The Sun and The Moon (SatoGou)

Chapter 3

The common room is packed during break, since it's starting to become too cold to spend it outside. Chloe and I are sharing a seat designed for one person in the corner of the room, both doing homework that's not due for days. I'm distracted, though, by Ash and Dawn across the room. Neither of them have given me any indication that they saw what happened in the cafe yesterday, but then again, why would they? I'm insignificant to them.

Dawn is standing in front of the sofa the others are sitting on, wearing a mini skirt, her hair loose and flowing down her back. She seems to be doing some sort of dance routine that I've seen floating around on TikTok.

"Ash," she says, in the middle of practising one of the moves. "We need to learn this so I can post it later."

"I'm not doing that dance with you," he grumbles. Surprisingly, he seems to be... studying? Dawn pouts, spinning around halfway, shaking her hips. Beside him on the sofa, Gary ogles her shamelessly. Doesn't he care that his friend is checking out his girlfriend like that? Or is he too dense to notice?

"I'll dance with you," Gary says. Ash looks up, fuming, like he's about to say something, when they're all silenced by a girl approaching. She's younger, but not by much, and pretty. Very pretty. Transfixed, I watch as she stops in front of Ash, fidgeting nervously. Dawn stops too, going very still.

"Hi," the girl says directly to Ash, who has a cautious look on his face. "I was wondering if I could give you my number?"

It's hard not to roll my eyes. I can't even imagine what it must be like to have people randomly approaching you like that. It must be so easy for people like Ash to find love, with all of these people throwing themselves at him. Then there's me, who can't even keep a single person by my side.

"Back off," Dawn warns, stepping around the girl. It's strange that Ash and Dawn are so clearly in a relationship, yet neither of them seem to have confirmed it, and neither of them are particularly affectionate with the other in public. The other girl shrinks back as Dawn, despite being smaller, manages to be intimidating.

"Sorry," Ash says sheepishly. "Taken."

My eyebrows shoot up. Was that confirmation? And why do I give a fuck? The girl hurries away from Dawn's burning gaze, and I turn to Chloe, only to see she's watching too, with a deep frown on her face. Oh, right. She must have heard that too. "Maybe we should learn that dance and post it on TikTok too," I joke, which seems to snap her out of it.

"We both know you'd outshine me in every way," she jokes back. "I can't compete with your moves."

"I can't believe she actually posts videos on there."

"They're actually pretty good," Chloe admits.

"How do you know?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She's always told me that she would never download that cursed app. She seems to realise this, and drops her eyes, clearing her throat.

"Oh, um, I just saw them around somewhere."

"Liar." I poke at her. "You've been stalking her account."

Chloe swats my hand away. "Ugh. Fine. I may have had a look. I was just curious."

I open my mouth to poke fun at her, when I'm cut off. "Goh?"

I look to my left, and see Ash is standing over us, smiling. Chloe goes very still, like all of her muscles have locked up at once. I blink up at him, and around the room, everyone seems to do the same. "Hey," I say casually, wondering why he's actually talking to me in public.

"I was wondering if you're free tonight," he says. The way he says it makes the skin of my face instantly burn, and I look around, knowing a bunch of other people just heard that too. Isn't he embarrassed to be seen talking to me, never mind seemingly asking me to hang out? I know it's just for tutoring, but they don't.