Taeyeon rested her head in her hands, dreamily admiring the honey blonde locks in front of her. From the looks of how soft her hair was, Taeyeon knew that girl had to have spent a lot on conditioner. What did she use? Pantene? Neutrogena? She was tempted to reach out and pet the strands of gold to find out for herself. However, Taeyeon didn’t have the guts to touch the girl in front of her, let alone talk to her.

She sighed, leaning back against her chair. This was the third day she found herself behind the new girl with nothing to say. Sunny had even given her seat to Taeyeon with winks and smiles, confident in her ability to charm the girl who had caught her eye on more than one occasion. This was supposed to be her chance.

So why couldn’t she say anything?

Taeyeon scowled at the girl’s hair. In the background her teacher droned on monotonously about binomials, adding more to Taeyeon’s frustration. She could care less about math. It was useless when it came to more important things, such as--

“Miss Taeyeon. Would you care to show the class how to do this example?”

Taeyeon blinked. Her face frozen, her gaze darted around, meeting the glances of the classmates that looked back at her. Help me, she mouthed, staring directly at Sunny. Her friend simply shrugged, just as lost as she was.

They were hopeless.

“Taeyeon,” Her teacher repeated.

“Uh, I--”

“I can do it.” The girl in front piped up, the angelic voice music to Taeyeon’s ears. Exhaling in relief, she watched the girl go up to the board and solve the problem flawlessly, hair somehow still glinting in the classroom’s dull atmosphere.

Taeyeon grinned. Maybe this was the opportunity she was looking for.

***

After packing up quickly, Taeyeon hovered outside of the classroom, peeking in every so often to make sure her golden girl was still there. Once she finished chatting with the teacher, it would be Taeyeon’s time to pounce. And pounce she would. No more sitting around, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Taeyeon was going in.

Unfortunately for her, however, the girl was a bit too quick. Despite the two’s relatively short statures, the blonde somehow managed to walk much, much more quickly than Taeyeon predicted.

“Hey!” Taeyeon called, struggling to catch up to the other’s brisk pace. “Wait up!” Taeyeon’s steps turned into a light jog. Surprised at the voice and the increasing amount of footsteps, the girl looked behind her, slowing down.

“Hi?” She replied, cocking an eyebrow.

“I just--” Taeyeon wheezed, leaning on her knees. “I just wanted to thank you for what you did back there. Honestly. I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you.”

“Oh. It’s no problem.” The blonde laughed. “You looked like you needed help. I just did what I could.”

They lapsed into silence. The girl tilted her head in concern, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

“Did you, ah, need something else?”

“Yes!” Taeyeon blurted, having been temporarily lost in the girl’s delicate features. “Yes. Um, what’s… what’s your name again?”

“Jessica. Jessica Jung.”

“Jeshika,” Taeyeon repeated, liking the way the name rolled off the other’s tongue. “I’m Taeyeon. Kim Taeyeon.”

“So I’ve heard.” Jessica’s smile was coy. “Well, Taeyeon. Try to pay attention next time, okay? I won’t always be there to save you.”

“O-okay.” She swallowed, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

“I should really get going,” Jessica smiled, bowing her head politely. “It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you around?”

“See ya,” Taeyeon croaked, nearly losing her breath. She groaned once the blonde turned the corner, humiliated by how fast her heart had thumped from such a simple encounter.

This was worse than she thought.

***

“I am not whipped!” Taeyeon screeched, slapping Sunny’s arm for fifth time during lunch. The shorter girl winced, scooting away from the fury of her senior.

“I’m just telling the truth!”

“From the way you described it, you did sound pretty whipped.” Yuri agreed, grinning cheekily. A glare from Taeyeon quickly wiped the smile off her face.

“Fine, fine. You’re not. If you don’t like her, can I have her, then? She’s pretty--”

“Yuri,” Taeyeon warned, starting to stand up.

“Kidding! Jeez. I haven’t seen you get this way over someone since last year.”

Taeyeon sighed. “There’s just something about her, I guess.”

“Or maybe it’s your thing for American girls.” Sunny snickered, her teasing laughs joined by Yuri’s.

“Why do I bother?” The eldest woman groaned, putting her head down.

Ever since that conversation, Taeyeon’s head had been swimming with images of the blonde. When she was trying to finish her lab in chem, her eyes popped up, watching her inquisitively with a cat-like innocence that was so characteristically Jessica. When Taeyeon was editing papers, her strawberry scent lingered around the pages, teasing her as she struggled to keep focused. When Taeyeon was running laps, her mind had drifted to those smooth pairs of lips, glinting brightly under the hallway in an soft, pink glow.

Those lips. Absentmindedly, she had even touched her own at the time, marveling at her own softness. What would it be like to kiss her? To hold her hand? To be… closer?

"Earth to Taeyeon,” Sunny tapped her on the head, disturbing her daydream. Just as Taeyeon was about to look up and really give the girl a piece of her mind, she froze, barely hearing the next words leave Sunny’s mouth.

“Your angel is here.”

Immediately straightening her back, Taeyeon sat up, ignoring the incredulous looks from her two friends. She scoped out the scene of the cafeteria, searching, searching for a sign of those golden locks before she finally found them, floating next to equally glossy locks of black. Dreamily, Taeyeon watched Jessica as she interacted with the girl next to her, giggling at some asinine joke that Taeyeon probably could’ve told better.

“Who’s the girl next to her?” Yuri pointed, frowning.

“What? I don’t know. Probably just another bimbo or someth--”

Wait a minute. Taeyeon squinted. She knew that girl. In fact, now that she thought about it, she could probably recognize that eye smile from anywhere.

“You’re kidding me.” Taeyeon groaned. “She’s with Tiffany!”

***

“That’s Tiffany?” Yuri whispered, pulling the trio closer together. “As in, the Tiffany you had a thing with?”

“She’s hot.” Sunny remarked, turning around to get a better look. “And it looks like she got hotter since she came back from the States.”

It was true. In comparison to the dorky, smiley girl that Taeyeon had known a year ago, Tiffany had developed into some kind of succubus in the short span of time she was gone. The fact that Tiffany even had her arm slung around Jessica like she was some kind of pet-- this was bad. The fact that everyone seemed to be staring at the two (admittedly attractive) girls didn’t exactly help either.

“Shut up,” Taeyeon hissed.

"You don’t even know if Jessica swings that way. What if they’re just friends?”

“Are you crazy? You’re never ‘just friends’ with Tiffany. She’ll turn anyone. The fact that she’s already this close to her means that Jessica’s two steps away from being her new lapdog!”

The three went quiet, looking over at the two Americans with unease. Yuri scratched her head, a thoughtful expression splayed over her features.

“Well, maybe we just have to push Jessica in the right direction.”

“What does that mean?”

“I could get Tiffany off her hands,” Yuri offered, a sly smile spreading across her face.

“You’re kidding me. You?” Both Sunny and Taeyeon blinked.

“I have a thing for pretty girls,” Yuri admitted, her gaze wandering back to Tiffany. “And Jessica’s taken. I gotta have something, you know? It’s been too long.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Taeyeon rubbed her temples. “I don’t care how you do it. Just… get Tiffany away from her. That’s all that I need.”

“What about me?” Sunny pouted, crossing her arms. “If this works out, you get Jessica and Yuri gets Tiffany. What’s in it for me? And don’t make any false promises. I need some sort of down payment, Taeng.”

“One month’s worth of ice cream.”

“One year.”

“Two months.” Taeyeon pleaded, desperate. “I’ll buy you ice cream for two months. All you can eat. Please, Sunny. I need as much help as I can get.”

“Deal.” The petite girl’s expression was smug. “You can start paying your debt off by buying me some after school.”

The bell rang. Their deals made and wishes satisfied, the two moved to put their trays away, leaving Taeyeon to glance at the Americans who’ve begun to move to their next classes. Her stomach dropped, partly because she basically signed off half of her savings to Sunny and partly because she had basically left her fate to the hands of the two of the biggest troublemakers she knew.

This was gonna be a long week.

***