The next day, Tzuyu got up late and it stunk.

After throwing on a random set of clothes that she hoped wasn’t what she wore yesterday, brushing her teeth furiously, throwing on a light fall jacket and skipping breakfast as usual, she burst out of her front door and immediately stooped to pick up a pink heart-shaped note that had fallen onto the ground.

“‘Dear Tzuyu,’” she read aloud to herself while sprinting down the street to the train station. “‘I rang your doorbell this morning to see if you were up for going to school together this morning, but nobody answered the door. Did you already leave? After five minutes, I really had to get going. I’m sorry if I left you there. :( Do you want to commute to school together tomorrow? From, Sana’- HOLY CRAP WHAT SANA WAS AT MY DOOR THIS MORNING?? WHY AM I SUCH A HEAVY SLEEPER?!” The Taiwanese girl proceeded to groan and forget all the time she never spent exercising before doubling over, spewing out several hacking coughs.

It was not until Tzuyu boarded the subway in a huffing and puffing state did she notice the writing on the back of the note. “‘P.S.- I might be making assumptions here because nobody answered the door, but if you’re lonely or happen to live alone, we can have sleepovers sometime! My brother is really boring company for the most part. :D    >_<    :))))))).’ Dear God-” And proceeded to silently freak out for the rest of the trip, ignoring the curious stares of the other passengers.

“Ayyy, we’re getting our partner assignments for the social studies project today!” Momo said excitedly, grabbing Nayeon and Tzuyu’s hands and swinging their arms as if they were a happy family out on a walk.

“Right. I’m pretty much about one hundred percent sure that none of us have been paired up with each other because the teacher is evil and hates me,” sighed Tzuyu, once again reluctant to attend the class immediately after lunch. With her luck, she would be forced to work with another idiot that decided that the project was best when left entirely to the younger girl. Honestly, it really was, but that didn’t mean Tzuyu wanted to do double the workload and allow someone to leech a good grade off of her efforts. It was one of the frustrating points of being a smart kid. Nayeon patted the maknae on the back comfortingly, understanding that it must be hard for her to skip a grade but still be surrounded by idiots.

“Cheer up,” said Momo enthusiastically. “Maybe you’ll get Sana as your partner!”

“I think I would just embarrass myself,” the tall girl responded drily.

The jokbal maniac scratched her chin thoughtfully. “That’s probably true.”

“I’m not sure if I should be happy that you agreed with me or sad that even you have noted the reality of my constant social awkwardness.”

“Uhh, happy, I think. In my sixteen years of existence, I have learned that it’s always better to be happy. Wait, what do you mean ‘even me’?”

Tzuyu always fast walked to all of her classes to get there early, with Nayeon and Momo flat-out running to keep up with her long strides whenever their schedules overlapped. As a result, the trio usually arrived at class at least a minute before the late bell rung, but Nayeon did not appreciate the extra exercise.

“Slow down, you,” the stiff-backed eomma complained, clutching her side. “I’ve got a cramp now. We shouldn’t be physically exerting ourselves when we’ve just finished a meal. I mean it, guys. Slow dooooown…”

“Are you sure you’re really the mom of our group? You’re more like a grandmother…”

“Tzuyu, be quiet.”

This ended ninety-seven percent of the time with Momo happily slowing down to hold Nayeon’s hand and Tzuyu not-so-happily slowing to a not-so-fast walk, muttering about oblivious midget unnies with short legs.

“Hey, I’m not that short. And how are we oblivious? What are you talking about?” Moguri huffed, proving Tzuyu’s point very well. She was still clutching the oldest’s hand.

“Nothing,” a blushing Nayeon said loudly. “Aren’t we supposed to be hurrying to social studies so Tzuyu can talk to Sana before class starts?”

If you asked her, she would tell you that her face was only red because of all the sprinting the maknae made them do.

As Tzuyu predicted, she was not partnered with either of her unnies for the social studies project. Instead, she ended up working with Mina, who (thank God) did not seem like much of a slacker to her. Mina seemed pretty happy to be working with her for whatever reason. Momo was paired with their performance team’s Yoo Jungyeon, and they hit it off immediately laughing at the worst jokes she had ever heard together. The Yoda had a feeling that neither of them had been listening to the instructions and was extremely worried about how they would get any work done.

Meanwhile, Nayeon had been paired with none other than Minatozaki Sana. Tzuyu could clearly see the smug smile on the bunny’s face and almost hear her evil laughter echoing through the room. She prayed to whatever deity that was out there to protect the innocent smile on Sana’s face. The poor girl was obviously clueless of what torture would be coming her way.

“So!” Mina said cheerily, grabbing hold of and shaking Tzuyu’s hand. “Hi, Tzuyu! We’ve met each other before, but anyway, I’m Mina, Sana’s ultimately better half. We’ll be working together for this project, so let’s work hard!”

“Hi, Mina unnie. You’re right, let’s work hard on this. Why don’t we use today to choose our topic and begin brainstorming ideas? We can start in the textbook’s table of contents. I’m not even sure where to start with this project, how about you...”

Mina thought it was a good idea, and the two of them spent the next five minutes flipping through the book and making note of anything interesting before a thought occurred to Tzuyu.

“Unnie,” the younger girl lifted her head from studying the text. “Did you say that you’re Sana unnie’s better half? Does that mean that you’re twins?”

The ballerina laughed, amused by the question. “No, we’re not related at all, actually. We’re both Japanese, though, and we moved to Korea together.”

“Oh. Does that mean that you’re dating?”

“DEFINITELY not.” the older girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I have absolutely no intention of dating that weird, incessantly happy ball of sunshine and rainbows. Plus, she probably has her eye on someone else. Or I’m pretty sure she will soon.”

For a creepy moment, the tall girl realized that Mina and Nayeon’s smiles were sort of identical and immediately scooted back in her chair, only slightly fearful for her life.

ChewyYoda is online!

ChewyYoda: Unnies, I might be a few minutes late to team rehearsal. Going to see my writing teacher first to fight him over the grading of my essay.

Momorings is online!

Nabongs is online!

Momorings: okay! plz don’t be too late you’re Sana’s introductory buddy! :D

ChewyYoda: Introductory buddy?

Nabongs: Yep, you’re supposed to show Sana the ropes to our performance team! We thought you would be a good fit for the job.

ChewyYoda: Uhhhh...okay. I’ll try my best, but I might be late. My writing teacher is sort of a jerk, so I’ll see.

Nabongs: Chewy-ah, don’t talk about your teachers like that.

Momorings: but isn;t he the one who docked you points becuz he didn’t agree w/ the thesis of ur essay about a hero that made an impact on ur life? he said Pororo didn;t count and u spent the rest of the week cursing at him under ur breath.

Nabongs: Oh, HE’S your writing teacher? Nvm, cure him all you want. He’s a total jerk who doesn’t appreciate the importance of cartoon characters to the mental development and happiness of young children. NO ONE DISSES PORORO. NOT ON MY WATCH.

ChewyYoda: I’m almost at his door. Pray for me.

Nabongs: SLAUGHTER HIM. WRECK HIM LIKE THE THUG YOU ARE. SLAY THAT MONSTER FOR RUINING A POOR, INNOCENT CHILD’S DREAMS. DO NOT BE AFRAID, MY CHOSEN ONE. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE RAISED YOU FOR.

Momorings: what innocent child

Momorings: you’re the only other one here that was taught by him and you’re no innocent child.

ChewyYoda: Wait, you raised me?

Momorings: also hurry because we assigned chaeng as mina’s buddy as a joke and you have to see her faceee

Nabongs: Such a precious little cub. :)  She looks like she’s just met her favorite idol.

ChewyYoda: LMAO Nayeon unnie, your complete 180 though

ChewyYoda: TAKE A PICTURE

ChewyYoda: UNNIES PLEASE TAKE A PICTURE AND SEND IT TO ME

ChewyYoda: I MAY NEED IT FOR BLACKMAIL

ChewyYoda: Oops

ChewyYoda: Unnies??

ChewyYoda: I know you saw what I wrote

Nabongs is offline!

Momorings: come quicklyyy Chewy-ah

Momorings is offline!

ChewyYoda: ...aish.

“I am HERE!” Tzuyu flings open the door to the practice room in a great hurry, scrambling inside and nearly knocking Jihyo down in the process. She was twenty minutes late because of her demonic language arts teacher who refused to acknowledge any of her perfectly valid debate points. Thankfully, Jihyo didn’t seem to mind too much.

“MAKNAE-AHHHHHH,” the leader threw her arms around her favorite child of the bunch, shedding tears of gratitude. “Thank gosh you’re here! It’s been horrible trying to get this lot in order for more than five minutes without you. I’m never underestimating your powers of bluntness again. I will treat you to ice cream sometime. Unnie loves you very much.”

“Ah...okay,” Tzuyu awkwardly patted her overdramatic friend on the back in a half hug, unsure of what she was really supposed to say to that. The seven other members of the club had begun to swarm around the two of them, all talking and laughing amongst themselves. Even Sana and Mina had joined in.

“Anyway, we’ve done our introductions for our new members. Sana and Mina, this is Tzuyu, one of the two original members of our dance line, the other being Momo. But I’m sure you know each other already.” Jihyo plunged straight back into organized leader mode once again. “Tzuyu, you were gone for too long and we had Dahyun explain the basics of the team to Sana. In a nutshell, our group name is Twice, because we’re so amazing that we wow everyone once through our visuals and a second time through our awesome skills. We learn a song, learn the dance, and then we perform it. Everyone got that? It’s only the beginning of October and our second meeting this year, so we’ll begin practicing as soon as the club director, Mr. Park (Sana, Mina, everyone calls him JYP), lets us know what song we’ll perform. I talked to our manager and she says it’s already finalized and titled “Cheer Up,” but, ummm, I guess JYP’s running a bit late this time. Probably because he’s a bit huffy he didn’t produce our song. So today, all we’re doing is hanging out and getting to know each other better.”

Sana raised her hand to speak. “So you mean we’re not doing anything productive at this meeting?”

“No, we’re still...being productive.” Jihyo made her ‘thinking face’ that she always pulled whenever she had to use her quick wit and smooth tongue to bail one of her members out of trouble. “We’re getting to know our new additions and bonding while we wait for our next project to arrive. It’s good for our teamwork.”

“Oh, okay!” Sana looked happy with that explanation.

“Also, we would get our butts kicked by Jihyo if we didn’t attend this meeting,” whispered Jungyeon.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. So...everybody, you’re allowed to mingle. Actually, you have to mingle. And before you ask, no, Tzuyu, you can’t work on your homework.”

“Awww…”

“Jungyeon, Chaeyoung, try not to scare anyone off with your jokes.”

“C’mon, Jihyo, they’re not so bad.”

“Hey unnie, hey, unnie, I have a good one this time. Why was the little lion afraid of the penguin?”

Jihyo wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want to know. Momo, you have to share your food if you’re eating it now. Nayeon, you are not the maknae. Dahyun...um...uh...you’re doing well, I guess.”

Dahyun performed a celebratory fist pump in the air.

“And everybody, be nice to our new members!”

Sana happened to be somewhat of a social butterfly, and she immediately got along with everyone in the group. Tzuyu watched her flit around from person to person and make a new friend each time she spoke, in envy of her loquaciousness and naturally likable demeanor. It took her ages to warm up to the other Twice members, but here was Sana the squirrel with a killer smile accomplishing something that had taken her several weeks and Jihyo sometimes dragging her out of the house to do in five minutes. Great. What a confidence booster. The new girl was cute and good at making friends, and Tzuyu was really a er for people that are her polar opposites and would never notice her. She really was pretty, though. If that was relevant.

Mina, on the other hand, seemed to have a similar personality to Tzuyu in the sense that she was shier and more hesitant to approach people. As a result of this and their previous two meetings, the two of them were able to connect pretty easily, spending most of the remaining hour of practice chatting with Tzuyu and discussing their social studies project (technically not breaking Jihyo’s no homework rule).  Different members dropped in to introduce themselves to Mina and ruffle Tzuyu’s hair as well. She said hated it when they did that, but the others could tell she didn’t really mind.

“Hi, everyone!” beamed Sana, finally settling down for a few minutes’ rest after becoming best friends with everyone in the room. “Phew, that was exhausting, scurrying about. It was fun, though!” She threw one arm over Mina and the other over Tzuyu in her “I’m super close with everyone!” fashion. It was sort of true, though. Tzuyu sighed.

Chaeyoung sometimes joined in and sat next to Tzuyu as her best same age buddy, occasionally speaking, often glancing back and forth between the two taller girls, and constantly playing with her shoelaces. She was so incredibly awkward that even socially awkward Tzuyu noticed it.

“Chaeng, what are you doing?” Tzuyu eventually hissed when Mina had turned away and Jungyeon had engaged her in conversation.

“I’m not really sure,” Chaeyoung admitted, still seated with her legs criss-crossed next to the taller girl. “I just like sitting here.”

Yoda squinted at her friend. “What?”

“Don’t question me, I’m feeling sort of irrational right now.”

Remembering the random note she had found on her doorstep earlier in the day, Tzuyu sort of understood the sentiment.

A/N: Hi, it’s the horrible loser author you’ve forgotten about who hasn’t updated in three years. I AM SO SORRY. My lame excuse is that there weren’t many opportunities to use the computer over the past few weeks (I don’t have my own), and it’s really hard typing on the tablet. Also, I honestly sort of started without a clear plot in mind and realized that I would have to desperately attempt to salvage it at some point. But anyway, I AM SO SORRY.

At least I have finally updated! (Finally.) (LOL this is actually the longest chapter so far kind of sad because it's still really short)

Again, I’m so sorry for the wait. I’m trying to move the half existent plot along, so I hope it turned out alright! Please drop a comment and tell me what you liked and didn’t like. Any comment! Tell me what you think about the characters. I hope they’re interesting enough.

Thank you! And have a nice day!

ALSO OMG I HAVE 200 SUBSCRIBERS. I CAN'T BELIEVE 200 PEOPLE WANT TO READ MY CRAPPY STORY. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Enjoy a meme in the meantime, haha. Who knows when I'll update cuz NOT ME asdfkhownokl

In any case, you stand a pretty good chance if you're Tzuyu.