Chapter Text
“What!?”
Annette had long known her best friend had a crush, but to hear it could be reciprocated?
“Yeah…I mean, not that he even has the guts to admit it, but, I think it’s pretty obvious.” Theo, a recent friend of hers, replied.
The two of them had been paired up in their art class a month prior, and while they’d been part of the same general group for a long time, they’d grown much closer recently because of this. She had always found herself more profoundly interested in subjects like math and science, but seeing Theo’s passion for art had opened her up to it more than she had ever expected.
“Wow…well, can’t say I’m surprised. Shin is nothing if not painfully oblivious.” She chuckled, thinking back to all of the innocent quirks of her childhood friend. “As for Lena, she refuses to tell anyone but me. Says it’s too embarrassing, and Shin would never feel the same way or something. She’s such a pushover it’s frustrating sometimes.” She groaned while fiddling with the end of her keychain, the dimly lit student lounge making her feel sluggish.
“Why can’t people just be honest with themselves? Their lives would be so much easier.” Theo stretched his arms behind his back, still trying to wake himself up from his long night of last-minute cramming before his Chemistry exam.
“Right? Maybe we’re just the only mature ones in our friend group.” Annette tried not to let him hear the hitch in her voice as his outstretched arm unknowingly grazed the side of her cheek.
They did not yet realize the irony to their words.
-
“Dustin! Give that back!” Anju relented, annoyed at having been interrupted from her student council work.
“Chill Anj, I just wanna see one thing.” Dustin had grabbed her math paper while she wasn’t looking, trying to see if she had gotten the same answer as he did.
“We're supposed to be coming up with plans for a homecoming theme, not doing homework.” She snatched the thin packet from his hands. Dustin groaned as his attempt to stall decision-making had failed.
“The social committee wants these finalized by Friday. If we don’t start coming up with ideas now, there’s no way we’ll ever meet the deadline in time.” Anju focused her attention back to the empty document on her laptop, “So, any ideas?”
“Uh…I dunno, What do people usually do? Enchanted forest or something?” He blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Mm, that’s pretty basic. I want to do something special this year.” She said, “Especially since…Er, nevermind.” She cut herself off, hands beginning to fidget with the sleeve of her shirt.
Dustin knew not to poke at it. The two of them had become friends at the beginning of junior year in student council, almost exactly a year ago. Dustin was a transfer student, and also one of the smartest people Anju had ever met. Hell, he had the highest GPA out of their whole grade. She had recently lost a close friend of hers in a car crash when the two became friends, and Dustin had been very supportive despite the fact he had only just met her. He was the only person who didn’t look at her like some pity case in need of being fixed. Anju thought she probably trusted him more than anyone, but she could never tell him that.
“Well, how about we send out a poll to the upperclassmen, see what they say?” Dustin suggested with a grin.
“That’s the first good idea you’ve had this month.” Anju teased, sheepishly matching his smile as she looked up from her screen.
-
Tap tap tap
Shin stared relentlessly at the marks on the floor of the classroom as he tapped his pencil against the desk. Man, was algebra a drag. He had been forced to sit in the front of the class because of his tumultuous attempts at reading during lectures and copying the person in front of him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good at school, he simply didn’t want to put much effort into things that didn’t interest him.
“Hey, Did you see the email we all got? It’s about the homecoming theme.” A classmate exclaimed.
“Yeah, I’m hoping they do something like winter wonderland.” Another replied.
Homecoming…
Shin was desperately trying to avoid all thought of that topic.
It was coming up in just a few weeks, and yet he could not work up the nerve to ask a certain somebody to go with him. It wasn’t that he was worried she’d say no, it was more just…admitting something he’d been putting off for so long seemed much too daunting to just casually say. He and Lena had been good friends since middle school because of their intermingled friend groups, but they hadn’t spent much time together one-on-one. Well, that was until the recently past summer.
Their group of friends had gone to the annual county summer fest, and the two of them were the only ones who decided to sit out the whirl-o-coaster ride, much to their friends' vex. Shin figured it’d be kind of a waste to just sit aside and do nothing, so he suggested they go walk around together. Somehow, 20 minutes had turned into 2 hours of laughter filled conversations, funnel cakes, and several merry-go-round rides they were much too old to be on anyway. Maybe Shin had had a slight crush on her before, but seeing the way her face lit up when she tried the funnel cake for the first time, how she giggled when one of the dancers flashed a smile at her, now he was sure. Her normal bashfulness seemed to melt away right in front of him, and he found himself wishing to see more of it with every passing minute.
“You know…of all the times I’ve come here with my family, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone be that intrigued by a juggling act. ”
“But it was so cool!
“Oh, I’m sure.”
For a short moment, silence.
“Hey, Lena, I–”
bzzzzzrt!
And then, abruptly as ever, their moment had come and passed due to a text message from Annette asking where the two had disappeared off to.
Shin had been trying to think of a way to close the gap between the two of them again, but he was at a loss of missed opportunities until Raiden had reminded him of the upcoming dance.
Thankfully, the bell rang soon after, and he was able to temporarily occupy his mind with other things.
“Hey. You know what time practice starts?” Raiden had walked up to Shin’s locker in curiosity.
“3:45 I think. I thought you had to make up a test?”
“Nah, I did it at lunch. My mom will kill me if I wait till the last minute.”
The two were, of course, talking about lacrosse practice. Shin and Raiden had met each other through the sport back in middle school. They were damn good at it too, they had carried their team to state championships year after year, and were the best in their district.
“My mom has learned I’ll be a slacker no matter the punishment.” Shin lamented of his less-than-impressive grades.
“Well, I think I see someone who can help with that.” Raiden eyes behind where Shin was standing with a mischievous grin. “Hey, Lena! Mind giving ole’ reaper some help here?”
“Huh? Oh, sure! What do you need help with?” Shin’s entire face turned a shade of red as Lena approached the two from behind in the hallway.
“Algebra. He stinks. But you’re pretty good at it, right? Why don’t you work something out.” Raiden gave Shin a pat on the shoulder before turning on his heels towards the gym, Shin’s glare at him was lethal.
“Uh…you don’t have to.” Shin uttered awkwardly as the argent-haired girl twirled her hair between her fingers, avoiding his gaze.
“N-No! I’d be happy to help, really. Um…how about today after school? In the library?” Lena spoke nervously, her cheeks flushing as she suddenly noticed the height difference between the two now that she was so close up.
“Er…Yeah, that works. I’ll see you there, then.” Shin said with a slight grin, surprised at her sudden willingness. In truth, he didn’t initially plan on actually making something of Raiden’s remarks, but it seemed like the perfect opportunity had just fallen into his lap.
“Okay! See you later Shin!” Lena thought to herself that she had said that a bit louder and more excited than she meant to as she meandered down the hallway, clutching her books to her chest after realizing what she had just gotten herself into, an intense blush beginning to form on her face.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, quite the opposite actually, but the thought of spending time alone with Shin made her slightly nervous. In truth, she had been trying to think up an excuse to talk to him, but the last few weeks had been so busy with a fresh semester of their senior year.
Lena grabbed her bag from her locker as she replayed the exchange in her mind and headed to the media center for her study hall, where she heard a voice call out to her.
“Hey Milize, you’re good at French, right?” A lanky boy with auburn hair and striking violet eyes spoke from across the room.
“Oh, Vika…I’m not sure I’d be of much help, but I could give it a shot.” Lena tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and sat across from where the chestnut-haired boy was seated next to a petite young blonde.
“I thought that paper was due yesterday?” The smaller girl looked up from her notes to speak, an inquisitive expression lighting up behind her emerald eyes.
“It was…” Vika let out an awkward sigh, “But not all of us can make those complicated hand-written notes for every subject and pass the class easy.” His finger pointed to the top of her notebook where the word ‘ Lerche ’ was written in blue bubble letters. Lerche took little offense to his usual digs at her over-achieving nature and returned to her decorative doodles with a shrug. Vika was characteristically smart, but he seemed to struggle with putting forth effort into things he wasn't interested in.
“I’m happy to help, but I need to ask a favor first. You’re president of the STEM program, right? Anju asked me to find someone who could help get some of the student council’s ideas for homecoming approved, but they need someone from a leadership role to sign off on things first, so…” Lena told him.
“Yes, that’s fine I suppose. By the way, who’re you going with to the dance?” He questioned.
“M-me? Uh, no one…why do you ask?” Lena suddenly went slightly red in the face, fidgeting with the ends of her hair in a nervous habit at his spontaneous question.
“Oh? My, he still hasn’t done it. Can’t say I’m surprised.” Vika tilted his head to the side, gazing at the wall beside them in an almost vexed manner while Lerche brought her notebook up to her face in a failed attempt to mask her giggling.
“W-What is it?! Why’re you laughing? Who’s ‘he’!?” Lena practically jumped out of her seat as she asked in an exasperated tone, looking between the pair frantically as embarrassment washed over her face.
“Oh nothing, nothing. Just a trivial matter is all.” Vika spoke in vague words that didn’t answer her question in the slightest, a tendency she liked least about him, “Now, I’ve given you what you wanted, so help me with this paper.” Vika gave her a satisfied expression as Lena groaned and begrudgingly moved her things over to the other side of the table.
“Unruly as ever.”
-
“She’s tutoring you?”
“That seriously worked?”
Shin was unsure of how to answer the stream of questions coming from Annette and Theo all of a sudden, his head hanging awkwardly to the side as he tried to avoid it.
“Yeah, I guess so…I mean, it’s not like it was exactly my idea or anything. It just kind of happened…” Shin’s voice suddenly fell into a hush as he became acutely aware of all the other student’s in the student lounge around them.
“Well, Lena’s always been nice like that. Always lending a helping hand or whatever.” Annette waved her hands in a mocking motion as she spoke, always looking for a chance to tease her childhood friend as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Hey, don’t discourage him!” Theo turned to Annette, an irked expression on his face as he dismissed her words, “This is your chance to finally ask her!”
“Ask her what?”
Shin stared blankly at the faces of his two friends as they wore the most irritated and exasperated expressions he had ever seen.
“To homecoming, dude. Don’t act like you haven't thought about it, I see you staring at her in forensics constantly.” Shin averted his gaze once again, fiddling with his thumbs as he was unaware anyone had taken notice of that up until this point.
“...I just don’t know how to even bring the topic up.” Shin admitted bashfully. Annette swore she had never seen his usually earnest self so wishy-washy.
“Simple. Hey Lena, you going with anyone to homecoming? No? Great, Go with me! ” Annette lowered her voice in an attempt to impersonate his, sitting up in her seat and holding out her coffee cup like it was some staff of honor.
“Very funny, Rita.” Shin scowled at her comment through narrowed eyes.
“Why don’t you just ask her normally?” Kurena, who had just walked into the room, questioned.
“Because, it’d be too abrupt.” Shin lowered his face into his hands with a frustrated sigh.
“I think you’re thinking way too much into this. Just find a way to bring it up, and ask her straight. It doesn’t have to be that complicated, It’s just Lena. You’ve known her forever.” Theo responded, growing tired of this back-and-forth conversation.
While it was a bit straightforward, it was the only thing Shin could come up with. That is, if he could find the guts to actually do it in the first place.
“Alright then…”
-
The sun rays bent toward the oak table Lena sat at, nervously fiddling with her fingers beneath it.
What am I even getting so worked up about?
I’m just showing him some Algebra expressions, there’s nothing special about this.
But Lena could not shake the excitable anxiety bubbling somewhere deep in her stomach, as silly as she knew it was. Fortunately for her, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the crimson-eyed boy carefully approaching her.
“Hey, Lena. Thanks for-er agreeing to this..” Shin, rather awkwardly, set his things down at the spot across from her.
“Yeah, no problem…” she quickly averted his gaze as he sat down, suddenly forgetting all social skills she had been taught from her rather strict parents. She reached down to gather her own materials from her bag, not noticing how his eyes immediately landed on her.
“So what was it exactly you were having trouble with?”
“Mostly just the formulas. Memorizing them all is impossible.” Shin’s brow furrowed.
“Oh, that’s not too hard to learn. Here, why don’t we go over the simplest ones first...” For the first time since the two sat down, their eyes met, lingering for a moment before they both returned to reality.
Over the few minutes she was explaining the terms, Shin repeatedly snuck glances at her when she wasn’t looking. While it wasn’t his intention, he couldn’t help but get terribly distracted when her long, soft hair and the light smell of her lavender perfume were that close to him.
Have her eyelashes always been that long?
“…Shin?” Lena’s eyes suddenly darted up from the paper they were both leaning over, shaking him out of his trance.
“Oh-uh…yeah. This is an example of-um, standard form. Right?” He quickly attempted to cover for himself.
“That’s correct.”
Thank God.
“You seem a little distracted. Is everything okay?” She questioned, a hint of concern painted on her pale face.
“Oh, yeah. It’s just..sports and stuff.” Shin scrambled to come up with a believable excuse to give her.
“Sports and stuff. Isn’t that what you guys always say?” Lena playfully rolled her eyes with a teasing chuckle.
“Hey, don’t blame me, Coach Wenzel chews me out at every chance she gets.” Shin threw his hands in the air with a laugh, a real smile on his face for the first time that day.
“Oh, I’m sure. I mean, I haven’t forgotten that time you, Raiden, and Theo all had to run laps around the gym for 30 minutes straight while the whole class watched as a punishment for using Lacrosse sticks as swords.” Lena giggled at the memory from 2 years before.
“We called it innovation, she called it reckless use of school equipment.” Shin retorted, surprised she still remembered that. It was one thing to have to run around the gym like an idiot by himself, but Lena having watched the whole ordeal had made him all the more embarrassed at the time.
“You always looked like you were showing off back then. Like…like you had someone to impress or something.” Lena let out a breathy giggle thinking of how he’d always make sure he had the fastest mile, the highest stats, and would give her a quick glance every time he won a game. Why did he always do that?
“Maybe I did.”
“…”
“Just kidding.”
Lena smirked at his playful response, resting her head in her hand and completely forgetting about the homework assignment sitting beneath her elbow. Shin returned the gesture by laying his head on his folded arms on the table, looking up at her as if she were some kind of enigma he wished to understand. Lena tried to fight back a blush that was creeping onto her cheeks.
This…is exactly what I mean. Being around him is so easy. I wish it could always be like this.
I wish it could always be like this…
“Well, if that was all the questions you had for your math class, I guess I’ll be going..” She stood, slowly, beginning to pack her things. Part of her wished—no— begged for there to be more to this than a simple studying session from a friend. But She knew this was just a hopeless delusion of hers.
She threw her bag over her shoulder, taking two steps towards the glass door before a voice cut into her melancholy strides.
“Lena.”
Her head turned, her alabaster eyes immediately meeting his crimson gaze.
Shin’s face was saturated by the late-afternoon sun coming through the windowpane behind him as he stood, the golden light reflecting the beautiful hue of his eyes.
“Will you go with me?” His voice was clear, not a hint of apprehension in it now.
“G-Go where..?” She spoke nervously, clutching the hem of her skirt.
“Lena,” He slowly stepped towards her, “Will you go to homecoming with me?” Lena’s breath wavered in her throat. Shin wore a gentle, pleading look on his face, as if he’d been waiting for this moment for a long time. He was so close she thought if she were to reach out just a little, her hand would meet his.
“Y-Yes!”