Restlessly, I rocked my pencil, which I had caught between my index and middle finger, back and forth while my eyes constantly fixed the hands of the clock that hung over the blackboard in the classroom. Three minutes, I thought with a sigh and noticed my belly rumbling in protest.

I only had three minutes to come up with a plausible explanation for my actions of the last hours, because then it would ring at lunchtime and I would be exposed to Sooyoung's endless questions. If only I had listened to my instinct and had left as soon as possible when I still had the opportunity to do so. 

It was like this: After I slipped out of my coffee-stained pants and into my clean sweatpants and dabbed a few drops of my perfume on my wrists, I immediately made my way back to my class. Of course, I was still angry with a certain Jerk - pissed off to be exact - but I had decided that it would be wisest to concentrate on other things for the time being before I could think of a suitable revenge for him. 

However, these other things - such as the two messages I had ignored earlier in the hospital room - were much more important to me at first, so I decided to take care of them first. I already had a faint premonition of what was to come - and precisely because I had this premonition, I could not allow myself to be distracted.

So I quickly fished my smartphone out of the pocket of my blazer and traced the unlock pattern on the screen with my fingers. Immediately I noticed the letter symbol at the upper left edge. Taking a deep breath I finally started to read the news.

09:02am

Park Sooyoung

Where are you? Is somethings happend?

09:20am

Park Sooyoung

Baek! I know you're hiding something from me about L.A. So answer me!

Damn! I thought while staring at the display. , , . Exactly what I feared had happened. Good God, what was I supposed to do now? I knew Soo wouldn't just let up that easily, but it looked like she was pretty pissed off at me for that. Okay, for outsiders, her messages probably didn't sound too bad, just a little bit irritated, but I knew all too well that if my best friend didn't use a smiley or emoji, extreme caution was required.

Simply because I had already experienced it once - although I couldn't say what she had been angry with me for. But that didn't matter anyway, because this one time had been enough to leave an unforgettable mark on me forever. Never in my life did I want to see her theatre a second time. The thought alone was enough to make all my alarm bells ring at once.

I wanted to type "I'll be right there..." as an answer to avoid worse, when suddenly a better idea came to me and I turned off my smartphone not a moment later, only to have it disappear in my pocket. Because if I told her that my phone had been turned off all morning - aka 'battery dead' - she wouldn't be able to blame me for not responding to her messages, would she? Yes, yes, I know very well that this was not the best way, but... still better than reminding me of L.A.!

At the same moment, while I was still trying to push down my pangs of guilt, I stopped in front of the locked door of my classroom. Although I had forgotten to look at the clock, but I suspected that it could only be a few minutes until the lesson was over. 

Suddenly it felt as if there was an obscure wall in front of me that prevented me from moving on, and as if someone was pulling on my arm to take me far, far away. No matter where, just not back to this class - where one hundred percent of a upset Sooyoung and an arrogant jerk would surely be waiting for me. On the other hand, however, my conscience fought against this crazy idea. After all, it was anything but my way. 

Usually I didn't let myself be thrown off track so quickly and adapted my actions and facial expressions accordingly to the situation. However, as I had to admit, the temptation to obey my feeling was great - very great indeed. For how else could I have best pulled myself out of the affair? How could I have calmed Soo? And how on earth could I have confronted Sehun without going into a rage?

Undecided what to do now, I stood like a complete idiot in the deserted corridor, while I alternately shifted my weight first to the left leg, then to the right leg, nervously chewing on my lower lip. My feelings and my conscience fought against each other - almost as if an angel with a halo and a harp and a devil with pointed horns and a trident were sitting on my shoulders, wishing the plague on the other one's neck.

And the little devil - that is, my feelings - would almost have succeeded in winning me over if the familiar ringing of the school bell had not suddenly begun. It was sheer mockery. Oh, how I abhorred that sound!, I lamented in my thoughts, while pupils as well as teachers suddenly streamed in from all classes - including mine - so that I had no time left to actually put my back down. Submissively I sighed and finally entered the classroom with my head hanging.

»Oh, how nice of you to show up again.«, my best friend immediately grumbled at me. The others, who had scattered in groups around the room or rummaged through their things, gave me short glances, which I skillfully ignored. Determinedly I headed for my seat in the back row, the first thing I noticed was the free chair next to Jisoo. 

Sehun had obviously not returned - which could only be good for me. However, a mighty angry looking Sooyoung was waiting for me, as I found when I finally turned to her after a long time of hesitation. »Soo, please.«, I begged her. »I don't have the nerve for that now.«, weakly I let myself fall on my chair.

»Good.«, she replies snippily, folding both arms in front of her chest. »I’ll leave you alone - if you tell me where you've been. And why you don't answer me! And what the happened in L.A.!«, towards the end her voice became shriller and louder.

»Shht.«, I drove in between, grabbing her by the arm, pulling her towards me and conspiratorially gliding my gaze across the room. I suddenly felt like a criminal caught in the act. Fortunately, no one seemed to have overheard Sooyoung and me. »I'll tell you.«, I finally started again, although I regretted my words at the same moment. »But not now and not here.«

»Then when?«, she asked annoyed. »Shall we say... on our lunch break?«, I suggested. »Promise?«, she hitched on like an infant in a huff, so I sighed profusely. »Promise!«, I then assured her and left her to sit back and relax completely. Good God, what had I got myself into?

For the rest of the morning, Sooyoung had been giving me conspiratorial glances over and over again, but fortunately I was able to block them out as much as possible. But now, as the lunch break was getting closer and closer and thus this promise, I felt an ever increasing, nail-biting nervousness inside me. Damn, in one minute it was time! I had to think of something to get out of this thing - right away!

»Do you know where the new guy is the whole time?« Sooyoung suddenly asked me out of the blue. And there it was, that spark I had been looking for. It was as if I was struck by lightning in my mind. »I don't know. All I know is that he got his school uniform.«, I replied, seemingly casually trying to change the subject. »But hey, do you feel like some coffee later?«

For a brief moment she looked at me. »Sure.«, she finally said. »Great, then.. And then I'll go get us one and I'll meet you outside, okay?« As if a swarm of vicious insects was after me, I immediately rose and squeezed myself out past the crowd, who were also eager to get away. Sooyoung didn't even get the chance to respond and I knew that this hasty leaving was anything but unobtrusive. And although it hurt me to make my friend wait even longer, I didn't see any other possibility.

Arriving at the stairs leading down to the sales s