Her first kiss. Eunwoo had given her her first kiss and she liked to think it had been the brunette’s first real kiss as well, without counting that unpleasant incident with Vernon the bugger eater at age seven.

Obviously it hadn’t been the most spectacular kiss in the world because they were both twelve years old and had no idea what they were doing, but to Jieqiong it was the best kiss anyone had ever received. She didn’t even think it was strange to feel that way after being kissed by her best friend, she didn’t think twice, nothing changed between them... maybe something in them had changed but neither of them did anything to show that that kiss had removed something on their insides. They continued spending nights in each other’s bed, talking very softly and laughing at nonsenses, falling asleep in each other’s embrace.

Jieqiong didn’t feel different about Eunwoo after their kiss, rather she kept feeling like she always had until then, it was natural for her to feel this close to the brunette, to want to spend twenty-four hours a day together, to feel really bad if Eunwoo decided to get close to another kid... she had always felt that way and had never intended to give it a name but as she grew older she realized that the things she felt for Eunwoo were very, very similar to the things that their girl classmates were beginning to feel for the boys . Uhmmm... interesting. And maybe it was naive, a girl living inside her own bubble and far from the outside world, but at age twelve she didn’t know the meaning of the words ‘gay’, ‘homoual’ or ‘lesbian’. She only knew that she felt incredibly good when she was with her best friend. She loved being close to Eunwoo. If that was added to the fact that she had liked kissing the brunette a lot, she had one more piece that would fit in the puzzle when she became mature enough to start assembling. At the moment, they were just loose pieces.

Eunwoo and Jieqiong at age 12

That Saturday wasn’t going to be any Saturday, it was noticeable in the environment. That Saturday, Jung Chaeyeon was celebrating her birthday. It had been a week of madness in that sixth grade class, especially on Monday and Tuesday because those were the days chosen by Chaeyeon to give the invitations to the lucky ones. Those days the tension could have been cut with a knife. The breaths stopped as soon as it was time for break and Chaeyeon pulled out those pieces of cardboard that guaranteed access to one of the most anticipated events of the school year. It had been two days of pure agony, joy for the guests and disappointment for the rejected.

Eunwoo and Jieqiong didn’t worry too much, the good relationship of the Chinese with the birthday girl guaranteed both of them the attendance to the party on Saturday, and they had been the first ones to receive their invitations anyway. After that they had basically devoted themselves to watching as the rest of their classmates suffered the uncertainty of those who didn’t know. Two emotionally exhausting days but it was already Friday.

Seven girls and six boys would attend the event. The girls had been invited first and among them they had decided which boys would be the lucky ones, evidently only the most handsome and popular had received the magical card.

They were at the recess in the day before of the party and that meant a mandatory meeting of all the guests. The meetings of that type were held next to the gym, under the fire stairs that gave access to the three school floors and that’s where the seven girls were. At that moment someone, that neither Jieqiong nor Eunwoo understood how she had managed to be invited by Chaeyeon, spoke. Dahyun.

“I don’t know why we invited Vernon... he eats buggers! He’s been eating buggers since kinder. I don’t know why it still is flesh-colored, it should be green.” She said with disgust.

“He is handsome!” Chaeyeon determined. “We have invited him because of the votes.” She added.

“He's obsessed with Eunwoo!” She said again. “You'll be happy, Jung, I'm sure you can kiss him when we play spin the bottle.” Dahyun stung her.

Uggghhh... spin the bottle. None of them knew what the game consisted of until Dahyun explained it to them at the half-week meeting on Wednesday. Apparently she had heard her older sister and her friends talking about it. They had voted ‘game of the bottle at the party yes or no?’ and unfortunately the results had been four votes in favor and three against. The votes were secret so neither Eunwoo nor Jieqiong knew who the third negative vote came from. It didn’t matter, the sad reality was that after the snack everyone would sit in a circle and spin the bottle in search of the boy they should kiss. Eunwoo didn’t bother in answering the mockery and smiled when Jieqiong threw at Dahyun a ball of aluminum foil with which Jia had wrapped her lunch that morning. It got tangled in her hair and she didn’t even notice. Loser.

“Everyone should be at my house at five thirty.” The event organizer reminded them. “Any questions?” She asked, looking at her guests.

She sighed as she saw Meiqi raise her hand. “Yes, Meiqi, there will be vegetable sandwiches and I have already told my mother that you are allergic to peanut butter and chocolate.” she got ahead to the girl's question.

Meng Meiqi, a vegetarian girl with an allergy to peanut butter and chocolate. What a childhood.

Jieqiong also raised her arm asking for her turn to ask a question.

“Yes, Pinky?” Chaeyeon inquired, interested.

“I would like to know if it is completely mandatory to participate in the spin the bottle game.” She said.

Dahyun giggled when she heard her and turned to her.

“Come on Zhou, we know that nobody has ever had the disgust of kissing you, but you can practice with your arm before the party, so maybe you won’t make a fool of yourself.” She messed with her.

“How many boys have you kissed?” Eunwoo asked and Dahyun looked at her.

“Surely more than you.” She answered annoyed by the intrusion. Jesus! You couldn’t mess with one of them without the other jumping in...

Eunwoo was going to answer her when Chaeyeon intervened. She didn’t want fights between the guests at her party.

“Yes, it is mandatory to play. But don’t worry, maybe it's your chance to kiss Minghao.” She pointed out, winking at Jieqiong.

The Chinese girl exchanged a look of disgust with Eunwoo. Since when could kissing Minghao be considered a good thing? Had the world gone crazy or what?

The break ended and with it the super pre-birthday-party meeting. They had to hurry to get to class in time and in Jieqiong’s mind there was one thought being repeated, only one, in a timeless loop with no beginning or end... it was possible that she had to kiss Minghao the next day and it was a fact that she would have to kiss one of the other guests. And surely the inventor of the spin the bottle game was out there so happy. Thoughtless! He had no idea what his stupid game had caused. He could have devoted his life to creating something more useful for the human race, as the inventor of lollipops had done, to give an example.

At last the classes ended and she and Eunwoo walked home. The brunette was kicking a small rock, thinking about why the idea of Jieqiong being forced to kiss one of those slugs the next day bothered her so much, she would have to do it herself as well and that perspective didn’t excite her too much either.

“Eunwoo...” Jieqiong pulled her out of her thoughts.

“What?” She answered without diverting her attention from the rock she had decided to take home.

“Can you come earlier this afternoon?” She asked. They had agreed to meet at Jieqiong's house that afternoon at six o'clock, movie night.

“Why?” Eunwoo asked for more information even though her answer was going to be ‘yes’ anyway.

“Because you have been given a kiss before and I haven’t and I don’t want to make a fool of myself tomorrow at Chaeyeon's party.” She admitted, remembering Dahyun's mockery.

“A kiss? As soon as our lips brushed, Pinky, my chin was drooled. And that was when we were seven.” Eunwoo reminded her. “And it was gross...” she added.

“But it was a kiss! I haven’t even had my chin drooled.” She said. “Also we can practice together with our arms and tell each other if we’re doing it well... please Eunwoo!” She begged, clinging onto her friend’s arm.

“Buff... okay, but I hope you keep in mind that I'm going to have to go through a poker lesson with my father to help you.” She said.

“You're the best friend a girl could have.” The slightly younger girl admitted, kissing her cheek to thank her.

“Anyway, I don’t understand why you're so worried about what those slugs think... you don’t even like them.” Eunwoo shrugged. Because she didn’t like them, right? She didn’t like any of them, right? She couldn’t like any of them... because... why? Why couldn’t she like them? It was a question to which she had no answer yet. She just couldn’t like them, period.

“But I don’t want them to go around saying that I’m a bad kisser, that I drool or something.” She admitted.

“Ughhh... I hope you don’t kiss like Vernon.” Eunwoo said.

“At the moment, I don’t kiss in any way!” Jieqiong reminded her.

Without realizing it they had reached the place where their paths separated, both of their houses were five minutes away from there. After assuring Jieqiong that she would be at her house at five o'clock, Eunwoo went her own way, taking her small rock with her. The younger one saw her go away and sighed in relief, if Eunwoo was going to help her everything was going to go well.

* * *

It was five past ten for God’s sake! Where had Eunwoo gone? If she pinned herself to the window a little more she would fuse with the glass but she didn’t care, the only thing that mattered at that moment was that Jung Eun