China. This place is a flagrant ripoff.”

“I had a feeling,” Yifan said.

“Except for the food.” I added, experiencing a sudden craving for the chocolate chip cookies they’d served up after dinner. “I swear they should open a restaurant up here.” “Well, that’s good, at least,” Yifan replied. “So listen, you said you talked to all the suspects. Do you think any of them has deduced why you’re there?”

“Nah. I’m definitely not impressed by their collective intelligence,” I told him, adjusting my on the rock-hard seat. “Yixing’s the only one who seems incisive to figure it out, but I don’t think he will.”

“Why not?”

“I think he’s kind of enamored of me,” I said, flushing.

“Luhan, you are not there to make friends!”

Ah, a reprimand! It seems that he was finally awake enough to hear me.

“I know, Yifan. Don’t worry.” I said. “All I’m trying to say is no one suspects a thing.”

“Well, if they start to question you or make you feel at all uncomfortable, I can bring you home at any time,” he told me.

“I know, Yifan, but I’m not leaving here until I prevail,” I told him, twisting the silver cord of the obsolete phone in my hand. “I feel like this is something I have to do.”

Yifan sighed, “Lu, we didn’t really talk about this before you left, but if this is about Wei—”

“It’s not,” I quickly cut in, truncating his speech. I didn’t want to have all the baggage dragged out right before bed. It had already caused enough insomnia over the past few months, and I had to be alert tomorrow. “I just want to help. That’s all. Besides I was going to out of my mind sitting at home. This is much more interesting.”

“If you say so,” he said.

“I do,” I replied with a nod. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’m having lunch with Jongin, and I’m hoping to get in with Sehun as well.”

“Okay Lulu, but just… be careful.”

I cringed slightly at the nickname, but held in my commentary on the dreaded name. Maybe taking on this case may had not been the greatest decision I’d ever made.

“Don’t worry, Kris.” I told him. “I will.”







By the time I emerged from the lunch line the next afternoon I was all nerves. I was about to sit with Jongin and his obnoxious, vain, fatuous friends—a prospect that made me queasy for three reasons.

First, I knew that Yixing and Minseok were going to be completely thrown and would probably excise me from their lives forever. Second, I was going to have to maintain complete focus—not one of my attributes—and be careful about everything I said. After my flub yesterday at lunch, I realized that social situations could be haza