A Mark That Lasts Forever

Love | 恋愛 section 1

"How was your weekend?" Koki says casually as he drops his backpack onto the classroom table and pulls out the chair next to me.

"Not bad. You?" I answer.

"It was going well until Eriko found out about the club," he sighs. "I spent all day yesterday trying to gain her forgiveness."

"You didn't tell her about it?" I ask skeptically.

"I wasn't trying to hide it. I just missed the chance to say something," he shrugs.

Our conversation is interrupted by the noisy buzzing of my phone against the wooden table.

Shun
I slept through the whole night 😵
What time did you leave?

I peek at Koki, but he's looking at his own phone.

Makoto
I thought u might 😂
I left after maybe 30 minutes?

Shun
Sorry about that 😅
I mustve been more tired than i thought

I feel giddy just thinking about his sleeping face. I was there probably closer to an hour. I almost didn't leave at all.

"Are you ready for the test?"

Koki's question startles me and I quickly tuck my phone into my pocket. "Test?"

"Yeah."

"In which class?"

"This class," he chuckles.

My jaw drops. "We have a test?!"

"Yeah, the prof mentioned it several times last week."

I yank my notebook out of my bag and hastily flip through the pages before finding the only thing scribbled in it from last week being, "Branding is important because..."

Well, shit.

"You didn't take any notes, did you?" Koki smirks.

"Koki!" I desperately grab his arm. "Let me read your notes for the next five minutes!"

I don't know why I allowed my brain to go into autopilot mode for the past two weeks. Worried my Commerce grade is in danger after failing the test, I spend a few days trying to catch up on everything I've missed by reading through recently covered chapters of my textbooks.

"He's doing it again," I hear Takeru grumble.

"Makoto! Put that book away! It's rude to read at the dinner table!" Reiya scolds me while I'm hunched over my textbook at our lunch spot.

"Wait. I'm almost all caught up in this class," I argue, running my finger across the page.

Takeru grabs the book and slips it out from underneath me. "No more!"

"Hey!" I snatch it back from him.

"If you're so obsessed with getting an A, then why don't you study at home instead of during lunch break?" Takeru complains.

"Because I have work after school every day this week!"

"Why didn't you pay attention in class then?" Koki joins in.

"Yeah. When are you going to tell us why you were so out of it last week?" Reiya adds.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," I comply, obediently tucking the textbook away in my backpack and pretending not to hear their questions.

"He was probably just thinking about the club anyway. Too bad he passed out before he could get any real action," Takeru chuckles.

"Look who's talking. What action did you get?" I chaff.