University of Wonderland

Chapter Fourty-Seven

The next morning, I got to school super early. It wasn't like I slept the night before. Despite all the new evidence, I was still so far from the truth. But at least I could try to help Sehun. Oh, Sehun. Aigoo, I missed him so much. And now I felt guilty about not saying those words when I had the chance, and keeping him in suspence.

A janitor set up the table and chairs in front of the school's entrance, and I laid out several clipboards on the surface even though Sulli had told me to leave the details to her. I settled into one of the chairs and scanned my handiwork. Crap, I only brought one pen. Abandoning my perch, I ran into the school and looked into my locker until I gathered all the pens I could find. When I came back outside, I saw three people sitting in the chairs. One bent over, with her cheek pressed on the table. The next had red hair and a tiara on her head. The last wore a top hat.

The formal wear gave more credence to my opinion of them as royal pains in the butt. I walked over to Minho and Hyuna and slammed the pens onto the table. "Get out."

IU's head bounced, but she didn't look up. The stream of students flowing into the school stopped at my words, heads tilted in our direction. My skin felt pricky, like their eyes were burning each pore. I didn't wear the spotlight very well; it washed me out. Hyuna, however, lit up from the extra attention.

"I see you've set aside this special time to make fun of yourself in public," Minho said.

"Oh? I thought you held the keys to that special privilege." I crossed my arms and eyed the occupied chairs. "Move."

"What? No thanks for yesterday?" His face contained a hint of smile, but Hyuna eyed him pointedly. "And it's not humiliation when I don't give a sh!t." Minho pursed his lips at me. "Speaking of which, no room for you, Suzy."

IU echoed his claimed with a snore.

Hyuna shook her head. "No room at all." She spun a clipboard and read the mission statement at the top. "Awe~ You want to save a farm." She turned it to face forward again. "I think it's cute that you're trying to be the laughingstock of the school."

What would it take to kill a mockingbird? "I'm not the one who's sitting at the table wearing a ridiculous crown."

"That's because you have no school spirit." Hyuna's tiara glinted in the sunlight. I vaguely remembered something about the week leading up to Homecoming being Spirit Week and each day involving a different task, like wearing school colors.

"Now who looks weird?" Minho said.

I lifted my chin. "Still you. The answer's always you."

Minho scrubbed his jaw. "They've bottled the answers in a jar, except I poured it out before I could drink it. It might have been poison."

Hyuna burst into a fit of giggles. "He's hilarious, isn't he?"

"Time's the hilarious one." Minho snickered at some joke only he could hear.

She turned to me, ignoring Minho. "Hat day was my idea." She beamed. "But Minho started the trend that inspired me." She tapped him on his nose in a sickeningly cute way. Emphasis on sickeningly.

I straigthened one of the pens. "Seriously, move."

"Pull up a seat then, if you're so determined." Minho flourished his hand over the table. "Oh wait, there aren't any."

"How kind of you to offer, Minho. It's not even your table." I leaned in closer, my torso hovering over a clipboard, and lowered my voice. "Come on, you know why I'm doing this."

"You should say what you mean," he said.

"I do!" I pressed my finger to my lip. "At least, I mean what I say - same thing."

"Hardly." Minho tapped a pen against the table. "That's like saying 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'." For extra emphasis, he  chomped on the air.

"Or 'I like what I get'," Hyuna said, stroking Minho's cheek, "is the same as 'I get what I like'."

"I breathe when I sleep," IU mumbled, possibly talking in her sleep.

"I sleep when I breathe," Jiyeon finished, joining the group, pink cowboy hat tipped on her head. "Why are we reversing phrases? We better not be studying." I'd forgotten how nice it was without her. IU was endurable. Though that might have been because she was only half-present in this conversation.

"It is the same thing, with you." Minho's eyes slipped downward aiming at the open space createdd by the neckline of my dangling shirt. We caught ourshelves at the same moment, both of us straightening. I felt like I was on display, the stolen glance just another checkmark on the list of things Minho had tired to take away from me. The real problem was, his track record boasted a winning streak. "I'm not stopping you by sitting here, am I?" He shook his head, clicking his tongue. A gesture too exaggerated to be anything but a cover-up. "You always misread me."

"So are you going to join then?" I challenged with my brows, pushing a clipboard and pen toward him. Minho held my stare for several seconds. I couldn't tell if he was really considering my idea or challenging me right back. My brave face wavered. The rhythimic footsteps of the students walking up the steps acted like a stopwatch, making the seconds in our competition. The silent-treatment Olypmics.

"Join with you?" He finally said. "Are you saying you like having me as your partner in crime?" He leaned in to whisper. "Literally."

"Like wouldn't have been my choice of words. It's too generous."

"You know you miss me," he said, and I let out a high-pitched laugh. He smiled at me. "I mean, you're the one who keeps calling me. There was that time at three a.m." He ticked off his fingers. "That time with the car. And let's not forget when you crept into my room."

"What?" Hyuna's mouth gaped.

My cheeks blazed like three-alarm fire. "Minho, you really are crazy if you think that way."

Hyuna lifted herself from the chair and sat on Minho's lap. She smiled at me. Not a satisfied smile; the kind of smile that made you think she had soemthing up her sleeve. Or, more to the point, that Minho did. He secured his arms around her, never taking his eyes off of me.

"Our first recruits?" Sulli stepped beside, setting a giant, yellow jug on the table, spigot facing out.

"Once again, you're too late. If you'd been here on time, you'd know we'd never join your pathetic little club." At Hyuna's mention of time, Minho tugged at his watch.

Sulli shrugged. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

I steadied my hand on the table so I didn't tip over. I felt dizzy all of a sudden. Minho's retort had reminded me how much I hated him. Which meant, for one brief moment, I had forgotten.

"Even I can't decipher that one," Minho said. "What the hell is that?" He pointed with his chin to the jug.

=^_^= . . . =^_^=

Hello everyone! How are you? Good, good; that's super dope, dope. ^^

That's was the last update for this week; Fall Break is over for me and have to start school again. I hope my school have fixed my schedule for 7th period. The next update will come next week. See you soon!