magnolia - daerin

1

6:45 am, may 28, 2024, final day of the school year

haerin wakes up upon hearing her alarm. she drowsily reaches over to her phone and grabs it.

"damn it...."

for the very first time in the school year, haerin purposefully turns her alarm off. she sits up, moves her legs off the edge of the bed, and with a 30 seconds rest, stands up and walks towards her closet.

she opens the door and walks in. she shudders as the air trapped in the closet was a little colder than the air in her bedroom. she lazily grabs a pair of gray sweatpants and an oversized nascar graphic tee.

after freshening up, changing, and grabbing her backpack, she stumbles downstairs to find her mom at the stove frying kimchi and eggs.

"smells good," is all haerin says before taking a seat at the table.

after turning the stove off, haerin's mom plates 2 portions and brings them over to the table.

"where's dad?"

"he's working already. i think he will be home early today though."

haerin nods as she begins to dig into her meal. the kimchi and the eggs create a flavor so wonderful haerin can't help but let out a little "mmm!"

upon finishing her meal and thanking her mom, haerin dismisses herself from the table, puts her socks and shoes on, and walks out the door towards her school.  she puts in her airpods and plays her only playlist on spotify, titled "songs". the cover is that one image of the cat with headphones on.

"from the window" by lamp starts playing. even though she doesn't understand japanese, she found the translation. the song reminds her of a "silly little crush" she has named danielle.

--

danielle wakes up after the 6th alarm and manages to turn her phone off while face down in her pillow.

"arrrgggghhhhhhhhhh......"

danielle turns over and looks at the time. 

7:15 am

"shit."

danielle hurriedly gets out of bed and puts on a plain shirt, an oversized zip-up and a pair of  straight jeans.

for some reason, this is the only day danielle actually wants to go to school.

she sprints downstairs, grabs her keys and airpods, and says bye to her mom hurriedly.

"bye mom! have to go! i'll just buy myself breakfast!"

before danielle's mom even has time to react, the door is already locked and danielle is out of the driveway.

"but i cooked your favorite..."

danielle connects her phone to her spotify car thing. after rummaging through her 600-something library of playlists, she clicks on her specially made "final day of junior year" playlist. she presses play. 

"metamodernity" by vansire starts playing at full blast. 

after initally covering her ears, danielle turns it down. the song reminds her of a special cat-eyed bookworm named haerin.

--

haerin walks into the front of her school and finds one of her only close friends, lee hyein. haerin befriended the taller underclassman when the two had to share a table at lunch when hyein was  before.

hyein was quick to notice haerin. when hyein saw her, her face immediately lit up. "hi haerinnie!!"

haerin smiled warmly and replied back "hi!"

the two decided to walk around the crowded school until it was time for class. they made small talk.

"rin, can you believe it is seriously the last day of school?"

"hyein... seriously, you've asked me this question for the last two years.."

"oh... well, i just want to know!!"

after haerin answered the question for the 2nd year in a row, hyein asked more common questions.

"ok... now who do you like? who are you crushing on? is it a boy?"

for some reason, haerin was compelled to answer the question.

"y-yeah... i like-"

just then, hyein's friends, seniors kim minji and hanni pham walked up.

"hey tall girl!! and hi haerin!"

hyein shushed the two. "shut the hell up!! rin's gonna tell me who she likes!!"

they both went quiet and waited for the answer.

"nevermind." she smiled and told hyein, "i'll tell you later... i just realized that now probably isn't the best time with all of these people around." haerin was uncomfortable with telling hanni and minji who she liked, because she only knew a little about them. 

crushed, hyein said, "okay, i guess you're right... there is a lot of people in this hallway.."

--

danielle quickly ran inside the school. right as she stepped foot into the main hall, the bell rung and the doors had to close.

"phew..."

iced coffee in hand, she started to walk towards her class. luckily, it was close by. halfway to her class, she met eyes with haerin, who had a textbook clutched to her chest. haerin immediately looked away when she realized she was holding eye contact with danielle.

no, god damnit... please look at me,  i love your eyes...

ok... i should just tell her.

but does she even like me back?

does she even like girls?

what if she likes girls but doesn't like me?

what if she only likes girls that are smart?

dani... make up your mind...

--

oh shit... did she realize..?  fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck... she did... haerin...  you're so fucking stupid... why did you look at her?? just go return the textbook...

wait. should i just tell her?

wait. does she even like girls?

wait. what if she likes girls, but doesn't like me?

what if she only likes girls that are good looking?

oh god haerin... what the fuck did you just do?

(note: dont bash my music taste pls lol but please give me songs i should listen to !! :) )