Start Dream: Eunji’s POV

“C’mon Eunji,  Let’s just skip school today,” Sunggyu said as he rolled over. I got up and started pulling on my skirt.

“No way! We’re scholarship students, remember? They may kick us out if we don’t show up,” I said. I looked over to him and he was laying on his side staring at me. I rolled my eyes and snapped my bra into place.

“But…” he whined.

“No buts. School is important. We’ve got to take advantage of this swanky schooling, Gyu,” I said throwing him his pants and shirt. I picked up my toothbrush and ran for the bathroom….

End Dream

I was up early this morning. Ever since Hoya and Woohyun came and woke me up I haven’t been getting much sleep. It was Thursday and I had gotten a call from the school saying that if I didn’t show up today then I might as well not come anymore. I thought about Eunji and how important school was to her. Even though it wasn’t a number one priority she was always stressing how important it was to at least go. She always scored really high on exams too. I pulled myself together long enough to get ready for school.

I walked into the clubroom. Everyone was there except Sungjong and L, as soon as I stepped through the door Hoya and Woohyun came up to me.

“Good to see you today man,” Hoya said.

“Yeah, bro. I was beginning to think that we’d have to make another trip out there to see you,” Woohyun and I bumped fists. Then LaLa came bursting through them.

“Sunggyu! I haven’t seen you for so long! It’s good to have you back!” she said hugging my neck tightly. It was the first interaction I had had with a female since Eunji’s death and I immediately rejected her. I pushed her away forcefully. She looked back at me surprised with a wide-eyed look. The room was deadly silent. I was about to apologize when the bell rung saving me from embarrassment. I quickly ran from the room toward my classroom.

I came up to the door of the classroom. I took a deep breath and slid the door open. Immediately voices started to whir around me. I closed my eyes and walked to my desk. I silently slid down in the seat. It was weird. I could feel Eunji here with me. I slowly opened my eyes and could swear on the beating of my heart that I saw her there looking at me with those chocolate brown eyes and radiant smile, but when I blinked again she wasn’t there. The desk in front of me was empty except for a small memorial in Eunji’s name. There was a small teddy bear sitting in the chair with stemmed flowers all around. And sitting on the desk was a circle of daisies surrounding her photo that was facing away from me. Some people had put cards there but mostly there were polaroid pictures of her and our group of friends. I swallowed hard. I could feel the eyes of my classmates on me. I held back my tears and took out my notebook. I began to right down some stray lines of a song.

By lunch time I pretty much had the chorus to a song that I decided to dedicate to Eunji. I can’t believe that I let this happen to her. I was supposed to protect her and be with her for a long time. It’s my fault that she lost her life and no matter what anyone says I deserve to be punished for it. I slammed the book down on the table and punched it with my fist. This pain that I’m feeling in my heart is so strong and unbearable that I can hardly describe it. I looked around the clubhouse frantically searching for something; anything that could give me some relief. I laid my head on top of the book and slowly fell to my knees; tears burning behind my closed eyelids.

“Bro, what’s wrong?” Woohyun came in at the exact moment I was about to have a mental break down. I slid the book off the table and held it in my arms. I clung to it as if the song I wrote for Eunji were actually her.

“I just… I just miss her so much,” That was all I could manage to say. I turned to look at him not caring if I seemed like a big baby with big fat tears falling down my cheeks onto my uniform pants. But Woohyun didn’t seem to judge me. He just looked at me with soft caring eyes. As if he knew what I was going through. He came and sat down next to me, reached into the pocket of his blazer, and told me to look at what he had in his hand. I could feel her. And feel what he was about to show me. I closed my eyes even harder not prepared for what might happen.

“Just look. Please, look at her,” he said. I took a deep breath and looked at the photo in his hand. More tears fell but I felt more confused than anything.

“Dude, what the hell is this?” I asked.

“Eunji. And me,” he was right. It was Eunji but why was he there? They were holding hands and walking through a brightly colored scene. Although in the picture it was nighttime the picture was bright. It must’ve been a festival or something. But they obviously look like a couple. I frowned.

“When did you first start to like Eunji?” he asked me. By this time my tears had stopped and I used my hand to dry my face.

“Middle School,”

“What Year, though?” he flicked the picture between his fingers.

“Second Year. The year I transferred,”

“Our first year of Middle School Eunji and I dated. We were still friends but never as close as I would have liked to be. Eunji had this tendency of just shutting down when she was embarrassed,” he had that right.

“How come nobody ever knew?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to stir up any trouble. For two years she wouldn’t even look at me and then when we all got accepted to this school I thought it was fate or something but then she started to date you and I just fell into the background as a true friend,” I looked up at him and then realized why that look he had in his eyes seemed so soft and familiar.

“You still love her,” I said kind of taken aback. I had never thought of Woohyun as my rival or that he wanted to take Eunji from me. I guess he really was a good friend.

“Its hard not to y’know? This photo? Was taken at the school festival that happens at the beginning of every year. Its famous for its couple making atmosphere so I decided to just confess. We went to the same grade school. When she said yes the school yearbook caught us and this was a featured article: “The couples of the Festival” or something like that. The summer before you came she broke up with me. That’s when things started to go from bad to worse with her and then that school year you came and then now you know,”

This came as more of a shock than anything and I was starting to wonder where he was getting at. I looked at the photo again. Eunji had a lighter glow. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment as she took a side glance at Woohyun who was also pink with delight. Her hair was short with little ponytails just like I remember and the whole scene just looked adorable. I rolled my eyes.

“The point I’m trying to make here is this,” he reached over and took my notebook. I clutched at it for a second trying to grab it back but he was quick. He flipped to the first page where Eunji had taped a picture of her and me. He tapped it with his finger.

“Look at the difference. Do you remember when you took this?”

“On our first date not long after I confessed,” he nodded.

“Do you see it?” he placed the pictures close together. I glanced at both of hem carefully. In the picture taped to my notebook he were holding hands much like the other one but our fingers were laced. She was glancing at me but in a different way than how she glanced at Woohyun. It was more carnal, more loving, more sincere. Her body language was different too. Although she was standing stiffly she also seemed more relaxed at the same time. This made me feel much better. This was living proof that our love was real. She was real. We were real.