I woke up to my alarm ringing in my ears. I picked up my phone and checked the time. 7:00 a.m. Ugh. I got out of bed and trudged to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and dressed up. I checked the time again. 7:25. I headed to the bed next to mine and shook its occupant.

“Yah. Joey, wake up. It’s almost 7:30.”

“Hmmmm… 5 more minutes.” He complained.

I shrugged and packed my schoolbag. I took a random notebook and flipped through it idly. A piece of paper fell out of it. I picked it up and saw what it was. It was an unanswered homework sheet for History class due today. I started to panic, I had a 20 minutes till I left home, and I had no idea what the answers were. I could barely even understand the questions.

I checked the time. It said 7:30. I had to wake Joey up. Quickly grabbing the empty glass of water I had on my night table, I filled it up halfway, and poured onto Joey’s head. I had no time for being gentle. I had to finish my homework, it’s bad enough that I’m failing, but I might actually have to go to summer school if I miss one more homework.

I zipped my bag up and headed downstairs. I grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it in my mouth. It would have to do for now. I looked at the questions and desperately tried to research about them on my phone. I had answered about half of the sheet when Mom got downstairs, ready to take Joey and me to school. Oh no, I thought, looking at the incomplete homework. It just had to do.

In the car, I was trying to remember what I learnt about the questions. No such luck. I regretted slacking off. I was just hoping that Jackson or Jinyoung would be at school so I could just copy off of them, or something.

The car pulled up by the school gate, and I quickly gave Mom a peck on the cheek before bolting out of the door to the classroom. I arrived and I saw only one person there, with her head down, resting on top of her arms. Jaehee. She seems to be everywhere nowadays.

I sat in the seat next to her and poked her arm. “Yah. Ireona.” I said

She lifted her head, her eyes still half-closed, “Wae? Is it class time already?”

I shook my head to answer her, she looked at me and nodded, then she went back to her old position.

“No! Don’t sleep yet!” I exclaimed, “I need to copy your History homework.”

She took one arm out from under her head, and grabbed the bag next to her seat. She handed it to me and said, “Return it to me before History starts, please. Now go away, and leave me alone.”

I did as she said and proceeded to my seat in the back I opened her rucksack and took her History worksheet and began to copy her answers, tweaking them a bit so no one would catch us for copying. It took about 10 minutes in total, and I put the worksheet back in her bag. I was about to return it and thank her, but she was still asleep. I took a post-it from her bag instead and wrote “Thank You! ^_____^” I set her bag down next to her seat, and stuck the note on the side of her table, where she could see it. I headed outside to my locker to wait for Jinyoung and the rest to arrive.

The rest of the day was one ginormous blur after that. I was about to head out the classroom door, when a hand grabbed my wrist to stop me. I turned around to see Jaehee, with a pout on her lips. “Don’t tell me you were trying to worm your way out of our deal. We start today, remember?”

I sighed and took my phone out, texting Jinyoung that I wouldn’t go home with him today. I received an “okay” from him minutes later.

“Let’s go.” I walked off. She followed me.

We walked to nearby mall and settled down in a Starbucks.

“I thought we agreed on doing it at your house.” She huffed.

“Not today, though. There are just some things that my sisters can’t do.” I replied, taking a sip from the green tea latte I ordered.

“Like what?” she peered at me curiously.

“Like do your highlights, dye, and straighten out your hair.” I responded, nonchalantly.

“You’re having my hair done?! No way! How can I even trust you! You’re a guy! What do you even know about what color my hair should be?!” She touched her hair with her hand, it gently.

“Nothing really, but I do know what Jinyoung’s ideal type is, so we’re basing it on what he likes, and not on what you do. Isn’t that what you wanted after all? To be Jinyoung’s type of girl?” I said, in a mocking tone.

“Fine.” She surrendered, leaning back into her seat.

It was an hour later, and Jaehee was in the middle of getting her hair done. I told the stylists to make her look prettier, while not making her look like a completely different person. They dragged her off to the middle of the store and started the makeover. I headed to the area of the store with seats and couches to do what everyone else who was there was doing, wait.

I was in the middle of reading an article regarding the relationship between 2PM’s Nickhun and SNSD’s Tiffany in a random magazine, when the stylist I talked to called my attention, telling me that Jaehee was ready.

She lead the way to the middle of the store, and I saw her. She had her once wavy, shoulder-length, black hair straightened out so that it was straight, but not flat against her head. It now reached the middle of her chest, and it was dark brown with highlights that were slightly lighter. Her old, overgrown fringe had been cut to light side bangs. She still looked like Jaehee, but like a more refined version of her. I was impressed. And I also felt something weird stir inside my stomach. Ignoring it, I walked up to her and patted her head.

“Does it look okay? Will Jinyoung oppa like it?” She asked.

“Meh. I don’t really know, but I guess we’ll have to wait and find out!” I joked.

“Mark!”

“I was just kidding! It looks good, okay? Are you happy now?” I said.

“Yes. Yes, I am. Now let’s go.” She turned and headed to the cashier.

“I guess I’m paying since I got the haircut.” She looked at me.

“You got that right.” I laughed.

She payed for her haircut, and we headed to the bus stop afterwards. We get off at the same stop, since both of us are from the same neighbourhood in Gangnam. I walked her to her house, and she turned around and hugged me, “Thank you for today, and thank you for helping me.” She whispered.

“No big deal. You paid for everything, anyway.” I looked everywhere, but at her.

“See you tomorrow, then, Mark.” She waved. I nodded and headed to my house.

As I lay in bed that night, I couldn’t help but think of the old times. We rode the bus today, and it brought back memories.

“Mark! Quick! We’re gonna miss the bus!” Jaehee called out to me.

“Yeah! Wait!” I was running towards her and the bus stop.

We got on just in time. We scanned our bus cards and found seats for the both of us. We were listening to the mp3 player that jaehee owned. It was usually like this. Us just listening to music, talking, laughing together. It was finally our stop, and we got off.

We headed to the street food stand that we frequented and bought our favourite order, the 32 cm soft-served ice cream. Chocolate for me, and vanilla for her. We would eat it on our way home. Usually it’s the guy bringing the girl home first, but it wasn’t like that for us. I was still new to Korea, so Jaehee was always worried that I would get lost. She always made sure that I got home safely before heading to her own home.

We arrived at my doorstep, and I turned around and waved to her. “Bye, Jaehee! Get home safely!”

She waved back, “Neh! Arasseo! See you tomorrow!” and she went back up the road to reach her house.

Our days would always end like that. Rain or shine, we would eat together, walk home together, walk to school together, and even in our free time, we were together. I kind of miss those days, when we were carefree, and younger. When our biggest dilemmas were just pathetic little problems. But I guess that it’s just a part of growing up.

A/N: So, guys, are the daily updates okay? I just hope that I can keep this up >3<

This is my longest chapter yet, and I had such a hard time writing the end without making it awks (even though it still kind of is)

I'll be celebrating the birthday of my maternal grandfather tomorrow, so I'm updating either in the morning or when I get home.

Thank You!