"Because I had hijacked his locker many months ago to keep tabs on its in and out logs and I had breached his cellphone last night - or rather, early after midnight, to trace the EUM and discover its exact time of creation from the exact time of its delivery."

No. No. I knew what this meant, and no, I couldn't allow it.

I stood up but was pinned back down by Baekhyun. He frowned upon my intended dissent and shook his head to warn me not to try again.

The Head Administrator could barely reconnect her jaws as she said, "Clearly, Miss Yang Sojin, those acts you've just mentioned.. are grounds for expulsion." Her eyes bulged out more prominently. "And.. as it appears, you don't intend to recant your admission.. Correct?"

"Yes, Miss Administrator. That is correct."

No. How could she? How dare she?

The Head Administrator, along with our malicious whistleblower Park Jimin and a few of our classmates from the first class, looked profoundly perturbed.

Thursday morning had found me and Sojin being extracted before classes even started to report to the SASD. I didn't even know where to start but unbeknownst to me, I'd been wrongfully charged with heavy drinking, misuse of Prefect authority and collosal cheating - all of which were grave offenses and subject for expulsion.

We had gone straight to the Office of the Head Administrator; me, confused but unrattled and Sojin.. well, I hadn't really studied her, but she must've been just as droopy as her usual self.

We had entered a spacious office to a frowning, slightly ravenous Head Administrator. It was a look a person had when one had been faced with early morning misfortune. Or maybe she had just risen from the wrong side of her bed. Either way, I hadn't been fully attentive on her or Jimin's statements.

Until Lichen had stormed inside uninvited, her furious rants preceding her and three or four people trailing behind her. But their loud entrance still hadn't completely dragged me out from drifting away. Not quite yet.

When I'd slid my eyes across Sojin's, she had given me a wry smile. And it was then that the both of us had listened as Jimin - undisturbed by the first class's interruption - recounted her wild accusations.

"Like I said, he's been facilitating drinking sessions with his friends lately and we've discovered bottles in his cabinet as proof."

I blinked a few times. Drinking what?

I glimpsed beside me at Sojin to see her reaction, but she didn't have any so I remained shut. Strong, unpleasant emotions were already starting to brew in my gut. Not this again.

"He's been using his Prefect influence to excuse Sojin from being dealt with by the SASD."

My fists balled at that. If she only knew the nature of Sojin's detentions, I could swear -

"And you've all read that EUM he has sent last night regarding the leakages for the second quarter finals that he's giving to Sojin."

"Hang on, what?"

"Luhan.."

I ignored Lichen's imploring and lunged at the Head Administrator's desk where Jimin was seated beside the Head Administrator herself. My chest was drumming in befuddled fury. "What do you mean EUM? And what leakages are you talking about? I haven't sent any!"

Jimin flinched at my outburst but immediately recovered. "More like, you haven't intended to send an EUM." She turned towards the Head Administrator. In my rage, I still couldn't recall her name until Jimin mentioned so. "Miss Yuan, it was a missent. You can ask the entire Senior first class; they all received the EUM -"

"We did," Lichen charged, flustered in her agitation. "Which is why we're here! There's gotta be a mistake, this is injustice! You're just plotting against Luhan, you -"

"Miss Li," the Head Ad - Miss Yuan chastised. Lichen shut up but remained standing behind me. The rest of those who were present - Toni, Baekhyun, Yixing and Tao - were settled on a lengthy couch by the wall facing the Head Administrator's equally extensive desk. As for Sojin, she lingered by the closed door, leaning lazily against it.

Jimin resumed. "I'm not sure how an EUM is administered but maybe Luhan made a mistake -"

"Why would you think so?" Miss Yuan asked.

"Because the message was sent at 11:25 in the evening - quite an ungodly hour, I'd say, and perhaps because of that, he was too sleepy to notice his mishap."

Miss Yuan flipped the information in her head as she shuffled pieces of paper in her hands. "And you say these were discovered in his locker, how?"

"Luhan has a lot of admirers, Miss Yuan. One of them wanted to drop a letter in his locker -"

Lichen interrupted again. "You can't drop anything in lockers, Jimin, that's super plain knowledge. They're an impassable bunch of rectangular metal crap. You'd have to be an idiot to even think that."

Jimin rolled her eyes. "I know that. But the Freshman did not and she's appapently just transferred so you can't blame her for being, as you say, an idiot." She turned back towards Miss Yuan. "The Freshman, Miss Jin Shaya, said Luhan's locker was unlatched and thought it was her lucky day. But then she found those papers and recognized them as answer keys and immediately notified the Prefects Office."

"Why didn't this Shaya girl just report directly to the SASD?" Lichen pressed.

"Because the Prefects Office is the only Administering Office in the Students Building, you should already know that," Jimin rolled her eyes again. "And like I said, she's a transfer so she couldn't have navigated to the SASD by herself. But that's beside the point."

"What's the point then?" I blurted, unable to stop myself.

Jimin refused to look at me and focused on Miss Yuan when she answered. "The point is, Luhan has cheated and he even used his Prefect privileges to do so. In addition to all his other serious violations, that is."

"Can I say something about the drinking?"

We all turned towards Tao. His outwardly strong face was etched with internal turmoil.

"And you are?" Miss Yuan demanded.

"Huang Zitao." He rose and bowed. "Miss Yuan, Luhan isn't a heavy drinker. Well, he doesn't even drink. It's me or Jongdae who facilitate drinking sessions but we only do so on special occasions, and never inside school premises. Not that Luhan would allow it in the first place."

"Then how do you explain the bottles in his cabinet? And which reminds me, it was Kim Jongdae, wasn't it? Wasn't he suspended for drinking within campus before?"

Tao turned tomato red at the Head Administrator's untimely reminder. "Yes, Miss Yuan, he was."

"And about that," Jimin cut in. "Was he really drinking that night? He was already incoherent when I came to him. There was no tangible evidence, and the report was only backed up by Luhan's statement."

What? He was incoherent because you were kissing him! And of course my statement was enough, especially that Jongdae hadn't protested. What the heck's Jimin doing exactly?

"Anyway," Miss Yuan waved a hand. "That matter has been settled already, no need to dig the past. In the meantime, this matter needs to be addressed by the SASD full court."

"What!" Lichen had stepped forward but the Head Administrator ignored her.

"Heavy drinking, misuse of Prefect authority and cheating," Miss Yuan enumerated. "We'll have the full court this afternoon."

Lichen scoffed, advancing by my left. "That's just bull. How do we even know this isn't just some personal vendetta Jimin's plotting against her Head?"

"Miss Li Chen." Jimin looked secretly triumphant over Miss Yuan's admonition. Lichen was essentially outraged, her mere expression enough to murder anyone.

"You may want to watch your tongue," Miss Yuan was saying, "before you get yourself into trouble. Now, Mis