𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍, ʰʷᵃⁿᵍ ʰʸᵘⁿʲⁱⁿ

TWENTY THREE, not a fighter

hyunjin's hair falls to his eyebrows, falling a few centimeters from his eyes. his wide smile is cute and his arms are wrapped around me. i look as stupid as he does. braces still line my teeth, thick wires and shiny brackets moving my teeth closer together.

i, too, have bangs falling just above my eyes and a thick white headband falling behind them.

the two of us stand outside our school. it was the last day of middle school before we moved up to the high school.

i think at that point i was starting to realize how i felt about the boy. i didn't know what it was yet or how bad it would get but i was starting to take notice of everything he did and the way it all made me feel.

"what are you thinking about" penny's voice scares the living daylights out of me. it's the only sound besides the faint mario kart soundtrack playing from my television. i didn't realize they had stopped talking.

my own thoughts kept my head clouded as the two stopped their bickering. i didn't even notice.

"how weird it is to be home" i respond to penny. "you've only been away for a year though" yeonjun says, his head falling to the side like a dog.

"yeah, but-" penny cuts me off before i can even finish. "it's weird when you're suddenly back in the place you left. even if it's for only a year, that's a whole 365 days that you haven't been in that place. feelings come back, memories arise, too many things can happen" penny says and i nod.

"and i've been here for almost a month now, but, everything still feels weird. it still doesn't feel right" i sigh, laying back down on the bed.

"something happened at the graduation today didnt it?" penny asks me, flopping down next to my body. "something happened at the graduation today?" yeonjun perks up, looking over at both penny and i.

"no," i respond. i'm not entirely lying. something did happen at the graduation but the thing i'm thinking about definitely did not happen there. it was a mere twenty five minutes ago outside of the house.

"you're lying," penny sits up straight, looking at me directly in my eyes, "what happened?"

"who says i'm lying?" i raise one of my eyebrows towards my best friend. "because i can tell, illi. something definitely happened. now was it good or bad?" penny raises an eyebrow back at me.

"do i need to beat someone up?" yeonjun asks and i furrow my eyebrows. "why is that your response to everything lately?" i softly chuckle. "i just wanna protect you, you're one of my best friends and favorite humans" yeonjun's arms cross over his chest and i shake my head.

"have you ever won a fight actually?" penny turns around to look at yeonjun before i can speak. the man squints his eyes towards her. "yes, henry cook, junior year of high school. outside of the mcdonald's that was between our schools" he says back to her.

penny's head shakes immediately.

"you're literally wrong" she says and i turn away as i try not to laugh. "how am i wrong?" yeonjun's voice raises a few octaves, cracking slightly when he does so.

he's definitely lying.

"one, that was a dead giveaway. two, i remember watching you try to swing on henry cook and then him beating your ass. you had a huge black eye and busted cheek for a good week" penny shakes her head.