The Ashes of Stars

Part 1/Chapter 1: Hyuna

 Regardless of my love for books, I had none. I eyed the pile warily and said "You do realize these books have to be on the booklist, right?" 

 Yerin waved a copy of Jane Eyre at my face. "Of course I do. I double-checked. Do you want me to triple-check?"

"It's fine." I picked up a moth-eaten old book from the pile and blew off the sheen of dust. "Woah, most of these look old. Nothing earlier than the 20th century."

"That's the deal with classics, isn't it?" Yerin made air quotes at the word 'classics', and rolled her eyes. "This whole damn booklist gives me depression."

"All books give you depression, sis." I said. "I've known you long enough to know that."

 We had known each other for approximately 11 years. We had met at day care when we had gotten into a huge hair-pulling fight over the rights to a barbie play house. After that we had quickly moved on the becoming best friends, and as far as I remember, there had never been a second in my life that didn't  include my bestie after that. We were inseparable. 

"This is stupid." Yerin said, shaking her head. "Stupid, I tell you. Being holed up in a freakin' library when there's much fun to have outside."

"Well it's either this or heatstroke." I glared at my report as if it had said something insulting. 

 Yerin leaned forward on her elbows. "Why are you having so much trouble writing this anyway?" she asked. "You've practically read the whole library. I was counting on you to give me some ideas."

 I twirled my pencil in my hand. "I don't remember every single book I've read. Wish I could though."

 Yerin stood up abruptly with a scrape of her chair. "I'm off to find me a decent book that looks less depressing than this lot. Back in a sec." She flounced away. 

 I turned back to my report. I was just about to jot down a sentence when my phone gave a sudden cry like a siren. I slapped my hand over it instinctively, a whimper escaping my lips. The girl with silver earrings shot me an evil look. 

"Sorry, sorry." I checked the caller ID and frowned when I saw MOM flashing on the screen. Was there something wrong? 

  I stood up as quietly as possible and rushed out of the library doors. 

 There were only ever two reasons my mom ever called me;  one was to tell me to drop by the store and grab a six-pack of diet coke, and the other was to randomly warn me of the stray child-abducters and pedophiles lurking in the dark corners of Seoul. Why she would be worried about that in the outskirts of one of the most boring parts of the city was a mystery to me, but I assumed she had her reasons. 

  A dry blast of hot air hit my face as I opened the glass library door. I caught my breath and sat down at the bottom of the marble steps, which felt like sitting on an open oven. I suddenly had a very realistic image of my ass smoking under my jeans, baked by the heated stone. Stupid global warming. 

I accepted the call and raise the phone to my ear. "Hey mom."

"Hyuna, where are you?" She was in the office. Her voice was hushed, and I could hear the faint clicking noise of keyboards. 

 I shifted around in my seat. "I'm at the library, why?"

"With who? Yerin?"

"Bingo."

"I thought you were meeting Eunbi today."

"That was yesterday, mom."

"You do realize you've spent more time with Yerin than you did with me this summer? Your own loving mother, whose name was the first word that came out of your infantile mouth?"