Mean Girls

xiv. #RyuYeongGate

The second time it happens, Chaeryeong lifts one eyebrow and stares. Ever since they'd got stuck together for AP Lit, things had been different between them. Courteous, even if still distant. A little more careful, a little softer, despite nothing else happening after they'd both given in to the sexual energy between them once more.

Ryujin is in her corner of the library, comfortably installed in the couch in front of hers. She's reading To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Chaeryeong says nothing.

It happens again, a few days later.

When Chaeryeong reaches her favorite spot, Ryujin is already there, barefoot and with furrowed brows, gaze focused on a textbook that Chaeryeong recognizes from her study sessions with Lia.

"Hi," she says, timidly.

Ryujin looks up and smiles at her, a genuine smile that reaches her eyes. They stay there together in silence for another hour and Chaeryeong finds that Ryujin's presence, quiet and peaceful like this, makes her chest tingle with warmth.

It happens another time before things change for the worse. Chaeryeong is reading The Fault in Our Stars and she can't see what book has Ryujin so concentrated. Before Chaeryeong knows it, she's crying, real tears that run down her face and wracking sobs that she can't hide.

Ryujin startles in her seat, and after a moment of indecision she comes closer and kneels in front of her, eyebrows knit together in concern. "Hey," she whispers, fingers wrapping around Chaeryeong's elbow. "What's wrong?" Her eyes are peppered with speckles of amber and Chaeryeong thinks they're even more beautiful when she's seeing them through a sheen of tears.

"This book," Chaeryeong stammers, rubbing furiously at her eyes with her free hand. "It's just so sad."

Ryujin lets out an 'oh' and sits down next to her, fingertips tapping the cover of her own book until she starts speaking in a soothing tone. "I'm reading The Book Thief now," she says, pushing it towards Chaeryeong so she can take a look at the title. "It's so dope because it's from Death's point of view, you know? But what I like the most about it is how it portrays colors. Every time someone dies, Death sees different colors in the sky and it's just such a powerful detail. It's made me pay more attention to the colors around me every day."

She goes on and on about colors, and about what it means to be human, and about how there is life in reading, and how kindness could save the world, and her eyes are alight with excitement and her hands can't stop demonstrating her words. Chaeryeong has stopped crying long ago but she doesn't have the heart to tell Ryujin that she's read The Book Thief and that it's one of her favorites.

She thinks she might even like it a little more now.

* * *

Mr. Keating had said in the beginning of the week that the grades for the assignment would be up on the school's online platform by Friday, and now Chaeryeong can't stop checking the damn website. She's curious. She'd put a lot of effort into that thing and she owes her new dynamic with Ryujin to it. Or the new layer to her dynamic with Ryujin - as if their dynamic needed any more layers.

But alas, here they are. Maybe not quite enemies anymore, not quite friends either, but definitely something.

It's a good thing the debate and the election will be done in about two weeks. Maybe they'll get a chance at being something else.

Chaeryeong's been in the library for two hours, studying for her AP Government test, when she decides to take a break and check her phone. She doesn't bother going outside for fresh air, she just stretches and lies down on the couch, feet propped up on one of the arms, praying that Miss Vergara won't decide to make the rounds and see what's up. Getting yelled at for acting like the library is her home is not on her to-do list for today.