Eunmi sighed as she threw the remnants of another leaf at her feet.
She had been waiting for Seunghee near the main gate for about fifteen minutes. Usually, the older girl when to cram school after school but on Wednesdays she was free to walk home with Eunmi.
However, she was showing no signs of showing up and the pile of shredded leaves by Eunmi’s feet was only increasing.

Finally giving up, the girl fished her phone out of her blazer’s pocket and dialed Seunghee’s number.
No response.
Maybe the seniors’ self-study session had lasted longer, she told herself. There was no other reason Seunghee could be late.
Chucking her phone back into her pocket, she plucked another leaf from a nearby bush. Waiting was making her anxious today and it had everything to do with the fact that she could end up group-less for their history project.

Three minutes and four leaves later, Eunmi’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Seunghee was calling her.
“Hello?”

“I’m so sorry for not picking up but it looks like our self-study will last longer than usual. I’m sorry, you’ll have to go alone today.”

“Okay,” Eunmi replied.
What more could she say?

“I’m sorry for making you wait. I need to go now. I snuck out by using the bathroom excuse. Bye.”

And that was that.
Eunmi would have to walk home alone on a day she was feeling almost lonely.

Only the Maths teacher had assigned them homework and that too it was only five sums which she had already completed in study hall. The day had been incredibly slow and she had been looking forward to getting home early and getting in bed. An evening under her fluffy blankets seemed ideal.

Leaving a patch of shredded leaves in her wake, Eunmi made her way out of the school compound.
She went home alone most of the time, but today she felt especially alone. Maybe she should have accepted Soonyoung’s offer of walking home together. Although they would go their separate ways after walking together for only ten minutes, Soonyoung was a ball of positive energy and he was almost always bouncing.

In all honestly, though, Eunmi missed talking to Seunghee. The older girl was goofy and really funny when she wanted to be. She also took care of people like it was built into her personality.
Lately, the two girls hadn’t been able to spend too much time together. As a senior, Seunghee had no free classes, had to stay after school for study hall and then go to cram school. The girl’s schedule was hectic, to say the least, and it also had Eunmi dreading her own senior year.
Jeonghan, on the other hand, for the lack of a better word, was chill. He was still seen lounging on the grass in the quad, joking around with Soonyoung, Seokmin and Wonwoo.
His lightheartedness seemed to stress out Seunghee, and the bickering that followed was always entertaining.

Eunmi felt a smile tug at her lips.
She liked Daeryun a lot more than she had ever anticipated.
Except maybe when she was left group-less for a group project in History class.
The girl’s shoulders sagged as she was reminded of her situation.

She paused in the middle of the sidewalk to take a deep breath.
Deciding she wouldn’t think about it, at least until she was home where she could wallow in her sadness, she clutched the straps of her backpack and set out once again.

She slowed down her pace as the convenience store that Wonwoo worked at came into view. Curling up in bed with a bunch of snacks was still an option. It took less than a second for her to take the decision. In fact, her feet were already leading her to the store. Once inside, she headed straight to the aisle with the ‘unhealthy snacks’.
Could one still call them unhealthy if they helped you forget your problems for a little while?
Probably.
But right now, Eunmi didn’t care.
She grabbed more than an evening’s worth of snacks. She even added a few packets of ramyun. She had been craving some.

At the cash counter, she was hit with mixed feelings.
Wonwoo wasn’t there.
Eunmi was glad she didn’t have to deal with an awkward situation again but also, almost disappointed. Maybe she had been hoping to run into him. That too for rather selfish reasons.
Running into Wonwoo would mean talking to him and she could talk about History class and the project. Maybe he would get the hint and ask if she wanted to do the project with him.

Of course, all of this was hypothetical.
First she’d have to figure out how to talk to Wonwoo without sounding like a choking goat.
She got so nervous around him, it was embarrassing. Her odd behaviour wouldn’t go unnoticed, she feared, but it turned out, a lot of people got nervous around him. Even Seokmin sometimes looked like he didn’t know what to say to the older boy.
Jeon Wonwoo was quiet and his gaze sharp and unfaltering, and that, it turns out, unsettled people.

Unsettled, however, wouldn’t be the word to describe Eunmi’s reaction when she (quite literally) ran into Wonwoo just as she left the store.
“Wonwoo!” she called, rather loudly for someone who was standing just a foot away from him.

“Eunmi!” he called back, in what Eunmi hoped was a joking tone. She couldn’t quite tell. But she knew he joked around sometimes.

“You’re here for your shift?” the girl asked, figuring she had to say something.

“Yeah,” Wonwoo rubbed the back of his, “I’m late for it, actually.”

“Oh!” the girl took a step away from him, “I’m sorry for holding you up.”

The boy shook his head, “It’s okay. It’s nice seeing you.”

Eunmi swallowed. They had seen each other about an hour ago.
“You too. I’ll be leaving now. Bye.”
She walked away before he could reply. Maybe it would be considered a rude action but she had almost bowed before leaving, that’s how flustered she got around him.
She was only a few feet away when she heard him call after her. She turned.

“Bye!” he waved, a smile on his face.

Eunmi smiled back before turning walking away.
That was new, she thought, walking away with an added skip to her step.

As usual, Eunmi came home to an empty house. At this point she was used to it.
She went straight to her bedroom upstairs.
Placing her backpack on the floor and the bag full of snacks on her desk, she threw herself on her bed. It felt like she had been through an extra tiring day.
Staring up at the ceiling, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She reached up to wipe them away.
She wasn’t sad. So why were tears flowing?

In one swift move, she sat up.
There was no reason to be moping around. No major reason at least. She could ask Chanshik if she could join his group. And there was always Wonwoo. He wouldn’t abandon her. She hoped.
With that tiny hope in her heart, she headed to the bathroom to wash the pessimism off her.

Instead of wallowing in her sadness, she chose to eat it.
After devouring a bowl of ramyun in the kitchen, Eunmi headed up to her bedroom. Her other snacks still lay on her desk. They were calling out to her.
Completely aware that this was unhealthy, she grabbed the bag full of snacks and made her way to her bed, under the covers, leaning on pillows against the headboard.
She opened up a bag of chips and grabbed her phone. She was amazing at multitasking. She just hoped her Mum wouldn’t suddenly show up. She would be as good as dead then.

Scrolling through SNS, she caught up on all that was happening back in her old school.
Everyone was still making jokes about the P.E. teacher, the Principal’s singing was still the of jokes, Doyoung and Yujin were still being teased, Junhong had another skateboarding related injury. Things hadn’t changed.
Her leaving hadn’t changed anything at all.
Not that she expected her friends or the entire school to be mourning, but it irked her, how quickly ‘normal’ changed.

‘Normal’ had changed for her too.
It felt like it had been ages since she had left Seoul…
Thinking about her life back in Seoul, Eunmi slowly drifted off to sleep, one hand in a bag of chips and the other holding her phone.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t her mother’s yelling that woke Eunmi up.
Startled at the sound of her ringtone, she sat up. Doing so, she spilled some chips from the packet her had was still in. Involuntarily, she let out a curse. She didn’t have time to clean up the small mess, her phone was still blaring in her other hand.

Her frown deepened as she squinted at the unknown number on her screen. Hesitant, she pressed the green button.
“Hello?”

The voice that spoke from the other side was unfamiliar and male, “Hello. Is this Cho Eunmi?”
Eunmi gave a curt affirmation.
“This is Lee Jihoon from History class. I called to ask you if you wanted to be in our group for the project.”

Eunmi’s stomach did a weird flip as a heavy weight felt like it was being lifted from her shoulders.
She knew of Lee Jihoon. She didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he didn’t speak much and that his glare could shut the entire class up. He was smaller than most of the boys in history class but everyone seemed to respect him for reasons she was unaware of.

Realising she had taken a bit too long to reply, Eunmi quickly spoke up, “Yeah. I’d like that.”

“We’re planning to meet at the library during study hall tomorrow. You’re allowed to leave your classroom, right?”
The way Jihoon spoke was firm and curt. Eunmi felt like she was talking to someone much older.

“We are. Who all are in the group?” the girl asked, almost tentative.

“Park Haeyoon, Jang Soobin, Jeon Wonwoo, you and me. Do you know them?”

This time, Eunmi’s stomach did a bigger flip. Looked like they’d be in the same group after all.
“Just Wonwoo,” she answered.

“Just Wonwoo,” Jihoon repeated. There was a pause. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Eunmi threw herself back on the pillows and then let out a big sigh of relief.
Her problem seemed to have somehow solved itself.

*

Soonyoung looked up at Wonwoo with a little pout as the latter stood up.
“Where are you two going?” he asked.

“Library. Group discussion for our History project,” the other boy replied as he paused to wait for Eunmi, who was packing up.

Soonyoung grimaced.
“That .”

“It does,” Eunmi stood up, agreeing wholeheartedly.
Wonwoo said nothing, only taking a small step back to make way for Eunmi to step out.

“Have fun then,” Soonyoung sat back with a grin that was half genuine and half teasing.

The other two said their quick goodbyes and walked out of the class.

There was a beat of awkward silence as they stood in the hallway.
Wonwoo decided to break it.
“We need to tell Miss Ryu first, right?”

Eunmi shook her head, “I already told her in the morning.”

There was a nothing beat of silence before Wonwoo spoke again.
“Let’s go then. Lead the way.”
He motioned for her to walk ahead and somehow, it made the girl smile. She’d never seen him so animated when they were alone.

The silence continued as they walked to the library, but it was bearable this time. It was almost comfortable.
Although, to Eunmi’s confusion, there was at least one person that did a double take when they saw the pair pass. She swore she saw a girl whisper Wonwoo’s name to her friend.
Was Wonwoo secretly popular or something?

Before she had the time to dwell on Wonwoo’s reputation in the school, they were standing before the large doors of Daeryun High School’s Central Library.
Once again, Wonwoo pushed open the doors but lead the way this time. Apparently, he knew where the rest of their project group was. Eunmi followed silently.

The other three were seated at one of the tables near the windows.
Wonwoo’s quickened his pace when he spotted them, Eunmi’s pace however, slowed.
These were a completely (maybe not completely) new set of people, she realized. And they already knew each other. She would have to be the new girl again.
Jihoon had invited her to join the group for whatever reason, but would the other two be okay with her?
She sighed.
When had she become such a pessimist.

She was likable, wasn’t she?

Jihoon seemed to have heard them approach because he turned in their direction and waved.
The other two looked up from their conversation only when Eunmi and Wonwoo reached the table.
Wonwoo raised his hand in greeting and pulled out a chair for himself.
The girl, Haeyoon, dragged out the chair beside her and patted it, motioning for Eunmi to sit.

Taking a seat, Eunmi introduced herself, “I’m Cho Eunmi. I haven’t really spoken to any of you but let’s work well together.”

Haeyoon extended her hand for Eunmi to shake, all smiles, as she introduced herself.
The two boys only raised their hand as they introduced themselves.
Once the introductions were done, there was a moment where no one knew what to do.

Soobin decided to speak as he sat back in his chair, “So what exactly are we here to decide?”

“To decide who’s gonna be team leader, I guess,” Jihoon shrugged.

Wonwoo, Haeyoon and Soobin all looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language.
“Is that even up for debate? It’s obviously you.”

Eunmi couldn’t help but smile at the hint of pink on Jihoon’s cheeks.
She didn’t know him but as far as she had seen he seemed to command respect. It was a quality few people their age had. He would make a good leader, she guessed.

“Let’s make a KaTalk group,” Haeyoon suggested, “we won’t have to call each other then.”
There was a chorus of agreement before the group fell silent again.

“That’s it?” Soobin spoke up again.

Jihoon looked only slightly flustered, “Well, Mr. Kang hasn’t assigned the topics yet so…Did you guys really wanted to attend study hall?”

The other four exchanged glances.
Skipping study hall didn’t sound half bad.

Author's Note:
Hi! I hope everyone is having a good week.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter.