Chapter Text
“So? What happened?”
Chaehyun had just closed the door of the faculty room after passing their quiz in Trigonometry and ‘talking’ with their adviser slash Math teacher for a bit.
(Or the proper description is probably her nodding wordlessly as Ms. Shen scolds her for a thing she didn’t do. More or less.)
Sighing and fixing her backpack, the brunette answered, “Just the usual stuff,”
She was walking home with her best friend Yeseo, a thing they had always been doing since their houses are practically just across each other.
“You know, it really boils my blood that you’re getting blamed for something that wasn’t your fault in the first place. I mean–” Yeseo’s eyes darted to a girl wearing a leather jacket, leaning on her motorcycle, busy with her phone. “–just because her parents are part-owners of this school doesn’t give her the free pass to whatever she wishes to do!”
The blonde then rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide her annoyance, as she had just briefly met gazes with the subject of their conversation–thee resident “to-hell-with-y’all” girl, Seo Youngeun.
“Maybe I should just do it? It’s not like she hates me or something, right?” Chaehyun turned, facing Yeseo as they keep walking. “I mean, it’s partly true that I’m the class president so I should at least approach her or something. Maybe I could talk to her and make her do it?”
“Chae, haven’t you heard the news? Just last week that girl punched someone in the face because according to her, she was bored. Besides, is it really your problem that she doesn’t study and always gets zero on our quizzes?” Yeseo was a bit distracted by her rants as she tries to reason with her bestfriend that she didn’t immediately see the small rock on the sidewalk.
“Wait, watch out–”
“Awww–” There was a thud as Chaehyun fell on her butt. Luckily though, she was able to support her weight with her left hand lessening the impact of her fall. It did leave a little scratch on her palms though.
“Geez. You’re such a klutz, you know that?” She then helped Chaehyun get up, brushing off the dust on her skirt.
…….
“I heard that you’re eating eggs for lunch again,” Hikaru approached Youngeun who currently has her head plopped on her desk. The girl came from the room just beside Youngeun’s, as it was their unspoken tradition to eat lunch together, and knowing the latter’s unfriendly behavior, you wouldn’t be able to make her go visit another class come hell or high waters.
She remained silent as she pulled herself up, wanting to know what food Hikaru’s mom had prepared for them that day. She was already used to Hikaru’s loud mouth as she had spent her childhood with her. Something about their parents being business partners and all made it possible for their friendship to actually happen.
(Or Hikaru’s just a persistent one and she’s been pushing her away her whole life until she decided it’s better to just let her be. At least she’s getting free lunch, right?)
Don’t get her wrong, there’s actually a professional cook back in their mansion who could cook almost anything she would want to eat but it just feels…
empty, you know?
Not that she cares, anyway.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” Hikaru snapped her fingers in her face, waking her up from her trance. “I said that you should at least try and answer your quizzes. I feel so bad for your class president. I passed by her earlier and your adviser’s on her ass again.” She said as she picked up an egg roll from her lunch box, shaking her head in disapproval.
“Again…?” Youngeun’s eyes then darted in confusion towards her childhood friend, waiting for her to explain.
Shocked, Hikaru then swallowed her food before replying, “You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Ms. Shen has been demanding her to tutor you. For like a month now. Probably to help your godforsaken grades or something,”
……….
“I’m doing it,” Chaehyun whispered in her seat, reaching for her planner on the compartment of her desk, wanting to run over her little speech again. Pulling it out, a small plastic fell on the floor, revealing Kuromi-printed band-aids, a bottle of disinfectant and a pack of cotton balls.
Baffled, she picked them up, thinking about where they came from.
“This wasn’t from Yeseo, she’s absent today because she needs to accompany her parents to an event.”
“Is this from that guy I turned down yesterday? I haven’t seen him all day, though?”
“The design is so cute! I wanna keep them…”
“But maybe these weren’t for me?”
“Pres,”
“Pres!”
“President Kim,”
“Kim Chaehyun,”
“Chaehyun,”
“Chae,”
“OMYGOD I DIDN’T STEAL THESE, I SWEAR!”
Good thing the students already left the classroom to change clothes and head to the gymnasium. Or this will be added to her long list of embarrassing moments. At least now she had just embarrassed herself in front of–
“SEO YOUNGEUN? W–why?” She promptly picked up the stuff that fell and placed it on top of her desk.
“Did I do something wrong? Do these belong to her?” She then looked at the pharmacy-bought plastic bag before looking back to Youngeun?
“She looks so serious.”
“Is she going to punch me?”
“I haven’t even accomplished a single thing from my bucket list!”
“Should I just kneel and beg for my life?”
“I’m sor–”
“Can you give me a piece of paper and a pen?”
“W-what?”
Chaehyun’s mouth hung in bewilderment; her eyes blinking multiple times.
She watched as the girl in front of her let out a muted sigh as Youngeun then reaches for her phone, scrolling through it. “We have a quiz in Physics later, right?” She asked, her eyes still on the screen that at first, Chaehyun wasn’t sure if she was talking to her.
Realizing that they were alone in the classroom, she then answered, still not getting whatever the hell is currently happening, “Y-yeah?”
“I only brought my wallet and nothing else,” Youngeun replied putting her phone back, seeing Chaehyun in the eye.
“So you don’t have a pen and paper for the quiz,” It was more of Chaehyun talking to herself and trying to digest things rather than a direct reply to the girl in front of her.
She then absent-mindedly fished out a piece of yellow paper in her bag and then brought out her pink pencil case containing her pens with a small My Melody figurine on top. Chaehyun then stared at the pen, and then looked at Youngeun, and then back to the pen, and then to Youngeun, and then–
“Anything’s fine,”
“But these doesn’t suit your image–”
Gently grabbing the pen from Chaehyun’s hand and the paper from the desk, she then said, “Ms. Shen won’t bother you again if I answered the quiz later, right?”
“H-huh? Ah, yeah. But I mean, technically no, I guess, since I’m the class president and I’m bound to perform my duties, one of which is to talk to the class adviser whenever there is a–”
Youngeun then turned, walking back to her desk.
“O-okay? Did we just have our first conversation ever?”
Chaehyun thought as her sight follows the back of the girl.
“You’ll be late for PE,”
“Right, I almost forgot!”
……….
“Dude, I almost got caught using cellphone in Ms. Shen’s class earlier! You know how much of a demon she is during class hours. And after,” Hikaru shivered in her seat, remembering that one time when she was a minute late for her Math class because she lost track of time and slept for extended hours in the school infirmary with Youngeun.
“It’s not like you’re a diligent student that has an academic record to protect,” Youngeun then shrugged, opening her laptop, and placing it on top of her lap.
“Well, duh? I have my allowance and cards that I need to protect. I mean, I wouldn’t be doing these boring assignments and studying about damn velocity if not for that,” Hikaru reached for her favorite pillow, giving it a tight hug.
Youngeun did not answer, her attention was on her laptop screen, mentally debating whether to open the unfinished quest that she had on her game yesterday or look at the assignments posted in their online group.
(Chaehyun never fails to remind everyone of the assignments, projects, and quizzes that they have. She’s also very friendly and approachable–that sometimes people tend to misunderstand her actions– as well as a really organized and reliable leader. And she’s pretty. Especially when she smiles. It’s like she was made for that role. Not that smiling and being pretty is needed for the job but–)
“I heard you had a perfect score on your Physics quiz earlier,”
“What about it?” In the end, she just decided to look at their posted homework, thinking that she’ll just get back to her game as soon as she finishes her task.
“Dayeon told me– and you know how comical she narrates things–she said everyone gasped when Ms. Choi congratulated you. She told me some even think you cheated by threatening your seatmate Hiyyih into letting you copy the answers. You should’ve seen her tell the story, it was so funny,” Hikaru cackles hard, she even found it hard to breathe at some point.
“Please. Dayeon can tell the corniest joke of all and you would still laugh like there’s no tomorrow. Besides,” Her eyes then shifted to her phone which had lit up, flashing a message from her Mom which made her mentally roll her eyes.
“Hiyyih had two mistakes. Not that I care about scores,”
“Right,” Hikaru let out another chuckle, forgetting her supposed retaliation on Youngeun’s Dayeon comment. “You don’t care about scores. You don’t care about school in general, I get it,” she paused, grinning teasingly closing her friend’s laptop,
“‘Coz you only care about Kim Chaehyun, right?”
“Ha ha. Very funny Ms. Ezaki,”
“I love it when you get flustered and you try to hide it by killing me with your glare but then the redness of your ears clearly tells the otherwise,” And there it was again: Hikaru’s signature laughter that was made to specifically antagonize Youngeun. The latter just remained silent, not wanting to yield even if she already knew she lost the game.
“You know what, I don’t really get why you stubbornly put up that scary front instead of like, approaching her and making it clear that you don’t hate her,” Hikaru was trying to catch Youngeun’s eyes but the latter wouldn’t bulge, her focus is still on her task at hand.
Directions: Write a one-thousand-word essay describing your family and how your parents help shape your character as you grow up.
“The fuck is this assignment in GMRC…”
“See? You always look and sound like you want to stab the person next to you. The news of you punching that guy in the gut had also circulated wrongly, you know.”
“He was harassing the girl, what else should I have done?”
“Dude, I know. I’m not saying that what you did was wrong, in fact, he deserves more than a punch. It’s just that–” Hikaru grabbed Youngeun’s chin, turning her head towards her direction. “–it’s our last year in High school and you won’t even try and see if you have a chance?”
Youngeun looked away; she hates confrontations like this. She might look tough and all, but she’s actually too vulnerable for emotional confrontations.
“They will harass her if they see her with me,”
“What’s the purpose of learning taekwondo if you won’t use it with obsessive bitches?” Crossing her arms in her chest, Hikaru arched her left brow, displeased with Youngeun’s answers.
“I can’t hurt girls!”
“Then tell them to fuck off,”
“If they didn’t?”
“Make them.”
Seeing that Youngeun wants to avoid the topic and would rather remain silent, Hikaru then grabbed her phone; pressing a few buttons on it.
“Okay, done!”
“What did you do?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I just texted my Mom.”
There were still question marks hanging on top of Youngeun’s head when Hikaru added, “I told her we’ll hire some men to guard Chaehyun.”
“YOU DID WHAT?”
“Oh and also,”
“What else did you do?”
“Expect a message prolly in 3… 2… 1…”
Youngeun’s phone lit up again, this time, a nickname she never knew would flash on the screen did appear on it.
“Dude, Chaechae bunny emoji? The fuck was that cringe contact name?”
“Mind your own business, Yeonie heart heart heart emojis,” Youngeun smirked back before she excitedly grabbed her phone, shutting her surroundings down.
From: Chaechae 🐰
Hikaru said you want to treat me to breakfast and return the pen. You don’t have to :)
This is Kim Chaehyun, by the way. I got your number from the class masterlist :)
To: Chaechae 🐰
I’m sorry about Hikaru’s random text. But I actually want to eat breakfast with you. Is it alright?
To: Chaechae 🐰
I’m sorry a
To: Chaechae 🐰
I don’t like being indebted to people. Let’s meet in the cafeteria at around 6 AM. Or would you prefer to eat at Hikaru’s family restaurant? They serve the best breakfast meals in town. Just let me know. [sent]
From: Chaechae 🐰
Cafeteria’s fine! I don’t wanna trouble you further. I’ll see you tomorrow? :)
To: Chaechae 🐰
You’re far from being the definition of trouble, just so you know. I’m looking forward to tomorrow ^__^
To: Chaechae 🐰
You’re far from being the definition of trouble, jus
To: Chaechae 🐰
Looking forward. [sent]
From: Chaechae 🐰
Aight! Good night :)
To: Chaechae 🐰
I hope you would have the sweetest dreams. I would love to meet you in my slumber. <333
To: Chaechae 🐰
I hope you’d have the sweete
To: Chaechae 🐰
Likewise. [sent]
“You have the number of the cafeteria chef?” Youngeun said, lifting her eyes from her phone, a smile was plastered in her face (which she forgot to hide prolly because of excitement) finally breaking the silence in the room.
“I don’t but maybe Shiro-unnie has them? I mean she’s the SC president, right?”
“Okay then tell her to give them a heads up that our family chef would be present in the school kitchen tomorrow and that it will be closed until further notice.”
Quickly realizing what’s going on, Hikaru grinned widely as she murmured under her breath, “You’re such a loser when in love,”
“Shut up twitter user yeonieluvbot032,”
“I guess this is a start?”
Is what Youngeun thought as she eagerly finishes her assignments, not because she couldn’t wait to get back on her game but because she was excited to read the blog entitled, “How to Talk to the Girl You Like Without Sounding Like a Complete Idiot - 10 Easy Steps”– a website she had previously bookmarked
just because.