Chapter Text
“Five minutes,” Calls Ms. Park, Chaewon’s English teacher, nodding towards the clock that sits above the door. The second hand keeps ticking, inching towards the moment that the final bell will ring and Chaewon will be free of this cursed English test. Normally, this would be fine. Normally, Chaewon would be on her second go-around looking over her answers, making sure everything was perfect. Today, though, she stares at the final question and the empty box under it. Try as she might, she just can’t focus on the words. Probably because an earthquake is happening behind her.
Huh Yunjin, the only girl who’d made it onto the boy’s baseball team, is sitting behind her clad in her usual obnoxiously blue letterman jacket. She’s bouncing her leg so aggressively that it's shaking her desk which in turn shakes the entire column. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also performing an elaborate drum solo with her pencil on the edge of the desk. Like always, she’s chewing gum and each snap of it in her mouth shakes Chaewon out of any semblance of focus she might have been able to gather. Only Huh Yunjin would be allowed to pop gum during a test. Ms. Park is just as charmed by her as every other teacher seems to be and Chaewon can’t understand why for the life of her. Huh Yunjin has less charm than a pig in a bowtie.
When a particularly loud pop interrupts Chaewon in the middle of her fifth time re-reading the question, she finally whirls around. Stirred by the sheer venom in Chaewon’s gaze, Yunjin glances up and pauses her popping and drumming. Her eyes are big and brown and completely devoid of any intelligent thought. Yunjin reaches into her backpack, another testing infraction only she could get away with, and fishes out a pack of pink bubblegum. She offers it out to Chaewon and Chaewon rolls her eyes so hard she gets a glimpse of her brain. She holds a finger to her lips to shush Yunjin and turns back towards her paper, taking advantage of the last few moments of silence to read the question and scribble down an answer before the bell rings and Ms. Park begins to collect the tests.
As Chaewon heads for the door, Yunjin jogs after her.
“ChaeChae,” She calls, “Wait up.”
Chaewon walks quicker, but trying to outpace the 5’7 Huh Yunjin is a pointless endeavor. Yunjin catches up easily and walks beside her through the hall.
“Was I too loud?” She asks.
“No, I love listening to drum concerts while I’m taking a test,” Chaewon deadpans.
“Oh, okay phew” Yunjin grins, “I’m only asking ‘cause it seemed like you were kind of annoyed so I thought-”
“I have to go,” Chaewon interrupts her, turning sharply down another hallway to escape. For a moment, she’s worried Yunjin will follow her, but luckily the universe rescues her and she turns right into Sakura, her best friend since middle school who raises her eyebrows at Chaewon’s frantic pace.
“Getting your steps in?” Sakura asks.
“Close enough,” Chaewon slows down, sure now that she isn’t being followed.
“Huh Yunjin?” Sakura guesses.
“Don’t say her name so loud,” Chaewon hisses, “You’ll attract her fanclub.”
Sakura laughs, “Don’t you think it’s kind of cute how she follows you around like a little puppy?”
“Puppies everywhere are insulted,” Chaewon grumbles, “Want to come to SGA with me? We’re planning prom themes.”
“Hanging out with every power-hungry control freak in the school sounds like a ton of fun,” Sakura teases, “But I think I’ll have to miss it.”
“Hey,” Chaewon pushes her lightly, “Don’t complain to me when we end up having another 70s disco dance, then.”
“Can’t you just make them choose something good?” Sakura frowns, “Aren’t you, like, the boss?”
“I’m not the boss, it’s a democratic body,” Chaewon puts on her school president voice, “I’m a public servant. If anything, you’re my boss.”
“Yeah, okay,” Sakura gives Chaewon a quick goodbye squeeze, “Your boss will see you tomorrow.”
Chaewon bids her goodbye and heads into the SGA meeting, the disaster of her English test forgotten for the moment.
That Friday, Ms. Park hands back their tests and Chaewon blanches at the sight of hers. A big fat 98% is written in red ink on the top, circled for good measure. Chaewon doesn’t need to flip through the pages to know which question she got wrong, but she does it anyway, unsurprised to find an ugly red X next to the last question. She almost manages to keep it together for the last few minutes of class until she can go home and scream into her pillow, but then a voice she knows all too well pipes up behind her.
“I’m trying to be like you ChaeChae,” Yunjin is frowning at the 72 on the front of her paper, “How is it that we’ve been at the same schools since kindergarten and you turned out so much smarter than me?”
Chaewon brandishes her paper in Yunjin’s face, the two-digit number on the front so unbearable, “You call this smart?”
Yunjin looks up, the same confused look she usually wears around Chaewon spreading across her face, “Um, yes?”
“This is all your fault,” Chaewon groans, “If you weren’t causing a seismic event behind me I would be able to focus on the test.” The bell rings and Chaewon pulls her backpack on and rushes out, Yunjin following after her like always.
“Let me make it up to you,” Yunjin offers.
“How?” Chaewon raises her eyebrows, “You’re going to charm your way into getting my grade changed?”
“No, I mean,” Yunjin rubs her forehead, “Let me take you out sometime. I’ll pay for everything. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Oh my,” Chaewon presses her hand to her heart, “The famous Huh Yunjin is offering a commoner like me a date? All is forgiven!”
Yunjin’s eyes widen, “Does that mean yes?”
“No,” Chaewon rolls her eyes, “Forget it, okay? You don’t have to make it up to me. Just try to sit still next time.” She takes Yunjin’s confused silence as an opportunity to escape, calling behind her as she speeds down the hall, “And stop popping that gum!”
Chaewon is lucky to have the weekend to detox from everything Huh Yunjin. She tries to explain the 98% to her parents but they force her to cancel her weekend plans with Sakura to study since she ‘obviously needs it’. Chaewon can’t argue. She can only blame Yunjin so much for her slipping grades. In reality, Chaewon should be able to sit in the middle of an active volcano and still score 100. What happens if the final exam comes and there’s Yunjin and four other baseball guys sitting around her? Chaewon has to learn to block them out. She takes extra care to focus on her studying, shutting her phone off and leaving it on her dresser so she isn’t tempted to check every single notification. She makes it two hours before she allows herself a break, slumping in her bean bag chair with her phone. There’s a stack of notifications waiting from Sakura.
kkura 🌸
OMG
you’ll never guess who just texted me
chaewon!!!!!
wake up
KIM CHAEWON
help idk what to say
wake uppppp
sorry sorry i had my phone off
what is it omg
huh yunjin texted me??
how did she even get my number im scared
ignore❗❗
shes asking about you 😭😭
me?????
IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE
she says
‘what snack does chaechae like?’
i didn’t know you guys were on nickname terms 👀
we’re not
do NOT respond
whyyyy
it’s free food
if you don’t want it just give it to me
tell her i hate snacks
tell her my favorite snack is a quiet classroom
im gonna tell her u like everything and ur not picky
kkura do not
but im hungry 🥺
she says okie-dokie
im not kidding she actually said that
SAKURA
i’m literally going to murder you
okay okay 🙌
why do u even hate her so much
i dont hate her
i just think its weird how she has a new fuckbuddy like
every day
🤨
thats her choice
dont slutshame
im not slutshaming im yunjin-shaming
maybe u cld learn a little from her
????
u want me to become a womanizer?
i just mean it wld be good for u to get out more
lots of cute guys ask me abt u yknow
i dont trust ur definition of cute guys
theyre cute trust me TRUST ME
choi hajoon?
ew
yunjin’s teammate?
no thanks
so now ur rejecting guys just bc they play the same sport as her?
correct
aw cmon u guys wld be cute
ill take yunjin and we can go on double dates
shes not hard on the eyes yknow…
blocked.
Chaewon shuts her phone off again, ignoring the stream of notifications that flood in before the screen goes black. She returns to studying, wondering what kind of evil scheme Yunjin is plotting involving snacks and her best friend’s number.