The rest of the month went by pretty fast. Our class was due to have the annual weekend trip to one of the islands, something all eleventh graders looked forward to. Unfortunately, some idiot had already booked our hotel, so we had to settle for a day trip to Hongdae. I wasn't about to complain, since I would rather spend time reading in a quiet cafe than be forced to do some stupid group activity in the hot sun.

What really bugged me was that Hyerin had somehow managed to weasel out of it by claiming that she had 'family issues', when truthfully, she was about to spend her day on her first 'date' with Junghyun.

I hated couples.

Alice pulled me through the crowded streets, whistling and skipping happily. I let myself be towed behind her, listening faithfully to whatever she said. Boy, did she love to talk. 

I had grown to like her this past month. Her personality was a little weird; she was somehow shy and outspoken at the same time. Her behavior changed depending on the person she was with, so I didn't know what she was really like. For example, she was incredibly joyous and chatty with me, but when she was around Jungkook, she turned into a merciless teasing machine. I had taught her to do that, though. He always grew really flustered whenever she was with us. Ah, it made me so proud.

"Stop thinking Jihye." She tugged on my arm, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You need to talk more."

"Sorry." I grinned sheepishly.

"It's ok." She continued dragging me. "Have you been to Hongdae before? I haven't. Isn't it so awesome? Look at all these stores!"

I sighed as she continued yapping away. I just wanted to read peacefully.

My eyes caught sight of Jungkook just then, who was sitting outside a cafe with his friends. He had taken his blazer off, and slightly ed his white shirt. His hair was wind-blown, and it fell over his eyes just perfectly. I gulped, feeling my cheeks heat up considerably.

"Do you have a fever, Jihye?" Alice held a hand to my forehead. "You look kind of flushed."

"O-Oh, it's nothing." I laughed nervously. "It's probably just the sun."

"Do you want to go sit somewhere?" She asked. "We can take a break."

"No, you go ahead." I smiled. "I've been to Hongdae plenty of times. I'll just be in that bookstore over there, come find me when you're done exploring."

"Yay! Ok!" She squealed, before running up to a random classmate and dragging her around instead. I laughed to myself and sauntered into the store, breathing in the smell of books happily.

"You look really strange right now." Jungkook said, appearing beside me suddenly. "I still don't get why you like smelling books."

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now." I shook my head, before making my way to mystery section.

"You should read other genres too." He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

"Your face should read another genre." I mumbled, flipping through an old Secret Seven novel.

"That doesn't even make sense." He commented.

I slammed the book close. "Your face doesn't make sense."

"Great comeback. A plus." He clapped sarcastically.

"Wow, I didn't think it was possible for you to get any more obnoxious." I bumped his head with the book. "Why are you like this?"

"I've decided to be as annoying as I can to make up for my absence." He grinned. "I'm so thoughtful."

I smiled sadly and ruffled his hair. He gave me a confused look.

"You're being really weird." He said, trailing after me as I wandered through the store.

"Hm?" I ran my fingers across the bookshelf. "How so?"

"You're being nice-rude to me." He ran his fingers along the bookshelf, copying me.

"What's nice-rude?" I asked, turning to him.

"Well, nice-rude is when you're being mean to someone, but in a playful way." He leaned against the wall. "You are normally straight up mean to me."

"I don't think that's true." I picked up another book, which turned out to be some cheesy romance. I grimaced and set it down.

"The girl I like is also nice-rude to me." He picked at his fingernails.

"Oh my god." I groaned. "Just ing tell me who it is already."

"Nope." He laughed evilly. 

"Come on, it's been a month, you've won." I held my hands up in defeat. "You've out-smarted the great Jihye. I can't figure it out."

"Psh, I out-smarted you the day I was born." He crossed his arms smugly. "It's just fun to let you hang like this."

"Fine, don't tell me." I spat, walking away from him. "I don't even care anymore."

"Sure you do~" He followed me as I walked out the store, cackling like a witch.

I just rolled my eyes and kept walking, trying to look for Alice. Instead, she found me.

"Jihye, there you are!" She trotted up to us, her hands full of shopping bags. "Oh, assface is here too!"

He gave her a small nod and wave. She giggled and pinched his cheeks, making him wince in pain.

"Oh, by the way, Mrs. Park has told me to tell that you are in charge of taking pictures on this trip." She said, turning to me. "Most of the students are by the cafes near the train station, so that would be a good place to start."

I groaned as Alice handed me the camera along with a note from the teacher. It read "encapsulate the spirit of youthfulness".

"Ugh." I grumbled, crumpling the note in my hand. "How am I supposed to 'encapsulate the spirit of youthfulness'?"

"Oh, that's easy." She took the camera back and pointed it at me and Jungkook. "I'll take a picture of you guys as an example."

"Oh, no no no no." I protested, trying to hide behind him. He swiftly maneuvered to the side and spun me around, wrapping his arms around my shoulders firmly. As if that wasn't enough, he leaned his head on my shoulder, laughing loudly. 

Alice took advantage of my momentary shock and snapped a single picture.

I coughed and Jungkook let go of me, completely unflustered by what had just happened. He bounded over to her and took the camera, beckoning me to look at the photo. 

"I'll c-check it out l-later..." I stammered, snatching the camera from his hands. "See you guys at the buses!"

I sprinted away before either one of them could say anything. Needless to say, I was over the moon. I grinned to myself as I walked to the station, feeling at peace with the world.

I sighed in exhaustion as I went through all the photos I had taken. I took a sip of my coffee, leaning back against the wooden chair happily. I had chosen to take pictures of couples, since they captured the spirit of youthfulness better than anyone. Each one of the pictures were different; some had couples laughing, some had them sitting together in silence. 

I looked at the photo of me and Jungkook again. I had seen it about a million times already, but it took my breath away each time. His eyes and nose were crinkled up in laughter, and his bunny teeth stood out of his toothy grin. I absentmindedly wrapped my arms around myself, trying to remember the hug. 

Everything seemed so perfect then. Trees that were full of colorful fall leaves rustled outside the window. Faint guitar music filtered in through the door, courtesy of some hipster sitting right outside the cafe. The only thing that could make this better was if Jungkook knew how I felt. And so, I made up my mind. To hell with logic and reason. To hell with friendship.

I was going to confess.