Chapter 6 – Friendship

IU’s POV

‘Goodbye mother!” I sing as I give her a kiss on the cheek.

My mother chuckles “Ji Eun, don’t forget your hat!”

“Yes, yes!” I smile back and grab my flowery sunhat off the kitchen table. Then I’m off, delightfully armed with my sunhat in my left hand and a basket of peach tarts in the other.

It’s a sunny day and the downcast of yesterday’s rain storm has left nothing but quiescent puddles that I waddle through with my rain-boots that proudly showoff bright yellow rubber ducks.

“Hello! You look very pretty today!” I say to my reflection that stares back at me dutifully from the puddle of rain water on the pavement. Tucking a lose strand of hair behind my ear, I beam. “Today will be a good day, okay? Fighting!”

As I reach the grassy fields, I do a few curtsies and twirls, lightly imitating the pretty ballerinas I see on TV every so often. Always, have I been envious of the way they glistened on the squeaky-clean floors and their gracefully golden postures that mimicked the music. Sometimes, when no one is around, I would simply play elegant music in my head and pretend, I too, was on a stage, in a grand concert in Seoul. It was a silly desire - yes, but a wondrous one. We all have that one dream that floats in our hearts; you know that one that is so high up there that we can only see it when we concentrate really hard. And even then it is still distant. But just it being there makes my heart a bit warmer – just the thought that I have something to work harder for everyday.

I remember back to when I first met Suzy. She was quiet girl who sat in the back of the class that always looked out the window with an absentminded stare. The girls who had sat next to me whispered a lot about her: how she was cold and unfriendly, how she liked painting dead things, how she roamed the streets late at night with paint stains splattered across her uniform… I hated gossip the most especially because it was usually just misconceptions. But it wasn’t until I was paired up with Suzy for a class project that I learned the nature of what was the real truth.

I was the new girl in class who had just moved from the countryside, the one with old fashioned braids and leftover accent. Truthfully, I was never any good at making friends. It was a strange thing that never made any sense to me but I accepted it, listening to my mother’s words about embracing the situation life puts you in. So when a class project was brought forth, friends quickly paired up like magnets linking together with guarding walls. Just me and Suzy, were left behind, and that was how we became partners. Suzy didn’t speak much, only occasionally murmuring a few short thoughts. Most of the time when she wasn’t looking out the window, she stared down at her feet. But she wasn’t at all hostile like the girls had claimed nor was her glare icy and frightening. Her eyes were more rather sad, like the ending to a tragic story.

Our project was centered on dreams. We were to write an essay and share with the class about our own dreams and how we planned to achieve them. I was nervous at first. I didn’t wish to share my dream that many others had put off as silly and childlike. So I asked Suzy first what her dream was, and she replied nonchalantly

“I don’t have dream”

“Whaa-what?” I gasped “You don’t have a dream?!”

Suzy nodded, her eyes still tracing the ground. She almost looked embarrassed.  

“But everybody has a dream!” I insist because it really is the truth.

“Not everybody”

“Ah, that is strange. I thought everybody had a dream. You see, my dream is to become a ballerina. One that is elegant and refined. And to perform onstage in front of a –“I stop myself and blush.

“Go on”

“Really?” I say surprised, looking up curiously.

“Yes”

“Well I want to become a ballerina. Ever since I first saw a ballet performance on television in fact! It was something about the performance that captured me. Not the fancy accessories or the high-end feeling