Now and for the Last Time

32 장

I heard someone's voice in the background; he drove to his own school every day with some of his friends, and the collective volume was always high. "Will you guys shut up? I'm trying to talk to my girlfriend."

I felt my face blushed. That never got old.

"You're always talking to your girlfriend," someone said. "And aren't we stopping for Starbuck? It's Friday."

"No can do, I said I'd meet Coach in his office before the late bell," Jongsuk said. To me he added, "Still not sure what this is about. Got me king of twisted."

"It's got to be good," I told him, as I had the night before, and the day before that. getting called in for a special meeting with his coach could only mean something really good or bad, according to Jongsuk. I'm betting on the former, but I understood his worry. "Be sure to text me, though. I'm curious."

"You and me both." Another chorus of laughter from the background. "I'd better go, we're almost there. Talk at lunch?"

"Yup," I said, as school came up in the distance. Usually I got to mine first, as he and his friends were always stopping for food en route. "I can tell you how badly I failed that quiz."

"Tu feras bien," he replied.

"Something about good?"

"You'll do fine," he told me, laughing. "Love you, Su."

"Love you, too," I answered. "Talk soon."

I pulled into the lot, then wound around, looking for a parking space. By the time I found one, the time was 7:55. I had twenty minutes to find Gayeon, cram like crazy, and then hope for the best for the quiz.

When I got to the flagpole, she wasn't there, so I sat down and pulled out my book to review the verb tenses. I thought about Jongsuk, going to his coach's office at around the same time, and closed my eyes, thinking good things for him.

By the time the bell rang, Gayeon still haven't shown up. So much for studying, I thought, although I wasn't exactly surprised. Everything at the at their house was crazy, but in the mornings it's crazier, which is why Gayeon had a low grade in French: she was always late. I was just bad at it. Apparently.

When I got to class, Mme. Fields was already giving out the quizzes. I slid into a seat and opened my bag, taking out a pen and checking the door for Gayeon as she handed me mine. I scanned the first question: no idea. Great.

The late bell rang, and after the normal amount of backpack zipping and general settling-in noises, the room fell silent around me. As I worked down the page I realized I wasn't entirely clueless, which was encouraging. Up at the front of the room, Mme. Fields was on her laptop, brows furrowed as she scanned the screen.

By the time I'd finished the quiz as best I could, it was 8:45 and I was one of the last ones to hand in the paper. As I did, I looked outside for Gayeon. A half hour was late, even for her. A few moments later, Mme. Fields got to her feet, coming around to lean against the desk, and told us in French to open our books to page 97. THE SUBJUNCTIVE, the title heading said in Korean. The upshot seemed to be that you used it when you weren't certain. Well, I thought, that would come in handy for me.

Just then, outside the half-open door, I heard someone running down the hallway. For a minute I thought it was Gayeon, but then they passed by, a blur in my side vision as Mme. Fields directed out attention to the board, where she was busy writing something in his handwriting.

At 9:05, when the bell rang signaling the end of class, I immediately pulled out my phone, expecting to see a series of panicked texts from her over the last 55 minutes. But there was nothing except a bunch of news alerts, which I didn't bother to read. I had a long way to go in the five minutes we were given between classes if I wasn't going to be late myself, to AP Art.