Junghee made a show of pouting and sighing rather exasperatedly even if there wasn’t anyone there to applaud her efforts or even scold her for being childish. That was the problem, actually: no one was there. Why wasn’t Gwiboon there yet? A quick glance at the hallway’s digital clock showed that there was roughly half an hour before class started and, yet, Gwiboon was usually there by then.

By seven o’clock, she was normally there, standing against the wall of the little crook that led to their first period classroom. Or, well, it was Gwiboon’s first period, rather, but that was irrelevant.

That was their daily routine, though—come to school as early as possible just so the two of them could loiter in their own little portion of the hallway until the teacher that feared them came to let them in.

The thought of Gwiboon ditching her flittered through her mind briefly, but she knew better. There had to be a legitimate reason…

Junghee knew she was overthinking things, that Gwiboon’s temporary absence wasn’t that big of a deal, but that meant she’d have to sit there alone while the other, normal students looked at her as though she was a pitiful loner. And she hated that. She truly did. Junghee had other friends that she could easily hunt down and socialize with, but she’d much rather spend her time with Gwiboon.

Junghee kind of (definitely) lived just to stare at Gwiboon while she pretended to listen to the younger’s ranting and ing.

Oh, god, the ing…

If anyone other than her best friend ed with that intensity and frequency, Junghee would have to fight the urge to punch them square in the mouth.

For some reason, when Gwiboon did it, it was endearing almost. Junghee was convinced that there was nothing better than the way Gwiboon’s eyes—expertly lined with kohl and lashes infinitely thicker with the help of mascara than they would be otherwise—widened to emphasize the importance of a particular point. There was nothing quite like watching Gwiboon’s captivatingly pink lips move to form language with a pout to them that no other could hope to match. Junghee loved the sight of the younger’s long, elegant finger twirling her already tightly coiled pigtail even tighter, out of pure habit.

Whenever Gwiboon talked, which was nearly all of the time they were together, Junghee couldn’t help but hand all of her attention right over. It was an unconscious thing, but even if she’d had the choice in those moments, she’d be a willing participant. The way Gwiboon would obviously struggle to form a coherent thought and successfully articulate it with only the slightest bit of stuttering and blushing when she caught Junghee’s eyes with her own… well, that was easily the best feeling in the world.

Junghee didn’t notice most of the pitying looks sent her way this particular morning, but when she snapped out of her Gwiboon-induced trance, she spotted what seemed to be a shaking freshman girl standing a few feet from her, trying to muster up the courage to say something optimistic to Junghee. Junghee was having none of it and chased her away with a glare. Yeah, she learned that from Gwiboon.

Was this what Gwiboon had to deal with every morning, then? These ridiculously out-of-place looks were annoying as . Junghee was in the middle of vowing to come even earlier every morning, if only to spare Gwiboon these looks, when Gwiboon herself walked up.

Over the time they’d spent together, Junghee noticed that when Gwiboon walked, she walked with a purpose, like she was on a mission, like she was the most important person on the face of the Earth. Her current lethargic pace and slouching was uncharacteristic, to say the least. She leaned against the wall across from Junghee, claiming her rightful spot (while Junghee resolved to sit on the floor, Gwiboon refused to sit on the carpet because of reasons). The way the girl dropped the books that were cocked against her hip to the floor in a graceless pile was a telltale sign of something wrong, if nothing else was.

She gave a deep exhale as she leaned there, hands together at her back, face to the ceiling, and eyes closed. The action made her chest rise and fall rather drastically.

If Junghee wasn’t caught up in staring, she would have been more concerned by the sheer lack of normalcy this morning, but… she was a little too into that steady rise and fall motion. No, there was a more pressing matter at hand.

Since when were Gwiboon’s s so big?! Were they always that way? So round and… and…

Gwiboon’s head lowered, eyes meeting Junghee’s own when she finally managed to tear them away. Junghee couldn’t, however, douse that glint she was sure existed in her eyes, the glint that was one part admiration, one part mischief, and one part lust. Or maybe the lust was something different. She didn’t quite know.

“Gwiboonie, do you stuff your bra?”

Gwiboon’s pretty, feline eyes widened, mouth agape. She was clearly not expecting that question. Hell, neither was Junghee, for that matter.

“Oh, my god. No!” She sounded slightly affronted while ogling herself. “Why? Does it look like it?” Now she sounded worried. There was a hint of self-consciousness in her voice that only Junghee’s thoughtless comments could bring out.

Junghee mentally slapped herself. She wasn’t trying to make Gwiboon’s day any worse than it already seemed to be. What the ? Why couldn’t she control ? How does she make that better?

“O-oh, no. Of course not. They don’t look uneven, or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just… they just…” Junghee couldn’t find a better way to say it, and she seemed to favor speaking without thinking anyway, so she just went for it. “They look so much bigger than I remember them being, that’s all.”

“Oh, my god, Junghee! I cannot believe you just said that! Stop looking at them!”

Gwiboon’s cheeks turned a very—in the older girl’s opinion—flattering shade of pink as she covered her s and tried to remain modest with her crossed arms and then turned around to face the wall, getting as far away from Junghee as the white rectangles of the wall allowed.

When she pivoted her head just enough to show her profile and eye her friend warily, Junghee could tell that she was holding back a smile. The way the corners of her lips were pulled down too far gave her away. To the underclassmen rushing by, Gwiboon was disgusted by something, but Junghee knew better. Oh, she knew. This is how they worked.

“You are so ing weird sometimes, Junghee. I knew you were a ert.”

The older girl donned her signature, crooked smile, as if to say you love it. Really, she was just relieved she hadn’t taken anything too far. Even though the lines of their relationship were pretty well drawn in by then, some parts were old, some parts were changing. Junghee thought the change might have been in a direction she’d wanted for a long time, but the chalk draws where it wants and Gwiboon always was a fickle little thing.

With a huff and pout that put Junghee’s to shame, Gwiboon turned back around and dropped her makeshift arm barrier. It didn’t take but two small steps in order to reach Junghee’s side.

Beautifully manicured hands held a blue plaid uniform skirt to the back of her thighs as Gwiboon did something unprecedented. She sat down right there, next to Junghee on the floor—the same floor she had spent a lot of breath ranting and raving about the poor condition of. It was more of a sort of dignified plop, but she sat down nonetheless and laid her head on Junghee’s shoulder, nuzzling her cheek into the starched white fabric.

“You’re weird and you’re a huge dork. You’re even a ert. Why do I bother with you?”

Despite the words, Junghee’s smile held its own. She thought it was real cute how Gwiboon deflated at the thought of their friendship. She must be doing something right.

The older laughed aloud a little, the movement of her shoulder increasing the depth of the frown lines forming on Gwiboon’s pretty little face.

“You know you’re the same way, right? You can’t hide from me, Gwiboonie. I see you. I see all of you.”

The girl groaned in response. “Don’t remind me.”

“Of what? How much alike we are, or how much of you I see?”

There was a scoff this time as one of those manicured hands grabbed at Junghee’s own in her lap.

“Both, you freak of nature.”

They sat still a while, further ignoring the odd looks and the unavoidable whispers that followed them. Gwiboon closed her eyes and allowed the other girl to play with her fingers, secretly liking the attention, Junghee being content with the little bit of skinship and added show of something akin to affection and dependence that her friend was showing this morning.

All good things must come to an end, though, and as Gwiboon’s teacher approached them nervously, Junghee cursed the fact. With a squeeze to the hand and a quick kiss to the top of Gwiboon’s head, the older girl started to get up.

“Teacher lady is here.”

That’s the only explanation she could give to rid Gwiboon’s face of the questioning look. It seemed to appease her, so she made a show of standing up, too, immediately shuffling her way back to Junghee’s side. The pair stepped back as the instructor stammered an extra nervous good morning their way, avoided direct eye contact, and made to unlock the door.

It opened after some fumbling and the lights came on. Not bothering to hold the door and welcome them into her room, the teacher skittered ahead. Obviously, she couldn’t be bothered to soften the loud noise it made as it slammed, either.

Junghee really didn’t understand these people. She rolled her eyes, feeling the girl at her side move forward. Ever watchful eyes didn’t miss a thing as Gwiboon bent over to straighten and pick up the mess of books she lent to gravity when she first arrived. They didn’t leave even when Gwiboon herself straightened, turned, and raised an eyebrow at her. There was a sparkle of come hither this time, swirling in the pools of brown, and it was augmented by the onceover Junghee received then.

Junghee obeyed, coming in close.

“Thank you, freak.”

Well, that wasn’t what she expected to happen.

“Thanks for what?”

“I felt like a fat slob today, but your weird- compliment managed to make it better. That’s different, huh? Normally your mouth just messes everything up and you end up sounding dumb. Not that you didn’t do that this time, too.”

Gwiboon’s eyes looked pretty shifted to the side like that, with their flashy confidence replaced with a sweet shade of vulnerability.

Junghee concluded that she was just really… really pretty. All the time. The older girl’s smile was a bit less crooked and a bit less cocky than they were both used to.

“You’re welcome, Gwiboonie. You have no reason to be self-conscious, though. You’re one thousand percent prettier than everyone else here. Even me.”

Everything she said, she felt was true. There was no filter from her heart to her brain to . Junghee never was one to think before speaking.

The girl in front of her should have been used to it, but it seemed that Junghee caught her off guard again, that blush she was so fond of making a second appearance before the school day had even started. Junghee took it as a personal achievement.

“Yeah, especially you. You are so weird, Junghee, really. Oh, my god.”

Gwiboon’s stomps into her first hour classroom were muffled by the dingy, multicolored carpet, giving her more reason to hate it. She attempted to stomp away and Junghee called after her with a smile, confident that no one else could hear it.

It was true that Junghee had other friends that she could easily hunt down and socialize with. But she’d much rather spend her time with Gwiboon, for obvious reasons.

Author’s note: Hi, my name is Andrea. I finished my first year of college and I like lesbians, so BAM here’s this thing that I started approximately a year ago. Can I just say that I adore GIRLee and that I’m not sure why I haven’t written anything pertaining to them? My babies make such pretty girls… I’m so proud. ;w;