When did she begin to realize that what she felt for Eunwoo was something more than the love of a best friend? She didn’t know exactly and suspected that from the beginning her connection with that brunette who spoke weird had been deeper than expected between friends. Still, she had never considered anything because she was too young, so from five to eleven years old, Eunwoo had been just her best friend. The one she wanted to spend every minute of the day with, the one she told everything to, and the one she could count to do anything with, any kind of madness and mischief.

Everything had been easy until then, in the small universe in which girls hated boys and boys hated girls and if a girl liked a boy or a boy liked a girl the other kids always made sure to take away the nonsense out of their body through cruel jokes and mocking. Those were good times. Good times, yes sir. But unfortunately that paradise of hatred between genders came to an end. And it ended just like that, suddenly and without warning. Suddenly one day the girls in their class started talking about the boys in a completely different way. And all of a sudden they liked one of their classmates, or two, or three... depending on how fresh each one was. Dahyun liked everyone, Jieqiong no one. And Eunwoo? That’s what was starting to worry her, alarmingly. What if Eunwoo was starting to like some of the boys? The brunette had never talked about any of them with anything other than indifference or disgust but still...

She didn’t understand where the fear of Eunwoo beginning to notice the boys in her class just like all her other classmates did came from, but there she was. Little by little, that discomfort started fading when she realized that, despite the foolishness that was beginning to take over everyone else, the two of them stayed the same. They kept spending breaks together, looking at each other silently when they heard some of the other girls share their little pre-teen crush. When they returned home they made fun of them, talked about their things and did their homework without worrying about anything that happened outside their little bubble. But suddenly one day that bubble exploded.

Eunwoo and Jieqiong at age 11

First lesson of a Friday. Maths. Why, Lord? The week had seven days and they had to spend five of them attending school, there were only two days left to rest... did nobody else find it totally unfair and disproportionate? Jieqiong stifled a yawn... that was inhuman. Inhuman! Luckily it was already Friday and that night she and Eunwoo had a movie session planned, completely and absolutely great. It was Friday and it was the 13th, so the chosen movie was ‘Friday the 13th’. Double scary. Eunwoo was going to die of fear. And... speaking of Eunwoo, Jieqiong noticed she was acting a little weird that morning but she had asked her if something happened and she had said no. She turned her gaze away from the the teacher, to capture the brunette within her field of vision. She wasn’t paying much attention to the class either, she seemed lost in her own thoughts, and normally Jieqiong knew Eunwoo’s thoughts, each and every one of them, but that morning she had no idea what was going on in her best friend’s head.

She tried to convince her in between each class but to no avail. She hit her during recess but nothing, the brunette wasn’t admitting that something was not quite right.

Finally the classes ended and Jieqiong put all her belongings in her backpack before throwing it on her back and approaching her best friend’s desk. From the age of nine, their parents let them return home on their own after school. Their houses were not far from the school and the city was small and boring, everybody knew each other. The younger one watched as her friend put her books in her backpack.

“What time are you going to come to my house?” Jieqiong asked when the two began walking towards the classroom exit. “If you come early, maybe we’ll have time to see the second part too.” She dropped.

“Pinky...” The eldest was going to say something when suddenly Vernon the bugger eater stood in front of them, blocking their way.

“Hey Eunwoo.” He greeted with a stupid smile on his face. “Kyulkyung...” He dropped without looking at the Chinese girl before focusing his full attention on his platonic love again. “I just wanted to remind you that my birthday party starts at five thirty.” He said.

Jieqiong looked at him as if that boy had gone completely crazy all of a sudden, so much bugger eating must have affected his brain. Eunwoo ditching her to go to that circus clown's birthday party? Please! There was no human way the brunette would cancel their movie night, it was unthinkable, inconceivable from any point of view, impossible, it was...

“Five and a half, I’ll be there.” Eunwoo answered.

Unbelievable! ‘I'll be there’? What did she mean by ‘I’ll be there’? Vernon the bugger eater hadn’t even invited her to his stupid party! It wasn’t like she cared much but still... Eunwoo had agreed to go without her. Without her! And not only that, she waited until the last minute to tell her that their plans were being canceled. After hearing it, Vernon's face became even more distorted, widening his already wide smile. He waved goodbye to Eunwoo before walking back, still looking at her with a dumb impaired face, he crashed into the lockers and turned a little red before saying goodbye again to Eunwoo and running down the corridor. What a regrettable excuse of a human being!

Once Vernon had disappeared from sight Jieqiong turned to her friend.

“You are going to Vernon's birthday party?” She said and her voice sounded a bit tingly.

“Yes... he invited me yesterday and I said yes.” She admitted.

“He eats his buggers Eunwoo!” Jieqiong reminded her in case she had forgotten.

“That was then… he doesn’t do it anymore.” Her friend answered while they both went out to the schoolyard.

“I can’t believe you're canceling our movie night!” The younger one exclaimed.

“I'm sorry, Pinky... we can watch the movie tomorrow.” Eunwoo offered looking at her best friend.

“It's called ‘Friday movie night’. Tomorrow won’t be Friday! And it won’t be the 13th! And they have not yet shot the horror movie ‘Saturday the 14th’!” she exclaimed completely angry. “I can’t believe you are dropping me...” Jieqiong snorted.

“I’m not dropping you!” Eunwoo protested.

“Oh you aren’t? Remember when Minghao invited me to his birthday and not you?” She asked and Eunwoo ducked her head. Yes, she remembered. Jieqiong had told him that if he didn’t invite Eunwoo she wouldn’t come. In the end neither of them went even though the boy had complied with the demands of the youngest. Minghao had a small crush on Jieqiong. “Whatever… if you’re skipping movie night I'll invite someone else.”

“You can’t invite anyone else! They are ‘our’ movie nights...”

“It seems like today is ‘my’ movie night.” Jieqiong replied. “I know ... I'm going to invite Chaeyeon.” She suddenly decided when she saw the girl approaching.

“Chaeyeon?!” Eunwoo exclaimed incredulously, turning to where the aforementioned was walking.

Jung Chaeyeon. Twelve years old, big eyes and long brown hair. Fun, witty, charming, model student. Jung Chaeyeon, the most popular girl in elementary school. Ever since Jieqiong had defended her once at age six when Mingyu tried to take her lunch, the two had maintained a fairly friendly relationship. A few jokes over there, some jokes over here. Chaeyeon invited them both to her birthday parties and Eunwoo had to admit that she had feared on several occasions that her best friend would drop her for ‘miss perfection’. She was the most popular girl! Jieq