BEST BUDDY!

“Yoona, honey! Hurry! The buss—“

“Got it!” Yoona leaped the last two steps and hit the kitchen floor running. “I’m outta here.” She grabbed a banana and a slice of toast off the table as she hurried by it, stopping to kiss her mom on the cheek.

“You’re late again, stupid,” Sulli told her.

“Shut up, milky.” Yoona stuck her tongue out at her little sister and headed for the front door at a jog.

“Coat!”

“On it, Mom!” She feted her bag higher on shoulder, stuffed her jacket under her arm and sprinted the half a block to the bus stop where Donghae, trusty Donghae, was holding up the bus for her. He’d stopped just before getting on board, taking his time while pretending to tie his shoe.

Yoona skidded around him and caught the door in one hand. “Good morning!”

“It is now!”

She got on the bus and tossed her bag into a seat.” You rock, Hae.”

Donghae fell into the seat across the aisle from Yoona and gave her that cute lopsided grin, the same one that made all the freshman girls sigh over him and draw stupid little hearts around his name in their name notebooks. “I try.”

There were no hearts around Donghae’s name in any of Yoona’s notebooks.

“I thought I was gonna miss it today for sure.”

“No way.” Donghae shook his head. “I wasn’t about to let you miss math today.”

Yoona rolled her doe eyes. “I got like, maybe five hours of sleep. Watch me fail the test.”

“Shut up,” Donghae complained, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s falling for you, Yoong, a B?”

“You shut up. I get B sometimes.”

“But not in math.”

“Okay, no. Not in math.” Never in math. Sometimes in English or history, but she really liked math. She was just good at it, even she wasn’t sure why. “You know if I get a B on a math test my dad will seriously ground me.”

“Damn.” Donghae shook his head. “But still. That’s pretty harsh.”

“Yeah, well. I studied my off last night.”

“And that’s why you were late?”

“I overslept” her answer deliberately vague. Well, that part was true, she had stayed up too late and overslept, but she wasn’t losing sleep over the math test; she’d stayed up late drawing again. Yoona stuffed the rest of her toast in so she couldn’t say anything more. The drawing thing wasn’t the issue; but she didn’t dare tell Donghae that she’d ended up drawing pictures of his ex-girlfriend, Tiffany. She was so cute. And nice.

And totally straight.

“You wanna hang out tonight?” Donghae asked. “I got a new game for my Xbox.” The bus hit a bump and the two of them were bounced off their seats. “Jesus.”

Yoona grabbed onto the back of the seat in front of her and shook her head. Of all the stupid bus was at the top of her list. She couldn’t wait until senior year, she’d finally have her license and she could drive to school.

If her dad let her have a car.

“Can’t tonight, I’ve got plans.”

“Like, plans plan?” Donghae wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Yoona gave him a look. “No.”

Donghae leaned closer, speaking softly. “I’m not going tell anyone you have a date, Yoong.”

“I don’t have a date.” She’d love to be lying, but she wasn’t. “Who the heck would I be dating?”

“Changmin.” Donghae shifted in his seat. “Me neither.”

Yoona snorted. “I can’t imagine. Why not you could have your pick of freshman?”

Donghae rolled his eyes and snarled at her. “Bite me.”

Just yesterday, on their way home from town, she and Donghae passed at least three freshman girls who waved and said hello to Donghae as they walked by. Funny thing was, Donghae wasn’t out there doing the kinds of things that would get him noticed. He wasn’t a jock.

He wasn’t an actor, either. He wasn’t in choir or the orchestra or the ski club. He didn’t participate in really anything at all that would make him popular. Quite the opposite, actually. Chess club, chemistry club, computer club, and not a single sport. He was just a guy, a geek even, and Yoona figured he had no idea how adorable he was. That was one of the many reasons that she liked Donghae. That, and they could talk about girls together.

Speaking of girls, Tiffany walked right by the bus as they got off.

“Hey, Tiff,” Donghae said, smiling uncertainly and giving his ex-girlfriend a little wave. Yoona could hear the hopeful tone in his voice, but Tiffany completely ignored him and kept on walking. Yoona winced. Ouch.

Donghae sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging. “Damn.”

Yoona never really understood why Tiffany and Donghae had broken up. Whatever it was, Donghae seemed to feel like it was his fault, and he obviously still liked her or he wouldn’t try to say hello every time she walked by.

Yoona never asked directly, but she figured Donghae was at least partly to blame or Tiffany would have said hello back.

“There are other girls, Hae,” she told him, patting his back.

“I guess.” Donghae let Yoona pull him into the school with her.

***

Math was third class of the morning and it was followed by lunch. Yoona thought the school lunches were pretty disgusting, and she rarely ate whatever hot food they were serving. She could make her own lunches and bring them, but she always forgot to make them the night before and then was always running late in the morning, too. Usually she got sandwich and an apple or something like that and that was about it.

She and Donghae sat together, as always, poking ate their food and looking around the lunchroom.

“So how did the test go for you?” Yoona asked.

“It wasn’t bad, actually. You?”

“Cake.” Yoona grinned.

“Natch.” Donghae sighed a something caught his eye. “Oh look. Today she’s sitting with Ok Taecyeon.”

Ok Taecyeon was on the football team. He was tall and sturdy and, like most football players, he was popular with girls and had a lot of friends. “Hae, forget Tiffany.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Seriously, look.” Yoona pointed carefully, so only Donghae could see. “Over there. Park Hyomin.”

“What about her?”

“She’s cute right?”

Donghae leaned his chin in his palm, pouting. “Hyomin’s stuck up, Yoong.”

Hmm. That was true enough. “Okay, how about Seohyun?”

“Seo Joo Hyun?”

“Yes. Seo Joo Hyun. She’s pretty, she gets good grades …” Yoona had drawn pictures of Seohyun in her journal about a year ago when they were in an art class together. Seohyun was nice. Quiet and kind of shy, but nice.

“Oh, God. No. You know Cho Kyuhyun?”

Cho Kyuhyun had asked Yoona out to a movie once in eighth grade. He’d had a mouth full of braces, just like she had at the time and adorable eyes, but she just hadn’t been interested and she’d turned him down. He’d looked so disappointed. “Yeah, I know Kyuhyun. She dated him?”

“Well, sort of. I heard her dad came to the door with a rifle when Kyuhyun tried to pick her up once.”

Yoona’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Yeah. Kyuhyun took her home half an hour before her curfew and never went out with her again.”

Yoona winced. “Geez. That can’t be true.”

“Oh, no? Do you see her with a boyfriend?”

“Well, no …”

“Uh-huh.” Donghae shook his head. “Psycho Daddy. No way.”

Yoona sighed. “Fine. So not Seohy