Yura sat up from her bed and stretched out her arms, she shushed her alarm and climbed out of her bed, and walked down the stairs and woke Hyojin up to go have some breakfast at the cafeteria. The two of them walked like zombies down the stairs and into the quiet cafeteria, it was just like the normal mornings, they grabbed the already prepared breakfast and walked over to their table beside the window.

Yura stared down at her plate with the scramble eggs and bacon staring back at her, she wasn’t feeling hungry at all but she wasn’t feeling full either. She took a few bites of her food then stopped and lean back onto the chair. Hyojin looked up at Yura from her almost empty plate. “Aren’t you going to eat?” Yura shook her head and looked at food that was still staring back at her.

“At least eat half of it,” Hyojin pointed at Yura’s plate with her fork. Yura sighed and picked up her fork but could barely finish a quarter of her breakfast. She gave up and went back to their room.

Yura did her usual morning routine, brushed her teeth, brushed out her hair and changed into her uniform. She had to admit she felt homesick, she could replay the first day of going to kindergarten, watching her mom waving goodbye and disappearing out of her sight. She rubbed her eyes and swung her bag over her shoulder. She looked around the dorm, she felt like this place wasn’t where she should be, it felt strange even though she’s been living here for a while.

Yura and Hyojin walked out of their room and headed back downstairs. Students were starting to leave the building, some still with tired eyes and some with messy hair. She had a sudden urge to run back to her house even if it was too far away to sprint all the way, but she wanted to see her parents greeting her with a smile in the kitchen in the morning, she wanted to taste the breakfast her dad always make in the morning, and the most crazy thing was that she wanted to argue with her brother, she wanted to piss him off so he could piss her off.

She missed every single little thing about home, she missed the way the sun would shine faintly into her room every morning and her alarm waking up two minutes later than her, but she knew she was stuck in this dorm full of students from other grades for her whole three years of high school. Yura brushed her hair back and sighed, she has never lived away from home for more than a day or even living with hundreds of other students. For the first week, everything was new and fresh, so she felt okay and didn’t really think about her family, but now she was dying to go home.

Yura went to her locker and took out her books for next class, and headed towards the classroom. She didn’t know where else to go besides home, because that’s where she wants to go to the most right now. She walked down the hall with her eyes glued onto her shoes, she didn’t want to look up at anyone or anything, but a feminine voice called her name and made her look around.

Hyuna and the rest of the basketball team walked towards her with a big smile on their faces, she smiled faintly at them, somehow feeling a slight warmth. “Yura, remember today afternoon－”

“Late afternoon, around six?” Gayoon cut Jihyun off, and owning a glare from her. Gayoon held out her hand, indicating her to continue on with her unfinished sentence.

“We’re having a basketball game at the mall. Don’t forget to wear something comfortable to run around with, don’t be stupid like Niel, who wore jeans last time,” Jihyun said and walked next to Yura. “It’s like a tradition. We always have a game between the boys and girls every Thursday after our practice, we just do, who knows why.”

“And, the losers always buy the winner something,” Hyuna added. Yura nodded her head and smiled at the five girls that were walking beside her, she didn’t know what to say since all she could think of was going home.

“Don’t look so sad! It’s almost Friday!” Jiyoon said and lift up Yura’s cheeks with her fingers, making her smile awkwardly. The five of them laughed and Yura joined in with a faint laugh.

She waved goodbye to them and went into her classroom, there was only two minutes left till the bell ring but the class wasn’t even half filled. She nodded at her teacher and walked to her assigned seat, she looked around, Jaehee wasn’t here and Changjo wasn’t either. She rested her head on the table and waited for time to pass, but it wasn’t long after when she felt someone sitting down in front of her. Changjo turned around and greeted her with his tired eyes. Yura sat up and nodded her head at him. He frowned at the unusual greeting. “You okay?” he asked half concerned and half just wanted to be nice. Yrua shrugged and stared down at her table. Changjo felt uncomfortable with the quiet atmosphere, Yura was usually the one talking and he was the one that’s supposed to be quiet, but maybe not today. He looked around and lowered his head. “Are you friends with her?” he asked quietly.

Yura looked up and frowned. “Who?”

“Her,” Changjo tilted his head at the empty desk beside Yura.

“Jaehee?”

He nodded.

“I can’t say we’re really close, but I guess we’re friends,” Yura shrugged. She wanted the bell to ring so Changjo would turn around and stop talking to her, it wasn’t because she didn’t like him, it was because she just wanted to be left alone for today.

“Do you know what she’s like?” Changjo continued to ask.

“Kind?” Yura rested her head on the back of her hand. “Why don’t you talk to her and get to know her better yourself?” she said with a slight annoyance in her voice.

Changjo pouted and stared at the still empty desk next to Yura. He was having the same problem as L.Joe, he wanted to get to know Jaehee better, but he didn’t know how. Yura looked at him, she knew something about that look on his face. She chuckled and whispered, “You like her?” He turned around immediately with a shocked look. “Your face just told me everything,” Yura laughed and lean back on her chair. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“You better not,” Changjo said and smiled faintly. Seeing the normal her made him feel comfortable.

The bell rang, but the seat next to Yura remained empty, she raised her eyebrows at the absentee of Jaehee. Jaehee didn’t look like the type that would just randomly not come to class or miss a day. Yura shrugged and opened her textbook. Maybe she’s sick. She thought then remembered she was a bit sick too, homesick. She heard her heart cried a little and her mind cheered her up by telling it there was only one day left till she gets to go home.

L.Joe blinked tiredly at the chair in front of him. Nothing was going into his head, he could hear the faint sound of the teacher talking at the front of the room, but everything sounded foreign. He rested his head on his desk and stared out the window, staring out the window was something he would usually do during his morning classes, since he couldn’t understand whatever the teachers were talking about.

The lecture ended a while later, and the students started to talk while working on the math questions the teacher assigned. L.Joe sat up and stared down at his closed textbook, he had no idea what he's supposed to be doing because for the pass few minutes he has been staring out the window and letting the sun bind him.

He turned his body to the side. “Niel!” he called the concentrated boy. “What are we doing?” Niel was the person he always ask when he was lost in class, he would always be sitting two seats behind him in the next row.

Niel tilted his head at the board and went back to his work. L.Joe turned around and sighed at the three pages of questions the teacher just assigned, he sighed again and opened his textbook to the right page.

He pulled out a piece of blank paper and started to do the questions, but he stopped after doing two, there was too much work and he was sick of doing them, already. He leaned back onto his chair and stretched his legs out, he smiled faintly at his red Converse and admired them. It was one of the pairs of shoes he treasured the most, because it was same one as Yura.

The teacher came over and smacked a plastic ruler down on his desk, making a loud unkind sound. L.Joe snapped out of his mind and looked up at the teacher. She eyed the book in front of him and waited for him to pick up his pencil to continue on with the questions. L.Joe was used to her emotionless look because he was always getting them, every single class. He rolled his eyes and picked up his pencil.

The teacher hated him and he hated her, so there was no point of wasting their energy to talk to each other, in fact, they didn’t even want to talk to each other. Ever since what happened last year, his math teacher had completely changed the way she treated him, but L.Joe didn’t care and never will, since she was just a math teacher and he hated math.

Yura opened her locker door and stared into it after being dismissed from her last class. Her locker was well-organized, binders and textbooks lining up neatly against each other, and her bang handing on the hook. She looked down at her phone and stared at the notification-less screen, she waited and waited for her family members to call or text her, but guess everyone is busy with whatever they are doing.

She dropped her hands down and gripped tightly onto her phone. She never felt so lonely before, even though there was Hyojin and all her other friends, she still felt lonely. She took a deep breath and pushed all the thoughts away, she put all her homework into her bag and grabbed her gym bag to head down to the gym for her practice.

Hyojin slowly walked up to Yura, she carefully bumped her with her elbow. “Are you okay?” she asked. Yura sighed and shook her head.

“Are you sick?”

Yura nodded and looked at her. “I want to go home.”

Hyojin let out a small, dry laugh, she looked down the hall with the same blank expression as Yura. “Me too, I want to go home too,” she said and turned around, with a complete opposite emotion on her face. “But, look on the bright side, we only have a day left!” Yura laughed. She knew Hyojin would always make her feel better when her mood was down, she would always try and make her feel better, even if it was only a tiny bit better.

Yura waved goodbye to Hyojin and headed into the gym, there was still students from last class strolling out of the change room in small groups, she recognized a few familiar face and some completely new faces. She walked into the change room and threw all her things into the empty locker, she sat down on the bench and puffed out her cheeks with her eyes glued onto the floor. She thought about what happened the whole day, she tilted her head when she realized she hasn’t seen L.Joe the whole day. Why is he always hiding? She asked herself and wondered where he could hide at school. She knew he would always go into the cafeteria at lunch, but whenever she goes in there to buy her lunch, he’s never there, and if he was, there would always be so many students in there wearing the exact same outfit, making it impossible for her to pull out that one particular person.

She shrugged and changed into her gym strip, and by the time she was done the rest of her basketball teammates arrived.

L.Joe threw his bag on the floor and crashed into bed after school, just like the usual after school him, lazy and tired. He turned to his side, he knew there was a lot of homework to do but he was never the type that does their homework right away after school, he would rather stay up late and do homework. He stared at the wall and Yura’s face displaying on it, he sat up immediately in shock and blinked rapidly at the white plain wall. He couldn’t believe he was picturing her face, but he couldn’t help himself but to keep on thinking about her. He ruffled his hair and let out a quiet frustrated groan.

“What was that for?” Niel shouted from his desk. “Nothing,” L,Joe mumbled and laid back down. He studied the pattern on the ceiling, but his head wouldn’t stop thinking about Yura. I don’t know how she does it to make me like her even more every single second, but she’s doing it really well. He chuckled and placed his hand over his forehead. 

“Are you hungry? Cause I am,” Niel stood up from his desk and walked over to the couch and grabbed his wallet out of his bag. “Want me to buy you something to eat?”

“Yeah,” L.Joe stood up from his bed with a faint smile on his face. “Buy something sweet but healthy and some energy drinks.”

“Yes, sir,” Niel turned around and walked towards the door. “And, can you not smile like that, it’s creepy.”

“What do you mean creepy?” L.Joe screamed from the stairs and watched the door close. “You don’t even know what it feels like thinking about your crush,” he whispered and let out another chuckle.

He walked down the stairs and jumped onto the couch, he knew he should be doing something else other than hugging a pillow on the couch and daydreaming about Yrua, but he just couldn’t pull himself out of it.

After a few minutes, Niel came back with two bottles of energy drinks and an armful of food. He placed the granola bars from the cafeteria onto the table in front of L.Joe, he tossed a bottle of energy drink and placed the other one on the table, and grabbed a bag of chips before heading back to his desk to finish his homework.

L.Joe opened the bottle and drank half of it, h looked at all the food in front of him that Niel had bought for him and the extra bottle of energy drink, he smiled at himself and tiptoed up to his bed and grabbed his gym bag, then walked back down casually. He glanced over at Niel before stuffing everything into his gym bag.

He would never forget that day he met Yura at the gym, that moment her stomach growled. He knew she was going to be hungry after the practice that’s why he asked Niel to buy him some food, thinking maybe that way she could notice him more, but he doesn’t know that she didn’t need him to do anything to get her attention, because he already got her attention.

The practice ended ten minutes earlier than usual, Yura and the rest of the team jogged towards the two female coaches. They were all sweating buckets and buckets of sweat, but no one complained about it. “So, how do you guys feel today?” the coach asked.

“Tired!” Hyuna screamed and sat down on the shiny gym floor.

The coaches laughed and shook their head. “Anyways, today is the day to announce our captain, but first of all I want to ask you guys who you think should be the captain, just to know you girls’ opinion, since it’s your team not mine.”

The six of them looked at each other, exchanging looks. “Last year, it was me, and I think I did a horrible job,” Jihyun said.

“Yeah, it was horrible,” Gayoon teased, earning a friendly slap in the arm from the previous captain.

“Is it Yura?” Sohyun asked the coach. Yura turned and blinked at Sohyun in surprise, even though she has been the captain of basketball teams before, she never thought of being one when she was the youngest member on the team.

“Oh, me too. I think it’s Yura,” Hyuna agreed. The rest agreed as well. Yura looked up at her coach, but all she could see was a smile that was agreeing with the rest of the members.

“I don’t even need to announce who it is, you guys already know,” the coach laughed and dismissed them. Hyuna screamed Yura’s name and cheered with the rest of the girls as the boys walked into the gym for their practice.

“Whoa!” C.A.P let out a loud cheerful sound. “Yura, the best,” he screamed. Yura laughed in embarrassment, she barely knew him and he barely knew her. As they slowly got closer to each other, C.A.P bowed politely at Yura, and Yura returned him with a bow as well. She smiled at Ricky and Chanjo as they pass by, and headed into the girls’ change room to grab her things.

She walked out of the gym with Hyuna and headed towards the dorm, they decided to meet up with the other four at the mall. Hyuna talked on and on about how she wanted to win today’s game and buy something really expensive because she wouldn’t be the one paying for it, but Yura couldn’t focus on what she was talking about, she was hungry and tired.

“L.Joe?” Hyuna said all of the sudden, causing Yura’s eyes to light up. L.Joe walked towards them hugging his bag in front of him. Yura felt her heart beating faster and louder than ever. He stopped right in front of Yura and held out something. Yura looked at the energy drink and two granola bars, she looked up and him then down at the food. “For me?” she asked, not sure if it really was for her.

“Yeah,” he shortly replied.

Yura smiled and accepted the snacks and drink from him. She could feel her ears heating up and was hundred percent sure her face was red as well, but her red cheeks from practicing didn’t make her look like she was blushing.

“What about me?” Hyuna said in a joking way, not expecting L.Joe to pass her a granola bar. “I was just joking,” Hyuna said but accepted.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t give you one since you eat like a pig,” L,Joe teased.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not saying you are one, I’m just saying you eat like one. You eat so much.”

Yura looked down and bit her bottom lip, she felt left out and jealous, she was jealous of how they could just start a conversation so comfortably, even though she knew they were just friends, she was still jealous.

“Get to practice before your coach comes running out of the gym yelling your name,” Hyuna said and waved goodbye to L.Joe. Yura thanked L.Joe and followed Hyuna into the dorm.

She dropped her bags onto the floor and sat down on her chair, she pulled out her phone and went to her contacts, she scrolled down until she found her mom and called her. She tapped her fingers against her desk and waited for her mom to pick up the phone. She waited for three rings to pass and just before hanging up her mom picked up. “Mom,” Yura whined and rested her head on her desk.

“Yes?” her mom said quietly, sounding as if she wasn't paying much attention. Yura held her phone against her ear and swallowed the lump in . “I miss you,” she said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.

Her mom let out a small laugh then a sigh. “Never knew this day would ever come, my daughter calling me to say she misses me,” she let out another laugh. “I miss you too.”

Yura felt her eyes tearing up hearing the words coming out of her mom’s mouth from the other end of the phone, she wasn’t the child that would be constantly saying “I love you” or “I miss you” in the family, she was more like the one that hides all her caring feelings. She hung up before she could start crying, she turned her head face down and closed her eyes. She should have known that it was a bad idea to call her mom and make her even more homesick.

After a few minutes, she stood up and grabbed the bottle of energy drink and the granola bars, her wallet and her phone, and said goodbye to Hyojin, who was going to stay and study for her test tomorrow instead of going to the mall with her. Yura tied her hair back into a pony tail and headed down the stairs.

Yura arrived at the basketball court chewing on her last granola bar, everyone was there already there waiting for the two of them to arrive. As soon as they got there, they got into the right spot except Yura, she stood at the side, not knowing where to go.

“Yura, you’re doing jump ball,” Jihyun pointed at the middle in front of C.A.P. Yura’s eyes flashed open and shook her head at Jihyun, she has been scared of doing jump ball ever since that time she was knocked down by the opposite team and broke her arm from doing it.

“Switch with Sohyun then,” L.Joe said and pointed at his check. “Can we actually? Cause I don’t want to be L.Joe’s check, this kid is too crazy for me,” Sohyun said and slowly walked away from her position.

Yura looked at L.Joe then quickly look away when their eyes met. L.Joe laughed quietly at her and turned towards the middle to wait for the game to start.

Yura breathed heavily after being running back and forth the court for half an hour, she caught the ball Hyuna threw to her and looked around, but she couldn’t see anyone but L.Joe right in front of her. She glance to her side trying to think of a way to escape from him, but it was hard. It didn’t take her too long to notice that L.Joe’s speed was faster than anyone else's, and she, for sure, was never able to catch up to him. No wonder why Sohyun unnie doesn’t want to be his check. She thought and passed the ball to the closet teammate to her, and ran as fast as she could to the other side of the court.

L.Joe followed her over with a relaxing smile on his face as if he was just taking a walk in the park. He stood in front of Yura, blocking the view of everything, Yura glared at the back of his head and moved a bit to her left, then she realized that he wasn’t even looking back to make sure she was still behind him, she smiled and ran away from him. She caught the ball and shot it into the hoop before L.Joe could run over and block the ball from going in the hoop.

Yura cheered and skipped to her teammates to give each of them a high-five, she was so into the game she had already forgotten she was homesick. Yura looked over her shoulder and saw the boys shaking their head at L.Joe, but he didn’t even look a bit sorry, he had a silly smile on his face. She doesn’t know how L.Joe does it but every time he smiles like that her heart skips a beat.

“Guys, let’s hurry up and go buy some stuff,” C.A.P said and headed towards the mall entrance.

“Yes, cap. C.A.P,” Rickey saluted and followed him.

“Cap. C.A.P,” Chunji chuckled and rested his arm around Rickey’s shoulders.

Yura walked into the mall with L.Joe beside her, she didn’t know what to do so she let the awkwardness take over. Yura glanced into the stores but nothing caught her eyes, everything looked the same, same style, same colour, same everything. “You wanna go in there?” L.Joe pointed at a clothing store beside him. “It’s my favorite store.” Yura nodded before she even lift her head up to see the store’s name. She followed into the store and wondered off to the female side.

She looked through the rack and still, nothing looked nice to her. She walked over to the sweater and hoodie section, the weather was still hot but none of the summer clothing was her style. She scanned the clothes, not even bothering moving them to see what they looked like at the front, before she gave up looking at this section she spotted a turquoise hoodie between two dull coloured sweater. She took the one she wanted out and smiled, it doesn’t have any large text or random signs on the front of back, it was just a plain turquoise hoodie with one little start on the sleeve. She flipped the price tag over, dropped open at the horrifying price, but before she could put it back onto the rack L.Joe came and took it. “Nice hoodie,” he said and flashed a smile at her. Yura looked away and grabbed the hoodie out of his hand. “It’s too expensive.”

“Don’t worry, I’m paying.”

“I know, but－” L.Joe grabbed her hand and made their way to the cashier. Yura looked at his hand wrapped around his wrist, she felt her cheeks redden and a shy smile formed.

L.Joe handed her the bag after paying for it, Yura walked out the store still smiling. She could replay that moment in her head over and over again and would never get sick of it. She turned around to thank L.Joe, but he was nowhere to be found, she frowned and looked into the store. Where did he go?

“Looking for me?” L.Joe asked from behind. Yura jumped and turned around. “Yes,” Yura smiled and walked over to him. “Thanks,” she said and lift up her bag.

L.Joe waved his hand at her, the same embarrassing hand gesture he did before. Yura giggled and he joined in. Yura noticed that he would become a completely different person when he’s with her, he would joke around and embarrass himself more around her, and when he’s with the other boys he would be the serious quiet guy.

L.Joe turned around and looked at the store once last time before leaving, he had saw the exact same hoodie Yura bought but black on the male side, half of his heart wanted to go back in and buy it but the other half wanted to just spend more time with Yura, alone.

All of them met at the bus stop and waited for the bus to come and pick them up. The four girls that didn’t live in the dorm had already left, it was just the six boys, Hyuna and Yura. Yura showed off the hoodie L.Joe bought her to Hyuna at the side with five boys crying about their empty wallets, and L.Joe pacing back and forth and constantly looking over at the mall. He wanted to one day be matching with Yura with the same shoes and same clothes, and he didn’t want to regret today’s chance. “Guys, I need to go to the washroom” he announced and jogged towards the mall.

“No wonder why he was walking back and forth,” Niel said, shaking his head. “Don’t come back too late!” he screamed after him and watched him disappear into the mall.