“What was up with yesterday?” Yoora demanded. She was the one waiting at the drop-off which surprised you more than yesterday when it was Jinsik. She looked way more confrontational than him though. She had her arms crossed as she glared at you already more than a little irritated that you took your time answering. “Well?”

“Good morning Yoora,” you thought it best to greet her first. Which turned out to be wrong.

“Don’t you ‘good morning’ me, Jejudo,” she grabbed your arm. “Now tell me what he did to you.”

“Jinsik?” you were grasping at straws right now to diffuse the situation. Again, you said the wrong thing.

“Who else?! Do you have another guy who holds your hand like that?”

You frowned, “No.”

“Then tell me what happened yesterday.”

You slowly nodded. “Okay. Um,” your eyes fell to the ground. “Where do you want me to begin?”

“Wait,” she held out a hand as she looked behind you and then checked both sides. “Does he walk you to the school now?”

You looked at her puzzled. “He did yesterday.”

Her head swung back to you. “Did you expect him to do the same today?”

You shook your head, “No. I didn’t think he would ever do that.”

“Well, it sure looks like there are a few who thought he was going to do the same today,” she turned her heated glare at a group of girls to the side of the stone walkway. Your eyes trained on them too but they avoided your gaze. You looked at them confused as you normally wouldn’t have even notice them if you hadn’t had Yoora point it out for you.

“What do you mean?”

“Word spreads fast, Jejudo.” Was all she said as she linked arms together with you. She pulled you to the doors just as they opened on their own. It caught you by surprise but Yoora was the first to react as she barked, “We have hands you know!” She was looking to her right and you also did the same. There was a boy who sat on the ledge next to the door and it looked like he had pushed the button that was usually reserved for the disabled.

You tugged at her and pulled her inside before she really got rolling.

“Honestly,” she muttered as she let you guide her through the doors and you could only smile. “Actually,” you lost your smile at the serious tone in her voice. “We should probably discuss this with Hwami. She usually has good ideas so we should wait to meet up with her.” She nodded, now determined.

“Then, we’ll wait until lunch?” you asked.

She nodded again. “Yeah. But we can’t eat in the cafeteria,” she pulled out her phone.

“But I didn’t bring a lunch,” you were now worried. Today’s dances were supposed to be strenuous as evaluations were coming up later on in the week and your dance instructors had warned you so. You didn’t know how you would continue on in the day if you didn’t eat to gain some energy.

“Don’t worry, Jejudo. I’ll have that covered,” Yoora’s hand patted the arm still linked to hers. “I’ll just ask my mom or sister to bring something for us three.”

“Really? They won’t mind?”

“They better not,” but even so with her confident words, she still lacked a little assurance that usually came with her words.

She led you to her locker which was in a different wing than yours. Very rarely did you venture to this part of the school as you usually were in the other wing on another floor where the dance studios were or where your own locker was. This side of the school was heavily silent as far as being soundproofed went. The singing classes were taken in this wing so that was to be expected. Most of the time you heard one student warming up his or her voice as it echoed in the hallway.

Yoora opened her locker in the meantime. “The dinner at your place is this Saturday, right?”

You replied, “Yes. My parents and I are looking forward to it.”

You thought you saw one side of her cheeks lift but you weren’t too sure. “Should I dress up for them?”

“Umm,” you had to think about if for a bit. “I believe your consideration would be appreciated.”

“Okay.” She shrugged as she began pulling out a book.

She closed her locker. “Shoot, I forgot to get my pencil,” she muttered before turning to open her locker once again. “How long do you think the dinner will be?”

“I think just until dessert. So I would say about two hours? My parents won’t keep you from your family or your studies.”

“What do you think they may want to know? My parents, their jobs and what not?”

You felt a little uncomfortable when she asked that but you knew that was a society norm. “More than likely.”

“And what if they say you can’t be friends with me or Hwami?” she had stopped fumbling in her locker as she asked this question.

Clearly, she wanted to hear your answer and it was a tough question to consider. In so short of a time, Yoora and Hwami had become clear friends you had lacked for so long. There are a few girls you could recognize recital to recital after possibly studying under the same teacher but none had become what Hwami and Yoora are to you now. “I,” you wanted to assure her that she and Hwami were precious to you but she held out a hand to you, stopping you from further speaking.

“Just kidding Jejudo,” she finally turned a smile at you. “Now, I can’t wait until lunch so you can finally fill Hwami and I on the dirt.”

“Dirt?” your thoughts had become a little disorganized at the sudden change in topic.

“Yes, between Jinsik the bastard and you.” You quickly looked around to see if anyone heard her and she laughed. “Don’t worry Jejudo. I’m not afraid of him.”

“It’s not that,” you whispered though you didn’t know why you were even doing that but continued to nonetheless. “What if someone heard you say that?”

“What? Don’t like me badmouthing your boyfriend.” She chuckled when you couldn’t stop the blush from emerging.

“No,” you whisper yelled.

She laughed outright at your expression. “You’re so funny Jejudo.”

The bell rang and you looked up in surprise. You had gotten to school rather early as your mother had to get to her office early today. This was another reason you were so surprised to see Yoora waiting for you so early in the school day. Time passed before you knew it.

“Let’s go Jejudo,” she clasped your arm and went down the hallway. “I’ll walk you to your stairs since I have time to pass and there is no way I will ever be the first one in the classroom.”

She tugged you to the stairs and the scowl that formed on her lips only grew in form when you both saw Jinsik waiting at the door of the front entrance. He waved at you both but he was looking at you. “Hey, I was waiting for you but I guess you came in earlier than I thought.”

His smile was warm as he took you in. “Good morning,” you smiled back.

“Here you go,” Yoora unclasped your arms and gave you a push to him. It wasn’t a powerful push but more of a nudge. “I took care of her for you.”

“Um, okay,” Jinsik gave her a tentative smile as you walked up to him. You could see that his smile was a little strained and you didn’t want it to be that way but so far there wasn’t much you could do to ease the tension.

“We’ll be taking her for lunch so don’t go looking for her,” Yoora’s words were sharp as she gave you a significant look and you nodded in return. “Don’t make her feel awkward again at a table full of guys.” With a swirl, she was stalking back up the hall.

You both watched her leave until she disappeared around a corner. “Well, I guess I won’t be seeing you for lunch.” He turned to you as he took your hand. You started at that but let him clasp it.

“Yes. I guess we will have to coordinate lunches with Yoora and Hwami.” You looked up at him and he squeezed your hand.

“I don’t mind sharing,” his smile was now free. He started to pull you to the stairs. “Let’s go, I don’t think you’re the type that likes to be late.”

You took one more glance behind you only to see Yoora’s head duck around the corner but not before she gave you the thumbs up. Your voice was a bit brighter as you said, “You’re right.”

He let you go once you reached the lockers and you made quick work of changing. There were more than a few girls who were still getting ready but the sight of so many girls had become a common thing here. It was only the way they stared or gave you mean glances that you wished wasn’t so common as it was these days. You had long accepted that you had yet to be fully comfortable around other dancers that weren’t Jooae or Jinsik. You just didn’t know what to do about it since you knew you couldn’t change whatever it was that made them dislike you when you didn’t even know what that was. And you tried not to think about it. You really did. But it was times like now when it actually happen when your thoughts would drift back and wonder about it.

You hadn’t talk to more than a quarter of these girls before. You were really only familiar with the girls you’ve shared classes with and only a handful did you ever speak to them about something or they spoke to you. Sure a few of these girls had questioned you or something about Jinsik but at least you recognized these girls. These others that stared and whispered to one another openly were the ones that got to you. They were the older ones that made you feel small.

So you changed with your head ducked down so as to draw as little attention to you as possible. None pretended to take notice of you for which you were glad as it left you a semblance of peace to change and then get out. You had taken to fixing your hair just before class instead of sticking around for the mirrors.

So you quickly locked everything up and left with the bag you take to your classes. You skirted around a few girls who were still getting ready but you got out of there without any incidents. Jinsik was once again waiting for you but one of his friends was with him. He held his hand out to you and you thoughtlessly took it but you were more than paranoid about the students who were in the hallway. You didn’t want to feel like this but things were getting away from you now.

Jinsik spoke with his friend as he took you down the hall not seeming to mind the attention that a few onlookers were trying not to make obvious, boys and girls alike but some weren’t bothering with false fronts. At that point you were staring down at the floor as he took you to your class and you only mumbled a bye before you escaped into the studio for more staring and glaring.

It was only in Jooae did you find a small smile that gave you a break. For the last week or so you both talked to one another a bit more but she had her own friends in class so it wasn’t as much as you would want but you would take a little friendliness that was offered to you.

Because the teachers were strict, there was no room for a few of the girls to continue making you feel small as you took those classes seriously. It was to the point that you gained a reprieve from those paranoid jitteriness that you’ve come to see in yourself. You embraced this chance with your movements and expression on the forefront of your mind. It was with regret that class was so quick to end but it did help you sweat out some tension and you were already looking forward to the next session. You followed the girls out and Jooae was kind enough to walk with you to the next class. Jinsik gave you a sweet smile in between class as he walked in the opposite direction with a few of his friends.

It was when you were stretching when Jooae spoke about something different than usual. “Did you want to hang out with a few of us next weekend? We’re heading to the theater for a performance for the ending of fall.”

By t