(Awkwardly) Perfect Days

Moonbyul had a hand around the skateboard on her shoulder and fingers curled around a can of coke when she first met Krystal.

Putting it mildly, the encounter wasn’t pleasant.

“Hey, Moonbyul! You know that last ramp?”

“Yeah?” Moonbyul swung around immediately, that last ramp and trick was a major failure and maybe skate buddy Joonsuk would have some ideas.

But all that followed was a dull thud and a shrill shriek.

Moonbyul turned the other way. The casualty was a girl, clutching her shoulder and clearly in pain.

“! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you! Are you okay? I-”

“Stop stop! Your coke’s gonna splatter all over me.”

Moonbyul halted all movements, threw her hands up in surrender and dropped both the can and her skateboard.

“Now you’ve done it,” the girl sighed, giving Moonbyul a look of resignation.

Moonbyul’s hands were still up, like she was frozen in time, helplessly watching the scene unfold before her. Thankfully, the girl was spared from the mess that spilled centimeters away from her shoes but her eyes were trained on the gradually expanding puddle of coke.

“Uh-oh.”

Moonbyul heard the soft exclamation from Joonsuk but she was unable to utter another word.

“I’m okay, I guess.”

“Um… Oh…” As if the girl’s voice had shattered the pause button on Moonbyul, she finally put down her hands. She tried to steer herself out of this strange nervousness, but only succeeded in staring at the puddle along with the girl.     

The girl cleared . “So… Yeah… I’m okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

Moonbyul wiggled her toes, kicked her foot and peeked, her gaze connecting with the girl’s. She gasped, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Uh okay!”

“Yeah, see ya?”

“Um yeah. Sorry?”

The girl nodded, dashing off at high speed.

“What was that?!” Joonsuk tapped Moonbyul on the back, confused by what transpired.

“I don’t know?!”

But, she’s so pretty. Holy .

When Moonbyul’s skateboard got confiscated by the school thanks to a misunderstanding, it was a disaster of a new magnitude. She felt like she had lost an arm, or gotten an additional arm. It just was very strange.

She had an arm free but nothing to do with it.

She swung it around, twirled books, spun pens and choked Joonsuk twice for getting her into trouble.

It still felt extremely weird and uncomfortable.

“Please, I’m gonna barge in and beg the principal to let your skateboard out of jail.”

“Hyejin, you’ve been mumbling about this for two hours.”

“Sure, but let’s talk about the pens and books flying my way for three hours already!” Tablemate Hyejin growled.

“Oops.”

“I don’t get why you’re so restless? You don’t even use the stupid skateboard in class! You just carry it around like an oversized, flat baby.”

“Habit,” Moonbyul cracked a smile at Hyejin’s weird description. “The thought that I don’t have my skateboard with me is in the back of my head and that’s… disorienting?”

Hyejin tutted and drew an invisible line between them.

No flying pens beyond that line was the subtext.

“You can spend your break with us.” Wheein turned around, flicking her eraser in Hyejin’s direction.

“Nah,” Moonbyul laughed a little. She knew her friends were somewhat happy about this. Ever since she picked up skating she had been hanging out with the skaters more than with them. “I need some time alone.”

“You sound like you lost your lover because of war.” Wheein picked up Hyejin’s eraser and flicked it at Moonbyul. Bullseye.

“It sure feels like it.”

Wheein cackled and Hyejin shook her head, but to Moonbyul it wasn’t that much of an exaggeration. The skateboard was almost an extension of her even though she wasn’t very good at it. A passion close to an obsession. She wanted to be great at it and that was why she had to practice.

Very justifiable, according to Moon Byulyi.

“Uh, I’m looking for a Moon Byulyi?”

Hearing her name, Moonbyul’s attention directed to the vaguely familiar voice. At the classroom door was a junior, looking very pretty in their school uniform.

“Here!” Moonbyul’s hand shot up automatically as she shouted out her presence.

“Enthusiastic,” Wheein muttered loud enough for Moonbyul to hear.

“Too much. Too suspicious,” Hyejin added on.

Before Moonbyul had a chance to smother them into silence, the pretty girl showed a look of recognition. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Um yeah me.”

“Yeah… you.”

The air stilled, dripping with a weird, amusing tension. Out of the corner of her eye, Moonbyul could see Hyejin gesturing and Wheein biting on her cheeks to stop herself from laughing.

“You uh, are looking for me?”

“Oh! No, not me! Mr. Park is looking for you.” The girl nodded, eyes shifting away. “Something about a skateboard? What did you do this time?”

“This time?” Wheein whispered, mischievous glint in her eyes. “They’ve met before!”

“Moonbyul’s blushing!” Hyejin said it loud enough for the entire class to hear and Moonbyul’s face crumpled into her palms with a groan.

If things with unnamed pretty girl wasn’t awkward, her two friends made sure it was now.

“Um,” the girl coughed with a tinge of discomfort. “Right, follow me? Moon Byulyi?”

Without another word (but stabbing her best glare into her friends’ faces), Moonbyul got up and trailed behind the girl.

The reason behind her friends love for embarrassing her remained a mystery.

“Uh, hey, I’m Moon Byulyi,” Moonbyul ran a hand through her hair, dismally aware of how stupid she sounded. Of course the girl already knew her name -- she literally called for her.

“Mmhmm, I know that.” Maybe Moonbyul was imagining things, but there was a quick second where a shy smile graced the girl’s lips. “I’m Krystal.”

Moonbyul’s eyes lit up, she hadn’t really expected the conversation to continue. Also, she hadn’t expected such an apt name for the girl. “Hi, Krystal?”

Krystal smiled for real this time, no hallucination could be that real. “Actually, why don’t you call me Soojung?”

“Soojung. Krystal. Soojung,” Moonbyul repeated a number of times until she felt Krystal’s gaze on her. “Uh, oh no, no! I'm not being weird! I mean, it’s the same! Soojung and Krystal!”

“Yeah it kinda is,” Krystal laughed and her eyes twinkled.

Like crystals. Soft crystals?

“Yeah same!”

“You know what?”

“Uh?”

“My surname’s Jung. Jung Soojung.”

Moonbyul’s jaw fell slack. She wasn’t even sure why she responded that way, it wasn’t really that big a revelation, honestly. But she had been doing dumb things in front of Krystal for a while now, anyway.

“Wow, it’s Jung Soojung either way. It’s still Jung Soojung when I say it backwards! Wow! Jung Soojung, Krystal, Jung Soojung. Your name’s so pretty!”

Krystal laughed, genuinely tickled.

“Byulyi’s a really cute name too. Um, we’re here! See you around, Byulyi!”

Waving her goodbye, Krystal’s long hair swept after her as she left Moonbyul standing in front of the teachers’ office.

Maybe it was hallucination again, but the blush on Krystal’s cheeks and that parting touch lingering on her arm left Moonbyul in a daze.

“I’m sorry for the coke and skateboard!”

But Krystal was already gone by the time Moonbyul found her voice.

Days and weeks passed, and somehow, Moonbyul managed to befriend Krystal without everything falling apart. But, somehow, they continued to totter around each other. It was as if they were converging on a thin rope, where any wrong or out of line step would topple one of them over.

The careful way they threaded was always the of jokes between Hyejin and Wheein.

To make things fair, Krystal’s close friend, Sunyoung, eyed them with a mysterious smirk all the time.

And so they continued to stumble, cautiously yet curiously in close proximity of each other.

“It isn’t like it’s uncomfortable or I don’t like her!” Moonbyul grumbled, shaking Wheein slightly to prove her point after the hundredth time they cracked a Krystal related joke.

“Ah!” Wheein cheeky tone peaked.

“Ah!” Hyejin fist bumped Wheein.

“What?!”

“It’s not like you don’t like her,” Hyejin mused pretentiously. “Surely… that means you like her?”

Moonbyul’s grip on Wheein loosen, her body stiffening as she felt the undeniable heat on her cheeks. She got caught in Hyejin’s little trap, despite knowing it was one.

She tried to play it cool, instilled some nonchalance into her tone, she spoke as neutrally as possible, “I’m her friend. And I don’t see how could anyone dislike her.”

“Half the school dislikes her, Byul.” Wheein threw a dirty look at a group of girls. “Okay, exaggeration, but you know what I mean.”

“I don’t understand? She’s so-” Hyejin’s hand covered before Moonbyul could launch into her Krystal preaching. They’ve had enough of praises and lovelorn words stuck to the same sentence that was peppered with the name ‘Soojung’.

“It’s high school. Concrete reasons aren’t really needed for most stuff.”

“Like how it’s unexplainable that you didn’t notice her existence for the longest time until you poured your can of coke on her.”

“I didn’t!”

“Same difference.” Wheein waved away Moonbyul’s indignant words. “And look where you are now?”

“In class.”

Hyejin and Wheein snorted, smacked her arms and basically handed her their typical round of disbelief treatment.

“You haven’t whined about your skateboard or spun your pens at me for a long while.”

“Because her hands are busy nowadays. Busy being all over Krystal.”

“They aren’t!” Moonbyul shouted out her innocence, only to feel more embarrassed.  

Everyone knows, . . . .

“Yes, everyone knows, Byul. It’s written all over your face.” Hyejin’s airy teasing floated over.

Well. .

Hyejin’s teasing haunted Moonbyul but, eventually, she realised it didn’t matter.

Because Krystal couldn’t tell and that meant she was safe. But when she really thought about it, she couldn't grasp whether she was relieved or disappointed.

“It's been a really long time, right?”

“Huh?” Moonbyul blinked and belatedly realised she had been staring at Krystal, marvelling at everything about her. Like the way her eyes were so soft and how her smile could be shy at times, yet quirky or cool when she wanted. The way she sometimes spoke with a subtle whine. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“You were spacing out?”

Moonbyul rubbed her nose and glanced at Krystal. She wasn't angry, rather she looked more amused than anything.

“No, I was… uh looking at the scenery!”

She was, but not the scenery Krystal had in mind as she raised her head, treating Moonbyul’s words very seriously. The leaves were a myriad of colours, hues of green, yellow, orange and everything in between.

“It's pretty.”

“Yeah, pretty.” But Moonbyul’s eyes were set on Krystal, admiring the girl fascinated by the blend of colours. They've been through years and years of Fall, but this somehow felt special.

“You're graduating,” Krystal muttered, her gaze returning to Moonbyul.

Reluctantly, the older of the two nodded.

“They've kept your skateboard for a long time, haven't they?”

“Yeah, but it's okay.”

Krystal smiled, nagged a bit about how Moonbyul should study harder before they fell back into a comfortable silence.

It was at this point, that Moonbyul wished she was a year or two younger and graduation wouldn't snatch her away from this girl by her side now.

Moonbyul found Krystal in her classroom more often as days went by. Usually in the early mornings, Krystal would be sprawled over her desk, asleep and getting intense glares from a handful of her classmates.

Till now, Moonbyul couldn’t understand why they disliked Krystal so much.

“Soojung,” Moonbyul gently cooed the name, like always.

Too gentle to wake the sleeping girl up; although, she had no intention of doing that. The routine was to plop herself on Hyejin’s seat (it was a blessing that Hyejin maintained a consistent late for school record) and discreetly accompany the sleeping Krystal.

“Hi.” Moonbyul’s lips quirked up immediately when Krystal roused from her sleep.

“Hi.”

The lazy, easy way Krystal said that charmed Moonbyul since the first time she found the younger girl at her desk. To Moonbyul, everything about this was romantic and her stomach fluttered whenever Krystal stretched after she woke up.

This probably meant nothing to Krystal, though.

“Soojung… Sleep at home, why are you always at school so early?”

Krystal flopped back onto the desk, her face shrouded by her hair.

“I don’t know,” Krystal drawled, voice muffled. “It just kinda happened?”

Moonbyul liked it but she also knew how a lot of the people couldn’t appreciate Krystal’s presence. The bubbling desire to fight all of them had to be contained, because she knew any reaction would only make things worse.

“Soojung…”

“It’s fun to see you when I wake up.” Krystal eventually straightened her back and got up. “It’s not like there’s much time left to do this.”

Krystal spoke so fast, she practically rapped the last bit out. And before Moonbyul could reply, she was out of sight.

“You know, Hyejin sometimes hides in the toilet just so you two can do that little morning ritual.”

“Huh?” Moonbyul snapped out of her trance, only to be more befuddled by Wheein’s words.

Wheein rolled her eyes and sighed, “I can’t tell who’s more dense and awkward between the two of you.”

Moonbyul couldn’t ask more because Hyejin arrived in class and shooed her away from her seat while complaining to Wheein about some snotty girls hogging the toilet stalls.

“Do well.”

“Um yeah.”

Seated at a bench near her place, Moonbyul couldn't fathom why Krystal was here this late at night. Even more unfathomable was the fact that she had travelled for more than half an hour just to tell Moonbyul to do well for tomorrow's test.

Moonbyul had expected, at most, a call from the girl. But now they were both in the cold, 10pm at night, pointedly avoiding each other's eye.

“Thanks, Soojung.”

That probably came ten seconds too late and Krystal laughed, while staring at their feet.

“It's getting late.” Moonbyul wondered if it was appropriate to offer to send Krystal back. She'd have to find some reasonable grounds to justify herself. “Um how are you getting home?”

“I'll find my way back, don't worry. You should be sleeping.”

“I won't be able to sleep.”

“Nervous?”

“I don't know… Probably not.”

She should send Krystal back, she wanted to. There were many things she wanted to say to Krystal before she leave this high school life but were those words that Krystal wanted to hear?

Moonbyul had no idea and so she held them back.

“They never actually returned you that skateboard.”

“Yeah, even though they kept telling me they would,” Moonbyul chuckled, recalling how her skateboard had smacked Krystal.

“Justice for my shoulder.”

Moonbyul was surprised Krystal brought it up but more surprised when she felt a weight leaning on her shoulder.

Too close. Moonbyul could distantly hear her own pounding heart in this tranquil night.

“Hyejin said you haven’t been spinning things into her direction for a while.”

“Why would she tell you that?” Moonbyul meant to sound annoyed but her voice came out as a squeak.

Embarrassing.

“She thanked me.” An unidentified smugness laced her words and Moonbyul felt a very slight shift on her shoulder. “Your friends are really funny.”

At some point in time, Hyejin and Wheein became befriended Krystal too. It was such a seamless process that Moonbyul couldn’t pinpoint when.

“Annoying you mean.”

“I’m gonna miss them,” Krystal’s voice was low, sounding a little sleepy now. “Won’t you miss them?”

Moonbyul shrugged but only lifted her shoulders for barely a centimeter before she remembered that Krystal was resting her head there. So she sat, frozen, desperately still.

Krystal was poking the back of her palm, and Moonbyul could not be more frozen than now.

“Wheein said I’m a good distraction from skateboards. She thanked me too.”

“They are, uh, idiots.” Moonbyul muttered, trying her best to ignore the pokes on the back of her palm. “Ignore them.”

“I’ll miss you, Byul.”

The prodding got more insistent, to a point that it hurt. Moonbyul flipped her palm and caught Krystal’s finger before a bruise could form.

“I already miss you.” Moonbyul whispered, fighting the urge to take off right here right now.

Krystal tilted her head, gaze lingering on Moonbyul’s awkward, hesitant grip on her finger.

“Good luck for tomorrow,” Krystal’s voice was light and her nose nudged Moonbyul’s ear. Moonbyul realised everything was swirling, heat assaulted her cheeks, she could feel Krystal’s breath. She wanted to jerk back but her body wouldn’t move.

No, wait. She didn’t want to move from this position, ever.

“Y-yeah.”

“You’ll be fine.”

And that single finger wiggled out of Moonbyul’s grasp. Replacing it were five fingers, threading through hers and holding her hand securely.

Moonbyul had never felt more fine than right now.

“Yeah, I will.”

A/N: A friend said I low-key moonstal a lot... so I guess it is appropriate for me to write an actual moonstal for this ficdom~