Yura stabbed her notebook with her pen during class, her eyes were focused on the board full of information but her mind was somewhere else, as usual, these days, thinking about L.Joe. The boy that had caught her embarrassing moments, took the same bus home with her, stopped her from going into a mystery alley, and became something she looks forward to every day. He was a guy full of mystery and the only way for her to get to know him better was to talk to him, but they haven’t talked for days. It’s not like we need to talk every day. She thought and copied the notes down.

She opened her textbook and flipped to the page the teacher asked them to, her eyes scanned through the paragraphs but nothing was registered into her brain. She placed her head on the back of her head and stared blankly at the board while the teacher went on and on about the new chapter they will be learning.

All she could think of was L.Joe, during the past few days she would always be searching around the halls for a sight of him, but it’s either seeing his back for two seconds or not even finding a slight peek of him, and the part that was annoying her the most was the way he ignores her when they see each other, he would look at her and pretend he was just looking at something behind her then look away.

She let out a sigh that she thought only she could hear, but a few people in front of her turned around. “Yura, are you okay?” the teacher asked. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She lowered her head in embarrassment and covered her face with her hair.

“Well, can you please read the second paragraph for us?” the teacher asked. Yura’s head shot up and gave her teacher a shocked look. The teacher nodded her head indicating her to start reading. Yura looked down at her textbook, the second paragraph was the longest paragraph out of the others on the page. She sighed again and took a deep breath before starting.

After she was done, she rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself in the head. No more thoughts, Choi Yura. Concentrate! She ordered herself. The class continued on with the teacher writing down more notes and asking more students to read out the paragraphs. Just when Yura had finally become more focused, she heard a laugh, she looked up wondering if everyone else heard it as well, but the students all had their heads down focusing on the work they were doing. She knew that laugh, it belongs to someone she shouldn’t be thinking of right now. She screamed in her head and glanced over at the clock, she wanted the class to end because she couldn’t concentrate. What is wrong with you? She asked herself and shook her head.

L.Joe leaned onto the back of his chair with his hand spinning his pen, he sighed and glanced over at the clock waiting for it to strike twelve. The teacher’s voice floated in from his left ear and floated out from his right ear, he wasn’t in the mood of listening to the “important” information, because he had more important things to think of. He glanced down at the notebook and started thinking of ways he could let Yura notice him but not too much that it would cause the others to think it the wrong way. He just wants to get close to her and know her better, but going up to her and thinking about what to say was too hard, at school. After filling up the margin with black pen ink, L.Joe sat up straight and smirked as the most perfect idea popped into his head.

Students walked out of the classroom as the lunch bell dismissed them, Yura walked down the hall with her arms wrapped tightly around her books. She slowly made her way towards the stairs and went up, she turned to her locker and placed all her books into the top section. She grabbed her phone and her lunch money, and made her way to Hoyjin’s locker. She looked around the almost empty hall hoping that today could be the lucky day and see him, she turned to the left then to the right, only seeing other students and no signs of L.Joe.

Yura puffed out her cheeks. Guess today’s not my lucky day. She thought and leaned against the locker beside Hyojin’s. “Hey,” she said but her eyes were still hoping to see him. Hyojin tilt her head at her and closed her locker shut. “What are you looking for?” she asked. She has been asking the same question over and over again for days, but she never got an answer from Yura.

Yura shook her head. “Nothing, just looking around.” Hyojin pretend to not notice Yura’s habit of blinking her eyes when she lies and continued walking towards the cafeteria. Hyojin knew she had something on her mind but she was still unprepared to tell anyone, not even herself, in fact, she never really understood anything about her own feelings. To her friendly greeting and flirty talks are the same thing, they never really made her feel any difference.

They reached the cafeteria with people lining up in a big messy line as usual, Yura and Hyojin walked towards the end and waited. Hyojin sighed as her stomach growled. “Why do we always come here when the lineup is this long?” she looked down the line and sighed again, but she sighed even louder when she turned around and saw Yura’s eyes still wondering around the hall.

“What are you looking for?” Or who. She looked at Yura with one eyebrow raised.

“No－”

“Yura,” a familiar voice called her as she felt a light tug in her elbow. She turned around and faced L.Joe. The noises around her all the sudden disappeared and everything around them became blurry, she looked into his eyes and listened to her heart beat loudly in her ears.

“Who’s practicing first today?” his voice pulled her back out into the real world. She dug her nails into her palm and smiled. “The boys are.”

L.Joe nodded. “Okay, thanks.”

The two of them stared at each other for a while, no one talked or broke away from the eye contact that only happens if she was lucky enough to see him. Hyojin cleared and scratched the back of her neck. Yura flinched and smiled at L.Joe, she could feel his hand still holding onto her elbow. L.Joe nodded awkwardly and looked down, he pulled away his hand when he saw it. “Sorry,” he apologized. “Well, I’ll see you soon.” Yura nodded and watched him disappeared into the cafeteria.

Yura and Hyojin walked to their bench with the lunch they bought, Yura peeled open the chocolate milk carton and took a sip. Hyojin snuck a glance over at her, she had a small smile across her face and her eyes were no longer searching around for someone. So Yura likes L.Joe. Wow. Hyojin thought and smirked at her lunch. She looked at Yura and shook her head at her, Yura frowned and asked her why she was shaking her head.

“Who have you been thinking the most these days?” Hyojin started off with the simple question.

Yura gave her a confused look and tilt her head. “Is this some kind of who-do-you-like-better-mom-or-dad question?”

“Just answer my question.”

“L. Joe?” she mumbled. “What?” Hyojin pretended to not hear.

“I don’t know,” Yura changed her answer and looked down at her chocolate milk.

“I think you have a crush on him,” Hyojin whispered.

“No! How many times do I have to tell you we’re just people that know each other and talks sometimes?”

“Trust me, you do.”

“Fine, tell me what a crush means, then I’ll tell you if I do or not.”

Hyojin brushed her hair away from her eyes and thought for a few seconds. “A crush is someone that you think about almost every single second, and when you see them, everything around you and in your head disappears and the things you hear just turns into mumbles or sometimes you won’t even hear anything besides your own heartbeat. And, you want their attention sometimes but you also feel shy, embarrassed, or awkward when they give you their attention,” Hyojin finished and turned over to Yura, who had a straight, concentrated face. “So, do you?” she asked her and waited.

Yura bit her bottom lips and wondered the same question. Do I?

Yura took out her bag from her locker and stood in front of it rethinking about the explanation of “crush” Hyojin explained to her, throughout the afternoon classes all she could think of was, what if Hyojin was right?

She might be smart with numbers and books, but she was not good with her own feelings. She stared into her neat locker, she could picture herself standing side-to-side with L.Joe, having a normal conversation. Her hands automatically cured into a fist and in her cheeks. She felt shivers sent through her body with her heart pounding extra loud in her chest, she placed her face into her hands and let out a silence whine. Is this really what it feels like having a crush? She lift her head up and brushed her hair back, taking a big breath, she grabbed her bag and left her locker.

As she walked down the hall, she remembered the time at the mall where she saw him playing basketball, bumping into him at the shoe store, and also that day when she purposely looked through his profile when she could have been doing something else. She felt her heart being slowly taking over and she couldn’t stop it. She turned around the corner and a sudden flashback hit her, it was the night at the front of the school where she first made eye contact him, the eye contact that felt different from the other ones she made with her male friends. She stopped walking and blinked nervously down at her feet, she had finally realized it. “I do,” she whispered.

“Do what?” Hyojin came out of nowhere and tilt her head down. Yura looked up and gave her a blank look. “Do like him,” she said and looked back down.

“I knew it! Ever since that day I caught you looking up L.Joe’s profile, almost everything you talked about was him, literally almost everything, and you’re all, like, “No, we’re just friends.” Yura, I know you, so you better not lie to me,” Hyojin smirked and bumped her in the shoulders.

Yura sighed and scratched her forehead. “Is it really that obvious?” Hyojin giggled while nodding her head. “Well, to me it is.”

It was the first time she had ever heard Yura confessing that she has a crush on someone, the awkward and confused expression on her face was priceless. Hyojin teased Yura all the way out of the school, just like a normal best friend making fun of her. Yura pushed her towards the entrance of the dorm building and stuck her tongue at her as she walked into the building.

“Yura!” a voice screamed from behind. Yura turned around at the high pitched voice. “Don’t go in yet!” Hyuna screamed and ran towards her. When Hyuna caught up to Yura, she was out of breath, she rest one of her hand on Yura’s shoulder and breathed like a thirst dog.

“Thank god you didn’t go in, or else I would be stuck out here until someone comes out or goes in,” Hyuna stood up and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I was in a rush this morning so I forgot my dorm pass on my desk.”

Yura nodded and swipe her pass in front of the scanner, allowing the two of them in. Before saying goodbye, Hyuna asked Yura to meet her at her room when she’s done. Yura gave her an “okay” sign and went up the stairs to the first-year students’ floor.

Yura collapsed onto the couch right away when she entered, she stared up at the high ceiling and hugged onto a pillow. She could hear Hyojin flipping her textbook and writing her homework while she lie on the couch doing nothing. She closed her eyes and wondered what could L.Joe be doing right now. Probably shooting baskets and running around the gym. She could feel part of herself wanting to go to the gym and see how he’s doing. She rolled off the couch and smiled at the table in front of her. “Hyojin,” she called and waited for a reply.

“Huh?” Hyojin replied with her head still buried in her books.

“Is this really how it feels like?” Yura climbed back up on to the couch and tilted her head over so she could get a better view of Hyojin’s back. “Liking someone,” she added and felt embarrassment rushing up her ears. Hyojin’s head shot up and turned around with a smirk on her face. “What? Like, feeling anxious to see them or thinking too much about them?”

“Both?” Yura shrugged.

“Go find him and talk to him then, since you guys know each other.”

“No, it’s gonna be so awkward.”

“How? Just act normal.”

“What if I can’t?”

“Yeah, you can’t.”

Yura let out a pitiful laugh and flopped back down on the couch. “You are such a nice friend.”

Yura woke up from her little nap on the couch, she looked up at the clock and realized she had to get prepared for the practice. She walked up the stairs and changed into some clean, comfortable gym strip, and stuffed some clean clothes to change into after into her gym bag. As she walked down the stairs, she saw Hyojin sleeping with her head on her messy desk, she grabbed a thin jacket from Hyojin’s closet and placed it over her shoulders, and left.

She went down to the second floor and knocked on Hyuna’s room door while waddling back and forth on her heels and toes. The door opened and Hyuna rushed out with her gym bag, she threw her arm around Yura’s neck and walked towards the stairs. She pulled out her dorm pass and waved it in the air. “I remembered to bring it this time,” she smiled and shoved it back into her pocket.

The two of the greeted the security that was having his donut and walked out into the hot weather. Hyuna let out a loud groan and blocked the sun with her hand. Yura turned around and laughed at the girl with milky white skin, before she turned around the alley caught her attention again, she felt like there was something about that alley, something that everyone knew but her.

“Unnie,” she said quietly with her eyes focused on the entrance of the alley. Hyuna turned around and looked at her, she saw that her eyes was looking at something else and followed it. Hyuna rolled her eyes at the alley and turned back.

“Unnie, what’s that alley for?” Yura asked and pulled her eyes away from the alley. Hyuna let out and sigh and tilt her head, not knowing how to explain it, but Yura’s eyes were now focused on her and she knew Yura wouldn’t drop it if she doesn’t answer it.

“You don’t know anything about it?” Hyuna asked Yura. Yura shook her head and waited for her to explain more.

“It’s an alley that good students like you won’t ever want to go into.”

Yura frowned. “What do people do in there? Cause, I heard voices coming out of there last time.”

“Bad things, really bad things. Things that you would never do.”

“Like what?” Yura felt like she was a little child being out for the first time and asking so many questions she felt annoyed by herself.

“Drugs, stuff like that. We call the people that come out of the alley, the Two-Faced.” Hyuna paused and stopped walking. “Are you sure you don’t know anything about it?” Yura nodded, hoping that she’s not supposed to know anything about it

“Nothing about L.Joe?” she mumbled.

Yura bit her tongue when she heard his name, her hand gripped tighter onto the string of her gym bag and she looked blanking at the green grass ahead of her. Please don’t tell me he’s a Two-Faced. She hoped and begged him to not be those kind of student, she knew he had been suspended once but she didn’t know what the reason was, and right now all she hoped was that he was suspeneded not because he was a Two-Faced. Hyuna took a deep breath and stared walking again and Yura followed her. Hyuna took a deep breath and started to explain.

L.Joe gripped onto the collar of a student that was a year older than him, he was the head of the Two-Faced, the one that got L.Joe’s innocent friend in trouble. His eyes were flared up with anger, he wanted to beat him up so bad, but he couldn’t because if he did he would get in trouble, and getting into trouble is never a good thing.

L.Joe pushed him against the wall, still gripping onto his collar. “Why did you make him carry all your ?! And why didn’t you help him when he got caught by the principle?!” L.Joe shouted. The Two-Faced didn’t say a world but smirked at angry boy. “Calm down, boy. Think about it, use your brain. If I didn’t want to get into trouble why would I help him?”

Another rush of anger rushed up his ears, he didn’t even know this guy’s name but he wasn’t curious at all, he disgusted him because he was the reason why his best friend is now packing his bag and will be leaving this school tomorrow.

L.Joe pushed him down onto the ground with all energy he had and started punching him. The only thing that he was thankful was that they were in the alley and not somewhere people would see, but at the same time he hated being in the alley, because no one would see them, no one would be able to know who was the real trouble maker and who was the innocent one. He wanted to be the one to help his friend get out of trouble, but he couldn’t think of a better way.

No matter how hard L.Joe was hitting him, he would always laugh and never fighting back. “Go on hit harder, I don’t care, I’m not the one that’s gonna get in trouble,” he screamed and laughed louder. L.Joe looked at the guy’s face in disgust and swung his fist right into the middle of his face. The guy stopped laughing and threw L.Joe off of him, he curled up into a ball with his hands covering his face.

L.Joe got a sudden uneasiness in his chest, he knew he had done something really horrible when he saw blood slowly sliding down the guy’s face. He gulped down his saliva and stood up slowly, now he was the one that would get into trouble. He stood there and stared at the guy in pain, he didn’t move or make a sound. The painful sound he was making made L.Joe panic, he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know if he should help him or just run away.

“What are you doing?” A voice said quietly and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him out of the alley. His footstep followed the milky white skin girl running towards the back of the school, the girl looked familiar, but he had no idea who she was.

She let go of his arm and breath heavily, trying to catch her breath. “You’re L.Joe right?” she asked with her hands on her waist. L.Joe nodded and blinked blankly at her face. How come she knows my name? He thought but was slapped away when he finally remember who she was, she was one of the player on the girls’ basketball team, Kim Hyuna.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. She waved her hand at him and took a deep breath. “Don’t thank me now, thank me if the principle doesn’t catch you.”

Yura felt relieved, knowing he wasn’t one of the Two-Faced, but was a guy that was just trying to help his friend. “What happened after?”

“The guy was found with a broken nose,” Hyuna said.

“No, I mean after.”

“Oh, the guy got expelled and L.Joe got suspended, which was the reason the boys’ team lost their game.”

Yura nodded her head and followed Hyuna towards the gym door, she could still hear the sound of basketballs dribbling in the gym. She felt bad for L.Joe, he tried to help his friend but end up getting in trouble as well. It takes a lot of courage to do what he had done, and she was surprised he actually did it. People would never risk doing anything that would get them into trouble, especially in a school where the rules were as long as Rapunzel’s hair.

Hyuna paused in front of the door and turned around. “L.Joe really hates it when people talk about that day, so just pretend you don’t know anything about it,” she smiled and pushed the door open.

The loud noise of basketballs hitting the floor escaped out of the gym, Yura followed Hyuna towards the bleachers where all the other girls were already sitting at. She smiled and waved at them, the boys’ practice was still going on, but the girls were already waiting for it to end on the side. Yura sat down at the end and watched the boys practice. Her eyes focused on L.Joe, she still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact he was the type that would fight a guy that is a year older, and probably taller than him. He was just like the Two-Faced, showing different personalities to different people, he was just like them, but a good one, a good Two-Faced.