“Mikyungie, please save me from this! I don’t want to die. I’m too young to die.” Ken had his head in his hands with a pained expression. You only smirked at him.

“English, Tom.”

“No.”

You clapped at him for using English.

 He looked at you pensively, “Yes?”

You clapped again.

“Hot, cold, you, me, he, girls, nice, hey! Come on, baby~!” he shouted his favorite English line.

You sighed while smiling. You were supposed to be practicing a conversation in the textbook but Ken was Ken. He was smiling widely at you feeling more encouraged before he pulled his book closer to him. “Excuse me?” his accent was still there but you had heard worse.

“Yes?”

“Where is the post office? Is it this way?”

“It is down the block on your left by the library.”

His smile shifted to a concentrated look, “Library?” he muttered to himself before going back a couple pages. “Ah! Library! Thank you,” he was beaming.

“What are you sending? Are you sending a letter to your girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend?” He looked at you with a puzzled frown. He looked down at the book, “It doesn’t say that in the book,” he said back in Korean when he looked back at you accusingly.

You only smiled at him. It was lucky of you to have him as your partner today.

“Now switch roles. One of you is asking the question while the other answers.” Your English teacher was walking around and listening to the people talking.

“Excuse me?” N asked next to you two just as you were about to say the same words. He was partnered with another guy you’ve never talked to and he was sitting across from you and Ken.

“What girl?” Ken asked him back making N frown at him.

“Me not girl! You girl!”

“Now, now, that’s not the conversation I’m having you practice right now,” the teacher crept up to you guys while clicking his tongue.

N glared at Ken before turning back to his partner. His English was natural but his accent was a little stronger than Ken’s.

You looked back to your own partner, “Excuse me?”

Ken smiled, “Yes?”

“Where is the nearest post office? Is it this way?”

He frowned at you, “Nearest?” he repeated after you, “Ya! Don’t use new English words on me Mikyungie.”

“It means closest,” you answered him in Korean.

“Nearest?” he repeated and you nodded. “It is down the block on your left by the library.”

“Thank you for helping me.” Your added commentary made him frown again and you repeated what you said in Korean.

When you worked with Ken or N, you felt more comfortable with them so whenever it was partner work, you hoped the person assigned to you was one of them. Taekwoon would normally be on your list but today wasn’t the case. It was the last class of the day and it was minutes from ending. Minutes from your personal hell.

You were not looking forward to the appointment you had with your sister and mother later. With what had happened with Taekwoon during lunch, you had forgotten the foreboding event looming ahead and your sister’s reminder this morning came back up.

Shopping. Shopping. Shopping with your mother. Shopping. Shopping. Shopping with. Nunji.

You couldn’t hold back the sigh and frown.

“What’s wrong Mikyungie?” Ken cocked his head to the side to make sure the teacher wasn’t around to hear you speak in Korean.

You only shook your head. A boy probably wouldn’t understand.

“Is it Leo-hyung?” you looked at him and his knowing eyes. While Taekwoon wasn’t the one you were thinking about at the moment, he was still in your mind.

You shrugged and looked down at your textbook.

Ken leaned closer to you so he could whisper, “Do you want to hit me?” You looked up in shock, not expecting that at all. Ken smiled at you teasingly, “Sometimes, to let Leo-hyung’s feelings out, one of us will annoy him enough where he beats one of us up.” When you just stared at him wide eyed, he quickly back tracked, “Not that he ever does seriously injure us, just a hit here and there, maybe a kick. It’s just a way a friend would help a friend.”

You felt your expression dissolve into one of understanding. Although it may seem extreme, you could see the point he was making. There were times when you could actually feel your feelings about to combust and Nunji would be the one to help you. Taekwoon had his friends there for him and they were boys. Not that you were looking down on them. It just seemed they had found a way to work for them and you had found your own way.

You had had your suspicions when Ken would be more overbearing than usual at times and you had watched Taekwoon take his anger out on him. It probably wasn’t as healthy an outlet as it was compared to yours but it just worked.

“Now, who would like to volunteer to act the script out?” A pause followed his words, “Now don’t avoid my eyes, then I’ll know who I will pick if you continue to do so.”

He selected a couple at the back of the classroom and you were hoping he wouldn’t pick you and Ken next. At the moment, you were not in the mood to speak in front of everyone and you tried to convey your feeling to Ken who smiled at you reassuringly.

“We will go next teacher!” Ken was already standing up and making his way to the front of the classroom while you gaped at him. “Come on Mikyungie!”

You stiffly stood up and walked down the aisle, following his steps and feeling eyes on your back.

As you went through the script, you focused your gaze to the side of Ken’s head while the English words came out robotically.

The teacher praised you both when you were done and then set out to select another couple to do the same. Ken placed his hands on your shoulders and twisted you around before pushing you toward your desk. N smiled at you and you grimaced in return.

You didn’t know who went after you or the pair after that but you were thankful for the bell to go off at the time it did.

“For homework, I want you to memorize both roles in the next conversation on the next page and I will assign your partners tomorrow to go over them. And remember, we have a vocabulary test coming up for the last four chapter coming up,” with a smile he gathered his papers and textbook before taking his leave.

“He hands out homework like its candy,” N mumbled across from you.

“At least we have no literature homework,” Ken shrugged while closing his book with a snap of his wrist.

“But we have to do our reading and you never know when that teacher will give us a pop quiz,” N mumbled again. He gathered his things then stalked back to his desk.

  “Aigoo, he’s not going to be fun to be around for a while,” Ken sighed. He then smiled at you and walked back to his own desk. You looked down at your book again and closed it. You went through your desk to gather all of the things you’ll need for your homework tonight.

Nunji’s words from this morning came back and you realized your mother was probably waiting right now. You quickly went through everything and then stuffed the books and papers in your bag. You were out the door when someone’s face replaced your mother’s, making you come to an abrupt halt out in the main hallway. You stumbled a little as you tried to regain your balance and you stepped out of the way when similar rushing students were making their way down the hall toward the front entrance.

It only took you a couple of seconds for you to make up your mind and you turned back around. A few of your classmates were coming out of your classroom and you didn’t reply when they asked whether you forgot something. You quickly retraced your steps, not forgetting your mother, and stepped back into the room you just departed. He was still putting things in his bag and his two friends were hovering over him.

They all looked up as you marched purposely to them. “Mikyungie! I thought you already left.”

You probably ought to feel bad for ignoring them but you had a purpose and you only sent them an apologetic look when you got to them. You reached for the boy who only watched you blankly before grabbing his jacket and gave a