that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 33

The entire class is already present as we enter the biology lab. The only seats left are the ones right in front of the teacher's desk, the place no one wants to sit voluntarily.

The cons of arriving late. We have to sit right under Mrs. Song's stern gaze, not allowed to do anything besides staring ahead and pretending to listen to her lecture.

I have nothing against sitting in the front row unless it's with her.

Mrs. Song herself is standing in front of the classroom, observing the class through her small glasses and a stack of paper neatly placed in her hands. I don't like those papers at all. Please, not a surprise test.

My classmates seem to share my concern and they collectively hold their breaths, nervously awaiting what our Biology teacher has in store for us today.

"Good afternoon class," she stiffly greets us, eyeing her students as if she hates them all.

Nobody returns her greeting but she doesn't seem to mind at all. Students that greet back are just being an inconvenience, aren't they?

"I prepared a small assignment for today," she states, fidgeting with the papers in her arms. "Please form groups of three before I hand them out."

Relief washes over the students as they all glance around the classroom, giving each other questioning looks, asking each other to be teammates in this unknown assignment. It's funny how many girls and even boys still glance at Hyunjin even though it's obvious that the three of us will form a group.

The hype around Hyunjin still didn't wear off.

"An assignment, huh?" Felix mutters, lazily leaning backward in his chair.

Mrs. Song patiently waits for everyone to sit together in the groups they formed, her lips pursed in a thin line and her eyes sharp. A shiver runs down my spine as my eyes meet hers for a moment. She's upright scary and it's probably best to expect the worst of this assignment.

Without a word, our strict teacher makes her way through the now silent classroom, handing out papers here and there before she reaches us. She gives the document to Hyunjin and takes a seat behind her desk again, folding her arms and glaring at us.

The class is in doubt. It's clear that it's a field class and we have to head to the park next to the school. But no one moves a muscle, warily awaiting a sign to go coming from Mrs. Song.

Our teacher sighs in annoyance and gestures towards the door in an agitated manner. "What are you waiting for?" she scoffs. "I have work to do, go!"

That was it. The sound of chairs scraping over linoleum fills the classroom and everyone hurries outside, making sure not to bump into anything or cause anything that might cause Mrs. Song to freak out. The three of us do the same and we hurry after our classmates.

"So we basically have to search for specific leaves in the park," Hyunjin reads aloud, his eyes wandering over the paper in his hands. "I thought this was high school? "

"Collecting leaves?" Felix snorts. "That's a bit lame, even for Mrs. Song."

"I bet she needs them for her next potion," I suggest, following closely after the boys as we walk through the hallways on our way to the school's exit. "She's a witch."

"Yikes," Hyunjin shudders. "I'm a witch' minion."

As we leave the school building, Felix quickly stops us from following the other students to the front gate and pulls us in a different direction. It's probably one of the weird ideas of my friend and I give the orange-haired boy a questioning look.

"I know a shortcut behind the track fields," he announces.  "We'll save two minutes if we take it."

"Wow, that's a lot," I deadpan, rolling my eyes. It's almost embarrassing how lazy Felix is sometimes, going through such great lenghts to save two minutes. He's usually very energetic but sometimes...

I quickly follow after the two boys, who are already making their way to the sports fields. Two minutes more or less don't mean anything to me and I try my best not to be too surprised about it. Sometimes I'm surprised by the fact that Felix still manages to surprise me even now and then. Does that even make sense?

The wind is strong as we walk over the flat surface of the fields and I quickly tug up the collar of my coat, following Hyunjin's example, who did it as soon as we left the school building. Felix seems unbothered by the chilly wind but that's nothing new. He always seems to carry a little bit of sunlight with him.

I have no idea where this shortcut is, even though I've been here countless times already. I glance around the area, carefully avoiding the maintenance shed in the distance. I don't feel like going down that memory lane right now.

Felix seems to know exactly where he's going as he approaches the fence surrounding the school grounds. Which is indeed the most logical place for a shortcut, now that I think about it.

"Here it is," Felix proudly states, pushing away some ivy with his foot.

I blink a few times, looking at the shortcut in amazement. His shortcut is nothing more than a mansized gap in the gauze near the ground, covered in ivy.

We have to go through this?" I ask, gesturing to the hole with raised eyebrows.

"How did you even find this?" Hyunjin adds, looking as surprised as I do.

Felix' enthusiasm quickly subsides and embarrassment takes over. Sighing, he averts his gaze to stare at his feet.

"There was a cat," he mutters.

"Oh well," I sigh.

Hyunjin crouches down, closely inspecting the hole in the fence. "It should work," he muses. "We're all not that big."

Felix' eyes light up immediately at the boy's comment and he crouches down next to him, ready to go through and start collecting leaves.

I glance around once more, but then I see one of the PE teachers walking straight towards us. His bright red tracksuit is hard to miss in this grey landscape.

"Yah, Felix," I call out and the boy looks up. "On a scale from one to ten, how illegal is this shortcut?"

"Probably pretty much," the boy replies after a moment of thinking. "Why?"

Both the boys look up, and their eyes widen as they see the man approaching us. There's no way out, he's close enough to recognize us so even if we run, they'll only catch us later.

I catch a glimpse of my friend's quilty expression and I sigh.

Here comes trouble.

--

I am SHOOK!
Almost 12k reads oof thank you so much

So here's a new chapter. Finally.
It's short and lame but I wanted to update because it has been a while lol.