04

                                    

                                          
| new girl |
                          
it was the school's clubs fair week. hayoon had been excused from class, along with other students who were on duty for that day. she went around the various exhibition spots to check on the displays and necessary materials needed. her gaze kept dropping onto her phone. it was almost lunch time which meant sunwoo and her other friends would be having lunch and also visiting her. she went her way to fulfil her duties even though she had been impatiently pacing around for the time to quickly pass by. 
                          
12pm
                          
hayoon smiled to herself as she waited at her booth station. she spotted the familiar blonde hair of eric's and minju's slim figure next to him. they were coming her way with some snacks that they had bought beforehand. hayoon's heart dropped slightly when she saw no sight of the person she was high-key waiting for. she still smiled brightly to eric and minju who came to her enthusiastically.
                          
"hey you guys! come and sit!" hayoon pulled out two more chairs behind the booth for them to sit and eat.
                          
"is it fine? won't your art teacher be mad or something?" minju asked, but eric being eric plopped himself down on a chair right away with snacks in his arms.
                          
12.20pm
                          
hayoon had distracted herself with doing her duty works. there were quite a number of students that signed up for the art club and she felt glad.
                          
"hayoon," a voice called out to her. 
                          
"oh hi kevin," hayoon smiled at the president of the club.
                          
"can you help me bring this to exhibit c? they're out of sign-up forms," he handed her more sheets of paper. hayoon nodded as she signalled her friends to keep watch at her booth.
                          
she hugged the bulk of papers in her arms as she walked out of the cafeteria to the walkway near the school field. there were students everywhere visiting the different clubs' booths that were arranged neatly along the walkway. her eyes wandered around in search of the art clubs booth. 
                          
"here, kevin said you guys needed more," hayoon set the papers down on the table.
                          
"thanks alot, hayoon. you're a saviour," renjun smiled and put his thumbs up at her.
                          
she decided to take a breather out there, slowly walking along the walkway. her steps were halted when she spotted the familiar brown-headed boy. he was seated on a bench not far from the buzz of students. she shook her head slightly, cracking a slight smile before she made her way to him until she saw another figure next to him. her smile faltered away at the unknown girl sitting next to him. hayoon frowned. 'sunwoo with a girl?' hayoon thought for a bit. it was strange. he took some time to open up to her even after being classmates and neighbours all their life. but there he was looking so easy-going with a girl she had never seen before. and he did not remember to come see her because of a new girl? at that point, her heart broke a little at the thought.
                          
-
                          
in class, sunwoo had dazed off a little without hayoon. her empty desk in front of him made him frown, thinking that the day would be less exciting. he leaned onto his arms as he half-heartedly wrote on the book, attempting to follow through the lesson. once the bell rung, sunwoo stood up almost immediately as he picked up the small paper bag full of snacks he was waiting to share with hayoon. sprinting out the class first leaving eric and minju behind, sunwoo stumbled into a relatively small girl walking outside his class. 
                          
"oh no! i'm so sorry!" she shrieked. 
                          
sunwoo recomposed himself dusting away invisible dusts off his pants, ready to leave. "wait," a hand tugged onto the hem of his shirt, making him look behind. sunwoo raised an eyebrow at her. "i'm new to the school and i can't find my way to office. help me please," she beamed an apologetical smile at him. sunwoo sighed as he contemplated. he promised hayoon though.
                          
"let's go," he muttered as he walked forward to the office with the new girl tailing behind. he was sure and he hoped that hayoon would understand. he watched as the new girl took her class schedule and took it as a cue for him to leave. however, she held him back by his arm. "i don't know anyone here. can you stay with me? at least for lunch," the girl whose name he learnt was 'seo yeji' pleaded for him to stay. sunwoo sighed again for the nth time. he found himself accompanying the girl on a bench near the school field. the paper bag had been rummaged as yeji ate some snacks he had brought. he glanced at the time on his phone - 30 minutes since lunch started.
                          
from that encounter onwards, yeji had been pestering sunwoo always. hayoon on the other hand seemed quieter when she came to school the next day. sunwoo looked at her slumped back, worried at the girl. he was back to his wordless self, no courage to approach her, explain and apologise. sunwoo was well aware that she was upset at him. 
                          
"what is up with them now?" eric nudged minju as he nodded towards their two friends. minju could only shrug at him. hayoon slung her arms around eric's and minju's arms as she walked between them. the visible frown on her face gave it away that she was having a not-so-great day. seeing the suck-up junior with sunwoo was an eye sore for her as she dragged her two friends to class.
                          
sunwoo felt bad when he caught a glance at his three friends from the corner of his eyes. he sighed silently at the girl in front of him. "i have biology next, can you walk me to class?" yeji smiled up at him. sunwoo pressed his lips in a thin line as he forcefully nodded, carrying her books which she had passed to him.
                          
during lunch, sunwoo walked over to eric and the girls, one of them had their head down as she gazed at her phone screen. "you coming, sunwoo?" eric looked back at him as they started to march to the cafeteria. "sunwoo! you're having lunch with me, right?" and yet again, yeji grinned at him, taking his arm into her hold. sunwoo paused, he glanced back from his friends, especially hayoon, then to yeji. "i guess not," hayoon muttered, walking off first as the other two trailed behind her. hayoon frowned when she could hear yeji whining near their table. her eyes coincidentally met sunwoo's concerned ones when she glanced back. would this escalate to something even worse? hayoon drowned herself into her own thoughts as she picked on her food.