Cool With A "K" PART 25 - CHAPTER 13

I sat down in English, with Chris and Leo.
"Hey, Angie," Chris said, "Have you seen Tae-Hyun?"
"I haven't seen her since this morning." I said.
Chris and I looked at Leo.
Leo's brown eyes looked from me to Chris and he said, "Um... This morning..."
We nodded for him to continue.
"Tae-Hyun and I..." Leo said, "We came into the school and a bunch of girls threw eggs at us. They were pissed off about Tae-Hyun pretending to be a boy."
"Well, yeah." Chris said, shaking his head, "I was a little ticked off, too."
"Were they mad because they liked him?" I asked.
Leo shrugged, "I don't know. They accused her of dressing like a boy so she could go into the boys' bathroom."
I scoffed, "She wouldn't do that... Would she?"
"Of course not." Leo said, "Those girls were just stupid."
"But, where is she now?" Chris asked.
Leo pursed his lips and said, "I don't know."


Tae-Hyun hid in the girls' bathroom until fourth period. More than four hours.
Just before the end of fourth hour, someone knocked on the stall door.
Tae-Hyun didn't make a sound.
"Tae-Hyun? Honey?" A voice said, "I know you're in there. Come on out."
Cautiously, Tae-Hyun peered through the crack in the door of the stall.
Alice was standing outside.
Tae-Hyun bit her lip and shook her head.
"I can't." She said, her voice cracking, "They'll come after me again."
"No, they won't." Alice's soft, gentle voice came from outside the stall, "It's safe, now come out of there."
Tae-Hyun stared at the latch on the door and gulped.
"Come on," Alice said, "You'll be fine."
Tae-Hyun slowly opened the door and came out of the bathroom stall.
Alice smiled and said, "Are you okay?"
Tae-Hyun sniffed and shook her head, "No..."
She started crying and Alice said, "It's okay. Don't worry..."
Alice put her hand on Tae-Hyun's shoulder and Tae-Hyun hugged her.
Alice's eyes widened and she lightly hugged Tae-Hyun back.
Tae-Hyun retracted and, wiping her nose on her sleeve, said, "I'm sorry, I didn't have a chance to clean the egg out of my hair."
"Oh, that's alright." Alice said, her voice squeaking slightly as she wiped herself off, "Um, here, I can help you."
"No, no, it's okay." Tae-Hyun said, pulling some paper towel out of the dispenser on the wall, "I can get it."
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Alice asked.
Tae-Hyun shook her head and ran the tap over a paper towel, "I don't know. I can clean my hair and my clothes by myself, but more people might go after me."
"I don't think so." Alice said, "That was just a few girls that got mad."
Tae-Hyun took off her hoodie and rubbed the paper towel on it.
"I suppose I don't need to wear this all the time anymore." Tae-Hyun said, sighing. She looked up at Alice and said, "You don't need to wait here if you don't want to."
"No, I'll wait." Alice said,  smiling.
Tae-Hyun smiled back and said, "Thank you."