“Listen kid, you’ve spent the last five minutes wasting nothing but my time,” the salesman huffed in frustration at Taeyeon. Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows and pointed towards the back counter again towards the calculator that was up for display. She broke her previous one and the maths teacher was going to punish her if she didn’t have all the supplies to his class again.

“I’ve seen kids like you before. The moment I turn around you’re going to nick a few notes to fund whatever strange addictions you have. I’m not going to lose my job because of a small kid like you, now scoot!” the man waved his hand away at the girl. Taeyeon rubbed her hands through her hair in pure frustration at the stubborn man. Glancing at the clock above the calculator, she realised that she had missed the bus that would have taken her to school on time. With a single puff of air, Taeyeon turned around and walked out of the store having achieved nothing but certain punishment from her teachers.

As she picked her bag up from the front of the store, she glanced back at the double chinned man. Perhaps his multiple chins prevented him from much neck movement but he could have easily turned his body around to see what Taeyeon had wanted. Making a mental note to never buy her supplies from the store again, Taeyeon walked off to the bus stop for the next bus. She had planned on buying the calculator and catching the bus at eight o’clock, but after meeting the stubborn multi-chinned man she had missed the bus by five minutes. The next one was to arrive ten minute later which would result in her being fifteen minutes late for class.

It was going to be another lunchtime cleaning the boards for the teachers and most certainly another maths class standing outside. It was going to be like the many days before where she would walk home with a tired frown, her parents would question her with worried expressions and then she would shrug them off before locking herself in her room. Taeyeon hated worrying her parents but she couldn’t help feeling down after spending most of her time serving her detentions. With the stubborn man she encountered today, she was sure that the day was not going to go well at all.

As the bus pulled up to the stop, Taeyeon took out her card and tagged herself on. She scanned the bus for empty rows and noticed the majority of the back being empty. Not in the mood to deal with the company of other people she made her way to the back carefully, trying not to anger anyone by having her bag rudely thrown into their faces. Just as she heard the bus doors close, she felt a tug on her wrist. Preparing to apologise for perhaps annoying one of the people on the bus, she turned around and lowered her head. With her head bowed down low, she felt the person flick her on the crown of her head.

Confused and offended, she looked up and glared at the person who had rudely assaulted her. To her surprise, she saw the familiar face of Jung Sooyeon smiling back at her.

“Take your seats,” the bus driver called from the front. Before Taeyeon could register why Sooyeon was there in the first place, she had pulled her into the spare seat next to her. All thoughts of sitting alone dissolved and were replaced with relief at the knowledge that she would not be the only one late to class.

“I was being stubborn this morning,” Sooyeon signalled to Taeyeon with a guilty smile. Taeyeon nodded with an understanding smile. She silently apologised to Sooyeon’s mother on her behalf for having the daily chore of waking Sooyeon up. The girl could sleep through the apocalypse and murder the devil if he was to wake her up.

“Why are you late?” Sooyeon questioned back. Taeyeon nodded her head towards the back where the school supply store was slowly receding. Not wanting to remember much of the double chinned man she made herself comfortable in her seat, signalling to her friend that she would not continue much on the topic. When she had finally settled down comfortably, she noticed a faded etch in the back of the seat in front of her.

“JS + KT
Jang Seungho + Kwon Taehee”

A small smile graced upon Taeyeon’s lips at the faded silent confession traced with a rough heart. She wondered how long the confession had been in the seat and just how many people took notice of it. Perhaps it was because of the people she was with but Taeyeon always found the quiet confessions much more romantic than those said verbally. But what would she know? She was only a twelve year old.

A nudge from her right arm drew her attention back to the girl beside her. She turned around and saw a pair of questioning eyes staring back at her. With the small smile still pleasantly placed on her lips, she nodded her head towards the back of the seat in front. Sooyeon stared at the etching for a moment before mirroring Taeyeon’s smile. She then turned to her friend and placed a kiss onto her cheek with a mischievous grin.

Taeyeon rolled her eyes at Sooyeon’s display of affection and patted her head in return. Although Sooyeon has greeted her in the same manner for many years, she still did not feel comfortable enough to return the gesture regularly. Perhaps once in a while but Taeyeon would never be the one to initiate the greeting, not that Sooyeon minded.

Sooyeon glanced at the etching in the seat again and started patting around her pockets. She then turned to her bag and pulled out a pencil from the front zip. Taeyeon watched her curiously as she leaned over her seat. Sooyeon then placed all of her upper body onto Taeyeon’s lap and raised her pencil to the back of the seat. With her head blocking Taeyeon’s view, Taeyeon could only wait patiently and hope that her legs wouldn’t cramp painfully with the added weight. After scrawling a few extra words onto the back of the seat, Sooyeon gave an accomplished grin and sat back in her seat.

Taeyeon glanced back down at the seat and was surprised to see what Sooyeon had written. Beneath the two original names held two newly drawn names.

“JS + KT
Jang Seungho + Kwon Taehee
Jung Sooyeon + Kim Taeyeon”

Not wanting to get caught for graffiti, Taeyeon pulled the sleaved of her jumper and wiped the graphite off the seat. Sooyeon frowned at the sight but couldn’t help but find amusement in Taeyeon’s determined and panicked expression. After all signs of the graphite being washed off, Taeyeon turned to her friend and sent a silent lecture. Sooyeon merely ignored the gaze and looked outside the window to watch the people busily rushing to their activities, spinning the pencil in her hand expertly.

Knowing that she was being ignored, Taeyeon turned back to the seat and sighed. She always thought that Sooyeon was reckless with her actions. She had to repeatedly remind the girl that not many people think or understand them as they do themselves. Reckless actions could cause misunderstandings and with their current situation, it wasn’t exactly easy to clear up misunderstandings.

“He was so charming last night during dinner. His voice was so manly and confident that he had me hooked when he said ‘hi’,” the woman at the front of the bus giggled loudly. Taeyeon strained her neck and looked to the front where the two friends seemed to be having a great time conversing about the man with the perfect voice. Disappointedly, Taeyeon lifted her hand up to and glanced at Sooyeon beside her. Neither of them knew what their voices sounded like and it was likely that they never would. They weren’t like others who could just talk about their day with others. Even during their best times, onlookers would not hear a single sound coming from them.

Sooyeon felt someone staring at her and turned back to see Taeyeon staring blankly at her. Seeing how Taeyeon didn’t turn her gaze away she waved her hand in front of her in hopes of bringing her back from her dazed state. Taeyeon slowly turned back to face the front with her hand still barely touching her neck where her voice box would be.

“Do you have a sore throat?” Sooyeon wrote onto the back of the seat with her pencil still at hand. Taeyeon shook her head slowly and lowered her hand to wipe off the graphite. Biting her lower lip worriedly, Sooyeon decided not to bother Taeyeon again and placed her pencil back into her pocket where it would be easily accessed for next time. She was sure it was one of those moments where Taeyeon had heard something hurtful again but she could not be sure. Just like every other time the situation would arise, Sooyeon lifted both her hands and placed them around Taeyeon’s ears comfortingly.

Recess time…

As predicted, Taeyeon and Sooyeon were given board duties for coming late to class. Luckily it was only their recess break that they were missing out due to their teacher having a meeting during lunch. The two had split up the five board wide whiteboard into halves and assigned each other one half to clean. Since Taeyeon had lost the coin toss to determine who would pick first she was stuck with the most difficult half to clean, mostly consisting of side notes written on the top of the board.

Taeyeon knew Sooyeon purposely gave her that half to make her life struggle of height even more evident but she lost the coin toss fair and square so she could not complain. As they got to work, Taeyeon noticed the lines of people walking by the classroom. She couldn’t help but feel slightly out of place when only the sound of lockers and feet dragging across the floor was heard. Compared to her previous school, this one was much too eerily quiet.

Seeing her friend slacking off in her board wiping duties, Sooyeon slammed her hand against the board to catch Taeyeon’s attention. With a fierce stare, Sooyeon nodded towards the board that had barely been touched and pointed towards the top of the board before smiling mockingly. Taeyeon stuck her tongue out at Sooyeon and continued wiping the board slowly to annoy her back.

Sooyeon then caught sight of a marker set on the holder below the board and picked it up. Catching Taeyeon’s attention again, she wrote on the board.

“I’m not helping you once I’m done. Clean the board by yourself for all I care.”

Taeyeon gave a careless shrug and started wiping each one at a time. Sooyeon could see the smile that Taeyeon was sporting and scoffed.

“Don’t even think about asking me to get a stool for you.”

Taeyeon yet again gave another shrug and nodded her head towards the spare chair set at the front. As she turned her attention back, she saw another marker and picked it up to reply to her annoying friend.

“I work at my own pace. By replying to you like this, I have more to wipe off. One by one.”

“Midget snail.”

“I prefer midget turtle. They’re so adorable.”

Sooyeon then saw Taeyeon slowly wiping off her replies at the agonizing pace that she had before. Not wanting to drag their punishment on for longer than it was supposed to, she placed the marker down and started wiping off her board diligently. Not wanting to risk having teachers see their conversation, Sooyeon started wiping off her reply. As the wiper swiped past the words, Sooyeon froze.

She repeated the wipe and felt her stomach drop. Not wanting to believe the situation, she furiously rubbed at the words on the board. Taeyeon felt the board shake and turned her attention back to Sooyeon’s half and froze as well.

No matter how many times or how hard she tried, Sooyeon could not wipe her words off the board. Curiously, Taeyeon reached for the marker that Sooyeon had just used and read the label.

“Permanent Marker”

Before she could react, Sooyeon took the marker and read the label for herself. Taeyeon started laughing at Sooyeon’s stoned expression. Sooyeon continued to stare at the label with hopes that perhaps she misread the label before turning back and trying to rub off the black ink. Taeyeon started laughing harder at her friend’s desperation and held onto the holder below the board for support.

When Sooyeon turned to Taeyeon with a pleading glance, Taeyeon shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her board and wiped the notes off with ease. Sooyeon frowned at the smug grin that was still growing on Taeyeon’s lips and pushed her in frustration. Taeyeon continued to chuckle before passing Sooyeon the whiteboard marker that she had used.

Just before Sooyeon could even touch the marker, the teacher walked in and stared at the board decorated with Sooyeon’s words. With a sceptical look, she stared down the two girls who were guiltily smiling back at her. They knew that it would not be taken lightly for luck was not on their side when they recognised the teacher who was known to have no patience or sympathy for students had caught them and was giving them her infamous death glare.

The teacher calmly walked over to Taeyeon and took the marker out of her hands. With a firm grip and the veins in her wrist popping out, she wrote on the board.

“The gardeners seem to have a weed problem. I’m sure you both won’t mind giving a helping hand.”

With no further addition, the teacher walked out of the classroom. Sooyeon stared back at the