“Jihyo requested to follow me on Instagram again.”

 

Tzuyu has to stifle a laugh. “Who??”

 

Chaeyoung has a slightly constipated look on her face. “Park Jihyo? She plays French horn in band? Remember last week?”

 

Tzuyu shakes her head amusedly as she peers over Chaeyoung’s shoulder. “Looks like she’s not the only one who’s requested.”

There are six requests in Chaeyoung’s que waiting for a response. Tzuyu wants to laugh- she really really does- but she keeps it together for Chaeyoung’s sake; there’s ‘GodJihyo’, ’ImQueenNabongs’, ‘ostrich_san’, ‘pigfootprincess’, ‘prettypengu’, and a surprisingly normal ‘sana.mizo’ (which they can only guess to be Sana).

 

Tzuyu laughs for real as Chaeyoung groans. “What is going on.” The smaller girl deadpans, whining into Tzuyu’s shoulder.

 

“More like what’s with those handles.”

 

Chaeyoung exhales through her nose. “Are they going to try and attack me on Monday?”

 

Tzuyu just pats her back comfortingly, albeit unsympathetic. “I’m sure they’re just trying to be nice.”

 

Chaeyoung looks skeptical. “Tzuyu, you were there on Friday. They’re terrifying!” She exclaims, turning to her friend in disbelief.

 

Poor Chaeyoung. Tzuyu just tuts, shakes her head, and then decides to open her own account to check her feed. She freezes.

 

Chaeyoung notes the weird look on her face and scrambles over to snatch the phone from Tzuyu’s stiff hand. “AHA!” She collapses into laughter, one hand clutching her stomach and the other at Tzuyu’s new phone.

 

Tzuyu scowls. “It’s not funny!” She moves to swipe her phone back from her short friend.

 

Sure enough, six new followers have been alerted on Tzuyu’s account- the same six as Chaeyoung’s. Tzuyu groans, burying her face in her hands. It was a mistake to keep her account public- she can’t even filter them!

 

(She can almost picture Jihyo sunbaenim’s creepy smile).

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“MINA-CHAN!”

 

The door to the girl’s bedroom flies open and five humans pile in unceremoniously. Mina doesn’t budge.

 

“Minari!”

 

Nothing.

 

“Minaminaminaminaminaminaminamina-“

 

“Oh my gosh, what?!” The girl finally turns around in her seat, annoyed, to face a grinning Jihyo, Sana, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Momo.

 

Sana moves first, flinging herself dramatically into Mina’s unwelcoming arms. “TZUYU ACCEPTED MY INSTAGRAM REQUEST- SHE EVEN FOLLOWED ME BACK!” She all but shoves her phone in Mina’s face, the glaring light almost blinding the girl (Sana’s never had the best vision).

 

Mina hisses in shock as she frantically tries to shove Sana’s arm away from her face. “What?!”

 

Sure enough, Tzuyu is now listed under Sana’s list of followers and Sana under Tzuyu’s. Mina’s eyes widen.

 

“How did she not block you-”

 

“Why would she block me-”

 

“You’re so creepy-”

 

“That is so rude-”

 

“ANYWAY!” Jihyo interjects abruptly, shoving Sana’s arm (hovering dangerously close) away from Mina’s eyes. “You two can continue your little argument later. Mina, you’ll be interested to know that Chaeyoung has also accepted my follow request.”

 

“And mine!” Momo chirps from Mina’s bed, where she frequently makes herself comfortable when visiting the girl.

 

“And mine!” Jeongyeon adds from her spot on Mina’s posh hardwood floors, where she’s comfortably sprawled out next to the bed.

 

“And mine!” Nayeon calls from on top of Mina’s bookshelf. They all turn to look at her curiously, her distant voice drawing attention.

 

Nayeon looks up from her phone to stare down at all of them. “What?”

 

“How did you… you know what, never mind.” Mina murmurs listlessly, shaking her head in mild wonder.

 

Jihyo asks disapprovingly. “You’re missing the important things, Mina.” She says matter-of-factly, shaking her own phone in Mina’s face. “Check your insta!”

 

Mina snaps out of her Nayeon-shock-induced haze. “Oh. Right!” She takes out her phone and opens the app, and is delighted to see that ‘son.chaeyoung’ has accepted her follow request- and requested her back!

 

“YAAZZ! TAKE THAT SANA.” Mina thrashes violently in her seat, almost knocking Sana out of her lap to the unforgiving ground. Sana squeals and hangs on tightly.

 

“Quit it! You almost dropped me on the floor!”

 

Mina ignores her. “SHE NOTICED ME. I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE NOTICED ME.”

 

Nayeon rolls her eyes from her perch. “Stop being so embarrassing. Of course she notices you.”

 

That gets the girl’s attention. She stops flailing her arms and turns to look up at Nayeon. “Really?”

 

Nayeon huffs in exasperation. “How can she not? Practically everyone in our school knows who you are.”

 

Momo raises her hand in objection. “I didn’t know her until last month.”

 

“Shut up, Momo! The point is, Chaeyoung would be crazy to not know who you are. I don’t understand why you’re being so PC about this.”

 

Mina frowns. “Well, what do you think I should do next then?”

 

“Talk to her, duh!”

 

“What??”

 

“You got this, Minari!” Momo sings airily, eyes closed contentedly as she relishes in the glorious texture of Mina’s imported mattress.

 

“Yeah, you can do it Mina-chan!”

 

“Don’t be a wuss!”

 

“We’re all supporting you.” Nayeon shoots her a thumbs-up from her perch.

 

Mina sighs. At least someone supports her.

 

“By the way, your bookshelf is really really dusty. Want me to wipe it off?”

 

Mina just stares at her.

 

“Oh, there’s baby wipes in the bathroom. Let me go grab them.” Momo bounces off the bed to trot to the bathroom.

 

“I’ll put the trash here.” Jihyo places Mina’s wastebasket next to the bookshelf for Nayeon’s convenience.

 

“Itadakimasu!”

 

Sana blinks confusedly. “Where’s the food and why don’t I have any-”

 

“You’re welcome!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Okay, here goes.”

 

Mina swallows nervously, steeling herself as she steals quick glances Chaeyoung’s way.

 

“You can do this!”

 

She softly clears . “Chae-”

 

“CHAEYOUNG-AH!”

 

Mina goes slack-jawed, her sight of the shorter girl abruptly blocked by three intruding bodies.

 

Chaeyoung looks shell-shocked, looking up from her task as Jihyo slings an arm around the small girl’s shoulders. “Chaeyoung-ah! Unnie is so happy you accepted my friendship!”

 

“What are you-”

 

None of them pay her palpable confusion any heed. “Yes! Aw look at you, such a cutie!” Nayeon gushes, reaching out to pinch a cheek with her long, skinny fingers.

 

Chaeyoung’s left cheek is left a shade pinker from the intrusion. “Um, are you-”

 

“Don’t you start Im Nabongs, she’s mine. Look at her- we could be siblings!”

 

“Shut up Yoo Jeongyeon don’t offend her not everyone is as ugly as you-”

 

“That is so rude-”

 

“Anyway!” Jihyo interrupts, effectively diffusing a rapidly escalating encounter. She turns back to Chaeyoung with a bright smile and clasped hands. “I’m so happy we’ve made a new friend this year!”

 

Nayeon nods eagerly. “We’re gonna have so much fun together, I can feel it in my bones!”

 

“You better believe her. Her bones are mad old.”

 

“Excuse me-”

 

“-they’re literally like two thousand years old-”

 

“They are NOT two thousand years old-”

 

“ANYWAY.” Jihyo interjects, shoving her companions out of her way. “Chaeyoung, this is going to be a GREAT school year!”

 

“Jihyo, the school year’s already started-”

 

“Shut up Jeongyeon it’s only September-”

 

“Yeah but still, you should’ve said ‘the rest of the school year’-”

 

“Don’t start with me Yoo Jeongyeon, I’ll let Nayeon at you.”

 

Jeongyeon abruptly snaps up, back ramrod straight and it just kind of ends at that. “Yes ma’am.”

 

Nayeon glowers at her briefly, before turning back to Chaeyoung with a kind smile. “Don’t mind them. Now, where should we start?”

 

Mina can only watch the encounter from afar, as the three effectively ruin her opportunity to talk to the small underclassman. She sighs, shoulders slumped, as she walks away.

 

(She misses the glances Chaeyoung steals her way as she walks away).

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chaeyoung has made it her mission to have a peaceful school life.

 

She’s made it her mission to stay out of trouble, stay away from drama and the so-called ‘cool’ kids who like to pick on her for god knows what reasons, even to stay away from teachers in fear that such interactions would make her an even easier target for the relentless tide that is high schoolers. So she keeps her head down, her voice mum, and she sits in the front corners of her classes and even in the lunch room with Tzuyu.

 

Today, however, something is off.

 

It starts when a lunch tray slams forcefully before her at her usual, corner-bound, quiet table. She jumps at the sound and immediately cowers, but looks up only to find a grinning Nayeon with her lunch and all her stuff.

 

“Hi.” The older girl grins her usual crooked grin, and while she’s known for her… sometimes erratic behavior, there’s nothing malicious in her greeting or grin. “Can I sit?”

 

She’s standing where Tzuyu usually sits. Chaeyoung swallows hard before replying, so softly Nayeon has to strain to hear. “Tzuyu usually sits there.”

 

Nayeon blinks, looking around, and Chaeyoung cringes a little. She’s expecting a sneer, an ‘I-don’t-see-her-anywhere’ and maybe some more mild mockery, but surprisingly it doesn’t come- Nayeon just looks back at her with wide, apologetic eyes.

 

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Can I sit there instead?” She points to the seat next to the one Tzuyu usually occupies. No one else would ever think, much less want, to sit with them so of course it’s unoccupied. Chaeyoung just nods, wondering if Nayeon is aware of any of this.

 

Nayeon grins at the younger girl’s assent and plops down. “Whatcha eating?” She asks, friendly and approachable, leaning forward to get a closer look at the girl’s lunch.

 

Chaeyoung still doesn’t really know how to handle this. No one ever talks to her, (unless it’s to mock her, usually) sans Tzuyu; this is going against protocol.

 

“Um, it’s just a veggie wrap-”

 

BANG!

 

Chaeyoung jumps again as two more backpacks drop into adjacent seats at her usually unoccupied table. Nayeon just looks up like this is normal, not fazed in the least. “Oh, you guys made it.”

 

Jihyo and Jeongyeon are standing above them with matching wide smiles. “Chaeyoung! Can we sit?”

 

She can’t really say anything to stop them, so she just nods and they happily take their seats. Nayeon has to stop Jeongyeon though, as she tries to sit in Tzuyu’s normal seat. “Not there.” She says simply, guiding the girl to the spot on her other side.

 

Jihyo settles next to Chaeyoung and starts unwrapping a sandwich. “You all will never guess what happened in my calc class today…”

 

They trail off in comfortable, surprisingly normal conversation (Chaeyoung was seriously starting to wonder whether or not anything these people did was normal) but it’s actually not unpleasant- they’re older than her but they’re friendly, and they make sure to include her even though they obviously have much more to talk about as close friends.

 

Tzuyu comes ten minutes later (she’d been held up in a makeup quiz) and she almost doesn’t make it to the table, stopping some feet away to blink confusedly.

 

Jeongyeon is first to notice her, not noticing Tzuyu and Chaeyoung’s eye conversation. “Oi, Tzuyu!” She calls, waving her over.

 

Tzuyu hesitantly comes over, wary and suspicious. Chaeyoung smiles sheepishly at the taller girl.

 

Nayeon blinks up at her. “We saved your seat.” She innocently pats the empty seat besides her. They all turn to look at her expectantly. Tzuyu feels awkward, so she just sits.

 

“Hey you guys!”

 

Heads snap back up to see Minatozaki Sana standing over them, tall, pretty, and bright. “Oh, hey Sana.” Jihyo greets, chewing on her bread.

 

“Relocating?” Sana asks, easily sitting down with smooth conversation. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu don’t say a word.

 

The other girls just laugh. “Where’s Dahyun?” Jeongyeon asks through a mouthful of burrito.

 

Sana shrugs carelessly. “Somewhere over there.” She waves vaguely to the other side of the room. “I’m just glad she’s not dancing on any tables today.” They laugh as Sana settles easily into their atmosphere, staying to chat and joke and coo at Chaeyoung and attempt to flirt with Tzuyu. It feels- it somehow feels safe, with more people around, and although Chaeyoung still doesn’t quite know what exactly has transpired (hint: social media and a bunch of generation Z-ers), she can’t find it in herself to complain.

 

“Hey, is that Momo?” Nayeon squints at a blob of blonde wandering aimlessly at the entrance of the cafeteria.

 

“Oh, I think I forgot to tell her where we were. Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, you guys know Momo right? She’s in band and she plays the drums.” Jihyo says, pulling her phone out. The two nod; they actually know Momo a little more than they know the others present. Momo is a kind soul, an older sister type- she’s always helping everyone out, and she’s nice to everyone.

 

Jihyo looks like she’s about to call Momo, but Jeongyeon beats her to the chase, leaping to her feet and hurling the tinfoil of her burrito. It whizzes through the air and miraculously manages to nail Momo’s thigh, causing an ungraceful squawk and Momo’s head to whip up in their direction. Jihyo waves, and the blonde blob veers direction to make her way over. 

 

“Wow. Is this a party or something?” Momo smiles as she looks around, taking a seat diagonal Chaeyoung.

 

“Of course, since I’m here.” Sana flips her hair exaggeratedly and it’s dead silent.

 

…

 

“Pft.”

 

Everyone is shocked to hear Tzuyu snicker and they turn to stare shocked at her instead. Sana is astounded, and then everyone bursts out laughing.

 

“Sana, you-”

 

“Shut up Momoring, I know-”

 

“That was so bad-”

 

“Can you literally not-”

 

“Can anyone tell me if that’s Mina all the way over there, please?”

 

They finally stop roasting the out of Sana to look where Jeongyeon is pointing.

 

Momo pauses all movement except chewing. “Looks like her. Walking like a derp and all.” She says uninterestedly, returning her attention back to her rice.

 

“It is! Go get her, Jihyo!” Nayeon points like an excited dog-owner and Jihyo sets off with a gleeful grin, creeping up to the unsuspecting girl.

 

Chaeyoung seriously feels bad for Mina as Jihyo stealths towards her, slowly coming up from behind for the kill and ending it with a spear to rival Roman Reigns. Mina squawks, flapping a little bit in surprise as Jihyo leaps at her and then they’re both floored. Jihyo gets up faster though, clearly unfazed, and wastes no time in dragging Mina’s limp body across the ground.

 

She’s gonna have to do a lot of laundry later.

 

“I found her everyone!” Jihyo preens proudly, dumping her friend at Nayeon’s feet. Nayeon peers down at her.

 

“Hello, Mina.”

 

Mina chokes.

 

Chaeyoung wants to choke too, but she can’t really say that out loud. Tzuyu has been chewing silently this entire time, just sparing passing glances at the weird upperclassmen, but when Mina finally manages to stumble to her feet and brush herself off, she glances up.

 

“Hi unnie.”

 

Mina smiles tiredly down at the girl. “Hey there Tzuyu.”

 

“Wait a second hold up hold up hold up- Mina-chan, you know her??” Sana leaps to her feet, obviously outraged as she points an accusatory finger at her fellow Japanese friend.

 

Mina blinks at her, confused. “Yes, of course.” She and Tzuyu look up at Sana with wide eyes.

 

“And you didn’t think to introduce me??”

 

Mina blinks again. “I did, remember?”

 

“When?!”

 

“Maybe a week or so ago? You don’t remember?”

 

“How can I remember something that hasn’t even happened?!?”

 

“But it did happen. You were probably just too busy trying to kill me.”

 

Tzuyu swallows as she feels the weight of her fellow schoolmates’ stares on her back. Mina stares at Sana weirdly, who just wears a spectacular smile on her face that practically gleams as she keeps her arm around Mina’s slim shoulders.

 

“Mina-chan, you’re so skinny. You should eat more.” Sana comments after the awkward silence following her appearance, poking at Mina’s ribcage. The other Japanese girl squawks and smacks Sana’s hand away.

 

“Stop that!”

 

A gleam suddenly appears in Sana’s eyes (that’s never good) and she takes her arm away from Mina’s shoulders. Mina blinks curiously at the other girl who suddenly has a predatory look in her eyes.

 

“Are you by any chance, ticklish?”

 

Sana’s hands go straight for Mina’s sides not a moment after, and the normally cool and composed girl leaps five feet in the air screaming. “OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING ASDFGHJKL STAHP STAHP PLEASE I BEG YOU AHAHAHA LORD JESUS HAVE MERCY ON ME SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS HEATHEN OFF ME-“

 

Sana stops after a couple minutes when she’s satisfied and Mina is keeled over on the ground, chest heaving for breath and face completely red. Tzuyu stands by awkwardly.

 

“Um, Mina unnie? Are you alright?”

 

She extends a hesitant hand to the floored senior who haggardly accepts, and Mina is pulled to her feet. She casts Sana a glare before smoothing out her rumpled black t-shirt and ripped jeans. 

 

“Who even are you?” She squints at Sana who only beams brightly at her.

 

“I’m Sana. I don’t think we’ve ever formally met.” The flutist extends her right hand to Mina, who looks at it hesitantly before shaking it, despite her suspicions. Her suspicious prove correct-  Sana’s other hand instantly sneaks to Mina’s ribcage but this time Mina is prepared; she smacks Sana’s hand away with the speed of light, readily impressing both Tzuyu and Sana, who snatches her hand back after the unexpected retaliation. Sana smiles at Mina guiltily as Mina glares at her.

 

“Well played Mina-chan, well played.”

 

Sana glares at Mina. “See! You didn’t introduce me- I introduced me! To you!”

 

“Oh. I’m sorry- you’re right.” Mina says, still looking a little confused.

 

“Y’all bonded fast.” Jeongyeon comments through a mouth full of salami.

 

“Shut up!” Sana is quick to send her a scathing glare. Jeongyeon hiccups a little and backs off.

 

“Anyway,” Mina ignores Sana and a cowering Jeongyeon to tug Tzuyu’s arm closer to them. “Tzuyu, this is Sana. Sana, this is Tzuyu.”

 

“That was the tiest introduction I’ve ever seen.” Momo says as she steals a piece of Mina’s salad. “Ew, Mina- how can you eat this? This is disgusting!”

 

“It would be a lot tastier if someone hadn’t broken into my pantry and eaten all the croutons!”

 

“Hm, wonder who that could be.”

 

Mina sighs in obvious despair as she turns her attention back to the issue at hand. Tzuyu clears , catching the attention of the bickering upperclassmen. “Actually, we’ve met.”

 

“WHAT?! When???” Sana almost falls over.

 

Tzuyu doesn’t blink. “At the library concert, you came up and talked to Chaeyoung. I was with her. And the other time you just mentioned- Mina unnie introduced me after.”

 

Mina turns to Sana all accusing eyes and disapproving fingers. Sana looks shook. “Wh- so you know me?” She asks Tzuyu confusedly, barely noticing Mina preparing to shoot her roasts.

Tzuyu shrugs and nods. “But we first met the other time you tried to kill Mina unnie.”

 

Sana almost faints.

 

Mina looks over, pissed. “See! You did meet her! When you were trying to kill me-”

 

“I never actually tried to kill you I just tried to tickle you!”

 

“I could’ve died, Sana-”

 

“Oh stop being dramatic Mina-chan, you’re still standing here with enough energy to argue with me!”

 

“Oh, which reminds me!” Jihyo cuts them off. “Sana, the conductor asked to meet you before class today- you didn’t forget, did you?”

 

“Dammit!” Sana leaps to her feet (it’s obvious she’s forgotten). “I gotta go!”

 

Momo starts to laugh at her and the flutist takes a generous moment to send her a scathing glare.

 

“What’s all this for?” Nayeon asks curiously, looking up from her meal.

 

“We were going to talk about one of the flute solos in one of the pieces. Or something.” Sana replies as she gathers her things. “I don’t know for sure which one though.”

 

“Isn’t there one in Ode to Joy? We’re playing it for the Christmas concert, right?” Mina asks placidly, looking oh-so-innocently at Sana.

 

Chaeyoung casts a quick glance at Tzuyu, who doesn’t say anything. The Ode to Joy flute solo is actually a duet with a clarinet soloist. Since Tzuyu is first chair, it’s only right to assume she’s got the duet as well as the other solos.

 

Sana seems to be secretly trying to gauge Tzuyu’s reactions as well, but it’s kind of a lost cause given the younger girl’s stoic nature. “That, and there’s like two other ones I think. I’ll let you guys know.” She says, seemingly disappointed at the lack of reaction. “I’m gonna get going. See you all in class!”

 

They wave as she saunters out, saying hi to her other friends on the way. “She’s quite popular.” Jihyo notes.

 

“Something like that.” Mina hums. “She talks to everyone.”

 

“Nosy .” Momo laments through the remains of Mina’s salad.

 

Tzuyu doesn’t say anything. Chaeyoung sits and tries to watch her, but even for her, it’s not an easy task; Tzuyu would probably be the world’s best gambler, with her natural poker face; it’s so hard to read her, even after time as Tzuyu’s closest friend. Although she’s gotten much better at reading the tall girl, sometimes she still gets surprised when Tzuyu confides in her, telling her feelings that are way different than Chaeyoung initially thinks.

 

“So,” Jeongyeon turns to Momo. “Are you ready for that bio test?”

 

Momo groans, still chewing at bits of Mina’s salad. “Don’t remind me- I almost threw up when I looked at chapter 17 yesterday.”

 

“What was it about?”

 

“Digestion.”

 

Mina cackles. “Remember, gastrin doesn’t give you gas!”

 

Momo glares at her as they start to collect their things. The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, and they all start to rise and go to their respective classes.

 

“Wait, so what does gastrin do again?”

 

“It’s a peptide hormone secreted by G-cells in the stomach. Secretion is stimulated by the presence of, or anticipation of, food entering the body because pressure receptors sense the presence of food in the stomach and then they stimulate the vagus nerve which then sends signal to the medulla- anyway, once it’s secreted, it travels through the bloodstream to the chief cells and parietal cells. Do you remember what those are important for?”

 

“Chief cells for pepsinogen release? And parietal cells for hydrochloric acid?”

 

“Correct. So, what’s pepsinogen important for?”

 

“It turns into… pepsin…?”

 

“And pepsin does what?”

 

“Protein digestion!”

 

Mina nods approvingly. “And what’s HCl important for then?”

 

Momo thinks harder about this one. “Um, it’s an acid? Oh, it unfolds the proteins or something too doesn’t it?”

 

“Yup- but remember, it also activates pepsinogen. Pepsinogen is a zymogen, remember? Which means it’s not actually active and it can’t actually do anything until it’s activated into pepsin.”

 

Momo sighs in realization. “Oh, you’re right! So gastrin ultimately helps like, increase protein digestion, right?”

 

Mina beams. “Yup! Gastrin is released in response to the presence of food, it stimulates the secretion of pepsinogen and HCl, and HCl will denature proteins to allow exposure of their peptide bonds as well as activate pepsinogen to pepsin- the active form of the enzyme that will then be able to get to the exposed peptide bonds of the denatured proteins and start the process of protein digestion. It’s just part of the hormonal regulation of the human digestive process.”

 

“You’re a lifesaver Mina.”

 

“Any time.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Listen up, class!”

 

For once in their lives, the entire band quiets down to stare at him. The conductor almost does a double take, blinking rapidly as he takes in the undivided attention. “What’s with them today?”

 

He clears his throat awkwardly. “We’re going to split up by section today to target some of the trickier sections in the pieces. So, let’s have the woodwinds together in here, the brass in the auditorium, and the percussion section in the back please!”

 

They all have a bit of a buffer, but surely enough, a few moments is enough for them to start ambling into some sort of organization. Momo trots out, her mallets and drumsticks swinging by her hip as the rest of the percussionists trail after her. Jeongyeon aggressively shakes Nayeon awake and drags her and her euphonium out the door to the auditorium, Dahyun and Jihyo ahead on their way. Sana excitedly takes the immediate empty spot next to Tzuyu, flopping down next to the girl with a trademark, blinding grin and a bubbly greeting that has the younger girl just staring at her awkwardly (what else is new). Mina is talking to another girl in her section, Rosé, and Chaeyoung just lingers where she is, content with her peaceful seating location.

 

“This is going to be great!” Sana says, all too excitedly as she throws her binder open to the song of the day. Tzuyu just shifts uncomfortably, desperately trying to catch Chaeyoung’s eye from a few seats away. When she finally does, she’s out of luck; Chaeyoung doesn’t seem like she’ll move anytime soon.

 

“Tzuyu! I finally memorized the F minor scale yesterday! Want to hear?”

 

The clarinetist doesn’t even get a chance to respond before Sana holds her (blindingly bright) instrument to her lips and blows. The scale blasts out like she’s known it her whole life.

 

“You learned that yesterday???”

 

“Shut up, Jamal!” Sana pauses temporarily to bark at the sarcastic offender in her section. Jamal shrinks back into his seat.

 

When she finishes the scale, she looks excitedly at Tzuyu. The girl claps, hesitant.

 

“Thank you, Tzuyu! Do you think you could help me with my other scales?”

 

Tzuyu blinks once. “Don’t you already know them?”

 

“No.” Sana blurts immediately, feeling herself get nervous. She doesn’t want to waste the chance to talk to the other girl more.

 

“Yes you do. I heard you play them at all-states last year.”

 

“What?????”

 

“Minatozaki Sana?”

 

Sana pops up enthusiastically. “Right here, ma’am!”

 

“Please come forward. We’ll begin your examination now.”

 

Sana follows the proctor and trots into the room, twirling her flute in her hands. The music stand in the middle of the room remains vacant.

 

The judge peers over at her from her desk. “No music today?”

 

Sana shakes her head with that same dopey smile. “Not today!” She’s memorized it all- majors, minors, harmonics, melodics, pieces and all. Minatozaki Sana is a prepared woman.

 

The proctor eyes her hesitantly but there’s a glimmer of respect behind her spectacles. “Very well then. I’ll have one of the volunteers bring that stand aside for you then. In the meantime, why don’t you take a couple minutes to warm up?”

 

Sana nods and raises her flute to her lips, fingers fluttering over her instrument as she runs up and down her major scales. The proctor opens the door and waves Tzuyu, a freshman at the time, into the room to remove the stand. Tzuyu silently enters to take the stand, and hears all of Sana’s scales while she’s there.

 

“That was you??”

 

Tzuyu nods, quite staunch, as her huge eyes staaaaarreeeee at Sana’s befuddled expression.

 

Dammit.

 

Sana plasters on what she hopes is a convincing smile (it isn’t). “I’ll be right back, okay?”

 

Tzuyu shrugs and nods, raising her clarinet to her lips. Sana slowly rises from her seat, and then makes a break towards what she thinks is Mina. She’s lucky today- it is indeed Mina. The girl almost spits out her reed when Sana crashes into her.

 

“Mina chan!”

 

Mina hisses, shielding her saxophone protectively. “You again!”

 

“Yes, me again! You gotta help me, Mina chan!”

 

“I can’t play the flute!”

 

Sana has to pause at that. “Really? Have you ever tried?” She’s genuinely curious, as she explores her love of her flute and the overall instrument in general.

 

Mina nods solemnly, a somber look settling in her eyes. “I almost blew out a piece of my lung.”

 

Sana feels slightly apologetic for asking. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

 

“It was a dark time.”

 

They stare at each other for a few moments before Sana finally remembers what her initial objective was. “Oh, but anyway! Mina chan, you gotta help me- my plan to force Tzuyu to spend time with me is falling through!”

 

“How? You actually had a plan this time!”

 

“A bad one! Mina chan, what should I do?”

 

Mina her chin in imaginary thought as Sana explains the situation to her. “She is powerful. Very powerful.”

 

Sana nods in haggard agreement. “Yup. So what should I do now??”

 

Rosé, who sits next to Mina in the saxophone section, is looking on at the whole situation amusedly. “Maybe you should just keep it casual.” She muses, leaning back in her seat.

 

Sana’s head snaps to look at her. “Casual??”

 

“Yeah- just start a normal conversation, you know?”

 

“N-Normal????”

 

Rosé blinks. “Yeah, normal?”

 

Sana is clearly a little flustered. “Wh- what does that mean?!?”

 

Rosé can only stare back at her.

 

When Sana turns back to Mina for help, it seems her luck has run out today- Mina looks just as startled as Sana feels. Sana gasps. “You too???”

 

Mina looks totally shook, and Sana would be laughing at the look on her face if this wasn’t such a dire situation for her as well. Rosé tries her best with her limited Korean to explain the idea of ‘normal’ to the other limited-Korean speakers as well. Sana nods seriously when Rosé finishes stumbling through her broken, fragmented sentences (luckily for them, Mina understands English and is relatively able to translate to Japanese for Sana to comprehend). “I understand.”

 

Mina eyes her warily. “Do you?”

 

Rosé just grins happily at the flutist. “Fighting!” She makes a nice little victory gesture to cheer Sana on, and the flute players steels herself to get back in there and put the moves on the hottest girl in school.

 

“Hello again.”

 

Tzuyu nods at her, halfway through a couple bars they’re supposed to practice, and turns back to her instrument. Sana twitches nervously as she raises her own. Might as well try and be productive.

 

Somewhere a few minutes into her playing, she feels Tzuyu’s gaze flit between her and her sheet music. Sana looks over, curious; to her immense surprise, Tzuyu is smiling sheepishly at her. “Sorry. I just noticed your flutter-tonguing is really good. Your technique is insane.”

 

A compliment?!

 

Sana doesn’t know what to do. This had been the last situation she’d expected. “What?”

 

“I said your flutter technique is amazing. Do you think you could teach me sometime?”

 

NANI??????

 

“Oh. OH. S-sure! I can help you, but only if you want. You’re really good at this whole music thing too, so.” Sana trails off sheepishly, the most shy she thinks she’s ever been in her life.

 

Tzuyu’s smile looks like it’s been plucked straight out of a magazine. Sana can’t help her staring, and she wants to say something because this is honestly such a rare chance, she doesn’t know when she’ll get another one, and right when she thinks of the right words to say-

 

“ALRIGHT LOSERS, STEP ASIDE.”

 

Whomst?

 

Nayeon bursts through the door with the force of a thousand pitbulls. “MYOUI MINA, MYOUI MINA. CALLING FOR ALL PERSONS NAMED MYOUI MINA.”

 

Mina almost chokes on her reed. “E-excuse me??” She looks mortified, as all her section-mates turn to look at her curiously.

 

Nayeon doesn’t seem to notice her (her vision isn't the greatest as well). Jihyo and Jeongyeon have entered as well, and are standing on chairs looking for her. “MYOUI MINA PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN IMMEDIATELY.”

 

Mina does her best to hide behind Rosé. She recognizes that they very likely won’t see her if she doesn’t say anything- and she really wants to practice today, with all the tricky accidentals and the strange time signature. Unfortunately for her, it seems like life has other plans.

 

“Right over here!” Sana calls, raising her flute to point to Mina’s cowering form. Nayeon’s eyes immediately catch her hiding form.

 

“THERE YOU ARE. MYOUI MINA, PLEASE HELP US!”

 

At the strange request, Mina finally lowers her instrument to blink at her classmates confusedly (all three of them are brass players too; they’re supposed to be in the auditorium). “With what?”

 

Turns out, the biology test had Nayeon caught by surprise. A few minutes, some popcorn, and a frantic “PLEASE HELP US WITH BIOLOGY MINA SENSEI!” later, Mina finds herself standing in front of a whiteboard, her saxophone still hanging from her neck, with every band student in their biology class sitting obediently on the ground in front of her taking notes on the crude diagram of an alimentary canal she’d hastily drawn.

 

She takes this chance to eat the snacks that Jeongyeon had thrown at her. “So what happens first when I eat this popcorn??”

 

“Salivary amylase makes you throw it back up!”

 

“Wrong!”

 

“Salivary amylase dissolves the butter!”

 

“No!”

 

“Salivary amylase begins starch digestion!”

 

“Correct! Five points for Jihyo! Although there isn’t much starch in this thing to begin with.”

The French hornist fist-pumps triumphantly, scribbling something in her biology notebook. Everyone else looks on jealously as Dahyun makes five tally marks under her name.

 

Rosé raises her hand. “Just to confirm, humans can’t digest plant cellulose correct?”

 

“Correct. Can anyone please explain to Miss. Park why this is the case?”

 

Sana’s hand shoots up from the back. “We can’t digest the beta-1,4 bonds in plants because our starch-digesting enzymes can’t get through the structure of the plant bonds, which have the -OH group alternating sides!”

 

“Good! 10 points for Minatozaki.” Dahyun, standing to the side, slashes some tally marks under Sana’s name.

 

“What happens to the popcorn next??”

 

Momo raises her hand. “The bolus created in the mouth travels down the esophagus by deglutition and peristalsis and enters the stomach lumen!”

 

“Correct! Five points for Momo!”

 

“And then it’s mechanically and chemically digested a bit before moving through to the small intestine!”

 

“Another five points for Jihyo! Can someone name the sphincter it has to pass through to reach the small intestine?”

 

“PYLORIC SPHINCTER!” Sana screams, knocking over three people as she surges forward. 

 

“10 POINTS FOR MINATOZAKI!”

 

The underclassman Sana had forced to stand watch for them suddenly pokes his head in. “The conductor’s heading in here!”

 

Nayeon all but barrels behind Chaeyoung, who is sitting in front of a couple boxes casually fluttering her fingers on her oboe. Jeongyeon manages to slip out the other door and sneak back into the nearby auditorium, and Jihyo jumps out the window (luckily they’re on the ground level). Sana pushes a chair towards Mina so hard, it knocks the sax player’s knees out and the rest of them scramble to some sort of seat to stare at some sort of music.

 

It’s a miracle how the frazzled conductor doesn’t notice anything wrong with the situation. Sana is seated comfortably on a dissatisfied Tzuyu’s lap, her flute crooked but to her lips, Mina’s saxophone has hit her square in the groin and if she’s being totally honest, it kind of hurts. Dahyun is hiding underneath an abnormally large tuba bell, Nayeon is in a box, and the rest of them have contorted into any sort of strange resting formation that can’t possibly be comfortable.

 

He looks around the room, but they’ve all not budged and they all seem to be practicing pretty well so he has nothing to say. He scratches his head in confusion before turning to head back to the percussion section in the cafeteria- apparently Momo has decided that she wants a snack, and is insistent on obtaining an ice cream bar from one of the vending machines, resulting in all the members of the percussion section trying to stick their arms up the vending machine to grab at the lowest row. He then remembers the current situation and is quick to dash off again, before Momo can really eat the whole bottom row of the vending machines (she’s quite the contortionist).

 

Once he leaves, Sana hops off Tzuyu’s lap and yanks the chair out from underneath Mina’s . Chaeyoung is kind enough to unlock the self-locking box that Nayeon is hiding in, who in turn goes to lift the tuba bell off Dahyun’s crouching form. Jeongyeon strolls back into the room like nothing’s ever happened, and Rosé helps tug Jihyo back inside. The French hornist lands like a beached tuna, right on Jeongyeon’s foot who screams in pain.

 

Needless to say, the digestive process isn’t as hard as it seems.