It’s been a week since the breakup and you still felt its repercussions in your life.

For instance, every morning as you went up to your bus stop—which was near her house—you were supposed to see her there waiting for you. Now, you have to go to straight to her doorstep and drag her out of her bed just to get her to go to school. At lunch, she rarely touches her food and spends most of her time stalking her ex-boyfriend in all social media outlets available. When going home, she’ll always seat at the back of the bus and sulk with her earphones on.

It because these little moments were supposed to be your thing with her. Though brief and mundane, they’re still time spent with her.

Now you can’t even enjoy that.

You couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with her which irks you to the highest levels.

Usually, you were good at hiding it. But on Wednesday—when you were practicing for some crappy play as part of the Theatre Club—your emotions start to take its toll.

“Cut!” somebody yelled. A lot of groans filled the room and the lights were turned back on again. The director walked directly at you with his hand on her forehead. Everybody else was shaking their heads and prepared for yet another retake.

“Seulgi, are you okay?” the director started. “Look. I really don’t want to pressure you of all people. I know your talent and that you can knock this off easily out the park.” He put a comforting hand on your shoulder as he continued to talk. “But we’re on our tenth take on this scene alone and it’s really dampening the morals of the people that we can’t pull it off.”

You bit your lip. This was very unlikely of you. Most of the time, you make an effort to not be a burden to others. This time though, you know that something’s wrong.

“Sorry” you chimed in quietly. “I-I’ll try again...”

The director grinned at you and ruffled your hair slightly.

“You always do and I know that you can do it. But let’s do it again tomorrow. I think that there’s something bothering you. Clear your head; rest and be ready, okay?”

You nodded and a smile was the director’s answer. He left you and continued to announce to the whole auditorium that practice will resume tomorrow. Everybody started cleaning up and you helped—occasionally bowing your head left and right to apologize for your actions earlier. When you finished, you volunteered to lock up.

You sighed as you turned the key to lock the auditorium door.

“Whoa, someone’s filled with some air of regret” someone said.

You turned and saw a figure standing near the nearby lockers. A weak grin made its way to your face.

“Wannie..”

“Wow. So much for enthusiasm” Wendy mumbled as she walked towards you. “You haven’t spoken to me since Monday and here you are greeting me like someone took your soul out.”

“Sorry. I got busy with club activities and-“

Your mouth stopped itself from even mentioning her name.

“-and o-other things.”

Wow. That wasn’t suspicious at all Seulgi. Great going!

“Yeah. ‘Other things’ my precious posterior.”

You smirked.

“Posterior?”

“That’s ‘’ for you dumb dumb.”

Your smile widened as you shook your head.

“Okay. Whatever you say.” Wendy patted your back and made you carry the books that she was holding. You gave her a look of disbelief which she just brushed off.

“So I assume that since we had zero communication for the past three days, the best way that you thought of to make up for that is to make me carry all your baggage?”

“Well, that’s what friends are for right?”

“I really don’t think so.”

“Yeah well make it one.”

Wendy was probably the complete opposite of you. She was loud and cheerful. She also had a knack for making conversations and meeting people. You on the other hand keep close tabs on a number of people that you can fit in our hands. Wendy was incredibly smart too. She was probably one of the students with the most number of AP classes in your grade. Despite your obvious differences, you made friends with her quite easily.

Like usual, Wendy chatted like there’s no tomorrow. She told you all about her day including the small things like the supposed ‘bug’ that she saw in her muffin that turned out to be a piece of raisin; her noisy seatmate in AP Calculus; the weird noise in the third floor bathroom that was starting rumors among the girls. Everything.

And as usual, you just nod and smiled at her while listening.

“Whoa. Your day was pretty eventful.”

“I know right?!” Wendy turned towards you with wide eyes which almost made you laugh. “It’s as if I’m in a comedic movie or something.”

“I don’t think finding a raisin in your muffin is movie worthy.”

“Shut it. It was supposed to be a banana muffin and finding a raisin in it was an abomination.”

That’s it, you couldn’t take it anymore. You burst out laughing and Wendy joined you. The two of you continued walking while bickering. When you reached the bus stop, your feet automatically stopped. However, Wendy just continued walking as if not knowing where your usual destination is.

“Wannie-yah~! The bus stop is here.”

She looked at you behind her shoulders and smirked.

“Let’s not go home just yet.”

You gave her a puzzled look.

“What?”

“I already contacted the hell spawns. Let’s meet them to cheer your gloomy posterior up.”

Like you said earlier, Wendy had a lot of characteristics that draws a great difference between the two of you. When you caught up with her, she put an arm on your shoulder and smiled.

“Let’s talk about it, okay?”

Your friend was incredibly perceptive and sometimes you wonder if she knows about yourself more than you do.

*~*~*~*

The usual hangout place of your small clique was having a slow day.

The rustic coffee shop near the edge of town only had a handful of customers scattered around the small tables. Even the small stage that usually hosts a performance from a local singer was empty. You started to look around and saw a pair that was seated at the corner booth and were obviously louder than the rest of the customers.

“Seulgi, head over there before one of them completely punches the other. I’ll go and get our orders.” Before you could respond, Wendy dashed to the counter to queue behind a man. You let out a tiny sigh. The task of babysitting two teenagers was yet again bestowed upon you. Reluctantly, you started to walk towards them.

You heard one of their famous pointless discussions as you neared them.

“I’ll tell you for the last time that Winnie the Pooh would totally trash Ryan the Bear in a heartbeat. I mean, come on! It’s freaking obvious!”

“You’re too deluded! Ryan is the best because he was introduced in the new age! He has all sorts of cool things with him! Even Ryan’s friends are cooler!”

Upon hearing this, Joy stood up and slammed the table with both hands. A few customers were starting to look at them. The smaller girl in front of her was not backing down whatsoever.

 “Cooler?! Does Ryan have a friend tiger that can use his tail as a spring to bounce?! I don’t think so!”

“Winnie only wears a red shirt that doesn’t even cover anything!”

“Well Ryan doesn’t wear anything at all!!”

“Ryan has lots of cool stuff that can put Winnie down any time!”

“Winnie has a honey pot that she can use to bash Ryan’s head wide open!”

“Yah! The two of you quit it!” you scolded the two of them whom immediately stopped upon hearing your voice. You would’ve come to them sooner if it weren’t for the laughter that was forming at the back of your throat. That and you actually got intrigued about what they were going to say next.

“Ah, Seulgi-unnie is here” the smaller girl stood up and grabbed you by your arm. “Let’s ask her about who’s going to win!”

“And how would Seulgi-unnie know?”

“Uhhhh, because she’s a bear? Duh?”

The two of them nodded and turned to you.

“Unnie! Tell chicken face here that Ryan is superior!”

“Well Seulgi-unnie only has one thing to say and that is Winnie the Pooh being the victor. Shut up turtle mouth!”

Just hearing them makes you more tired than before. You don’t really have the energy so you just plopped down at the seat beside the window and rested your head on top of Wendy’s books.

Maybe they got the message because they slowly sat down again and you heard them murmur between themselves. Wendy arrived a few minutes later with a tray of food and a sermon for the two younger girls. You raised your head and sat properly as soon as she put the food down.

“- you two should be really mindful of where you talk about these things! Honestly! What’s the point of talking about this stuff?”

 They didn’t respond.

“And we were supposed to cheer Seulgi up!”

“W