(Enjoy this random gif which is totally unrelated to my fic)  

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“It’ll be okay,” he said. His familiar face, aged with lines around his eyes and a slightly greying, well groomed beard, loomed above her. He was smiling encouragingly, though, blurred through the tears welling up in her eyes, she could still make out his slight trembling. She could sense his fear as clearly as her own. He could not fool her.

It had been a blessing that they had made it to the clinic safely. The trip there had been a series of rushed goodbyes and sharp turns as her father floored the family car through the streets of Japan. Going to a hospital was out of the question, due to the nature of their complex situation. Luckily with her father being an acclaimed neurosurgeron, he had made quite a large amount of connections in the medical field over the course of his career, which had in turn paid off in this most crucial of moments. He reached out to anyone he knew who could help him help his daughter, whose name and face was currently plastered on every local news station. Finding someone willing to stick their neck out had been the hardest part, but after some pleading and promises, a man by the name of Takahashi had volunteered his clinic for use.

That's where they were now, at Takahashi's clinc outside of Osaka in a small room that smelled mostly of bleach and disinfectant. The room was sterile and cold, and, strapped onto the metal table, the protagonist of our story felt afraid.    

The CT scan was meant to figure out the cause of the abnormality that lied somewhere in her brain. The abnormality which allowed her to do things no person should have the cability to do. Her father had suggested the anthestia, as the process could be quite long and stressful for someone who was clausterphobic. The girl had not been in a good state of mind since early yesterday morning, when the first incident occured, so she had hesistantly agreed to the drug, only because her father would be right there with her as the scan was completed by Takahashi. 

She wanted to say something to her father then, but she was losing feeling in her body, and a numbness had locked her jaw in place. The room was growing darker, as if the overhead lights in the small operating room were starting to dim. She could feel herself sinking into nothingness and it was surprisingly comforting. At last, her dangerous thoughts would be silenced. After a deep sleep, she'd wake up and everything would be okay. They'd figure things out and help her get back to normal. Everything would be better. At least, that’s what her father said. He was lying, of course, but it was easier to believe that he wasn't. It was easier to hold onto the small, child-like hope that this was all a bad dream. I need to wake up, I need to wake up. 

The last thought she had before she went under was of a memory of elementary school. At the playground behind her school, there was a tall green dinosaur connected to the rest of the jungle gym. It loomed above the playground, watching everything with large, yellow eyes. Occasionally, kids would dare each other to climb to the top of the dinosaur's mouth, a place which was strictly off limits, but that made it all the more fun. One day, naturally, she was dared to climb to the top by an annoying boy in her class. She stood at the bottom of the dinosaur, craning her neck to look up at the monster's mouth.

No, she had told the boy firmly. He laughed in her face, calling her a wimp, a scaredy cat, a coward. She listened to his insults, tearing up a bit, but she did not climb the dinosaur. She was too afraid. Bowing her head in shame, her friend pulled her away, sticking her tongue out at the boy who continued to laugh. "Let's see you climb it then," her friend told him. He stopped laughing then, hesitating a bit, but ultimately he began his trek up the dinosaur. 

She watched as the boy made it to the top, pumping his fists and yelling in triumph. The other kids in her class cheered. She couldn't bare to see the sight any longer, so she pulled her friend back towards the school. "Good luck getting down!" her friend called to the boy. A minute later, there was a loud thump, followed by the screams and shouts of children. She turned around to see her classmates crowding around the boy who had just climbed to the top. He was now lying on the woodchips, crying out in pain. His leg was bent at a funny angle. 

Her friend, standing beside her, laughed, and said, "Aren't you glad you didn't do that now?" But some part of her felt guilty that he had fallen and broken his leg. She was the one meant to climb it, to fall if that was her fate, but she had stayed firmly planted on the ground. He might have gotten hurt and been in a wheelchair for a few months afterward, but he had gotten to see the view from up there, standing on top of the dinosaur's mouth. A view she'd never get to see.  

And then she was gone, put under by the anesthetics in her system.  

A lulling voice pulled her out of her unconsciousness. Though the voice appeared to be coming from somewhere close to her, her ears felt plugged, like she was being held underwater. She tried to open her eyes, but they were weighed down by an invisible source. She could only listen. So she did.     

“Don’t you realize what she’s capable of? I know she’s your daughter but just think of the services she could provide for this country. We’d be unstoppable with her.” It was another voice. Familiar sounding at first, it took her a moment to recognize the voice of Takahashi. It was deep, and the tone was laced with a bit of hysteria. The speaker was clearly a bit on edge.

“You’re right, she’s my daughter, and I don’t like you talking about her as if she’s some sort of weapon. She’s just a girl! The government would destroy her. I can’t let that happen. We need to find somewhere else for her, somewhere safe.” That was her father’s voice. Soft, yet commanding. The voice that had originally pulled her from her sleep. She tried to open to call his name but she couldn’t move.

“There’s rumors of a school in Korea, a place for people like her. She’d be safe there,” the other voice said again. 

There was a pause. “Then that’s where she must go, for her own sake.” Her father sounded heartbroken and yet determined.  

Korea? She could feel her chest tightening. If she went there she’d be leaving behind all her friends. Her childhood home. Her dog. Her brother. Her parents. The thought was almost unbearable. But then, what kind of life would she really have now in Japan? She’d left a wake of destruction behind. Unintentionally, of course, but she did so nonetheless. Intent, in this case, was meaningless. All that mattered was that she had done something terrible and men in black suits with high level clearnance badges had come to take her away. She could feel dampness on her face, running from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks. Tears staining her face with regret and a sense of guilt that would never go away. No, there was no going back to her normal life now. This was the new normal.  

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(Two Years Later)

There she was, sitting with her back against a birch tree, reading a book. Her jet black hair fell down, covering most of her face. Only her side profile was visible from where Chaeyoung and her friends were sitting at a small picnic table on the lawn of the garden just outside the school. It was a common spot for students to gather during the lunch hours. Now, it was filled with groups of people, and there was a hum of pleasant chatter as they ate. This girl, however, was all alone.

“Ah-ha! There she is, the new girl!” Dahyun, with her long, dark hair accented with colorful blue and green tips, whispered, pointing the girl out to Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, her two best friends respectively. The three girls turned to study the girl sitting against the tree without being totally obvious.

“She’s old,” Tzuyu observed. What Tzuyu meant is that she looked to be a lot older than most new students at JYP’s School were. The average age of a new student was around 12 years, as most people were enrolled soon after they discovered they were mutants. This girl looked to be 18 years, if not older.

“She must have been a late bloomer,” Chaeyoung guessed, squinting her eyes at the girl, as if observing her more closely would unlock all of her secrets. Occasionally a late bloomer was brought into the school, but they were rare to encounter, mostly because so many of them ended up dead. Late bloomers were the most powerful among the mutants, but because of this they were often subject to horrific ends. Self-inflicted sometimes, but most met their end at the hands of others looking to take advantage of their powers. JYP's School was a safe haven for mutants in a world where there was a rising hysteria against powered individuals that some argued posed a threat to the existence of human beings.  

“Well, late bloomer or not, she’s entitled to receive the same welcome treatment as any other new student,” Dahyun smiled at Chaeyoung and raised her eyebrows repeatedly. Chaeyoung smirked back devilishly, revealing her dimple.

“I swear you guys are like 5 years old,” Tzuyu murmured, rolling her eyes. The youngest of the three friends was holding herself with her normal, perfect posture. Her height set her eye level above that other two, so that even sitting down she had to look down upon them. In the afternoon sunlight, her long, purple hair had an almost bluish shine to it. “Why don’t you give the girl a break?”

“Because that’d be no fun. It’s all in good humor, right Chaeng?” Dahyun smiled. Her eyes were squinted up to form half moons.

“Absolutely. It’s harmless.” And with that, Chaeyoung looked around, making sure none of the upperclassmen were around, and stuck out an arm in the direction of the tree the girl was under. “I’m just gonna make her put in a little effort…”

Suddenly the book open on the girl’s lap lifted upward,levitating. As Chaeyoung’s arm rose higher so did the book. The girl’s eyes widened and her lips parted, staring in shock as her book rose higher and higher in a jerky motion. She lifted an arm to grab it but Chaeyoung swung her arm just in time to suspend the book beyond the girl’s reach. “That’s it, that’s it,” Chaeyoung whispered as she continued to stare at the book in concentration.  

The girl stood up and swiped for her book again, looking visibly agitated, but again Chaeyoung reacted quickly enough so that the book rose just out of the girl’s reach. The girl looked up at her book with longing and a bit of irritation, finally giving up on grabbing it, put her hands on her hips, and turned in the direction of the table Chaeyoung, Dahyun and Tzuyu were sitting at.

The girl’s eyes found Chaeyoung’s almost instantly, sending the short haired girl an icy glare. Chaeyoung’s eyes widened in surprise that the girl had spotted her so quickly. She gulped and dropped her arm, appearing to look as innocent as possible, but she knew that it was too late. The girl knew it was her who had been messing with her book. Dropping her arm, the book stayed up in the air for a moment before gravity took control once again and the book fell down...landing right on the irritated girl’s head.

The girl cried out, and Dahyun couldn’t help but laugh, turning away from the scene and covering with her hand. Chaeyoung in a breath and bit her lip, fighting back laughter as well. She didn’t want to laugh but it was hard to hold back. Actually, she felt awful about the whole ordeal. But the look on the girl’s face when the book hit her head was too funny.

Even Tzuyu snorted but quickly regained her composure and suddenly looked horrified. “Oh my god, you guys are so mean! I bet that hurt!” she hissed.

Chaeyoung didn’t doubt it. The book did appear to be a hard cover. The girl bent over to grab her book, picking it up angrily. Chaeyoung expected another icy glare but instead found the girl was avoiding eye contact with their table all together. Her eyes flickered up towards the table once more and Chaeyoung felt her chest tighten as she saw the girl’s eyes gleaming with tears. She stepped back to pick up her lunch tray off the ground and tucked her book under her arm. She bowed her head, looking at the ground, and quickly rushed back towards the school, making sure to leave a good amount of distance between her and the table the three younger girls were sitting at.

Chaeyoung watched the other girl’s movement with wide eyes. She felt her stomach drop. At this point, Dahyun had stopped laughing and mirrored the same horrified expression Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were making.

“You made her cry!” Dahyun exclaimed when the girl disappeared through the side entrance, back into the school, all heads of the students spread out around the garden turned to watch the new girl leave.

“I didn’t mean to!” Chaeyoung cried. “I swear, I-I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to hit her!” Her voice began to waiver. She felt as though someone had kicked her in the gut. The look on the girl’s face was one of the saddest expressions she’d ever seen, and Chaeyoung was to blame. “You encouraged me to do it, this is your fault too,” she turned to Dahyun, pouting at the older girl.

“I didn’t force you to do anything!” Dahyun objected.

“Look what you both did!” Tzuyu scolded. “She probably hates all three of us right now. I guess that’s what I get for sitting with you two nimrods.”

“She looked like a puppy that someone kicked…” Dahyun mumbled in horror, unaffected by Tzuyu’s statements.

“What do I do?” Chaeyoung asked, burying her face in her hands. She had meant for it to be a fun prank, honest! She’d done the good old levitation trick on all the newbies and it was something that everyone laughed about, including the victim of the prank. But that girl had to screw things up by staring Chaeyoung directly in the face. There was so much discontempt there it’d ruined Chaeyoung’s concentration. Chaeyoung was still mastering her powers, after all. She wasn’t expecting the girl to be so…

Chaeyoung heard Dahyun cough loudly and suddenly there was a tap on Chaeyoung’s right shoulder. Chaeyoung timidly uncovered her face and turned her head in that direction to see Park Jihyo, perhaps the most popular student at JYP’s, standing right behind her in all her godly glory. The look on her face was one of complete disappointment. Oh god, Chaeyoung thought. This is how I die.

“Son Chaeyoung.” Oh no, the use of a last name was never good. “What did you do to that poor girl?” Of course Jihyo was referring to the new student that’d run back into the school.

Chaeyoung couldn’t meet the older girl’s stare. Instead she looked down at the food that remained on the table in front of her. “I was just messing around Jihyo, honestly I was just trying to make everyone laugh. I didn’t mean for that book to fall on her head…”

Jihyo sighed and crossed her arms, shaking her head at the three younger girls sitting at the table. “You know you’re not supposed to use your powers outside of class...look what happens when you do. People get hurt.”

“Sorry, Jihyo,” Chaeyoung replied, hanging her head. You truly felt like the world’s biggest jerk.

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to her,” Jihyo instructed...no, ordered was a better word.

Chaeyoung gulped. The last thing she wanted to do was face that girl again. But, it was the right thing to do. Chaeyoung nodded her head and stood up, grabbing her tray off the table and pushing her chair in. “I’ll go find her. You guys coming?” She looked between Dahyun and Tzuyu.

They both stared at her blankly. “I didn’t finish eating my food yet,” Dahyun sputtered.

“Yeah, same,” Tzuyu pointed to her plate. Wow, lame excuses. It’s true Chaeyoung had been the one who directly caused the book to fall on the girl’s head but...the fact that Dahyun and Tzuyu had been sitting there the whole not actively trying to stop her made them guilty by association.  

Chaeyoung sighed and gave both of her friends a nasty look. “I guess I’ll go alone then. See you guys later.” Chaeyoung quipped, walking back towards the door in the direction the other girl had gone.

“Her name’s Mina, by the way,” Jihyo called out to Chaeyoung, who stopped and turned around. “And she’s not your biggest fan right now.” Jihyo knew this because she knew everything. Literally. She could get emotional reads on people just by looking at them, she might even know what they were thinking if she concentrated hard enough.

She’s not your biggest fan right now. That was probably the understatement of the century.

Chaeyoung hoped that if Jihyo was using her powers that she could she how truly sorry she was for hurting the new girl. Chaeyoung nodded towards Jihyo and trudged toward the school, now determined to make things right.

After wandering the halls for a few minutes, and asking both students and professors alike if they’d seen the new girl pass by, Chaeyoung finally tracked her down in the school’s library. Just from looking at her Chaeyoung had gotten a feeling that she was more of a studious type. Go figure.

Chaeyoung found the girl’s head of black hair bent down at a table tucked behind a row of bookshelves, staring down at the pages of the book that had dropped on her head only minutes earlier. Chaeyoung stood for a moment, watching the girl from a distance. She wasn’t sure why but she felt rooted in place, unable to move her feet in the girl’s direction. One, because she was slightly intimidated by this girl for inexplicable reasons, and two, because she felt very guilty about everything that had just happened.

After gathering up some courage, Chaeyoung marched over and stood by the girl’s table, looking down at her. The girl didn’t seem to notice her presence though, because she continued reading. Chaeyoung pulled a chair from the table out and sat down abruptly next to the girl. This caused the girl to tense up and look up immediately. As soon as she saw it was Chaeyoung she quickly cast her eyes down again, keeping a neutral expression plastered on her face.

Chaeyoung could see that the girl had definitely cried, if only for a minute, based on the fact that her eyes were slightly puffy and red. Congratulations , Chaeyoung thought, you made a girl cry on her first day here. After a moment, Chaeyoung cleared . “Um, so you must be new here?”

The girl blinked and said nothing, eyes remaining downcast.

Chaeyoung paused, but realized the girl wasn’t going to respond, so she continued. “I uh, haven’t seen you around before. JYP’s is a pretty cool place to be. You’ll like it here. Everyone is nice. Well, except me apparently,” Chaeyoung bit her lip, feeling like she just stuck her foot in . “Yeah. I’m a jerk. A huge jerk.”

The girl didn’t say anything but looked up to stare at Chaeyoung. She remained expressionless. “I’m Chaeyoung, and I specialize in telekinesis, as you saw back there.” Chaeyoung ran a hand through her short hair. “Look, I’m really, really sorry I hit you. I didn’t mean for that to happen. You see, Dahyun and I, that girl I was sitting back there with the blue and green highlights, we like to play jokes on all the new students. It’s just kind of a tradition, like a welcome to the school kind of thing. It’s supposed to be harmless but…” Chaeyoung’s voice trailed off. “I’m so so so soo sorry,” she repeated. “Is your head okay? Because if not I can take you to Miss Suzy. She’s like the school nurse basically, she can heal you. I swear I’ll make it up to you, I’ll do whatever you ask---”

“I’m okay. It’s okay,” the girl cut Chaeyoung off, speaking so softly that Chaeyoung felt inclined to lean forward to hear her more clearly. “Although, it did hurt a bit,” the girl admitted. That was an understatement. It had hurt a lot, but this girl did not want to tell Chaeyoung that. Her voice was pleasant, and surprisingly not angry sounding at all.

She should be pissed off, Chaeyoung thought, she had every right to be! But instead she was only looking back at Chaeyoung with a slight smile on her face and red rimmed eyes. That only made Chaeyoung feel more guilty.

“I’ll take you to Miss Suzy then!” Chaeyoung stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over her chair backward in the process. Chaeyoung looked back awkwardly and side stepped so that she was no longer in front of the chair. “If you want me to, that is,” Chaeyoung added.

The girl looked up at Chaeyoung with a masked expression. “I guess so, thanks,” the girl replied, bookmarking her page with a movie ticket stub and standing up gracefully.

“Her office is in the west wing,” Chaeyoung said, beginning to walk towards the exit of the library. The other girl followed silently behind until she caught up to the younger girl, keeping up with her surprisingly fast pace for having short legs.

The walk towards the office was awkwardly quiet. Chaeyoung felt the urge to fill the silence but didn’t know how.

“So...”

“I’m Mina,” the girl said. “I figured you’d want to know.”

“I know,” Chaeyoung replied quickly, but then cursed herself after seeing Mina’s quizzical stare.

“Uh, I only know that because Jihyo told me.”

“Jihyo...she’s the one with the light brown, wavy hair right? And the...uh,” Mina pointed to her own right eye and Chaeyoung immediately grasped what she meant.

“The different colored eye? Yeah, that’s Jihyo.”

Mina nodded and made a humming sound. “She seems nice.”

“She is. She’s like the nicest person ever. You can always go to her for help with anything.”

They walked in silence for a bit, before Chaeyoung broke it again. “So, um, do you mind me asking what your power is? Or ability, or skill...whatever you’d like to call it.”

“How about a curse?” Mina said, under her breath, just loud enough for Chaeyoung to hear it. The older girl suddenly looked sad. “I believe the technical term is hypnosis,” she said, more loudly.

Chaeyoung’s eyes widened. “Whoa, that’s like...really cool! So you can hypnotize people and make them do anything?”

Mina suddenly looked uncomfortable and Chaeyoung cursed herself for prodding for so much information so soon.

“Yes,” was all the older girl said.

Chaeyoung bit her lip and suddenly wracked her brain for something else to say to change the subject. “Well, we’re almost at Miss Suzy’s office now. The school might seem hard to navigate at first but it’s really not too bad once you’re here for a few days.”

“That’s good to hear.” The girl got quiet again and Chaeyoung inwardly sighed.

Luckily, they made it to Miss Suzy’s office and the door was wide open, revealing the young women tinkering away with some tech laid out on her work table. “Miss Suzy,” Chaeyoung said respectfully, standing in the doorway. Miss Suzy looked up and smiled when she saw Chaeyoung.

“Ah, Chaeyoung, what can I help you with?”

“I, um…” Chaeyoung’s face turned red. How was she supposed to admit that she accidentally hit the new kid over the head with a hardcover book?

“She was just showing me to your office, because I’m a new student,” Mina suddenly said, stepping besides Chaeyoung. “I hit my head pretty hard after tripping down a flight of stairs and Chaeyoung thought it was best for me to seek medical attention.”

Chaeyoung turned her head and looked up at the older girl, gaping. Did Mina just...cover for her?

Miss Suzy smiled brightly at Mina. “Well, you came to the right place! You could say I’m the unofficial nurse here, especially now with all that's been going on recently. Please, have a seat and let me look at your head.” She motioned to a chair in the room.

Mina nodded graciously and sat down.

“What’s your name?” Miss Suzy asked as she stepped over besides Mina, who was now seated in the chair.

“Myoui Mina.”

“Well Mina, welcome to JYP’s. As I’m sure Chaeyoung already mentioned, I’m Suzy.” Suzy then delicately pressed her hand against the top of Mina’s head. At the touch, Mina winced slightly, clasping her hands together tightly in front of her.

“Okay, yeah you could definitely use some juice.” That’s what Suzy called her healing ability. “I’m going to just put my hand here for a second and I’ll make the soreness go away. You might feel a slight tingling sensation but that’s normal.”

Chaeyoung stood in the doorway still, leaning against the door frame. She watched in amazement as Suzy closed her eyes and worked her magic. Mina’s tensed muscles began to relax and Suzy opened her eyes and lifted her hand off the top of Mina’s head. “There we go, does it still ache?”

Mina shook her head. “Thank you so much.” She stood up and bowed slightly. Suzy smiled brightly at her.

“No problem at all. Now, be careful not to trip again.” Suzy gave her a knowing look, as if she knew that wasn’t what actually happened, but even if she guessed Mina was lying she said nothing.

Mina nodded again, taking a step towards the door. “Have a nice day.”

Mina and Chaeyoung stepped back into the hallway.

“Good as new, huh?” Chaeyoung asked.

Mina simply nodded. “Thanks for showing me to her office.”

“It was the least I could do, really.” They walked a few more steps. “Hey, I know the lunch period is over and all but, tomorrow would you like to sit with my friends and I? I know I didn’t make a great first impression but we’re really not that bad. Dahyun can get a little annoying but—”

“Sure,” the older girl answered firmly, smiling slightly. Chaeyoung smiled back brightly.

“Okay, we sit in the same spot in the garden every day, so I’m sure you’ll see us. And since your power is hypnosis and mine is telekinesis I’m sure we’ll be scheduled for some of the same classes. You know?” Chaeyoung held a finger to the side of her head, pointing to her temple. “Our power is up here.”

Mina smiled a small, slightly nervous smile. “Well, I’m off to go meet with JYP, so I’ll see you then.” Mina bowed slightly and started heading off back towards the head master’s office. Chaeyoung waved awkwardly, standing in place for a bit to watch the girl go. After a beat she sighed and turned around, heading back towards the main wing. Lunch was certainly over by now, which meant her history class was about to begin. As she made her way to the classroom, she couldn’t help but notice the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, making her feel jittery and surprisingly...happy.  

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“You invited her to sit with us?” Dahyun hissed. She was staring at her shorter friend in the hallway outside of their classroom. Dahyun, wanting all the details of Chaeyoung's apology to the new girl, had pulled her friend aside to hear everything as soon as their class together was over.  

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” Chaeyoung asked. “It was the least I could do to make up for what happened.”

“She’s...scary,” Dahyun whispered, looking around over both of her shoulders as if Mina would suddenly materialize nearby.

“Oh c'mon,” Chaeyoung scoffed.

“I heard some things throughout the day, rumors…” Dahyun continued. “You know she got her powers late, right?”

“Well yeah, I assumed so…so what?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Because she got them so late she couldn’t control them at all. Before she wound up here she did something really bad. She’s got...some dark past.”

Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow. “How dark could it possibly be?”

“Someone thought she might have killed someone…” Dahyun hissed again. “And you just invited her to sit with us.”

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. “Oh please, if that was the case she never would have been admitted, right? If there was something off with her then Jihyo would have sensed it and told JYP.” JYP used Jihyo to evaluate every new potential enrollee into the school, since she had a gift for seeing someone's true intentions. No secret was safe from Jihyo, as every student was sat across from her in JYP's office. It was more of a safety precaution, due to recent developments with a growing population of rogue mutants. They'd never actually turned anyone away from the school before.  

Dahyun shrugged, seeming to not take in any logical reasoning Chaeyoung had just said. “Guess it is better to stay on her good side so she doesn’t murder us or anything. Good thinking, Chaengie!” Dahyun playfully ruffled the younger girl's hair, to which Chaeyoung made a face and squirmed away.

After Dahyun laughed, Chaeyoung simply sighed. “She’s nice, you’ll see.”

________________

(The Next Day)

Chaeyoung, Dahyun and Tzuyu sat at their usual table in the garden, unusually quiet. Dahyun wouldn’t drop the “murderer Mina” tirade to which Chaeyoung and Tzuyu rolled their eyes. Chaeyoung was anxious though, for some reason she couldn't put her finger on. They hadn’t invited anyone new to their table in 3 years. It had always been just them, the School Meal Club. They'd had uninvited guests, sure, like Im Nayeon, who would saunter over and lean back against their table, smiling that bunny smile of hers, much to Tzuyu's very obvious annoyance. But, this was the first time that someone would be officially joining them. 

The thought of seeing Mina again brought back that jitteriness from yesterday. The entire rest of the day after her meeting with Mina, Chaeyoung had kept her eye out for the older girl, hoping she'd catch a glimpse of her somewhere. Maybe in the hallways, even the library, but she had no such luck. When she returned to her room after the school day, she'd gotten Nayeon to spill that the girl was living alone in a room across the hall. This morning, she'd done the same, although there'd been no sighting of the girl.

Mina’s face appeared in the courtyard and Chaeyoung raised her arm and waved. Mina spotted them after a moment, with a small smile on her face, and began walking towards the table.

“Try to be on your best behavior, will you?” Chaeyoung pleaded, looking at Dahyun, who mocked offense. “And you…” Chaeyoung turned to Tzuyu, who raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be so…savage.”

Before Tzuyu could protest, Mina was standing before them and hesistantly set down her tray on the table at the only empty spot between Chaeyoung and Dahyun.

“Hey,” she said quietly, smiling again.

“Glad you could make it,” Chaeyoung replied.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Mina answered, sitting down. “I don’t really know anyone here yet.”

“This is Dahyun,” Chaeyoung motioned to her friend, who waved enthusiastically, “and Tzuyu,” who nodded curtly with a small smile on her face.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Mina,” Mina replied, putting on a small smile as well.

“How are you liking the school so far, Mina?” Dahyun asked, leaning forward and resting her chin against her hand.

“It’s nice,” Mina said. "Everyone seems nice.”

Quite the talker, Chaeyoung thought. “Everyone is really nice,” she confirmed.

“So what can you do?” Dahyun asked. “I can duplicate myself,” the girl said, wagging her eyebrows. “I can make like...50 of me if I want. Not that I can show you though, Jihyo would probably kill me for using my powers outside of class.”

“Thank god,” Tzuyu muttered. “One of you is annoying enough.”

Dahyun pouted at Tzuyu, shaking her head. Then she began to fake sniffle, causing Tzuyu to roll her eyes.

"You're only proving my point," Tzuyu muttered.

Mina was smiling slightly at the whole ordeal. When Dahyun stopped she simply whispered “hypnosis” as quietly as possible.

“Wow!” Dahyun cried, faking surprise like she hadn’t heard about Mina’s powers already. “That’s so cool!”

“Not really,” Mina admitted, looking down at her tray of food.

Noticing Mina’s discomfort once again, Chaeyoung cleared . “Tzuyu has super strength,” she announced to Mina.

Tzuyu just shrugged. “Yeah, hulk smash or whatever,” she said in a monotone voice.

Mina looked impressed but said nothing.

“So you just discovered your powers recently?” Chaeyoung asked.

“A few years ago,” Mina stated. Again, she didn’t elaborate. Dahyun looked slightly disappointed but didn’t want to probe her for more information.

“Well, since you’re new here we should probably give you the 411,” Dahyun replied.

“The what?” Tzuyu asked.

Dahyun ignored Tzuyu’s stare and continued. “We'll let you know who's who around here, starting with the table right next to ours. Park Jihyo, the girl with the two different colored eyes?” Dahyun nodded her head in the direction of where Jihyo was currently sitting, munching on some watermelon. “She’s like, the most popular girl here. She’s been here the longest too. Since she was a little kid. Super nice, but strict. If she sees you messing around you might get your ear pulled. Not that she’d do that to you, seeing as you don’t seem to be the type to get yourself in that situation in the first place.”

Mina said nothing and quietly chewed on her ramen, although her face conveyed that she was listening intently.

“She can see into your soul,” Chaeyoung whispered menacingly to Mina. “Literally. And she can also see through things too. She sees all, just like the illuminati.”

Chaeyoung broke out into a grin, causing Dahyun to shake her head and Tzuyu to roll her eyes again. Mina smiled slightly, causing Chaeyoung to look at her in surprise. She wasn't used to anyone reacting positively to her jokes.

“Then there’s Im Nayeon. Another upperclassman who’s been around here for a long time, but not as long as Jihyo. She’s nice but you don’t want to get on her bad side.” Dahyun nodded her head in the direction of a girl sitting next to Jihyo with long, strawberry colored hair. She appeared to be filing her nails and looked relatively bored.

“She can rewind time,” Chaeyoung whispered. “But that’s it. She can’t go forward or freeze it or anything. Yoo Jeongyeon can freeze time though.” Chaeyoung motioned to the girl with short blonde hair sitting on the other side of Jihyo. “Jeong and I go way back,” Chaeyoung said, smiling.

“We call them the no jam bros,” Tzuyu explained to Mina, who was continuing to nibble on her ramen, “because they’re the two most unfunny people you will ever meet.”

“Hey!” Chaeyoung protested. Tzuyu just smiled smuggly.

“Then there’s Minatozaki Sana,” Dahyun said. “The girl with the blonde hair sitting across from Jihyo. She’s really funny and sweet and--”

“Alright we get it, you have a major crush on her,” Chaeyoung groaned. Dahyun’s smile faded away and she shook her head profusely.

“Stop saying that!” she whined.

Mina covered as she broke out into a smile, causing Dahyun to look even more flustered and embarrassed. 

“Sana is nice but she can be kind of an airhead,” Tzuyu shrugged. “A match made in heaven for Dahyun, really.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Dahyun crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. “She can turn invisible…”

“...although she’s not great at it yet.”

“...but she’s improving,” Dahyun continued, looking at Tzuyu with daggers in her eyes. "Like all of us." 

“And then there’s Momo, the girl with the light brown hair. She can run super fast," Chaeyoung added. 

“Like 107mph fast,” Tzuyu inputed. Dahyun and Chaeyoung turned to her, looking surprised. “What? I remembered the last time in class when the professor measured her speed with a radar gun.”

“Her and Sana are like this,” Chaeyoung crossed her fingers together, holding them out in front of her. "They lived together for years, just the two of them, in Japan, before they moved to Korea." 

Mina perked up at that. "They're from Japan?" she asked, looking slightly surprised. "I am too."

Everyone else at the table looked slightly surprised as well. "Really?" Tzuyu asked. "Your Korean is great, how long ago did you move?"

"About two years ago," Mina replied, suddenly wishing she hadn't spoken up. Again, she said nothing else and looked slightly embarrassed. Anxiously, she began rubbing her neck, flicking some hair off her shoulder, and Chaeyoung caught a glimpse of something metal sitting right behind the girl's right ear. 

"What's going on over here?" Chaeyoung heard the sound of an all-too-familiar trill and internally groaned. Sure enough, Im Nayeon had gotten up and was walking their way. She stood beside the School Meal Club's table, crossing her arms and smiling sweetly at everyone. Finally her gaze landed on Mina, surely the real reason she had decided to come over, and she smiled even larger, revealing her bunny teeth. "You decided to eat with these losers, huh?" Nayeon laughed.

Chaeyoung and Dahyun yelled in protest while Tzuyu said nothing and sent silent daggers at Nayeon. "Hey, at least we invited her to eat with us!" Dahyun whined.

"We did too," Nayeon replied. "Well, Jihyo did anyway. Looks like she thought you guys were more fun." 

Mina opened to say something but was interrupted by Chaeyoung. "Looks like she has good judgement then!" 

Nayeon simply stuck out her tongue. Again, Mina opened to respond but was cut short by Nayeon deciding to sit down next to her, totally throwing away the concept of personal space as the small bench barely had enough room for two people on each side. As Nayeon's knees pressed against her own, Mina quickly slide over to make more room for the older girl, cheeks reddening in surprise and embarrassment. She was nearly falling off the bench now.

"I don't think we've officially met," Nayeon chirped, leaning towards Mina. "I'm Nayeon." She smiled again at Mina and Mina tried her best to smile back.

"She knows who you are," Dahyun interjected. "We were just giving her the 411."

"The what?"

Tzuyu rolled her eyes and leaned forward, trying to steer this trainwreck of a conversation away from total cringeworthyness. "Mina, what's your schedule like?"

All eyes turned to Mina. "I'm meeting with JYP after this, I don't officially start classes until next week," Mina replied. "He just wants me to familiarize myself with the school."

Chaeyoung thought it was a bit strange that it'd take Mina so long to jump into things. Chaeyoung herself had only had a day to move in before she was expected to start attending classes. Yet another curious thing about Mina.

There was a brief moment of silence before Nayeon sprang up, startling Mina in the process. "Well, you guys are boring. I'm gonna take Mina here and go back to the cool table. Catch you all later."

Before Mina could even react Nayeon hooked an arm through hers and pulled her up onto her feet. "Uh––" Mina barely had time to grab her bowl of ramen before Nayeon began to pull her in the direction of her table. Mina looked back at Chaeyoung with wide eyes, her expression reading something along the lines of "help me", before she was sat down between Jihyo and Nayeon. 

"Poor girl," Dahyun muttered. 

"See, I told you she's not scary," Chaeyoung replied.

"I'm still not convinced she's not a murderer," Dahyun whispered, staring at Mina's back intently. She artfully tossed a grape into without taking her eyes of Mina. "You know what they say about the quiet ones..." 

"Oh shut up," Chaeyoung grumbled, but couldn't help but smile. 

Even though Chaeyoung was 99% sure Mina wasn't a murderer, she couldn't help but feel like Dahyun's revelation about the older girl having a dark past wasn't entirely unbelievable. There was just something about the way she avoided certain topics. The atmosphere that seemed to follow the girl was one of sadness, not darkness, however. Perhaps she'd done something that she regretted very much. Well, Chaeyoung thought, she's in good company then.  

"Chaeyoung, hello, anyone home?" Dahyun reached over and began to literally knock on the younger girl's head.

Chaeyoung flinched and crossed her arms. "Hey!" she whined, pushing Dahyun's fist away. "What was that for?"

"Did you not just hear what Jihyo just announced?" Tzuyu asked, looking at Chaeyoung with a bit of concern. Chaeyoung blinked and she suddenly noticed that everyone around them was standing up and heading back towards the school. "There's been another incident." 

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***That's it for the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. I have some big plans for the future, so stay tuned!