The door to the classroom slid open with a loud clatter and several boys from Class D strode in. Only a few of my classmates even bothered raising their heads, and when they did, they rolled their eyes in disdain.

                I raised my eyebrows in surprise when I saw Seungcheol make his way to the front of the group. He placed his hands on the podium and the lollipop in his mouth made a clicking noise against his teeth as he moved it from one cheek to the other. 

                “Listen up, kids! Class D is challenging Class A to a basketball game this afternoon. Loser buys the other team ice cream. Got it? You better not chicken out!” He swept the classroom with his pointed finger. When his eyes caught mine, the corners of his lips turned up a bit in a small smirk. 

                “If you’re finished, can you get out?” Aeri snapped.

                “Yes, ma’am. See you guys later,” Seungcheol sing-songed. He and his posse then left just as abruptly as they came in. 

                “They should spend their time doing something productive instead of coming up with stupid stunts like this,” Aeri scoffed loudly to her seatmate. 

                “Doesn’t it sound amusing, though?” Doyoon wondered aloud.  Some of the boys in the class looked over at him in surprise.

                “Are you considering it?” one of the sportier boys, Dabin, asked.

                “Ey, he’s only saying that because he’s friends with Seungcheol,” another guy, Sungjin, said. 

                “I’ll probably go,” Doyoon said coolly. “Are you guys not going to join in?”

                A couple people shrugged.

                “We should go and cheer our boys on, right, Mikyung?” Soojin announced, suddenly turning to me.  Several pairs of eyes watched me, wondering how I would act.

                I nodded.  “Sure.”

                And with that, the competition between Class A and Class D began. 

-x-

                Our group must have looked pretty pitiful walking up to the court that afternoon. Doyoon had gotten enough guys to participate for a decent-sized team, but Soojin only managed to gather a few of her friends who didn’t really want to be there in the first place. Compared to Class D’s cheering squad made up of almost all the girls in their class, complete with speakerphones and handmade signs, we were already lacking.

                Each team dropped their things on either side of the court and did a few warm-ups. Our side was lifeless, one of Soojin’s friends offering a half-hearted “fighting” to Dabin and another lazily tossing Hyunil a water bottle. My eyes flicked to the opposite end, where a few girls were crowded around Seungcheol, practically babying him by offering him water and towels and fanning him. He happened to look up as I was observing their side. I quickly focused my gaze on Doyoon, who had walked up to me.

                “This will be tough. Cheol gets pretty competitive,” he said.

                “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

                Doyoon surveyed his team with a sigh. “I feel like Dabin is the only truly athletic person that came. The others just joined in to spite Class D.”

                “Most of the people involved in sports are in the other classes. It’s hard to maintain grades when you’re always going to practices and games.”  I snuck another glance in Seungcheol’s direction. “And I think the Class D kids know that, which is why they challenged us.”

                “Well, whatever,” Doyoon said, rolling up the sleeves of the uniform dress shirt he was still wearing. His eyes slid to me. “Aren’t you going to wish me luck?”

                “If you’re expecting that kind of treatment,” I said, motioning in the general direction of Class D, “then you won’t get it from me.  But good luck.”

                He laughed.  “Alright. Let’s do this.”

                Hana, one of Soojin’s friends that bothered sticking around, kicked a stray stone.

                “This . They ,” she muttered.

                Soojin, always the positive one, chirped, “The Class D kids are just good, that’s all.”  At that moment, Seungcheol stole the ball from Hyunil and dribbled it to the other end of the court.

                “We’re done. It’s over,” Hana decided, turning to leave. Soojin grabbed her arm and tried to get her to stay, but her words were useless. Seungcheol jumped and swiftly smashed the ball through the hoop despite a valiant effort by Doyoon to block him. The Class D girls, still going strong, erupted into cheers and the boys high-fived each other.  Seungcheol clapped Doyoon on the back.

                “Thanks for the ice cream, Doyoon,” he said with a grin. Doyoon rolled his eyes with a rueful smirk and shrugged his friend off.

                “Sorry, Mikyung,” Doyoon said as I got up from the grass.

                “What’s there to be sorry about?” I asked, brushing myself off.

                “We lost,” he replied, almost confused.

                I chewed my bottom lip. “Sometimes you have to lose. It humbles you.”

                The boys stared at me.

                “What?” I said, slightly unnerved by their attention.

                “I never thought I’d hear you say that,” Dabin remarked, wiping the sweat from his brow. 

                I frowned and opened my mouth to defend myself when Doyoon cut me off.

                “Let’s just go get ice cream for the others.”

                Seungcheol pulled back one of the plastic chairs at my table with a scrape and sat down beside me, holding a melting ice cream bar. Most of the girls from Class D had left, leaving only a handful crowded around and eating their cool treats at one of the tables. The Class D kids were joking around nearby and the Class A boys were huddled together, probably discussing the flaws in their basketball strategy. Soojin had to go to a piano lesson, leaving me alone with Seungcheol.

                “Ah, it feels good to have something Mimi’s money bought,” he said with relish.

                “It probably wasn’t really my money that bought it. I just tossed a bill into the pile. For all you know, it could be from Dabin. Or Doyoon.”

                His expression puckered as if his ice cream had suddenly gone sour. 

                “You ruin all my wishful thinking.”

                Across the way, the Class D boys were laughing and pushing each other around when one of them collided with a passer-by.

                “Hey!” the older man snapped.  “Watch where you’re going.”

                “Sorry,” the boy said, nodding his head in a half bow and starting back towards his friends.

                “These punks. You have no manners. Out this late.  Shouldn’t you be studying? The world has no place for people like you, I swear,” the man spat.

                That got the boys riled up. “Excuse me, but what did you just say? It’s none of your business what we choose to do with our time.” The boy looked like he was ready to square up.

                I glanced uneasily at the scene. Doyoon and the other Class A guys looked on as if they were waiting for something. Seungcheol was already getting up from his seat.

                “I should just report you all for loitering to teach you how to be respectful to adults.” The gruff man took out a cell phone.

                Doyoon finally stepped in, going over to the man with his charmer smile.

                “Sir, you’re okay, right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

                “What?” The man bit the word as if it was a steak.

                “If you’re okay, then I don’t see what the problem is. My friend already apologized to you and frankly, you were the one being a bit rude.” His voice was as smooth as glass and the man slowly took in Doyoon’s proper appearance. He huffed and put his phone back in his pocket.

                “It’s dark. People could really mistake you for hoodlums,” he muttered before stalking away.

                “Hey, was that really necessary?” the Class D boy asked Doyoon. “I could have handled it.”

                “Don’t be ungrateful,” Seungcheol reprimanded. “It just means we’re even now. We kicked their butts on the basketball court and they cleaned up a bit of our mess.”

                The boy sulked and Seungcheol wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go. We don’t want to be mistaken for hoodlums again.”  He twisted his friend into a headlock and they grappled with each other with dumb smiles on their faces, the incident practically gone from their minds already. 

                I shouldered my backpack and said goodbye to my classmates. 

                Seungcheol jogged up beside me. “Hey, I’m coming with you. We don’t have practice today.”

                “Oh…okay,” I said. At the same time, Dabin called my name.

                “Mikyung, your phone,” he said, holding it up. 

                “Crap,” I muttered, going back to collect it.

                When I approached, Dabin cast a cautionary look to where Seungcheol was waiting for me.

                “You’re going home with Seungcheol?” he asked in a low tone.

                I took my phone from him and followed his gaze, confused. “What are you worried about?”

                His expression morphed into one of bewilderment. “What?  I never said I was worried. I’m just surprised.”

                I prickled. “Well, sorry I don’t live up to your expectations.”

                He raised an eyebrow and I shook my head.

                “Thanks, Dabin.  See you at school.”

                I walked away from him and back to Seungcheol, tucking my phone in my pocket. 

                “You guys address each other so casually.”

                I gave him a weird look. What was he talking about when he addressed me the most casually of all?

                “We’ve been classmates forever – it’s only natural.  I even address Jung Aeri informally.”

                “Huh?  Jung Aeri? What about her?”

                Oh, right. He didn’t know about my history with her. “Nothing. Just an example.”

                We took our usual seats on the bus. 

                “Aren’t you proud that I won?” he asked proudly.

                I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. “You didn’t win all by yourself. Everyone on your team was good. I’m sure you knew what the outcome would be like.”

                He snickered. “I know. But it felt nice beating Doyoon for once.”

                “It must have also felt nice having all those girls cheering you on.”

                He cocked his head to one side, a mischievous smile on his lips. “Are you jealous?”

                “Not at all.”

                I stared out the window at the inky night sky. It had been getting dark so quickly these days, although it could just be my mood playing tricks on me. I had been feeling off kilter the past month or so, like something in me was changing.

                Seungcheol suddenly leaned in close to me. He was still sweaty from the basketball game, but it didn’t bother me as much as it had when I first encountered him. I’d almost gotten used to it and recognized it as Seungcheol’s scent.

                He pointed to a spot in the sky.

                “You see that star?” he murmured.

                “What star?” I teased, trying to squint past the light pollution.

                He opened his hand and closed it quickly, as if he were catching something. He lowered his fist and then opened it up before me.

                A tiny paper star rested in the center of his palm.

                “I caught it for you.”