FBB2012: Entry #1 [1/3]
-
Life progressed as it did and Krystal started seeing Luna more: well, perhaps not seeing, but noticing. The thing that came with starting to know someone was that you began to see them everywhere and wondered why you hadn’t noticed them before.
It was high school, though, and so Krystal was usually with her boyfriend and she and Luna saw each other and smiled. Well, unless she was with her other friends too, Amber and that-other-one, because then Amber and that-other-one would often poke Luna or something and Luna would blush and glare at them.
Krystal thought it was kind of endearing.
On their way to English, which was required for all students to take as a second language, after waving hello to Luna, Sulli asked her, “Who was that?”
“Oh, my friend,” said Krystal. “Remember the awkward girl who came up to me at lunch that one time?”
“Oh, right,” said Sulli. “That was her?”
“I didn’t know you became friends with her,” remarked Krystal’s boyfriend.
Krystal shrugged, still with his arms around her. “Yeah, why not?” she said. “They’re pretty cool, I guess.” No one had done her any wrong, anyways.
“Aren’t they like, really into band and music and stuff?” said Sulli.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” said Sulli, putting her hands up. “I was just wondering. I’d totally be into it too, except I think our school’s music program sucks.”
“Yeah, well,” said Krystal, and couldn’t really argue with that because she thought so too.
In math that day Krystal asked Luna (and, well, Amber as well), “What do you guys think of the music program?”
“Our teacher sucks but we’re crazy talented,” said Amber. “Especially this girl right here.” She clapped Luna on the back.
Luna blushed and shoved her friend off. “Stop it, Amber.”
“No, seriously, she is.” Amber put an arm on Luna’s shoulders and Luna looked uncomfortable and Krystal was smiling. “You should hear this girl belt out a high note. Or, in fact, any fucking note. Seriously. She’s amazing.”
“Amber, stop. You’re ridiculous,” said Luna, pushing her off for the second time.
“Are you really that good?” asked Krystal, with her eyebrows raised.
“No, don’t listen to her-”
“Dude, have you heard a thing that I just said? Duh,” interrupted Amber.
Krystal grinned. “Maybe I should drop by one of the choir practices to listen,” she said.
“Oh, no, I don’t have any solos or anything,” said Luna. “The school year just started-”
“Yeah, but you had solos last year. And the year before. And the year before. And you’re gonna have more this year,” said Amber.
Luna leaned over to Krystal. “Don’t listen to a word she says,” she said, indicating Amber. “She’s a filthy liar.”
Krystal chuckled and said, “Okay,” but felt that there was some truth to Amber’s words.
-
That evening, she attempted to look up past high school choir concert videos online, but couldn’t find any. Their school didn’t allow concerts to be performed to the actual students due to a prank gone wrong several years ago. If Luna’s voice was really all that, Krystal did kind of want to hear it.
A thought struck her and she decided to go to Facebook instead. She wasn’t quite sure if Luna actually had any videos of her singing, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Krystal requested to be Luna’s friend, and almost a minute later got an acceptance notification. Krystal went through Luna’s videos, and videos of her, but there wasn’t much aside from random birthday videos and a video of Amber and that-other-girl (Krystal should really learn her name) dancing.
She decided to message Luna, for lack of anything better to do.
Krystal Jung (20:18): hey
Krystal Jung (20:18): what’s up?
Luna Park (20:20): oh hi ^^ nothing much!
Krystal Jung (20:20): okay
Luna Park (20:20): how bout u? :D
Krystal Jung (20:20): eh, bored. avoiding homework.
Luna Park (20:21): yeah, i know what u mean >< hmwrk sucks
Luna Park (20:21): lol
Krystal Jung (20:21): lol?
Luna Park (20:21): yeah idk what else to say >< srry
Weirdly, Krystal was finding herself smiling at this. Luna was too cute online, honestly.
Krystal Jung (20:22): well i guess i’ll be going now
Luna Park (20:22): o :c why?
Krystal Jung (20:22): eh, should probably stop putting off that homework
Luna Park (20:22): o lol :D
Krystal Jung (20:22): talk to you tomorrow!
Luna Park (20:23): u’ll be online? ^^
Krystal Jung (20:23): in school, silly
Luna Park (20:23): oh, right /)_(\ bye!!!
Five minutes later, Krystal was wanting to talk to Luna again and berated herself for going offline. But getting back on would make her look stupid and indecisive, so she didn’t.
-
Krystal had successfully pinpointed all the times she saw Luna on a normal school day: Math, lunch (if she tried), before English, after English, and for about five seconds when classes were let out and Krystal was on her way out the school to walk home. Luna was usually running in the opposite direction, as Krystal headed to the doors, and Krystal wondered where she went.
“What do you do after school?” she asked Luna in math one day.
Luna turned and blinked. “Oh,” she said, and blushed because their relationship hadn’t quite reached the stage to be considered friends. Well, Krystal thought that they should, but Luna clearly looked uncomfortable every time.
Then again, that might have something to do with Luna’s whole liking-Krystal thing.
Luna bowed her head as if she was trying to hide her flushed cheeks, which was really not working. Krystal mentally suggested for her to put a book up instead.
“I have, um, women’s ensemble,” she said. “Go on, laugh.”
Krystal stared at her.
“Laugh?”
“Yeah, uh,” said Luna, and then let out a nervous giggle. “Unless, y’know. You don’t want to laugh. Then.”
“Why would I laugh?” asked Krystal.
Luna shrugged, still not looking at her. Shifted her shoulders. Played with her pencil.
As Krystal thought back upon it, Luna usually did this when the conversation was about her-avoided Krystal’s gaze. It was adorable, but Krystal really did prefer eye contact, you know.
“Hey, up here,” she said, snapping her fingers, and Luna shot her head up to look at her. “C’mon, tell me why I’d laugh, or something,” said Krystal. “There’s nothing wrong with women’s choir or whatever.”
Luna’s cheeks probably got darker, or, if Krystal touched them, had gotten warmer. Krystal could almost imagine the feel of her smooth skin against her palm.
“Thanks,” Luna muttered. “I just-I thought you might think it was creepy. Or. Something.”
“Nah, it’s not creepy. You know what’s creepy? Your boyfriend creeping on your Facebook profile page to make sure you weren’t talking to other guys, or something.” Krystal rolled her eyes.
Luna’s own eyes widened. “What? Your boyfriend does that?”
“Yeah.” He’d been doing it for a while now, and Krystal had confronted him about it about a month ago, but he’d insisted it was because he loved her. Krystal kind of had doubts about that, especially since he’d used the word love, which he never used, but he actually wasn’t actively doing anything about her talking to other guys aside from like, a casual mention or something. And anyways, Krystal talked to more girls than she did guys. But she hadn’t told any of her friends about it because she was afraid they might overreact, or something.
Luna didn’t overreact, which made Krystal think, yeah, if she were to tell anyone (which she did), she'd tell--and told--Luna. Luna didn’t know her well enough, but she was nice and Krystal knew she could trust her. There was something about her telling Krystal that she liked her and wanting to be Krystal’s friend that made Krystal comfortable.
“That is creepy,” Luna agreed. Then, something that Krystal didn’t expect, “Why don’t you break up with him, then?’
“What? Break up with him? Why would I break up with him?” asked Krystal, bewildered.
Luna shrugged.
“I don’t… it seems like stalking. Which isn’t really good…”
“It’s not-” started Krystal, and then stopped. Well. To an extent, it was kinda stalking.
“He’s not hurting me,” she said instead.
“He could,” said Luna. Then, blushing and waving her hand, she said, “Never mind. You don’t have to listen to me. You, um,” she said, and then let out a cough that didn’t sound like a cough. “You remember about me and… liking you, right?”
“Right, yeah,” said Krystal, furrowing her eyebrows. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Luna shook her head. She was doing that staring-at-her-desk-and-avoiding-looking-at-Krystal thing again. “Nothing,” she said.
-
So Krystal broke up with her boyfriend on Wednesday.
It was sort of on a date (well, could it be called a date? Usually he just came over with his car and knowing smile and said, “Let’s go out,” and they’d get lunch and make out behind movie theaters or something. All very cliche and making Krystal feel like a real teenager) when he had his tongue practically down her throat-not literally, because ew, he’d have to have a freakishly long tongue for that to be possible-when she broke away and said, “I don’t think we should be seeing each other anymore.”
“I-what?” He blinked at her.
Krystal shrugged. “I just. Don’t think we should date anymore?”
“What? Why?” he asked. “Is there another guy? Was it the one who asked you about Chemistry homework on Monday? Because I swear to god, if it is, I’m gonna kill him-”
“No, no, calm down.” She put a hand against his chest. “I guess I just don’t like you anymore,” she confessed, and then looked up in thought. She didn’t even know if she liked him in the first place. He’d asked her out the last day of last school year and she’d said yes because, well, why not? and that was why they were dating.
She remembered that when she’d told Sulli this, Sulli had rolled her eyes and muttered,“typical Krystal” and then someone near them had said “end of this year” and Sulli had said“before winter break.”
Well. It was only October, right now.
“But,” said her boyfriend-ex-boyfriend, looking hurt. Or at least, pouting. “I got you a birthday present for next week,” he said.
“Sorry,” said Krystal, although she didn’t feel it. She tried to, though. “You don’t have to give it to me, then?”
“What did I do wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “You’ll probably find a nice girl who’ll like you, later. And who doesn’t mind your Facebook creeping,” she added.
“Was it that? I”ll stop!” He said it in such a manner that Krystal knew that if she gave in, it was unlikely that he would stop creeping.
“No, it’s just a bunch of these things,” said Krystal, trying to be as comforting as she could. “Sorry.”
-
She wasn’t very sorry five minutes later when he was driving off without her.
Krystal grumbled and kicked the ground. “Waste of my time,” she muttered under her breath, although she knew she didn’t really mean it. It was nice, you know, going out to eat and having someone to make out with. Although he’d been only a passable kisser (but she did appreciate the free meals.) Also, she wouldn’t have minded random gifts every now and then, although that was more of a preference, not a requirement.
She called Sulli.
“You dumped him and he drove off without you? What an asshole,” said Sulli. Krystal could hear her hairdryer in the background. “Told you you shouldn’t have dated him.”
“You never said that,” said Krystal.
“I thought it,” said Sulli. “Pick you up in twenty minutes.”
“Fifteen.”
“Fine, but I’ll look like a mess when I do,” said Sulli, and Krystal laughed and said, “You think I care?”
Eighteen minutes later Krystal was in her car and complaining profusely to Sulli, who was driving and not even acting like she was paying attention to her.
“… like, I never liked him, I don’t think I’ve ever liked anyone, so I don’t see why he’s so angry about it,” said Krystal. “I mean, I never told him that I liked him, I just dated him, so, I don’t see why he’s making such a big deal out of it.”
“Mm,” said Sulli thoughtfully. “Do you think I should cut all my hair off?”
“I-what?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.” Sulli fluffed the left side of her hair and brought it up with one hand so it looked like half her hair was bobbed. “It’d be cute, right?”
“You’d look like-” Krystal was about to say AmberthatonefriendofLuna’s and then suddenly she was thinking about Luna and said, “Hey, you remember Luna?”
“Uh?” said Sulli.
“The girl who likes me,” said Krystal.
“Oh,” said Sulli.
“In my math class.”
“Uh.”
“You asked me about her that one time.”
“Um.”
“She’s really into music?”
“Oh. Oh, right, her!” said Sulli. “What about her?”
“Do you think she’s cute?”
Sulli crinkled her nose. “How am I supposed to know?” she said. “It took you four tries to get me to remember who she is. You think I have an opinion on her cuteness?”
“Right,” said Krystal.
“Why, do you think she’s cute?”
Sulli wasn’t looking at her and her question seemed to be casual, just in passing; but Krystal thought about it. Luna was cute, yeah, definitely. But the kind of cute-the kind of cute Krystal was aiming for was something like “that guy’s so cute I’d totally make out with him” or “you’re so cute I want to stare at your face forever.” Krystal didn’t know for sure-couldn’t say no to the idea of these thoughts being applied to Luna, although “puppies and rainbows and kittens” did, at the least.
Sulli seemed to forget about the question though, and she and Krystal rode on in silence until Sulli brought up her hair again.
-
The thing was, Krystal had changed her relationship status to single on Facebook and Luna didn’t Like it, though a number of people did.
Krystal wondered if Luna still liked her.
Krystal Jung is now single.
- 8 people like this.
Jessica Jung not getting any anymore?
Krystal Jung hush you
Luna Park aw :c
And there was that.
Krystal didn’t want to bring it up in school, though, because as nice as it looked when Luna blushed-small shades of pink against her golden skin-Krystal didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. So she said nothing, although the thought does she still like me? kept wandering through her mind.
It sort of bothered her, because Krystal liked the idea of a girl liking her. Of Luna liking her.
Regardless. They talked in math and Krystal said, “I still need to hear you sing sometime, you know?”
Luna laughed lightly and said, “Hey, it’s only been four weeks since we’ve become friends. You’ll hear me sing eventually.”
“Four weeks? Really?” Krystal raised her eyebrows.
Luna drew her arms together in her desk, like she was trying to hide or make herself smaller. “Well, two months since I told you that I liked you, and-and then you started talking to me in this class,” she said.
“You’ve been keeping track of the time?” In her mind, a little voice was whispering, nope, she still likes me.
“Well,” said Luna, and then giggled then blushed. Or blushed and then giggled.
Krystal couldn’t stop looking at her either way.
-
The next Tuesday, Krystal got a text that said happy bday krystal!! ^o^
She didn’t need to look at the sender to see who it was.
(She and Luna had exchanged phone numbers only a week ago when Krystal mentioned texting Luna about this awesome musical she’d seen when she was twelve, and Luna mentioned that that was impossible ‘cause, well, Krystal hadn’t had her number at that time. That had been a few days after Luna had mentioned the “four weeks” thing and then shortly after that Krystal realized that Luna had said friends and, well, yeah, she and Luna were friends now.)
thanks luna
np :))) whtd u get?
drama from sis, clothes from fam
oo, wht drama?? wht kind of dramas do u lik? :)
some like typical girl-boy drama.
Krystal’s fingers hovered over the keyboard.
wanna come over and watch sometime? she added.
The response came within fifty seconds.
ok!!! o/
-
At lunch the next day, Krystal saw Luna’s two friends-and she could remember them by name now, Amber and Victoria-harassing Luna. Violently. If poking her and constantly trying to pass hushed whispers in her ear counted as being violent.
Krystal couldn’t help it, so she excused herself from her friends’ table and wandered over to them. “What’s going on here?” she asked, amused, folding her arms.
Amber and Victoria tore themselves away from Luna and giggled. Luna took the opportunity to swat them both on the arms.
“You are both complete idiots and I hate you for being my friends,” she said, and then smiled up at Krystal innocently. “Hi.”
“Hey,” said Krystal, settling down comfortably next to her. “So. Wanna come over after school today? For the drama,” she added, although Luna didn’t seem to forget.
Luna opened her mouth, but then Victoria reminded her, “She can’t, she has women’s choir.” The look Luna shot her didn’t seem to make Victoria falter, as she just shrugged.
“Sorry,” said Luna, looking disappointed.
“Well, she could always skip,” offered Amber.
“Amber,” said Victoria, “you are not going to negatively Luna, and she is not gonna skip-”
“Hey, hey, when have I ever negatively influenced her?” said Amber, putting her hands up.
“There was that time with the pickle-”
“Okay, that was one time, one. What about a second time?”
“How about last year when the chalkboard-”
Krystal tuned them both out, turning to Luna instead. “How about Thursday night?” she asked. “I can’t do Wednesdays, ‘cause I have newspaper meetings.”
“Oh, okay. That works,” said Luna brightly. “I mean, like, I have women’s choir after school then, too, but-evening is all right?”
“Yeah,” said Krystal, and wondered why she didn’t just ask Luna to come over tonight rather than after school, too. But Thursday night was Thursday night, and Krystal was looking forward to it.
And she liked the feeling of looking forward.
-
Thursday night couldn’t have come quicker. Or slower. Krystal wasn’t sure which.
“My house is gross, sorry,” said Krystal. “It’s mostly my cat, ‘cause he’s an idiot and follows us around everywhere and kind of sheds a lot of hair, and then my family in general is really lazy with putting stuff away, so if you find, like, a random CD or power cord just lying around somewhere, just put it on a desk and we’ll find-what’s that?”
Luna had walked into the house and shut the door behind her and Krystal turned around only now to see that a small, bright pink package was in Luna’s hands.
“Your birthday present,” said Luna, and then blushed. “Sorry it’s so late.”
“No-no, it’s fine.” Krystal was surprised. “Just a Facebook wall post would’ve been enough.”
“Well, I wanted to get you, um, something,” said Luna, as Krystal took it. She toed at the ground.
“Dude, my best friend didn’t even get me anything.” That had been a nonverbal mutual agreement she and Sulli had made in the eighth grade.
“I want you to have it,” said Luna. She gestured to the present without looking at her. “Open it.”
“Alright,” said Krystal, and she did. The present was in a white box under the red wrapping paper, and the present was a small string bracelet.
“I, uh, made it for you,” said Luna.
“What’s this, a friendship bracelet?” Krystal chuckled as she took it out. It was a lovely combination of pink and orange and red and yellow and sort of made Krystal think of the sun, of some sort of cheerfulness-maybe the cheerfulness that Luna always emitted.
Luna blushed and she said, “No,” and then said, “I just thought you might be the type to like bracelets.”
The last time Krystal wore a bracelet to wear a bracelet was probably the fourth grade, but she put it on and said, “Thanks, Luna.” It was really pretty anyways, and Krystal admired it as she set the box on the counter.
Luna shifted, smiled. “So, uh,” she said. “Where are we gonna watch-”
“Oh, right, drama!” said Krystal. “Downstairs in the basement-it’s probably the cleanest.”
She led her down and Luna walked with less enthusiasm than she did, maybe a bit curious and taken in by her surroundings. Krystal’s house wasn’t the biggest, but she supposed that the winding staircase leading down was pretty cool. She waited at the bottom as Luna descended.
“It’s already in,” said Krystal. “Wanna start?”
Luna didn’t seem to have any qualms with their surroundings, as she settled her body maybe three centimeters away from Krystal’s on the loveseat. “Sure,” she said.
They watched sort of quietly through the first episode; then Krystal’s mother appeared and said, “Oh, your friend’s already here? Would you like something to eat, girls?”
“No thank you,” said Luna, but Krystal said, “Come on,” and her mom said, “It’s only crackers,” and they were both wearing matching grins so Luna finally gave in and said, “Okay.”
“Only crackers” was “a few popsicles” later, and then “bags of chips” as stray junk food wrappers covered the couch and Krystal was almost leaning into Luna as they watched the drama. It was kind of stupid and predictable, but the actors were hot.
“She’d look better with that guy,” said Luna, pointing toward the sort-of antagonist who was also pining for the love interest.
“Never gonna get with him, though,” said Krystal, rolling her eyes as the protagonist came on to serenade the love interest. Krystal groaned and put her face in the bag of chips. “Ugh, I hate it when people are serenaded in TV shows. It’s just so cheesy.”
“It’s kind of romantic, though,” said Luna.
“Cheesy,” Krystal reiterated, and Luna laughed and asked,
“What do you have against cheesy?”
“Nothing! It’s just.” Krystal took one look at the screen, where the guy had one hand out and the other over his heart, and the girl was sitting on a bench, the expression on her face one of true love. ”I mean, can you see that happening in real life?”
“Dramas aren’t real life,” said Luna, seemingly amused.
“Thank god,” said Krystal.
They made it through four episodes on the ten episode box set, and right as they were about to start the fifth, Krystal’s dad came down and said, “Mrs. Park is at the door.”
“Oh, aw, can’t Luna stay over a big longer?” asked Krystal.
“It’s ten o’clock and a school night, dear,” her dad said to her. “I’m sure Luna’s mom won’t approve of it either.”
“She won’t,” said Luna.
Krystal pouted. “Sleepover then? Please?” She tried to look as persuasive as she could to her dad-that is, just pouted even more.
Her dad shook her head. “School night, Krystal,” he said again. And then to Luna, “Bye Luna,” as she started upstairs and towards the front door.
Krystal saw her off. “Well, see you in school tomorrow then,” she said as Luna started walking away into the night. It kind of disappointed her; she wanted Luna to stand on her porch for a bit longer.
“Yeah,” said Luna, and she was smiling so much that Krystal didn’t think she’d ever seen a person, much less Luna, look this happy before. It made her think of the bracelet that Luna had given her earlier this evening, and whoa that was earlier this evening?
“Bye,” said Luna, snapping Krystal out of her daze, and seconds later, she was gone.
-
“Wow, you could’ve invited me,” said Sulli when Krystal told her about it at Economics the next day.
“It was a strictly Krystal-Luna thing,” said Krystal, and Sulli laughed.
“There are Krystal-Luna things now? Don’t tell me that I’m being ditched,” she said.
“Nah, I can’t forget about our quarterly shopping-and-haircuts,” said Krystal, and Sulli smiled and said, “Good.”
-
Krystal invited Luna over again during the weekend, but Luna looked horribly regretful as she said, “I can’t, we’re going up north to visit my relatives.”
“Oh, for what?” asked Krystal.
“My grandfather just passed away,” said Luna.
Something hit Krystal inside, like a golf ball or a small cat, and she said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” Even though she didn’t know what she was sorry for.
Luna smiled. “It’s okay, I didn’t know him that much,” she said. “But yeah, I gotta-”
Amber came into the classroom then and put her hands on both of their desks and said, “So, what’re we talking about here, since I’m always practically the wall every time I’m on Luna’s other side?” She was smiling teasingly though, like she didn’t mean it.
“We were talking about my grandpa’s funeral, Amber,” said Luna, and Krystal was amused at how quickly Amber’s face fell.
“Oh. Um. Geez Luna, sorry,” she said. “May he rest in peace, and-and all that. Like. And. He was probably a great man, you know. Always telling you stories of how he used to be when he was younger, and-”
“Dude,” laughed Krystal, as Luna said, “I wasn’t very close to him, you know.”
“Oh, right. Well, good, ‘cause I never heard you mention him before,” said Amber. “Well, not good that he’s dead, or that you were never close to him-”
“Go to your seat, Amber,” said Krystal, and Amber said, “Right, I’ll do that.”
“Your friends are ridiculous,” Krystal said, watching as Amber sat herself down and then started talking to a kid in front of her who had taken a liking to her a couple of weeks ago. His name was Henry, she thought.
“Amber is. I met her when I was ten, I think,” said Luna. “In chorus. There weren’t enough altos so I volunteered to be one, and Amber was one and I happened to sit next to her.”
“Wow,” said Krystal, awed.
“Yeah,” said Luna. “Like, if I hadn’t sat next to her that day-”
“You volunteered to be an alto?” interrupted Krystal. “Are you a soprano, then?”
Luna blushed. “I’m kind of,” she said. “I prefer to be a soprano, ‘cause high notes are fun and all, but. I can also sing alto, if I want.”
“What’s your vocal range?” Krystal’s eyes went wide.
Luna practically put her face in her hands, but she cupped them instead. “I didn’t know you knew a lot about music,” she said.
“Not that much. I used to do chorus, too, before I moved here,” said Krystal. “Not a fan of the music department, though.”
“Oh, that’s why-” said Luna.
“What?”
“Nothing,” said Luna, covering her cheeks with her fingers again. “I was just remembering-you asked me about it, a while ago.”
“Oh.” Krystal frowned. She couldn’t remember that. Then again, she didn’t exactly try remembering a lot of things.
“Yeah, so,” she said. “Your vocal range?”
“Um,” said Luna. “I don’t know, I think-high F, high G or something? I can do third octave on a really, really good day.”
“And what about how low?” Krystal was baffled; she could only make it to a high C, barely.
“Uh, I’d have to say low D then. Not as impressive.”
“Are you kidding? You’re like, ridiculous. Amber,” Krystal called out to her. “Are you aware that Luna is ridiculous?”
“The most ridiculous person I’ve ever met,” Amber said cheerfully, before going back to talking to the Henry kid.
“I-wow, why can’t I sing like you?” Krystal said to Luna.
Luna’s hands were covering up her face almost entirely. “You haven’t even heard me sing,” she said. “And-you need to let me hear you sing, too.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Krystal.
-
“You know,” said Krystal as they waited in line for lunch one day, “you never told me when your birthday was.”
“Oh,” said Luna, fidgeting in her spot. She was shorter than Krystal, which Krystal observed, because Luna looked like she should be shorter than Krystal, and Krystal liked it. She didn’t bring it up, though, in case Luna would have, like, sensitivities about that kind of stuff, or something. Sulli used to be sensitive about being short in middle school, and then puberty hit in ninth grade and she and Krystal were the same height now.
But, Luna, because though Krystal’s brain was prone to stray, she’d rather not stray when it came to Luna. Luna said, “It’s in the middle of August.”
“What?” Krystal squawked. “But I knew you existed then-”
Luna furrowed her eyebrows. “No you didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did-”
“That was September, and August comes before September,” said Luna.
Krystal’s eyebrows softened. “Oh,” she said. And then felt embarrassed.
She didn’t know whether to feel more or less embarrassed when Luna giggled. “It’s okay,” she said. “They’re both fall months, so-it makes sense for you to get them mixed up.”
Krystal huffed, because Luna couldn’t stop giggling. Yeah, she felt more embarrassed. “August actually isn’t a fall month,” she said. “The first day of fall is in September.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Luna, and then broke out into full out laughter.
“Why are you laughing so hard?” asked Krystal. But it was kind of making Krystal laugh too, and not just because of that human instinct of not wanting someone to feel awkward so you’re willing to feel awkward with them.
“I don’t-know, I guess it’s ‘cause,” said Luna, and then she brought herself together and smiled. Krystal smiled back.
The kid behind them shouted, “Move, you’re holding up the line!”
-
“Wow, I just-wow, really?”
Krystal looked up to see her ex-boyfriend glaring at her.
“What?” said Krystal, twirling her noodles. She usually preferred rice to noodles but it was fun watching Luna play with her noodles, and then playing with her.
“You’re sitting with these people? This-lesbian, who totally hit on you one time?” He pointed to Luna. “And her geeky friends?” Then to Amber and Victoria.
Sulli, who had gotten to know Amber and Victoria (and Luna, of course, but Krystal always thought of Luna as something that was just hers) over the past few days after that time in the lunch line when Krystal had pointed out that she and Luna were friends but didn’t sit together during lunch and should, and Luna had gotten all shy again and said sure and Krystal’s other friends were there too but they weren’t her best friend like Sulli was-
Sulli slammed her palm on the table and said to Krystal’s ex-boyfriend, “Back the fuck off or else I’m going to kick your ass.” And Sulli wasn’t particularly strong or anything, but she sort of had this dangerous aura whenever she was pissed off.
The ex-boyfriend backed the fuck off. “It’s just,” he said, and then looked at Krystal and shook his head. “You’ve lowered yourself, Krystal,” he said, and then marched off.
The entire cafeteria table was quiet.
“I didn’t lower myself,” said Krystal, breaking the silence, beaming at all of them. “I mean, if I did, then all of us did.” She gesticulated to her non-band geek friends.
They looked at her, like, saying that didn’t really help.
“He’s right, you know,” said Luna, and everyone turned to her in surprised. Caught off-guard by the attention, she stammered, “Well I mean… you guys are the cool kids, and we’re the sort of… awkward music geeks.”
“Luna, you make up the awkward portion. The rest of us are just band geeks,” Amber corrected.
Sulli sighed and put her hands on the table again, although this time not out of anger. “You guys, life isn’t made up of music geeks and cool kids,” she said. “I mean, yeah, high school might be, but it actually doesn’t mean anything.”
“You guys are so much cooler than us, though,” said Luna wistfully.
“If by cool you mean that we dress like we’re rich and aren’t afraid to talk to anyone and look like we should have every girl and guy pining over us, then sure,” said Sulli. “But-”
“I do have every girl and guy pining over me,” said one of their friends.
“Shut it, Key,” said Krystal off-handedly. “Go on, Sulli.”
Sulli blinked at her. “I’m not making some speech or anything. I’m just saying. We’re kids, we’re stupid, and we should enjoy it and not really take anything seriously.”
Victoria tapped her chopsticks against the table and then pointed them at Sulli. “I like you,” she said. “I like you a lot.”
Sulli smiled a little to herself. “Well thank you,” she said, tossing her hair back, and then glaring at it. “Ugh, I really wanna chop all this off. Like yours,” she said to Amber. “I really like yours.”
“Oh, no, this was for a thing I did in elementary school ‘cause Victoria-I just got used to it and kept it,” said Amber.
“Well, it looks nice,” said Sulli. “You have to tell me where you got it.”
The two of them proceeded to talk about hair, with Victoria interjecting every once in a while, and Krystal smiled at them. This was something she wouldn’t have predicted in September.
“Our friends are getting along really well, aren’t they?” she said, turning to Luna, and Luna had her head bowed and was poking at her noodles.
“You know, I know Sulli’s right,” she said in a small voice. “But I can’t help-” She looked up at Krystal. “You’re so confident, and like. Awesome at everything.”
“I’m not.” For a change, Krystal could feel a blush of her own coming on.
“You are,” said Luna insistently. “I don’t even want to be you, I just-sometimes I don’t know how to be around you.” Then she turned pink and covered her mouth and mumbled, “I said that aloud, didn’t I?”
Krystal was pretty embarrassed herself and Luna said, “Sorry,” and Krystal said, “No, it’s okay, I just-I don’t know how to respond to that.” And then, feeling a little more confident than usual (which wasn’t really all that much, really), she asked, “You still like me?”
Luna resembled that of a cherry, or maybe that bright pink bud before a tulip bloomed. “Um,” she said, and her chin gave the smallest of nods, because it wasn’t even her whole head that was doing the motion.
“Okay,” said Krystal. And then, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re awesome at everything too.”
“Only singing,” said Luna truthfully.
“Good enough,” said Krystal.
-
[ Part 2]
Life progressed as it did and Krystal started seeing Luna more: well, perhaps not seeing, but noticing. The thing that came with starting to know someone was that you began to see them everywhere and wondered why you hadn’t noticed them before.
It was high school, though, and so Krystal was usually with her boyfriend and she and Luna saw each other and smiled. Well, unless she was with her other friends too, Amber and that-other-one, because then Amber and that-other-one would often poke Luna or something and Luna would blush and glare at them.
Krystal thought it was kind of endearing.
On their way to English, which was required for all students to take as a second language, after waving hello to Luna, Sulli asked her, “Who was that?”
“Oh, my friend,” said Krystal. “Remember the awkward girl who came up to me at lunch that one time?”
“Oh, right,” said Sulli. “That was her?”
“I didn’t know you became friends with her,” remarked Krystal’s boyfriend.
Krystal shrugged, still with his arms around her. “Yeah, why not?” she said. “They’re pretty cool, I guess.” No one had done her any wrong, anyways.
“Aren’t they like, really into band and music and stuff?” said Sulli.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” said Sulli, putting her hands up. “I was just wondering. I’d totally be into it too, except I think our school’s music program sucks.”
“Yeah, well,” said Krystal, and couldn’t really argue with that because she thought so too.
In math that day Krystal asked Luna (and, well, Amber as well), “What do you guys think of the music program?”
“Our teacher sucks but we’re crazy talented,” said Amber. “Especially this girl right here.” She clapped Luna on the back.
Luna blushed and shoved her friend off. “Stop it, Amber.”
“No, seriously, she is.” Amber put an arm on Luna’s shoulders and Luna looked uncomfortable and Krystal was smiling. “You should hear this girl belt out a high note. Or, in fact, any fucking note. Seriously. She’s amazing.”
“Amber, stop. You’re ridiculous,” said Luna, pushing her off for the second time.
“Are you really that good?” asked Krystal, with her eyebrows raised.
“No, don’t listen to her-”
“Dude, have you heard a thing that I just said? Duh,” interrupted Amber.
Krystal grinned. “Maybe I should drop by one of the choir practices to listen,” she said.
“Oh, no, I don’t have any solos or anything,” said Luna. “The school year just started-”
“Yeah, but you had solos last year. And the year before. And the year before. And you’re gonna have more this year,” said Amber.
Luna leaned over to Krystal. “Don’t listen to a word she says,” she said, indicating Amber. “She’s a filthy liar.”
Krystal chuckled and said, “Okay,” but felt that there was some truth to Amber’s words.
-
That evening, she attempted to look up past high school choir concert videos online, but couldn’t find any. Their school didn’t allow concerts to be performed to the actual students due to a prank gone wrong several years ago. If Luna’s voice was really all that, Krystal did kind of want to hear it.
A thought struck her and she decided to go to Facebook instead. She wasn’t quite sure if Luna actually had any videos of her singing, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Krystal requested to be Luna’s friend, and almost a minute later got an acceptance notification. Krystal went through Luna’s videos, and videos of her, but there wasn’t much aside from random birthday videos and a video of Amber and that-other-girl (Krystal should really learn her name) dancing.
She decided to message Luna, for lack of anything better to do.
Krystal Jung (20:18): hey
Krystal Jung (20:18): what’s up?
Luna Park (20:20): oh hi ^^ nothing much!
Krystal Jung (20:20): okay
Luna Park (20:20): how bout u? :D
Krystal Jung (20:20): eh, bored. avoiding homework.
Luna Park (20:21): yeah, i know what u mean >< hmwrk sucks
Luna Park (20:21): lol
Krystal Jung (20:21): lol?
Luna Park (20:21): yeah idk what else to say >< srry
Weirdly, Krystal was finding herself smiling at this. Luna was too cute online, honestly.
Krystal Jung (20:22): well i guess i’ll be going now
Luna Park (20:22): o :c why?
Krystal Jung (20:22): eh, should probably stop putting off that homework
Luna Park (20:22): o lol :D
Krystal Jung (20:22): talk to you tomorrow!
Luna Park (20:23): u’ll be online? ^^
Krystal Jung (20:23): in school, silly
Luna Park (20:23): oh, right /)_(\ bye!!!
Five minutes later, Krystal was wanting to talk to Luna again and berated herself for going offline. But getting back on would make her look stupid and indecisive, so she didn’t.
-
Krystal had successfully pinpointed all the times she saw Luna on a normal school day: Math, lunch (if she tried), before English, after English, and for about five seconds when classes were let out and Krystal was on her way out the school to walk home. Luna was usually running in the opposite direction, as Krystal headed to the doors, and Krystal wondered where she went.
“What do you do after school?” she asked Luna in math one day.
Luna turned and blinked. “Oh,” she said, and blushed because their relationship hadn’t quite reached the stage to be considered friends. Well, Krystal thought that they should, but Luna clearly looked uncomfortable every time.
Then again, that might have something to do with Luna’s whole liking-Krystal thing.
Luna bowed her head as if she was trying to hide her flushed cheeks, which was really not working. Krystal mentally suggested for her to put a book up instead.
“I have, um, women’s ensemble,” she said. “Go on, laugh.”
Krystal stared at her.
“Laugh?”
“Yeah, uh,” said Luna, and then let out a nervous giggle. “Unless, y’know. You don’t want to laugh. Then.”
“Why would I laugh?” asked Krystal.
Luna shrugged, still not looking at her. Shifted her shoulders. Played with her pencil.
As Krystal thought back upon it, Luna usually did this when the conversation was about her-avoided Krystal’s gaze. It was adorable, but Krystal really did prefer eye contact, you know.
“Hey, up here,” she said, snapping her fingers, and Luna shot her head up to look at her. “C’mon, tell me why I’d laugh, or something,” said Krystal. “There’s nothing wrong with women’s choir or whatever.”
Luna’s cheeks probably got darker, or, if Krystal touched them, had gotten warmer. Krystal could almost imagine the feel of her smooth skin against her palm.
“Thanks,” Luna muttered. “I just-I thought you might think it was creepy. Or. Something.”
“Nah, it’s not creepy. You know what’s creepy? Your boyfriend creeping on your Facebook profile page to make sure you weren’t talking to other guys, or something.” Krystal rolled her eyes.
Luna’s own eyes widened. “What? Your boyfriend does that?”
“Yeah.” He’d been doing it for a while now, and Krystal had confronted him about it about a month ago, but he’d insisted it was because he loved her. Krystal kind of had doubts about that, especially since he’d used the word love, which he never used, but he actually wasn’t actively doing anything about her talking to other guys aside from like, a casual mention or something. And anyways, Krystal talked to more girls than she did guys. But she hadn’t told any of her friends about it because she was afraid they might overreact, or something.
Luna didn’t overreact, which made Krystal think, yeah, if she were to tell anyone (which she did), she'd tell--and told--Luna. Luna didn’t know her well enough, but she was nice and Krystal knew she could trust her. There was something about her telling Krystal that she liked her and wanting to be Krystal’s friend that made Krystal comfortable.
“That is creepy,” Luna agreed. Then, something that Krystal didn’t expect, “Why don’t you break up with him, then?’
“What? Break up with him? Why would I break up with him?” asked Krystal, bewildered.
Luna shrugged.
“I don’t… it seems like stalking. Which isn’t really good…”
“It’s not-” started Krystal, and then stopped. Well. To an extent, it was kinda stalking.
“He’s not hurting me,” she said instead.
“He could,” said Luna. Then, blushing and waving her hand, she said, “Never mind. You don’t have to listen to me. You, um,” she said, and then let out a cough that didn’t sound like a cough. “You remember about me and… liking you, right?”
“Right, yeah,” said Krystal, furrowing her eyebrows. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Luna shook her head. She was doing that staring-at-her-desk-and-avoiding-looking-at-Krystal thing again. “Nothing,” she said.
-
So Krystal broke up with her boyfriend on Wednesday.
It was sort of on a date (well, could it be called a date? Usually he just came over with his car and knowing smile and said, “Let’s go out,” and they’d get lunch and make out behind movie theaters or something. All very cliche and making Krystal feel like a real teenager) when he had his tongue practically down her throat-not literally, because ew, he’d have to have a freakishly long tongue for that to be possible-when she broke away and said, “I don’t think we should be seeing each other anymore.”
“I-what?” He blinked at her.
Krystal shrugged. “I just. Don’t think we should date anymore?”
“What? Why?” he asked. “Is there another guy? Was it the one who asked you about Chemistry homework on Monday? Because I swear to god, if it is, I’m gonna kill him-”
“No, no, calm down.” She put a hand against his chest. “I guess I just don’t like you anymore,” she confessed, and then looked up in thought. She didn’t even know if she liked him in the first place. He’d asked her out the last day of last school year and she’d said yes because, well, why not? and that was why they were dating.
She remembered that when she’d told Sulli this, Sulli had rolled her eyes and muttered,“typical Krystal” and then someone near them had said “end of this year” and Sulli had said“before winter break.”
Well. It was only October, right now.
“But,” said her boyfriend-ex-boyfriend, looking hurt. Or at least, pouting. “I got you a birthday present for next week,” he said.
“Sorry,” said Krystal, although she didn’t feel it. She tried to, though. “You don’t have to give it to me, then?”
“What did I do wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “You’ll probably find a nice girl who’ll like you, later. And who doesn’t mind your Facebook creeping,” she added.
“Was it that? I”ll stop!” He said it in such a manner that Krystal knew that if she gave in, it was unlikely that he would stop creeping.
“No, it’s just a bunch of these things,” said Krystal, trying to be as comforting as she could. “Sorry.”
-
She wasn’t very sorry five minutes later when he was driving off without her.
Krystal grumbled and kicked the ground. “Waste of my time,” she muttered under her breath, although she knew she didn’t really mean it. It was nice, you know, going out to eat and having someone to make out with. Although he’d been only a passable kisser (but she did appreciate the free meals.) Also, she wouldn’t have minded random gifts every now and then, although that was more of a preference, not a requirement.
She called Sulli.
“You dumped him and he drove off without you? What an asshole,” said Sulli. Krystal could hear her hairdryer in the background. “Told you you shouldn’t have dated him.”
“You never said that,” said Krystal.
“I thought it,” said Sulli. “Pick you up in twenty minutes.”
“Fifteen.”
“Fine, but I’ll look like a mess when I do,” said Sulli, and Krystal laughed and said, “You think I care?”
Eighteen minutes later Krystal was in her car and complaining profusely to Sulli, who was driving and not even acting like she was paying attention to her.
“… like, I never liked him, I don’t think I’ve ever liked anyone, so I don’t see why he’s so angry about it,” said Krystal. “I mean, I never told him that I liked him, I just dated him, so, I don’t see why he’s making such a big deal out of it.”
“Mm,” said Sulli thoughtfully. “Do you think I should cut all my hair off?”
“I-what?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.” Sulli fluffed the left side of her hair and brought it up with one hand so it looked like half her hair was bobbed. “It’d be cute, right?”
“You’d look like-” Krystal was about to say AmberthatonefriendofLuna’s and then suddenly she was thinking about Luna and said, “Hey, you remember Luna?”
“Uh?” said Sulli.
“The girl who likes me,” said Krystal.
“Oh,” said Sulli.
“In my math class.”
“Uh.”
“You asked me about her that one time.”
“Um.”
“She’s really into music?”
“Oh. Oh, right, her!” said Sulli. “What about her?”
“Do you think she’s cute?”
Sulli crinkled her nose. “How am I supposed to know?” she said. “It took you four tries to get me to remember who she is. You think I have an opinion on her cuteness?”
“Right,” said Krystal.
“Why, do you think she’s cute?”
Sulli wasn’t looking at her and her question seemed to be casual, just in passing; but Krystal thought about it. Luna was cute, yeah, definitely. But the kind of cute-the kind of cute Krystal was aiming for was something like “that guy’s so cute I’d totally make out with him” or “you’re so cute I want to stare at your face forever.” Krystal didn’t know for sure-couldn’t say no to the idea of these thoughts being applied to Luna, although “puppies and rainbows and kittens” did, at the least.
Sulli seemed to forget about the question though, and she and Krystal rode on in silence until Sulli brought up her hair again.
-
The thing was, Krystal had changed her relationship status to single on Facebook and Luna didn’t Like it, though a number of people did.
Krystal wondered if Luna still liked her.
Krystal Jung is now single.
- 8 people like this.
Jessica Jung not getting any anymore?
Krystal Jung hush you
Luna Park aw :c
And there was that.
Krystal didn’t want to bring it up in school, though, because as nice as it looked when Luna blushed-small shades of pink against her golden skin-Krystal didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. So she said nothing, although the thought does she still like me? kept wandering through her mind.
It sort of bothered her, because Krystal liked the idea of a girl liking her. Of Luna liking her.
Regardless. They talked in math and Krystal said, “I still need to hear you sing sometime, you know?”
Luna laughed lightly and said, “Hey, it’s only been four weeks since we’ve become friends. You’ll hear me sing eventually.”
“Four weeks? Really?” Krystal raised her eyebrows.
Luna drew her arms together in her desk, like she was trying to hide or make herself smaller. “Well, two months since I told you that I liked you, and-and then you started talking to me in this class,” she said.
“You’ve been keeping track of the time?” In her mind, a little voice was whispering, nope, she still likes me.
“Well,” said Luna, and then giggled then blushed. Or blushed and then giggled.
Krystal couldn’t stop looking at her either way.
-
The next Tuesday, Krystal got a text that said happy bday krystal!! ^o^
She didn’t need to look at the sender to see who it was.
(She and Luna had exchanged phone numbers only a week ago when Krystal mentioned texting Luna about this awesome musical she’d seen when she was twelve, and Luna mentioned that that was impossible ‘cause, well, Krystal hadn’t had her number at that time. That had been a few days after Luna had mentioned the “four weeks” thing and then shortly after that Krystal realized that Luna had said friends and, well, yeah, she and Luna were friends now.)
thanks luna
np :))) whtd u get?
drama from sis, clothes from fam
oo, wht drama?? wht kind of dramas do u lik? :)
some like typical girl-boy drama.
Krystal’s fingers hovered over the keyboard.
wanna come over and watch sometime? she added.
The response came within fifty seconds.
ok!!! o/
-
At lunch the next day, Krystal saw Luna’s two friends-and she could remember them by name now, Amber and Victoria-harassing Luna. Violently. If poking her and constantly trying to pass hushed whispers in her ear counted as being violent.
Krystal couldn’t help it, so she excused herself from her friends’ table and wandered over to them. “What’s going on here?” she asked, amused, folding her arms.
Amber and Victoria tore themselves away from Luna and giggled. Luna took the opportunity to swat them both on the arms.
“You are both complete idiots and I hate you for being my friends,” she said, and then smiled up at Krystal innocently. “Hi.”
“Hey,” said Krystal, settling down comfortably next to her. “So. Wanna come over after school today? For the drama,” she added, although Luna didn’t seem to forget.
Luna opened her mouth, but then Victoria reminded her, “She can’t, she has women’s choir.” The look Luna shot her didn’t seem to make Victoria falter, as she just shrugged.
“Sorry,” said Luna, looking disappointed.
“Well, she could always skip,” offered Amber.
“Amber,” said Victoria, “you are not going to negatively Luna, and she is not gonna skip-”
“Hey, hey, when have I ever negatively influenced her?” said Amber, putting her hands up.
“There was that time with the pickle-”
“Okay, that was one time, one. What about a second time?”
“How about last year when the chalkboard-”
Krystal tuned them both out, turning to Luna instead. “How about Thursday night?” she asked. “I can’t do Wednesdays, ‘cause I have newspaper meetings.”
“Oh, okay. That works,” said Luna brightly. “I mean, like, I have women’s choir after school then, too, but-evening is all right?”
“Yeah,” said Krystal, and wondered why she didn’t just ask Luna to come over tonight rather than after school, too. But Thursday night was Thursday night, and Krystal was looking forward to it.
And she liked the feeling of looking forward.
-
Thursday night couldn’t have come quicker. Or slower. Krystal wasn’t sure which.
“My house is gross, sorry,” said Krystal. “It’s mostly my cat, ‘cause he’s an idiot and follows us around everywhere and kind of sheds a lot of hair, and then my family in general is really lazy with putting stuff away, so if you find, like, a random CD or power cord just lying around somewhere, just put it on a desk and we’ll find-what’s that?”
Luna had walked into the house and shut the door behind her and Krystal turned around only now to see that a small, bright pink package was in Luna’s hands.
“Your birthday present,” said Luna, and then blushed. “Sorry it’s so late.”
“No-no, it’s fine.” Krystal was surprised. “Just a Facebook wall post would’ve been enough.”
“Well, I wanted to get you, um, something,” said Luna, as Krystal took it. She toed at the ground.
“Dude, my best friend didn’t even get me anything.” That had been a nonverbal mutual agreement she and Sulli had made in the eighth grade.
“I want you to have it,” said Luna. She gestured to the present without looking at her. “Open it.”
“Alright,” said Krystal, and she did. The present was in a white box under the red wrapping paper, and the present was a small string bracelet.
“I, uh, made it for you,” said Luna.
“What’s this, a friendship bracelet?” Krystal chuckled as she took it out. It was a lovely combination of pink and orange and red and yellow and sort of made Krystal think of the sun, of some sort of cheerfulness-maybe the cheerfulness that Luna always emitted.
Luna blushed and she said, “No,” and then said, “I just thought you might be the type to like bracelets.”
The last time Krystal wore a bracelet to wear a bracelet was probably the fourth grade, but she put it on and said, “Thanks, Luna.” It was really pretty anyways, and Krystal admired it as she set the box on the counter.
Luna shifted, smiled. “So, uh,” she said. “Where are we gonna watch-”
“Oh, right, drama!” said Krystal. “Downstairs in the basement-it’s probably the cleanest.”
She led her down and Luna walked with less enthusiasm than she did, maybe a bit curious and taken in by her surroundings. Krystal’s house wasn’t the biggest, but she supposed that the winding staircase leading down was pretty cool. She waited at the bottom as Luna descended.
“It’s already in,” said Krystal. “Wanna start?”
Luna didn’t seem to have any qualms with their surroundings, as she settled her body maybe three centimeters away from Krystal’s on the loveseat. “Sure,” she said.
They watched sort of quietly through the first episode; then Krystal’s mother appeared and said, “Oh, your friend’s already here? Would you like something to eat, girls?”
“No thank you,” said Luna, but Krystal said, “Come on,” and her mom said, “It’s only crackers,” and they were both wearing matching grins so Luna finally gave in and said, “Okay.”
“Only crackers” was “a few popsicles” later, and then “bags of chips” as stray junk food wrappers covered the couch and Krystal was almost leaning into Luna as they watched the drama. It was kind of stupid and predictable, but the actors were hot.
“She’d look better with that guy,” said Luna, pointing toward the sort-of antagonist who was also pining for the love interest.
“Never gonna get with him, though,” said Krystal, rolling her eyes as the protagonist came on to serenade the love interest. Krystal groaned and put her face in the bag of chips. “Ugh, I hate it when people are serenaded in TV shows. It’s just so cheesy.”
“It’s kind of romantic, though,” said Luna.
“Cheesy,” Krystal reiterated, and Luna laughed and asked,
“What do you have against cheesy?”
“Nothing! It’s just.” Krystal took one look at the screen, where the guy had one hand out and the other over his heart, and the girl was sitting on a bench, the expression on her face one of true love. ”I mean, can you see that happening in real life?”
“Dramas aren’t real life,” said Luna, seemingly amused.
“Thank god,” said Krystal.
They made it through four episodes on the ten episode box set, and right as they were about to start the fifth, Krystal’s dad came down and said, “Mrs. Park is at the door.”
“Oh, aw, can’t Luna stay over a big longer?” asked Krystal.
“It’s ten o’clock and a school night, dear,” her dad said to her. “I’m sure Luna’s mom won’t approve of it either.”
“She won’t,” said Luna.
Krystal pouted. “Sleepover then? Please?” She tried to look as persuasive as she could to her dad-that is, just pouted even more.
Her dad shook her head. “School night, Krystal,” he said again. And then to Luna, “Bye Luna,” as she started upstairs and towards the front door.
Krystal saw her off. “Well, see you in school tomorrow then,” she said as Luna started walking away into the night. It kind of disappointed her; she wanted Luna to stand on her porch for a bit longer.
“Yeah,” said Luna, and she was smiling so much that Krystal didn’t think she’d ever seen a person, much less Luna, look this happy before. It made her think of the bracelet that Luna had given her earlier this evening, and whoa that was earlier this evening?
“Bye,” said Luna, snapping Krystal out of her daze, and seconds later, she was gone.
-
“Wow, you could’ve invited me,” said Sulli when Krystal told her about it at Economics the next day.
“It was a strictly Krystal-Luna thing,” said Krystal, and Sulli laughed.
“There are Krystal-Luna things now? Don’t tell me that I’m being ditched,” she said.
“Nah, I can’t forget about our quarterly shopping-and-haircuts,” said Krystal, and Sulli smiled and said, “Good.”
-
Krystal invited Luna over again during the weekend, but Luna looked horribly regretful as she said, “I can’t, we’re going up north to visit my relatives.”
“Oh, for what?” asked Krystal.
“My grandfather just passed away,” said Luna.
Something hit Krystal inside, like a golf ball or a small cat, and she said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” Even though she didn’t know what she was sorry for.
Luna smiled. “It’s okay, I didn’t know him that much,” she said. “But yeah, I gotta-”
Amber came into the classroom then and put her hands on both of their desks and said, “So, what’re we talking about here, since I’m always practically the wall every time I’m on Luna’s other side?” She was smiling teasingly though, like she didn’t mean it.
“We were talking about my grandpa’s funeral, Amber,” said Luna, and Krystal was amused at how quickly Amber’s face fell.
“Oh. Um. Geez Luna, sorry,” she said. “May he rest in peace, and-and all that. Like. And. He was probably a great man, you know. Always telling you stories of how he used to be when he was younger, and-”
“Dude,” laughed Krystal, as Luna said, “I wasn’t very close to him, you know.”
“Oh, right. Well, good, ‘cause I never heard you mention him before,” said Amber. “Well, not good that he’s dead, or that you were never close to him-”
“Go to your seat, Amber,” said Krystal, and Amber said, “Right, I’ll do that.”
“Your friends are ridiculous,” Krystal said, watching as Amber sat herself down and then started talking to a kid in front of her who had taken a liking to her a couple of weeks ago. His name was Henry, she thought.
“Amber is. I met her when I was ten, I think,” said Luna. “In chorus. There weren’t enough altos so I volunteered to be one, and Amber was one and I happened to sit next to her.”
“Wow,” said Krystal, awed.
“Yeah,” said Luna. “Like, if I hadn’t sat next to her that day-”
“You volunteered to be an alto?” interrupted Krystal. “Are you a soprano, then?”
Luna blushed. “I’m kind of,” she said. “I prefer to be a soprano, ‘cause high notes are fun and all, but. I can also sing alto, if I want.”
“What’s your vocal range?” Krystal’s eyes went wide.
Luna practically put her face in her hands, but she cupped them instead. “I didn’t know you knew a lot about music,” she said.
“Not that much. I used to do chorus, too, before I moved here,” said Krystal. “Not a fan of the music department, though.”
“Oh, that’s why-” said Luna.
“What?”
“Nothing,” said Luna, covering her cheeks with her fingers again. “I was just remembering-you asked me about it, a while ago.”
“Oh.” Krystal frowned. She couldn’t remember that. Then again, she didn’t exactly try remembering a lot of things.
“Yeah, so,” she said. “Your vocal range?”
“Um,” said Luna. “I don’t know, I think-high F, high G or something? I can do third octave on a really, really good day.”
“And what about how low?” Krystal was baffled; she could only make it to a high C, barely.
“Uh, I’d have to say low D then. Not as impressive.”
“Are you kidding? You’re like, ridiculous. Amber,” Krystal called out to her. “Are you aware that Luna is ridiculous?”
“The most ridiculous person I’ve ever met,” Amber said cheerfully, before going back to talking to the Henry kid.
“I-wow, why can’t I sing like you?” Krystal said to Luna.
Luna’s hands were covering up her face almost entirely. “You haven’t even heard me sing,” she said. “And-you need to let me hear you sing, too.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Krystal.
-
“You know,” said Krystal as they waited in line for lunch one day, “you never told me when your birthday was.”
“Oh,” said Luna, fidgeting in her spot. She was shorter than Krystal, which Krystal observed, because Luna looked like she should be shorter than Krystal, and Krystal liked it. She didn’t bring it up, though, in case Luna would have, like, sensitivities about that kind of stuff, or something. Sulli used to be sensitive about being short in middle school, and then puberty hit in ninth grade and she and Krystal were the same height now.
But, Luna, because though Krystal’s brain was prone to stray, she’d rather not stray when it came to Luna. Luna said, “It’s in the middle of August.”
“What?” Krystal squawked. “But I knew you existed then-”
Luna furrowed her eyebrows. “No you didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did-”
“That was September, and August comes before September,” said Luna.
Krystal’s eyebrows softened. “Oh,” she said. And then felt embarrassed.
She didn’t know whether to feel more or less embarrassed when Luna giggled. “It’s okay,” she said. “They’re both fall months, so-it makes sense for you to get them mixed up.”
Krystal huffed, because Luna couldn’t stop giggling. Yeah, she felt more embarrassed. “August actually isn’t a fall month,” she said. “The first day of fall is in September.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Luna, and then broke out into full out laughter.
“Why are you laughing so hard?” asked Krystal. But it was kind of making Krystal laugh too, and not just because of that human instinct of not wanting someone to feel awkward so you’re willing to feel awkward with them.
“I don’t-know, I guess it’s ‘cause,” said Luna, and then she brought herself together and smiled. Krystal smiled back.
The kid behind them shouted, “Move, you’re holding up the line!”
-
“Wow, I just-wow, really?”
Krystal looked up to see her ex-boyfriend glaring at her.
“What?” said Krystal, twirling her noodles. She usually preferred rice to noodles but it was fun watching Luna play with her noodles, and then playing with her.
“You’re sitting with these people? This-lesbian, who totally hit on you one time?” He pointed to Luna. “And her geeky friends?” Then to Amber and Victoria.
Sulli, who had gotten to know Amber and Victoria (and Luna, of course, but Krystal always thought of Luna as something that was just hers) over the past few days after that time in the lunch line when Krystal had pointed out that she and Luna were friends but didn’t sit together during lunch and should, and Luna had gotten all shy again and said sure and Krystal’s other friends were there too but they weren’t her best friend like Sulli was-
Sulli slammed her palm on the table and said to Krystal’s ex-boyfriend, “Back the fuck off or else I’m going to kick your ass.” And Sulli wasn’t particularly strong or anything, but she sort of had this dangerous aura whenever she was pissed off.
The ex-boyfriend backed the fuck off. “It’s just,” he said, and then looked at Krystal and shook his head. “You’ve lowered yourself, Krystal,” he said, and then marched off.
The entire cafeteria table was quiet.
“I didn’t lower myself,” said Krystal, breaking the silence, beaming at all of them. “I mean, if I did, then all of us did.” She gesticulated to her non-band geek friends.
They looked at her, like, saying that didn’t really help.
“He’s right, you know,” said Luna, and everyone turned to her in surprised. Caught off-guard by the attention, she stammered, “Well I mean… you guys are the cool kids, and we’re the sort of… awkward music geeks.”
“Luna, you make up the awkward portion. The rest of us are just band geeks,” Amber corrected.
Sulli sighed and put her hands on the table again, although this time not out of anger. “You guys, life isn’t made up of music geeks and cool kids,” she said. “I mean, yeah, high school might be, but it actually doesn’t mean anything.”
“You guys are so much cooler than us, though,” said Luna wistfully.
“If by cool you mean that we dress like we’re rich and aren’t afraid to talk to anyone and look like we should have every girl and guy pining over us, then sure,” said Sulli. “But-”
“I do have every girl and guy pining over me,” said one of their friends.
“Shut it, Key,” said Krystal off-handedly. “Go on, Sulli.”
Sulli blinked at her. “I’m not making some speech or anything. I’m just saying. We’re kids, we’re stupid, and we should enjoy it and not really take anything seriously.”
Victoria tapped her chopsticks against the table and then pointed them at Sulli. “I like you,” she said. “I like you a lot.”
Sulli smiled a little to herself. “Well thank you,” she said, tossing her hair back, and then glaring at it. “Ugh, I really wanna chop all this off. Like yours,” she said to Amber. “I really like yours.”
“Oh, no, this was for a thing I did in elementary school ‘cause Victoria-I just got used to it and kept it,” said Amber.
“Well, it looks nice,” said Sulli. “You have to tell me where you got it.”
The two of them proceeded to talk about hair, with Victoria interjecting every once in a while, and Krystal smiled at them. This was something she wouldn’t have predicted in September.
“Our friends are getting along really well, aren’t they?” she said, turning to Luna, and Luna had her head bowed and was poking at her noodles.
“You know, I know Sulli’s right,” she said in a small voice. “But I can’t help-” She looked up at Krystal. “You’re so confident, and like. Awesome at everything.”
“I’m not.” For a change, Krystal could feel a blush of her own coming on.
“You are,” said Luna insistently. “I don’t even want to be you, I just-sometimes I don’t know how to be around you.” Then she turned pink and covered her mouth and mumbled, “I said that aloud, didn’t I?”
Krystal was pretty embarrassed herself and Luna said, “Sorry,” and Krystal said, “No, it’s okay, I just-I don’t know how to respond to that.” And then, feeling a little more confident than usual (which wasn’t really all that much, really), she asked, “You still like me?”
Luna resembled that of a cherry, or maybe that bright pink bud before a tulip bloomed. “Um,” she said, and her chin gave the smallest of nods, because it wasn’t even her whole head that was doing the motion.
“Okay,” said Krystal. And then, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re awesome at everything too.”
“Only singing,” said Luna truthfully.
“Good enough,” said Krystal.
-
[ Part 2]