“What is it? Who are you waiting for?”
“Nothing, I just didn’t want to go to school alone, so I thought I’d go with you.”
He came over naturally to my side, whistling.
To match my stride.
Watching him walk slowly on his long legs,
it was hard to hold back my laughter.
I pressed my lips tight and stared into space.
As we went into school with Hwang Hyunjin like that,
the hallway stirred in an instant.
People’s mouths
were busy whispering to other people,
but their eyes stayed on us.
The fact that their fingers were pointing at us
I realized at once, but
I didn’t care at all.
Even if someone tried to stop the rumors,
it was obvious they’d just gossip behind our backs anyway.
Pushing past the people whispering, we went into the classroom.
The students in the class looked at us with wide eyes.
Thinking of the looks Hwang Hyunjin usually got,
I understood how uncomfortable it must have been.
But unlike me, Hwang Hyunjin was completely unconcerned
with people’s stares, which I secretly thought was impressive.
Anyone would get irritated if the people around them whispered about them
and spread talk behind their back,
but he stayed calm as if to show them.
As soon as we sat down, the front door opened and the homeroom teacher came in.
“Why is everyone so restless?”
He tapped the desk with the thick attendance book a few times,
then immediately started calling roll.
“Hwang Hyunjin.”
“Yes.”
The teacher looked over at us with surprised eyes.
“You’re early?”
Hwang Hyunjin lowered his head, pretending not to hear the teacher.
The first period was PE.
Because my ankle, which I’d hurt not long ago while playing badminton with a friend,
still hadn’t healed, I changed and told the teacher.
“Really? Then Taehee, go sit up there with Hyunjin and rest.”
I sat down on the steps leading up to the stage.
To Hwang Hyunjin, who slowly came over and sat next to me,
I cautiously started a conversation.
“Hey, why aren’t you doing PE? Are you hurt or something?”
“I have bad asthma, so I can’t get out of breath.”
“Liar. Since when do people with bad asthma smoke?”
Hwang Hyunjin just let out a small laugh and shrugged instead of answering.
I stared blankly at the volleyball flying all over the place.
By the time the backs of the kids playing dodgeball were gradually getting soaked with sweat,
a sharp whistle echoed through the gym.
At the whistle,sighs and cheers were heard at the same time.
the game resumed at once.
As the team holding the ball made the first attack,
one of the players on the opposite sidecaught the flying ball neatly.
Like before, the ball flew all over the place through the air.
One by one, players started getting out.
The team on the right still had nearly ten players left, but
the team on the left had only one person left.
As the game was almost over, the ball came flying fiercely toward me, and
at the same time, the sound of the whistle filled the gym.
