stand by you // a.c.e

stand by you

part i.

The girl's eyes fluttered open; her head resting on the pages of her open notebook. She sat up, glancing around the empty classroom. Had everybody left her there once again? Sighing, she brushed back her hair with one hand and began packing up her books with the other. The curtains on the window danced in the wind as it gusted through the classroom, knocking one of her papers onto the floor. She glanced down at it, then back at the window.

"The universe," she grumbled, "seems to be determined to irritate me today." She leaned over her desk to pick up the paper—

— and immediately froze in place so that she didn't hit someone in the head. A young boy was reaching out for the paper and she stared at him as he lifted his head. He looked up, seemingly as surprised to see her there as she was to see him. After a moment, she found her words.

"Um, that paper—"

"Is yours, I know." The boy smiled and offered it back to her. She finally glanced behind him to see four other boys staring back at her. One of them smiled at her kindly. Quietly, she took the paper from the first boy, looking at the now-full room. Where had they come from? Hadn't the classroom been empty only moments before? She glanced towards the door and noticed it gently blowing shut as the wind gusted yet again. Had they just walked in?

"We were going to take a picture," the boy with red hair at the back of the room explained, grinning widely. "Wanna take it with us?"

The girl blinked. "Oh. Sorry, I was just—"

"Come on!" He ran forward and grabbed her arm playfully, tugging her out of her seat. A little nervous, she clutched the piece of paper she had reclaimed from the first boy as she looked around.

"Chan, stop it," one of them laughed. It was the one that had given her back her paper. "She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, we can find somewhere else."

"No," she replied quickly, turning towards him. This may be my only chance. "I'd love to."

"Really? See! I told you!!" the red-haired boy—Chan—crowed in victory.

The first boy laughed as he jogged to the front of the classroom, propping up his phone on the desk. "C'mon then, let's hurry."

Chan pulled on her arm, leading her to the end of the line. The boy in the middle just watched as she followed him, moving to stand awkwardly at the end. "Ready?" the first boy called from the front of the room, balancing on one foot to press the button that would take the picture.

"Junhee, just hurry up!" the boy on the other end of the line called, grinning.

Junhee laughed and pressed the camera shutter, running back to the line before the picture snapped. The girl ended up squished between Chan and Junhee, and although she was surprised, she didn't say anything. At least for once she was being included.

After the picture was taken, the six of them ended up sitting together and talking in the classroom for a little while. The girl found out their names, and she told them hers.

The red-haired boy's name was Yuchan—"but everyone calls me Chan!" he chirped when she expressed confusion. He was obviously the energetic member of the group and refused to sit down, instead preferring to bounce around the room like a rabbit during their conversation.

The boy that had retrieved her paper was Junhee. He seemed to be the one in charge, if you could call him that. He was also quite silly, and liked to crack jokes and make cheesy puns.

The quiet one was Byeongkwan. The first time the girl had seen him, he had seemed a little intimidating, but the more she talked with him, the more she realized he was just shy.