103│Bbangsaz

4. Seatmates and small talks

Minji's POV:

Class ended, and I hurriedly packed up my stuff. I think something fell, but it's probably not too important. Haerin and I parted ways; she seemed like a fun person, but I didn't get to know much about her because of Mr. Shin.

I wandered through a few hallways, realizing I was definitely getting lost. Then, I remembered the map Danielle gave me. I rummaged through my bag, searching for it. After several attempts, I recalled dropping something in class earlier; it was probably the map. Shit. What am I supposed to do now? I was going to be late for math, and Haerin told me that Mrs. Marsh was supposedly strict. 

This is not good.

"Got lost already, Kim?" I turned around to meet the owner of the familiar voice. Hanni was looking at me with an "I knew this would happen" expression. I wasn't going to let her think that.

"Not at all, Pham. I was just exploring the school." I said in my best attempt to make the lie sound convincing.

"Yeah, sure." She raised her eyebrow at me, unimpressed. Well, that did not work.

I sighed. "What do you want, Hanni?"

"There are many things I want from you, Minji. First, you staying away from Dani, and I also want you to stop lying and be straightforward. We have math together. I'll show you the way to class," she stated. I was dumbfounded. She wanted to help me? That's new. I mean this entire thing is new, we've known each other for only a day.

" we've got one minute to get to class or else we'll be very late," I said, urging her to show me the way.

She rolled her eyes at me for the second time today. "Follow me," she said, and I obeyed.

We walked in silence for a few moments but I broke that by asking  "Did Danielle ask you to look after me, or were you following me?"

"Why would I ever follow you? And no, Dani didn't ask me to look after you." she gave me that weird look again.

I stopped in my tracks and raised an eyebrow at her. She just stared at my face for a couple of seconds before letting out a loud groan. "Okay, fine, she did ask me to look after you, but I was not following you, okay?"

"Hm." I smirked at her and walked ahead, even though I had no idea where I was going. "I seriously was not following you, Kim!" Hanni said from behind me. I didn't reply and kept walking.

"Minji, you don't even know where you're going!" That was true, so I stopped and waited for her to catch up. This time, she was the one smirking, and I was the one rolling my eyes.

 We soon reached class, and guess what? Only two seats left, which were right next to each other. The universe was not on my side today. I looked over at Hanni, and she was already looking at me. 

"I'll have to sit with you?" she asked.

"Obviously."

"I don't want to."

"Then do something about it."

"Can't."

"Then stop whining about it."

"Stop telling me what to do, Kim."

I just groaned in annoyance and sat in one of the seats, leaving it up to her to decide whether she wanted to sit with me or take the class while standing in the middle of the room. Eventually, she came over and sat next to me.

"Do you know why I didn't want to sit with you?" she asked me.

"No," I replied.

"Because it's Monday, and the first week of the month. The kids who sit together today will have to sit with each other for the entire month. Everyone has their own seatmates, so I just sit with anyone who's alone. But now I'm stuck sitting with you for the rest of the month!" Hanni blurted out, and I almost couldn't understand a single word.

"Oh, but Haerin told me Mrs. Marsh was strict? so why would she let the students choose their own seatmates?"

"I honestly don't—, wait you talked to Rin? as in Kang Haerin?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Oh, she is going to be a bad influence, I'm telling you," Hanni said.

"Oh, okay?" I said, confused. "You know Haerin?"

"Of course I know Haerin. We're friends."

"Wow, That's cool?" we sat there in awkward silence until Hanni bursted out laughing, and she laughed for a bit too long for my comfort. This was probably the first time I saw her laugh or show any emotion other than annoyance.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

"Because you're too awkward with conversations."

"Oh."

"I don't mean that in a bad way, though," Hanni said. She's so annoying, oh my god.

"How can being awkward be a good thing? Do you mind explaining that, Pham?" I asked her while I rested my face on my hand, giving her my full attention. She took a few moments to finally speak up again.

"I don't know, it could be a charm, I guess?"

"You think my awkwardness is charming?" I asked Hanni, once again giving her the smirk.

"I never said tha—" She was interrupted by Mrs. Marsh entering the room. I looked over at the teacher and could clearly see where Danielle got her good looks from. She did not look like she had a seventeen-year-old daughter.

I looked back at Hanni and couldn't help but notice the color of her eyes and the shape of her lips; they were too familiar. 

Where had I seen Hanni before?

............

very short chapter but atleast they're finally interacting 🤭also some of these interactions are based on true events..