Solar walked out the front door with another packed lunch prepared by her uncle. It was different, but nice. No one’s ever done that for her before. She had assured him that he didn’t have to worry about it, but he insisted. It was all so genuine too. It left her feeling warm. For once, she walked out the door for school with a smile on her face.

“Good morning, Nerd.” The smile was replaced by a scowl in a second.

Solar walked right past the girl wearing shades straight towards the bus stop not even bothering to greet her back. “You can’t be talking to me. Is my memory messed up, or wasn’t it you that raised her hand multiple times in math to answer Mr. Son’s questions?”

Moonbyul frowned, fixed her sunglasses, and easily caught up to match the shorter girls strides. “It’s called support. No matter how terrible the man is, I don’t want him feeling like he’s teaching a class full of… rocks. I was just being nice, kind, and awesome. It’s just my nature.”

Solar tilted her head back and laughed. Moonbyul had to pull Solar back to the center of sidewalk by her elbow because she was too busy laughing to stay on track.

“Where do you even get all of your confidence?”

“Every time I look in the mirror, I’m reassured that I’ve been blessed. I thank my parents every day. I make sure to give credit where credit is due. What about you? Do you thank your parents? I wouldn’t be disappointed if I saw your reflection.”

The statement didn’t have a teasing tone. The genuine statement woke the butterflies that appeared yesterday. Solar ignored the flutters and the way their shoulders brushed as they walked down the sidewalk.

“Uh, no I don’t. I wonder what I would look like if I was my aunt and uncle’s daughter though.” Solar mused. When she was younger, she was sincerely convinced they were a royal couple. She had called her aunt "Princess Yoona" for the longest time. But if she was their daughter then she would become the princess and her aunt and uncle would be king and queen. That would have been nice.

“Dang, you’re right! They would have some good looking kids. I honestly still have a crush on your aunt.” Moonbyul admitted picturing the woman that never failed to greet her with a kind smile.

“Hey!” Solar slapped Moonbyul’s arm. Although, she really couldn’t blame her.

“Oww. What was that for?” She pouted innocently.

Solar just rolled her eyes. “You don’t seem grumpy at all. I thought you weren’t a morning person.”

“Well, I was pretty grumpy to be honest, but then I saw your smile and suddenly-“ Moonbyul was cut off when Solar pushed her. She almost fell off the curb and into the street.

“You will take every and all opportunities to flirt, won’t you?”

”I never thought I’d be killed over it.” Moonbyul put her hand over her heart and laughed off the small bit of fear she felt.

“Sorry, that was an accident. But soon it won’t be if you keep it up,” she warned.

“You played along yesterday.”

“I can’t play along every time.”

“Why not?” Moonbyul turned her head to look at the slightly shorter girl, very interested in the response.

“Then we’d basically just be girl-“ Solar didn’t want to finish the thought. For some reason, it felt weird to say ‘girlfriends’ when talking about them. Then she’d imagine it. Solar didn’t think that was a good idea.

“Ah, I didn’t think of it that way. I guess it’s kinda true. Does the idea of dating me disgust you that much?” She frowned.

They finally reached the first stop, so Solar was able to face Moonbyul directly. She stuttered out her reply, trying to ease Moonbyul’s mind. “No-no-no. I was just-“

Moonbyul leaned forward a bit when she laughed. She placed a reassuring hand on the panicked girl and patted her.

“Relax, relax. I was just teasing. Who wouldn’t want to date me? Am I right?”

Solar rolled her eyes again and turned to the bus that just pulled up and hopped on. It was basically empty like the day before. Solar took a seat at the center, and Moonbyul slid in right next to her.

“Hey, hey.” Moonbyul pokes Solar’s cheek with each hey trying to get back her attention.

“Hmm?” Solar turned her head unable to keep back a smile. She found the childish act endearing.

“Why were you smiling when you walked out the door?” Moonbyul had been wondering about it since she saw it. It wasn’t the kind of smile one flashes every day. It had a special look to it, like it went deeper.

“Oh.” Solar looked down at her lunch box. She never had one before. It was simple, just a green box, but she loved it. “My uncle made me lunch again. No one ever took the time to do that before.”

“Ah. That was nice of him.”

“Yeah.” Solar nodded with a big smile. She had kept her head down, but when there was no further response she turned back to Byul. When she did the girl was smiling at her with a twinkle in her eye. She didn’t know what it meant, but she turned back towards the front and tried not to think too much into it.

The statement made Moonbyul feel a twinge in her heart. It was a small statement, but it allowed her to learn more about the girl. She almost threw a protective arm around her, but she kept it back. Even if she already felt pretty close to Solar, she hadn’t even known her for a week. That couldn’t stop her from watching out for her though.

“Hwasa-wasa, check this out.” Wheein proudly slid her paper onto her best friend’s desk. It was still only first period, and already Wheein was slacking.

“Wowww,” Hwasa gushed taking in the sketch before her. Wheein had drawn a cat flying through the galaxy on the sheet of work they were supposed to turn in at the end of class.

“Do you like it?” Wheein excitedly tried to gauge her friend’s reaction. Her dimple was at its deepest.

“Is it that dumpster cat Yogurt?”

“Kkomo,” Wheein corrected. “Yeah, he’s flying through space.”

“I gathered that. It’s amazing. I especially love how you managed to draw around all the questions you were supposed to answer. True skill.”

Wheein laughs out loud, earning a shush from the teacher. This happened too often to earn anything else.

“Do you think I should turn it in?”

“Yes. If this doesn’t get over at least a B, I swear I will riot. But first,”

Hwasa took out her phone to take a picture. She had a picture of all her friend’s drawings. At first, Wheein had objected saying they weren’t good enough, but Hwasa insisted. She loved going through them, especially when she was down. How could something Wheein produced not cheer her up?

Plus, they were all attached to memories and it would automatically bring her back to the moment she took it. She’d remember just how Wheein looked, just what Wheein said, just how Wheein smiled, just how Wheein laughed, etc. But she never told Wheein that. How could she?

“Okay, got it. I’m pretty sure that’ll get at least a B but just in case the teach, for some reason, is not satisfied, copy my answers.”

“Alright,” Wheein moped. “But Mrs. Lee would no doubt give it an A.”

“Well Wheein, she is the art teacher.”

“Oh, yeah.” Wheein chuckled her head now bent back over her own desk.

“So how long do you think people are gonna call me New girl? I don’t even know how many times I heard it.” Solar frowned into her sandwich. Everyone was nice, but it would be nice if they called her by her name.

“Probably until someone newer comes along.” Moonbyul replied.

“Yeah, never.” Hwasa chuckled. Keeping her eye out for Wheein.

Solar groaned.

“Sorry, New girl.” Moonbyul patted her shoulder.

“No, not you too!”

“Oh, did I say New girl? Sorry, I thought I said your name. New girl, really, I apologize they’re just so interchangeable.”

Moonbyul laughed ducking the small carrot that was flung at her. “That’s the spirit! I can tell that you’re aim is already better from yesterday.”

“Whatever, Master Byuli.” Solar smirked at her.

Moonbyul closed her eyes and shook her head, knowing there was no coming back from that. Hwasa reached over and gave Solar a high five with a wide grin.

“Why are you giving Solar a high five? What happened?” Wheein asked setting her tray down.

“What took you so long?” Hwasa responded with raised eyebrows, ignoring her questions.

“Just had to talk to Mr. Shin.” Wheein shrugged.

“Did you get in trouble again?” Hwasa asked hoping that wasn’t the case.

“It was just something about a missing assignment.”

“Ah Wheenie, I told you I could help you with anything you needed.” Moonbyul leaned over and shook her shoulder.

Wheein laughed and pushed her arm away playfully. Hwasa didn’t miss the slight rosiness that rose to best friend’s cheeks. She subconsciously held her juice tighter, making it crinkle a bit.

“I know, but I really think he just lost it this time.”

“Oh Wheenie-hweenie, I don’t think so.”

“Teachers lose stuff all the time though.” Solar defended.

Wheein pointed at Solar. “Look at this support. I love it.”

“There was this one time I accused my teacher of losing a math sheet I know I completed because I stressed so much over it. Then I remembered that the morning I was putting it in my backpack I accidently spilled some water I left on my desk,and then I used the sheet to clean up the mess. I was too busy stressing over the water to even realize, you know? Either way I got a hundred percent on it because I ended up crying... Maybe the teacher didn’t lose it. Maybe something like that happened. You think?”

The other three girls were now staring at Solar with various levels of confusion.

“I don’t think stuff like that happens to anyone else.” Moonbyul said.

There was a short pause before Wheein burst out laughing. Everyone else joined in after that.

“You’re kind of weird.” Wheein breathed out.

“I know.” Solar prayed she hadn’t messed up. How would she bear it?

“It’s a good thing.” Moonbyul assured her.

“A very good thing.” Hwasa said and Wheein nodded along.

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