“Taeri!” you looked up from your phone, recognizing that voice. “Good morning,” Jinsik smiled at you.

With an awkward smile in place, you nodded, “Good morning.”

“Aww come on Taeri,” he walked a little closer to you. “I said you could use informal speech with me.”

“You did?” the awkwardness remained as well as panic beginning to settle in. There was a long line in drop offs and you were sure your mother could see Jinsik talking to you. You didn’t think you were ready for that kind of conversation from your mother at the moment. Neither of your parents set many restrictions on your life and their stance on dating was unclear for you in particular. There was quite a large between you and Hyuntae so you weren’t sure if he had any rules for dating when he was in high school. None that you could remember. But that could be because he was a boy.

“So,” he stuck his hands into his blazer pockets, “What kind of classes do you have today?”

You hesitated a second before deciding to keep it simple, “Dance.”

“Me too,” he opened the door for you.

You smiled in thanks before quickly shuffling inside. You quickly opened the next door before he could. Your hand remained on the door until he grabbed the door for himself before you let go. Together, you two walked in the direction of the dance studios wing.

He was walking closer to you than ever with your shoulder brushing against his blazer.  Your hands were clenched at your side, not knowing how you should position your arms so in the end, you were walking stiffly. You couldn’t tell if Jinsik could tell and you could only hope he didn’t.

“Ah,” he stopped walking and your mind quickly ran through your options. Should you stop and ask what was wrong or should you excuse yourself and escape? Before you could firmly decide, he was already speaking. “Sorry, I need to go to my locker and get my water bottle. Can we go to the other wing first?” he paused, “Together?”

“Um,” your eyes wavered when they met his clear dark ones, “Okay.” Your answer was out before you could think about it.

You felt like you made the right choice when he beamed at you. “Great,” he held out an arm in the direction opposite to the one you two had been walking. You smiled at the playful gesture before taking the lead. You were the one walking along the wall and like before he was walking close to you. Your other shoulder was barely scraping along the wall in your need not to get too close to him but it felt like he was only getting closer.

“Taeri?” his voice sounded different.  A little less confident?

Your eyebrows drew together in bewilderment, “Hm?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Your hand had been trailing along the wall in random swirls but at his question, your hand fisted. “No?” you didn’t want to think about how high pitched your voice sounded.

And he noticed as he playfully nudged you, “I’m the one asking the questions here.” Your hands bumped into each other’s. Your blush was now out in full force at the contact.

“I don’t.” You were proud of how normal your voice was this time. And you didn’t stammer.

He chuckled, “I’m sorry I’m asking such a personal question. But, it’s just I,” he trailed off. You were wondering what he wanted to say but you both reached what must have been his locker as he got to work in unlocking it.

You didn’t want to seem pushy so you didn’t ask him to elaborate further. You took to staring at your hands as other students bustled around you at their own lockers.

“Did you want one?” he held out a granola bar. “I packed extra today and I guess it came in handy this morning,” he gave you a cheeky smile with a pointed look.

“Thank you,” you reached for it but he held it out of reach. The teasing smile he had was infections and you found yourself smiling back at him. “Please?”

He stared at you for a second before speaking. “Okay,” he quickly gave it to you before turning to his locker just as quick.

You frowned at his reaction, “What’s wrong?”

“Uh, nothing,” he straightened up and dug around in his locker, his back still facing you.

Keeping to your promise not to get nosy, you let it go. “Okay.”

“Taeri!” Hwami called out to you.

Turning to her voice, you greeted her, “Good morning Hwami,” you smiled brightly at her. Finally, someone more familiar.

“Don’t you have your dance classes today?” she stopped next to you. “Oh.” Jinsik turned around to face her too.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” The two of them greeted each other.

At the same time, the two turned to you. Feeling put in the spot, you hesitated, “Um, Jinsik needed to get his water bottle before classes started.”

“Right.” Hwami pointedly looked at the boy’s empty hands.

“Uh, I must have left it somewhere else,” Jinsik smiled at you. “Did you want to go to the studios now? Before we’re late?”

“Right,” you turned to Hwami. “I’ll see you at lunch?”

“Yeah. There’s something I want to talk to you about. You remember about what happened the other day? During lunch?”

You thought about it for a second but only remembered your conversations with one another. “Okay?”

Hwami must have seen the confusion on your face because her smile turned a little forced, “I mean about that book you got. Did you return it to its owner?”

Many books and their titles flashed in your mind before one in particular popped up. The confession book. You looked down at the floor, “Not yet.”

“You better do give it back before you get in trouble,” the warning in your friend’s voice was clear. “I’ll help you if you want me to.”

“Thanks Hwami.”

She patted your shoulder reassuringly. “Lunch then.” She nodded at the quiet boy next to you before walking off.

Jinsik closed his locker and you both walked down the hallway. It was more crowded now with time winding down to the start of classes. There was almost no space between your shoulders and you had crossed your arms so your hands wouldn’t accidentally bump into each other’s again.  It was quiet between you two until you got to the stairs leading up to the dance studios.

“Do you still want to hang out next week?” he stared straight ahead as he asked while you looked up at him. You slowed down going up the steps and he took the last two steps in one leap. He looked down at you with a nervous smile. “You don’t have to meet up with me, you know. If you don’t want to, I mean. Whatever you want is okay.”

You frowned, wondering if this was his way of letting you know he didn’t want to hang out with you anymore. But why did he ask in the first place if he didn’t want to spend time with you? “I do.”

“Really?”