7

holding onto one of her hands tightly with a concerned expression etched across her face. Victor frowned, wondering why she was looking for him, but he couldn't dwell on it too much as a familiar voice called his name. Victor instantly recognized it as Yuri Plisetsky. He pushed past Yuuko and entered the classroom where the rest of the students were filing in and taking their seats. Victor quickly made his way to the front to take his seat, trying to avoid any conversation between Yuuko and his friends. Once he was seated, he turned to face Yakov who was also sitting in the classroom and gave him a quick nod before turning back to Yuuko and smiling politely. The conversation was cut short when the first student of the day came into the classroom.

"Hi!", Phichit said enthusiastically, "You can call me Phichit!"

The teacher sighed.

"Not today, Phichit."

"Aw c'mon man, don't tell me that.", Phichit whined.

"Sorry," the teacher responded, "Today, I want you to introduce yourself to your classmates. Now please try your best not to annoy anyone".

Phichit pouted and crossed his arms.

"Fine", he huffed, before speaking. "My name is Phichit Chulanont, and I' m 15 years old. And I'm a Japanese citizen! Oh and I love ice skating! How are you guys?"

The others were silent for a few seconds after he introduced himself. Some of them exchanged surprised looks, but most of the other kids simply shook their heads and pretended not to recognize him. Apparently they weren't interested in knowing the answers to his questions.

"Okay, now everyone, take out your notebooks.", the teacher said. "As long as you have your notebooks, you can take your seats until the end of class. I hope we won't get another problem on this test next week", he added.

Yuuri opened his notebook and wrote down his name before opening up his English book, pretending to read the page in front of him. He had never studied this material before, having gone directly into the university after high school due to the fact that he wanted to concentrate more on his skating instead.

A minute later the bell rang and the kids immediately began packing their books.

"Alright class, listen carefully!" the teacher started, "This test will be difficult, and you have three days to complete it, but once it's over you'll be allowed to discuss what you have learned. This isn't a quiz or a report, so don't think that you can do better than the previous class because that's impossible! I want you to work as fast as possible and get through the test, alright?"

A chorus of agreements came from the class as they packed up their bags and began leaving the classroom. Once they left, the teacher continued.

"You have 10 minutes to complete your test, so don't get distracted. Do whatever it takes to finish before the last bell rings."

Just as the teacher finished speaking, the bell rang for dismissal and everyone slowly made their way towards the exit of the classroom, except Victor and Yuuri. Both Yuuri and Victor stayed at their desks and waited till everyone else had cleared out of the classroom before starting to pack up their own belongings.

"Why are you doing that?", Victor asked, "Aren't you leaving? I thought you were supposed to spend the weekend practicing".

Yuuri shrugged.

"I am", he replied, "But Phichit invited me to play video games tomorrow with his family. So, I guess I will stay longer. What about you?".

Victor shrugged.

"I'm staying home tomorrow, too," he replied, "But I don't really mind."

Yuuri looked at him skeptically, but decided not to press him any further. After everything that happened Friday night, Yuuri didn't want to push Victor for information.

"Well then, I'