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“You’re moving back?”

“I am! You’ll get to see me next week!”

I was both excited and worried to see my best friend again. She’d moved away a few years ago because of her dad’s job, and I was scared that we wouldn’t feel as close as we’d been back then.

A face popped in my head. “Did you hear about the CEO’s son that’s going to our school?”

My friend sounded confused. “CEO’s son?”

“Yeah! I’m even in the same class as him. He’s always picking fights with this dude named Yuri. The guy even sits behind me. They almost got into another fight until the last of the Three Kings said something to make it stop.”

I told her about our high school and its infamous Three Kings.

No one knows who came up with the name, but we all remember the moment we first started seeing them as a group.

My second year had just started, and most of us were checking the class list to find where we had to go. Suddenly, screaming could be heard from the school’s front entrance. Three guys could be seen walking nearly side-by-side.

On the left was Kim Sora. He was the perfect gentleman. He could always be seen diffusing conflicts with a smile and livening up the mood anytime it’d turn sour. A lot of students were intimidated by his social status, but he made an active effort to try and make the student body feel comfortable around him. Several girls tried to confess to him, but he rejected them all, giving the excuse that he needed to focus on his studies. Of course, that didn’t stop the student body from fawning over him.

In the middle was Heo Yuri. Not much was known about him, but it’s that very mystique that attracts people to him. He was tall, handsome, and his hair looked professionally done, so some of us wondered if he was an idol trainee or something. He tends to wear a stoic expression, but someone told me that on his first day here, he was seen smiling wide until he laid eyes on Kim Sora for the first time. We still don’t know why, but a small cult following likes to imagine that he fell in love at first sight.

I personally think they hate each other’s guts, but I keep that thought to myself.

The last of the three was an unfamiliar freshman boy. The first thing that came to mind when looking at him was an innocent puppy. He had soft features and a smile that rumors say made a senior girl faint after seeing him for the first time. He reminded most people of a cute and small plum, though after hearing the rumors about him and what he does with the girls here, I thought of him more as a bottle of wine.

Sweet and intoxicating to some, but likely to leave you with a headache and regrets later.

Me? I don’t drink! I swear I thought it was grape juice!

With the way the student body was acting, you would’ve thought that royalty had arrived. That’s my guess for where their nickname the Three Kings came from.

Either way, I was happy my friend would be back in a week. She moved away four years ago, and we’d kept up with each other with over PINE messages the entire time.

As if on cue, she sounded dumbfounded after I told her all this information.

I tried giving her a verbal nudge. “If we’re in the same class, you might get to see one of Sora and Yuri’s famous feuds.”

However, she didn’t sound too excited. I forgot that she was the type of person to try and stop a conflict, even if she was helpless to do anything in the first place.

That’s just the kind of person my best friend is.

“Do you know why they fight like that?” There it is.

Her selfless nature was oozing out, just like it did back then.

“No one really knows.” I shivered at the thought of what happened to us in the past. I love her, but she has a bad habit of being too empathetic at times.

I heard her take a deep breath. Oh no. Here it comes. “Clover, you might not like this, but—”

“You shouldn’t involve yourself with their drama.” I cut her off mid-sentence.

“But you know how I get when I see someone feeling sad!” I could almost see her eyes pouting at me through the phone.

“I know. I know. It’s hard to talk about, so you’ll just have to see it when you get here.”

“Okay!” She was immediately cheered up at the mention of her being here again. We talked for another hour before hanging up.

She’d already said goodbye to the friends she made there, and she planned on staying in contact with them even after moving back. When she first moved away, she’d talk about how homesick she was. She claimed that she’d miss her old home, but I knew she was excited about coming back.

Putting my phone down, I looked up and stared at my ceiling. I couldn’t spot why I had such a bad feeling about next week. I glanced at the various sports awards displayed around my room, trying to distract myself from these negative thoughts.

I wouldn’t have even thought about doing sports if it hadn’t been for her. I shamed her for her meddling nature, but that very trait helped me grow as a person back then. She’ll be so shocked to see that I brought our high school to the basketball finals.

I giggled while thinking about how giddy she’ll be. Wow, Clover! I knew you could do it!

I don’t need to doubt her. She’s my best friend, and I trust her more than anyone else. I’m just overthinking things.

You don’t need to worry about anything. I told myself. This is Sarang we’re talking about. She’s nosy, yeah, but she wouldn’t do anything crazy.

Right?

Yuri

“And so next week, we’ll be getting a new student in our class. Be sure to treat her nicely when she arrives.”

It was the end of the day, and my entire homeroom was energetic after our teacher had given us news that someone new was joining our class. The guys hoped it was a cute girl while the girls were hoping it was a hot guy. I didn’t care either way, as long as they were a cool person to talk to.

After all, the only empty desk here was the one on my right.

As I started to grab my stuff and leave, I realized something important.

I had no idea what happened in the class before this.

I’d zoned out during this class because I hadn’t slept much the night before. I told myself one more episode, then the sun decided it wanted to catch up on Orphan Ninja with me.

I didn’t even notice my room was getting brighter and brighter!

Life would be so much easier if the sun could make a noise whenever it was about to come up, or if I could control that.

I suddenly remembered a certain someone turning his alarm off because it was distracting him from the show he was watching.

I wonder who did that?

Silently cursing the idiot who turned my alarm off, I frantically looked around for someone to borrow notes from. I didn’t necessarily ignore the people around me. I’m just someone who doesn’t seek out people to talk to. People come and talk to me instead. I had a few friends, but they were in other classes.

Mr. Top of the Class was only a few desks ahead of me, but I’d rather keep my soul than give it to the devil today. The girl sitting in front of me hadn’t left yet, so I approached her desk. Her eyes went wide at the sight of me, and I started feeling a little guilty.

Not too guilty though.

She was in the middle of packing her stuff when I made my way to the side of her desk. I’d gotten so used to seeing the back of her head that I’d almost forgotten what she looked like.

“Hey. You’re Reily, right? Did you take notes for history today?” She was frozen in place, unable to speak. I know what I said about “forgetting what she looked like,” but it’s honestly hard for me to forget someone like her.

Park Reily, also known as the only girl who had a better grade than me in gym class. She’d taken our school to the championships in basketball and was voted the MVP as a freshman last year. She also stood out as the only half-Korean girl in our class. Her features were distinctly Korean, but her tightly braided hair and naturally tanned skin only added to how foreign she sometimes felt to us. Despite that, I always see her laughing with friends.

I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I was a little jealous of how easily she seemed to make friends.

While I’d been lost in my own world, she’d pulled out her history notes. I took a few pictures of them with my phone, but I couldn’t help but notice her eyes on me. I tried to read the look on her face, but it was no dice.

Oh yeah! I can’t forget to be polite! That’s a thing people do.

I smiled and said, “Thanks. You really helped me out. I can’t really do jack, but if there’s something I can do to pay you back, just let me know.” I pulled out my phone to try and get her PINE info.

Reily blinked a few times before realizing what I meant. “Y-yeah! Sure! I’ll do that!”

“So you do have a voice.” My bad joke made me laugh, and that caught the attention of some of the students surrounding us. “If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought I was talking to myself.”

“T-that’s my bad!” She stuttered on the first word, making me laugh again. “Are you making fun of me or something?”

“Not at all!” I put my hands up in defense while holding back another laugh. It was then that I realized how useful this situation could be for me.

I’ll be so real with you.

My grade in history’s been killing me.

From what I heard, Reily wasn’t too much better than me, but talking to someone that’s passing the class is a lot better than just awkwardly failing it. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

I lowered my voice in lieu of the people looking at us. I forgot that people aren’t used to hearing me be myself when Haru isn’t here. “I don’t wanna talk about it here, so I’ll text you later tonight. Is that cool?”

She breathed out a near-silent yes as I left the classroom feeling great. Trust Fund Kid said something to me, but I was able to completely ignore it. On my way through the hallway, I admired her nice handwriting through the pictures I’d taken.

“He’s smiling!”

“I didn’t think I’d live to see the day!”

They were right. I really was happy.

I would’ve had to give up my computer if I failed another test, and I just found a study buddy I might have things in common with. I might’ve caught a friend and a good grade at the same time!

I’d walked a few blocks away from the school before realizing that Reily had some other nickname that everyone called her. It didn’t come to mind, so I just called her by her real name.

What was that nickname again?

Clover

What. Just. Happened.

Girls from both my class and other classes were surrounding me, but I was still processing everything.

I couldn’t hear their voices as I got out the classroom. Yuri’s words were still echoing in my head.

“Thanks. You really helped me out.”

I felt my face burning with embarrassment. I almost never blushed, and if I did, people could barely tell. Even then, my heart felt ready to just leave my chest and do backflips all over best. His smile was so hot! I must have saved the world in my past life or something to deserve this.

Thank you past me for saving the world!

People were looking at me more than usual, and I knew from experience that rumors were gonna spread about this. I didn’t want misunderstandings, but at the same time, was this a misunderstanding?

Yuri was the tall, silent guy. We all knew that. He doesn’t smile like that. He doesn’t joke like that, right? The guy I’d talked to—I tried my best, okay!?—was not the same person the rumors talked about and the girls gushed about.

If he acted like that more often, he’d be just as popular, no, even more popular than Sora. The guy who usually fell asleep in class ended up being the one to wake me up today.

Maybe I’ve played too much into the rumors. I know from experience that they’re not always the truth. I knew a few things about Yuri, but I didn’t know much about the real him.

This is my chance!

I’ll be one of the first girls to see what’s behind that façade of his. If I’m lucky, something might come out of it. He’s already sent me a funny sticker on PINE, so things are looking great already.

I can’t wait to tell Sarang about this!