cheer

━

Jieqiong drops Doyeon from the intricate cheer position they were in as she notices a certain girl walk across the field. Doyeon topples onto Siyeon who falls with the sudden weight, groaning at the impact. Doyeon curses at Jieqiong but the girl is too focused on the beauty that is the new transfer student to care. Only when the transfer student exits the field does Jieqiong come back to reality.

 

“Holy moly!” She exclaims, turning to look at her teammates with wide eyes. “Did you see her?!”

 

“Did you see me fall?” Doyeon retorts, patting the back of her skirt as Siyeon picks off a few pieces of grass from her head.

 

Jieqiong doesn’t seem the least bit guilty. She giggles and gives a quick apology with a bat of her eyelashes. Doyeon, who had been friends with Jieqiong for almost two years now, is no longer affected by such tactics, her eyes narrowing in aggravation.

 

“Stop getting distracted. That’s the third time you’ve done that this week.” Doyeon says.

 

Jieqiong frowns and gestures to the direction the pretty girl was just in.

 

“Okay, but did you see her?!” She asks.

 

“How could we not?” Yebin replies with her eyebrows raised, the corner of her lips lifted. “She’s all you talk about during practice.”

 

“She’s so pretty!” She stomps her feet a little as she said this, voice coming out in a slight whine.

 

“You say that about every girl you lay your eyes on.” Yoojung states as she checks up on her taller friend. Doyeon smiles down at Yoojung as the girl knits her eyebrows together in worry, hands going to fix Doyeon’s hair.

 

Jieqiong crosses her arms adamantly. “Girls are pretty.”

 

“You’re just really gay.” Siyeon replies. “Can we start the routine over? Now that Jieqiong’s Crush of the Week has passed by?”

 

“What? What do you mean by Crush of the Week?” Jieqiong is taken aback by such label. Surely she hasn’t become attracted to that many girls - it can’t really be a weekly thing… can it?

 

Eunwoo sighs because this is a recurring situation. She puts up one finger. “Last week it was Suhyun… until you realized she was dating Haein. Which, by the way, I have no idea how you could’ve missed that - they’re literally all over each other 24/7.”

 

Jieqiong crosses her arms and rolls her eyes at the extra sentence Eunwoo decided to add in. Eunwoo lifts another finger.

 

“The week before that it was Somi until you realized she was crushing on Dani.”

 

Jieqiong uncrosses her arms, mouth opening to say something. A third finger.

 

“And the week before that-”

 

“- Alright. Okay. I get it.” Jieqiong cuts Eunwoo off with a grumble. “It’s not my fault.”

 

Doyeon scoffs and drops the topic, getting the team focused back on their practice.

 

“From the start!” She shouts.

 

-

 

Jieqiong stares down at her spaghetti covered uniform vest, mouth open in shock.

 

“Oh . Sorry.” The person who had bumped into her whispers apologetically, aware of all of Jieqoing’s friends staring at her. “I’ll go help you clean up.” She says.

 

Jieqiong looks up at the culprit and nearly chokes on her saliva. It was her.

 

She feels her face warm up instantly. “It’s fine, really. It’s fine.” Jieqiong nods, her cheeks a similar color to the tomato sauce smeared across her vest. “I - I like spaghetti.”

 

What the hell is she saying?

 

Siyeon lets out a groan and facepalms herself at her friend’s idiocy.

 

The pretty girl takes hold of Jieqiong’s wrist and Jieqiong nearly passes out. Her skin is so soft. She doesn’t realize what is happening until she is in the bathroom with the girl and the sink is running.

 

“Take your vest off.”

 

Jieqiong’s eyes almost pop out of their sockets. “Pardon?” She asks before remembering she had the girl’s lunch on her upper chest. “O - Oh. Right.” She nods and s the vest, taking it off. The beauty takes the vest and plucks off the noodles and meatballs, leaving just the sauce. Jieqiong takes this time to stare at the girl’s side profile. She’s even more beautiful up close.

 

The girl turns her head to look at her and Jieqiong snaps out of her daze. She stops rubbing the vest and turns the sink off, walking closer to Jieqiong whilst staring down at her white shirt stained with red. Jieqiong gulps as she can smell the girl’s perfume, feeling her head start to spin.

 

“It got on your inside shirt, too.” The girl mumbles, using a wet paper towel to dab at the stain. Jieqiong’s breath hitches as it was rather close to her… intimate spots. She reaches her hands up and grabs the girl’s hands, causing the girl to look at her with eyebrows raised.

 

“I - I got it.” She takes the paper from the girl, heart beating rapidly. The girl is still very much in her personal space as she lets out a small smile. Jieqiong’s knees turn to jelly.

 

“Okay.”

 

Jieqiong lets out the breath she doesn’t realize she was holding as the girl turns and focuses her attention back onto the vest. She gulps and decides that it was for the best of her precious health to focus on the stain on her shirt instead of the beautiful girl just a few feet away from her - but her inner social butterfly thinks differently.

 

“What grade are you in?”

 

“12th.” The girl replies. “What about you?”

 

“11th.” Jieqiong answers. She looks at the girl through the mirror, inwardly gawking at the girl’s attractiveness. “What’s your name?”

 

“Jung Chaeyeon.” The girl’s eyes rise to connect with Jieqiong’s through the mirror. “And yours?”

 

“Zh - Zhou Kyulkyung.” Jieqiong stammers through the lump in , frozen like a deer caught in the headlights; Chaeyeon’s eyes being the headlights. “Zhou Jieqoing.” She gulps.

 

“Well, Zh - Zhou Jieqiong,” Chaeyeon says this in a playful tone before she raises up the vest. Jieqiong feels her heartbeat go soaring. “I got most of the sauce off but it’s still pretty noticeable.”

 

“It’s fine.” Jieqiong shakes her head. She widens her eyes as Chaeyeon sets the vest down and goes to her own. Jieqiong rushes to stop her, hand touching Chaeyeon’s. “It’s okay.” She says with a nervous laugh. “Really, I’ve walked around school with barf on my skirt before. This - This is nothing.” Jieqiong winces at the unecessary information she gave the girl. Dammit, Jieqiong.

 

Chaeyeon laughs. “How did that happen?” She asks, genuinely curious. Jieqiong pulls her hand away from Chaeyeon’s as she gives a sheepish smile. “Bad breakfast.” The girl lets out another small laugh and Jieqiong is in awe.

 

“I see.” She says. “We should head back to lunch.”

 

“H - Have you ever thought about joining the cheer team?” Jieqiong says before Chaeyeon could give her her vest. Chaeyeon looks at her in surprise. Jieqiong keeps talking. “We’ve been looking for new members for a while and you’re very pretty - I mean - you seem like you could - would be able to be part of the team, if you wanted to... I guess…” Chaeyeon stares at the younger girl with the corners of her lips risen, clearly amused.

 

Jieqiong is blushing pretty hardcore as she stares at her feet, cheeks red.

 

“Okay.”

 

Jieqiong’s head snaps up faster than the speed of light. “Okay?” She asks in disbelief.

 

“I’ll join.” Chaeyeon hums. “When is practice?”

 

“Everyday after school at the field.” Jieqiong is still in shock.

 

“I’ll be there.” Chaeyeon nods.