It was a new week at South Lake and Lumi was still not over the fact that her size was exposed at the ski shop. She hadn't spoken to anyone all weekend long and was now debating if she even wanted to go on the trip at all.
That morning she couldn't bare to meet up with Ren and hold his hand to her first period. What if he didn't want to hold her hand? Or worse, he wanted to "break up"?
Lumi sighed in her class counting down the minutes for when she could leave for the day.
When the bell rang she slowly got up and grabbed her things. Ren was already outside her class waiting for her. She tried to avoid eye contact and took a sharp turn but he walked beside her nonetheless.
"Where were you this morning?" Ren asked.
He had his theories as to why she skipped out on their morning routine.
She looked up at him annoyed but never stopping her movement towards the exit of the school building.
"What do you think?" She retorted.
"I'll take you home today." Ren said.
"No it's ok Jade's got me."
"I told her I would take you."
Lumi stopped and looked up at the tall male. Her eyebrows scrunched and then she started back towards the exit.
As usual, they didn't speak during the car ride. When they arrived at the Mitchell's residence Lumi was in a hurry to get as far as she could from Ren.
"Thanks for the ride." She said and then shut the car door.
Once she was in her room she dropped her bag onto the floor and kicked off her shoes. She stood in front of her mirror and examined her body.
Why is it so hard to lose weight? She asked herself. Even though she knew well that she never worked out and she ate dessert buns almost everyday.
Her phone buzzed from her bag and she reached down to retrieve it.
'I'll be waiting for you tomorrow morning'
Lumi sighed at the text from Ren. Maybe it was time to call it quits? She tried to tell herself but knew deep down she enjoyed being his girlfriend.
The next morning Lumi was dropped off at school by her father. She walked up to the school entrance and sure enough, there was Ren Kim. Handsome as ever.
Lumi tried not to stare but he didn't notice her so she figured it was ok.
When she got to his side he gave her a small smile which was rare and reached his hand out to her. She gave him a smile back and then grabbed his hand in return. The touch still gave her goosebumps.
As they walked down the main hall towards her first period they passed by most of the popular kids. Before Lumi could pull on Ren's arm to speed up their pace he stopped which halted her in place.
He looked down at her confused hazel eyes and then leaned down to give her a kiss on her cheek. The students nearby looked and the choir of swoons, gasps and chatter began. One of them being Chloe.
Ren wished he had comforted Lumi sooner after the incident with Chloe and didn't like the fact that he missed one morning of their hand holding. So this was to make up for it, and the kiss was for him. He had been thinking about their last kiss a lot and wanted to kiss her again.
Although he wished it would have been on her lips this would do for now.
Lumi looked up at Ren with wide eyes. Her face was flushed. She caught herself trying to mouth the word 'why' but then stopped.
"I can't wait to be alone with you during the ski trip." Was all he said before resuming their steps.
During her first period Lumi tried her best to regain her composure. She rested her cheek where he had kissed her on her fist as if she was resting it. In actuality it was burning from his lips.
Why did he do that? Was it because Chloe was watching? She wondered, but then smiled at the memory. It rid her of any lingering bad emotions from what Chloe had done to her last weekend.
The day was coming to an end and Lumi looked at the signed piece of paper for the ski trip one last time before turning it into her teacher. There's no going back now. She thought as she left the classroom.
—
Friday was finally here. The day of the trip. Lumi had her luggage beside her outside the giant bus as Jade was struggling with her's. It was nearly bursting at the seam.
"Geez, what did you pack?" Lumi asked, trying not to laugh.
"Oh you know a little bit of this and a little bit of…booze." She whispered the last word.
Lumi's eyes lit up and then rolled upwards.
"Hey guys." Freddy said.
Freddy, Oliver and Ren walked to stand by the two girls. They had already put their luggages in the trunk.
"Here let me help you." Freddy said to Jade as he reached for her luggage. He groaned slightly from the weight.
Ren walked over to take Lumi's luggage as well and followed behind the struggling blonde.
"Thanks…" She said as he turned away.
It was her turn to get on the bus. As she walked through the aisle she was trying to calculate where it would be best for the 3 hour right. Not too close to the front, and not too close to the back, and definitely nowhere near Chloe and her friends. She thought as she scanned the rows.
Finally she picked out an empty two seater aisle right in the middle towards the back. She sat nearest to the window and then looked up to see Jade coming down. She stuck a hand up to get her attention but she ended up sitting beside Freddy who had just sat down a few rows in front of her.
Before Jade sat down she winked at Lumi. Lumi was confused as to why her friend didn't come to sit beside her.
Lumi saw it was Ren next. They caught each other's gaze and then she turned to face the window. She had mixed emotions about him sitting beside her for such a long trip.
Chloe pushed the girl in the seat beside her to go across the aisle. She stood up and smiled at Ren welcoming him over to the seat beside her.
Ren didn't notice Chloe as he headed straight to the empty seat beside Lumi. Lumi knew it had to be him and didn't turn to look.
They hadn't talked much since he kissed her in the middle of the hall earlier that week. She was now very aware of his manliness. He was no longer her childhood best friend. He was more.
He could tell she was acting odd so he pulled a book from his bag and began to read it. Lumi was thankful he was occupied with something other than conversating.
Once everyone was seated the bus began to start rolling. Lumi pretended to stretch every ten minutes to look over at Ren for just a second. He was indeed still reading his book.
After an hour had passed Lumi started to doze off. She tried her hardest to fight it but finally succumbed to sleep. Her head draped against Ren's chest. He looked down at the wavy brown hair female who was hung over him.
He smiled and then gently reached a hand out to help lift her head and place her onto his shoulder. Lumi snuggled against him as she continued to sleep for the rest of the trip.