I didn’t realize someone was calling my name until he was right up in my face, his hands gripping the edge of my desk.

                “Mimi,” he sing-songed.

                I looked up at Seungcheol, irritation immediately rising up in me. 

                “Since when did we get so familiar? That’s not my name.”

                “But isn’t it cute?”

                I ignored his comment. “Why are you here?” I could feel my classmates watching us.

                He grinned. “Did you get my present?”

                I rolled my eyes and returned my focus to my math notebook. “I wouldn’t really call it a present.”

                “You found it and you didn’t call me?” He gave me his best hurt-puppy gaze.

                “Why would I call you?”

                “Didn’t you want to know whether I made it home safe after I graciously walked you to your door?”

                “You’re here now, aren’t you?”

                He pouted again but drew back, taking his cell phone out of his pocket. “Well, you can just give me your number then.”

                “What makes you think—”

                I was cut off by someone behind me reciting a string of numbers that I recognized to be my own.  My best friend Soojin sat in the desk beside me and smirked triumphantly. 

                “What brings you to this side of the school, Choi Seungcheol?” she asked. I was surprised she even knew his name. People like us and people like him didn’t exactly run in the same social circles.

                “Just bothering Mimi,” he explained with a grin, tucking his phone away.

                Soojin’s eyebrows raised at the name.  “Mimi? That’s cute.”

                “Right? At least someone understands me.”

                “Hey, you over there!  Return to your own classroom,” the homeroom teacher, who had just walked in, called to Seungcheol. 

                He frowned at the interruption.  “See you later,” he told me cheerily before exiting.

                As we prepared for homeroom, Soojin leaned over to me.

                “What was that all about?”

                I shook my head.  “I sit next to him on the bus one time and he suddenly thinks we’re best friends.”

                “Maybe he has a crush on you.”

                I glared at her. “Maybe he’s just annoying.”

                “You’ve got to lighten up, Mikyung.”

                “Mid-terms are coming.”

                She held her hands up surrender. “Fine, I give up.”

                As the teacher took attendance, I folded another star under the table and put it in the bottle in my bag.

-x-

                “Are you coming to lunch?” Soojin asked as class was dismissed. She knew it was futile to ask, but she did anyway. 

                I shook my head. “I think I’ll go the library.”

                “You should really eat more.  People have been passing out during school for all kinds of reasons lately.”

                I held up a piece of bread I had picked up from the convenience store this morning.  “I have this.”

                “I was thinking more along the lines of an actual meal.”

                I only shrugged and collected my books, not forgetting to take my stars with me. I said goodbye to Soojin and walked the opposite way from the cafeteria. I unwrapped my sad excuse for a lunch and took a bite. I finished it by the time I arrived at the steps of the library. My stomach growled, but I ignored it.

                Not more than ten minutes after I sat down at a table in the back, I heard a familiar voice.

                “Kyung!”

                I groaned internally and turned my back to him.

                “What, you don’t like Kyung either?”

                I got up and moved to another table. He followed me. I shut my book and gave him my best death stare.

                “Leave. Me. Alone.”

                My attempt at being intimidating was short-lived when the growl of my stomach cut through the silence.

                Seungcheol fought back a smile and I felt my face getting hot.  He reached into his bag and pulled out a triangle rice ball. 

                “Don’t let the librarian see you,” he said, holding it out to me.

                “I don’t want it.”

                He pulled off the plastic and extended it to me again.

                “Say ‘ah’.”

                I resisted the urge to gulp and shook my head. He drew every closer until it was under my nose and the smell of seaweed filled my senses. 

                “Fine,” I said, surrendering to my hunger. I took the food.

                “You’re always studying, aren’t you?” he said, skimming my textbook. 

                “What else can I do?” I muttered to myself.

                His eyes went to the bottle of stars resting on the table. 

                “Oh, are these paper stars?” he asked.

                I nodded, watching attentively as he unscrewed the cap and shook the stars around a bit. I always got irrationally nervous when someone touched my collection. 

                “How do you make one?”

                “You don’t know?  I thought everyone knew.”

                He made a face.  “Well, I’m sorry I’m so lacking.”

                I pulled two strips of paper out of my pencil bag and handed one to him. 

                “It’s easy,” I said as I slowly went through the motions I had done hundreds of times before. It was finally quiet for a minute. I put my finished result on the table. Seungcheol placed his beside mine. It was lopsided and too big. I tried to suppress a laugh. 

                Seungcheol regarded me with a strange expression. “Okay, it’s not perfect but hey, at least you smiled.”

                I pressed my lips together, scolding myself for lowering my guard.

                He finally took his eyes off me and squited through the opening of the bottle. “You don’t have any blue stars,” he observed.

                I nodded slowly and twirled my pencil around my thumb. “I’m saving that color paper.”

                “Why?”

                “Blue stars burn the brightest, don’t they?  So I’m saving them.”

                “For what?”

                I narrowed my eyes at him. He sure had a habit of asking a lot of questions. “I don’t know.  I just am.”

                “You’re weird.”

                “You’re annoying,” I muttered back. He laughed.

                The bell rang. I deposited both the stars into the bottle. They nestled together in the middle, a big, clumsy star and a smaller, tightly-knit one.

-x-

                It was late when I left cram-school that night. I dragged my feet on the way to the bus stop, feeling more tired than usual. When the bus pulled up and I got inside, my eyes went to Seungcheol, sitting in my spot again.  He waved. His hair was slightly damp from sweat. What could he be doing so late to make him sweat like that?

                “I usually sit there, you know,” I told him as I took the seat directly in front of him. 

                “I’ll remember that next time,” he replied.

                “You do that.” I leaned my head against the window and tried to get a few minutes of sleep. The constant vibration of the bus as it went down the road, however, kept me awake. I shifted, trying to find a better position, but nothing helped. I gritted my teeth. 

                Then I felt a hand from behind gently push my head away from the window and wedge a jacket in the space between.  I tensed but refused to acknowledge Seungcheol’s sudden act of kindness. I pretended I was sleeping until the bus stopped and he tapped my shoulder to remind me to get off.

                He walked me home again. When I came to the door, I swallowed my pride and turned to him.

                “Good night,” I managed to say this time.

                He grinned. “Good night, Mimi.”