"Have you got any plans for tonight?" Wonwoo asks me during lunch hour. 

I hesitate. I don’t want him to come to the party with me, I want to go by myself, but I know that if he knew about it he would insist on coming. Then again... if I knew he was going to a party without me, or if I found out he was going to a party and had tried to hide it from me... well, I’d feel pretty upset. Ugh. I settle for a half‐truth. 

"I’ll be hanging out with Mina," I say. 

"You’re spending a lot of time with her."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" I ask. 

He deliberates. "Look, Momo... people are saying some things about Mina."

"People say things about everyone," I answer angrily. "Who cares?"

"No, but they say... they say that she – uh –"

"They say what?" I demand. 

"That she’s a lesbian."

At his words, something blooms inside me. Oh my gosh . . . really? 

But I’m not about to back down now. "They say she’s a lesbian? You know as well as I do that half the things they say about people are ing lies, Wonwoo. And, who cares? Let’s say she is. Well, big deal. All it means is that she likes girls the same way that you like girls. And I don’t hear you calling yourself disgusting."

"Yeah, but Momo... it’s unnatural. And if you keep on spending so much time with her, well . . . people are going to start saying things about you too." 

I could slap him right now. But I say, slow and deadly. "And then what, Wonwoo? What if they do? Will you break up with me, because as the star of the football team you can’t bear to stand up to the jealous rumours? I don’t care what you say. It’s not unnatural." I take a breath, steeling myself for what I’m about to say. "You know what?" I ask. "I think you’re just jealous, you want me all to yourself, I’m not even allowed to spend time with my friends."

This shocks him, and he stares at me for a while, and then his face sort of crumples. He tries to make it up. "Momo... honestly, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I know I get selfish sometimes, you’re right, I would love to have you all to myself, because you’re so perfect. I’m just worried for you, I don’t want you to get hurt. I would look after you ‘til the end." 

His words are smooth. Very smooth. Too smooth. "I don’t need you to look after me," I say, getting up from the table.

"Wait," he calls after me as I walk away. "Are you breaking up with me?" 

The tables around us go kind of quiet when they that. And the thing is, I don’t even know the answer to that yet, so I keep on walking and don’t look back once. The second I’m out of the lunch hall, I can’t help but break into a run. 

When I get to the bathrooms, I lock myself in a stall and cry. It looks like Wonwoo and I are almost over. I know, he acted like an just then. But that doesn’t change the fact that we used to be amazing friends. He taught me how to skateboard. He helped me with my math. He texted me good morning and good night every day, and somewhere along the way of last summer, that friendship turned into a lot more. It crept up on both of us, and suddenly I was no longer hanging out with his friends and laughing at their jokes, but going on dates alone with him to the movies on long, hot balmy nights. We lasted six months. The awkward girl and the football star. Six whole ing months. So even if I care for someone else a lot more now, that’s not to say this doesn’t hurt like hell. I break into fresh tears, and fumble for my iPod. I ditch next class and spend it in a cubicle, sitting on a toilet seat, just giving into the music. An hour later, I am ready to face the world again. 

The room is hot and crowded. 100 teenage bodies, drinking, dancing, shouting to be heard over the blasting music. To most of these people I guess it's just your average Friday night, but for me... well, I like to go out with friends for sure, but I'm not really a party person. Coffee and then hanging out at the park is more my kind of thing.

Mina runs up to me, looking flushed and a little sweaty. "I'm a little over this," she says. "I'ts too hot and loud in here. Want to come take a break with me outside?"

I agree eagerly. Even though it’s warm inside her friend’s house, we still throw on our jerseys, because when we step outside, it’s chilly. Our breath billows up around us. 

‘I’m in a kind of random mood,’ Mina confesses. 

I chuckle. "When are you not?" 

She acknowledges this with a wry grin, and continues, "I had this idea. I was thinking, well.." 

"Out with it," I say. 

"Ok. Well, It’s kind of random. But. How would you feel about lying in the middle of the road?"

I immediately stop in place. "You mean, like..."

"Like just lie there and look up at the stars," she finished for me. 

I push away the doubt, and a grin slowly spreads over my face. "Awesome. Let’s do it now." 

"Really?" she asks. 

"Yep," I say, grabbing her hand, glad to have an excuse to do so, and pulling her out of the gates. "Right here. Right now."

The rain early this morning has washed the snow from the roads and they’ve dried up since. I pull her down beside me, lie back, my head against stone, and look up to the skies.

It’s stunning. Dark, midnight blue, the clouds racing past at an abnormally fast speed. Behind them, sprinklings of bright stars and the moon, half full, a luminescent white. So many strange feelings well up inside of me. There’s a feeling of calmness and peace at the beauty, and then there’s the adrenaline from the fact that a car could run us over at any minute. And who could forget the girl beside me... it’s at that moment I suddenly realize that she’s still holding my hand. 

Eventually we both sit up a little. We look at each other, smiling smiles that say ‘I know what you’re thinking.’ They’re the smiles of two people who have shared in an experience. 

She’s close to me, so close. Her hand is still in mine. Does this mean...? Oh, it. If I never try I’ll never know. 

I lean forward, closing the gap, and kiss her gently on her lips.