Younghyun went and sat down next to Jae at the lunch table. Jae was telling some story to Isabella who was half listening to him and nodding along. Isabella suddenly looked up and looked across the room. Jae paused and looked in the same direction to see what Isabella was getting worked up about.
"Be right back." Isabella grabbed something from inside her bag and dashed across the cafeteria. Jae sighed and put his face on the table.
"What's wrong?" Younghyun asked as his eyes followed Isabella as she handed some kind of envelope to a boy. The boy smiled at her widely as Isabella talked to him.
"I'm making it pretty obvious but she still goes over to Wonpil whenever she has the chance. This is the third time today that she's ran over to him about something." Jae said, his voice muffled by the table he was leaning his head against. Younghyun gave his friend a sad smile and looked over to Isabella again. His eyes wandered over to the table nearby where Emily was sitting by herself. Confused, he turned to Jae.
"Is Dowoon not here today?" Jae looked up and glanced at Emily's table.
"I guess not. You should invite her to sit with us." Jae said and then put his head back on the tabletop. Younghyun took a deep breath and got up from the table. He walked over to Emily, who was on her phone listening to music. She noticed him walking up to her and pulled out one ear bud.
"Hey, sitting alone?" Younghyun asked awkwardly. Emily nodded.
"Yeah, Dowoon has to do some test or something so, here I am alone." Emily looked back down at her phone, assuming Younghyun was going to walk away. Younghyun cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. Emily looked back up at him expectantly.
"Do you wanna come sit with me?" Emily raises her eyebrows at Younghyun. "A-and Jae! He's sitting over there." Jae's head was still laying on the table. Emily laughed a little at Jae's position.
"I don't know..." Emily said. Dowoon was supposed to be coming in the middle of lunch time and she didn't want to make him sit where he didn't have a say.
"Come on, Emily. It's not like you have any other people to sit with." Younghyun shut his mouth quickly when he realized how rude that sounded coming out. "I didn't mean-"
"I can make my own friends thank you very much. I'm not a charity case." Emily said sharply. Younghyun flinched as she threw these words in his face.
"You know I didn't mean it like that." Younghyun tried to recover as Emily started to gather her things to leave the lunchroom.
"Then what did you mean? Hm?" Emily waited for Younghyun to say something. He stayed quiet. "Because...because to me it sounds a lot like you still think I'm some loser who needs your help. And I guess in some way I still am the same loser from eighth grade, but oh my god, I don't need your help!"
"You can't still be thinking about something I said when I was 13 Emily. We're seniors now. It's different."
"Yeah, it's a whole lot different. I still only have one friend and everyone falls at your feet for the chance to talk to you." Emily swallowed her tears. "But sure, yeah. It's different" Dowoon was walking up to the lunch table with a smile. Emily picked up her bags and started walking towards him. Younghyun followed sheepishly. Emily murmured something about the chorus room and rushed off while Dowoon stood there confused.
"Man, listen, I didn't mean-" Dowoon gave Younghyun a look of disgust.
"Can you just not be an asshole for once?" Younghyun stayed quiet. "Just leave her alone okay?" Dowoon turned and followed Emily to the chorus room. Younghyun walked back to Jae, who had seen the entire final exchange.
"You okay?" Jae said quietly to Younghyun who just shrugged. Now it was Younghyun's turn to slam his face on the table.
"Why am I such an idiot?"
"Emily please don't cry." Dowoon was holding Emily in his arms while she kept crying. He looked towards the chorus teacher who just handed him another tissue and went back to her work. Emily took the tissue from Dowoon's hands and wiped her face.
"I just wish he didn't treat me like I'm incapable of doing anything for myself." Emily said quietly. "And I know he's a nice guy..."
"If he makes you cry this much, I don't think he's that much of a nice guy." Dowoon said under his breath. Emily rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, he is kind of a jerk. I don't know why I still like him." Emily blew her nose and tried to get herself under control. There was a knock on the door and Isabella walked in.
"Hi Mrs. Post." Isabella gave a wave to Emily and Dowoon who were still leaning on each other on the couch.
"Did you give Wonpil the cast list?" Mrs. Post asked and Isabella nodded.
"Yeah, I found him in the lunch room and gave him it. I swear I didn't peek!"
"Cast list?" Emily asked.
"Mmhm. Wonpil is going to be the stage manager, so he's making the powerpoint to show everyone who they are casted as." Isabella explained quickly. Dowoon stared at her as she talked as if in a daze.
"Isn't the reveal this afternoon?" Emily said teasingly towards Mrs. Post.
"Well...I was kind of busy and totally forgot to make the reveal powerpoint." Mrs. Post said with a sheepish smile. The bell rang, meaning lunch was over. Jae walked into the chorus room and waved to the two on the couch and to Mrs.Post.
"Hey, Isabella. We gotta get to class or Hunt is going to chew us out." Jae said while walking up to her. Isabella rolled her eyes.
"I know, I know. See y'all later!" She waved bye to everyone and walked with Jae out of the classroom. Younghyun was waiting outside, too awkward to go in.
"So?" Younghyun asked Isabella as they walked to their next class.
"Well, she looked like she was crying." Isabella said with a sigh. Younghyun groaned.
"Hey, come on. It'll be okay. Just don't be an ass next time you talk to her." Jae said with a small shove.
"Come on Jae, be a little realistic." Isabella teased as well.
"Remind me why I still talk to you two?" Younghyun said while the other two laughed at him.
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No idea why this took a month to update but here I am ! I'll try to be more consistent. School is just kicking my butt.
~Karles
