“It’s back to school time, thots!!” Haneul got out of the driver’s seat of his car and yelled at his friends, Jae I and Hwalchan, who were standing next to the steps of the school building. “This is our year!”

 

“Yeah, no it’s not,” Hwalchan complained. “You know all the essays and exams we got to take in order to get into a good university here in Korea-”

 

“Bye, Haneul, have a good time being an idiot,” Hyogi said as he got out of the passenger seat. “I can’t wait till you graduate.”

 

“Shut up, Hyogi, go play legos with Minhyun and Woojin,” Haneul taunted back to him. Hyogi just replied with flipping him off and heading into the school, probably off to to his friends. “Jesus, he’s so annoying, when will Uiyeon get here?”

 

Hwalchan looked at his watch. “Well, it usually takes him five minutes-”

 

“Calm down, Hwalchan,” Jae I said. “He’ll just get jealous if he sees Uiyeon with another guy.”

 

Haneul’s face turned red. “I don’t get jealous of him-”

 

Baekgyeol came behind him, clapping his hand on the latter’s shoulder. “Senior year, guys, are we ready?”

 

“Where the did you come from?” Haneul said, pushing Baekgyeol’s hand off him. “I’m still mad at you for eating my ice cream.”

 

“Your parents literally own an ice cream parlor!!” Baekgyeol shouted, trying to defend himself. 

 

“Yo, Baekgyeol, you didn’t get to hear about the hottest guy I saw there the other day,” Jae I interrupted. “Like, he was so goddamn-”

 

“No one wants to hear about your wet dreams again, Jae I,” Haneul reminded him, giving him a dirty look. “Keep it in your pants for school hours, dammit.”

 

Hwalchan took out his phone. “We’re missing Dongin, Donghwi and Uiyeon-”

 

“We get it, Hwalchan, you miss your boyfriend,” Baekgyeol said. “If only Youngwoong loved me.”

 

“Press F to pay respects,” Haneul said, patting the latter’s back. “You’ll find someone.”

 

“Easy for you to say, someone already has a crush on you,” Baekgyeol muttered, crossing his arms across his chest. 

 

Haneul raised an eye. “Who would- LOOK, IT’S UIYEON!”

 

Uiyeon, in question, was a few feet away, walking with the last two friends in their friend group, Dongin and Donghwi. When he noticed Haneul, though, he picked up the pace to reach the group quicker. “Hey, Hanuel, how was your weekend?”

 

“Pretty good,” Haneul said, his face gleaming. “Except Hyogi ate my sushi rolls-”

 

“God, I hate mushy couples,” Hwalchan muttered, only to squirm when he felt someone’s hands around him. “Who’s touching me?!”

 

“Your boyfriend, idiot,” Dongin said, resting his head on Hwalchan’s shoulder. “I’m using my PDA pass of the week.”

 

“On the first day of school?” Hwalchan asked him. He tried to turn his head, but that basically meant his lips resting on Dongin’s cheeks. “Literally who could you possibly be showing off to?”

 

“Uiyeon,” Dongin stated. “You know.”

 

“Yeah, I bet he’s still not asking Haneul to the dance this year again ,” Hwalchan muttered, thankful that the two lovebirds Haneul and Uiyeon were in their own conversation. “Guys, class is about to start!”

 

“Bet I’ll have a date with that cute new guy by the end of the week,” Jae I told the group, only to get smacked by Baekgyeol. “OW! Why would you do that?”

 

“In this household, we respect people!” Baekgyeol reminded him. “Go be an somewhere else!”

 

“ hours are opened, it’s school time, after all,” Haneul interrupted him.

 

“They can always be opened if you don’t give a ,” Dongin said, arms still tightly wrapped around Hwalchan. 

 

“That’s what I’m going to tell you next time you asked for free ice cream.” And with that, Haneul slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Bye, s-”

 

“No, you can’t do this to me!!” Dongin screeched, letting go of Hwalchan to fall on his knees in front of Haneul, grasping his hands and shaking them. “I need free ice cream!!”

 

“Uh, guys, class is about to start,” Donghwi reminded the whole group. He grabbed Haneul and Baekgyeol’s collars, ignoring the two yelping. “Let’s go already!!”

 

***

 

“I’m not sure whether to be mad or glad that the school is a fifteen minute walk from our house,” Horyeong told his brother on the way to school. “Guess we’re doing exercise whether we like it or not.”

 

“Calm down, stupid, walking a few minutes a day isn’t going to hurt you.” Daun lifted up his hoodie to cover his face better as the school came into view. “Besides, like I said, you only have a year left.”

 

“Yeah, but I don’t know what I want to study, and that’s if I go to college,” Horyeong confessed. “I’m almost eighteen, it’s about time I know."

 

Daun shrugged. “It’s fine if you don’t know, you shouldn’t be expected to plan out the rest of your life while you’re still young. Give it time.”

 

“I know you won’t be fit for a guidance counselor position, that’s for sure,” Horyeong muttered. 

 

Daun rolled his eyes. “That’s because parents will throw a fit if they discover that the school is telling their child that it’s okay not to go to college.”

 

“Yeah, that’s true.”

 

The two walked in silence afterwards, Daun with his earbuds in while Horyeong every now and then his phone to see what was going on in the groupchat. Zeth was ranting about pineapple pizza lovers while Seulchan yelled at him to shut up. Yep, nothing out of the ordinary, that’s for sure. 

 

Soon enough, the school came into view. There were people milling outside, everyone trying to catch up with their friends or stalling off entering the school. There weren’t any teachers that Horyeong could see, only the usual volunteers who make sure the car drivers don’t accidentally run over someone or something.

 

That’s happened in Horyeong’s old school a bit too often. 

 

Daun pulled out one of his earbuds. “Well, looks like it’s back to being slaves in the name of education.”

 

“ boomers.” Horyeong turned off his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. “Looks like we have to separate now, lil bro-”

 

“Can you not quote authors who have no idea how siblings work, please,” Daun pleaded, kicking Horyeong’s leg. “You know better than that.”

 

Horyeong sighed. “Maybe I should become an author.”

 

“If you want to, sure-” Daun stopped walking. “Ah, .”

 

“Let me guess, you forgot something at home,” Horyeong guessed. 

 

Daun shook his head, pointing at a group of people standing in a group in front of the steps of the school. “It’s the people from the ice cream parlor last week.”
 

Horyeong looked at where Daun was pointed and was also surprised. “Damn, they really do go to the same school as us- hey, where are you going?” 

 

Daun was speed walking away from him. “I want to get a good seat, leave me alone.”

 

Watching him practically run away, Horyeong sighed and shook his head, before heading into the building as well, right when the warning bell rang. 

 

***

 

Fortunately (or unfortunately for Horyeong), the guy named Hwalchan found him during lunch, slamming the sign-up sheet on the table again. “Tell me you have a school email now,” he said. 

 

Horyeong did, in fact, already get a school email during homeroom, so he had no excuse now. “I’ll get a pen,” he said, reaching into his backpack which he had put it on the empty seat next to him. He had managed to grab an empty table at lunch, thankfully. “What was this for again?”
 

“It’s to stop mistreatment and favoritism in the school,” Hwalchan explained. “There’s been many cases here at school but the school district always lets it get pushed aside, so we’re arguing that if they don’t pay attention to it, we will inform the higher ups know-”

 

Someone came behind Hwalchan, wrapping his arms around the latter’s waist. “I’m so glad we have the same lunch period,” he whispered, placing a kiss on his cheek. 

 

Hwalchan rolled his eyes. “Dongin, out of all the times you want to prove to others that I’m taken, now is not the time.” 

 

“No, wait, I thought this was the guy Jae I liked?” Dongin asked. 

 

“Dongin, that’s the other dude, Daun-”

 

Horyeong took out his pen and stared at the two. “Excuse me, Daun as my brother ?”

 

“I think this is my cue to go back to the table and steal Haneul’s rice,” Dongin said, letting go of Hwalchan. “Get those signatures, babe!!"

 

Hwalchan sighed, looking at Horyeong. “Jae I is just weird, he gets a new crush every week, doesn’t mean any harm, though.”

 

Horyeong frowned but didn’t say anything, signing the paper quickly with his new email listed. “I hope this works out for you guys,” he said. “Last thing I need in a new school is unfair treatment.”

 

“EXACTLY, everyone should feel comfortable here,” Hwalchan agreed. 

 

Someone else came up next to Hwalchan, waving a sheet in front of him. “Hwalchan, good news, we just finished another page,” he said.

 

“That’s great!” Hwalchan exclaimed. “Oh, Donghwi, this is Horyeong, he’s a new student here, you know, the one with his brother at Haneul’s family’s ice cream parlor.”

 

Donghwi looked at Horyeong, frowning. “Uh… hey?”

 

The guy was about Daun’s height. He was wearing normal jeans and converse, a black jacket on with the hoodie up even though it was practically still summer. “Hey as well,” Horyeong responded, waving. 

 

“Oh, you put here that you’re a senior?” Hwalchan asked, looking at the sheet that Horyeong signed. “That’s cool, so are all of us- well, except Haneul’s brother, Hyogi, he’s a sophomore but he has his own group of sophomore friends- hey, Donghwi, what did they argue about yesterday? I forgot?”

 

“Hyogi accidentally broke his shoes,” Donghwi said, grabbing Hwalchan’s arm. “Come on, we promised to give the sheets to Baekgyeol.”

 

Horyeong watched them walk away before returning to eating his rice, the thoughts of the unfamiliar boy long forgotten. 

 

***
 

 

Daun was packing up his stuff at the end of the day during his Intro to Engineering class, thankful that he wasn’t given too much work on his first day. There was still stuff to do around the house, and he wanted to get a job soon to help out his parents, not wanting to be a burden on them. 

 

He stuffed his notebook in his bag when he saw someone with his peripheral vision standing in front of him. 

 

Daun looked up to see one of the guys from the ice cream parlor last week. “Hey, you’re Daun, right?” the guy asked him.

 

Confused, Daun nodded slowly, not moving. “What about it?”

 

“Oh, well, not sure if you remembered, but last time my friend was asking about signatures,” the guy said, handing Daun a sheet of paper. “I’m Jae I.”

 

Daun took the sheet slowly, going over it. It looked like the same from last time. “You want me to sign it?”

 

“If it’s no trouble,” Jae I said, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry that we keep asking you.”

 

“No, it’s totally fine.” Daun took out one of his pencils again and quickly filled in his name, his grade level and his email, which he had just received this morning. “It’s that it?”

 

Jae I nodded. “Yeah, that’s it, we’re just hoping that the school board looks over it.”

 

Daun stuffed his pencil back into his backpack, along with his other supplies. “Glad to be of assistance,” Daun said, remembering all those times back in elementary school of the teachers having favorites and making him feel like a bad kid. 

 

“Oh, and, uh, are you free tomorrow?” Jae I asked abruptly, earning a stare from Daun. “I- I mean, not like that, it’s just some of us who weren’t there last week were curious of you guys, and maybe we can show you good places around Jeju and that sort of stuff.”

 

Daun darted his eyes between Jae I and the clock on the wall of the room. It was good that he didn’t depend on the bus, but Horyeong was still going to wait for him. “I mean, uh-”

 

“I can get Haneul to give you free ice cream,” Jae I added. “His parents own the ice cream parlor.”

 

Daun was getting suspicious, but since he had no money for anything for himself for now, he decided to take up the offer. He didn’t have the energy to say no, anyways. “Only for the ice cream.”