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The weekend had surprisingly rolled by quicker than expected. Soon enough, Hyejin was parking her car in her same usual spot and dragging along a reluctant Yongsun by the arm into the school building. 

It was much calmer, a stark contrast to last week with all the new faces panicking, clinging onto their maps of the school for dear life. Though the high school campus was much bigger than your average one, Hyejin recalled only ever using the map once or twice in her first year, there was no doubt that in a few days time, those maps will be in the trash or stashed away at the back of everyone's lockers - forgotten. 

"Hello? Are you even listening to me?" 

Hyejin brings herself out of her train of thought and gives her an apologetic grin, "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Oh nothing really, just the fact that I could basically die of stress because I have a test in like three days." Yongsun moves closer to Hyejin, so that her face was mere inches away from the taller girl's. She then proceeded to drag both her index fingers down each side of her face which momentarily made the pretty brunette . . . ugly.  "Do you see these dark circles?" She whines, "I studied all night last night and I remember nothing."

Hyejin flinches and grabs ahold of her wrists to prevent any further ruining of Yongsun's eye makeup, "Relax, it's probably just a test on all the old material from last year."

"Hyejin. This is me we're talking about. Once the school year is over, I delete everything from my memory."

"Well maybe you shouldn't do that."

"Well maybe you shouldn't do that." She mocks, "No sh*t."

Yongsun was really the only person that could get away unscathed with a comment like that. The two girls have known each other since the age of five and like many friendships, the two had a very rocky start. 

It was the first day of elementary school and five year old Hyejin was the most excited she's ever been. Being the only child of the household, Hyejin longed for someone her own age to play with her. Her whole neighbourhood consisted of boring people (people who weren't five years old) and her cousins were all boys. So while she wanted to play with their remote controlled cars, they would snatch them back and tell her that because she was a girl, she wasn't allowed to touch any of their boy toys. That confused her a lot, to the point where she had to discuss this dilemma with her father. 

He had laughed lightly at his daughters predicament, "Don't listen to them. They're just worried that you'd be a better driver than them."

Upon seeing that his daughter's shoulders were still slumped in unhappiness, he poked her cheek affectionately and gave her a mischievious grin, "How about we go to the toy store now and I'll buy you a even better, faster car?" 

And just like that, Hyejin's mega watt smile came back in a split second. She had decided there and then that her father was her favourite person in the entire world - her mother was now bumped to second place. Normally she'd allow both her parents to share the glory of having first place in her heart but her mother always forced her to eat vegetables and brush her teeth while her father allowed her to watch her favourite shows and let her stay up past her bedtime. The winner was pretty clear. He also bought her lots of toys, much to her mother's chagrin.

"You bought her another one? She already has this toy." Her mother said

"Yeah but that was blue." Her father lifted up the toy and dangled it in front of her, "This is pink. So essentially, it's a different toy."

Her mother's stern expression morphed into an amused one. She let out a soft chuckle, "You're an idiot. She's got you wrapped around her tiny little finger."

He smiled. His wife calling him an idiot was a term of endearment, "I love you too."

Hyejin dangled her feet excitedly from her car seat, her hand occasionally patting her pocket where she had stuffed as many toy cars as possible. 

"Alright sit still so I can unbuckle your seatbelt, Scamp." 

"Dad, hurry!"

Her father grinned, "I don't know, maybe we should go get ice cream instead. I think I might miss you too much."

Hyejin shook her head frantically, "Dad, you should try and be friends with all the neighbours."

"But they're so old."

"You are old." She pointed out. (Any person who was taller than Hyejin was regarded as old in her mind)

"Way to break your old man's heart. And you're only five, imagine what's it's going to be like ten years from now."

Not understanding nor caring what her father was talking about, Hyejin wriggled out of her car seat and made a motion for him to lift her out of the car.

With a dramatic sigh he lifted her out and set her down. 

As soon as her feet were firmly on the ground, Hyejin made a move to bolt straight to the entrance of the school. But for some odd reason, she wasn't able to move an inch. Something was pulling her back. Or rather, someone. She looked over her shoulder and grew frustrated at the sight of her father holding onto the back of her backpack with one hand and the other in his pocket. She huffed and mustered as much energy as she could to get her father's grip to loosen but no matter what, she was unable to move at all.

"No nu-uh-uh." He tutted and crouched down to her height with open arms, "Where's my hug?"

Defeated, she turned and gave him a brief hug. Taking advantage of her father's lack of hold of her backpack, she then ran to her teacher with a smile on her face oblivious to the fact that one of her toy cars managed to slip out of her pocket and fall onto the ground.

And to this day, Hyejin thanked God that it did as it led her to Kim Yongsun.

During recess, Hyejin had dug around her pockets, frantic. Her favourite blue car was missing. And suddenly it seemed that the five year old's world was falling apart. She had grown rather fond of the car as it was one of her very first ones from her collection. Dejected, Hyejin sat down on the ground, all her plans to make lots of friends suddenly didn't seem that important now.

Behind her, she could hear the scraping of plastic wheels on the rough terrain of the playground. She turned and saw a smaller girl in her own little world playing with Hyejin's blue car. She felt her temper rise as she stomped over to the thief.

"Hey that's mine." She said accusingly.

The culprit stood and held the car with a tight grip, "No it's not. I found it."

"It's mine." Hyejin repeated.

"Finders keepers." 

Hyejin stepped closer to the girl as an attempt to grab the car out of the girl's hand however the smaller girl caught on and slowly backed away in big steps. A few moments later, the girl tripped over her own two feet and landed on her hands. This resulted in tiny cuts on her palms. While the teachers fussed over the tiny cuts, Hyejin took this as a chance to safely tuck away her car in her pocket and after doing so she turned to leave but bumped into her strict teacher.

After school the teachers had called in her parents along with Yongsun's (the two children had introduced themselves to each other while waiting for their parents) to discuss Hyejin's behaviour towards others.

When Yongsun's parents were shown her little palms covered in little plasters their reaction was a lot different to what Hyejin had expected. She expected to be scolded but instead Yongsun's mother had asked, "Are you sure Hyejin pushed her?" 

The teacher was confused, "Sorry?"

"Our daughter is a clumsy one," Her mother explained, "This has happened before, you see. She fell by herself and a boy got the blame because he was close by when it happened." 

"Mom, she didn't push me." Yongsun said quietly.

The teacher became flustered and apologised for wasting everyone's time. 

Both their parents bonded over a cup of coffee whilst Hyejin and Yongsun made arrangements to play together the next day. And the rest was history.

Hyejin's mind snaps back into reality when the final warning bell rings. 

"What class do you have now?" Yongsun asks.

"Chemistry."

She makes a face, "Why would you choose chemistry as one of your subjects if you're planning to go to law school? What is the point? Why would you torture youself?"

"I like it."

Yongsun gapes at her friend with an open mouth for a moment. "I have no words."

Hyejin smiles smugly, "No." She says, "You have no brain." 

After dodging Yongsun's attempt to slap her, Hyejin made her way to the lab.

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It was her first chemistry class of the year so that meant choosing a lab partner. 

This was never a daunting experience for Hyejin. In the past she had always partnered up with either Yongsun or Irene but now since the both of them ditched her for biology, she was stumped. Looking around she managed to catch the eye of her ex from across the lab. He straightens himself and smiles at her expectantly. She rolls her eyes, as if she'd partner up with him. Her eyes land on a lonely figure on the opposite side of the lab. Her lips quirks up into a small smile. Bingo.

The girl gives her a confused look as Hyejin plops down beside her. 

"Hey, let's be lab partners." 

" . . . Eh?"

The girl gulps and blushes furiously. 

This was going to be fun.

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author's note: I changed a tiny detail in the story. Back in the first chapter I mentioned that Yongsun and Hyejin have known each other for seven years but I've decided to change it to thirteen :) 

Hope you're having a lovely day.