With the way hallways would experience heavy foot traffic and homeroom hour would be filled with clapping every morning, it was obviously the week before homecoming. To get to their morning study classrooms, Dongbin and Sooji excused themselves through a crowd gathered around yet another pair of first-year students in the middle of a homecoming proposal. This one was a rather cringe-y message written using different candy and chocolate brands. It seemed the two knew each other previously because there was an inside-joke that they didn’t understand. Anyway, the two managed to reach their classroom despite the giant bodies of upperclassmen blocking the door.

“You’d think with the dance being tomorrow, proposals would be over already,” Dongbin slumped into his seat after setting his backpack down. Unlike his seat in homeroom, he sat by the wall on the door-side of the room towards the middle rows. He didn’t want to sit too far up in the front because he sometimes used class time for nap time.

Sooji simply laughed at his comment and took her seat at the front of the room (door-side as well). Class wasn’t starting for another five minutes, so she turned in her seat to talk to Dongbin like she always did. He had his head laid against the wall, so she copied him, “I didn’t know homecoming was that big of a deal. If you hadn’t told me, I would’ve thought everyone was asking each other to prom really early.”

Having come from an all-girls junior high school known for academics, she wasn’t all too familiar with athletic traditions outside of volleyball. The most she knew about sports and high school were from movies and dramas she would have playing in the background when she was doing homework. Her mom would always turn the television off halfway, though, because she was worried it was distracting Sooji from doing her work. Admittedly, it was distracting, but it made her evenings less boring.

“Well, I’m sure there are people who do that. Couples, for one. Boyfriends automatically have to go with their girlfriends otherwise that would get weird,” he paused to yawn, “So, are you going to the dance?”

She thought about his question for a second before shrugging, “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, uh…” All traces of tiredness left his body because he suddenly sat up straight in his seat. He now looked in every direction that wasn’t hers. “I don’t know I was just wondering if, you know… if you were going… that you might want to come with me?”

Sooji blinked in surprise and he mentally kicked himself. What was he doing? Why did he say that? Of all the times he could’ve chosen to ask, it had to be during the most boring time of the day. With a nervous glance, he saw there was a look of slight confusion on her face. He continued to ramble before she could respond, “But like, as friends, obviously. Since I’m going and if you’re going, we might as well go together, right? Or… no?”

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to ask me of all people-”

“Actually, you know what I don’t know what I’m saying. Never mind. Forget I asked,” Dongbin quickly took his invite back, and awkwardly stood up from his seat. His neck burned around the collar and he loosened his tie. It was getting hard to breathe. He briskly walked past her desk and headed out the classroom, “I um… just remembered I left something in my locker.”

Sooji called out after him, but by then he was gone. That was probably the weirdest series of events she had ever experienced. Replaying the past few minutes in her head, she found herself aimlessly doodling in the margins of her notebook. This was the first time anyone had ever asked her to a dance, and to be honest, it wasn’t the way she expected it to happen. In her head, she imagined receiving one of those proposals that had been happening all over school the past few days. Maybe a proposal with candy. Instead, Dongbin had shyly stuttered out an invite then immediately took it back. It was cute… the way his cheeks tinted a light pink when he realized what he was saying. When she caught herself smiling at the ceiling, she shook her head furiously to get a hold of herself. With a sigh, Sooji turned the now-ruined page of her notebook to a clean sheet, “He didn’t even let me answer,”

Jinyoung almost choked on his rice trying to hold back his laughter as Sooji told him what happened during her morning study class. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had noticed Dongbin was always chatty around her, but he always thought it was just because of Sooji’s talkative nature. It was hard not to talk when she was around because she was always asking questions. Jinyoung filled his cheeks with water before swallowing, “Wait, so he just… asked you? He didn’t even build the conversation up to the question?”

“Yeah, he just asked. Honestly, I don’t think he was even ready to ask. I think he didn’t realize what he was saying until it actually came out of his mouth,” Sooji picked at the vegetables on her tray, moving them to the side and then wiping the tips of her chopsticks. “That’s probably why he took it back so quickly. He just got caught in the moment, I suppose.”

No wonder Dongbin was so quiet during class that day. Normally, during the five-minute breaks between classes, Dongbin would chime in on Sooji and his conversations until the teacher arrived. This time though, he preoccupied himself with talking to the classmate who sat across from him about the next lesson’s homework. Jinyoung pushed his tray forward since he was done eating, and rested his shoulders on the table, “If he said to forget about it, I wonder why he was being all weird then.”

“The same reason you’re still embarrassed about what happened with Miyoung last week,” Sooji noticed him longingly staring at her cookie, so she placed it on a napkin and slid it over to him, “Because it’s hard to forget,”

“I’m not embarrassed! Besides, we’ve already talked about it and she said she didn’t mean anything by it. She was really just asking if I was planning on asking anyone… so, there’s nothing for me to be embarrassed about.” Jinyoung argued, voice raising an octave.

This wasn’t entirely untrue. Jihoon had given him a bit of an earful last week during practice for not catching an obvious hint. That’s why when school resumed on Monday, the first thing he did was apologize to Miyoung. Although, she didn’t seem too bothered by it because she brushed it off saying that it was just a friendly question – which was a relief. Sooji; however, was not entertained by the story. She looked at him disappointingly with half-lidded eyes and accused him of not only being oblivious, but gullible too. Jinyoung frowned. Talk about slander!

Pushing the cookie away, he insisted she keep it, but eventually gave in. Taking a big bite, he huffed, “How’d you find out about that anyway?”

“I overheard you and that puppy looking kid from the other class talking about it when you were c