Mark was walking with two of his fellow classmates. They had attached themselves to his side and wouldn’t leave him alone. The first was Jackson, an energetic guy who seemed to have a hard time keeping his mouth shut. He had approached Mark, looking to recruit him to the school fencing club. According to Jackson it didn’t matter if he knew how to fence or not, he was just looking for more members so the club didn’t get cut next semester.

       “It will help you pick up chicks. Girls like guys who are good at that kind of stuff,” Jackson spouted off.

       “Did you forget the part where I don’t know how to fence?” Mark cast a wary glance at the other boy.

       “I can teach you. It’s a club! You can learn how to fence after you join. You think everyone on the basketball team knew how to play basketball before they joined?”

       Mark was going to argue that those were basically two very different sports, but thought better of it. It didn’t seem like it would be easy to reason with this guy. As Jackson was going on about how it would look good when they went to college after having been in a club like that, a short haired girl came along and hooked Jackson around the neck with her arm. She held him in a headlock, all the while Jackson fought to get out of her hold.

       “What did I tell you about harassing people to join your club?” she voiced. She looked up at Mark with a smile. She held out her free hand to him and said, “Hi, I’m Amber. I’m here to save you from this dweeb.”

       Jackson finally broke free. “Don’t call me that!”

       And since that moment Mark hadn’t been able to shake the duo. They were in the class next door to him and it was lunch time. Mark looked at his watch and noted that he should probably hurry up so Suzy wasn’t alone. With Amber and Jackson in tow they crossed the schoolyard to where Suzy was already sitting. She was reading a book and not paying attention. Jackson ran forward and sat beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, seeming to shock her. Suzy looked up from her book, her eyes wide with alarm. She glanced from Jackson to Mark as if to say what is this guy doing?

       Mark sat down beside her and Amber across from them. Amber reached for Jackson, dragging him to her side. She gave an apologetic wave to Suzy.

       “This is Jackson and Amber,” Mark said after a moment of silence between them. Suzy introduced herself to them, a smile coming easily to her lips. Mark was surprised that she looked pretty relaxed then. He remembered when the trio that used to be her friends had appeared and she had seemed to tense up. Even with the other kids in their class she wasn’t that relaxed. But in the presence of Jackson and Amber she seemed to be at ease. In fact, the three of them ended up talking for a majority of the break, mostly with Jackson trying to recruit Suzy to join his club. To Mark and Amber’s surprise, Suzy agreed to join.

       “What? You don’t think it’s a good idea?” Suzy asked as she and Mark headed back to class. “It sounds like fun. Besides, I didn’t want to disappoint him. Jackson looked so sad when I first said no. It’ll only be for a little while anyways.”

       “What do you mean?”

       “I probably won’t be able to participate in club activities next semester,” Suzy replied. The tone of her voice told Mark that he shouldn’t prob further. As they were rounded the corner Suzy ran into another student, dropping her tape recorder in the process. As she went to pick it up, a foot came down hard, smashing the recorder. Suzy drew back in surprise and looked up at the classmate she had run into.

       “Oops,” Jiyeon said, her face displaying all too well how pleased she was with herself. “My bad.” Without even so much as a fake apology, Jiyeon sauntered off. Suzy stared after the girl, tears twinkling at the edges of her eyes.

       Mark picked up the tape recorder and sighed. Just with a simple glance he could see it probably wasn’t going to work anymore. He handed the mangled piece of equipment over to Suzy, who took it reluctantly with shaking hands. She held the tape recorder close to her chest as they continued on to the classroom. Mark was angry in that moment, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He wanted to comfort Suzy, but she walked ahead of him and entered the classroom before he could utter a single thing.

       Mark dug through one of the few unpacked boxes that still remained from the move. He was looking for something he was sure he had seen get packed into one of the boxes. When moving from place to place it was sometimes necessary to just throw useless stuff in the trash than to take it with them, but he was sure his dad hadn't thrown it out – even though they had all agreed that no one needed it.

       Finally his hand brushed against something familiar and he wrapped his fingers around the object. It was a digital recorder, a big step up from Suzy's old tape recorder. He shoved the unpacked box back into the closet and retreated to his room where he put the recorder in his school bag.

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A/N: Just a short update while I try to remember how I wanted this story to go...