under the same sky | chaekura

Sakura: asleep

"Thanks," Chaeyeon blurts out beside me. "For listening to me just now. And also, sorr-"
"Don't apologize, omg," I say, patting her head as we take the next turn toward the dorms. "You deserve to be heard." I smile. It's different seeing her like this because I'm used to seeing her trying to make other people happy and comfortable. It's like the roles have been reversed but I'm glad I had it in me to talk to her and I'm especially glad she's already opened up to me even if we'd only just met yesterday. I press the elevator button.
"Saku-" I look at her and she smiles. "Saku-chan." I smile. "The rest don't know about this yet. I'd rather tell them on my own time, if that's okay."
"Of course. I guessed so too." We enter the room.
"FINALLY! You're here, let's go!" Wonyoung screams, jumping down from our bunk. "You took such a long time omg, we're starving!"
"You joined Chaeyeon?" Eunbi asks, getting down from her bunk. "That's new. I thought Chaeyeon likes her solitude when she's dancing."
"Well, Sakura invited herself," Chaeyeon says smiling as she gets her wallet.
"I did not! You invited me to come!"
"Well, let's get to dinner." Eunbi interlocks her arms with mine and we knock on everyone else's doors and proceed to the canteen together.

"Oh my gosh guys!" Yujin and Wonyoung sit down opposite me, slamming their trays down. What's with everyone here and slamming their food on the table?
"What's up?" I ask.
"This," Wonyoung waves a flyer in my face headlined 'The Battle of the Bands'.
"What about it?"
"It's this annual competition hosted by Knet. You form groups and then compete with other groups in a competition over a period of 4 months," Eunbi says, taking the seat beside me. Chaeyeon sits down opposite Eunbi.
"The winning group gets signed by an entertainment company and a chance to debut and promote for a year. But I heard LIGHT is joining again this year," Yuri says.
"Who's LIGHT?" Nako asks.
"LIGHT is a 7-member girl group who won last year's competition. I don't know why they're joining again this year," Chaewon chimes in.
"Probably because they're looking to extend their year of promotions. Knet did give them a lot of good publicity last year. They almost won Rookie of the Year," says Yuri.
"Did you guys join last year?" Hitomi asks.
"No, we had just met each other when we found out about the competition. We couldn't prepare in time," Minjoo says.
"But we could try now, couldn't we?" Yujin asks.
"Isn't it too big of a risk?" Eunbi starts. "We just got new members and other groups have been preparing ever since last year's competition ended. If we lose, the principal might close down our course. She almost stopped the course last year because we weren't getting anywhere and so little people signed up."
"If we join, won't that show her we're willing to prove something?" I ask. Eunbi smiles at me. I smile back. "We can work on it together. I mean, we have talented people in our class." I look at Chaeyeon who's still looking down at her food. She hasn't said a word after leaving the dorm.
"I like where you're headed," Eunbi says. I turn to Eunbi. "Let's work on it. Together." Chaeyeon suddenly gets up from her seat, catching all of our attention, as she leaves the table and returns her tray, leaving the canteen.
"Is she okay?" Chaewon asks. Before I could reply, Minjoo suddenly gets up from her seat.
"I'll go after her. Return my tray, would you? Thanks guys." She runs out of the canteen. I catch myself, frustrated. Why did I hesitate? I thought she was okay. I thought she told me everything that was bothering her today? Could there have been more? Is she going to tell Minjoo what she told me. We head back to the dorm and I wait for Chaeyeon to come into the room. She didn't come by curfew and Yujin coming into the room looking for Minjoo says she hasn't come back either. So I fall asleep first, hoping not to wake up to an empty bed beside me.

I'm both happy and sad to see Chaeyeon fast asleep in yesterday's dance clothes. I quickly get changed and head out, skipping the cafe, straight to the homeroom. I was right. Everyone from room 421 is already here. Minjoo sees me and gets up, walking out of the doorway, pulling me along with her. "You haven't eaten breakfast yet." She briskwalks to the cafe and I have a hard time catching up. She grabs me a sandwich and sits down opposite me. Silence.
"Did she tell you what was bothering her?"
"Partly. It took her a lot of time. I convinced her to tell me because it's bad to keep everything to herself. She says she told you the first half of the story already. But I don't think she'd be able to repeat the second half. It took a lot from her." She's being hesitant. "Her old friend," she starts. "She's in LIGHT." I suddenly look up at Minjoo. "All the talk yesterday about Battle of the Bands made her think about everything. I think she's scared of seeing her again. Her name's Hyemin by the way. But she really wants to join the competition. She said something about proving to herself that she's worth it. I thought it was good for her." I nod, remembering the talk we had yesterday. Minjoo still hasn't met my eye since we left the homeroom.
"Is that all she's worried about?"
"Yeah," she quickly says, getting up. "Let's head back before she gets here."

We enter the room to find Jeongmin sitting at the teacher's table, playing the same game he was playing yesterday. I caught a glimpse and realized how bad he is at the game. "Hey," he utters, not taking his eyes off the game. "Let's wait for the rest to come. Or until I die. Whichever comes first." He dies first. Chaeyeon sits beside me, quiet and looking very tired. I catch a glimpse of her face before she rests it down on the table. Her eyes are swollen and still red. "So. If you haven't guessed by now, I'm your new homeroom teacher." Eunbi passes him the red chest with all our phones. "And first order of business is the Battle of the Bands everyone has been talking about."
"We're planning on joining," Yujin hurriedly says. "We really want to." The rest of us nod.
"That's okay, I wasn't going to stop any of you. In fact, I came here to convince you but it seems like you guys don't need any convincing. I talked to Ms. Kim this morning and we're both willing to put aside time to give you extra practice and train you for the competition. We have a whole term to prepare for it, if that's alright with you?" We all agree enthusiastically to the idea. "That's great! Now someone wake up Chaeyeon and head to class. I'll see you guys right after lunch." He leaves the homeroom right as the bell rings. I stand up and pat Chaeyeon's head lightly.
"Hey, you," she looks up at me with her swollen eyes. I try my best to keep smiling, but I'm still upset about yesterday. "Let's go." She stands up, gets her bag and the three of us walk to class.

"Gosh," Chaewon says. "I really think you should go rest. You look sick." Chaeyeon's head is back down on the table; she didn't queue up to grab lunch today.
"I'm ok-"
"You're not." Chaeyeon looks at me, confused. "You're not okay." I get up and pull Chaeyeon up with me. "Hyewon, you can have the rest." I push my tray towards Hyewon and drag Chaeyeon back to our dorm.
"You didn't have to-"
"Shhhh. Save your energy. What time did you get back yesterday?" I ask, laying her down on her bed.
"Midnight but I couldn't sleep until 2." I turn off the lights and shut the curtains.
"You're running a fever," I say, grabbing my face towel. I walk to the sink to wet the towel. "It's because you didn't change last night. Air-condition and sweat is a big no no. My mum would have screamed at you." I wipe her forehead with the towel before placing it on her head, tucking her in. "Sleep." I start to walk away to catch the class but she stops me, holding my hand.
"Can you stay, please?" I look at her. Her eyes are closed and it looks like she's already asleep. Still, I hesitate before lying down beside her. Her bed fits the two of us comfortably because we're both quite skinny. I put my hands on my stomach, waiting for her to fall asleep.

"Hey," Eunbi wakes me up and I get up so suddenly I almost wake Chaeyeon up, who shifts to face the other direction. If I remember correctly, I was getting ready to leave once Chaeyeon was finally asleep, before-. I must have fallen asleep after that.
"Did I miss everything?" I ask, stretching.
"Yeap!" Wonyoung says, sitting on my bed. "Lucky. Class was boring today. Especially Musical Theory. But we had a lot of fun during Jeongmin's class."
"It's okay," Eunbi adds on, half-smiling. "I'll fill you in later." She offers me a hand and I take it and get up. "Let's go get dinner."
"How about Chaeyeon?"
"She needs her rest." Eunbi pulls me out the door. "Let's just get her a sandwich later." Wonyoung follows us and we head out.