magnolia - daerin

2

may 28, 2024, last day of school

haerin quickly went to return her textbook at the library and sat down in her first class. they went through all of the formalities of the final school day.

the teacher thanking the class for a "good" year even though the class knows that they were one of the worst,

the occasional senior coming in to say goodbye to their old teachers and friends,

the exchange of phone numbers, instagrams, twitters, emails even, between newly-made friends that looked to have fun in the summer,

and finally, just a bunch of sitting around, talking, and waiting for the day to finish.

haerin put her airpods in and played a random youtube video documentary that seemed half interesting. she laid the right side of her head on the cold table and began to watch.

her eyes slowly started to close as the narrator reached the sponsor.

the last thing she remembered before dozing off was "thank you to nordvpn for sponsoring this video... and let's get back into it."

--

the bell rung and danielle  got up from her seat and started to head to her next class which was literally next door. she walked in and found haerin asleep in her seat.

danielle tapped haerin. "hey... it's time to go to the next class."

after a second, haerin looked up and locked eyes with danielle. she then immediately diverted her eyes. 

haerin thanked danielle. "oh. thank you." haerin had already gotten up from her chair and was walking out of the door when danielle said,

"wait. can i tell you something?"

haerin turned around.

"uh-uhm... thank you for letting me cheat off you in 3rd period this year..." danielle smiled.

haerin replied, "oh. you're welcome," and smiled back.

"is- is that all?" haerin asked. 

"yes..." danielle replied, looking down

"oh. okay. you're welcome then." haerin smiled again, turned back around, and started walking to her next class upstairs.

danielle cursed. 

"fuck!"

why didn't i just tell her then?

--

haerin walked up the stairs.

should i just have told her while i had the chance..?

she walked into 2nd period, phone in hand, with the same video loaded. she expected to fall asleep, but she actually managed to stay awake and watched the entirety of the video documentary. the documentary ended as the bell rung. she got up and started to go downstairs for 3rd period, the only period that she shared with danielle.

 --

danielle got out of her chair and started to walk to her next class, the one she shares with haerin. by then, she had already made up her mind. she was going to tell haerin about her feelings. she didn't know what to expect.