"It scares me, to trust in people. When the ones who promised will never leave, go. And the ones who say they will always be there, were never really there."          - Christina Bittar

We had finished the tour the following day as Jackson said he had to leave early. It left me more time to be with this annoying guy. I tried to keep the tour as quick and sweet as possible. I could tell he was trying to get on my nerves as he asked many stupid questions as possible. I persevered and ended the tour at lunch.

"The tour is finished. Any more questions?" I asked. My smile at the point where it became obvious I was annoyed.

"Can I have my phone back?" Jackson replied, pleading with his eyes. Halfway through the tour, he started take pictures of everything and everyone, including me. I'm guessing it was another plan to annoy me. It sure did work! I couldn't stand it and spun around and grabbed his wrist. My sweet smile turned cold and glared at him. Jackson was taken back from my reaction then suddenly smiled. What a weirdo. I am still angry at him for taking pictures of me. It was one thing I hated the most.

"No. Not yet. You may have it after lunch." 

He frowned but showed no resistance. We headed back to class when the lunch bell rung. I was planning to get lunch with Hara and BamBam today. I'm sure they have free time. I entered the room and gathered my stuff that was still on my desk.

"Hey Youngji!! Let's go get lunch!" Hara came along with BamBam behind her with his basketball. Hara had her winning-smile spread across her face while BamBam panted as sweat dripped down his forehead. It was moments like this where I felt that I could be genuninely happy. I nodded as I placed all of my books and notebooks into my backpack.

"Pizza or fried chicken?" I asked. Our lunches always started like this: I would suggest two options and they would choose. If they had countering opinions, they would duel it out with a game of rock, paper, scissors. It was always fun to watch BamBam yell in frustration as he always lost. 

"PIZZA!" both of them yelled and Hara smacked BamBam playfully while giggling.

"I saw this new place nearby opened and they had a special---fish pizza." BamBam said with wide eyes. 

"I'd eat that." Hara laughed again. "For a decent amount of money."

BamBam sighed and rolled his eyes. We all started walking out of class when suddenly a group of girls surrounded Hara with misery visible in their eyes.

"Hara, Hara, Hara! Oh, what should I do? My nail is chipped and I have a date after school and my hair is a mess..." the girl just kept talking and talking until she broke into loud sobs. Hara had to calm her down and reassured her that it would be fine since she has her cosmetics bag with her. She looked at me with guilt, then told me and BamBam to go on without her. With a whisper of "Sorry!" she left with the girl and her group of friends. I was slightly disappointed, but it was fine because I still had BamBam at least.

"I guess it's just us two now." he looked clearly disappointed as well. He nudged me in the arm and gestured to continue walking. 

"Oi, BamBam!" we turned around just in time to see a student our age running up to us, also with a basketball in his arm. "You promised us a game of 2 on 2 today. Ya gonna keep that promise?" 

All BamBam could do was groan. Like Hara, he apologized and ran off with the boy. My shoulders slumped and I started walking to the new pizza place BamBam talked about by myself. I quietly sighed and thought to myself.

I should have known, no surprise. What were you even expecting, Youngji? They're both popular and have busy lives while you're just an ordinary person no one really cares about.

The pizza place was only a few streets down, named "Pizza is Life" in a fancy font. My stomach growled as I walked towards the door and got inside. The menu was filled with many varieties and many sparked my interest. I decided to take my order after taking a minute to go through the entire list.

"Hi, how can I help you?" the cashier smiled warmly, her fingers hovering above the screen to place my order in. I ordered two small pizzas with different toppings, then handed with a receipt to wait for my number to be called. When I had walked in before, I noticed the place was heavily crowded so I decided to have it as a takeout. After around three minutes, my number was called and soon I was walking back to school with two boxes of pizza in my hands.

I walked into an unused classroom and placed my belongings down. I still had student council papers to finish so I decided this would be a good time to work on it. I took out my pens and pencils and went through the papers, slowly finishing up the pizza as I looked through the stack. Only half of it was done when I felt a warm breath on my neck. 

"Youngji, what are you doing here all alone?" I looked up to see a grinning Jackson eating one of my pizza slices. I continued working as I spoke.

"That's none of your business." was all I could think of. A few moments of silence followed afterwards. Curious as to why there was no response, I looked back at Jackson.
"I made you miss me, didn't I?" he laughed. This boy. I would have left already if it wasn't for all these documents. 

"So...can I have my phone back now?" he spoke again.

"I said, 'After lunch,' not 'During lunch.'" I took a bite out of my slice. He grabbed a nearby chair and sat next to me, invading my personal space. Planning to tell him off, I looked up to see Jackson all up in my face again. His eyes were weirdly big and wide with lips pouted. It was one of the most hilarious sights I have ever seen. 

"Please, please, please give me my phone back." his acting was terrible and that was when my mouth broke into a split-second smile. He stopped using aegyo.

For the first time, I saw Jackson's heart in his smile.