Youth Vol. 1 | Hwang Hyunjin

We're After Like Chapter 1

It's finally June. My last couple of weeks of going to school for free and in this country. Senior activities have started and my friend, Alma, won't stop talking about them. Maybe there's something in the air but these last few weeks have been the calmest I've been since my freshman year.

I walked through my school's front gates. On the other side, I see Alma staring down at her phone, her hair in her face from the breeze. "Good morning," I said too cheerfully for it being eight in the morning.

"Good morning," She said in a monotone voice. She slipped her phone into her back pocket as we started walking to our school's library that's on the other side of campus. "Last night my sister forced me to go on a run with her," Alma turned her head to look at me, causing her to almost bump into a pole. I pulled her to the side so she wouldn't. "And I feel like I'm going to die."

"You look like it too," I smiled at her.

Her mouth formed a perfect circle. "Rude," She slapped my arm.

I slapped her arm back. We made it to the library. We had to dodge people to make it to our friends. By this time of the year, many are cramming study sessions before and after school. Which is annoying but what can I do about it? My friends were sitting in this hole in the wall that was Harry Potter-themed. Nadia made this our permanent spot when she was the first one of us to show up at school on our first day. She sat at the end of the couch reading her book. Karina was coping Nadia's homework, she sat crisscrossed on the floor hunched over the low table. Emi (Emilio) was scrolling on his phone, next to Nadia on the couch leaving space for me and Alma in the middle. And Oliver sat on the couch chair, writing 'O + L' in a heart on the wall behind him. Nadia and Oliver looked up at Alma and me. "Good Morning," I said in the same cheerful tone.

"Good morning," They said back.

"Hey Yulisa, Alam," Emi finally looked up from his phone and at me. Alma and I took our seats between him and Nadia. "Kase is having a party on Friday, should we go?" He went back to looking at his phone.

I shift in my seat to face Emi. "Of course, we should," Alma said before I could. I saw Nadia's eyes peer over her book. Nadia didn't like parties much. "And Nadia," Alma turned to her left, "you have to come."

Nadia closed the book and placed it on her lap. "Fine," She reached down for her bag by her feet before standing up.

The first bell rang.

Nadia got up and stood in front of the table Karina was still hunched over. She pinched the top of her paper.

"No, no, no, wait," Karina wasn't letting go of Nadia's homework. "I'm not finished," Karina softened her eyes.

"The bell rang,"

I stood to the side as the others went to their class. Karina and I have first period together.

"You have six minutes," Karina was not letting go of the paper but Nadia did. She took out her phone and took a picture of the last two pictures she needed.

"Done," Karina shoved her paper and pencil into her backpack and shoved Nadia's paper in her face. "Sorry."

The bell rang again. Three more minutes until we're late.

"It's fine," Nadia started speed walking to her first class. Karina and I linked arms as we made our way over to our English class on the second floor of the Humanities building or B building. Thankfully the building is close to the library.

Our teacher stared at us as we sped walked down the hall. "Good morning," We both said, walking past him. He closed the door behind himself. The student teacher smiled at us as we took our seats. Karina's desk was next to our teacher's desk while mine was on the other side of the room. In the back corner. We quickly took out our Chromebooks and got started on the first thing on today's to-do list.