A disheveled Yoona sat up from her bed, kneading her sleepy eyes a little before grabbing her wristwatch from a small table beside her. Hardly able to see clearly because of her fatigue, she somehow mistook the digit 9 for a 6, and went on to flip her pillow over to the cooler side before nestling upon it once more.

Then it dawned upon her that she had made a mistake and that it was nine o’clock on a Friday. But the mere reality that it was just another weekday morning was not the scary part. Her was supposed to be in school instead of being in bed at home. She almost leapt to her feet when the gravity of the situation sank in, and made a run for the bathroom for a quick freshening up. Goodness, what would the P do this time? Make her write ten thousand lines instead of one?

Not long after she had entered the toilet, she sprang out, messing up nearly her entire wardrobe just to search for that blasted set of uniform. As she was busy getting dressed, the phone on her desk vibrated. Observing that it was a text from Jessica, she seized the device hastily and took a quick glance.

“Is everything okay Yoongie?”

It was as if the girl had read her mind. Yoona never texted back faster in her life.

“ing late for school.”

The girl made the effort to delete the first word before hitting the send button.

She then grabbed her schoolbag before sprinting out through the front door, not even bothering to get it locked.

As she continued with her very fast run toward the bus stop, she heard a familiar voice calling out from behind, “Wait up, Yoongie!”

“Jessica? What the… how the heck… what’re you doing here?” The taller girl halted in her tracks immediately, taking the opportunity to mellow out.

“You’re not gonna make it on time for your next class if I start explaining things to you now. Come on.” Answered the angel as she took the girl’s hand into hers before they both bolted off again. In her disoriented state, Yoona obediently dropped any and all questions she had right away.

And so the two finally managed to reach the bus stop in less than five minutes. Jessica proceeded to ask the breathless girl what bus she was waiting for. Only seconds after the girl replied, the very bus arrived. Yoona was about to raise another question but was dragged onboard before she could say anything.

Fortunately enough, they managed to secure seats on the relatively crowded bus. It was as though Jessica was a magnet for good luck or something. After catching her breath, Yoona was all prepared to ask a couple of questions but the angel was quick to force a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her hand, telling her to eat up.

“Did… did you make this?” She questioned, feeling a little touched. Nobody ever bothered to make her breakfast and she usually went without any.

Being the sweetheart that she was, Jessica commented that it did not take much effort and that she would not stand to see the girl go hungry. With that, Yoona devoured the precious breakfast in several quick bites. She had had plenty of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before but that was the best she ever tasted.

The bus ride to school was also exceptionally smooth that day, with close to no traffic at all.

*          *

Jessica carefully escorted the girl all the way to the school gate, never letting go of her hand every step of the way. Yoona had no idea why she allowed another girl to hold her hand like that but the girl’s gentle grip just felt so comfortable.

“Thank you so much for everything, Jessica… this means a lot…” Said Yoona before she slowly released the delicate fingers.

The girl before her only smiled pleasantly in return, parting her arms slightly in preparation for a warm hug. She looked so endearing. Almost too lovable. Yoona almost bent down slightly to take the girl into her arms but the thought of Tiffany seeing them flashed across her mind, and she blanked out for a moment. Why was she feeling so stressed out, though? They were just friends, weren’t they?

Having seen the girl’s distracted expression, Jessica directly asked her what was wrong.

“Nothing… it’s just that… we shouldn’t… is this like a regular thing they do back in the States?”

The angel tilted her head in puzzlement at Yoona’s question, further questioning what she meant specifically.

“All this hugging and proximity… it’s what normal friends do there, right?” As much as Yoona could easily get used to the frequent hugs, she certainly did not want to incur the anger of her scary girlfriend. They had just gotten back together and their relationship was hanging by a thread.

“Umm… yeah, I guess so. There’s nothing complicated about it, Yoongie. I give my friends bear hugs all the time. But if it makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, I promise I’ll stop.” Jessica took a tiny step back, giving the girl some private space.

“No, please don’t… I just wanna make sure we’re both on the same page about this…”

“I’m sure we are.”

“Then okay.” Yoona’s lips tugged into a smile as she encased the girl in a soft embrace. It took her almost all the energy she had left to pull herself away from the hug and to bid the girl goodbye before she strutted through the gates and toward her next class. As she strode along, she could not help but think of Jessica