I laid my head on the table and closed my eyes. The classroom was empty, everyone was out for PE. Nana hadn’t come to school for a week. Usually she was the first person to greet me in the morning but today she wasn’t here to do so. It felt empty without her in the classroom—she was the mascot of our class. Everyone was starting to miss her and the three of us kept being questioned by them. We couldn’t give them the proper answer and it frustrated us.

“You look troubled.” Sungyeol sat across me and grabbed my pencil. “What’s wrong, lonely girl?”

“What would you do if your friend didn’t want to talk to you?”

“I’ll walk up to him and talk until he talk back.” He answered rather simply.

“Easy to say…” I sighed. “Why aren’t you playing basketball today? You’re in your school uniform.” 

“I don’t feel like playing today.” He smiled, taking out a lollipop from the pocket of his trousers.

“Okay then…” I closed my eyes, my head still resting on the table.

“And I just wanna sit with you.”

“Huh?” I sat up and stared at him.

“What?” he raised an eyebrow and started rubbing his cheeks. “Is something wrong with my face?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t sit still and do nothing. You can talk to her and if she doesn’t respond, you can wait and listen until she speaks up. She’s not mute so I’m sure she’ll talk someday.”

“You’re so good at giving advice. Yaa, Lee Sungyeol, were you a psychiatrist in your previous life?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. Then he stood up and stretched his arms. “Go talk to her, she’ll open up soon. Just like you.”

Before I could speak up, he walked out of the classroom. I shook my head and looked at my notebook that was sprawled open on the table. There was a drawing of a crazy-looking cat in it. He was such a bad artist.

~~v~~

“Nana-ya, let’s play!” Sungjong shouted.

“We know you wanna talk to us!” I spread out my arms and laughed when it started raining. “Nana-ya, it’s raining! You should join us down here.”

“What are you guys doing in the rain?” Nana appeared at the window of her room. “Go home, you guys will fall sick!”

“Not until you come down and join us,” Ara said, her hands reaching out towards the sky.

In a matter of seconds, we were soaked through. The three of us danced and laughed in the rain. When I looked up at Nana’s window, she was no longer there. Soon, Nana came out from her house holding an umbrella. She walked up to us and stopped us from jumping around.

“You’ll fall sick, don’t you understand?” Nana exclaimed.

“We don’t care.” Sungjong snatched her umbrella away from her and threw it away before she could retrieve it back.

“Yaa, Sungjong!” Nana shrieked when she got drenched by the paltering rain.

Without realizing it, she had joined us dancing in the rain like crazy people.

“Can you guys smell the rain?” I asked, my hands feeling the touch of rain.

“It smells so good,” Ara smiled.

“I can’t smell it!” Sungjong scowled. “I guess it’s because I’m coming down with a cold.”

“I’m so sorry for worrying you guys,” Nana suddenly apologized. “Actually I’m just stressed out by the upcoming exam and my parents always fought with each other. But now everything’s okay, I’m telling the truth. I promise I’ll always tell you guys everything next time if I have something troubling me.”

“We knew you’ll miss us eventually.” Sungjong patted her head. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings back then.”

"And I'm sorry for shouting at you," Ara scratched her head embarrassedly. Nana shook her head and gave her a hug.

“I'm not mad at you guys, how can I? You guys are too perfect! I haven’t felt this good for such a long time!” Nana exclaimed. “I wish all four of us will pass the college entrance exam!”

All of us cheered in unison and enjoyed the rain until Nana’s mother came out of the house scolding us. The next day, Sungjong came down with a fever. He didn’t regret it though because last night he told me over the phone that it was one of his most memorable events in high school. I agreed with him. It was indeed an unforgettable event.

I never knew how precious memories could be until I met my friends in high school and I thank them for that.

A/N: The next chapter would be the last one.