About me? Yes, I thought. But that wasn’t what Yejun was asking. “I mean, she let me go home, so she probably doesn’t think the world is going to endtonight, but who knows about tomorrow.”
“Then I’m not worried either,” Yejun said. “She wouldn’t send you home if she thought the earth was going to eat itself, right?”
“Right,” I echoed.
“In that case,” Yejun said, “let’s talk about something much scarier, like calculus.”
I blinked. “The timeline is falling apart and you want to talk aboutcalculus?”
“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?” he said, grinning. “Or do you just like making small talk with me?”
I rolled my eyes and pulled my calculus assignment from my folder, slapping it down on the table.
“Eighty-five!” Yejun said, beaming. “Have you celebrated?”
“Eighty-five isn’t that good,” I said, my face warm as I sank back in my seat. “You don’t have to pretend it is.”
Yejun’s expression softened. “Who’s pretending?” he said. “It’s a big improvement, Mina.”
I shook my head. “Dragons should be able to do this kind of math in their sleep.”
“Why?” Yejun said, scowling. “What the hell do you think dragons used calculus for? For people like us, high school is just a game to pass the time, and right now, you’re winning.”
“Winning?” I said. “That’s generous.”
“Not dying,” Yejun amended. “Now take a celebratory bite of cheesecake.”
“I already had a piece before you got here,” I said.
Yejun ignored me, unboxing the slice he’d brought and scooping up a piece on my fork. “Celebrate,” he commanded, holding the piece in front of my face.
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to—”
“Acknowledge your success,” Yejun said, jamming the piece of cheesecake toward me. He came dangerously close to forking my eye or smearing cheesecake across my nose. I sighed and bit the piece off his fork.
Yejun sat back and set the fork down, then reached into his pocket and tossed a handful of confetti over me.
“Where did you even get that?” I said through a mouthful of cheesecake, shaking it out of my hair. “Don’t throw confetti in a restaurant! Someone will have to clean it up!”
“How about we study somewhere else today, as a reward?” he said.
I made him wait for my response until I’d finished carefully wiping the confetti off the table and dumping it in the front pocket of my bag, which had inhaled half the confetti anyway. “Isn’t the cheesecake the reward?”
“I’m training you like a bear,” Yejun said. “Building positive associations in your mind with calculus.”
“Who trains abear?”
But Yejun had already risen to his feet and was busy putting the second slice of cheesecake back in his bag, slinging the takeout bag over his shoulder. “I have the perfect place for us to go,” he said.
“Where is it?” I said, edging away.
“There are amazing pastries there,” Yejun said, rather than answer directly. He held out his hand expectantly. I looked up at him, positive my face was bright red. He couldn’t justoffer to hold my handso casually!
“What are you doing?” I managed to say.
Then his fingertips pulsed blue and he winked conspiratorially. I realized, with a flush of heat to my face, that he wasn’t offering to hold my hand just because he wanted to—he wanted to time travel.
“Not here!” I said, looking around.
