“I was playfully going to ask if you were the new girl, considering how everybody is looking at you like you’re the first good thing they’ve served in the cafeteria in years.” Yewon is speaking, but Minkyung couldn’t help but stare at the way the petite girl’s hair was styled– parted into two pigtails at the back, a long stream of chestnut brown hair flowing in front of her shoulders. She looked more like a kid than she did yesterday, when her hair was down, and Minkyung thought that was impossible. Yewon inevitably notices this, and brings her hands up to run her fingers through the locks briefly. “My mom did it for me…” She sounds dazed as she explains, but snaps out of it in the next second.

“It’s fits you, no worries.” Minkyung attempts to play it off cool, “could you help me find my way to the office of the Center for Student Affairs? This place is… massive.” She wishes she was exaggerating, but she wasn’t; it still amazed her how big a school for such a little student population could be. Without any hesitation, Yewon nods, that unwavering smile spread on her lips.

“Would you mind if I introduced you to my friends as well?” The question takes Minkyung aback, and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond– and Yewon sees this in her expression, which makes her laugh that light, bubbly laugh of hers. “They won’t bite. Promise.”

“In that case, I don’t think I mind. But– Principal’s office first.” Minkyung sports a cheeky grin, still somewhat anxious to meet Yewon’s friends. Her mind flew off to thoughts of whether she’d actually click with them– if they’d actually become her friends as well. Those are thoughts she hasn’t thought of in a really long while.

After making their stop ‘round the principal’s office (to find that Minkyung pretty much shares five out of her seven classes with Yewon), it seems like Yewon is more excited than Minkyung in the prospect of Minkyung meeting her friends. With her small hand gripping onto Minkyung’s wrists, Yewon steers through everybody in the hallways– all of which having eyes all too bore on her– as they made their way to the open grounds of the school. They’re approaching one of the many picnic tables scattered around the open area; the one right underneath the big, shady tree that shook every time the breeze flew by in rhythmic gusts. There were three girls seated there, all looking in their general direction.

“Yewon, do I really have to–” Minkyung chokes up mid-sentence when one of the girls– the one with light strawberry blonde hair, hops up from her seat, skipping over to the both of them with a bright smile on her lips.

“Look what Yewon reeled in.” She utters, and Minkyung isn’t quite sure how to feel about as if being likened to a fish (in the sense of being reeled in). “Guys! Come over.” She calls out to the remaining two girls seated on the table. One was tall– about as tall as Minkyung was, surprisingly– with a short, blond bob that ended about an inch above her shoulders. The other was about as tall as the girl who skipped over, but had jet black hair that flowed until right above her hip– Minkyung also notes at how pretty this girl is, her features were inexplicably well-put together, like there was some kind of mathematical equation of angles and shapes that was the makeup of her face alone. It was quite hard not to stare.

“Don’t refer to her like she’s a piece of meat, jeez, Eunwoo.” Yewon whines as she gives the strawberry blonde girl– Eunwoo, if Minkyung heard that correctly– a look. Eunwoo lets out a hearty chuckle as she shakes her head slightly, giving the top of Yewon’s hair a playful– probably mocking– pat.

“It’s not everyday you come across a new kid. You can’t really blame her.” The black-haired girl speaks up, maintaining her indifferent expression for a few moments before so suddenly putting on a smile that, simply put, enchanted. “I’m sorry for my friend here,” she gestures at Eunwoo, “she’s just… obviously a little too excited. Hi. I’m Siyeon.”

Eunwoo audibly huffs as she crosses her arms underneath her chest, her brows knitting together as she looks off to the side. The other blonde girl emerges from behind her, only to bend down and hug her shoulders, her cheek pressing against the top of her head. “She’s our little baby, we’re so sorry.” The girl’s voice was a lot deeper than Minkyung expected– for someone who had such a feminine face, at least.

“I’m Kyungwon.” Eunwoo’s expression softens as she looks up, as if trying to gaze at Kyungwon, who, at this point, was already pinching the softness of Eunwoo’s cheek and pulling on it– as if in emphasis of how she’s their baby of the group of friends. “And this is Eunwoo.” Kyungwon blurts out in a high-pitched voice, followed by obnoxious laughter– it was almost cackling, really.

Yewon lets go of Minkyung’s wrist, striding over to the rest of her friends, positioning herself in between Siyeon and Kyungwon. They all just looked at her expectantly (even Eunwoo who finally had her attention away from Kyungwon), sporting half-smiles, anticipating what she has to say at this point. It almost looked like they were posing for a photograph at least in Minkyung’s perspective. Was she really going to have to step in the frame, despite it already being a beautiful picture already, even without her?

“Eunwoo’s just trying to act cool.” Yewon chuckles, shaking her head. Eunwoo is still pouting, and she’s taking a stance as if threatening to jump on Yewon then and there– but Kyungwon still had her restrained, her lithe arms still enveloping the shorter girl’s shoulders. “Guys,” Yewon starts again, in sing-song, “this is Minkyung. Our next door neighbor– she moved into the house in between me and…” a slight pause,  “Yebin’s.”

The girls all nod in unison in understanding. Yebin. The name resounds in Minkyung’s head, but she’s not quite sure why. It was the worst time to be thinking about such trivial matters, however, especially when she realizes that Yewon had to introduce her name to the others as if she didn’t know how to speak.

“I know you’re all not used to new people stepping into the picture all of a sudden… like I did,” Minkyung swallows a slight lump that formed in , her pupils struggling to stay focused on one spot, “but I hope we can all be good friends nonetheless.”

Lunch time passed, and even after so little a time spent together, Minkyung feels as though she had the small group of friends figured out already– Eunwoo was, as everyone already stated, the baby of the group. She was clingy, and her lithe limbs would, one way or another, be around or on top of Kyungwon, who would gladly reciprocate. While it could have seemed as if it would’ve been Yewon who would be the baby of the group, it was quite far from that– Yewon, despite herself, was one of the mature ones along with Siyeon. Siyeon, on the other hand, sports an indifferent expression half the time (and that seriously highlights her beauty), but in those instances when she’d be smiling or putting on a bright expression, it’s rather magical– the most enthralling she’s ever seen, Minkyung dares say.

“So, what do you think of them?” The rest of the kids she had just met were walking ahead of them  (they’ve found that they all share their next scheduled class), and Yewon takes advantage of this time to ask about Minkyung’s first impression on her friends. “Honestly, all of them were acting a bit weird… they’re not usually like this, I promise! It’s just that they’re excited to meet you, I think. It gets a little boring when nobody new comes along for the entirety of your life thus far, you know.”

“Yeah, it’s cool. I get it.” But did Minkyung really understand? That’s questionable– though she wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, it’s a fact that she still found it strange that nobody has ever come around. And that brings about another thought– who, then, lived in that house prior?

“Yewon?” Minkyung hesitates, but Yewon is already looking at her, a look of surmise painted across her features. She takes a deep breath before continuing, “you mentioned a name a while ago. Yebin.” The name feels strange in , and it rolled off of her tongue unnaturally. Though just slightly, she notices Yewon’s expression tense up. “Does she go here? Or is she an adult? Or–”

“She does go here. Well she did. Nobody’s really quite sure when she’s coming back.” Yewon’s lips stretch into a thin line, and she shakes her head slightly. “Originally, she’s one of the people we usually hang out with. Until… well, yeah, stuff just kind of… happened? I really don’t know how to put it.”

“I see.” Minkyung replies flatly, a dead giveaway that she wasn’t quite satisfied with Yewon’s answer.

“When she comes along again, I’ll be sure to introduce you!” Yewon’s delivery of that statement almost sounded empty, as though she were dictating an obviously empty promise. And this somehow plucks at Minkyung’s interest; it struck her as something that she should at least know more about, considering how she was going to be a part of the picture that is that town, at least for the time being.

Chemistry class composed of a whole lot of staring. Not at the video that their teacher had asked them to watch (while she stepped out and, Minkyung only assumed, spent the whole time talking to somebody on the phone), but instead at her. Everyone’s gazes were sticky like honey, and there was nobody to call them out for it.

Minkyung slumps down on her desk, arms crossed over the other to cushion her head. To her left was Kyungwon who had Eunwoo’s head against her opposite shoulder (Kyungwon already told Minkyung that the girl had probably spent the night playing games on her phone, or studying), and Siyeon who was diligently writing notes– she was probably the only one in the class who was actually doing that, as the professor asked them to.

Her eyes then peer over to the right, where she sees Yewon nodding off to sleep as well, but trying her absolute best not to. It was quite the endearing sight. She turns her head to face front again, then heaves a barely audible sigh in wild wonder of whether or not she should be taking notes like Siyeon was. Was she even going to last until their curriculum’s finals week? That wasn’t even something that was certain.

Yewon had extracurricular activities after classes (to Minkyung’s disappointment). As much as Minkyung wanted to tag along, it was the music club, and she wasn’t quite confident enough to immerse herself as hands-on with another group of people – it was tiring enough to have integrated herself into the small group of friends’ after after all.

And so she had to walk home with Kyungwon and Eunwoo (and Eunwoo was fast asleep on Kyungwon’s back, still– Siyeon clarified this was a usual thing, and reassured that there wasn’t much to worry about). The walk was short and awkward, with Kyungwon asking the usual questions of ‘where did you live before here?’ and ‘who do live with?’; and Minkyung gave the generic answers of ‘I move a lot’ and ‘just my dad, my mom is working overseas’, in between giggling at the slight noises of snoring that Eunwoo was making in her unconsciousness.

“Eunwoo and I live down the opposite road. I’ll drop her off at her house. Will you be fine?”

Minkyung nods slightly, giving a little smile. “Thanks for walking with me, Kyungwon. Send my thanks to Eunwoo too, once she wakes up.”

“Sure,” Kyungwon laughs. “I hope you ease up to our little group of friends, too. We only have each other, you know. We can’t count on our parents to understand… anything, really.” Kyungwon was so bright– Minkyung wasn’t quite sure where all of that so suddenly came from. “You can tell us anything. Don’t feel like an outcast when you’re not. I hope you don’t make that mistake.”

“I… I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Minkyung’s head starts to throb, and it shines through in the weakness of her smile. She’s convinced that she’s done enough thinking for the day. They bid their goodbyes one more time before they went off their own respective ways.

Minkyung treads carefully– slowly. In all honesty, she didn’t want to go home yet. The undersides of her shoes scrape along the pavement that seemed to be perpetually damp– perhaps due to the naturally humid climate of that eerie town. With her thumbs hooked onto the straps of her backpack (out of habit), she found that she was starting to realize quite a bit more about the town all by herself.

Firstly; though the school could be perceived as seething with grandeur, the education was not. Eunwoo, five minutes on a passive-aggressive rant about just that. Kyungwon explains that, despite herself, Eunwoo was in fact one of the brightest students in their batch. While Eunwoo plays it off that she’s only ever sleepless because she’s extremely conscious that her Overwatch ranking would drop from its already exquisite position, the truth is that she’s studying in advance for almost everything, considering how all the pressure in the world were put on her shoulders by her parents.

Secondly; while everybody there practically watched each other grow up, this did not mean that they were all friendly with each other. “When you spend your whole life seeing each other from your icky kindergarten selves to present, it’s not hard to pinpoint all the negative things about them rather than the positive things,” Siyeon explained right after sneering at this one boy (who she referred to as Seokmin); an upperclassman that had been trying to slide himself into the girls’ lives for the longest time now.

Third, and finally; the eerie town holds a secret– an elephant in the room nobody dares talk about. As Minkyung is on her way home, she finds herself slowing down and eventually stopping right in front of the house to the left of theirs. It looked lousy, and Minkyung assumes it unkempt, judging by the orange leaves stacking up on the front yard. The paint on the fence is peeling off, and on the house itself already dulling. There are strange, inexplicable dents on the walls. At this point, she is staring– little did she know somebody is staring back.

“H… hello?” A quirky voice emerges from behind her, which startles her. She freezes, unsure of what to do at this point. The sound of rubber squelching against moisture-laden cement becomes more and more apparent– and her initial thought is to now walk away, but her legs don’t allow her to. It was like she was paralyzed.

“You must be the person who moved in next door.” The stranger speaks up again, as she now comes into Minkyung’s view. A small girl with hair long and black, about a whole head shorter than she was. Minkyung blinks in profuse, showcasing her confusion.

“... Yebin?”

“I–” the girl clutches the paper bag overflowing with groceries closer to her stomach, “how did you know my name?”

Bad move, Kim Minkyung.

--

i'm sorry for the yuwoo (no i'm not)

– i'm @sadeunwoo on twitter, hi

next update next week, probably?