Later on that day, Yisun was sitting at the teacher’s desk in the audio-visual classroom where Yoongi and her usually had their tutoring session. She didn’t know why she was there, really. She didn’t expect him to come. But still, by force of habit, she had dropped by after club and had started working on her homework.

She was busy with her latest History assignment when she heard the door open and close silently. She looked up. Yoongi was standing there, silently, as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. They stared at each other for several seconds in silence. Finally, Yoongi decided to walk over to her desk and to pull up his usual chair.

Yisun still stared at him in quiet wonder. She had not expected him to come. But now that he was here, she didn’t know what to say. It felt odd to try to do the same old thing after the big row they had had the day before, and yet, she went on as if nothing had happened, for fail of a better plan.

“Okay, so today, I thought we’d do a bit of revision…” she said, closing her history books and fishing in her bag for her English notes, “you know, since mid-terms are coming up…”.

Yoongi nodded, also as if nothing had happened and this was just another normal day. Seeing this, Yisun went on with the lesson with more confidence.

***

A few days later, Yoongi and Yisun were studying together in the A/V room again. The revision was not going as well as planned.

“Argh, I hate this!” grumbled Yoongi, throwing his pen on the table.

“Come on, you can do it…” said Yisun, trying to sound enthusiastic, “You’re doing better already”

“No I’m not.” denied Yoongi, which was entirely the truth, “I hate this kind of stuff… verb tenses and grammar… yuck!”

“Yeah, but this is the kind of stuff they’ll ask you in the exam!” protested Yisun.

“But it’s boring! Can’t you find a way to incorporate that to a movie or a magazine or something?” inquired Yoongi.

“Look, reading and watching movies' all well and good for comprehension, but for grammar, there’s no other way! You gotta learn it the boring way, that’s just the way it is!”

“But I can’t do it!” groaned Yoongi again, pouting and puffing up his cheeks, childishly.

“Come on, you just need a bit of motivation…” smiled Yisun, trying to cheer him up.

“What on earth could motivate me to learn this boring stuff??” asked the teenage boy.

“Well…” Yisun hesitated, “How about tickets to go see the new Operation Takeover*(again, fake title) movie?”

“What? That’s not even out yet…” said Yoongi, sounding interested for about the first 2 seconds.

“I know it’s not, but it’ll be in a few weeks, when the tests are over. And…” she hesitated.

“What?”

“Well, my dad’s a journalist, right, and he always gets to see movies before they come out… this time, I’ve asked him to get some tickets for me as well…” explained Yisun.

“Before it comes out? How soon before?” asked Yoongi, suddenly very interested.

“Well, it’s usually about a week or two” answered Yisun.

“Huh…” Yoongi seemed lost deep in thought.

“If you pass, I’ll give you one of my tickets.” Said Yisun, “If you get a grade above a B, I’ll throw in the popcorn and candy” she added with a grin.

“You’re on!” exclaimed Yoongi with a determined smile on his face.

***

Exam week rolled around without anyone seeing it coming; but before they knew it, it was already over. Yoongi and Yisun were still going to their study session daily, anxiously waiting for the exam results to come out. When the list was finally posted, it was no surprise to see that Yisun had scored highest in the year. What was very surprising to a lot of people though, was that Yoongi had managed to score himself a place in the top 50, with a B+ grade.

“Yes!” exclaimed Yoongi, staring at the piece of paper that had just been posted in the hallway, “I did it, so you owe me. Popcorn and all!” he stood grinning like mad at Yisun who was standing next to him.

“Yeah, yeah, I promised.” replied Yisun, wanting to laugh at Yoongi’s childish excitement.

“Ooh, the guys are gonna be sooooo jealous!” he exclaimed, more mumbling to himself than for Yisun’s sake, as they headed towards the locker area.

“How d’you know the results were gonna be posted tonight anyways?” wondered Yoongi, once they’d reached the entrance. “They usually wait ‘til Monday, no?”

Yisun shook her head. “They always put it up the Friday before. They just wait before everyone’s gone though.”

“So, d’you always wait up to see what grades you got?” smirked Yoongi, teasing her, as they headed on outside.

“Of course not!” retorted Yisun, taking the bait.

Yoongi chuckled and she pouted in annoyance. “Well, it’s good that we got to see it now, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to go!” Yoongi went on, staring at the ticket in his hand gleefully.

“True. Since it’s this weekend, I would’ve had to go all by myself…” added Yisun on a falsely dramatic tone.

“Ooooh, you really wouldn’t have given it to me?” grumbled Yoongi.

“Of course!” exclaimed Yisun, “we had a deal” she added, winking at him, which caused him to start chuckling.

“Oh well…” shrugged Yoongi. They had reached the school gate so they both stopped walking.

“So should we meet somewhere before the movie? Even if you gotta have a pass to get in,  if we want good seats, we should get there early” explained Yisun.

“Right.” nodded Yoongi.

“Hmm…well, the movie’s at 3pm so… how about meeting in Bunsu Square around 2pm?” suggested Yisun.

“Sure” agreed Yoongi, “guess I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

“Yeah, Bye!”, Yisun called out after Yoongi, who had already started walking in the opposite direction.

Yoongi turned around and, still walking, waved at Yisun with a big smile before turning back round. Yisun stood there for a few seconds watching him walk away in a state of happy confusion: this was perhaps the first time that Yoongi had been genuinely nice to her. So, smiling, she finally left on her own way.