Trying to be stealthy Yu Jin kept close to the walls and made her way to the back of the house, ducking low to keep from being seen. Over these holidays her Grandmother had already caught her trying to sneak through the living room window which meant that option was now off limits.

Picking up a lawn chair resting against the house, she arranged it to sit on the ground below the bathroom window. Standing on the chair she pulled with both hands at the open window but it wouldn’t budge. Huh?

Pulling again with more force, she pursed her lips to find it still unyielding. Placing her face under the window pane she peered up to find that the window handle had been secured to some string and attached to something in the bathroom making it immovable.

Spinning around she straightened and let out a breath of surprise.

Hopping down from the chair she ran quietly over to the lounge window and pulled, popping open to find the exact same thing. Going back across she tried the laundry room beside the bathroom but that window was fully locked. Now uncaring if she was quiet or not she ran around the other side of the house to her Grandparents room window and pulled once, twice, three times to no avail.

Spinning around, she squealed “All of them?”

Raising one hand to the side of her head she scrunched her hair trying to think of another way in, her thoughts interrupted by the feeling of her phone vibrating in her shorts pocket.

Oh my alarm

Taking it out of her pocket she read the words flashing across the screen

Check Sue Ji

Temporarily forgetting about her problem, she sat down cross legged under her Grandparents window and dialled, putting the phone to her ear.

10 out of 10 From her head to her toes 10 out of 10, Lalalalalalala pretty baby, Lalalala…

“UNNI!” Sue Jis voice announced loudly. Startled, Yu Jin jerked the phone away from her ear. Putting it on speaker she laid it on the ground in front of her and leaned forward to speak.

“Did you make it on?” she asked.

“HUH? WHAT UNNI? SAY THAT AGAIN! WHAT WAS THAT?” Sue Jis voice blasted.

Yu Jin covered to stifle a laugh and then leaned forward again to speak. “Did you make it on?” she repeated, this time raising her voice a little.

Yu Jin waited but this time didn’t get a response. Raising her eyebrows she picked the phone off the ground “Sue Ji?” holding her phone up to her ear she heard what sounded like a shuffle and then nothing.

She was about to say something again until she heard a guys voice say distantly “You’re not supposed to use a phone on the train” Removing the phone from her ear to look at the screen in surprise she chuckled. Typical Sue Ji

Putting the receiver back up to her ear “Sue Ji im hanging up. See you tomorrow” Yu Jin paused to see if she was heard but after a moment of not hearing a response she hung up and smiled, missing her innocent friend already.

Sue Jis childlike innocence was one of the things she liked best about her. She was a year below her at school but she was her closest friend, even spending the last half of every school holidays here with her and her grandparents, the first half spent with her own family. Usually they would take the train back together a couple of days before school started to settle in but for the last couple of holidays Sue Ji wanted to try going back a day earlier by herself. Yu Jin was proud of her for it, considering that up until a few years ago she’d only ever travelled anywhere via chauffeur. The first time Sue Ji went to the station alone her Grandmother reacted by kicking her out the house again, worried that Sue Ji didn’t have the know-how to do it but Yu Jin knew better. As much as she was sheltered and naive, she was also much brighter than most people gave her credit for. She would just have to keep it a secret from her Grandmother that she’d been missing the train as much as she’d been catching it, Yu Jin often getting texts for guidance about reading the info board or where to go and how to get there.

Putting her phone back in her pocket she braced her hands on the ground and hoisted herself up, dusting off her hands.

Remembering now that she was now ‘officially’ banished until dinner she took her time to dawdle back to the other side of the house. Walking up to the lawn chair from under the bathroom window, she looked at it for a moment and sighed “Thanks anyway chair” she told it.

Looking up at the window “You too wi….” Distracted, she trailed off. What is that?

At the sight of something dangling out of the window she moved closer. Stepping back onto the chair she examined it “What is this?” she murmured. Running her fingers over the white frayed ends “String?” she asked herself. She gasped loudly “String!”

Placing her face once again under the window pane she peered up to see that the string that was holding the window closed before had now been cut. Holding both of her hands in the air Yu Jin whooped in triumph.

Hopping down from the chair she ran across to the laundry room window and peered in to see her Grandfather rinsing off some pruning scissors in the sink. “Thank You Harabuhji!” she called out gratefully, hands up to the glass of the window.

Without waiting for a response she ran back to the bathroom window and looking up at it, grinned.