I found myself between the desperation to finish the task passed by the Physics teacher and the difficulty to keep both a good handwriting and the vivid memory of the formulas in my mind. This is the last class before the break and the teacher, who is not one of my favorites and definitely not even one I can stand, couldn't stop looking at us like we're some kind of pet.

What's the point of passing a list of exercises worth a third of the final grade twenty minutes before class ends? He's crazy! Anyone who wanted to feel my irritation just had to look at me, the tense and angry atmosphere that surrounded me making it as clear as water; I know that the exaggerated force with which I pressed my hand around the pen and the object on the sheet of paper made it pretty notorious.

Well, resistor association is also not my favorite subject, nor is little power and energy dissipation, so my fury had consistency.

Dying in a hurry, I handed over the paper seconds before the middle-aged man stood up, pushing his stiff belly forward and showing off his usual frowning features of few friends. He ignored the other students' desperate requests to accept their assignments and left the room the second he heard the bell ring.

For a difference of seconds, I did not join Kang Seulgi, who was crying because she had lost so many points for taking so much time to calculate the results.

Sighing, I understood the injustice it was and picked up the red backpack I got the week before from Chaewon, as a gift to celebrate the beginning of our friendship, even though I didn't really consider her a friend, yet.

It's been three weeks since the goddamn slumber party and sharing the table during all the breaks with JinSoul and her friends was becoming a bearable habit and impossible to avoid, since they always filled us with so much food that, a few days ago, we started to save a certain amount and take it to Yeojin, who looked as silly at the chocolate bars and hamburgers as I did in the first time I received them.

I have not heard from Haseul since the day I gave her the soluble fish I stole from Mayor Ha's office, nor did I look for her at Yerim's request. Yerim even insisted on going to the Jo's apartment with me to deliver the package, but I refused to involve her more than necessary and declined it, ending up catching her following me before entering the apartment, like the stubborn brad she is. I still forced her to wait outside the building, though.

Choerry had made it clear to me that, whatever there was to do, we were going to do it together, and as much as my fear of getting hurt scares me, the idea of having a close family like that is not so bad.

"Lippie!" I stopped when I heard the shameful nickname call and took a deep breath so I wouldn't shove JinSoul's long blond hair in her own mouth. "I went to your classroom, but you had already left."

Even though Jung JinSol and I are from the same class, we don't have all subjects together. Physics is one of them.

"It happens," the blonde blushed at my lack of emotion, but what could I do? It happens! I have it for myself that I wouldn't understand that girl even if she put in front of me a manual about herself. "I already told you to stop with that stupid name, didn't I?"

"It's a lovely nickname!" She insisted. "And it's cute."

"I don't care if it's cute or not," I rolled my eyes and watched her cross her arms, clearly upset, pressing her lips together. "Where are the girls? I thought they had classes with you."

"They did, they're waiting for us outside," I waited for her to make some more observations, but JinSoul said nothing, so I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. "First, apologize!"

"Excuse me?" I almost laughed at her words. "It's a stupid nickname, I won't apologize."

"Then I won't move!"

Long ago, when the blonde insisted that we would be friends no matter what I said, I had found out that Jung JinSoul is annoyingly persistent and apparently doesn't give up on anything. Seriously, nothing at all. Therefore, I saw no other option since the girl refused to move, except to grab her arm and take her by force. JinSoul pulled her own member before we reached the cafeteria.

Irritated, I closed my eyes at her and groaned.

"Okay, sorry for insulting your crude nickname," she slapped my arm twice and I had to control my internal temperature so my blood wouldn't start boiling. I sighed. "JinSoul, I'm sorry if my opinion offended you, okay? You won't get more than that from me."

She smiled broadly in response and bit her tongue between her teeth, tilting her head up, an act that I found strangely adorable.

"Jungeun," she called out, preventing me from walking again. "I would like to ask you something."

"The last time you told me that, I had to endure six hours of movies about vampires and love triangles," I accused.

JinSoul took my hand and got closer, smiling with closed lips. "Are you free Saturday afternoon?" She sounded nervous even though her question was simple. Lucky for her, I had learned to ignore the anxiety that preceded her actions.

"Maybe I am, why?" It was a Saturday and Haseul was unreachable, of course I would be free.

"Chaewon wants to invite all of us to go to the movies Saturday night, you know, to watch one of those old and famous movies that they're replaying, but I would like to go earlier."

"I will talk to Yerim about," I promised.

"Don't! I mean, yes, talk to Yerim. But, Lippie, I would like to go to somewhere else a bit early, just with you."

I understood the real meaning of her words as soon as her cheeks took on the strong reddish hue. It made me momentarily nervous; no one had ever asked me out before, not like that — the first time it happened for example, I was younger and Haseul's 'meet me at' had sounded more like an obligation than anything else. This was new.

"Are you inviting me on a date?"

The city princess opened and closed a few times before I raised my eyebrows and laughed at her reaction. JinSoul took this as a challenge.

"Exactly," she replied, still embarrassed.

If I were to think about it, the answer would certainly be different. So I didn't.

"And I assume you will take me to McDonalds for lunch?"

JinSoul froze for a moment, perhaps too stunned to interpret my response.

"Yes!" She opened her eyes wide. "I mean, no! I was actually thinking of a more nutritious place, but we can stop by before we meet the girls for the movie."

"I'll be ready before one pm."

When I headed to our usual table, leaving a Jung JinSol gaping behind, my mind exploded in ways it had never done before and I felt surprisingly anxious about the situation. And I don't suffer from anxiety.

Thinking of JinSoul at that moment made my stomach bubble and my mind get heavy. It wasn't nothing that I had experienced in my recent moments with Haseul — perhaps because I had blocked my feelings for her — nor even when Choerry had her presumptuous self-esteem attacks over others' and went out complimenting everyone she saw in front of he with questionable vocabulary with me by her side.

So I avoided touching her name when I sat next to Hyejoo and, even after noticing that Jung was taking too long to come, I didn't look around for her.

Hyejoo smiled and my paranoia told me that she, as the best friend of my date, knew something about it, even though her lips were just repeating the same act they did the day before, and the day before it. In front of me, Yerim was devouring a jar of chocolate pudding while a crumpled cookie paper lay next to her purple notebook on the table.

"What do you think about going to the cinema Saturday night?" Chaewon asked as her girlfriend her hand over the concrete.

Yerim perked up more than she already was at the same moment. "It's a spectacular idea! Much better than spending the night cleaning the vegetables in Miss Grimes' garden, that's for sure!" She shook her head with an expression of disgust as she spoke.

"Who's Grimes?" JinSoul made herself present, placing the gray tray of food on the table and the backpack on the floor, sitting next to me.

The discomfort in my stomach came back immediately and I decided that I would ignore any reaction that the girl caused in my body for my own sake. I would act as if the fact that we had a date, a real one, did not cause me anything.

"She's the social worker in charge of the orphanage," I explained, taking my food off the object JinSoul had brought and putting the chocolate bar and the juice in my backpack, with plans to hand it over to someone else. I wasn't that hungry, so I chose to eat only the muffin and steal a few sips of the industrialized peach tea that belonged to the blonde. "She's a selfish narcissist, she's always spending the money that the city sends us on designer clothes and expensive shoes. She's an idiot."

"Why didn't you make a charge?" Chaewon sounded stunned.

"We already did it, a thousand times," Choerry took the floor. "We went to the social forum and everything, but the process lives in a status of 'progress'. I have already given up hope for a change."

It's a lie; I knew it. Yerim never really gives up on hope, it is almost impossible to happen, but she likes to play strong.

"It's not like someone cares about what happens to us," I added with no remorse or sadness in my voice. Nobody owed me anything and I'm doing fine with the way things are.

Our new friends didn't seem to take it well.

"I care! We care," Hyejoo interjected, her voice husky and shaky.

"I'm going to talk to my mom about it, I don't think anyone supervises that kind of thing!"

I found myself smiling as I looked at Jung JinSol's upset expression and felt like hitting my head against the wall with all my might for it.

"It's something to be solved, really. Jin, please let us know when you have spoken to your mother, ok?" Chaewon asked.

"That is not necessary," I insisted, making it clear that I didn't care about that mobilization. I already knew it would come to nothing.

"I think it is," Choerry said, smiling in thanks to the girls, proving how comfortable she was in that atmosphere.

"Getting back to the subject you both like so much," I rolled my eyes when I said it. "About the cinema, can I take someone?"

"Someone? Someone who?" The overly sentimental voice belonged to Jung JinSol, forcing me to hold back my laughter and exchange glances with Yerim, who understood the message that I didn't verbalize thanks to the conversations we had previously had on the subject.

"Yeojin... She's basically our sister. We promised that we would take her with us the next time we went out or something like that," Yerim smiled as she remembered the youngest one. "She's eleven. The movie doesn't have a high rating, does it?"

The truth is that Yeojin saw us coming with food — delicious, quality food, which we never had access to before — and questioned us about it. The little girl was curious about our supposed new friends and asked to meet them. We agreed, Choerry and I, that Chaewon, Hyejoo and Jung JinSol would be good influences for Yeojin, and, who knows, because she is so young, she could benefit even more from this friendship. The chances are not over for her yet.

"No, it doesn't," JinSoul didn't hide her smile of relief and Hyejoo perked up. Her girlfriend had already commented on her passion for children with us. "It will be lovely to have her with us."

"Chaewon, can you stop by the orphanage for a ride?" I asked.

The golden girl frowned. "I thought Jin was going to take you guys."

"We're going out in the afternoon," I explained deciding to simplify things. This was not something I was going to hide; the more I treated as something common, the more it became something common.

JinSoul blushed hard.

"Really? What are you going to do?" Nosy Yerim insisted on interrogating.

"It's a date," I struggled to get my voice out as normal as possible, fighting my facial muscles so they wouldn't get hot like the blonde next to me.

"A date? Kim Jungeun!" As much as she screamed in amazement, my roommate's tone and features were extremely happy and, in my opinion, exaggerated.

"This is wonderful!" Chaewon said, starting to exchange information with Hyejoo in sign language.

"I thought you wouldn't want people to know this soon..." JinSoul whispered in a failed attempt to be discreet. Yerim, who was sneaking up on us, smirked and I knew I was going to have to endure an extensive questionnaire about it later.

"How many times will I have to repeat it for you to understand, Jung JinSol? You don't know me. Not yet."

It felt comfortable to say such a thing, knowing that I was giving the girl hope and feeling it in myself, even though it was so light and small, like a whisper. I wondered if I was selfish about wanting more of that with someone like JinSoul.

The bell didn't take long to ring and we had to say goodbye and separate, but Yerim, Hyejoo and I walked together to the room of our next class, which we had together. Computational Informatics.

"Aren't you bothered by it?" Yerim asked suddenly, staring at Hye, who was standing to ask any questions with the teacher.

"Bothered by what, Yerim?"

"I don't know exactly. With Hyejoo, I think. She has to work hard when she's with us, she has to pay attention to every movement of our mouths to understand the subject of our conversations. It makes me feel so bad, like a terrible human being. She's happy the way she is, but I bet with you that she hates having to lip-read so she doesn't feel left out."

Her point made me momentarily feel immense pity and guilt. Yerim touched on an important topic that I, for a few seconds of my existence, had already stopped to think about during the moments of insomnia before falling into a deep sleep. However, before I had Hyejoo's company, and even a little after that, it was not in my interest to do anything to change; I didn't care, I just paid attention to it.

But now that I saw the brow of one of my new friends frowning as we spoke and herrequests for us to speak more slowly, something in me had begun to shift, but not enough to bring up the subject with Yerim, ynlike Yerim, who seemed to be really motivated.

"And what do you intend to do about it?" I didn't expect a concrete answer.

"I think I'm going to ask Chaewon to teach me sign language."

Maybe, just maybe, I would accompany Yerim in her classes, which Chaewon, at the end of the school day, agreed to give with all the excitement in the world, while Hye hid her smile and shook my hand, as if asking if I would do it too. Without having how to deny it, I shook my head in a 'more or less' way and had my cheeks kissed by the youngest, full of thanks.

This time, it was impossible not to blush, just as it was impossible for Yerim not to see the unusual event and scream at all the damn winds about it, and soon the girls started to squeeze my cheeks and kiss my face even more.

It wasn't as bad as I made it sound.

However, JinSoul seemed reclusive and restrained on the way to the aquarium and shy for the rest of the afternoon. Her attitude had started to cause me some revolt because the little princess had no right to ask me out and then start to blush with every look we exchanged, almost ignoring me; no, the ignoring thing was my thing, but the other girl seemed to be enjoying it without limits.

I even let her take me home just to see if she would come to say something, but she didn't. And, due to the tiredness I felt from the effort we had made to move so many turtle eggs to the beach and set up all those protections — I had never imagined that any animal could be interested in eating them, how crazy —, I couldn't stay inside the car and wait anymore. 

"In two weeks, we will be able to see the babies being born on the beach. They swim ito the sea," JinSoul mumbled as she stopped the car in front of the orphanage. That was the longest sentence she had said to me all afternoon.

"Cool," I let a soft smile take hold of my lips when I left her car and then jumped the wall to get in, watching the car go out of my sight before closing the door.

All the girls were already in their most worn and old clothes, the ones we used to sleep in, and I managed to take a shower in peace, without having to hear complaints from Grimes because, according to Yeojin, she had gone out to meet some social workers in the center and said she would arrive after nine, but before ten, and that she would punish anyone who was not in bed by then.

Yeojin seemed quite excited when she was told about our Saturday's movie time and chattered for minutes in a row, forcing us to tell her all about the trio of friends, so that she would know as much as possible before meeting them. I let Yerim take care of this task since I no longer had the patience to spend my free time talking about the people I lived with every school day, but yes, I made comments when I thought it was necessary.

I also thought it was a good time to give the little girl the juice, but I put the candy in her backpack so that she had something interesting to eat between classes tomorrow.

In the end, Yeojin slept like a rock in Choerry's bed and, again, I was prevented from sleeping comfortably — well, as comfortable as the old mattress full of mites allowed me to — because of Yerim, who joined me and tightened me with her arms too much.

"I didn't think you were going to really try, Lippie," the intruder said, burying her chubby face in the curve of my neck. "But you are and I'm as happy as ever for that. It's not that bad, is it? Open up for other can be incredible, even if it has a bad side. But everything has a bad side, so we shouldn't stop trying. Thank you so much for all this."