I left the school building in a hurry and let my eyes wander searchingly across the schoolyard. The sun blinded me so that I pressed my hand against my forehead to protect it. I looked to the left and stood on tiptoe, so that I could make out my best friend over the many heads of the students.

I passed over the fountain, from the centre of which a mermaid statue was constantly splashing water, and on the knee-high edge of which some people were seated, and looked further towards a round pavilion with ornate decorations, which provided some shade, but could not see a familiar face anywhere. I turned to the right.

There! on a waist-high stone wall that separated the property from the adjacent sports field, Sooyoung sat together with Jisoo and Sungjae and seemed to be engrossed in a lively conversation while she dangled her feet. I took my hand off my forehead again and tightened my shoulders before moving, descending the steps in front of the entrance and taking the path to my right. 

The closer I got to my friends, the stronger my heart began to pound against my chest. I had no plan how to justify my behaviour to Soo. What to say to her. Unfortunately, Sehun had kept me from my plan to come up with a good excuse, so I had to jump into the cold water unprepared and rely on my non-existent talent for improvisation. 

Argh! I was really not allowed to think about him now! I said to myself and took a deep breath when I was only a few steps away from my friends. The thing with Sooyoung was more important for now. »Hey guys?«, I greeted and tried to smile to hide my excitement. Jisoo, who was just about to explain something to Sungjae with her facial expressions and gestures, stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked back as she stood with her back to me.

»Oh hey, baby.«, she said and pulled me to her by wrapping her arm around my waist and breathing a fleeting kiss on my temple. I would have liked best to free myself from her clasp, but I didn't let on and held still. Well, it wasn't that I didn't like being around Jisoo - quite the opposite actually - but every now and then I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't right to be lovingly touched by her. I didn't really know why myself, though.

Jun nodded in greeting, sighed and leaned back with his eyes closed. And Sooyoung... well, she looked at me briefly and examined me from tip to toe before she turned her head demonstratively in the other direction and tugged at Sungjae’s sleeve. »Oh yes, I haven't told you about that yet...«, she began, whereupon he opened one eye sluggishly and looked up at her. »What?«, he muttered.

She did that on purpose - to pretend I wasn't there. As if my life wasn't already complicated enough, I thought and the next moment I would have preferred to hide behind Jisoo, but first of all she is smaller than me and so I thought it was wiser to get it out of the way as quickly as possible and prepared myself for the worst while taking a deep breath. »Soo?«

»Where were you this morning?« Jisoo suddenly interrupted me and looked at me from the side. Sooyoung now also turned her attention to me and looked at me with raised eyebrows. A silent reproach was reflected in her eyes. It was now or never, I thought to myself and began to tell my friends about the unsuccessful encounter with a certain Jerk and lots of hot coffee. However, I skillfully left out the fact with Sehun's torso.

»That of all people this happens to you.« Jisoo laughed after I had finished. »I would have loved to see his face.« I turned pink around the tip of my nose. It was uncomfortable enough as it was, but did I have to be laughed at as well? »And then what happened?«, my best friend asked, whereupon Jisoo fell silent next to me. »Did you hurt yourself?« I shrugged my shoulders. 

»Mr. Lee took me to Yoona Noona. Here.«, I rolled up my sweatpants above my knee so that you could see the bandage on my leg. »I have to wear it for a few days. Nothing bad then.«, i said. »And Sehun?« Again I shrugged my shoulders while the image of his chest came to my mind. »I don't know.«, I lied. Sooyoung nodded.

»And…«, she hesitated. »about L.A.?« Oh God, how I had hoped to skip this subject! »That's right, you haven't told us anything about your vacation yet.« Jisoo, who had no idea of the accusations on the part of my best friend, now also interfered. »Tell me, how was it?«

»Yes…«, I said, while I could literally feel small gears working in my head. I chewed my lip and gave Soo a quick look before concentrating on Jisoo. Damn. »The... the food there was great. I think you would have been amazed. The portions were three times the size of this one - at least. Normal-sized portions, mind you.«

»Woah…«, My girlfriend's eyes formed into real little hearts - all that was missing was that he started drooling. Suddenly, Sooyoung jumped off the stone wall. »I need to talk to you for a moment, alone.«, she changed the subject and knocked the dust off her skirt while looking directly at me. »Are you coming?«

I was getting hot and cold alternately and my heart was literally sliding into my pants. Damn, so now it was just about time. »Mhm.«, I gave my consent and freed myself from Jisoo's clutches. »See you later.«, she whispered into my ear as she sque