Spark
MayflyYou got to school earlier than usual that day so you could buy a cheese toastie from the canteen before they all ran out. You felt it steaming within its foil wrapping as you walked down the hall to your locker, swapping your books in preparation for your first two classes before heading to homeroom and taking your usual seat. You plucked your phone from the inside pocket of your blazer and checked out any job offers from around the area, especially Solano, the mall Jenn and James worked in. Other students only began to arrive when it was closer to 8.45. You didn't pay attention to them until someone sat in the seat in front of you. That was James' seat so you looked up, ready to greet him, when you realised it wasn't James sitting before you; it was Moonchul. He refused to turn around despite the fact that he had sat in someone else's spot. It wasn't that you had assigned seating in homeroom, but everyone had established a place of their preference and it was odd that someone sit anyplace else.
Evidently, Jenn thought the same, for when she walked into class and spotted someone else at James' desk, she raised a confused brow. You could only offer a shrug in answer when she sank into the chair on your left, the two of you watching with a strange mix of amused pity when James entered and stopped in his tracks. He had no choice but to sit in front of Jenn, giving Moonchul a wary glance as he left his bag at his feet on the floor. "So, uh," he said, "how was everyone's weekend?"
"Fine." You shrugged.
"I heard about this cool bar from my brother," Jenn said. "Apparently there's no sign so you have to know the location through word of mouth. They serve their drinks in teacups."
You saw Moonchul's head tilt a bit to the side.
"Cool." James laid his arm over the back of his chair.
"Do you have the address?" you asked.
Jenn nodded. "I'll text it to you later. We should go this weekend."
"Yeah, my folks are away, too, so I'll have the car," James said.
The conversation was rendered obsolete when Mr Pereira arrived. "Okay, kids, to your seats." Your classmates settled back to their places as he continued, "As you know, Christmas is in two months. It's the twelfth graders' turn to organise the festival so remember to check the Facebook page for any updates." He flipped the paper onto his desk once the rest of the messages had been read. "But don't forget about midterms," he added, prompting the class to groan in unison.
After the roll had been taken, you were left to your own devices once again. You finished off the rest of your cheese toastie and listened to Jenn and James debate about The Killers' new album and then homeroom ended. James had economics first period so the two of you said goodbye to him and headed in the opposite direction to AP literature.
"The music store in Solano is looking for Christmas casuals so I'm thinking of applying," you said.
"You totally should!" Jenn said. "Christmas casuals get a lot of money. And if you do a good job they may even offer you a more permanent position."
"I need a resume first," you said, dodging the flood of students exiting their own homerooms. You jogged down the stairs, Jenn at your heels, and burst into the first classroom on your left. Out of the rest of the lit students, yours and Jenn's homeroom was the closest to the class so you always arrived first. The teacher, Mr Holt, glanced up from his position writing something on the whiteboard and sent you two a polite smile.
"Homework done?" he wondered.
"Sure." You nodded.
Jenn smiled. "Of course."
Both of you meandered through the desks until you reached yours. Originally, you had been separated; Holt was suspicious as soon as you two walked through the door the first day laughing. However, he soon learned that you actually worked better together as you enjoyed discussing the assigned reading. You weren't AP students for nothing.
Leaning back in your chair, you pulled out your worn copy of The Secret History with its curled up page corners and cute bookmark.
"Exciting news, people," Holt said when the whole class was in attendance. You and Jenn raised brows at each other; with Holt, anything could be exciting. "During the Christmas festival this year we will be playing a game of sorts amongst our class."
"Ooh," Jenn said. "What kind of game?"
"A scavenger hunt. We will be looking for a body under the snow, much like the Greek students looked for Bunny's body in the book we are currently studying."
"Technically, the Greek students didn't look for Bunny's body," you said.
Holt pinned you with a deadpan while your classmates let out scattered chuckles. He continued to explain that he would update the class webpage with information about the hunt and for the first time you felt truly excited about the school's end of year festival.
--
You were boiling some vegetables for your mother who was in the shower when your phone began to ring. You tapped the ladle against the edge of the pot to fling away the hot water droplets and then placed it carefully on the plate lying next to the stove before picking up your phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, girl." It was Jenn. "What are you up to?"
You glanced at your dad, who was typing away a draft resume for you on his laptop at the dining table. "Cooking dinner. Why?"
"James' parents went out for drinks and Jessica's at ballet so they said we could have the car as long as we pick her up after."
"Where did you guys want to go?"
"Just Starbucks."
You held a hand against the phone and asked your father if it was all right. You relayed his okay to Jenn and then hung up, venturing upstairs to change into a proper pair of shorts. "Mum, I'm going out," you said, knocking on the bathroom door.
"Be back by twelve!"
"Yeah, yeah." You hopped downstairs and put on a pair of lowcut Converse.
"I'll leave this by the printer," your dad said, pointing to the document on his laptop.
"Sure. Thanks, Dad." You went outside to wait for your friends, sitting on the wooden bench in your front yard and browsing through various things on your phone. Jenn and James arrived while you were in the middle of an article about the new Disney movie, the car's honk causing your nerves to jump. The closest Starbucks to your house was fifteen minutes away; you spent the drive leaning between the two in the front seat, meddling with the radio. Unlike your school, Starbucks was promoting the upcoming Halloween with pumpkin spice lattes and spooky coffee art. You gave in and ordered one, Jenn asking for a chocolate powder bat on her mocha and James sticking to his earl grey.
"They always get my name wrong," Jenn complained as you moved to a table outside.
"How is someone supposed to know you spell it with two Ns?" you said. "Oh, it's Sooah."
"Who?" James said.
You shushed him and then nodded to the girl at the only other occupied table outside. She looked like she was in a bad mood, currently venting to the three other girls she was with: "I don't understand why you go on one date with someone and then completely turn your back on them the next day. It was a good date; he said so himself!"
"Looks like Moonchul got bored of her," you muttered, sitting down.
"I didn't even know they were together," Jenn said.
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it that if they only went on one date."
"Speaking of which," James cut in, "you turned Sooyoon down?"
You frowned. "Yeah. Why?"
"You should have given him a chance," Jenn said.
"Um, no."
"Why not?" James asked. "He's a nice guy."
"He is but there's just no...spark." You took a sip of latte. "Why do you guys care so much anyway?"
Jenn shrugged and twirled her straw in her cream. "We just find it curious that you've never shown an interest in boys before. Or girls for that matter."
"Well, when I meet someone I like I will." You rolled your eyes. "Don't rush me."
"We just want you to live your life to the fullest," Jenn teased.
"Says the one who doesn't have a boyfriend either."
"At least I have my eye on someone," she said with a haughty expression, straightening her back and downing the rest of her mocha. Its warm temperature had caused her lips to turn pinker than usual, giving the impression that she had put on some lip balm even though you knew for a fact that neither of you bothered to dress up for these late school night outings.
James regarded her with slight surprise. "Who's the lucky guy?"
"Ben. He plays guitar."
"Oh! The one with huge eyes who always wears his cap backwards?" You smiled when Jenn nodded a bit shyly, giggling at your description. "He worked on the musical last year. He's got a nice singing voice."
"So I've heard," she agreed.
The nearby clatter of chairs brought you out of the conversation and you glanced over your shoulder to find Sooah and her friends leaving. To your bemusement, she gave you a dirty look as she passed, her friends staring when they followed after. You could only blink and turn back to Jenn and James, the three of you left confused.
James changed the subject by saying, "So we all have first period free tomorrow. Wanna meet at the library and get some studying done?"
"Sure!" Jenn chirped.
"Doubt we'll be productive but why not," you said.
They dropped you off by twelve, the house silent. Your resume lay in the tray of the printer as promised and you scanned Facebook to see that you had been invited to two groups: one for the Christmas festival, the other for a video that Jenn and some others would be putting together for all the twelfth graders' yearbooks. Just as you were about to log off, a message popped up.
From Sooah.
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