“Eunsook, sit with us!” Joonhi called to her as she entered the gymnasium. She hated gym class, especially now that all of the girls were beginning to develop and had to worry about changing in front of each other. Eunsook had always been self conscious about her weight but it was amplified in gym class.

Joonhi, her best friend since that fateful day in 6^th grade chorus, smiles as she joins her and some other girls that are sitting on the bleachers. Eunsook knows some but not all of them but she is content to just sit as the girls chatter on about their summer vacations.

The bell rings and one of the teachers strides into the gym, making all of the girls, and some of the boys, swoon. Coach Taecyeon is tall and muscular, and Eunsook gulps at the thought of how embarrassing it will be to run in front of him for a whole semester. He talks them through the class rules before dismissing them to play court volleyball for the rest of the class for an easy first day.

Eunsook joins the other girls' team and notices that they are distracted from playing, giggling while looking over to some of the boys on the other side of the gym. She looks over and notices that while there are some very attractive boys in their class, she knows exactly who they are fawning over: Choi Minho. Minho has been in Eunsook’s class since third grade but he definitely has started to grow up and is much taller and cuter now that his eyes aren't too big for his face. (Now his eyes crinkle just right and his smiles makes Eunsook melt.)

If the other girls have noticed him then there is no way she stands a chance. She dejectedly serves the volleyball and overshoots, hitting someone directly on the back of the head. Eunsook yells an apology and rushes over, blushing. A disgruntled Mir glares at her as she continues apologizing when the ball in suddenly into her outstreched hands.

“Here you go, Eunsook-ssi,” Minho says, smiling at her. “Just ignore Mir here. He’s upset that he got hit by a girl, “ and he winks at her – winks!

Eunsook makes a strange noise in response, unable to form a coherent thought. Minho’s smile falters and she can feel her face flush and her ears turn red. She turns quickly and runs to where Joonhi and the other girls are waiting for her, in awe that Choi Minho talked to her. She tries to relay the story but can’t get more than a few words out before the bell rings signaling they have to go their next class.

If Eunsook thought gym class was going to be hard to focus, then she was wrong because it turned out that she and Minho had every single class together and were always given seats next to each other. After the first few weeks of classes, Eunsook's nerves dwindled and she began to relax and joke around with Minho like they were friends even though she desperately wanted to be more than friends.

Eunsook was right about gym class though. After one month into the school year all students had to do the health tests to assess where they were at in the beginning of the year in comparison to how they did at the end. She hated all of the health tests (who honestly liked doing push ups or sits ups?!) but she despised the pacer test more than anything. Running had never been her strong suit due to her heavier stature and she loathed having to do it in front of everyone.

After 12 passes she was ready to quit, but the thought of being the first to stop made her keep going. She began to drag behind everyone but just when she was about to give up, she heard a soft, “You can do it, Eunsook! Just a few more laps!”

Eunsook looked to her right and saw that Minho was running next to her, keeping pace with her. He smiled when she looked at him and gave her a thumbs up.

With Minho at her side, she made it 7 more laps before she had to quit. When she finally sat down, Minho smiled over at her and waggled his eyebrows making her laugh and forget about how miserable she was for a minute. Of course he lasted until the very end of the class. He was only slightly panting when he finished and walked over to where she was sitting.

“Good job, Eunsook!” She returned his smile and high five, happy that he wasn’t looking down on her for not being a good runner.

“I am so ready for lunch! Let’s go!” Minho said, ushering her into the cafeteria after their next class. Eunsook laughed and followed him, secretly thrilled that he was holding her hand. They went through the line and he indeed was hungry, asking for two servings of everything. Eunsook followed behind with her tray ready to ask for two servings as well, but before she could ask the lunch lady looked at her and gave her only one saying, “Here honey, this is all you need.”

Embarrassed to ask for more but knowing that she would be hungry later, Eunsook bowed her head and accepted the tray before following Minho to the check out. After they sat down, Minho dug into his food right away but Eunsook only played with hers, trying to make it last as long as possible.

After a while Minho noticed her mood and slowed down, swallowing his mouthful of food to ask, “What’s wrong, noona?”

“Oh! It’s nothing, Minho-ah." Minho frowned as if he didn’t believe her. At this point they knew each other very well and he could tell when she was lying.

“Noona, what is it? Do you feel okay?” he pressed, setting his chopsticks down to giver her his full attention.

She was ashamed to answer but knew that he wouldn’t relent – he could be very stubborn- so she finally mumbled, “I didn’t get enough…”

“What, noona? Speak louder,” he said, leaning closer to hear her better.

“I d-didn’t get enough rice,” she says, looking up at him. “They only gave me one serving but I wanted-”

“Who didn’t give you enough?!” he blurts out, standing up in anger.

“The lunch lady. She s-said I only needed one serving.” Eunsook finished lamely.

“Stay here, I will get you more.” And at that Minho takes off to supposedly get her more food. Eunsook stares after him unsure of what just happened and confused if she should feel embarrassed or not.

When he returns, he has a tray with two cups of rice. He places one in front of his food and gently places the other before her.

“Here, noona,” he smiles, and Eunsook feels her heart flutter at the gesture and what it might mean.

“Thank you, Minho-ah,” she says, smiling shyly and he digs back into his meal. She smiles at the dorky way he holds his chopsticks in between bites and can’t help but let her heart open a little bit more, maybe there’s something there. Maybe.