I stared up from my math book as a small piece of paper landed on it. Curiously I glanced to my right and saw that Yong Sook pointed with his finger towards the paper as he mouthed for me to read it. I nodded once and began to unfold it before I read what he had written.

“Where were you? And why are you dressed in a boys uniform?” just as I foresaw, he was asking me where I had spent the night and the obvious of why I had the wrong uniform. It was no idea in trying to hide anything so I began to scribble down that I got lost when I was taking a night walk and MyungSoo let me sleep at his place and that he had let me borrow a uniform. I didn’t include that Sung Yeol and MyungSoo lived together, especially since they don’t look like siblings, I didn’t want him to get the wrong ideas.

A few minutes later the paper ended up on my bench once again. But this time he had only written one word; okay.

I returned to trying to calculate the math problems and it worked rather well, I was not a top pro at math but descent enough. Once two hours had passed by the bell rang and it was a ten minute break before the Korean class would begin.

“Do you want to do anything after school?” Yong Sook suddenly asked as he slammed the Korean book on top of his bench and looked at me. “I can’t, detention.” I beamed, but I weren’t sad that I had to go to detention, because MyungSoo would be there. “Ah, really.” I could see a small smile begin to form on his lips and I slapped his arm.

The door to the classroom was suddenly slid open before my homeroom teacher stepped inside, I watched as he glanced around on all the students before his gaze stopped at me, “Yoo Hwani report to the principal’s office.” He yelled and as soon as he exited the room the other students turned and started to make fun of me.

“I guess you’ll join your two other disgusting friend’s in the detention.” Go Eun laughed and it wasn’t that hard to understand who she was talking about. Anger rose in me as I stood up and stalked over to Go Eun before I harshly slapped her face. “Don’t talk as if you know them, because you don’t.” I snarled as I sent another hand against her cheek.

“YAH!” I took a step backwards when Go Eun pushed her chair back in anger and lunged for me and we crashed against the floor with a thump. I was lying beneath her and took the most of the fall, plus the slaps and hits that fallowed. “Go Eun! Go Eun!” the whole class was ranting her name again and again as she hit my cheek hard.

In the distance I could hear how the classroom door was harshly slammed open and a student began to yell that a teacher were coming. I watched how Go Eun hurriedly stood up and returned to her seat, just like everyone else as I laid there.

“What are yo – why is Hwani on the floor, and bleeding?”

“She tripped on a chair and fell.” Go Eun was trying to sound as pitying and sad as possible, as if she felt bad that I had fallen when the fact was the she were the one that had done it. “Is it true?” the teacher asked the students as I tried to get up on my feet’s and I could hear how the whole room boomed in a yes. Of course they would say yes, they are all on Go Eun’s side.

“Hwani go to the nurse and can someone fallow her there.” I didn’t want anyone to fallow me there but when Yong Sook out of nowhere said that he could fallow me I couldn’t say anything. It would be rude.

Once the two of us were on our way towards the nurse I let my tongue slid along my bottom lip, immediately I felt the taste of steel and scrunched up my face in disgust.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t help you, but I was too scared.” Yong Sook was apologizing but I told him that it was alright and that I understood. Because two months ago I wouldn’t have done the thing I actually did to Go Eun. I would’ve never stood up for anyone like that. But she had no right to speak like that; she didn’t know either Sung Yeol or MyungSoo. Plus, they have both helped me out when I was in danger.

When we finally reached the nurse’s office I turned around and told him that he could go back to class and that I would return as soon as possible. “Okay.” I watched him disappear before I entered and told her that I had fallen in the staircase.

“That was one mean staircase.” I smiled slightly at her statement as she told me to sit down on a chair as she began to take out all kinds of things that you needed when cleaning a wound. “This is going to hurt a bit.” She informed me as he started to apply some really cold medicine onto my lip before moving on to my cheek that had to be as red as my lips after all that beating.

“So does the staircase have name?” she didn’t look at me while asking and I knew that she understood that it wasn’t a staircase that had done this to me, but a student. Though, I didn’t tell her who it was.

“There, you are free to go.” I looked into the mirror in front of me and my heart sank a bit at how my face looked like. My bottom lip had this small plaster that shielded the crack from anyone to see and my both cheeks looked like they had been painted red. “Thank you.” I bowed and then left to go to the principal’s office where I was supposed to go to before this happened.

I had been to the principal’s office so many times before that he never got surprised when I turned up there every other day. But this time, I was pretty sure to why I had been sent there. “You are here again.” he stared at me; despise glowing in his eyes as he told me to sit down.

“Why I called you here is because is because you are wearing a boys uniform, something that is forbidden. And I can see that you’ve been into a fight as well. Anyhow, I’m going to add on another week to your detention because of this.” I heard how he sighed deeply and I lowered my head, embarrassed.

“Do you have anything to say?” he asked me but I only shook my head in reply, there was nothing that I said that would change his mind so why even try.“Then, you are dismissed.”

I stood up and bowed before I left. There was no idea in trying to hurry back to class because it was soon already lunch, and I’d missed my favorite class; Korean. Instead I hurried to the cafeteria and bought myself a sandwich and a cup of steaming hot tea, but I didn’t want to sit in there. I didn’t want to see Go Eun, or Yong Sook, or Sung Yeol, or MyungSoo for that matter. I just wanted to be by myself.

So I once again went against the rules and went up to the rooftop. It was chillier outside now and I shivered a bit as I wrapped the uniform closer towards my body. Since it was a boys uniform it was slightly bigger than mine so it was hanging a bit onto my body. But as long as I didn’t have to meet any of them I could manage with the bitter cold.

After putting down the cup on the ground I began to peel away the plastic that the sandwich was wrapped in before I took a bit. It tasted really good and my tummy growled in happiness. I smiled as I picked up the cup and warmed my hands as I sipped it.

“Ah.” I let out a sigh as the tea traveled down and made my body a bit warmer. I completely forgot that I were at school and took my time to enjoy myself and it wasn’t before I looked at my cell phone that I noticed that it had already passed by lunch time with over an hour. But somehow, I didn’t feel bothered, maybe because I already got three weeks of detention.

‘I’ll just stay here until detention begins.’