You know what ? High school.

Yeah, no kidding.

It’s only worse when you’re a senior. Then you have to stress about those awful exams. Sometimes I think they were made just so adults could watch you freak out about your scores and future plans while they themselves happily turn on the TV after work and drink some margaritas whilst their children are sound asleep. Ha, freaking awesome.

While the girl was having a heated mental dialog with herself, the friend on her left just couldn’t stop pilling words one after another. But Krystal obviously wasn’t listening.

“…And so another substitute teacher will cover Physics.”

This one sentence, though, Krystal’s ear managed to catch. Brushing her long, straight black hair away from her eyes with a free hand (the other one was occupied with a black leather backpack), she mouthed the first thing that came to her mind:

“No test today?”

Sulli stopped blabbering for a moment just to make sure the slightly shorter girl felt like an alien by the look she was given.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Krystal averted her gaze to the busy hallway once again. Here’s her math class, just two doors away. She should have about six more minutes to do her homework. Brilliant.

“You’re incredible. I just told you how our teacher went to the hospital, and that’s the first thing you say?”

You should see the look on dark haired girl’s face right this moment. Was it guilt in her eyes? Probably not.

“Really? Then there’s definitely no test today!” She almost jumped in her walk, but controlled her behavior since one cutie went past them. Her sight never leaving the unknowing guy, she couldn’t see Sulli rolling her eyes. Krystal hated when Sulli did that.

“Stop staring, it’s pitiful,” Sulli commented before opening door for her best friend. Receiving a glare in return, she could only sign and go into math.

*

“Didn’t he like just totally check me out?” Krystal whispered to her seatmate. Surprise surprise! It’s Sulli, again. Seriously, Krystal had no more friends besides the poor girl.

“Are you reciting someone’s words?” Sulli turned another page as the teacher lazily wrote something on the board. “Because that’s not possible.”

With a flick on her partner’s arm, Krystal whispered some really silent curses before returning to her book. “Don’t be jelly. This one junior asked for my number this morning.”

“And Taemin asked me out for a date,” the taller girl muttered nonchalantly. In her field of vision she could see how Krystal’s mouth literally almost dropped on the table.

“You’re lying.”

Sulli smiled sweetly and turned to the long haired girl. “I dismissed him, though.”

“Why would you do that? He’s gorgeous!” Krystal squealed and started browsing her phone for a proof of her statement. There’s a special folder with hottest school’s guys there. She’s that desperate for a boyfriend, really.

“He was your crush, what kind of friend would I be if I agreed?”

“Yeah, he was, in seventh grade!” Krystal emphasized the ‘was’ part the most, almost shouting her words.

“That’s it,” the teacher turned to the class, “Krystal Jung, Sulli Choi, go to the principal’s!”

*

“You know, if he wasn’t that old, he would look kind of nice,” Krystal muttered, counterfeiting her father’s signature on the paper she got from the principal’s office.

“Who?” Sulli laughed, eyeing the eatery, “The principal?”

“Dear God, no, I meant our music teacher.”

“He’s only thirty, Krystal,” brown headed girl exasperatedly said upon looking at the teachers’ table at the end of the hall.

“Oldie.”

Finishing her job, the rebellious teenager put a backpack on her lap and took out her music manual, getting ready to do another supposed-to-do-at-home work.

Upon seeing that, Sulli almost face-palmed. “It was a presentation assignment, fool.”

Krystal looked at her partner-in-crime straight in the eyes, face calm and collected, and didn’t blink for more than a minute. “Guess who’s skipping music today.”

Sulli lost it. Lying her head on the cold lunch table placed between them, the girl let out her famous and unique laugh, too loudly, in Krystal’s opinion. Their table received even teachers’ attention, but did the two care? Hell no. This was just their usual winter day, where all they did was try to survive, not forgetting what kind of girls these two truly are.

*

Since she decided to skip the music class, Krystal didn’t dare to approach the cabinet even after the lesson-ending bell rung, meaning that she and Sulli could reunite in Physics’ class only.

On another note, trying to spend her free (actually not free) lesson, the black haired girl though about a lot. From why guys just never seem to drool at the mere image of her, to why the hell were she and her bestie such es. These two crazy girls, with totally different profession ideas in mind, specially signed into same classes as each other. How stupid is that? Still, knowing that they will probably rarely meet after the graduation, they wanted to stick together as long as possible.

Arriving at the Physics’ classroom first, she went towards her usual seat at the back of the class, the middle row. Every lesson she has, her seat remains the same. All seniors know the rule by now- that seat’s already taken, no matter the classroom. However, her friend’s seat just keeps changing from class to class, sometimes separating from Krystal’s completely. In Physics’, Sulli sits in front of the dark haired girl, at least. Considering how boring the lesson is for both, they wouldn’t have it any other way. Now the question that was stuck in Krystal’s head was why they took Physics in the first place? Oh right, she wants to study that in college. Dang it.

“I heard our sub teacher is fresh from university,” Krystal overheard the guy on her right side whisper not-that-quietly to another guy. Oh right! There’s one more reason why she is ‘learning’ Physics! She heard a rumor that not many girls study it, so that means there’s almost no rivalry in love life for her. At least supposedly. This class only. So simple minded, she mentally scolded herself.

Well, in fact, the rumor is probably true as Krystal and Sulli are the only girls in the class. All the guys that were already seated couldn’t stop themselves from eating Krystal’s friend with their eyes when the latter entered the classroom. Awkwardly stumbling between those hungry wolves, Sulli, of course uncomfortable looking, plopped her nicely dressed up on the cold chair in front of shorter girl and signed.

“Looking good,” Krystal pointed both thumbs up, no facial expression whatsoever. Their jokes were on a different level, they excused. Lame, that is.

Angry about something, the girl in front, with brown fringe that hid her eyebrows and with hair so puffy it made puddles jealous, messed those locks and whispered some words that Krystal couldn’t quite catch on.

“Wait, did you just swear?” Krystal leaned on her desk, wiggling her eyebrows, amused smile spreading across her face. “You never swear. That’s the only difference between us.”

“I got six for my music presentation,” Sulli acted as if she didn't hear her friend, “Now my overall score is even lower than usual. It’s music, for Christ’s sake!”

The other teenager didn’t drop the wicked smile. “That’s what you get when you don’t stay with your friend when I’m skipping.”

Sulli then gave Krystal a deadly glare, a rare sight indeed. “You got two for skipping out, . Some saw you in the hallway today and told the teacher.”

“Stupid!” Krystal shouted the exact moment someone entered the class. The bell to the lesson had rung minutes ago, so it must be the sub teacher. Both girls immediately turned to the side to see what kind of smarty pants of a teacher they got now.

Krystal could swear the world stopped when she saw the guy. Was this some sort of joke? Maybe it’s a hidden camera? She couldn’t take a look around for cameras though, as her eyes were glued to that masculine, tall, red headed man-creature that couldn’t possibly be a human. That kind of radiating beauty was too god-like to be true. And his smile, oh, and his laugh too… Wait, why the hell was he laughing?!

“I’m certain that I don’t look that dumb,” he locked eyes with the girl in the back. She leaned back on her chair so quickly that her body got hot from the action. Nah, it was because of him alright.

Sulli’s jaw got so tense it looked like it’s gonna break any moment now. That teacher sure was hot. Turning around for some serious girl chat, she found her friend as red as tomato, hyperventilating wildly. Jeez, if Sulli said anything that moment, she would probably be flatly ignored.

“Your teacher got in an accident, so I’m going to be his substitute for the mean time. My name is Mark Tuan,” the eye-candy spoke up with a husky voice that made Krystal drool in her seat. What more could she ask for in this guy? He’s a perfect catch!

“Are we gonna write the test we were supposed to?” One of the dumb guys asked, receiving hate from the rest of the class. While others grunted loudly at the question, Krystal angrily opted to just throw her eraser to his head. Head shot; everyone cheered, some even applauded. Well, except that hottie of a teacher, Mr. Tuan. Heh, knowing Krystal, she’ll call him just Mark.

“You,” he pointed to the rebellious girl going by the name of Krystal, “Pack your stuff and sit here,” he showed to the most hated place on earth; in front of the blackboard.

Amazed and depressed at the same time, it took a whole minute for the girl to process what exactly was happening. She needed to check. First, there’s a hot teacher that wants her to sit near him. Second, that way she’ll be alone at the front. Lastly, if there’s no Sulli near her, what is Krystal going to do for the rest of the lesson?!

“Krystal, you’re starring at him,” Sulli whispered while packing Krystal’s stuff for her. At this point boys were starting to joke around about how head over heels she has fallen for the gorgeous sub. Apparently those dumb idiots have eyes too.

Grabbing her leather backpack, Krystal literally dashed to her designated place, a seat to which the red haired male god was still pointing. When she sat down, she held her head down, feeling how the new teacher’s eyes bore into her skull.

“Now I’m gonna check if everyone’s in class.” Taking his notebook, Mr. Tuan scanned the list, finally giving Krystal the chance to take a better look at him. Like really, he still stood by the Krystal’s desk. Amazing! “Jay Park?”

The girl inwardly gulped her saliva when Mark absentmindedly rolled his white shirt’s sleeves up. She wondered how many hours does the guy spend in the gym, since his body was that nicely toned. His skin was nicely tanned too, just how Krystal liked it. His grey tie was a tad loosened and the first button ed, so she could also watch as his Adam’s apple moved up and down with his every gulp. Mark’s jaw line was so edgy it looked like it could work as a blade. Clean cut face, no beard made him appear ultra young faced. Wait, he is super young. Not too old for the girl, huh. Going higher, Krystal’s eyes stopped on the sub’s lips. What a nice shade of pink, and such pouty lips too. Like a puppy. Smiling at the thought, she continued the scan on the young man in front of her.  She kept starring at his down casted eyes for a whole minute. They were a little bit small, but had those sweet puffs underneath as a nice complimentary; the orbs were deep and a shade of honey; Krystal quickly got lost in them when he raised his eyes at her.

“Krystal Jung?”

“Me,” she blew out unusually quietly, oblivious to how her body leaned towards him in the process. Mark’s gaze looked so mysterious that she felt as if she was being right in it. And if that was the case, she wouldn’t mind it. Not at all. Those eyes…

Then, out of nowhere, she felt something flung to her head. It took less than half a second for her expression to drop to a somewhat scary one and she turned around immediately.

“Stop flirting with the sub, Krystal,” one guy said nonchalantly from Sulli’s side, only to receive a punch from the latter girl. He couldn’t escape Krystal’s killing glare either, and nobody dared to laugh at such a childish behavior. Nobody dared to throw things at her, nobody. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why she never had a boyfriend. Her scarring everyone off, that is.

“And you come sit right next to her,” Mr. Tuan instructed the guilty boy with a devious smirk and his arms crossed by his toned chest.

Krystal glared all the time as Myungsoo lazily made his way to the front and sat on her left, just behind the teacher’s desk. Tossing his denim jacket on the chair, he accidentally made eye contact with the girl and shivered in his mind at the burning stare. His composure showed no response, whatsoever. Kim Myungsoo was known for having cold and lazy attitude, so why the hell did he open his mouth at all?

The lesson was already half wasted by this point; no test was possible, at least. Krystal fixed her long black tresses whilst looking at the board in front of her, when Mark came into her view.

“What were you learning about in your last lesson?” He directly asked her, his arms on hips, eyes staring into the poor girl’s soul.

She kept mute at the simple question, wrecking her brain for an answer. Someone beat her to it. Ah, that , Kim Myungsoo.

“We should learn something about speed next.”

Mark still kept a prolonged gaze at Krystal, making her gulp painfully even two times. Though, did she spot the corners of his lips rising a bit?

Finally turning his back to the class, Mr. Hottie took his book and started writing on a board. Here we go…

*

The ring of a bell awakened the class from their slumber party, a.k.a. Physics, and soon Krystal had to drop her gaze from Mr. Tuan’s back. That had her hypnotized the whole lesson.

“Krys,” Sulli ran to her best friend when the class emptied, “ask the sub if you could return to your seat on the next lesson.”

Krystal was almost done throwing things into her backpack. Did she really want to leave this seat? There’s a way better view of… hmh… the board. Yeah, totally, just the blackboard.

“That is, if you want to return,” Sulli added in a mockery, making Krystal question whether the taller girl could read minds.

The rebel controlled herself from rolling her eyes, an action she despised for some reason.

As both girls came up to Mark’s desk (he was also tidying up his books), a genius idea popped up to a long haired girl.

Like in those funny romance movies, I should say something like: ‘Can I have your numb…’ and then change it quickly to ‘I meant could I change back to my old seat’; yeah, that would sound cute.

Her genius idea, though, didn’t go as planned.

When Mark raised his eyes at the girls Krystal’s brain froze and all she could mutter was “Can I have your number?”

The looks on the trio’s faces were hilarious. Once again, Krystal had to hyperventilate herself at the embarrassment while both her tall friend and the teacher widened their eyes at shock.

“Excuse me?”

Before the blushing girl could retort, a magical sound filled her ears. Mark was laughing so much, so carefree that it brought tears to Sulli’s eyes. Krystal was dumbfounded to what the hell was happening to her. Why did her brain have to freeze at such an important moment?!

“What she meant to say,” the other girl saved the day, “was if she could go back to her seat on the next lesson.”

Mark calmed down but the wide smile didn’t leave his fluffy full lips. “I’ll think about it.”

Saying no more, Krystal quickly turned around and dashed from the classroom, Sulli catching up from behind.

Worst/best day in her life!

***