Jjung, Ssul, Luna and AJ: Age 16/17/18

The year had passed by in a blink of an eye. Ssul and I were starting high school and I was excited that we would get to hang with AJ hyung like before. We saw so little of him since last summer, it just wasn’t the same. Whenever he had a chance to meet up with us, it was always just for a short while. On top of that, he started behaving very oddly around us. I couldn’t put my finger on it but something was definitely different about him. AJ hyung was also anticipating Ssul’s and my starting high school. Finally we were all going to be in the same school at the same time. It was going to be epic, or at least I hoped so.

Over the past few months, Ssul and I had spent a lot of time together. Since hyung was always busy, it was just her and me. Most of the time, we just hung out at either her house or mine. At times she would ask me to go do stuff with her like eat out or go shopping. There were also a few times when we went out for movies together but they were definitely not dates. She never made a big fuss about it. She had completely shed her tomboy image now. She didn’t behave like before where she would yell at me or hit me randomly or put her arm around me carefreely. I was seeing her in a brand new light. In a way, I really missed it. At least when she was behaving that way, I could just pretend that she was “one of the guys”.

It was so difficult to think straight these days. I was always trying to get her attention or impress her without being too obvious. I wanted to know what she was thinking but I didn’t want her to know why. I did things for her but I wanted to be casual about it. It was driving me crazy. I knew that if I told anyone about this they would think I was mad too. I bet they would think “why do this to yourself?” There were times when I came close to telling her about how I felt but I always chickened out at the last second. I just wasn’t ready to lose her if she didn’t feel the same way.

The day of our start in high school, we had decided to walk to school together and to meet up with AJ hyung at the school entrance. Ssul and I were both so nervous about entering a new school with new people that we walked without saying a word to each other. At one point, we were walking side by side when she suddenly took hold of my hand. I was completely caught off guard and my heart went wild. I didn’t want her to notice it so I mustered up all my will and kept a straight face; I didn’t even turn to look at her. I just took the lead.

As we approached school though, she let go of my hand. She probably didn’t want the other students to see us and misunderstand our relationship. There’s nothing worse than having a rumor about you go around the school on the first day. It would follow you throughout high school. We spotted AJ hyung and Ssul immediately ran towards him.

“AJ oppa… I’m so glad you’re here. I feel so nervous…” she muttered softly.

I nodded at hyung to say hi and he nodded back.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s all the same. Besides you have me and you have Jjung. Between the two of us, we’ll take care of you,” he laughed.

Her face brightened a little.

“AJ oppa!” came a loud call from a distance. There was a girl running in our direction that I did not recognize.

Hyung didn’t even bother turning around and replied, “Hey Luna.”

Oh, so that’s Luna. I should have guessed.

She squeezed between Ssul and me and stopped right in front of hyung. “Oppa, I’ve been looking all over for you. What are you doing here?” she asked. I didn’t think she realized we were there.

“I’m meeting with my friends here,” he said and pointed in our direction.

She turned her head and looked at us, finally realizing that we were there too. “Oh… sorry. That was rude of me. Hi, I’m Luna. I’m classmates with AJ oppa,” she greeted.

Ssul and I bowed our heads politely.

“Hi, I’m Jjung,” I replied.

“Hi unni, I’m Sulli but my friends call me Ssul. AJ hyung’s told us about you,” Sulli greeted back with a smile.

Hyung blushed a little, something I hadn’t seen very often. “These are my best friends. I think I’ve mentioned them to you before.”

“Ahhh… yes… Jjung and Ssul. So it’s your first day today isn’t it? You guys excited?” she chirped.

I remembered hyung telling us about her in passing. He didn’t mention much but he definitely said that she was very friendly and talkative.

“I’m kind of nervous actually…” Ssul fretted.

“Don’t be. You’re lucky actually. You have a friend starting school with you and you have an oppa too,” Luna exclaimed. “And if you can’t talk to these two guys, you can come to me.”

It was actually an adorable sight to behold because Luna was considerably shorter than Ssul but she was the older one and the more confident one. It triggered a smile on my face unconsciously.

I’d only just met Luna but I found her to be extremely sincere and very admirable. Hyung had told us about how he knew that Luna had feelings for him and that he had shot her down but they still remained friends.

I peered over at Ssul and wondered if that would be the case if I could somehow tell her the truth. I sighed. I wish I had Luna’s courage.

“Well, shall we go in? The bell will ring soon. You still need to check your class assignments,” hyung remarked.

We nodded our heads and headed towards the notice board.

“Jjungie, do you think we will be assigned to the same class?” she asked me anxiously.

“I don’t know but we’ll still see each other a lot,” I promised.

She frowned at me, displeased with the answer I gave her. She must have been expecting me to give her a more comforting answer.

AJ hyung and Luna were walking ahead of us so they reached the notice board before us. I saw them check the list and turn back to face us.

“It’s good news kids!” announced Luna.

Ssul and I turned to look at each other at the same time. We smiled at each other.

“See… nothing to worry about,” AJ hyung urged. “Your class is that way, we’re heading this way. I’ll see you two at lunch?”

We nodded.

“See you later hyung.” I gave him a fist-bump.

“I’ll see you kids later too,” Luna added and waved goodbye to us.

As they headed on their way, I watched as Luna playfully pushed hyung from the back down the hallway. I chuckled to myself.

“What?” Ssul questioned after hearing me laugh.

“Nothing.”

We walked to class with me taking the lead. As we stood at the doorway, we looked into the classroom and scanned for available seats. Most of our new classmates were still roaming the hallways so the classroom itself was rather empty. Ssul walked in first and took a seat in the middle of the classroom. The seat beside her was empty and I thought about sitting next to her. I decided against it as I thought she would prefer to sit next to a girl and besides I felt a little awkward assuming that she would want to sit next to me anyway. My eyes were fixed on the available seat at the back of the classroom next to the window. It was my preferred seat. I walked past Ssul and headed to the back of the classroom and took the seat.

She turned around and raised her eyebrow at me. She immediately got up, walked to the back to where I was sitting and took the seat next to me.

I stared at her in bewilderment. “What are you doing?”

“Why? Don’t you want to sit with me?”

“No, of course… I just thought… Wouldn’t you prefer to…” I stuttered.

“No! You can’t just abandon me. I want us to sit together.”

I didn’t know how to respond so I stayed silent.

“If you don’t want to sit with me, you can just tell me now…” she added in disappointment.

She got up and was about to leave when I caught her hand. I gently pulled her back down but I kept my silence. I definitely did NOT want her to leave.

She sat back down beside me. As she laid her backpack down, she turned to me and said in a whisper, “You’re stuck with me now, Jjungie…”