···

“Hey, who’s that girl? Is she new here?”

“Yeah.. I think she’s new, I’ve never seen her here before.”

It all happened right when school started during the first week of her freshman year. Chattering and finger-pointing always started when she walked around.

“She’s really pretty, but she looks a bit too y for my taste. She looks mean, like she’ll bite.. I mean..”

“Yeah, I get you. I would totally go say something to her, but now that I think about it.. I’d rather not.”

For two days, she was receiving criticism already –– about her appearance.

She sat down and sighed. Having a handmade lunch in front of her, she was about to take a bite and eat her lunch in peace before…

“Hell–lloo!” an energetic voice exclaimed.

It started her as she jumped up a little from her seat. There was another girl in front of her who was smiling brightly.

“W-who’re you..?”

Everyone within the classroom was watching intently on how Seulgi was interacting with Wendy, one of the popular socialites around school.

This was how her friendships started, and how her high school life became better...

···

[To the Present]

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

The annoying clock rang into her ears. It was another pop quiz that everyone wasn’t expecting –– oh wait, pop quizzes weren’t meant to be expected. Seulgi had studied on this topic clearly the night before, but her brain was failing her since she didn’t get much sleep.

“You’ve got 10 more minutes on this,” the teacher announced.

« , is it C? Or is it D? I know I looked over this yesterday night! » Seulgi scratched her head with eyes piercing the paper in heavy concentration.

It was the last question and she had been stuck on it for more than 5 minutes.

“Two minutes.”

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

The teacher cleared his throat, “If it isn’t turned in by 30 seconds, you will automatically fail this quiz.”

« F –– this! »

Seulgi just marked one of the two answers and dashed to the front to turn in her quiz.

“Time’s up!” The teacher clapped.

A few groans were heard here and there in the classroom. Seulgi breathed in heavily and relaxed a bit. Then, she got tapped on her shoulder from behind.

“I hope you knew what answer you were picking for that last question, Seulgi,” Wendy whispered.

Yes, Wendy the socialite was seated behind Seulgi. They became close friends, and even rumors started going out that they were dating.

“I was debating between C or D. Please tell me it was either one. I picked C in the end,” Seulgi replied.

“Chill, you got the correct answer.”

“Thanks, genius,” Seulgi smiled, and turned back around.

During the day was the boring part. After school was the fun part. Seulgi was in the dance crew along with a few others. She was older than a few of them like Krystal and Jinri, but they were still her seniors (within the club). But she fit in so well that she’s got the lead singer role (the vocalist position right after Wendy), and even a candidate for the dance captain since she was good at dancing.

Seulgi still remembered the very first time Wendy introduced the dance crew to her.

“Oh.. We don’t just dance. We sing live and perform too, while dancing. Amaaaaa~zing, isn’t it?”

Her and her sarcastic jokes in general always managed to make Seulgi chuckle while she recalled the sweet memories.

Eventually, after school came by. It was worth the wait, according to Seulgi. She was