༄ "WHAT did you do now?"

Her big mouth was gone when her mom sat her down in front of her, the desk the only thing between them.

"Had a pack of cigarettes in my room." She didn't dare to make eye contact, afraid she would either burst out in tears or start yelling or betray Teresa anyways.

"Did you smoke them?"

"No."
Truth, but she wasn't sure what would come next.

"Then why did you have them? Where did you get them?"

"Can you just give me whatever punishment without the whole interview? Cigarettes were in my dorm, that's it."

Her mom sighed. Long and deep. "If I see you here one more time, Samira, then I am ready to blame not only you, but also Minho for it. Bad influence. And you're right. As long as you're with Minho, me and your father decided you won't have to marry, but that doesn't mean I won't forbid you anything." She lay her hands on the table. "So, if I catch any of you in trouble, it might be over."

Could've gone worse.

"Anyway. How's school going?"

"There's other people waiting outside, mom—"

"Don't talk around it. How has it been going? Any tests yet?"

"We're two weeks in, of course I don't have tests," she snapped, but under her breath. "I am already studying, though."

"Awesome. Make sure you—"

"Study, yes. I just said that. And by the way, I think that if you're the principal, you should know education is a tool to help people reach their greatness, not define if."

"And I think that if I'm your mother, I'll have my opinion about that. Imagine, Samira, being the head of such a big school, and then they find out my daughter is... like this." 

Like a stab in the heart. "My grades are good. Last year's grades were fine and even if they weren't, I can catch up now. So I don't get why you're picking on me like I already have a bad grade."

"Because otherwise, you will get one!" She got up in a rush, her fist slamming against her desk. "Cut the scrolling on your phone or reading the books that have nothing to do with school. Before I know it, you're taken into a mental hospital because these things made you delusional or something! Doing your best for some good grades is the bare minimum. Take Jeff as an example. Go study and only then spend time to do fun things, like basketball. Sports! Not sitting on your bed even more."

Sam's eyes closed, and she was still staring at the ground. Damn, it hurt. "Did you just say I belong in a mental hospital?" Her voice came out weaker than she expected. Quieter.

Her mom was shaking with anger. "It wouldn't surprise me."

She got up from her chair fast, the thing backward with some noise. "You can't just tell your own daughter that, mom! What the hell? Actually, you can't just tell anyone—"

"I'll tell people whatever the hell I want. And I'll tell you that I love you because I have to, not because I like you, Samira. Be grateful for that."

That's when her eyes started to get watery. She looked up at her mother, eyes wider. Surely she hadn't expected her mom to love her the most a mother ever loved her child, but come on.

"How could I be grateful for that?" She refused to let the sob out. "How could I be grateful for you saying that sort of thing?"

"Because you're a failure and are lucky I pay attention to help you. Damn, sure you don't like my way of helping, but I'm doing it for your own good."

"You're a mom who can't even say 'I love you' properly," Sam spat out.

"Maybe you're a daughter who can't be loved properly."

Enough. Sam grabbed her bag and before her mother could protest, she had slammed the door closed with final tears leaking.

Her head was pointed to the ground as she walked past the chuckling boys, her first clenching around her bag. Hot, angry, but hurtful thick tears. She didn't make a sound as she walked back, but she was close to bursting out.

"Sam?"

Awesome.

"Busy," she called, and walked straight past the boy who she had recognized as the one who pushed a kid; Gally.

"Wait, wait." He fastened his steps. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm perfect. Just got tears streaming down my face because why not." She did stop walking when he arrived in front of her, quickly wiping some tears away. "Sorry."

His lips formed into a small smile. "It's okay, don't worry."

"So why are you still here? You finished your talk several minutes ago and it's almost nine."

"Fry and I were just catching up." He pointed at a boy in the distance. Dark skin, curls, kind face.

She turned back to Gally. "...Fry?"

"It's actually Siggy, but the name Frypan was randomly born somewhere in my life." The boy, Fry, walked closer, smiling. "So, it's Fry."

Sam shook his hand, cringing she met him while tears stained her cheeks. "Sam."

"Do you need anything?" The boys both raised their eyebrows. Embarrassed, Sam shook her head and wiped her cheeks again.

"So Minho already left?" She wondered. Sure, if they had to pretend better, then she would pretend she was sad he left. "I thought he might've waited for me."

"Yeah. He seemed in quite a hurry." Gally shrugged. "I don't know, boy's got secrets we all see but don't know."

"Right."
Well, everyone had secrets.
"I guess I'll see you guys at a basketball training or something. But imma go now, before I get caught sneaking around past nine."

"See ya."
"Bye."

With a last nod, Sam walked away, her mind spinning. Her stomach twisted when she thought back about the things her mom said, and also when she tried to imagine why Minho had been in a hurry. He was hiding something, that turned clear by now.

The bandages, the way he spoke about quitting swimming, how he rushed away, that day he said his hands were cold while the temperature was perfect, his abrupt changes in moods or his behavior during basketball. And rubbing alcohol?

She shivered at the coldness of the night. Made her way back inside her room where she immediately crawled under a blanket with her phone in her hands.

She could text Minho. But she had also elbowed him in the stomach. That had been her normal self, though. In the first weeks she had decided to be sweet so she could make friends, after that she would go back to the so described "sister who's life quote is yolo".

Fine, she'd text him. Only because he rushed away and hadn't been very open about why he was in the principal's office.

Min ❤️

9:05

R you okay?

9:18

Fine

Minho
C'mon
It's not cuz I acted like that, right?

No

Okay. Good
I'll take ur advice to pretend better
So do you want to go for a walk tomorrow or something?

Sure

Dry, but great !!
Night

Gn

Yeah, he was hiding something.

❤︎︎

"Hi." She greeted him with a nod the next day. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Have you been waiting long?"

He got up from the picnic table. "Nah, don't worry."

"Okay, great." She forced a smile. "How're you?"

As if he was surprised by the question, no sound came out of his mouth at first.

"What?" Sam laughed awkwardly.

He shook his head. "Nothing. You're just... one of the few people to ask me that in a long time." His lips twitched into a smile for a second. "But yeah, I think I'm doing good right now. And you?"

She hummed. Genuinely thought about the answer, because if she had to be honest, she most of the time told the truth about her well-being, except her mom was slowly taking that confidence away every time she called Sam an attention seeker, especially when she tried to have a deeper conversation last year. "Right now, I'm doing great."

They started walking around the campus. Today, Tuesday, had been a simple day and Sam was happy she was done early. They still walked through bright daylight, the sun shining down onto her face.

"So back there, yesterday, were you trying to act cool in front of those boys or were you just being your normal self?"

"Normal self," she stated. "And back there, yesterday, were you just being a dick or do you and Gally have mutual hatred?"

"Neither."

"I don't know, but that tension between you two wasn't exactly the best and it for sure wasn't sexual tension either."

"Maybe I was showing my amazing act skills by pretending to be the jealous boyfriend."

"Hm." She tilted her head. "Maybe. Or maybe you were your usual self. AKA, an asshole."

"Since when am I getting referred to an asshole?"

"Since you decided you can't study a little better and have to risk my life for some answers to tests."

"Is that wrong? Yes. Do I care? Well, actually no."

"And are you still fake dating me to save my life in another way? Yes. So I guess you do care!" She overly fake gasped.

"If I was you, I'd choose to fake date me too, instead of marry an old man," he shot back.

"If I was you, I'd realize it's a big flex to be dating me," she sassed. Lifted an eyebrow.

"Unfortunately, I appear to not have noticed that so far. Try harder."

"I'm not wasting my energy on... you."

He groaned. "Come on!"

And she felt a grin form on her face. "What?"

"Is it even possible to out-sass you?"

"The fact that you're trying to 'out-sass' a girl, proves quite a lot." A pause. "Mean Hoe," she added.

"Samuel."

"At least you agree I'm more manly than you will ever be."

He rolled his eyes, then scanned them around the area. "Take my hand."

"Why don't you just take mine, lazy a—"

Grunting, he took her hand. "Now act a little happier, there's people staring."

"I hate being stared at." Her eyes narrowed. "But I do understand, though."

"You're not funny."

"Disagreed. I think I have great humor."

But when they moved closer to the other students, she fell silent. Still, she didn't enjoy crowds and especially not when she was walking hand in hand with Ego Up His Ass.

Minho chuckled under his breath once they walked past everyone. "So that's how to silence you."

"I'm sure there's another way of silencing me."

He cleared his throat, and his eyes widened. "Sorry?"

"I mean, just give me a book and I'll be silenced." She shrugged. "By the way, I thought you said my mind is indecent. Now look at you."

"I look at myself enough times a day, Sammy. However, if you say so, I'd gladly look even more oft—"

"I think you should look a little less times in the mirror because it might shatter from that ego."

He snickered. "Now that, is the most basic comeback ever."

"At least I have comebacks."

"You sound like a toddler."