Some girls do

Chapter 28: Kazuha

I don't know what Monday is going to bring.

I half expect Chaewon to be waiting to drive me to school when I get out of the shower, and I half expect her to just never talk to me again. Neither is quite accurate, it turns out—the truth is somewhere in the middle.

She smiles at me in the halls instead of scowling and even says hi as she passes me on her way to gym. I catch her friend Karina staring at me more than once during the day. Did Chaewon tell her about us? Is there an "us"? But when I smile at Karina, she doesn't react, so I decide it's all in my head.

When it's finally, finally time for Government, I'm practically bursting from nerves and anticipation. I get to sit next to her, with a totally discreet and socially acceptable cover . . . or I would have, if Wonyoung and Yujin hadn't grabbed me as soon as I walked in.

"Oh, I was going to . . ." I say, gesturing to the other side of the room, but their exaggerated sad faces have me taking my old seat.

Chaewon walks in a few minutes later, and I swear she looks a little hurt, or at least as disappointed as I am, when she sees where I'm sitting. I gesture toward my friends like, What can you do? and hope she understands. At least this way, we're directly across from each other, which should make it easier to watch her in class without getting busted. Which I pretty much do the entire period.

There are a lot of things I never noticed about her. Like the way she chews her pen, which usually I find super annoying but suddenly find kind of endearing. Or the way she scrunches up her forehead when she's taking notes. Or the way she bites her lip and looks up at me through her eyelashes every time she catches me watch—

"You're staring," Yujin whispers into my ear, startling me enough to send my pen spiraling out into the middle of the floor. Chaewon smirks and puts the tip of her pen cap between her teeth, one eyebrow raised, both her eyes on the paper in front of her. I drop my head down so fast it thuds against the desk.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Nakamura?" Mrs. Bae asks.

"No," I mumble, rubbing my forehead.

"In that case, is there anything you'd like to share with the class?" I vigorously shake my head. Chaewon laughs, and Yujin hands me another pen with a confused glance.

I bolt the second the bell rings, lost somewhere in the confusing middle ground between turned on and mortified. I sprint to my next class, slipping into my seat and taking a minute to regroup before the rest of the class gets there. My phone vibrates, and I pull it out. It's from Chaewon . . . a single smirk emoji and nothing else.

I drop my head and stifle a groan before pulling out my precalc book.

The rest of the day slips back into normalcy, for which I am at least temporarily grateful. Besides an occasional head nod or smile in the hallway, nothing is noticeably different.

It's only when I'm in the locker room before track, pulling on my rainbow glitter CLOSETS ARE FOR CLOTHES tank top, that I start to worry yet again that this last weekend was just a one-off. What if we've peaked at smirking-across-the-classroom friends who occasionally kiss?

"Hurry," Wonyoung whines, tapping her foot by the door. "I don't want to be late again and get stuck doing push-ups."

I open my mouth to say I'm coming, but then I see it—or her, actually. Chaewon, peeking out at me from the showers in the back of the locker room. No one uses them here. I don't even know if they work. She holds her finger to her lips with a smile and then disappears.

I look at Wonyoung. "Go ahead. I gotta screw in my spikes still."

"Oh my god." She sighs. "You're a disaster."