Kyla wandered off the field and around the school. Truth to be told she was looking forward to knowing more people and slightly disappointed that Pledis Girls High didn’t offer rock-climbing as an ASC. She had a natural affinity with sports-related stuff but the few sports-related ASCs like cheer-leading didn’t much interest her. Moving to Korea for her high school education after spending months in America meant that she had to make friends from scratch.

Not that she minded. Kyla doesn’t miss the… teasing she had to put up with back in L.A.  She doesn’t mind the peaceful silence that accompanied her today, compared to the laughs and jeering she had to put up with back home. She couldn’t help but wonder- Is weight really such an important factor? Can no one see her for who she is? Why must everything be measured against a scale? Why can’t- Kyla shook her head. No. This is a fresh start. She can’t afford to let the thoughts stop her from moving on. Kyla took a deep breath and pushed the door to the school auditorium open.

            Instantly, she was hit with the ear-deafening blast of an EDM track and loud cheers from the crowd gathered. Kyla blinked at the sight of what looked like half the school population and most of the freshmen bobbing their heads along to guy rapping on-stage. Ah, this must be the competition slash audition that she overheard a tall blonde senior talking about. Deciding that she wanted to check out the performances, Kyla quietly made her way towards the back of the crowd.

            Standing quietly by herself in a corner, she caught sight of a petite girl with golden-blonde locks jamming to the song while still holding onto a microphone and cue cards. As the chorus of the song approached she got increasingly excited and started waving her hands about wildly.

“ALLLLLLLLLLLL MINEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WOOO!”

The beagle screamed and hopped up and down, hair flying into her face and everywhere. Kyla couldn’t help but stifle a laugh watching the brunette, she found her careless antics rather engaging, more so than the performance itself.

“Eunwoo unnie is funny, isn’t she?”

At the low voice coming from right beside her ear Kyla herself jumped and whirled around. She stared at the girl behind her, who was looking back at her with bright eyes that twinkled with mischief. Kyla is no stranger to mischievous eyes that should spell DANGER in big bold words, but there was something in the other’s eyes that strangely compelled Kyla to want to trust her. Something akin to the warmth that an old… friend used to gift her with.

“Don’t worry I don’t bite, okay maybe I do but I promise I won’t bite you.”

“…”

“Are you here with your friends?”

“…Uh, no?”

“Tsk, tsk, that won’t do, let’s be friends then. I’m Siyeon, what’s your name?”

“…Kyla”

Siyeon flashed another smile at Kyla.

“Great, now that we know each other let’s grab a seat.”

Siyeon grabbed Kyla’s wrist and dragged her towards the seats, away from the golden-blonde beagle (was it Eunwoo?), who was slowly making her way towards the stage as the song approached its ending. Kyla stared at girl leading her up the steps, she glanced at their linked hands and wondered if she had just made her first friend in years.

Kyla and Siyeon picked their way carefully through the smatterings of people watching the performances. Along their way to the further roles of seats Siyeon quickly explained the situation to her. By the time they finally settled down at a quieter role near the back, a frown adorned Kyla’s face.

“So… you’re saying whoever wins the competition earns a date with erm…”

“Yewon?”

“Yeah, her. Just like that?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

“Isn’t that kind of like an infringement of her rights? I mean who came up with this anyways?”

At that Siyeon rolled her eyes and her eyes took on a burning gaze,

“I know right? I thought I was the only one who finds this whole thing an issue, I’m glad you do too! I mean, not glad about this, like, whatever you get my point. I wanted to bring it up to the council president but she’s like currently running around trying to make sure the other clubs don’t get even more excited so like no one is stopping this. And there’s no use bringing this up to the club president because that overly hyped-up air-head was apparently the one who brought it up. Like, hello?”

Kyla blinked at the passionate speech, brain taking a short moment to properly translate the rapid-fire Korean.

“… Who decides the winner of a date with Yewon then? And what if the winner is some jerk?”

“The school band aka. Consisting of the club president and crew. Oh, don’t jinx it, the only contenders so far are random people with mediocre skills and are obviously just  out to score a date with a cute girl.”

“Who’s Yewon anyways?”

“She’s a member of the PAC-MAN ACS and close friends with the band. What with them basically selling her off like a slice of strawberry cake I don’t know whether they’re really friends honestly! Lemme look for a picture.”

Siyeon swiftly whipped out her phone and began scrolling. Kyla took the time to scan the crowd and to finally hear what the emcee, Eunwoo, was talking about.

“…was one of our last performance and we only have one last one lined up. She’s a new freshie, give it up for Ted Jungseo!”

Kyla watched as a tall girl with long flowing hair walked up on stage while the crowd cheered. She snatched the microphone from Eunwoo’s hand, who gave her a rather displeased glance.

“Hi all, I’m happy to be here tonight. Of course normally I wouldn’t go around revealing my talent at some random talent show but for the sake of the adorable Yewon I’m willing to make a minor exception.

She turned to where the other competitors were sitting at the front rows waiting for the results.

“Sorry to waste your time but she’s mine. Start the music!”

Without waiting for Eunwoo to make her way off stage or return the microphone to her Jungseo merely walked to the centre of the stage and made herself comfortable while waiting for the song to start. Eunwoo gave a tight-lipped smile and walked off.

“Hey look, I found a picture! Wow she’s really cute. And innocent looking.”

Kyla turned her attention back to Siyeon who was studying a picture on her phone. Eager to find out who Yewon was, Kyla leaned closer, unknowingly entering Siyeon’s personal space to study the photo herself. The two girls stared intently at the smiling girl in the photo, who looked like she could cure all worldly illnesses with her smile alone. She looked like an innocent lamb who has yet to know the horrors of the world.

“That’s Yewon? She looks… young.”

“Apparently she’s a Year 2 student. And it’s her first date, from what I’ve heard.”

“Her first date? And it’s going to be that jerk?”

“Huh?”

Siyeon finally looked up from her phone to glance at Kyla in confusion. It was at that moment that the two of them realised just how close they were sitting together. Kyla was leaning so close she noticed for the first time the faint layer of lip gloss on Siyeon’s lips.

Why am I staring at her lips!

Kyla caught herself abruptly and glanced up instead. Bad idea. She looked away from her attractive pink lips and found herself staring at her perfectly sculptured nose instead.

What is this? It’s like she was sculptured by the gods themselves.

Kyla again looked up and immediately regretted her decision. Siyeon had apparently been staring at her the same time she was silently studying the former’s features. Kyla felt that the grey eyes that were staring back at her held an indecipherable look. At the same time, she could make out a kind of gentle warmth, nothing like the fire that possessed them when she was going off about Yewon’s predicament.

Oh right, Yewon!

“O-oh yeah, that girl on stage is the last performer. And the most popular one from the looks of the crowd.”

When Siyeon finally looked away, Kyla felt her heart skip a tiny beat.

What was that?

______________________________________

Hi all! I'm back again with kyla x siyeon! This chapter just sprung out of nowhere I swear haha, there's like one tiny bit of eunwoo x kyla if you squint XD I know Siyeon's eyes are not grey but SHE'S EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL WITH GREY EYES I COULDN'T HELP IT I hope this chapter (which is a tiny bit longer) is alright~ Also I can't believe I forgot to say this, HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!!! MAY THE FUTURE BECOME EVER BRIGHTER AND FILLED WITH MORE LOVE!! Till next time!