I slumped lower down my seat and let myself drown in my books. My table was entirely scattered with them; books pertaining to History, English, Maths and Biology, all piled up around me. My Physics book was propped up in front of me, the white pages filled with squiggles and doodles, tiny pictures that marked the passing hours of idle boredom while my teacher droned on and on about theories and definitions that had half the class almost snoring. Formulas were scribbled between the pictures, barely legible in my careless hand, some unable to be discerned at all.

My notes were in far better shape, but I couldn’t say they make very tempting studies aids at all. I wasn’t the type to be creative and decorate the pages and colour the words when I jotted them down, so most were a monotonous pattern of black and white, occasionally spattered with drawings that looked nothing like the ones our teacher drew on the board.

I stood up and proceeded to stretch, twisting my body left and right. Kicking off my fluffy slippers, I collapsed onto my bed, staring at the ceiling as I tried to blink away the words dancing in front of my eyes. My bed was a soft haven, cradling my body in its warm, comforting embrace that lulled me into a land of dreams. I buried my head in the blanket, breathing in the fresh scent of apples from my mother’s detergent, and smiled as I let myself drift.

My mind blanked of all that I had read, and I couldn’t be bothered to even wonder if I would even remember it again. Blissful sleep beckoned, and I was about to answer its call.

That is, until my door was being banged open.

“Kim Yoora, how lazier could you get?” the obnoxious voice that was known to interrupt my sleep, my dreams, and all things that I found peaceful, said.

“Baekhyun. Get. Out.”

Baekhyun didn’t but just sauntered into my room, leaving the door wide open behind him. He proceeded to twirl the chair I had vacated and plopped himself down, flipping through my notebook with one slender arm draped over the back of the chair.

“Man, you have everything in here from food to movies to teen pop boybands,” he commented. “All that’s missing now is my name and my picture as a bookmark.”

“Baek, seriously, get out before I kick you out.”

Baekhyun chuckled and twirled the chair around to face me. “Well, Your Highness, I’m here to remind you about the little arrangement we had pertaining to Song Joongki.”

My head shot up from the pillows, still a little groggy. I could still see my best friend clearly though, sitting in my chair with that smirk on his face as if he owned the house. “What about Song Joongki? Is he finally doing one of his fanmeets in our school?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and chucked a pen at me. “I doubt the principal would even let him step foot inside the gate. Half the people in school won’t be in class then, and we’d probably need the police to control the stampede.” Baekhyun leaned forwards, scrutinising me. “You really don’t remember, do you?”

I frowned, shifting my eyes to the ceiling in thought, trying to sort through my memories.

Baekhyun leapt of from his seat, his hands on the back of his head in triumphant glee. “Guess I won’t have to suffer through a theatre full of squealing girls then,” he sang.

Then it clicked.

“Not so fast!” I yelped, leaping out of bed and grabbing his arm tightly. I glared at him. “We are going to see that movie even if I had to drag you into the theatre by the hair,” I said threateningly.

Baekhyun smiled and ruffled my hair. “Then get ready, chickadee. Just remember that next time it’s my turn to choose the movie.”

“Yoo, I’m really starting to have second thoughts about this,” Baekhyun whispered to me as he nudged me on the side.

We stood in the middle of the continually increasing line in front of the second of the six tickets booths. It was obvious that everyone was excited for this new release. The chatters rose into a crescendo as every girl discussed the riveting plot and even more irresistible male lead of the movie.

“Dude, what do you have to be worried about? I’m paying for your tickets,” I huffed as we proceeded to move slowly down the line.

The smell of popcorn infused the whole movie theatre, a lovely mix of caramel with a dash of buttery goodness that melts instantly in your mouth. Sounds of drinks being poured and the clinking of cans from vending machines accompanied the buzz of words. Laughter punctured conversations and smiles graced the faces of the movie-goers.

The walls were rich ruby red, decorated with posters of upcoming movies and those currently in show. Cut-outs decorated the corners, and the one that was receiving the most attention was that of Song Joongki with the title ‘Wolf Boy’ splashed in bold lettering below. He looked haggard, his gaze towards the camera wary with a hint of child-like innocence. His clothes were battered and his hair was dishevelled and messy, framing his dirt-smudged face. They made him up to the perfection for the role; the tips of his hair right down to his calloused knuckles and bare feet all mirrored the image of a haggard boy living in the woods that the beloved actor portrayed.

I spent a minute or so admiring the life-sized picture, reading and rereading the cast list again and again while sighing happily. I took one last look at the cut-out and turned to Baekhyun, who was looking around with a nervous look in his eyes. He scratched the back of his head.

 “Yeah, but... it’s all girls here.”

“No it’s not. There’re plenty of guys. There’s one over there, and one over there, and another over there.” I pointed them out, biting my lip as I tried not to laugh at the frazzled state of my best friend. Baekhyun looked embarrassed, continually scratching the back of his neck and darting his gaze left and right.

“There’re here because of their girlfriends,” he said, watching as three girls walked over to the guys and proceeded to hold their hands or wrap their arms around them.

“And you’re here because you lost a bet. Besides, you seemed pretty willing to go this afternoon.” I shrugged. We were almost there, only two giddy girls to go before we get to the counter.

“Who said I was willing?” Baekhyun said with a frown.

“You wouldn’t have barged into my room to remind me about it if you weren’t.”

“Yeah well, I felt sorry for you. You’re pretty short in the friend department and I figured you wouldn’t want to look pathetic by watching a movie on your own.”

Trust the boy to have that kind of comeback. I gave him a good whack on the arm and he laughed, massaging the spot that I had hit.

“Are you even a girl?” he said once he stopped laughing.

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re part Hercules; no girl could hit that hard.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know, I held back at the last minute. Couldn’t have Baekhyun’s precious arm incapacitated now, do we?” I said mockingly.

“Watch it, Godzilla.”

I snickered and stepped in front of the counter. I paid for the tickets and handed them to Baekhyun, who took them and quickly slipped them inside his pockets, as if afraid that people were going to see the title printed on the palm-sized piece of paper.

We stopped by the snack counter to get the popcorn, during which another bicker ensued between the two of us involving popcorn flavours and set combos. Baekhyun insisted on individual plain buttery ones; I wanted a large tub of caramel popcorn that we could share.

“Individual orders are more expensive,” I said to him.

“Yeah, but I want to have the control over my own food,” Baekhyun argued childishly. “You always take more than you say you would.”

I snorted. “You have sharing issues, my friend.”

“Well, it’s my money,” he said as he stuck his tongue out. “So I get to pick.”

We had split the bills, as we always did when we went somewhere where we needed to spend money. I paid for the movies while Baekhyun was to pay for the snacks.

I threw my hands up in frustration.

After another ten minutes of arguing in which I attempted to persuade Baekhyun to get the caramel flavoured ones, we finally ended up with two buckets of popcorn: the normal butter ones for Baekhyun and the caramel ones for me. Baekhyun was grumbling as he pocketed his wallet while trying to balance the popcorn on the crook of his arm.

“That cost me an extra few hundred wons,” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes as I popped some into my mouth. “I told you that we should have shared the large tub.”

“I don’t want those dang caramel ones!”

“Shush! People are staring.”

Baekhyun scowled and roughly shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. I shook my head and grabbed his arm.

“Stop being such a child and let’s go. It’s almost time.”

“You girls are really ers for tragic romance, aren’t you?” Baekhyun said, his hands in his pockets as he sauntered next to me.

We had followed the flow of the crowd out of the theatre, reappearing in the carpeted lobby. The smell of popcorn that had attacked me when we first came in was only a pleasant aroma now, sweet and alluring. I had enough of popcorn though, and the one that I had clutched to my chest was empty except for a few pieces that rattled as I deposited the tub into the trash.

All around me, there were soft murmurs and some sniffles. Their voices were low as the girls discussed the movie, gushing over Song Joongki and clutching their hands to their hearts as they recalled the most heart-wrenching scene. I do admit to being a little teary myself, but I had somehow managed to keep the moisture from falling down my eyes.

“It’s a sweet movie, okay,” I said to him. I winced. I hoped he didn’t hear that raspy note to my voice.

Unfortunately, Baekhyun rarely missed anything. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna cry over that,” he said exasperatedly.

“Well,” I said, sniffing a little, “so what if I do? It was sad.”

Baekhyun sighed and shook his head. “There’s no need to get so emotionally attached to a movie. You see, this is why you should let me pick next time. I promise you, there’ll be no tears. Only a full three hours of action-packed mystery, with all the glories of super amazing luxurious cars, gun shots with slow mo effects, and of course, the ever present exploding bomb that destroys almost an entire city.”

I gave him a look. “If that’s the case, I’d rather watch ‘Wolf Boy’ again. Besides, the mark of a successful tragic movie is when you’re able to make the audience cry.”

“So, you’d rather cry your eyes out than experience the thrill of having stuff blowing up?” Baekhyun said slowly, as if finding it hard to comprehend.

“Yeah.”

“You girls are strange creatures.”

“Whatever,” I said as I flicked my hair over my shoulder and wiped my eyes. “I’m going to wash my face.”

“I’m going to buy some drinks. All those popcorn are drying up my throat.”

We disappeared off to our own separate ways. Being familiar with the cinema, I located the toilet easily. Not that it was hard really; girls were streaming in there to freshen up, like me. I ran the water and dabbed my eyes with a tissue. I didn’t wear any make-up, so I was saved from another ten minutes of removing running mascara or reapplying eye shadow. I just dabbed some lip gloss I had in my purse and headed back out, running my fingers through my hair absently.

I glanced around, looking for Baekhyun, and soon found him standing by the ‘coming-soon’ movie posters. He was looking around, clutching a can of coke with one hand in his pocket. Under the light, his hair was light, sparkly even, probably from the amount of hair gel he applied on it to get that messy, ruffled look. His electric blue sweater made him stand out, the absolute reason why I gave it to him for his birthday in the first place.

I was about to walk up to him when he suddenly walked away. I paused, frowning in confusion. The crowd was relatively thin since most people had left and the next showing wasn’t until two hours or so, so I was able to see what he was doing clearly.

He was making his way over towards someone, a girl by the looks of it. She was about my height, with long hair and a slim body. I watched in confusion as Baekhyun suddenly tapped her shoulder. She turned, and he jumped back, eyes widening as he bowed and apologised profusely. I, on the other hand, looked on in amusement.

Baekhyun backed away, still apologising and then turned and almost sprinted into the crowd. I grinned and approached him.

“Got the wrong person?”

Baekhyun whirled around, his face red. “What took you so long?!”

“It’s a girl thing.” I peered closer at him, still smiling mischievously. “Baekkie, you’re face is red.”

“Shut up!” He glared at me, and then grabbed my hand dragged me out of the theatre as I laughed my head off.

Author's note:

First of all, no, I have not watched wolf boy. I have however, read reviews for the said movie and have come to the conclusion that it is a sad one (a lot of people claimed they cried sometime during the movie). I tried to reference the movie as best I could without having to mention too much about the plot, and I think this the best result.

This chapter is sort of like a prologue, an introduction to the characters. It shows what type of friendship the Baekhyun and Yoora share: light-hearted and full of playful banter. 

But then, who exactly is that mystery girl at the end? Read on to find out ; )