For the past couple of days, Sooyoung was nowhere to be found. Tiffany and Yuri looked everywhere. They had a spare key to Sooyoung’s dorm, but she wasn’t in there. They searched the entire school, from top to bottom, even the Literature Club, but she was no where to be found. While all of that was happening, Sunny was still going on her usual day as if nothing was wrong. It didn’t even seem like anything was wrong to begin with since Tiffany and Yuri haven’t said a word to her about their situation at all.

 

“So you haven’t heard from her at all?”

 

Tiffany nodded and sipped her coffee, “I’m starting to get worried. She wasn’t in the best shape after we left the restaurant that night.”

 

“What’d she do?”

 

“Unnie, have you heard from her?” Tiffany looked at the girl sitting across the table from her. “I think I know where she is, but it’s a long drive from there and Yuri has been super busy with some of her personal issues that I don’t feel right bothering her about this.”

 

“Where is this place?”

 

“When we were in middle school, we took an overnight field trip there. Yul, Youngie, Bunny and I stayed up the entire night turning it into a secret hideout. It actually is kind of cool if you think about it.”

 

“But where is it?” The older one laugh.

 

Tiffany pulled a map out of her backpack and made a small circle, “It’s somewhere around here.”

 

“Somewhere?” The girl looked at Tiffany. “As in, it’s somewhere in that general area?”

 

“C’mon, Sica Unnie!” Tiffany held her hands. “I really need to know if Youngie is over there.”

 

“Alright, all right.” Jessica nodded. “We leave Saturday morning. You can come to my apartment Friday night and sleep over, but if you aren’t, be there by 8AM. Got it?”

 

Tiffany nodded, “Cross my heart. I’ll be there Friday night so we can have an early start.”

 

Jessica stood up and smiled, “Good. I’ll see you then.”

 

— — — — —

 

“What are you so happy about?” Yuri looked at Tiffany who hadn’t stopped smiling since the two of them had met up later that night to sleep in Tiffany’s dorm.

 

“Are you busy this Friday and Saturday?” Tiffany asked once again.

 

“Yeah.” Yuri answered a tad irritated. “No matter how many times you ask me that, I will always be busy and that won’t change the fact that I’m going out of town with my dance group for a competition.”

 

Tiffany smiled and nodded. “Alright, I got it. You’re busy. I guess you won’t be going with us to our spot back when we were in middle school.”

 

“Us?” Yuri gave her an odd look. “Who are you going with? Sunny isn’t talking to us, Youngie is somewhere in Korea and I’m out of town.”

 

“Take a guess.” Tiffany’s smile got even wider.

 

“No.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How?”

 

“A lot of begging.”

 

“Was she on her knees or were you on your knees?”

 

“Yah.” Tiffany smacked the back of Yuri’s head. “Don’t be a ert.”

 

Yuri swiftly moved from Tiffany’s hit and laughed. “So I guess this means that I’ll soon be the only single one in the group, right?”

 

“Don’t misunderstand.” Tiffany stuck her hands in her jacket pockets. “I don’t even think that she likes me that way. I’m way too young for her. Besides, she won’t ever go for someone like me anyway. I’m sure that she’s interested in guys who are taller and her age.”

 

Yuri shrugged, “I think that you shouldn’t shut yourself down like that. There is still a chance that she might like you. It’s a long shot, but you still have a shot at it.”

 

“You think so?” Tiffany said.

 

Yuri let out a fast sigh and looked forward, “Your good, Ppany. Remember that.”

 

Tiffany smiled. “What do you say about some food before we head to my dorm?”

 

— — — — —

 

A short girl was walking around the campus. Her so-called friends had been ignoring her for the past month and she had taken it upon herself to stop trying so hard in fitting in the group. She had always felt outcasted from her group of friends even though they called each other best friends. Something had always been off whenever the four of them were together. 

 

The first few years, the feeling was never there, maybe it was deep in her brain, but it was never evident. As the years passed, the girl started to notice that her three friends always had a lot in common. When the four of them were together, it seemed like it would somehow turn into the three of them and they would forget all about her. At first, she just thought that it was just them having fun, but as the years had passed, she started noticing how much fun they had without her. It caught her off guard, but she started reflecting on the past.

 

She sighed as she walked past their old elementary school.

 

“Ready, set go!” A shorter version of Sooyoung screamed as she started running after a young Yuri, Tiffany and Sunny. “I’m coming after you, Bunny! You have the shortest legs out of all of us!”

 

“Yah!” Sunny screamed. “Choi Sooyoung! I run faster than you!”

 

Tiffany and Yuri had taken the chance to run the other way. The two stopped running as their eyes followed where Sooyoung was chasing Sunny around the playground.

 

“Wahh!” Sunny screamed as she ran towards her other two friends.

 

“No Bunny!” Tiffany and Yuri screamed as they scrambled in different directions to prevent Sooyoung from tagging them.

 

“Tag!” Sooyoung screamed. “You’re it!”

 

Sunny looked at the green grass. The very same grass they used to have their lunch at and run around. Back when everything was still simple. She hugged herself as she tried to keep herself warm from the night’s cold breeze.

 

“It’s supposed to be summer, dammit.” She sniffled. “Why is it  cold?” She looked around, expecting someone to answer her back. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and kept walking.

 

For the past month and a half, she had been with Narsha, eating lunch in the Robotics room. She knew that she should have gone to see Sooyoung like she had promised, but something had held her back. It was that same day that she had asked Narsha to give her the second button from her blazer. Something had been bothering her ever since then and she knew that she should keep her distance from her three friends for a while. After all, Narsha had always been there for her when her three friends weren’t.

 

“Sunny?” Narsha asked as she took a seat next to the girl. “What are you doing here? It’s after hours. Shouldn’t you be home?”

 

Sunny nodded, “I should be home.”

 

“Well?” Narsha looked at her, expecting to get an answer from the girl.

 

“My friends and I were supposed to go have dinner somewhere since it’s the end of our freshman year, but they ended up leaving me here.” Sunny looked like she was about to cry. “They said that they wanted to celebrate the end of our first high school year together, but they forgot all about me!” She started sobbing.

 

Narsha quickly embraced her, “It’s okay. It’ll be okay. I’m sure they didn’t mean it.”

 

“How can they forget their own best friend?!” Sunny wailed. “We were suppose to go have sushi together. Now I’m hungry and friendless.”

 

Narsha let out a small chuckle, “Why don’t we go have dinner somewhere?”

 

Sunny looked up, “Really?”

 

Narsha nodded, “Yeah. Think of it as you celebrating the survival of your first year of high school and me celebrating my last year in high school.”

 

She knew that she shouldn’t be thinking bad thoughts about her friends, but she couldn’t help it. They were suppose to be her best friends, but for some reason, it didn’t feel like that anymore.

 

Middle School

 

“Bunny, let’s all go to the park after school, okay?” Tiffany grinned. 

 

Sunny grinned, “Sure. How come the park?”

 

Tiffany shrugged, “Yul thought that we can just hang out there and stuff. You wanna come?’’

 

“Yeah I do.” Sunny smiled. “Where did you guys wanna meet up?”

 

“Why don’t we meet up at our spot behind the school?” Sooyoung asked. “Does that sound okay?”

 

“Yeah.” Yuri grinned.

 

DING

 

“Alright.” Sooyoung picked up her backpack and started walking away. “Be there as soon as you can, okay? Don’t be late!” She called as she disappeared in the crowd of students.

 

“I won’t!” Sunny called after her.

 

That day, Sunny was so excited about hanging out with her friends, that she practically ran to the spot in the back of the school. She patiently waited there with a grin on her face, but her friends never showed up. She checked her phone, but there weren’t any text messages from them. 

 

An hour had passed and she was starting to give up and started heading home. She saw her friends the next day, but neither of them apologized for not going to the spot after school. She sighed and continued as if nothing was wrong.

 

When they graduated middle school, Sunny had hope that the three would change their way, but they stayed the same.

 

Freshman Year of High School

 

“Wah!” Sooyoung looked around the campus in awe. “This is what high school looks like.”

 

Yuri grinned, “I have a feeling that this is gonna be one of the best years of our lives.”

 

“Let’s make some memories!” Tiffany hugged all four of her friends. “Let’s meet at the park after school and go to our favorite restaurant and pig out. We should celebrate our very first day of high school together.”

 

“Let’s meet at this very spot after school and let’s go eat at Soshi’s Palace!” Sooyoung smiled. “This would be an awesome way to kick off our first day of high school, right?”

 

“Is everyone good with the idea?” Yuri looked at her friends who just nodded back.

 

Later that day, Sunny walked to the spot that her friends had agreed to and patiently waited for them to arrive.

 

Ding.

 

Sunny looked at her phone:

~Ppany~

 

‘Bunny! 

We decided to go somewhere else

It was kinda last minute so I hope you understand

See ya tomorrow!

 

It was always the three of them plus Sunny. It was never just the four of them. At first, Sunny thought that it was harmless and that they didn’t really do it on purpose to hurt her, but the more that started doing it, the more she felt as if they really were trying to exclude her out of their little group. Even though she felt left out, Sooyoung always made her feel like she was a part of the group. Sooyoung was the one who was always inviting her to go to places with them and making sure that she was being taken care of.

 

“Are you starting to get sick?” Sooyoung took Sunny’s face in her hands. “Have you not been sleeping again? Is it robotics again?”

 

Sunny broke away from Sooyoung’s hold, “Leave my face alone, you giant.”

 

The two were sitting in front of the school under the tree, next to the round table. It was their favorite spot to go to. It was perfect. It was in front of the school, but the big plants had turned it into a small area for the two of them to go. It was a place where none of the students would ever think to go because there were so many bushes, plants and trees that just by looking at the area, someone would just assume that there would be more of those, not a small bench and a perfect place to relax.

 

“What did I tell you about staying healthy?” Sooyoung glared at her. “You need to stay healthy so you can invent something that can help people. Okay?”

 

Sunny rolled her eyes, “Okay. Just leave me alone.”

 

Sooyoung smiled and put an arm around her shoulders, “This is relaxing, isn’t it?”

 

Sunny smiled and leaned her head on Sooyoung’s flat chest, “This is, too bad you don’t have s. I could really have used them as pillows.”

 

Sooyoung patted her legs, “You can use my legs as pillows instead. Their skinny, but they have some meat on them.”

 

Sunny laughed and rested her head on her legs.

 

“Better?”

 

She nodded. “Better.”

 

The blonde sighed. She knew what she had done to Sooyoung was wrong, but she really didn’t want them to wait too long. After all, they would only wait a few minutes before they would get bored and leave her behind. No text messages, no phone calls, just Sunny waiting at the usual round bench on her phone, waiting for one of her friends to tell her where they were.

 

She felt as if they were happier without her anyway.

 

“What are you doing out here this late?” A voice interrupted her thoughts.

 

“Huh?” She blinked a few times and realized that she had been crying without realizing it.

 

“Why are you out here this late?” The voice repeated.

 

“What are you doing here?” Sunny looked away.

 

“I knew you were here.”

 

“Leave me alone, Sooyoung. I don’t wanna talk to you right now.”

 

“Is that really the case?” Sooyoung knelt in front of her. “It looks like you need a friend more than anything right now.” She wiped Sunny’s tears with her thumb. “You wanna talk about it?”

 

Sunny shook her head as tears started coming down even faster. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I originally came here to think too.” Sooyoung took her jacket off and placed over Sunny’s shoulders. “I haven’t seen my best friend in a while and I came here to think because I saw her with this upperclassman that I really was never fond of. I thought that they were gonna end up together and that made me really upset. I didn’t wanna lose that friend, but instead, I felt like I kept pushing that friend away. So now I’m here because I needed to figure out a way to get that friend back so we can be friends again, but then I realized that we can’t be friends anymore because I like that friend. What’s your story?”

 

Sunny sighed. “I came here because this has always been the place I go to whenever I’m sad. I realized that my friends haven’t been wanting me around anymore, so I started distancing myself from my friends. I felt as if they were a lot happier with me out of the picture anyway. I was gonna go have chicken with my friends, but then something came up at home that caused me to not go have dinner with my friends. But since my friends always go to places without me anyway, I figured that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal because they were gonna go have dinner without me as usual. Then I just found out that one of my friends like me and so we can’t be friends anymore.”

 

Sooyoung kicked the sand under her feet, “So what do you suggest your friends should do?”

 

“Which ones?”

 

“The ones who always leave you behind.”

 

She shrugged, “They always leave me though.”

 

“But friends shouldn’t do that.”

 

“You obviously haven’t met mine.” Sunny joked.

 

Sooyoung chuckled bitterly, “Your friends don’t sound like real friends at all.”

 

Sunny nodded, “It depends on the occasion. They can be nice, but most of the time, they tend to stick together and that makes me feel  a little left out.”

 

“Really?” Sooyoung looked at Sunny.

 

Sunny nodded, but didn’t make eye contact with the girl sitting next to her on the bench. There was a silence between the two of them.

 

“Well, what about the friend who likes you?” Sooyoung asked quietly.

 

“What about her?”

 

“What do you think she should do?”

 

“Depends. Has this friend done anything recently?”

 

She nodded. “This friend got jealous of the senior that gave her friend the second button from her blazer. So she got really protective because she had no idea what to do so she panicked.”

 

“Sounds like that friend of yours needs to realize that maybe the senior was just a friend and she probably asked for the button because the senior was always there for her when her friends weren’t.”

 

“Your friend sounds very mature.”

 

“She sounds pretty too.” Sunny added.

 

Sooyoung smiled at the ground, “Yeah. The prettiest girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on. She can be a sometimes though.”

 

“Yah!”