~♥~ Jiyoung POV ~♥~

The next morning Yun Hee, Kyou, and I left the house and tiredly pushed ourselves to the subway station for school. We walked the same path we always did, which yesterday we learned Karam’s house happened to be on. We expected to pass up their empty street figuring they had already left or were still inside getting ready to depart, but we were wrong. Outside of their home stood the five boys calling themselves Dae Guk Nam Ah.

“Look, they’re all there,” I pointed at them.

“I think we’re being stalked,” Kyou said trying to keep a straight face.

Jay was standing outside of the car with everyone else inside of it before he caught Kyou’s eye and ran to her. “Kyou,” he sang, “what took you so long? I missed you.” He put on a pouting face that clashed with Kyou’s annoyed one. It was clear that both were faking it, though.

“What do you mean ‘what took you so long?’ I’m on time,” she countered his whines.

“Well, I guess we could sleep in a few extra minutes. Come on!”

“What?”

“Let’s go!” He grabbed Kyou’s hand and tried to drag her towards the minivan. Yun Hee and I just stared in awe at his boldness.

Jay managed to pull her into the middle of the street, but Kyou came to her senses and planted her feet. “Go where?” was the only thing she could think of saying.

“To school!” he beamed.

I had an idea of what he was getting at. “We’re going to school together?”

“Yup! Get in. We’ll drive. There’s just enough space for the eight of us.”

The three of us were silently indecisive. Were they serious, we asked each other. We were acquiescing in his point of view, and he just tugged Kyou’s arm again. She willingly stumbled after him. Yun Hee started towards the van too, and I followed.

The three of us crawled in the back in our usual order with Yun Hee on the right, Kyou in the middle, and me on the left. In front of me was Hyunmin. In the center was Jay, and next to him was Karam. Mika was driving, leaving Injun in the passenger seat. The car began moving.

Karam turned around in his seat to us. “I hope Jay didn’t force you guys,” he glared at said boy.

“No, not really,” I voiced at the same time Kyou joked, “Yeah, he did.”

I laughed awkwardly hoping they didn’t think she was serious.

“No, I was kidding,” she admitted. “Why are you taking us to school anyway?”

“Because we’re friends, right?” Jay replied. Karam was looking back also waiting for an answer.

We were speechless for a moment before Kyou finally said, “Yeah, I guess.”

It made me incredibly elated that they thought of us this way. They thought of us as friends. I was glad we weren’t the only ones thinking about what our relationship is. We weren’t just another group of clingy, annoying classmates. We were friends.

“Really? Friends?” Yun Hee practically sobbed. She felt the same way.

The two boys were taken aback. “Yes, friends,” Karam repeated.

“Friends,” she said contentedly.

“Friends,” I echoed in a similar tone. I wanted them to know I was happy too.

“Calm down,” Kyou said acting indifferent, but I could tell she was relieved as well.

“You’re all weirdos,” Mika mumbled from the front of the van.

“We’re completely normal. You’re the weird one,” Yun Hee accused.

At first I was confused, but then I remembered Yun Hee’s story about helping Mika when we ran into them the other day. I laughed at the two of them. Everyone else joined me. Mika must have told his friends about it too.

“I think you girls are the weird ones,” Injun piped up. “You talk to dogs and make up stories about them.”

“That’s them two. I don’t do that,” Kyou denied.

“I never said anything about your dog,” I said.

“Yeah, it was just Yun Hee,” Hyunmin pointed out.

“So what? I like cute animals. I usually only do that with my cat anyway,” Yun Hee defended.

“That doesn’t make it any less weird,” Jay shook his head.

“If anything, it only makes it creepier,” Mika spoke.

“That’s why she’s going to be the neighborhood’s crazy old cat lady when she grows up,” Kyou revealed.

“With 27 cats all named after hot anime guys,” I added.

“Really? Like who?” Hyunmin asked.

That was how the rest of the ride was spent.

Eventually, we ended up at school. Mika parked the van in a parking lot not too far away. How convenient, I thought. We split up at the shoe locker area and went to our classes. I was accompanied by Karam.

We entered the classroom and sat down in our assigned seats. It was lucky we were next to each other. I didn’t want to part with him. Kyou’s also lucky, I pondered. She gets to be in the same class as Jay even if she doesn’t sit near him. Poor Yun Hee. I wanted to try to bring up Jay and Kyou to Karam, but there was no method other than being blunt about it, so I chose that option.

“Does Jay like Kyou?” I started but then noticed that I practically just told him that Kyou likes Jay, so I continued, “He seems like he does, or is he always flirting with girls?” Yeah, that was a smooth save, I inwardly congratulated myself.

“Umm, well,” he looked like he didn’t want to answer. That meant that Jay did like Kyou, otherwise Karam wouldn’t hesitate. “That was out of the blue,” he chuckled awkwardly trying to stall.

“Oh, so he does. That’s good.”

“I didn’t say he did!” Karam panicked. “Why is that good, anyway?”

“What? What’s good? I said… That’s cool… you know, that he likes her. I mean, you know, it’s cool… to… be liked… It, uh… boosts self-esteem… and all… not that she needs it…” Crap.

“Oh,” he said.  His mouth was open a bit and he was looking down at his desk. That must be his deep thinking face. How cute.

I think he bought it. “Yeah, well,” I didn’t know what I wanted to say after that. “Yeah…”

“Hey, Jiyoung. Hey, Karam,” Min Ah came in. She sat in her seat next to Karam. It was good timing. Hopefully, he’ll forget about what I said just now.

Karam smiled at her. “Good morning.”

“Hello,” I welcomed simply.

“Here’s your magazine I borrowed yesterday, Karam,” Min Ah reached into her bag and pulled out the periodical with some Kpop band on the cover I didn’t recognize.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” he grabbed it from her. I couldn’t help but notice their hands briefly touch and the smile Min Ah adorned just as she felt his fingers on hers. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She looked like she was about to say more, but she was cut off by the class president calling out for Karam.

Karam got up out of his chair, “Excuse me. I need to go find out what the class president wants.” He walked over to the boy on the other side of the room.

“Good, I needed him to leave. We can’t talk privately really anymore because he’s blocking our way,” Min Ah confessed.

“Privately? Okay…?”

“Nothing is wrong. I just wanted to talk to you about Karam.”

“What about him? You don’t like him?”

“Of course I like him. Actually I really like him.”

“You like him?”

“Yeah. He’s cute and sweet and we like the same things. Like, we both like dramas and TVXQ.”

“Oh, okay.” I wasn’t going to tell her that I liked Karam, too. I decided to encourage her like any other good friend would do. “Umm, go for it then.”

“You think I should?” She was uncertain and insecure.

“Yeah, of course. I think he’d like you.” This wasn’t a lie. It was probably very likely for Karam to have feelings for Min Ah. She was nice, cute, outgoing, and friendly. They did have a lot of things in common. And we even managed to snatch him away first from the other girls.

“Really?”

“Yeah, what’s not to like about you? You’re nice, cute, outgoing, and friendly,” I said aloud.

“Thanks. Should I confess to him?”

“Try to get a little closer to him for now. He most likely would reject you if you said something now after only three days of knowing him.” Only three days, huh…

“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I should do it next week.”

“No, that’s still a little creepy. Haven’t you ever read a shoujo manga? Do you know how long it takes for the main couple to get together? It takes forever. Sometimes even a year.”

“A year? That’s way too long. He’d get a girlfriend by then.”

“Well, at least wait a month. That sounds good.”

“Okay. What should I say to him when he gets back?”

“Talk to him like you normally would.”

“Okay. Do you like someone?”

“No, not really,” I lied.

Karam came back from his talk with our classmate. “Sorry. The class president wanted to talk to me about joining the student council.”

“You’re going to join?” Min Ah asked. Her voice raised a decibel more than usual.

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh,” she acted nonchalant, then turned to me and mouthed, “So cool.”

I halfheartedly smiled. It was cool, but I wasn’t going to steal her words.

The bell rang, and class started.

Number 8~ I'm proud of myself for going this far. I expected to quit by chapter 4, but I pulled through! Anyway... I don't have much to say right now... Umm... Oh, right! Did you see the love triangle? Yeah. Pretty interesting, right? I'm not sure how I'm gonna go about that, though... Comment and tell me what you think I should do~!

Oh, also~ I forgot to say thanks to Heeba15 for commenting~! Twice~! So, yeah, thanks. I love all of my subscribers and commenters however little there are. It means a lot T-T I feel so lame v.v

I forgot to say something else! Did you see the poster? It moves ^-^ Min Ah has no picture because she isn't important... Was that a spoiler? Well, I also don't feel like looking for one for her... because she isn't important enough...