You know that feeling when you don’t have school and suddenly you don’t know what to do with your time?

That’s exactly what Jinyoung was experiencing.

It was the first day of mid-semester break and Jinyoung had been sitting in his bed for the past four hours since he woke up. At this hour, he would usually be on the bus to school, but since there was no school, he wasn’t on the bus. Only a higher power knows what he would be doing this afternoon since he usually had practice after school, but even coach had given them a few days off to go on vacation. There was absolutely nothing left for him to do.

As Jinyoung was about to roll over in his bed for the hundredth time that morning, his ringtone came from under one of his many sheets and he quickly shot up to dig around for it. When he found it hiding between his pillows, he answered the phone without bothering to look at the caller ID. He didn’t even mind talking to a stranger at this point. To his surprise, Jihoon’s voice came from the other end, “Good morning, sleepyhead! Bet you’re sitting in bed doing nothing right now.”

“As if that was hard to guess,” Jinyoung flopped back onto his bed and wrapped himself up in his comforter, “You’re bored too because you wouldn’t have called me otherwise.”

“Not true, I call you all the time,” Jihoon replied. Jinyoung wasn’t sure if his friend was being sarcastic or he really did believe he called often. A good look at Jihoon’s call log would show they had maybe one or two phone calls in the past few weeks. “Anyway, since we’re both bored, I was thinking we could hang out or do something. There’s this ice skating rink in the city that recently opened and I thought we should go.”

Jinyoung made a dissatisfied face as if Jihoon could see him, “The city is so far away, though! My mom wouldn’t believe me if I said I was going to the city to just ‘hang out’.”

“Well… you could tell her we’re going to celebrate getting through midterms!” Jihoon came up with an excuse. Jinyoung couldn’t believe his best high school friend was helping him lie right now. Still, Jinyoung hesitated. As bored as he was at the moment, he also was too lazy to get out of bed and get dressed to do something. Jihoon could sense this and added, “What if I told you Miyoung’s coming along?”

This caught Jinyoung’s attention. The younger boy sat up and eyed his closet, “You actually invited Miyoung, right? You’re not just saying this to get me out of bed?”

“Yes, lover boy. I knew you wouldn’t go if it was just me so I asked her earlier and she said ‘yeah’.” Jihoon explained his perfectly executed plan, “So now, you have no choice but to come along.”

Jinyoung sighed and gave in, much to Jihoon’s excitement. When they hung up, Jinyoung dragged himself out of bed and to his closet to find something cold temperature appropriate but also nice enough that he didn’t look like a slob in front of Miyoung. Thing is, it was difficult to dress nicely for the cold. He eventually settled with a burgundy hoodie over a grey turtleneck and black jeans. When he passed by his mirror, he debated on doing something to his hair – maybe gelling his fringe up – but ultimately decided against it. Doing his hair might be too much for just ice skating. With a quick ‘fighting!’ to himself in the mirror, Jinyoung headed out to the living room to tell his parents where he was going.

His breath came out in small white clouds as he jogged to the bus stop downtown. As he was passing by Sooji’s house, he saw from the gates that the window to her living room was open. He took a few steps forward and noticed that the driveway was empty implying her parents were away at work. Craning his neck, Jinyoung tried to peek into the window and saw Sooji sitting at one of the couches. Instead of sitting like a normal person, her legs were swung over the backrest of the chair while her head dangled off the seat. She was playing on the white version of his younger brother’s handheld gaming console. Glancing down at his watch, Jinyoung saw that the bus wasn’t going to arrive for another ten minutes. Hurriedly, he pulled out his phone and dialed Sooji’s number. He watched her shift into a normal position and grab her phone off the table to answer him.

“Hey, Sooji,” Jinyoung greeted when she answered. She was now sitting on her legs, balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder so she could keep playing her game. He could faintly hear the sounds of the game in the background, “Are you busy? Jihoon, Miyoung, and I are going to go ice skating at the new rink in the city. You want to come?”

Sooji closed the device’s cover and placed it on the table to pay attention to their conversation, “The one that just opened last week? That sounds like fun, but I can’t go. I need to get ready for volunteering at my dad’s. He’s picking me up in about an hour. Apparently, breaks are the perfect time to get service hours in.”

“Oh, I see. No, I understand. Your dad’s right; hours are important. Maybe you can go with us another time.” Jinyoung’s shoulders slumped at her response, “Well, I better get going now. Talk to you later?”

“Sure! Have fun with the others!”

Jinyoung’s footsteps were heavy as he walked the rest of the way to the bus stop. He hardly ever got to see anymore. If she wasn’t in extension, she was in the library with Dongbin working on whatever research paper or new project they were working with at the time. The only time they had together really was in the morning and towards the evening on the bus. Even then so, Sooji somehow always wound up falling asleep next to him on the way home because she was tired.

“Last one around the rink pays for dinner, okay?”

The three Lila students held the railing at the entrance of the rink, bending their knees and getting into starting position. Although Jinyoung was standing straight, he couldn’t guarantee that he could stand straight after letting go. It had been a while since he last went ice skating. He forgot what it was like to balance himself on two thin metal pieces. Jihoon and Miyoung were behind him, waiting for him to start the countdown. It was quite nerve-wrecking though because he could feel their competitive auras. Both his friends wanted to be first, even though there was no consequence for coming in second.

Once the countdown hit three, Jinyoung found himself falling over from the two flying by him. As he got up and rubbed his sore and cold backside, he watched the two racing in the distance. The rink was rather large so there was still time for him to catch up, but Jihoon – as of now – was in the lead. Behind him, trying to grab at the back of his jacket was Miyoung, yelling at him to slow down. Their laughter echoed throughout the building. With a sigh, Jinyoung accepted defeat and took off after them, hoping he would only lose by a littl