Why wasn’t Nayeon’s name called for attendance? Had Mina simply missed it, not paying attention? No, that wasn’t possible. Not when she had been secretly looking forward to learning the older girl’s last name.

Mina’s head jolted back to the direction Nayeon had just headed, only to find the girl was gone. In fact, the area around her looked almost eerily empty, besides the cars of the student athletes that still remained in the parking lot.

The atmosphere of the surrounding area suddenly seemed sinister, which was odd because she had waited outside of her new school for days now and never gotten this feeling before. Mina crossed her arms, wishing Momo’s track practice would end early so they could go home. Picking a bench outside the front of the school, Mina sat down and began to browse through social media, hoping to pass the time.

Oddly enough, it was as if her phone had read her slightly paranoid thoughts. Ads for horror movies and creepy articles popped up often, making her shiver. Normally she couldn’t stand to even think about anything horror-related, but this afternoon she felt strangely compelled toward the topic. She began to go down a rabbit hole of ghost stories, local legends, and other horrific things.

All the while, in the back of her mind, Mina kept asking herself why Nayeon’s name hadn’t been called for attendance.

“Why are you googling exorcisms,” a voice asked, making Mina nearly jump from the bench she was sitting on. Face turning a shade of red, Mina desperately hit the home button on her phone, only to accidentally cause a slew of tabs about ghosts and other supernatural phenomenon to pop up on her screen.

“It’s—no reason!” Mina quickly replied, finally turning off her screen and slamming her phone down on her lap.

“I thought you hated scary things.” the voice continued. “You almost cried when I tried to put on The Conjuring 2 .”

Mina huffed, turning around in the direction the voice was coming from.

The voice belonged to her friend Momo—a quirky yet passionately loyal girl who’d taken a liking to Mina on her first day in the new school. Standing with her hands on her hips, red track suit on, and with her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, the girl truly lived up to her star athlete status.

It was a few minutes after detention had let out, and Mina, so immersed in her research, had let Momo sneak up on her from behind. Momo had leaned forward and squinted, reading her friend’s phone over her shoulder.

“I do hate scary things,” Mina confirmed. “But it’s rude to look over someone’s shoulder, you know.” Pouting, Mina crossed her arms.

Momo smiled at her friend sheepishly while sitting down next to Mina, sliding off her backpack and setting it on the ground.

“Have you ever heard of a girl named Nayeon?” Mina whispered, suddenly looking very serious. With her eyes wide, she looked at Momo earnestly.

Momo pressed her lips together, face scrunching up into a pout as she thought hard. Finally, she shook her head. “Nayeon…? No, I don’t know a Nayeon.”

The answer seemed to not surprise Mina, but suddenly made her look slightly paler than before. “There’s no one named Nayeon that goes to our school?”

Momo shrugged, curious as to what prompted these questions. “Not that I know of, but you know there’s a lot of students here and I don’t remember names well. Why?”

“Nothing, it’s just...I met someone in detention named Nayeon today.”

Momo nearly began bouncing up in down in excitement. “You made a new friend?” The expectant smile on her face was infectious enough to make Mina smile too.

“No, I mean...maybe. She wants to take my picture for some photography project, so we exchanged numbers.”

“Awwww, that’s so cute!” Momo beamed, reaching over and giving Mina’s right cheek a tug. The younger girl groaned and swatted Momo’s hand away.

“There was something strange about her though. At the end of detention when the teacher was taking attendance, her name wasn’t called.”

Momo’s happy face faltered slightly as she looked at Mina in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Mina shrugged. “She was there the whole time with me but, the teacher never called her name.”

Momo scratched her chin, reflecting on that fact. “Huh, I mean it’s probably because…” Her voice trailed off as she thought harder about the subject. “I really don’t know. That’s weird. The teacher didn’t say anything to her?”

“Nope,” Mina confirmed. “Alright, ready to head out?” she asked, standing up and tilting her head in the direction of Momo’s car in the student lot.

Momo sprung up and slung her track bag over her shoulder. “Yup, but you have to tell me more about this new friend of yours on the way home.”

Mina sighed quietly, but was secretly excited to tell Momo about Nayeon. She’d have to admit, Nayeon did make her first and only detention a lot more memorable than she would’ve expected.

As the two slid into Momo’s beat up two-door, Mina began to tell her friend about her trip to the art wing, as well as the very non-guarded door to the roof.

Momo, who was about to turn out of the student parking lot, nearly slammed on the brakes.

“The roof. You went to the roof?” Momo asked, suddenly looking at Mina with worry.

Mina wasn’t sure why, but the look on Momo’s face scared her slightly. “Yeah. I know it’s restricted but the door wasn’t locked. It’s one of Nayeon’s favorite spots in the school, so she was just showing me.”

“God, I can’t believe she took you up there,” Momo grumbled—hands suddenly gripping her steering wheel tightly. “Everyone knows the roof is haunted.”

Feeling as though she was suddenly er-punched in the gut, Mina gasped. “Wha-what do you mean haunted ?”

“As in, haunted enough the school doesn’t even feel the need to lock the door because they know fear itself will keep us from going up there.” There was a look of accusation in Momo’s eyes before she remembered she hadn’t told Mina about the school’s infamous legend.

“What happened there? Why is it haunted?” Mina’s voice register was even higher and quieter than usual. She looked pale again. Momo instantly regretted scaring her like that.

“There was this girl about 5 years ago...she fell off the roof,” Momo explained. “No one knows how it happened or why but...yeah. It’s a thing that happened. Rumor has it that her ghost haunts the roof. Other students reported seeing a figure there, or hearing a girl crying, after she died.”

Mina gasped again, putting a hand over . “Why would she take me up there, then?” she cried, feeling betrayed by Nayeon.

“She wasn’t a new student, was she?” Momo asked.

Mina shook her head. “She’s a senior. So she should know…”

Momo pressed her lips together and sat back in her seat as they were stopped at a red light. “Well, she must be really brave then. That, or incredibly stupid.”

Mina felt horrified. The peaceful place suddenly turned sour in her mind. And to think Nayeon had convinced her to go up there…

There was a bit of silence between the two girls. Momo decided to turn the radio onto a pop station, trying to lighten the mood. “It’s fine, Mina,” she assured, noticing the girl still looked like she’d seen a ghost. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I should’ve told you about the roof, I guess, I just didn’t think you’d ever have a reason to go up there.”

“Thanks for letting me know, or else I might have gone up there more often. Nayeon said it was her secret spot to go to be alone.”

“Well, yeah, there’s a reason no one else goes up there,” Momo scoffed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not taking any chances. I mean...I didn’t think anyone went up there at all anymore. Hate to say it, but your new friend is kind of sketchy.”

A bubble rose up in Mina’s throat. She felt compelled to defend Nayeon—after all, the girl had seemed very nice—but she couldn’t shake the scared feeling of being brought to a place that had a tragic history. However, she was sure Nayeon just hadn’t thought about the roof like that. After all, if she had been going there since freshman year, she might have forgotten how scared other students were of the place.

“I guess she’s just not superstitious,” Mina said, after settling her thoughts.

“My parents believe in all that stuff. I guess it kind of got passed down to me,” Momo confessed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ghosts were real. Wait a second…” An exclamation mark might has well have showed up above Momo’s head. “You said Nayeon’s name was never called for attendance, right?”

Mina’s brow furrowed. “Yes...why?”

“Did anyone else interact with her that you saw?”

Biting her tongue in the corner of , Mina thought for a moment. “No, she just talked to me.”

“And didn’t you say her phone was seriously outdated?”

Mina didn’t quite see where Momo was going with this. “Yeah, it was a flip phone from like 5 years ago.”

“Aha! Five years ago!” Momo cried, causing Mina to cross her arms. “So, let me get this straight. This girl who no one else but you interacts with leads you up to the most haunted place in the school, she has a flip phone from five years ago, the time when that girl died, AND her name was never called during attendance? It’s almost as if the teacher didn’t even see her, right?”

Mina looked over at her friend, who was still thankfully focused on the road, and couldn’t tell if she was teasing or not. “Momo...you can’t be serious. You don’t actually think—”

“Your new friend is a ghost!” Momo announced dramatically. “Oh my god, a ghost flirted with you.”

The eye roll Mina gave Momo must’ve broken some sort of record for most dramatic eye roll yet. “First of all, she not a ghost. Second of all, that wasn’t flirting, she just wants to take pictures of me…” Mina stopped short, suddenly realizing that hey, maybe the girl actually was flirting .

“This is just like that time in Casper the Friendly Ghost where Casper clearly had a thing for Hilary Duff’s character. It was a little weird right, I mean he’s dead...she’s not. It’s kind of a hard obstacle to get over.”

Mina pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. “You know how ridiculous you sound, right?”

“We’re also assuming Nayeon’s a friendly ghost when she might not be. She could be Casper the Unfriendly Ghost. Now, there’s a movie that should be made—”

“I’m pretty sure ghosts are almost always unfriendly, in movies anyway,” Mina interrupted. “So by that logic, Casper was pretty daring by introducing a friendly ghost.”

At the absurdity of their conversation, Momo snuck a peek a Mina, who was already looking at her with a dopey smile on her face, and laughed.

The topic quickly switched to Momo’s track practice, luckily, but the rest of the ride home, Mina couldn’t help but think about Nayeon.

Sitting in her room, working on homework, her wooden desk suddenly vibrated as her phone lit up. Mina glanced at the notification to see it was an unknown number—which could only be Nayeon. A bit anxiously, Mina opened the message to see Nayeon asking about what time over the weekend worked best to meet up.

Nayeon: I was thinking, the roof might actually be a good place to get some pictures. When we were up there I was taking mental notes of all the best angles to frame you.

*your hair. I mean. You know, natural lightning is important.

The roof… Mina’s stomach twisted at the thought. Should she be honest about the haunted past she’d just been told about? Make some excuse to get out of it? Ask to do the photoshoot somewhere else?

Being indecisive as normal, Mina quickly texted Momo.

Mina: Casper just texted me. She wants to do that photoshoot on the roof.

Momo: Who knew the other side had good cell service.

Mina rolled her eyes for the second time that day.

Momo: You know there was a rumor the girl who died was taking pictures on the roof when it happened...

Mina: Stop scaring me!!

Momo: Sorry! It’s true though. I don’t think you should go up there.

Mina: Just come with me this weekend. We’ll prove she’s not a ghost.

Momo: I AM NOT GOING UP THERE?? And neither should you.

Mina: We’ll meet her somewhere else in the school, then.

Momo: If I do this, you owe me one.

Mina: Actually, you owe me. Remember I got detention for you?

Momo: ...crap. Fine, but I need to bring some precautions just in case.

And so, a plan was set. Mina texted Nayeon that they’d meet on Saturday, when the school would be open for clubs and other activities.

 

“When you said you’d come prepared...I didn’t expect this,” Mina replied, staring at the small vial of water Momo had just tucked away into her coat pocket. It was the next day, and the two girls were standing in the lobby of their high school, waiting for Nayeon to get there.

Momo returned Mina’s gaze with a sheepish grin. “It’s just a precaution.”

“Mina,” a voice called. Mina recognized it at once, tearing her gaze from her friend to the girl she’d been thinking about almost obsessively since yesterday.

“Hey, Nayeon,” Mina said, giving Nayeon a small wave. “This is my friend Momo, who I mentioned yesterday.” She’d brought up the idea of bringing Momo along under the guise of Momo being Nayeon’s assistant for the photoshoot. Nayeon had agreed it was a good idea.

(Although, though Nayeon would never admit it, she’d wanted to spend the time alone with Mina).

“Ah, the one who got you into detention?” Nayeon teased, sending a sly grin Momo’s way.

Momo looked accusingly at Mina, who looked surprised. “I didn’t mention your name when I said I was covering for a friend, okay?” Mina assured.

“Just a lucky guess.” Slinging her camera bag over her shoulder, Nayeon smiled. “Ready to head up?”

Momo and Mina both gulped. “Um, Nayeon, about that…” Mina begans. “Momo told me the roof is haunted.”

Nayeon snorted, raising an eyebrow. “You actually buy into that?” At Mina and Momo’s serious expression, the older girl sighed. “Okay, I get it. I used to be scared of it too, until someone else brought me up there. It’s just a place.”

“Lots of people have said they saw things, experienced things—” Momo began.

“I never have. Not once,” Nayeon replied. “But if it really makes you that uncomfortable, we can go somewhere else?”

Mina glanced at Momo, who was looking at Nayeon a bit curiously. Hand slowly reaching for her coat pocket, Momo suddenly looked determined.

Oh my god, wait, she’s not actually going to—

Mina’s eyes widened as she watched Momo uncap the vial of water with a graceful click, and the girl’s right arm began to extend forward in a lightning fast motion...toward Nayeon.

“Momo, wait—”

The contents of the vial rushed out...directly onto Nayeon’s face.

Nayeon, being totally taken off guard, didn’t have a chance to avoid the water in the slightest.

“What the HELL!” the senior cried out, immediately looking from Momo to Mina in shock. “Why did you do that?” She clenched her fists and stomped toward Momo like a storm of tiny, yet determined, fury.

Momo cried out and quickly retreated behind Mina, who, though trembling, managed to hold her ground. The sight would’ve been quite comical—the taller and older Momo cowering behind her shorter and younger friend—if Nayeon didn’t just receive a face full of cold water which was now dripping down her neck and wetting the collar of her shirt.

“There doesn’t seem to be any sort of negative reaction to the holy water,” Momo whispered. “She’s definitely not a demon...”

“A demon?” Nayeon shouted. “Excuse my language, but why the  did you throw water in my face?”

Mina sighed, immediately wanting to run out of the school in embarrassment. “Momo,” Mina hissed, turning to look back at her friend in horror.

“I just had to be sure…” Momo responded quietly, avoiding eye contact with Mina entirely.

Spinning back to face a still fuming Nayeon, Mina clasped her hands together and took a breath. “That was holy water...she just wanted to make sure you weren’t a ghost.”

Nayeon froze. Disbelief, anger and laughter all surged throughout her body at once due to the absurdity of the statement Mina had just said.

Despite the strangeness of the moment, Nayeon let out a cackle, only further confusing the situation. Mina and Momo took a collective step backward.

“You thought I was a ghost ?” Nayeon clarified, while wiping down her face with her shirt sleeve.

“The girl who died on the roof was a photographer too” Mina began. “You still used a flip phone, no one seemed to notice you at detention, and you only wanted to meet at the school, like you couldn’t leave. You never touched me, and your name wasn’t called at the end of detention.” As Mina listed everything out, she realized just how absurd her conclusion of Nayeon being a ghost really was.

Nayeon sighed, shaking her head. “Me being a ghost is quite a leap to take. Superstitious much? Anyway, I can explain everything.” She motioned for the two girls to sit. Hanging their heads, they joined Nayeon in sitting on a wooden bench in the school lobby.

“Where did you even get holy water?” Nayeon asked, staring at the empty glass vial Momo was still clutching in her hands.

“You’d be surprised at how easy it is to find,” Momo replied, vaguely. Nayeon didn’t know whether she should be impressed or creeped out.

“So, to address all your concerns—the girl who died here years ago obviously wasn’t me. I thought that was just some scary story people told around here, but it’s legit?” Nayeon looked to Momo, who simply nodded.

“Like I said in detention, I just don’t have the money to afford a legit smartphone. Yeah, it , but I’m saving up for this private school I’m going to after I graduate. Tuition’s expensive but I got accepted for early admission and it’s my dream school.” A smile began to form on Nayeon’s face as she said this—she was clearly proud of herself, as she should be.

“People probably don’t really pay attention to me in detention cause I’m there so often,” Nayeon admitted. “To tell you the truth, I don’t actually have detention everyday, I just choose to be there.”

Mina pursed her lips but remained silent, wanting to hear more.

“It’s kind of embarrassing to talk about,” Nayeon began, scratching her head absentmindedly. “I just don’t like being home. I try to avoid it when I can. It’s...not a good place for me to be right now. You see my parents are...well, they just make things difficult for me. That’s why I avoid going home after school. I’ve never really been into sports, so that’s why I haven’t joined any teams, and the people in the art club annoy me, so I didn’t really belong anywhere else. The teachers know my situation, but they told me I need some sort of supervision staying after school so, I figured the peace and quiet of detention was nice.”

Mina could feel her heart aching for the girl sitting next to her, wanting but failing to find the right words to say to try to provide some comfort to Nayeon. It made her feel even worse about the fact that Momo had just thrown water in her face.

Nayeon could sense the sympathy radiating off of Mina and Momo both, so she held up a hand, as if to silence their racing thoughts. “Hey, you don’t need to look at me like that. It’s okay, I’m fine.”

Momo nodded, and then her eyes widened, realizing she hadn’t apologized yet. “I’m sorry I threw water at you! My family is superstitious so I just wanted to make sure my girlfriend wasn’t about to get possessed or something.”

(Wait. Girlfriend. As in Mina. As in her friend Mina? The girl sitting right here, next to her? Who was very much not her girlfriend?)

“...did I just say girlfriend? I...I meant Mina. Not my girlfriend.” Momo stood up abruptly, nearly making an already bright red Mina jump.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Momo assured, waving her hands a bit wildly, as she spoke to Nayeon. “Definitely not my girlfriend. We’re just friends.” She covered her face in her hands, wanting nothing more than to turn invisible. “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that. Anyway, I just remembered I forgot something in my locker so...you guys should go do that...what’s the word again? Umm, right! Photoshoot. Duh. You should just go do that without me. I mean Nayeon’s not a ghost so...you’ll be safe,” Momo said, looking at Mina, who just sat there in silence with her lips slightly parted.

“Are you sure?” Nayeon asked, calmly—trying her best to remain cool and casual amid the clearly very awkward situation.

“Yup. 100%. I’ll meet you in the foyer, when you’re done.” And with that, Momo began to scurry away, leaving Mina watching her go with a very confused expression on her face.

There was a long beat of silence.

“Your friend is interesting,” Nayeon finally said, eyes flicking in amusement from the hallway Momo had just turned down to Mina.

Mina turned back to Nayeon, feeling even more mortified than before. “She is.”

Another beat.

“Should we head up there?” Nayeon asked. “Unless it still makes you uncomfortable?”

Mina fervently shook her head. “I was a little nervous before since I don’t like scary things but, nothing weird happened last time so it should be fine.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Nayeon stood up and winked at Mina.

Winked.

Mina felt like choking for the second time within the past 5 minutes.

Shaking her head and snapping out of it, she quickly stood up and began to follow Nayeon, who was already starting to walk in the direction of the rooftop entrance door.

“Momo’s not my girlfriend,” Mina said, falling in step with Nayeon. The need to clarify that was just too great for Mina to ignore.

Nayeon smiled at that. “I know.”

God, what was going through Momo’s head? Mina had wanted to run up on check on her. It was surely just a mistake, right? I mean, people accidentally misspoke all the time. This was clearly one of those times…

“Maybe she wants to be your girlfriend, though,” Nayeon continued, nonchalantly.

Mina gulped. She had been afraid of that. “N-no,” Mina replied. “She just misspoke. I mean, she’s my best friend here.”

“I’m just teasing, sorry. Force of habit. It’s none of my business.” There was no emotion interwoven into Nayeon’s words at all.

The rest of the walk to the rooftop door was silent.

“I’m sorry about all that ghost business.” Mina crossed her arms and looked apologetically at Nayeon, who set down her camera bag on the ground. “We’re both really dumb.”

Nayeon tsked and gave Mina an easy smile. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be a fun story to tell.”

“Right. The time the new girl’s friend threw holy water in your face because she thought you were a ghost. That’ll make you super popular at all the parties.”

“I already am super popular,” Nayeon quipped, smile changing into a smirk.

And just like that, the comfort atmosphere of their time spent together yesterday returned. Both girls were thankful for the shift, releasing the breath they’d both been holding.

(Neither one of them had realized the other was doing the same, of course.)

“I’m not the best at posing,” Mina mumbled, already shy to see the delicate looking camera Nayeon held in her hands.

“It’s okay, that’s why I’m here. Just do what I tell you to.”

Mina raised an eyebrow, and Nayeon gave the girl a devilish grin, before she raised the camera to her right eye while squinting her left.

“Just move a bit to your right. There, perfect. Turn a bit so you’re looking out that way. Yup, you got it.”

Nayeon stepped closer, so that Mina’s partial side profile was in frame. The lack of distance between them was a bit surprising to Mina. After all, she hadn’t really expected close-ups to be taken.

As Nayeon fiddled with the settings on the camera, Mina said “You’re gonna let me see these when they’re developed, right?”

Nayeon, still totally focused on the image on her viewfinder, gave her an affirming hum. “Now, stay still.”

There was a click, and Nayeon cheered to herself, stepping back and giving Mina a happy grin. “You’ll like that one. Your hair contrasts really well with the sky.”

Mina looked up, following Nayeon’s gaze at the expansive, cloudless sky before them.

“It’s really a perfect day for this,” Nayeon murmured—eyes shining. “I lucked out. Thanks again for agreeing to do this for me.”

“It’s nothing, I’m happy to help.” She was truly happy to help. Even only knowing Nayeon for such a short bit of time, she enjoyed the older girl’s company, and it was refreshing to know she’d found another friend.

Being the new kid in school was always nerve-wracking. Mina wished the prospect of moving her life from Japan to America hadn’t been a big deal—that it was an exciting, new adventure—but truthfully, when her parents dropped the news on her, she was incredibly upset. After all, she had to leave her childhood home and friends to go off to a place she’d never been before.

In fact, she was very vocal with her protests to her parents. She wasn’t shy about letting them know how much she didn’t want this, but with her dad’s promotion, it couldn’t be helped. Despite everything, she’d found Momo in the end, and that life in America wasn’t actually that bad.

Being quiet, it was hard to make friends, so she was thankful for those extroverted enough to strike up a conversation with her. Even if that conversation had been psychoanalysing her background very inaccurately.

(At the thought of the first few things Nayeon had said to her, Mina couldn’t help but smile.)

Click.

Another picture had been taken without Mina even realizing it. She’d been too engrossed in her own thoughts to notice Nayeon looking through her viewfinder, aiming the camera lense at her.

“Your smile is...photogenic,” Nayeon replied, chuckling at Mina’s now wide eyes, as the camera flash had startled her. “Candid shots sometimes turn out the prettiest. I like capturing things in the moment.”

“You sound so artsy,” Mina mused, pretending that Nayeon saying she had a photogenic smile didn’t make her breath catch slightly. She had to remind herself she had literally just met Nayeon—rushing into anything wouldn’t be wise.

Nayeon stepped back a bit to get a wide angle shot. “As long as I don’t sound pretentious, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

There was a bit of silence again—comfortable silence this time, though. The sound of students below walking to the parking lot, and cars driving past the school, floated up like melodic background noise. The slight breeze tickled Mina’s bare arms, and she bristled slightly, wishing she brought a jacket.

“Just a few more shots,” Nayeon replied, noticing how Mina’s body had tensed up in an attempt to stay warm.

Nayeon was determined to get a good range of coverage—close ups and even extreme wides. “Now, look that way…”

They finished up the photoshoot shortly after. Nayeon packed away her camera while Mina checked her phone, half expecting to see an anxious text from Momo, only there was nothing.

“I owe you and Momo both a meal at some point,” Nayeon replied, seeing Mina squinting down at the phone screen in her hands.

It sounded nice, but for some reason the thought of her being with Momo and Nayeon at the same time made her slightly nervous. “Don’t worry about it,” Mina assured, slipping her phone into the back pocket of her jean shorts. “This was Momo’s favor to me for getting detention in her place.”

“What about you though? At least let me repay you.” Nayeon looked at Mina expectantly, and then began to lead the way to the door.

“Maybe lunch sometime, or dinner. Bring me to your favorite restaurant around here. There’s still a lot of options I haven’t tried yet.” Momo had only brought her to a few places, being very loyal to them and insisting that they were the best in town.

“Options are limited but sure, let’s do next weekend. I know a good coffee spot. You do like coffee, right?”

“Definitely. With lots of sugar and cream though, not black.” They were down the stairs now, headed back toward the lobby to find Momo.

Nayeon gave Mina an approving nod. The easy-going atmosphere was slowly slipping away the closer they got to the lobby. Mina was dreading riding home in the car with Momo, not sure how to approach the topic of her slip up early.

“Hey, you know it’ll be okay, right?” Nayeon replied, as if reading Mina’s thoughts. She had stopped abruptly, taking Mina’s wrist in her hand and stopping the other girl as well. “You can text me if you need to talk to someone about it.”

(Mina wasn’t sure she wanted to totally open up to Nayeon, but at the same time, the only other person she had to vent to about things was Momo...and considering this was about Momo herself…)

“Thanks.” Mina gave Nayeon’s hand a small squeeze before the two continued on. Sure enough, there was Momo pacing about the lobby. When she saw Mina and Nayeon approaching, she awkwardly waved.

“All done?” Momo asked. It appeared the girl didn’t know what to do with her hands, sticking them in her pockets, running them through her hair, taking out her phone.

(Mina knew in that moment that the car ride home would be as awkward as she feared.)

“Yup, I got some great shots. Mina is truly model material. I mean, her hair, anyway, is perfect,” Nayeon mumbled, nervously putting her right hand behind her head and letting out a small laugh.

“Thanks,” Mina replied, blushing slightly. “So just let me know when you wanna grab coffee.”

Nayeon nodded. “Sure, now let’s get out of here.” The three girls walked out of the lobby together. Momo’s car, along with another beat up looking one Mina assumed was Nayeon’s, were two of the only cars in the lot. “Thanks again, get home safe. When the pictures are developed I’ll show them to you,” Nayeon said, waving as Mina and Momo trudged off in the direction of Momo’s car.

The ride home was silent at first, with only pop radio playing over Mina and Momo’s racing thoughts. It surely wasn’t enough to block them out, though.

“Hey, you know what I said back there,” Momo began.

(Here we go.)

Mina shifted her eyes to look at her older friend, whose face was still facing the road. Momo’s brows were furrowed, and her nose was slightly scrunched up. Mina had come to learn that Momo made this face when she was nervous, or thinking about something carefully.

(What are you thinking so hard about, Momoring?)

“That was just a slip up. What’s the word for a typo but verbal?”

A small smile tugged at Mina’s lips. “You just misspoke. That’s okay, I knew you did.”

Momo sighed with relief, allowing herself to relax into a grin as well. Her face however remained redder than normal, and her heart was beating unusually fast.

Traitor, she thought, scolding her heart.