In some miraculous way Jungkook and I made it to school on time. We had run most of the way, Jungkook never seeming to run out of breath, while I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. I was still feeling dizzy, but at least I wasn’t hungover. The good thing about having to go to school from Namjoon’s house was that I didn’t have to worry about taking the subway. I enjoyed not spending the first moments of my morning in a small train carriage with a horde of other people, everyone busy and tired. It was way nicer to get some fresh air and not to be “assaulted” by old men’s cologne and the other weird smells there could be in a subway train.

Running to school didn’t make it possible for me to avoid weird stares though. It was obvious this uniform wasn’t made for me, and it was even more obvious that I wasn’t a boy with my long hair.

Jungkook didn’t seem to notice the people staring, but on the other hand, he seemed more focused on making it to school on time.

When we made it to the front gates we parted ways, Jungkook heading to the building with the freshman classes and me going to the main building where my first lesson was going to be held.

The classroom was filled with the voices of my classmates when I entered.

I would usually greet my classmates by muttering a low ‘good morning’, when I entered the classroom, but today I would rather not have anyone’s attention.

Of course I couldn’t avoid Haeun’s gaze. Haeun was one of the few friends I had gotten, while attending this school. Well, it had been easier making friends, because I knew I was going to be here until graduation and Haeun had begun talking to me some weeks after I came back from my hospitalization.

“Whaaat” Haeun loudly exclaimed from the other end of the classroom and within half a second I could feel several pair of eyes resting on me and my outfit.

Haeun quickly ran to my side.

“Why are you wearing a boy uniform? And why do you look like you’ve been beaten up?” She asked, looking more curious than what should be allowed.

Wait what? Beaten up? I guess I had fallen a couple of times yesterday, but I didn’t think it looked that bad. The boys and Taeyoon hadn’t mentioned anything. I knew I had a bruise on my neck – I didn’t know how I had gotten it, but, really, it wasn’t that bad. Was I going to explain it to her? Should I tell her that I had decided to get drunk on a weekday while on medication and slept in a guy’s house, or, more precisely, in his bed? She would never stop teasing me.

While I stood there, thinking, the teacher entered the classroom behind me, telling us to go to our seats.

I didn’t mind. It meant that I would have more time to think of an excuse I could tell Haeun, so I could get rid of that weird expression she had on her face.

Haeun kept looking at me throughout our lesson, sending me looks I couldn’t quite decipher. It was a combination of slyness, curiosity and also something that looked like irritation – probably because I hadn’t managed to tell her anything before class had started and now she had to wait.

As soon as the bell ringed, signaling the end of class, Haeun came to my desk. I hadn’t even managed to put away my books, before she pulled me to my feet and dragged me out of the classroom.

When she found a secluded place on one of the hallways, she stopped and turned around to face me. Her eyes were bigger than usual. I couldn’t help but wonder why she had dragged me all the way out here, when she could have just asked me inside the classroom. I felt awkward standing here in the hallway, as if the fact that I was wearing a boy’s uniform was the biggest piece of gossip she was going to get this year. It felt exactly like one of those high school dramas which were so popular on television.

“So… I’m asking you again; why are you wearing a boy’s uniform? Who did you borrow it from?” she held my arms down to my sides, for whatever reason. It seemed like she was afraid I was going to run away.

“I… forgot mine” I said, not having been able to think of anything better. As soon as I said it, I knew she wouldn’t believe it. It kinda was the truth, but at the same time, it definitely wasn’t enough to clench her thirst for gossip. Like, where would I even have forgotten it?

Just as I had expected, Haeun didn’t believe me. She continued to stare at me, not saying anything. Whenever she did this, I knew it was because she wasn’t satisfied with what information I had given her.

“I borrowed a uniform from Jungkook” I sighed, hoping this would be enough. Haeun knew who Jungkook was, mainly because of his habit of coming to our classroom asking for ice cream – it wasn’t like it was only about ice cream, I also helped him with a few assignments once in a while.

Haeun enjoyed teasing me about him, saying how she found it funny how I was into “young meat”. I knew this would make her tease me even more, but at least she didn’t know anything about Namjoon and me sleeping in his bed.

I had never told her about Namjoon, mainly because I didn’t see any reason to.

Haeun broke the small moment silence.

“Are you sure you’re not up to something with Jungkook?” she grinned. I lightly slapped her arm and began walking back to the classroom. After a couple of seconds I could hear the footsteps of Haeun following me.

“What about the bruises?” she asked, as she made it up next to me.

“I just fell a couple of times yesterday” I shrugged. Again, it wasn’t really a lie.

The next lesson was as boring as usual. It was a social studies lesson, and I had never quite found that subject interesting. Honestly, I didn’t know if it was the subject or just the teacher. He always talked in the most boring, monotonous voice, which could make anyone fall asleep.

It seemed like Haeun had given up. At least I only caught her looking at me a couple of times, and each time she would quickly shift her attention back to our teacher.

When lunchbreak came, I could feel the post-drinking cravings that I always seemed to get. That’s why when Jungkook arrived to my classroom as usual, I was going to actually accept his offer for once.

“Noona, do you want to go eat ice cream?” he asked, sounding just like yesterday, the day before, and, well, every day for the past several weeks.

“Sure!” I replied, “I just have to pack my bag”

The expression on Jungkook’s face was priceless. He looked extremely surprised and I couldn’t blame him; I had refused every single time he had asked since that time we went to eat ice cream with Namjoon. It seemed like it had just become some kind of joke to him, where he just had to ask me every single day.

When I was done packing my books, I got up from my chair. Before exiting the classroom I sent a teasing smile to Haeun, who looked at me with a confused expression.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked Jungkook. He had been drinking yesterday too after all, and I knew he wasn’t used to drinking – honestly, he shouldn’t, because he was a minor. Oh wait, I was a minor as well.

“I’m fine, I didn’t drink as much as you” Jungkook said, smiling, but still looking straight ahead.

When we had bought the ice cream, Jungkook seemed to have become much more cheerful. I guess that’s the effect of ice cream and being treated by others - naturally I had been the one to pay, but I didn’t really mind.

“Noona, the boys in my class think you have become a tomboy” Jungkook suddenly broke the silence. It sounded like he was close to laughing, but when I looked at him he somehow managed to keep a straight face.

“Should I wear this uniform for the rest of the year? I probably look manlier than them” I joked and pointed at the bruise on my neck.

Jungkook almost choked on his ice cream, not able to hold back his laugh anymore.

“Yeah!” he finally replied after he was done laughing.

I couldn’t help but smile, Jungkook was much funnier to be around when he wasn’t acting like he didn’t care about anything.

“I’m really going to kick her ” Taeyoon said as she marched down the street. I was trying to keep up with her pace. I usually walked fast, but it seemed like Taeyoon had decided that we should almost be running to Seulgi’s place.

The reason we were out on this ‘quest’ was because Seulgi still hadn’t picked up her phone. Taeyoon had called me and demanded I meet up with her, so we could go to Seulgi’s place.

Now we were in front of her house, just outside the gate. Taeyoon pressed doorbell and a woman’s pretty voice answered.

“Hello?” the voice said. It was obviously Seulah, Seulgi’s older sister and my cousin. It had been a while since I had seen her. I think she visited once or twice while I was hospitalized, but since I was mostly drugged on medicines, I wasn’t quite sure.

“Hello Seulah eonni, we’re here to visit Seulgi” I answered. If I let Taeyoon answer I was afraid she would yell at Seulah.

“Sure, she isn’t home right now, but you can wait for her inside” Seulah answered, sounding like she didn’t really care.

The gate clicked and began opening. Before it was even halfway open we walked through and began walking towards the house.

Having spent a lot of time at Seulgi’s house, we just walked in.

“Hello~” we both said, as we began taking off our shoes. Seulah greeted us. She was sitting in the couch in the living room.

We sat down next to her and began talking. It was mostly small talk. Since I never really talked with Seulah I often found it hard to find a topic to talk about.

We got Seulah to try to call Seulgi as well, just in case Seulgi didn’t answer our calls on purpose. It didn’t make much of a difference; Seulgi still didn’t answer.

It seemed like it had taken forever, before there was the familiar sound of the front door opening. After a few moments, Seulgi entered the living room. Taeyoon immediately ran up to her, yelling at her for not answering her phone. It didn’t take long before Taeyoon had Seulgi in a headlock. After a while Seulgi had started laughing, which turned into a cough. For some reason it just looked awfully funny and I couldn’t help but laugh as well. I could hear Seulah sigh quietly beside me, before she got up from the couch, heading for her room upstairs.

“Tell us, why didn’t you pick up phone, you loser?” I asked Seulgi, when I was done laughing.

“I don’t have it” Seulgi simply replied after a while.

Taeyoon looked surprised and then immediately went to Seulgi’s jacket and bag, which had been placed on the couch. Without another question, Taeyoon began searching for Seulgi’s phone. I didn’t know why she would think it would be there, since Seulgi would probably have looked at it at some point during the day.

“Yoongi has it” Seulgi told us, when Taeyoon was done searching.

Taeyoon looked shocked, while I just felt like it wasn’t surprising that Seulgi had forgotten something.

“Loser” I said directed at Seulgi. I just couldn’t help calling people losers. It was a bad habit, but I only called people losers if I cared about them, so I guess that it could also be seen as a compliment?

“But why? What happened to you guys after I left?” Seulgi sounded confused.

I looked at Taeyoon and from the look she sent me, I could see that she was going to tell Seulgi about me sleeping with Namjoon, if I didn’t explain it myself.

“Well..” I tried, but I didn’t know how say it. I knew they would tease me just like Haeun, but I also knew they were going to be even more annoying than her.

Before I could start over, Taeyoon interrupted.

“Mali ended up in Namjoon’s bed”

Of course she had to make it sound like it was something other than what it actually had been. Well, I had asked him to actually… oh my god, I couldn’t even end the sentence in my head, it was just too embarrassing.

“We just slept, okay?” I said, both to Taeyoon and Seulgi but also to myself, trying to forget my embarrassing drunk self.

“You didn’t quite look like you wanted to sleep last time I saw you” Seulgi grinned.

I grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at Seulgi, which she quickly avoided. The fact that I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Seulgi yesterday just made the comment even worse. I couldn’t deny it, because I didn’t even know what I had said and done; only the things I had been told.

“We just slept…” I said and tried to look at Seulgi with a serious expression. Seulgi began laughing meaning my try at being serious had been unsuccessful.

“I have to admit, it’s most likely true… I mean…” Taeyoon said, but then looked like she was thinking about something.

“I heard Mali whine about not wanting to go to bed, unless Namjoon joined her. Saying she didn’t want to be the only one missing all the fun” Taeyoon sighed, sounding like she had concluded that we really had only just slept.

“That doesn’t mean they only slept… It could most likely have meant something else” Seulgi grinned, looking like she had way too much fun teasing me. I knew she found it funny that I had taken a liking to her friend.

“Guys… stop it… nothing happened” I said. I didn’t know why, but I actually considered telling them about me asking him, and him refusing me, just to get them to shut up. Well, they were probably going to find out sooner or later anyway, I wasn’t very good a keeping secrets concerning myself.

As I told them, I could feel my cheeks turn a bright red. I didn’t help that Seulgi had begun laughing, almost hysterically, as if it would be impossible to ever get her to shut up again.

“So you actually just slept” Seulgi said between laughs. I sighed and just nodded in response.

Taeyoon went to sit down beside me and patted my shoulder. Seulgi still hadn’t stopped laughing and she ended up having to leave the living room just to be able to stop laughing.

When she came back she sat down on my right side.

She began asking Taeyoon about what had happened after she left. Apparently Taeyoon had been sleeping in the couch and Taehyung had put a blanket on her, despite of the fact that the two hadn’t talked at all during the party. He had also told her to go back to sleep, because the other’s woke her up.

“So did you go back to sleep?” I asked.

“I did” Taeyoon nodded, seemingly confused by the fact that she had actually done what Taehyung said she should.

“When I woke up again it was morning and Namjoon and Seokjin was busy making Jungkook and Mali get out of the door on time… did you know they attend the same high school? No?” Taeyoon suddenly began. Seulgi shook her head. Somehow I knew where this was going and I didn’t like it.

“Well… anyway… Mali borrowed a uniform from Jungkook” Taeyoon looked like she was holding back a laugh.

“It looked ridiculous” I muttered.

“You looked cute!” Taeyoon said, not being able to hold back her laugh. Before I could do anything to stop her, Taeyoon had taken out her phone and showed Seulgi the picture she had taken of me.

“How come you manage to be so cute?” Seulgi whined.

“Because I’m not a loser” I replied dryly, which just make Seulgi laugh again.

“How long have you been here?” Seulgi asked out of the blue.

“We arrived two hours before you maybe?” Taeyoon said, counting the time on her fingers. It didn’t surprise me, it had really felt like an eternity.

“But why have you been busy calling me? Did you want to tell me something?” Seulgi asked, as if the answer wasn’t obvious. Taeyoon and I sighed as one.

“We were worried about you, you loser! You just disappeared without a word!” I snapped, sounding more annoyed than I meant to.

“Oh… but you were awake when I left…” Seulgi said.

“I was?” That’s alcohol for you. I even forgot that I had forgotten about being awake.

“Yeah… Taehun came and forced me with him… I woke up at his apartment this morning…” Seulgi explained. Taehun was Seulah’s twin and Seulgi’s older brother. He didn’t live at home anymore.

“Taehun… how come he knew you were there?” Taeyoon asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Yoongi called him” Seulgi replied.

“Why would he do that?” I thought out loud. Seulgi just shrugged.

Now that I thought about it, Yoongi hadn’t been there in the morning.

It didn’t take long before it was dark outside and Taeyoon and I decided to head home.

We could probably hang out even longer, but it seemed like we all needed extra sleep.

I somehow made it home without falling asleep on the subway.

When I reached my room I threw myself on my bed, not caring about my clothes. I had thrown Jungkook’s uniform on my bed, before leaving home earlier; I had to remember to bring it tomorrow, so I could give it back to him.

As my eyes slowly closed, I was suddenly awoken by the sound of my phone receiving a message. I took my phone out and looked at the bright screen.

Are you free tomorrow? (⌒▽⌒)ゞ

How was I going to sleep now?