Within an hour, the torrent of water had come to a close. Some teachers offered to open their windows in light of it, and the muddled scent of trees and muted smoke soon wafted into every corner and crevice. Accompanied with digesting food, the sun's rays peeking and sneaking from cloud to cloud conjured a spell lulling many students towards the brink of sleep. Lip sat with her pencil on her desk, careful not to knock the adjacent worksheet off the desk in a gust of breath. Stealing another opportunity for a yawn, her hand rolled the pencil up and down the desk with her palm, the smallest clicks emanating from the desk. The door behind them clicked open and a male substitute teacher walked in, a sigh of relief escaping from the boy behind her. In a sweeping movement, he shut off the lights, painting the room a faded blue from the bright sky outside. Across from her, the seat next to Lip was empty. She got up to the seat, eyeing her target in front of her. She paused, waiting before she shot her hand towards his shoulder, landing a hit. His hand wavering at his chest nearly caught her, grabbing his jacket at the impact in a burst of motion.

             Shin Dongeun's hair was near white, flowing down in two broad curves down past his eyes. The ends melted into an electric blue, a bent ring around him. On his back, he wore his signature red denim jacket, habitually maintained and preserved. In the same manner, he's always looked healthy in his activities. When he swiveled in his seat and took her original seat, he shot her a glance. He held a proper volume in his cheeks, feeding into what Lip has labeled his "innocent" appeal. Completing the look with some obscure vintage shirt, paint-stained jeans, and thick black boots, he revealed a smile.

             "How's it going?"

              "... I don't know, Shin," Lip managed. "Today is becoming a long day." Marking down her name across the top, she rubbed her thumb across the desk. The substitute teacher brought up a video on the projector, casting a light around everyone's figures in front of them. A video of someone holding up a model of DNA began to play, and multiple kids picked up their pencils. Lip leaned towards him, resting her arms on the desk.

             "You know me, right?"

             Still looking at the screen, he scratched his chin. "Yeah, sure, of course."

             She took a few breaths. Off to her side, someone mentioned to the teacher that they couldn't write because the video wasn't playing audio.

             "Would I become… someone else based on who I like?"

             Shin took a moment to look at her again, his bottom lip. He took her worksheet and copied his first answer onto hers. "Between us, you wouldn't. Maybe... you meet someone down the road and they're your style. Sometimes people can reason their way out of it, be more strategic with their emotions. Other times, it might stir up things inside you, push and pull you out of your control. I can watch out for you from time to time, but… I mean, it's your life."

             She took back her worksheet, hesitant. One path ahead would take things as they are, to push back drama and romance until she grounds herself in a lifestyle, in a career. Nobody would have to know, and she could veer away from what feels like an intimidating future, ripe with unknown risks and dangers. This little incident wouldn't blow up, but fade into the past as another day gone by. Nothing has to be torn down.

             The video droned on, 'Now consider that there are probably 50 trillion cells in my body right now. Laid end to end, the DNA in those cells would stretch to the sun. Not once... but 600 times!' Shin reached over and wrote a slanted "600" over her next blank. "If you keep thinking that hard, steam's going to fly out of your ears."

             "I can't just tell you what's happening," Lip breathed out through clenched teeth, "because it's completely new territory for me. If anything, it wouldn't be a problem under… different circumstances."

             Flashes fired off in Lip's imagination, but this time she made little effort to filter them out. Scaling this wall in her consciousness would be the only step in giving herself peace, in giving Shin peace. Whether or not he'd think anything of it, the burden would at least be shared - Rain would pass, that girl could forever remain a classmate two rows down, and tomorrow would come wiping the entire day away. In a small corner of the world, some girl… likes another girl. Completely trivial.

             'It's a 6-billion letter code that provides the assembly instructions for everything that you are.' Images of the girl swirled around in her head, begging to be noticed. Her hair glowing in the instant lighting strikes outside, how it would soak and cleave onto her face as they ran outside towards the buses. Even the act of drying herself off, Lip would bear a complete understanding... of the female body. Spending too much time in each other's company would become unbearable. A collection of truths and emotions locked away would be opened forever inside her, bringing soft dreams and fantasies within her reach. Merely the weight of one body on another, the curiosity of a girl's touch, or the depths of her heart one entrusts to another would manifest into reality. In some world where it goes south… she'd live. She'd have peace.

             Lip began to move her hand towards her bag, then hesitated, only to return to her worksheet to finish the video, the class wrapping up its lesson. Leaning over, she tapped his shoulder, but her heart began to race as the seconds went by. The lights came on, and students made conversation among themselves, some getting up to collect their papers into a stack on the desk. Making eye contact with him, she lowered her voice and forced out the little words, each heavier than the last: "I like a girl."

             Five seconds went by, followed by another five. Shin took a breath, his eyebrows raised but gazing out towards nothing particular. Wiping his shirt with his hands, he slung his bag onto his back and rested his hands on Lip's shoulders. "That's a lot," he declared, with a big grin across his face. "But it's okay. You'll be okay. As long as you don't put us boys out of business." The bell rang, diffusing the moment and carrying them with the rest of the class through the door.