Hye-jin turned around to see Leo, bundled up in a thick black winter coat and a gray scarf. His expression was as surprised as hers must have been.

“Oh,” she said, “It’s you.”

Leo made a face.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” he said, “You nearly made me shit myself.”

He swore even more violently to punctuate his statement.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

He turned around and walked into the changing area, settling down on one of the benches where he’d left his bag and his lunch behind.

“I saw the lights,” said Hye-jin.

Leo cursed again.

“Can’t be in here without them,” he said, “Or it’ll be pitch-black.”

Hye-jin nodded and sat down on a bench across from him.

“What about you?” she asked.

Leo shrugged.

“It’s cold outside,” he said.

Hye-jin raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“We have a dining hall,” she said, “And a campus coffee shop. And you have a dorm room.”

Leo shrugged again.

“This is nicer,” he said.

Despite them not being used since mid-November, the changing quarters still smelled like old socks. Hye-jin was not convinced. Her face must have said so because Leo rolled his eyes and elaborated.

“Didn’t want to run into Lucas and his disciples or,” he said with contempt, “The two-headed monster Willia.”

Hye-jin wanted to laugh but the feeling of Amalia’s shaking shoulder hadn’t yet left her fingertips.

“No,” said Leo, as if he was reluctantly pulling himself out of his own bitterness. “I actually just needed a minute.”

It was just as cold in the changing room as it was outside and Leo rubbed his bare hands together to create some warmth. Hye-jin had once watched a documentary of someone whose toes had fallen off after he’d slept on a mountain in freezing temperatures. Maybe the same would happen to her fingers and she’d forget the feeling of a jackhammering heartbeat beneath them.

“Me too,” she said.

Leo nodded and stretched his long legs out so far they almost reached her. He’d always been the tallest one in their group, but had filled out a lot since last year. When they’d first met he’d had a gangly quality to him, something awkward and endearing. Now, he looked like a grown-up.

“Will told me you hang out with him and Amalia at lunch now,” he said.

Hye-jin’s brow furrowed.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“He wanted me to come too,” said Leo, “That’s why he told me.”

Leo bit into a slice of pizza, which confused Hye-jin, who wasn’t sure where he’d gotten it from.

“You want some?” he said while chewing.

He held out the box to her and she grabbed a slice.

“Thanks,” she said and bit into it.

He waved her off as if to say ‘don’t mention it’.

“I hung out with them today,” said Hye-jin. When Leo looked confused, she clarified: “Will and Amalia.”

Leo made a noise to confirm his comprehension and stuffed the entire pizza crust into his mouth.

“Amalia had an anxiety attack,” said Hye-jin, “I think. Or a panic attack. I still don’t know which is which.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed and his chewing sped up as he was gearing up to say something.

“That sucks,” he said, his mouth still filled with food though that didn’t diminish the sincerity in his voice.

Hye-jin nodded.

“Will was a bit late, but he’s taking care of her,” she said.

Leo looked at her in that way he sometimes did — probing, testing, searching for something though nobody ever seemed to know what he was looking for. Hye-jin dropped her eyes, unwilling to stand up to scrutiny.

“You left,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Hye-jin’s eyes snapped up to meet his. Her anger was met with a look she couldn’t explain, though she was sure it wasn’t approval.

“Will had it under control,” she said.

Leo leaned back and sighed.

“Stop it,” said Hye-jin, “Stop with that— that look of yours.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“You know what look,” she said, “Don’t give me that ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ crap. They didn’t— They had it under control.”

She bit into her pizza angrily and swallowed a chunk of it without chewing. Leo offered her his can of energy drink. She gulped down enough to help the chunk go down and handed it back before wiping her mouth on her hand.

“Don’t take it personally,” he said, “They’re not trying to hurt you by not needing your help.”

Hye-jin felt something burn in her chest and blamed it on the carbonated energy drink.

“Don’t lecture me,” she said, “It’s not about that.”

Leo took a sip out of the can.

“What is it about?” he asked.

Hye-jin looked down at her old black boots. They were dark and wet where the snow had covered them before. She took another bite of pizza.

“It’s about— I hung out with Scarlet and Lucas last week and on Monday,” she said.

“My condolences,” said Leo.

His smile looked oddly genuine.

“Thank you,” she said, with feeling. “Lucas introduced Scarlet and me to the twelfth-graders and it turns out they’re the worst.”

Leo laughed.

“Thanks,” he said.

Hye-jin glared at him.

“I don’t see you hanging out with them,” she said.

“Oh no,” he said, “I agree with you. We suck. They suck. Whatever, go on.”

Hye-jin took a second to find her train of thought before she continued.

“Scarlet and Lucas — They didn’t even look at me,” said Hye-jin, “The whole time, they didn’t check in with me or talk to me or anything.”

Leo snorted.

“They only looked at each other?” he asked.

Hye-jin slapped the bench beside her.

“Yes!” she said, almost shouting. “Or— or the stupid twelfth-graders, whom I know Scarlet doesn’t even like that much.”

She swallowed and felt angry tears prick her eyes.

“And Will and Amalia are—” She stopped in her tracks and glared at the ground.

Leo didn’t say anything but Hye-jin felt his eyes on her. She didn’t know whether he was dissecting her or judging her or doing something else she couldn’t think of at that point, but she didn’t mind it as much as she had before.

“Why do they even need new friends?” she asked, far more quietly than before.

She looked up at Leo, who shook his head. He breathed in slowly.

“Why do— Why do things have to change?” asked Hye-jin, “They were fine before.”

Leo’s eyes were boring through her now, full of emotion themselves. It was strange — Leo had started to look like a man, but his face sometimes still looked like a kid’s. He swallowed and looked down. This time, Hye-jin was the one who stared at him.

“Where were you?” she asked. She didn’t like how defeated she sounded. How desperate.

A smile tugged at his lips but it didn’t fully take hold and it never reached his eyes.

“I needed a minute,” he said, meeting her eyes again.

There was a look of mutual understanding between them. Leo took another deep breath, then got up and sat next to her. Hye-jin’s stomach growled and Leo passed her the pizza with a quiet laugh. They sat in silence for a little while.

“I was really pissed at first,” he said, “I thought after what happened last year—”

He cut off and Hye-jin, who had half-finished another slice of pizza stopped in her tracks. Leo rarely talked about last year.

“I was pretty convinced my purpose was to be there for them,” he said, “But they didn’t seem to want me to be.”

Hye-jin thought back to when Scarlet had announced her resolution to the group and to Leo’s less than thrilled reaction. She thought back to last year and something turned in her stomach. Leo rubbed his forehead and took a sip of the energy drink. Up close, Hye-jin thought he looked exhausted.

“I don’t think you have to worry,” he said, “I have good reason to believe this is just a phase and everything will go back to normal soon.”

Hye-jin leaned against him and rested her head just below his shoulder. She had finished almost all of his pizza.

A few minutes later, they stepped out of the changing quarters and into the snow. Leo locked up behind them and refused to tell Hye-jin where he’d gotten the key regardless of how often she asked. They trudged through the snow and parted ways to head to their respective classrooms. Hye-jin slid into her spot between Scarlet and Amalia in Chemistry fifteen minutes after the bell rang.

It took a little less than a week for Leo’s prediction to come true. Following the incident on Wednesday, Amalia had to rethink her schedule and the pressure she put on herself to fulfill it. She still supported Will in sticking to it, which he continued to do until the following Monday when it landed him in detention. Will had mistakenly written down his History homework in his idea notebook instead of his planner because he was in a hurry to get to tutoring. When he showed up on Monday without the essay he’d been assigned, the notoriously strict Mr. Olson gave him after-school detention in which he had to make it up. Will, who feared detention like others feared death, was shaken by the experience and decided to trim his schedule down.

Scarlet returned to them on Tuesday, stating that hanging out with the same twelfth-graders every day didn’t fulfill her resolution to make a new friend every day. Considering she didn’t begin trying to meet new people again, Hye-jin thought it was safe to say Scarlet had had enough of meeting new people and had perhaps decided that the old ones were good enough. Lucas, who had failed to come up with a resolution for himself, had followed her back like a loyal puppy.