When I sit in class alone the next day, my mind starts to ponder why Kris isn’t here. Did he oversleep? Or did he have something to do? Did something happen to him? Hmm, weird. He usually texts me if he thinks he won’t make it to class. I am slightly worried for him, but I’m sure its nothing. I spend my time trying to listen to the lecture and taking notes, but I find it quite hard to do when my head is constantly lolling to the side. The sound of the bell jolts me up, so I jump from my seat. I hear a malicious laugh from the back and I try to stop every fiber of my muscle from turning around and slapping them in the face. I am…not in a good mood. I gather my books and pencils before striding out the class, ignoring the usual funny looks.

“Hey, Kimmy,” Lauren slides to sit next to me and Kai on my other side. I notice them sneaking cautious looks at each other, and Lauren’s lips begin to twitch as she tries not to burst.

“Guys, I am not a bomb here. And I can see, you know?” I say as I spoon the salad to my mouth, relishing every burst of flavor that comes with the thousand island dressing. I my lips to get rid of the dressing left on them.

“So…are you okay?” Kimmy asks, taking her chicken tender piece and biting it off rather savagely. Maybe not, I am just picturing it that way. Kai stares dreamily at her, probably wondering how he ended up with such a ‘cute’ girlfriend.

“Yeah, of course. You know what happened?”

“What?” They both ask at the same time, Lauren pounding her fist on the table in demand while Kai’s eyes just widen the size of his plate. I told them about Baekhyun and Luhan trying to make me feel better. I feel like yesterday is repeated. Baekhyun sitting there with me in the girl’s toilet, mending me with his sweet voice…Luhan ….just being Luhan and I saw how much he cares about me. I remember his anger drawn in his dark eyes… Lauren and Kai listen to me intently, reacting quite well to everything. As usual, Lauren gets very jumpy at some parts and Kai seems to find my story very amusing. When I am done, Lauren claps her hands to .

“Uh oh… Kimmy!” She starts panicking for no reason. This is why she is my best friend.

“What!” I answer in an equally panicking voice. Kai shakes his head and starts poking his chicken.

“Baekhyun likes you! So does Lulu!”

“I think so too. This is weird, but I really think Baekhyun likes you… well, we all know Luhan has liked you since what? When he first saw you?” Kai chuckles deeply, entertained by his own joke.

“What?” I ask, in denial of whatever he is saying and my ears rejecting his words.

“Baekhyun. Likes. You,” he repeats, stressing every word. Lauren nods vigorously.

“No, he likes another girl. He told me,” I say. I don’t know why, but the moment the words slip out my mouth, I feel…sad. A little bit of my heart is…I can’t explain it, but it’s not exactly the best feeling.

“No way. I don’t think so, I mean his actions in guy language is pretty much says it all. It screams, “I like Kimmy”,” Kai nods his head knowingly, with a serious face on. I still don’t believe him though.

“No way. Baekhyun is so nice to everyone. You know that. Even to other girls.”

“That’s true,” Lauren pipes up.

“Well… I have no idea, but yeah. I don’t know. From the way I see it, he does. I mean, sometimes in gym, you know how you pass by us playing basketball every Friday? Yeah, I happen to see him stop running and pause to look at you. So I don’t know if this means anything…” he shrugs but I can read his mind that he is standing by his words…and he obviously thinks this means something.

Lauren smacks his arms all of a sudden.

“Ow! What was that for?” he ask, scandalized.

“How come you never told us this?” she scolds him.

“Because I didn’t think it was anything, until Kimmy mentions Baekhyun to us,” he tries to move the spotlight of this conversation to me. Unfortunately, it works.

“How come you never told us about Baekhyun?” Lauren changes her interrogation victim, quick as lightning.

“Um… because it never came up?” I admit, that is a lame excuse.

“Okay, from now on, you have to update us on news about Baekhyun…and Luhan.”

“Luhan’s pretty out in the open about it too, don’t you think?” Kai speaks his mind again. I am quite thankful that he is here, because he is like our secret double agent from the world of the Boys.

“Really? I don’t see it.”

“You are blind, Kimmy,” Lauren sighs and shakes her head.

“Okay, fine. From now on, I will be more observant,” I declare proudly and silently willing myself to actually try instead of tossing this promise out. Lauren and Kai make gestures of being touched and proud of my progress as they wipe away invisible tears of joy. We stop talking about boys because the lunch bell rang and for the first time in a while, I find that I am not on schedule.

“Bye guys! See you tomorrow!” I wave in a hurry and walk quickly to my next class. I open the door as quietly as I can, and thank the heavens the teacher didn’t notice me coming in.

“Kimmy! Where were you? I thought you were in trouble again,” Luhan whispers agitatedly, wringing his hands everywhere. I shushed him and try to catch his hands so I can calm him down.

“Lulu, shh. I was just chatting with Kai and Lauren during lunch and I lost track of time. Sorry.” I pout, trying to get him to forgive me. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I thought.

His eyes flies to my cheek instantly, still slightly red but not pronounced and his expression softens.

“Sorry, I was just worried. But that’s really good for you. That means lunch was fun?” he asks, still whispering. I’d like to take this moment and once again thank whoever hired this teacher because he is partially deaf.

“Yeah, it was. How was yours?”

“It was okay, I guess. I saw Baekhyun…” His eyes are suddenly trained on mine, searching for something. His body tenses, as if waiting for something too. Sometimes, he confuses me.

“And…?” I ask, urging him to continue. He presses his lips together and turns away, looking into the board filled with familiar equations.

“And… I don’t really like him,” he finally confesses, eyes looking down, not daring to meet mine. Am I angry with him? Of course not.

 “Lulu…listen to me. Are you scared that I was going to be mad at you?”

“A little bit…maybe more,” he finally looks up.

“I’m not, okay? I don’t care who you want to be friends with or whatever,” I laugh quietly. Even though it is quite funny to see him scared, I think it’s nice of him that he’s being honest with me…and that he actually feels guilty for not liking one of my friends.

“Oh…Well that makes things easier,” he grins.

“Of course….and uh, Lulu, if you don’t mind me asking…why don’t you like him?” I try to fish the answer out of him by trying to sound as innocent as possible. Baekhyun is just nice to everyone. I find it quite strange that he fails to make Luhan like him as all the other population in the school does. Luhan doesn’t hesitate to answer.

“He makes me feel jealous.”

“Why?”

Luhan looks at me with disbelieving eyes. When I don’t react at all, he decides to think of his next words. Taking painfully long, he blinks a few times before giving the most obnoxious answer.

“You’ll have to figure it out yourself, Kimmy.”

For once, he is not smiling despite his friendly tone. It disturbs me. This … vague Luhan disturbs me. What is on his mind? What is he thinking? I huff as I turn to face the board. My eyes are reading the numbers but my brain isn’t working on them. Lately, I feel like my heart is overtaking my brain. I don’t like it. In fact, I hate it. Because when it does things like that…

Watching Luhan ignore me for the rest of the class feels like a stab in the heart.