“Finally awake?”

I gave my mom a curt nod, all the energy drained out of my body after throwing up big time not long after I woke up. Last night was my first time ever tasting alcohol and apparently, my tolerance level wasn’t that high.  I knew I should probably be worrying about how I was gonna face my angry parents but my aching muscles and bad headache completely distracted me. 

“Here, drink the soup. And now care to explain what happened last night Yoon Chae Rim?” She demanded, placing a bowl of hangover soup in front of me then looked down at me with her hands on her hips.

Taking a sip of the broth, I muttered timidly “I’m sorry.” 

To be honest, I had no idea what I should even be saying at this point in time. Everything that happened last night was my own fault. I could’ve turned the boys down or stayed out of the game but I didn’t. It was a mistake to let curiosity take over my rationality. 

I heard her exhale a long loud sigh while shaking her head “Your dad’s gonna get really mad if he ever heard about this. Good thing he had to stay late at work last night.”

As soon as she finished her statement, I felt a glimmer of hope. 

“So you didn’t tell him?” I blinked expectantly at her.

She pursed her lips together, shooting me a stern look of disapproval “Just because I didn’t tell him doesn’t mean that I’m not disappointed with your reckless act. I know you kids probably just wanna have fun but can’t you at least wait another year till you’re legal? And even at that, I don’t expect you to drink so much to actually come home drunk.”

I bobbed my head repeatedly while rubbing my palms together in a pleading manner “I know mom I’ll never do that again. Can you please not tell dad?”

She clucked her tongue but eventually gave in to my plea “Fine I won’t.”

No words could describe the amount of relief her promise brought me and I instantly threw my arms around her.

"Thanks mom, you’re the best!” I squealed.

She shook her head and jokingly responded “You’re welcome, troublemaker.”

Glancing at the clock, I picked up the spoon and dove right into the soup. I knew I was going to be late even if I were to leave on that very second so I took a little bit of extra time to rejuvenate my body with the hangover soup. I just had to make sure I got to school before Biology started.

“Are you sure you want to go to school today?”

The hot broth burned the tip of my tongue but I nodded regardless “Yeah I have to. We have a quiz today.”

Slurping the last drop off my spoon, I pushed my chair back and rose “I gotta go, Mom.”

“Alright. Be careful, okay?” She reminded as I gave her a kiss on her cheek.

I was sitting in the bottom step of stairs in the foyer, hurriedly putting on my shoes when I heard her yell from the kitchen “Oh and don’t forget to thank Mr Oh’s son for bringing you home last night.”

*************************************************************************************************************************

“So Ms. Yoon, what’s your excuse this time?” 

Standing in front of the elder, I fixed my eyes on the ground. “I’m not feeling well, Sir.”

There was a pause when his eyes travelled over me with deliberate scrutiny. A moment later, he spoke “Okay, I’ll let you off this time because you actually look…”

“Like crap.” A random voice cut him off and immediately, the whole class broke into laughter. I could feel a blush creeping up my face and I bit my lip from the embarrassment.

“Quiet!” The teacher dictated, slamming his palm on the white board causing the chaos to subside in an instant before he announced “Now go to your seat. We’ll start with the quiz now.”

I tightened my grip on the straps of my bag and strutted over to my seat, ignoring the mocking and snarky whispers around me. I threw myself on the seat and fished the stationery out of my bag. As soon as the paper were passed on to my desk, I flipped through the pages, quickly scanning the questions. I sighed, starting to regret my decision to attend school today because it seemed like it wouldn’t make any difference either. My brain still couldn’t function properly in the aftermath of last night. Unfortunately, it was a little too late to give in and there was nothing I could do except try to at least get a pass. Though I could tell that it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Make sure to be on time next time Ms. Yoon.” 

“Yes, Sir.” I nodded and bowed to the elder one last time before he exited the classroom. I let out a long exhausted sigh for the umpteenth time of the day as I walked back to my seat, ready to take a nap.

“Chae Rim-ah!”

I snapped my head around when a voice called out my name and as soon as I did that, I saw Jong In walk over.

“