it had been a very disappointing day for soojung.

to kick things off, she overslept and was nearly twenty minutes late for school—an extremely rare occurrence—for the jungs kept a very punctual schedule. she had forgotten to study for her statistics test prior to falling asleep and scored a eighty-one (also very rare, almost unheard of; though she passed, merely passing was not enough for her and the people that expected only greatness from jung soojung). she forgot her lunch as well and had to ask for bits and pieces of her friends' lunches—not like they minded or were stingy at all to begin with, it was just something sort of embarrassing for soojung to do. (her pride? comfortably high, sitting atop preconceived notions.) she had absolutely no idea about the whereabouts of her social studies notebook, which contained all of the information she needed for the huge upcoming test, and refused to spend a minute thinking about it any longer in the event that she may have a nervous breakdown. on top of everything, as vain as this concern was, her hair simply refused to cooperate. her hair was soojung's pride and joy and felt insecure if it was anything short of impeccable. to put it simply, she was missing the pep in her step. it was a normal teenage girl thing, really, but she refused to believe it and claimed that her life was one huge cosmic joke. to humor her, no one disagreed.

she knew she expected too much of herself at times, but she reasoned that everyone did the same thing to themselves.

the seventeen year old blew out an exasperated sigh, carding a hand through her raven colored hair as she gazed blankly into her locker, staring at the freshly organized piles of papers and books sorted by color and importance. twirling a strand of hair between her fingers, soojung contemplated which books to take home and absently wondered if she should consider not doing her weekend homework, deciding to do it anyway for the hell of it. exhaustion was tugging at soojung's eyelids by then, and all she wanted to do was go home and take a nap. fridays were her well needed rest days, being that it was that day that she chose to shirk her weekend academic responsibilities. it was a rule she carefully made for herself and she gladly stuck by it, often too immersed in her sleep to give it any thought. she delicately picked up her homework pile and placed it into her bookbag. distant footsteps gradually became apparent from the other side of the empty hallway.

soojung assumed that most of her other classmates had gone home for the day already, her habit being to stay long hours after school to help teachers with their errands and possibly get some added assistance, just to boost her forward. (she was a teacher's pet, an overachiever, and she was comfortable with it. so what of it? she thought.) she had to admit she was curious about the identity of this person. she was sure it wasn't a teacher; male teachers wore dress shoes, which made an entirely different sound, while female teachers wore heels. minding the absence of the clack clack and the squeak squeak, by process of elimination she was sure these were sneakers. soojung took a little step backwards to get a look at the person.

"soojung-ssi!" it was a taller male in her class, by the name of oh sehun. by all means, soojung would totally admit he was a good looking kid. she wasn't too familiar with him herself, but from observance she could tell he was a likable guy. had his share of friends but made an real effort to talk to many. studious, noticeably had his head in the clouds at times but that was something she admired. people called him an optimist. the two never talked, really, save for the couple of projects they had to do together back in the day. even then, their conversations then hadn't strayed from academic topics. occasionally they greeted each other when appropriate. scanning his lively figure, he had a red notebook cradled in his right arm, flicking his chestnut colored fringe out of his eyes. 

she smiled amiably, "sehun-ssi. what's up?" she tried to be as polite and laid back as possible, to avert any awkwardness that was on the verge of approaching. she hoped he couldn't tell how shocked she was just a minute before.

"a-ah, not much. i've been looking for you, actually!" he stated jovially. "you left your notes in the administrations office this morning, when you were picking up your late slip." sehun smiled slightly and extended the notebook in his hand over to her. 'twas her long lost social studies notebook, as shown by the initials taped onto the front cover.

she took it gratefully, brushing hands slightly with the older male. "oh, thanks! i was worried out of my mind looking for this. i'm glad that you of all people found it." aside from being thankful for him finding her book, a part of her is somewhat ashamed that someone would find her here, knowing what she does after school. nothing naughty of the sort, but a person who wouldn't judge her was rare nowadays. soojung wasn't as thick skinned as she'd like herself to be.

"i thought so," he snickered. "you seemed pretty stressed out earlier. was it because of this?" he asked, concern in his eyes. he really was a guy that cared. as they were still technically strangers to each other, it was touching to say the least.

"mm, not just because of this. this day just hasn't been going well," she replied meekly, tilting her head. "but this was a huge relief, thanks again."

he nodded in response, shifting the straps of the bookbag on his shoulders slightly, "it's no problem. i hope this weekend turns out better for you!" his voice rang cheerfully. "i've got to get going, my brother must be wondering where i am. i'll see you in class monday." he stepped back a bit and waved a little, a small grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"alright, take it easy." she waved back, eyes fading into crescents and watched as he gradually disappeared out of the hallway. she figured it was due time to get going herself, and quickly closed her locker after stuffing her book into her bag. why yes, she was most definitely going to see him monday.

//

after a two hour long nap and some dinner, soojung was in tiptop shape. she was stretched out on the living room couch in the middle of watching her late night tv shows, b with d-list celebrities and their , veracious comedy. it was sort of her way of unwinding, just being by herself and laughing at whatever it was that said comedienne decided to joke about next. it was sharp humor that she liked the most. she brought her hand to as she yawned, eyebrows raising as a light buzzing begins to draw her attention from between the couch cushions. her hand dipped into the small dent to her right and grasped her phone. she brought it to her face and stared at the caller id for a split second, picking up immediately, which she only does for one person. she heard quiet breathing on the other line before she spoke. "it is 3am, jongdae. why are you up."

"your questions never sound like questions, soojung."

"and your point is—"

"i wanted to talk to you," is the soft reply on the other line, the male's voice noticeably hushed.

"i'm here, talk," she said, attention primarily focused on the television set. a door creaked behind her, accompanied by a shuffling of footsteps. probably her sister, soojung figured. the shuffling steps grew farther and the refrigerator door opened and closed. jessica looked back at her younger sibling and spoke in a voice laced with sleep, telling her to go to bed, before the older female retired to her own bedroom.

"mm...i don't have much to say. i couldn't sleep. also had kimbap for you earlier, like you've been asking. couldn't find you though so i gave it to jongin."

soojung snorted, wishing she had had that kimbap earlier. "i haven't been asking, you've been telling me you want to make me some for i don't know how long." she paused in thought for a moment. "count sheep."

"yeah, well, you missed out. it was pretty good, if i do say so myself." jongdae yawned over the line, and buried himself deeper under his covers. "count it for me." it came out as sort of a husky whine, without meaning to.

he almost can hear her rolling her eyes, voice deadpan. "are you incapable of counting."

"yes."

"one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep..." she obliged and counted on and on, until she herself drowsed and fell asleep on her couch.