chapter ten            

hyusu couldn't sleep that night. she had trouble sleeping alone and in the dark; she barely made it the past week. the image of the spirit materializing in the library and giving her the soulless stare gave her the creeps. she tossed fitfully in bed, hugging her panda-bear close as she peered over the ledge. she considered going to ji-ae for comfort, but even in the dim light coming from the single window at the end of the room, hyusu could see that ji-ae wasn't in good condition herself. her face was scrunched up in a frown as she fidgeted restlessly. the spirit beside her was staring at her in concern. hyusu took a moment to stop biting her fingers, reaching for her phone by the headboard. with trembling fingers, she punched in a familiar number. 

"hello?" the voice at the other end answered within the first three seconds. "su? why are you still awake?" hyusu visibly relaxed as she heard her best friend's voice on the other line. "tao, I-I just want to thank you for the dinner.." zitao chuckled. "you're welcome; we're too close to be this polite. are you having trouble going to sleep?" he guessed, hitting the nail on the head immediately. hyusu sighed as she glanced around the dormitory, making sure that she wasn't disturbing the others. kymin was sleeping like a log - there was definitely no worry there. chaebyul had on earphones so there was a less likely chance of waking her up. the rest were significantly far away. "should I sing you a lullaby?" zitao's voice brought her back. "changmin's here too." hyusu smiled as the duo launched into a soothing lullaby. it was only a matter of time before hyusu entered dreamland.

in the middle of the night, a girl awoke, perspiring furiously. chaebyul couldn't shake the image of the library ghost away. he was outright scary, but he did seem so.. sad. she re-arranged her soft toys by the side of her bed, slipping her hand under her pillow and retrieving a notepad. she dug around the sides of  the bed till she located the pencils she had stashed there. they were for emergencies - thunderstorms. a hauntingly close experience with a spirit counts as an emergency as well. she flipped through the pages, landing on a fresh sheet. 'gone' starting playing through her earphones and chaebyul's pencil drifted over the paper. soon, a sketch of a girl sitting at the piano took shape. chaebyul added in the finishing touches as her eyelids drooped. 

minah was the first to wake the next morning. it was nearing the end of the first week - friday, and she was glad that she wasn't going to have to be alone anymore - her best friend was coming back and minah couldn't wait to see her again; the first four days' wait was torture for her. her good mood could partially be attributed to the alone-time she had in the studio the night before, but she felt positively hyper. it wasn't often that that happened. humming to herself, she prepared to leave the dorm when she spotted ji-ae slouched against the headboard on her bed. minah felt a stab of guilt. ji-ae looked thoroughly exhausted. minah remembered how the elder girl had always tried to make her feel involved in the activities in the dorm and couldn't help but feel remorseful. nobody had tried to break past her wall before, not even her parents. it was probably why she found it so hard to accept ji-ae's hospitality as well. retracing her steps back into the kitchen, minah pulled out a few pieces of bread and proceeded to butter them. she put them in the toaster and tore a post-it from the fridge as she waited for the toaster to ding. placing the freshly toasted bread in a neat pile on the dining table, minah left the note and stepped out of the dormitory. 

the girls awoke to a huge surprise as they saw the memo on the table. have a nice breakfast; I hope that it's enough! -minah. kymin rubbed her eyes. "am I still dreaming?" eunji clapped her hands in glee as the rest settled down for their first breakfast not prepared by ji-ae. hyusu and chaebyul were noticeably out-of-sorts, but ji-ae was so tired herself that she didn't detect it at first glance. after breakfast, however, ji-ae did send them off and made sure that they were okay. both dismissed their worries as having had a lack of sleep. ji-ae herself was in no better condition. she copied down notes languidly and had almost fallen asleep in her history lecture when she felt somebody tapping her lightly on the shoulder. ji-ae jerked upright and was about to apologize to the teacher when she realize that it was in fact not her lecturer that was behind her, but baro, the ghost that she had helped a day before. she stared at him quizzically as he gestured to the empty seat beside her. he sat down and tilted his head at her. "noona, you look tired. I've seen you help your friends, but you need to have enough rest as well. you worry about them too much." ji-ae gave a small smile as she considered the idea of a ghost coming all the way to her history class to tell her that. "I'm okay. and it pays off too." she expressed, thinking about minah. she hadn't realized that she wasn't paying attention until the professor called her name.

".. period of radical, social and political upheaval.. decline of powerful monarchies and churches with the rise of democracy and nationalism?" ji-ae in a breath as she realized that she missed the first half of the question. she was about to panic when baro whispered beside her.

"the french revolution." ji-ae thanked the spirit as the professor nodded and moved on. that was a close one. baro nodded leaned back, joining in the lesson as well. ji-ae tried to hide her amusement, but found that she could concentrate better somehow. 

kymin was having trouble in korean class. the professor had returned the scripts from the day before and had summoned kymin to the front. "can you read this out for me?" kymin looked at her own paper and recited the sentence that she had penned down.

방구 해야지.

the class erupted into laughter as kymin's desk partner, jongsuk, facepalmed. kymin grinned unknowingly. the teacher motioned for somebody to correct the mistake, picking on the boy sitting closest to the teacher's desk. the young-looking boy stood up respectfully with a shy smile. "it's supposed to be 방 구해야지 - (you) should find a room, and not 방구 해야지."

the professor nodded approvingly before launching into his own explanation. "correct, taemin. spacing is very important in the korean language. can somebody tell me what kymin's rendition of  '방구 해야지' means?"

"(you) should fart!" a voice shouted from the back of the classroom. kymin burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter as she realized her mistake. class was disastrous. 

eunji was having physical education near the school tracks. chaebyul had excused herself earlier, mentioning that she wasn't feeling well. the rest class headed towards the track as they prepared to start their training for their physical education test. eunji sighed as she noted her late friend's enthusiasm. both of them had always been good at sports, having spent alot of time outdoors before younju passed away. since then, for the three years afterwarrds, eunji had not touched her running shoes nor joined in any kind of exercise. with younju's encouragement though, eunji had agreed to participate in the physical education lessons in her new school. as the instructor started the timer, both eunji and younju took off. although it had been three years since eunji had done any thing sporty, the thrill of the run, coupled with the memories of the fun times she had had with younju, allowed her to effortlessly overtake the rest of her classmates. adrenaline pumped through her veins as she let out a yelp of joy. younju joined in. she was glad that the new school had managed to affect eunji positively. 

co-author's note:     heyyy so this is chapter ten! (: minah's slowly warming up but the other three girls have fallen into slumps themselves, including our strong pillar-girl ji-ae opps! the boys will only come in in chapter thirteen though x.x I feel like this story is slowly losing steam >.< the introduction of boys will be fun though, I promise!