With the last stretch of books and notes meeting its end, the last bell rang and the doors were opened for dinner. Lip waited outside her door, peering down the hall where floods of students stomped towards her, intent on getting a good spot in line. Behind someone's blue cap, someone's pink hair tossed about, side to side. ViVi strolled up to where she was, wearing her bag across her front, straps pulled tight.

             "Oh, Lip looks nice?" She feigned, ping the main pouch.

             "What are you talking about," Lip sighed. Turning to go, ViVi rushed next to her, the wave of students continuing to pulse past them. "Let's get a move on: they're running out of fruit from lunch and I carelessly tossed mine away at lunch today," she told, holding onto her as they moved forward, spotting a gap in the crowd.

             "Wha- I didn't do that! Besides," ViVi voice accented by a pout, "you can have fruit any day you feel like it. Only for a limited time," she ped her main pouch, only to pull out a fish cake, "can you enjoy the delight of a true Korean delicacy, which I have plenty of. You see-"

             "We're going to end up waiting so long," Lip stated, pulling her closer yet again and increasing their pace.

             "Hey, wait, I forgot to tell you: that girl's name is Jinsoul, can you believe that? She ended up being in my period of statistics, but she doesn't have the right calculator yet so she wasn't assigned the homework for today."

             "Aren't there ways you can do it online?" Lip pressed.

             "Sure, but… all our quizzes and tests only let you use this specific calculator, so we have to spend time in class learning how to use it, with the functions and formulas and everything."

             "Huh…" was all Lip could manage.

             "Any news from you?" she replied, coming to a stop as they arrived at the line for food.

             "... Yeah. Only once we're at our table though."

~ ~ ~

             Shin looked at ViVi with a grin, watching her fingers interlock and rest above her forehead.

             "Look, it's not that different," Lip reassured, "people admire others for loads of things! I'm… exploring it all a bit more, that's all."

             "No, it's all good," ViVi made out. "I mean, is it just girls now?"

             Lip took a moment. "I don't know, I mean guys are fine. Down the line, I'll probably end up marrying, settling down and all. It's just, right now, nestled down in the moment… I have this specific emotion bubbling up inside, you guys have had this, right? Curious about certain things, but serious about it?"

             Shin pointed at his tray, two scoops away from empty, "Every day, I'm telling you."

             ViVi cut back in, "Have you felt this way your whole life? I knew someone a while ago who was the same way, but they weren't always like that. They started having dreams and such…"

             "Dreams?" Lip perked up. "Really?"

             ViVi coughed, "Yeah, but it was all about those things, I'd rather not-"

             "Oh, sorry," Lip smiled, "I didn't mean anything, it's just… an interesting way to figure it out. But no, I haven't been hiding anything from you both. As far as I can tell, I never felt anything out of the ordinary until recently, I guess-"

             "Is it someone here?" ViVi interrupted, "Do I know them? Did something happen?"

             Lip thought about it for a moment, then stopped. "Not yet. Watch my food."

             She got up towards the opening, finding a better view of the tables. Everyone's heads were lowered, the reaction most people displayed before making another journey back to the classrooms. After searching, though, Lip found the girl she was looking for. Clearing , she made her way over. Once she had passed the halfway mark, different scenarios grabbed at her chest. If she played it off, they might meet each other under safer circumstances, spare both of them from possible shame. There was no guarantee in any of this, let alone leaving with the ideal outcome. Completely trivial.

             Lip stopped. Wiping , Jinsoul looked up from her tray; the quietest movements from her head shook an energy into her hair, then spreading throughout her face, asking back into Kim Lip what her intentions were.

             "Nice to meet you, my name's Kim Lip," offering a smile, "and I'm a student here at Danwon. You're the new student today, correct?"

             "Ah," opening, aligned with Lip's greeting, "Sorry, my name's Jinsoul, nice to meet you."

             "It's okay, nice to meet you, too. Were you able to find all your classrooms?"

             "For the most part, yes, everything went well. I wasn't able to find the gym, though, and I think I have a class there."

             Kim Lip positioned herself beside her, "Ah, I understand that. Do you have your schedule with you?"

             Jinsoul nodded, pulling out her bag from underneath the table; it shone when exposed to the light, a bright cream hue only adding to her glow. Lip also noticed a silver necklace around her neck, tiny silver chains shooting around her, only to disappear into her uniform top. Zipping up her bag, she placed the sheet on the table.

             "Right, here it is," Lip pointed at the block of text, "This gym period is for the class gym, you probably stumbled across the gym we set aside for sporting events. Ordinarily, we'd be outside learning about different sports until winter comes around, but the rain has kept us inside with volleyball for a while. When you have that class next, take a left instead of that right, and you'll see it in front of you."

             "Wow, okay," Jinsoul replied, "you have two gyms? Oh, thank you, though, I'm hoping it'll… be a good school year."

             Lip gave a courteous bow. "Let's hope so. If you ever need anything, I'll be around until 11, either in one of the classrooms or in the library. Again, I'm Kim Lip. Nice to meet you."

             "No, the pleasure's mine." Jinsoul returned a smile, the roof of her cheeks reaching her eyes.

             Smiling again, Lip swiveled around, making for her table again. The chatter rumbled as ever, but each step sent a wave throughout her head, the deed done. Off in the distance, Shin started to chuckle. "You're…" he started.

             "She did it," ViVi agreed, then laughed with him. "Wow, good for you!"

             "At least she knows I exist now," Lip told, sitting back down at her tray, "and I know that I've at least begun to sort things out. Later…" she paused, only to jab at her chicken and hoist it into . School dinner always brought a savory characteristic with it, not ever found in the likes of breakfast or lunch. Today especially, her tangerine resting in a fold of the tray. Its signature surface texture, a spray of mist, and the immediate punch of citrus fragrance borders cinematic once it's late enough. Tonight, real teenagers with aspirations, fears, pleasures, allergies, and habits walk the halls.

~ ~ ~

             8:29pm. The sun had since set, painting the sky a rusted orange for a good 5 minutes before crushing it to gray. Lip got up from her seat, putting her things in her bag. Papers got sorted into folders: homework, rubrics, a drawing, a study guide, and more. Two students huddled over something turned to look, then returned to their business. Above her, the clock continued its rounds, each second slamming one gear into another with a tick. She zipped her bag, tightened the straps, then left the room.

             Silence filled the halls. Far down the hall, opposite the direction of the lunchroom, sat the library. When 8:30 came around, someone stepped out of their classroom, followed by another. Even at a distance, their figures couldn't hide their identity. They exchanged waves.

~ ~ ~

             The library was still, students huddled into groups in different areas. Shin marked his spot on the floor while the two girls dragged two chairs from a nearby table.

             "48," Shin remarked, "That's your answer, 48? How'd you end up with that?"

             "Come on," ViVi bickered back, "48 makes sense - dropping a ball from whatever they said the height was, it'd bounce up 48 millimeters."

             "Well, that makes sense but all the units were in meters, not millimeters. With your math, you'd drop a ball from 1 meter and it'd shoot up like a rocket."

             ViVi rubbed her eraser against her writing, pausing only to wave her paper in the air to knock off the shavings. "This will be the fourth time I'm doing this problem. Who even has paper ready to do these things in real life? All I'll be doing is buying groceries and paying bills."

             Lip stretched across the floor, her bag collecting dust for the past half hour. "... or selling fish cakes."

             ViVi took a handful of her own hair and squeezed, "What is it all worth anyway? I don't even have to get into the best school, I want to be able to live. People are spending half their life waiting to live out the other half. It's like we're all... fruits that aren't ripe yet. You can have these types of memories at this age, these at another, and these when you're older. What are we to do when we grow up and… grow out of love for things?"

             She took a deep breath and laid down opposite Lip, stretching out to line their feet up together. "Isn't there something… out there?"

             The night dragged on. Shin scratched his back, letting out a low groan. "I don't know about either of you, but this has been a long Monday for me. I'm heading out. Text me when you both get home, alright?"

             Lip nodded. ViVi rolled over to see him turn and leave, the swivel doors slowing to a stop.

             "Want to head out, too?" ViVi murmured. "I don't feel like I'm going to make any more progress."

             Lip reached for her bag. "Sounds alright with me. See you later, then."

             Outside, the darkness swallowed up the walls and windows, all a murky illusion. The bus that Lip takes her route on arrived first, so she departed first. Waving at the window, ViVi waited. Lip found her stop, unlocked her door, and found the bathroom. Only a quick face wash was done, the rest of her energy expended.

             "Is that you, Lip?" a voice came from the room adjacent.

             "Yes, it's me. I'm heading to bed."

             "... Alright, sleep well."

             The moon rose. She sent her message. Slumber followed.