Mornings became evenings, which turned into days, which in turn turned into weeks, which again turned into months. After months of occupying myself with random activities, careful deliberation and distraction, I still couldn’t dislodge the feeling of guilt from my mind. It’s been months since I heard from Donghae, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about his well-being. I sincerely hoped that he was okay, that he was adapting well with his new life.

Today, I was busy hanging out with Kim Taeyeon, Lee Sun Kyu, (of whom I fondly call as Sunny) Kim Hyoyeon and Kwon Yuri. Over the months, the four had seen my constant unrest and became concerned about my welfare. They helped me out with my social life and we have been close friends ever since. Thanks to them, and Kyu of course, I was able to smile again for the first time in weeks. To be honest, I don’t think Jessica’s very happy about my camaraderie with the four girls. Occasionally, I would see her fire daggers from her eyes every time she sees the five of us getting along pretty well. More often than not I would ignore her, but on rare occasions, I would return the stare back. I was sick of her antagonism towards me. Frankly, the last time I saw her smile at me was when she “invited” me to that victory party. Nowadays, the gap between Im Yoona and Jung Jessica widened, and I’m not sure if everybody knows the reason why.

“Ugh, world history is so hard! Why do have to memorize every single detail about those dead people?” Sunny complained during dismissal, meeting us near our lockers – our infamous rendezvous point over the past months.

We all laughed at her statement, mostly because we agreed with her; and other than that, it was this face Sunny makes whenever she was upset that made us laugh.

“Yeah, all the way from the day they were born, the day they’ve done this and that, and even the day they died. Like, history is killing everybody,” Taeyeon commented, still laughing.

Sunny gave an exasperated sigh. “Someday, I’m gonna make history,” she vowed, and then faced us with a mock pose. “And I’ll be taking it from the start!” she exclaimed.

We applauded her little act and she bowed jokingly, pleased that she gave us a bit of a laugh.

“Let’s go get a bite to eat,” Yuri said. “Im starving; Advanced Geometry took the toll on me.”

“Amen to that,” Hyoyeon remarked. “I still don’t get why we need to know about all those triangles and postulates. Let’s eat!”

After placing our books in our locker, we headed to the school cafeteria for a bite to eat. They weren’t selling much as they do in lunch, but it would have to do. We bought a few sandwiches paired with different flavors of fruit juice. After grabbing a table, we let the entire day’s pressure out of our bodies by relaxing in the air-conditioned cafeteria.

“Ahh, that hit the spot,” Yuri said with satisfaction, taking another bite from her half-eaten sandwich.

I took a sip of my grape juice then bit a portion off my chicken sandwich. It was good: tangy and well-seasoned. The cafeteria definitely improved ever since it was under new management. “This is pretty good,” I commented.

“Very.” Sunny added.

Taeyeon laughed. “Everything tastes good to the two of you if you’re hungry.”

I had to admit, that was true; at least, more or less. “Anything edible, that is.” I added, laughing. “We don’t just eat anything under plain sight.”

“Ew, that’s gross!” Sunny complained.

Taeyeon laughed. “I’m joking. I guess this is what an outstanding school curriculum does to its students: overly stressed, and majorly hungry.”

We nodded in agreement. Ever since the start of the second semester, the school’s academic curriculum became harder than ever. Some say it was to improve the school’s standards, while others say they were doing this to torture us. With all due respect, I hoped the reason was the former.

“We need a break,” Taeyeon proposed. “Since it is Friday today, we could relax a bit. We can do the homework during the weekend.”

“Yeah! We could have like, a movie marathon this evening! My place, I’ll supply the food and refreshments!” Sunny volunteered enthusiastically.

The idea was immediately supported by the group, and within seconds, the cafeteria was echoing with the sounds of our excited voices.

“That’s a great idea!” Hyoyeon exclaimed.

“The best!” Yuri added. “What genre should we watch?”

“Romance?” Taeyeon suggested.

“Too common.”

“Action?”

“Too violent.”

“Comedy?”

“We don’t need comedy. We already have Sun Kyu right here.” Hyoyeon joked, laughing at Sunny.

“Hey!” Sunny exclaimed, and we all laughed at the face she made at Hyoyeon.

“Oh I know!” Sunny said abruptly after making a face.

“What?”

“Horror!” Sunny proclaimed.

We reacted almost immediately; each one with her own opinion.

“Oh, I love horror! I love scaring myself!” Yuri exclaimed, ecstatic about the idea.

“Horror?! I never get to see those types of movies in my house! Count me in!” Hyoyeon said.

“That’s perfect! It’s fun to watch horror movies with more people around. Count me in, too!”

Then they were all looking at me, waiting for me to give my reaction.

“What?” I asked, unaware of their questioning looks.

“So, what do you think? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” Sunny asked.

I sighed. “It’s a good idea, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just that my m–“

“Don’t worry about your mom,” Sunny cut in. “I’ll be the one who’ll ask permission from her myself. We’ll make sure she will say yes.”

“We’ll convince her,” Taeyeon vowed. “Even if we have to promise to her that we’ll carry you home if it rains,” she said with a laugh.

“Guys, you’re too much,” I laughed. “Thanks.”

Suddenly, there was a pair of hands that covered my sight.

“Wha–“

“Guess who it is!” a voice said, roughly disguised.

I crossed my arms together and gave a smile. “I know it’s you Kyu. Admit it.”

The pair of hands retreated from my face and I turned around to confirm if it was him. Sure enough, I found a smiling Kyuhyun behind me.

“Sure didn’t have you fooled,” he said in mock disappointment.

“You really need to work on disguising your voice if you want to fool anybody,” I said wryly.

Kyuhyun comes by every day to pick me up when it’s time to go home. It's kind of the big brother thing he does ever since Hae was gone.

“Hey, you guys,” Kyu greeted the other girls.

“Hey, Kyu,” they greeted back.

He turned to me. “So, we’re ready to go now?” he asked.

“We were just in the middle of discussing what we’ll do tonight.” I replied.

“That’s cool. So, what were you doing tonight?”

“We’re going to watch a horror movie in Sunny’s place,” I said.

He nodded slowly. “So, it’s like an all-girls’ night out?”

“You can bring Kyu to my place if you want to, Yoona, I don’t mind. We’ve got lots of room,” Sunny offered.

“Yeah! And I can call Lee Teuk to come over, too!” Taeyeon commented.

“You guys are going out?” Sunny asked, mildly shocked.

“Yes!” Taeyeon said enthusiastically, “since last week!”

“Oh okay, I guess I’ll have to call Sungmin, too,” Sunny declared.

“Oh, so you guys are going out?” Taeyeon asked with a questioning eyebrow and a malicious smile.

“No, but hopefully, we’re getting there.”

“Then it’s Nichkhun for me,” Yuri said.

“You guys are going out?” I asked, surprised.

“No!” Yuri said, laughing. “We’re best friends like you and Kyuhyun!” She smiled, looking at the both of us. “Although,” she added, “I don’t think we’ll be as close as you two. Look at you two. You’re so sweet to each other, it’s hard to tell whether you’re best friends or lovers.”

“Nah,” I said, smiling. “Kyu and I are just friends. Only, he’s very sweet. That’s why I love him like that.” I looked at Kyu, “Right, Kyu?”

“Right,” he said tentatively.

“We’d better get going if we want to change into casual attire first.” Sunny said. “Don’t forget, seven o’clock at my place! Last one there will lose the best seats!”