There were a few minutes before the bell would ring to signal the beginning of first period when I walked toward my locker. Adjusting the numbers on my lock, I saw Rose approaching me from the corner of my eye.

“Hey, have you seen Lisa?”

I snorted. “Shouldn’t I be asking this question, considering the fact that you guys are practically tied at the hip 24/7?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen her this morning, and we usually meet up before first period to walk together,” she frowned.

“Maybe she’s sick,” I mumbled distractedly, still preoccupied with opening my locker which appeared to be stuck.

“No, no, no, she’d text me first though,” Rose said absentmindedly, her brows furrowed.

“Aha,” I grinned with satisfaction, finally managing to pry the lock open. As I opened the locker, a newspaper article fell out onto the floor at my feet.

Bending down to pick it up, I turned it over to read the title.

“What the heck is this?” I frowned, as Rose leaned closer to me to look over my shoulder.

“Hey, isn’t this last week’s newspaper? The thing about the diamond.”

“I mean, yeah, but why is it here? Who even uses newspapers anymore?”

“Don’t make fun of my grandpa,” Rose said, feigning anger.

I laughed. “But seriously, though.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, someone slid it into your locker, I guess.”

“Why in the world would someone do that?” I frowned. But immediately, my mind went to a possible candidate to which recently I had been able to pin most of my problems to.

“Let’s go, Jennie, we’re going to be late to first period,” Rose pulled me by the arm, already starting to walk towards history class.

“B-But—” I hastily slammed my locker closed and clumsily inserted the lock into the hole, clutching the newspaper in my fingers while Rose dragged me along.

All throughout first period, I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention to the teacher’s lecture on World War I.

I was 99% certain Jisoo had slid the newspaper in my locker before school.

The question was why?

Trust me when I say I dreaded the moment when the last school bell had rung, signalling the end of school. For most, it was only a symbol of joy and freedom, a chance to escape from the terrifying clutches of the education system. I, on most other days, would be part of that majority.

Today was not that day.

Ever since the day I was born, fortune and luck would prove more often than not that they were never by my side when I needed them to be, which was evident in the fact that I shared sixth period, the very last period of school, with Kim Jisoo.

Due to this unfortunate situation, I knew that regardless of my ridiculous cowardice, there was no way I was going to get away with not meeting her at the shed after school by 3 PM sharp.

The problem was that at this point, I still had no idea what the it was. Which was why I came prepared.

Or rather, as prepared as a 17 year old girl can be. I the pepper spray in the back pocket of my jeans, where it was easily accessible without being too obvious and discernible.

I had toyed with the idea of bring a kitchen knife to school, which was the only other thing I could find in our house that would be at least somewhat helpful in a dangerous situation, but I couldn’t help but feel rather ridiculous brandishing a light blue kitchen appliance as a weapon.

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