https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7VUO-WxppY&ab_channel=MazzyStar-Topic

 

Walking around at night

Fighting my appetite

Every kid in cut-offs could be you

Remember when we used to meet

At the bottom of Mobile Street?

 

“Okay, so. Last night I had this thought. What if every single person in this world jumped at the exact same moment. There’d be some kind of counter, or a radio station broadcasting worldwide so everyone would know when to jump.”

 

“...What?”

 

Yuju rolled her eyes. SinB wasn’t in the mood for this kind of question. Not after getting the results back from that test they had a week ago which she flunked so badly she was sure she’d need to go through an awful lot to get her points up again.

 

“Nothing would happen. If we all jumped in one spot however… The Earth would move for a split millisecond.” Umji was there to save the day. “Anyways, hurry up packing or we’re leaving you behind!”

 

She rushed out of class towards Sowon waiting outside already, Yuju hurriedly packing her stuff and trailing after them. Their school wasn’t all that big, but they had multiple classes per grade. Sowon, Umji and Yuju were in one class. SinB and Eunha in another, with Yerin joining in.

 

Their school being pretty small meant they did have classes where they’d merge and follow a class together. That’s what happened for their morning class, their afternoon class being separate from each other. The others also ended two hours earlier today, leaving the three of them behind.

 

Eunha walked over to SinB and Yerin waiting at the door, drinking from the can she was holding before grimacing.

 

“You seem to be enjoying that.” SinB remarked.

 

“This is possibly the worst drink I’ve ever had. Sowon gave it to me so I feel bad tossing it but…” She took another drink, the nasty liquid hitting her even harder this time as she squinted her eyes.

 

“Just toss it. Where’d she get that from anyways?”

 

“Huh? You don’t know? The 56 has new owners, they redid the whole shop. There’s a bunch of new stuff from what I’ve heard.” Eunha said matter-of-factly.

 

“What!!” SinB gasped.

 

“What’s a 56?”

 

“Just some gas station nearby. Seen all those trucks? That’s where they stop.” SinB excitedly clapped.”I think we should head down later and try some of the new stuff.”

 

Eunha chuckled, drinking the last bit of the soda and throwing the can into the container when they reached the cafeteria.

 

“I wish, but I have to get home early today. My mom had one of her ‘wannabe good mom’ moments again and found out about my grades, you know how it goes. You two should totally go, though! Introduce Yerin to one of our hotspots to get her acquainted.”

 

SinB looked at Yerin who looked at her expectantly.

 

“That’s not such a bad idea, actually.”

 

A few hours later and the two were on their bikes heading towards the 56.

 

Yerin suddenly sped up a bit, circling around SinB and making her laugh.

 

“What are you even doing?” She asked, followed by her doing the exact same thing and making the other girl chuckle in return. The way towards the gas station took twice as long with them pulling stunts in front of each other, SinB almost crashing into Yerin once which had them stop just to catch some breath again after laughing.

 

The 56 got renamed to the 56 All-Star. The two new words were just taped under the already existing logo. Next to the gas pumps, a huge parking lot made space for a dozen trucks that stopped there for the night.

 

SinB looked around to check if she saw anyone they knew, but none of the truckers sat outside today. No stories for tonight, she thought.

 

The shop was small, as small as it had always been building-wise but now even smaller with the absurd amount of food they had. Prefab sandwiches, corn dogs, overpriced snacks that got sold per one even though the package clearly said not to.

 

Like Eunha had told them, there were a bunch of new things SinB had never seen before. Most looked awful but she grabbed some anyway, getting some cans too. Yerin also picked out some snacks although she seemed to somewhat play it safe by asking SinB for advice just in case. There weren’t many supermarkets around, especially not ones with weird candy or drinks, so the 56 was a shop they used to frequent as kids whenever they got some money to spend. This made the five of them pretty knowledgeable when it came to gas station food.

 

“Oh no. Don’t take that one.”

 

“Why?” Yerin asked.

 

“Remember how Eunha said this store got new owners?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well, I’m pretty sure what you’re holding right now is something I saw when I first went here. Which is more than ten years ago.”

 

Yerin looked at her in silence. Slowly putting the candy back where it belonged.

 

Their bikes safely put away, they headed to the grassy patch behind the gas station. A picnic table was placed on a small man made hill.

 

“We may have gotten a bit too much…”

 

“You think?” Yerin let out a laugh as they dropped everything they got on the table, resulting in a mountain of snacks. “Maybe we should just try half of this now, and continue with the rest another day.”

 

“Sounds good. I want to try these first.”

 

SinB went for the pop rock candy. She couldn’t tell because it was dark out, but the candy was neon green. If it had seen the daylight it would’ve glown in the dark, but seeing as it was evening, it looked harmlessly transparent.

 

“What’s it taste like?”

 

“...Cheese? Is that possible?”

 

“Let me try.”

 

She handed over the bag with the lollipop inside to Yerin who eagerly tried it out, immediately recoiling from the taste.

 

“Oh no, those are definitely feet. You bought foot flavored candy.”

 

The two cracked up, tossing the candy aside and moving on to the next one. They tried a bunch of different foods, taking a break by popping open some of the cans they got. A few of them were actually good, although most tasted like some unholy chemical brew. By the time they finished half of their stack, the clouds had turned gray and the sky black.

 

The shop was open all night, the led tubes casting a faint white light onto them. SinB amusedly looked at Yerin as she tried some more things, eventually giving up after the fifth bad pick in a row.

 

“I’m not touching candy again for a few days after this. Want to head home?”

 

SinB hummed. They put the unopened snacks and cans back into the flimsy plastic bags they got, putting a bag each around their steering wheel.

 

The ride home was silent. Occasionally, they’d look at the other and exchange a smile before looking back. SinB enjoyed spending time with Yerin, they could do anything and still turn it into something fun. Before she knew it, they’d arrived at Yerin’s house. She wouldn’t have minded for it to take just a bit longer.

 

“Okay, see you tomorrow!” Yerin hopped over and gave SinB a quick hug, disappearing inside. SinB watched the blue light go on. When it turned off she got back on her bike and left for home.

 

SinB still noticed Yerin spending her time during class writing. She hadn’t read anything she’d written yet but she thought it would probably be nice.

 

Ripping out a paper from one of her notebooks, she started to scribble something on it and passed it onto Yerin who sat a few seats away. Just a simple hey.

 

The girl looked up confused when she felt someone tapping her shoulder, smiling when she realized who the note had come from.

 

Soon enough, SinB received her note back. Not really having much to say at the moment, they acted as if they had just met each other.

 

Hey

 

Hi

 

How are you doing on this fine day?

 

Oh. Absolutely wonderful, thank you. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with, if I may ask?

 

You mayeth absolutely ask. People call me SinB around here, what about you, lovely dame?

 

What era are we in right now? Was that an attempt at Shakespearean?

 

The two tried to keep in their laughter as they passed the notes back and forth. The teacher sensing something, SinB decided on stopping the note sending for now.

 

Then she received another note from Yerin.

 

I remembered I said I’d let you read one of my poems. It’s not much, but this is one I wrote yesterday.

 

I pick this flower with you in mind

It’s petals bright and red

 

I put it in a blue vase

And gently give it water every day

Like it’s worth a million

 

The flower that is you.

 

SinB read the poem. It was short and sweet, perfectly Yerin. She felt warm at the thought of Yerin sharing this with her, something just between the two of them.

 

The next few weeks Yerin kept sending her poems.

 

They were about flowers, the moon, about breakfast. They were like diary fragments, words carefully put together with a gentle rhythm to them. SinB asked if she could keep them. Yerin said yes.

 

The six of them often hung out together, sharing stories about their days and enjoying the time spent with each other .Every evening, they went home together. SinB always waited for the blue light to go out before she left.

 

Some days, when the others couldn’t make it, they spent time by themselves. Just the two of them.

SinB liked knowing Yerin just a bit more than the others did. Most of her poems were just that, poems. Others had small bits of info in them, like how Yerin loved the color yellow, where she used to live, how she liked spending her evenings.

 

SinB wasn’t sure at what point she started feeling more for Yerin than just friendship. Was it when they sat on their bikes in front of Yerin’s house, bringing up random topics just to talk a bit longer? Was it when Yerin started sending her notes that left her needing to hide her blush, even if innocent on the first glimpse? Was it when SinB felt a sting whenever someone else got a bit too close to Yerin for