Harua

My whole body has been tingling all afternoon with nerves and excitement. Ever since Jo put his arm around me and we made plans for later.

Before school ended, Maki and I crossed paths in the hallway—he stopped me and personally handed me a printed copy of his cross-country schedule.

It was full of practices and meets, so the only time we would get to meet up would be later in the evenings after he was finished.

After not hearing back from him all day, I figured he either forgot about it or he was just going to ignore it in protest. He didn’t seem happy at all about my decision. What does he expect from me anyway? How did he think things were going to go down?

Those answers will have to wait until later when we finally really talk. I wouldn’t count what we did at the party as really talking. That’s my fault and...well, his too for being so goddamn good-looking.

I hate admitting that I find him the least bit attractive. I really thought I would spend the rest of my high school days hating him. I hope he really has changed.

Closing my locker door and heading toward the door after P.E., I spot Nico still standing at his locker. I see he’s not alone. Sitting on the bench in the middle of the locker aisle on the other side of him, almost hidden from view, is Euijoo. I thought he had left already, but he was just with Nico. No one else is left but them.

I keep walking, deciding to mind my own business, leaving them to their moment.

~

Walking down the hall like normal, I head to my next class until I see my bestie alone for a change. “Taki!" I yell down the hall. He lights up when he sees me. “Wait for me!”

We always greet each other like we haven’t seen each other in ages. He playfully starts skipping toward me, and I copy him until we reach each other.

“He gave me his schedule," I tell him as soon as we’re side by side, walking to our next class together.

His eyes go wide as I show him the paper. “He wasn’t flaking out on you after all." He smiles, showing off his dimpled cheek. “You’re secretly happy about that, aren’t you?"

I roll my eyes at him. “What makes you think that?”

“Because I know you too well. I know you're just pretending to be unfazed by him. But I see your walls already crumbling for him. You wouldn’t care about the schedule or about giving him a chance at all. You’re curious.”

“Okay, so what if I am?”

“Go with the flow, my friend. See where it goes.”

We reach our classrooms across the hall from each other and part ways, waving bye to each other.

~