“…pink eyeshadow and — hey, Soojung, listen to me!”

 

“Hmm? What?” Soojung glanced at her friend and tried making her eyes look more alive by blinking multiple times. “I’m listening…” she mumbled, doodling diamonds on her biology notebook.

 

Jinri rolled her eyes and poked Soojung’s arm with her pen. “No, you weren’t. I was saying that I read this makeup tip where you pair a cat-eye with bright pink eyeshadow, and I was thinking of getting a peach dress that would probably look nice with the — ”

 

Soojung took a deep breath and tried to focus on what her teacher was saying about prokaryotic cells, which at this point was beginning to interest her more than Jinri’s rambling about the Homecoming dance. Her friend’s excitement amused her at first, but after weeks and weeks of extreme details about dresses and makeup and hairstyles, she was running out of ways to react. She was somewhat grateful when the bell rang and dismissed the class.

 

Jinri was silent as they walked to the cafeteria, and Soojung was somewhat concerned that she’d upset her friend. She wasn’t the most perceptive person, but a silent Jinri was a flashing red sign. “Jinri-yah, are you mad at me?”

 

“What? No!” Jinri turned to her with wide eyes. “No, I was just thinking that…” She rolled her eyeballs upward and pursed her lips, a classic Jinri thinking pose. “You’re so unenthusiastic about Homecoming, Soojung.”

 

“And you’re so overenthusiastic,” Soojung deadpanned. “What’s your point?”

 

Jinri grabbed Soojung’s wrist. “But I want us to be excited together, Soojung! This is my last Homecoming…”

 

Soojung sighed. “Don’t remind me.”

 

“Hey, we’ve talked about this. We’ll chat and Skype all the time, it’s not like we’ll never talk again…”

 

“Remember when Jiyoung and Sohyun moved away? I mean, we do still talk to them, but it’s not the same.”

 

“Well, I’m not going away as far as they are, Soojung. We’ll still meet from time to time.”

 

“Yeah. And in the meantime, I’m stuck with those two idiots…” Soojung directed her gaze towards Jongin and Sehun, sitting at their usual lunch table, flicking corn and beansprouts at each other. “And then forget updos or crown braids or whatever it is you’ve been talking about these past few weeks… I’ll end up with salad hair for Homecoming.” They reached the table, and Soojung leaned over to smack Sehun’s hand when he positioned it to throw a piece of kimchi at Jongin. “You guys are gross.”

 

“How did you even get out of class so quickly?” Jinri questioned, setting her bag down on the table.

 

“They were probably waiting by the door halfway into the lesson,” Soojung said. 

 

Jongin kicked her under the table. “Smartass. Actually, we were let out early.”

 

“You think so badly of us, Jung Soojung,” Sehun says, sticking a straw in his milk carton. “We’re really very dedicated to school.”

 

Soojung narrowed her eyes. “You two once tried to cook instant ramyeon on a ceramic hotplate in science class. I have a lot of evidence against that statement.”

 

Before either of them could respond, Taemin got to the table with Zitao, the Chinese student who came a couple of years ago and was now a senior along with Taemin and Kyungsoo. The seven of them were the self-proclaimed “official lunch table group”, who actually didn’t just meet for lunch but often met up with one another to play or study. The group actually centered around Sehun and Jongin: everyone started out being close to one of them, and then they eventually gathered. It started when Jongin met Sehun in seventh grade when Jongin was already close with Soojung and Taemin, and Sehun was pretty close with his same-aged cousin Sohyun, who was friends with Jinri and Jiyoung. Then Kyungsoo, who was in Taemin’s class, was assigned to tutor Jongin in Math and Jongin had taken to following him around everywhere after that. Then there was Zitao, who’d come when the hyung-line was in tenth grade and dongsaeng-line in ninth, and had gotten attached to Sehun pretty quickly.

 

So that was their group. And aside from Sohyun and Jiyoung, who’d moved away in their tenth year, they still hung out together to that day.

 

“Where’s Kyungsoo-oppa?” Jinri asked as Zitao sat next to Jongin and Taemin sat next to her. 

 

“He stayed behind to ask questions to the teacher, you know how he is.” Zitao’s Korean was still a little accented, but he’d come a long way.

 

Soojung shot a pointed glance at Jongin and Sehun. “How can I not think badly of you two when an example like Kyungsoo-oppa exists?”

 

“Yah, you’re not that smart yourself,” Sehun remarked, earning himself a slap on the arm.

 

Conversation ebbed and flowed and went to Homecoming, reigniting Jinri’s excitement as she appointed herself everybody’s matchmaker. “What about Dasom-unni? She’s pretty.”

 

“I kind of like that girl who runs track with Soojung,” Zitao says. “Lee Hae… Haeri?”

 

Soojung wrinkles her nose. “Hyeri? No, ge. She’s annoying.” 

 

“You find way too many people annoying,” Taemin said, and she pulled a face at him.

 

“What about you guys?” Jinri says to Taemin and Kyungsoo.

 

“Kyungsoo-oppa, ask Jongin to go with you,” Soojung says, and yelps as Jongin kicks her under the table. “He’s had a crush on you for ages.”

 

Kyungsoo turns his enormous eyes to Jongin. “Jongin-ah, you know you don’t have to hide any feelings from me…”

 

“Ah, hyung!” Jongin whines, and Kyungsoo and Soojung both snicker. Soojung loves to tease Jongin about his attachment to his favorite hyung, and Kyungsoo likes to comply. Jinri rolls her eyes at them and turns to Taemin, who has yet to respond. “What about you?”

 

“I don’t know… I’m not really thinking about it that much, Jinri-yah.” Taemin shrugged. “I don’t need, like, a date date. Just someone I’m comfortable with.”

 

“Well… go with Soojung,” Jinri says, nudging her best friend. 

 

Soojung almost chokes on her juice. “What? No. Go with Jinri.”

 

Jinri’s face breaks out into a smile and she leans against Soojung. “Now, if you actually listen to what I tell you in class…”

 

“Wait. Hold on. You have a date?? Who?? Jinri — how can you go on and on about eyeshadow and peaches when you — who is it??”

 

Jinri giggles. “It’s Minho-oppa!”

 

“Choi Minho?” Sehun blurts out. “The forward from our soccer team from ancient prehistoric time?”

 

“How did you even get to talk to him?” Soojung asks at the same time.

 

Jinri rolls her eyes. “He graduated only, like, two years ago, Sehun. But yes, he was on the soccer team, you should know him! And Taemin-oppa helped me out, Soojung.”

 

Soojung glances at Sehun, who was staring at Jinri with narrowed eyes. “Hey, what about you?” She nudges his shin with her foot. “Which noona are you going to pick out of your pocket this time?”

 

Sehun shifts his glance over to her and opens his mouth when Jongin beats him to it. “Believe it or not, it’s not a noona this time.”

 

“Whoa, what?” The whole table wrinkles their eyebrows together simultaneously.

 

“It’s a freshman, actually,” Jongin says with relish and takes in their reactions with satisfaction.

 

“She’s cute, okay?” Sehun mumbles, cheeks turning pink.

 

They a little more after that before conversation drifted away from homecoming and the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Soojung didn’t have class with Jinri after that, so she forgot all about the dance until after school.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Soojung is a part of their high school track and field team, so she ran around the track stadium to practice at least once a week. It was something she did because she liked it, not necessarily because it was her life’s passion or something she planned on pursuing in the long run. The same couldn’t be said for Taemin and Jongin who practiced dance after school at least three times a week. They both knew they wanted to dance for years and years after high school, so they put as much into it as they could, Taemin especially as he wanted to major in dance.

 

That same day, Soojung ran after school and Taemin danced, while Jongin for once went home straight away because his mother was having guests over and wanted him to help. So when Soojung finished her final lap, she saw only Taemin sitting on the bleachers waiting for her.

 

She picked up her water bottle, found that there was barely a sip of water inside, and glared at Taemin, who blinked back innocently. Finally he sighed, stood up and said, “Fine, it was me. I forgot mine at home… I’ll fill it up.”

 

Soojung sat down and patted her hair and face with a towel as she waited for Taemin to return. When he did, she wasted no time in grabbing the bottle from him, almost making him drop it. They sat in silence for a while, both thankful for the slight breeze caressing their sweat-soaked skin. Then Taemin calls out her name, startling her. “What?”

 

“You remember what we were saying during lunch… about homecoming dates?”

 

“Which part. About 60% of our lunch conversation was about homecoming dates, if I remember correctly.”

 

“Well, I said I didn’t want an actual date. Just someone who I’m comfortable with. And Jinri said…”

 

“…she had a date? Well, you helped her get it. And I thought you were over her…”

 

“Hey! I just thought I liked her, a little, and that was way back in eighth grade… I just knew her then… Anyway, this isn’t about Jinri, it’s about you.”

 

Very slightly, Soojung shifted her head to look him in the eye. “Me?”

 

“Yeah. I mean, I thought Jinri was joking too, at first, but then I thought about it… I mean, why not? Like I said, I don’t really want to look for a date…”

 

“And… I’ll always be around, so you don’t really have to look?”

 

“Why do you make it sound so bad? You will always be around, won’t you… and I will, too. I mean, we’re best friends. It’s not like you’re my… backup plan or something…”

 

“Then why don’t you find someone you actually like? This is your last Homecoming, Tae, I mean… Put some effort. Find someone pretty.”

 

Taemin reached out and cupped her cheek with one hand, an oddly intimate gesture. “Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You’re pretty cool.”

 

Soojung laughs. “I know that.”

 

“Pretty is a level below cool, Soojung.”

 

Soojung blinks. “So… you’re trying to tell me I’m pretty, too.”

 

Silence.

 

“Well… sort of. I guess. I… hey, look, I know it’s weird for me to say that, which is why I was trying to not say it, but you…” Taemin takes a deep breath. “The point is. Yes, I know it’s my last homecoming - and there’s still prom, by the way - and I should take someone special. Well, you’re special - you’re not, like, the school bombshell, or Sooyeon-noona’s friend that I liked, but maybe that makes it even better. I don’t want to go with someone that I have to put on my best behavior for. I wanna go with someone who gets me.”

 

More silence. Soojung awkwardly rubs her arms and Taemin picks at a loose thread on his shirt. Finally, he bumps his knee to hers. “Hey, don’t make this so tense. It’s Homecoming, not the Academy Awards. I thought you out of all people would be casual about this.”

 

“I don’t know, it… just feels weird to be asked out to a dance. By you, out of all people. But I…” She turns to look at him. “Okay. I’ll do it. You’ve convinced me.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.” She gives him a nudge. “I can do this. I’ll go with you.”

 

“Gee, thanks!” He throws an arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer. “Really, though, I appreciate it.”

 

“No prob.” Soojung barely manages to hide a smile. “It just amuses me to know how much you wanted me.”

 

Taemin laughs and pushes her away lightly. “Don’t get above yourself.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

Taemin walks her home as Jongin usually does it. He and Soojung still live next to each other, so they usually walk home together every day; on the days when Jongin has dance and Soojung doesn’t have track, she would wait in the library and study. If she’d gotten all her homework done by the time he finished, she would rope him into playing video games when they got home, and Jongin would forget to do his homework.

 

Taemin and Soojung wanted to sneak into Jongin’s house for food, but his mom’s guests haven’t left yet and they couldn’t reach him, so Taemin ended up going home. Two hours later, Soojung was sitting at her kitchen table doing homework in her PJ’s when Jongin comes in with leftover japchae and mandoo. “Hey, I just read your text. Did Taemin leave already?”

 

“Yeah.” Soojung makes a mad dash to the kitchen cabinet for chopsticks. “How was the party? What did you have to do?” 

 

Jongin rolls his eyes and grabs a pair of chopsticks from her. “Go out and buy napkins as well as other plastic cutlery - that ‘look like steel’, she doesn’t even know the name, so I looked like an idiot trying to explain them to the store person - then go out again because she forgot to tell me to buy eggs, serve tea only about once every three minutes, endure hours of middle-aged ladies pinching my cheeks and telling me how handsome I’ve become. Fun stuff. I didn’t even get to eat. And they finished the chicken!”

 

“Enjoy it while you can,” Soojung mumbles with a mouth full of japchae. “They’re probably the only people who will tell you you’re handsome.”

 

Jongin reaches over to flick her forehead. “You don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Jung Soojung.”

 

Soojung grins at him and they concentrate on stuffing their faces after that. While eating, Soojung’s mind wanders over to what happened with Taemin, and thought that she should probably tell Jongin about it. “Hey, um… So, something happened with Taemin today, and I j- I should probably tell you.”

 

“What?” Jongin picks up two pieces of dumplings simultaneously with his chopsticks.

 

“So… we’re going to Homecoming together,” Soojung says, and jumps when Jongin drops both dumplings in the bowl of soy sauce and spatters dark liquid on the table. “Yah, Kkamjong!”

 

“Sorry, sorry. I…” Jongin trips over to the sink and grabs some paper towels. “Wow. Okay, so… That’s really weird. Uh… He didn’t say anything to me about it? Why?”

 

“He said that he just thought of it when Jinri brought it up today during lunch, so… yeah. I guess. And we’re not making it into a big deal or anything, we’re just… Just going together. I thought you should know.”

 

“Mmm… kay.” Jongin picks up the soy sauce-drenched dumplings and puts them on his plate, then proceeds to stare at them instead of eating them. Soojung doesn’t notice and keeps on eating until she looks up and realizes he was still fixed in the same position. “Uh… Something wrong?”

 

“What? No. I…” Jongin comes back to life and starts eating again. “It’s just a little weird.”

 

Soojung shrugs. “Yeah. It’s weird for me too. Probably also weird for Taemin. But, whatever, right? It’s just Homecoming. And we’re just going because it’s comfortable for both of us.” She smirks at him. “What, do you feel left out or something? It’s not like you were planning to ask me. I told you, go with Kyungsoo-oppa.”

 

“Jung Soojung, I will stab you with a chopstick — ”

 

Soojung laughs and swats his chopsticks away from her face with hers. “Chill out.”

 

Jongin makes a face at her and returns to his food. Soojung walks to the fridge to get them water. “Do you want to play FIFA 15? I ordered it online last week and it just came in the mail today.”

 

Jongin sighs. “I have a lot of homework, Soojung. I just spent five hours of my life catering to a dozen overexcited ahjummas. That’s five hours I’ll never get back.”

 

Soojung turns from the fridge and stares at him, and Jongin thought she would whine when she said, “Do you want me to help you?”

 

“Eh - what?”

 

“Me. Help you. Homework.”

 

“Ah…” Jongin blanks. “No, I… It’s fine. It… physics. You can’t. Kyungsoo. Hyung is helping.”

 

“Do you need to go back to kindergarten language class?” She walked over to his side and poured him a glass of water, leaning over a little too far, and he chokes and desperately looks away. “Hm? I can’t help you with physics, but if you need a lesson with basic phonetics — ”

 

“Uh…” Jongin grabs at his plastic containers and starts to pack up. “I should - I should go. Um, I have to…”

 

“Hey, there’s still one more dumpling in that!” Soojung lunges forward and Jongin makes the mistake of turning in her direction. “YAH, JUNG SOOJUNG!”

 

Startled, Soojung draws back abruptly. “What! Did you want the dumpling that badly…”

 

Jongin sighs and buries his face in his hands. This girl and her one-track mind… “Soojung… You have to be careful when you wear clothes like that. You’re not five anymore, you know…”

 

Soojung frowns at her T-shirt and shorts. “My pajamas? You’re not really one to be giving me fashion advice… I know this shirt is old but - ”

 

“Old and oversized,” Jongin adds, and his face turns red. “You shouldn’t be leaning over me in that.”

 

Soojung finally gets it, and freezes. “Um…” She lets a curtain of hair fall over her face and packs up his things in superspeed. “Um, yeah. You should go.” She rushes over to the sink, washes her hands in two seconds and bolts up the stairs. “Close the door on your way out,” she calls over her shoulder.

 

Jongin was finally able to breathe when she was out of view. Slowly, he picks up his things and gets to the door. If he wasn’t so embarrassed himself, he would probably be laughing at an embarrassed Soojung, but the truth is he was probably a hundred times more flustered than she was.

 

//

a/n. title taken from the song "come back when you grow up" by bobby vee.