[A/N]

 

uhhh rip me trying to write light and fluffy?? i was too dramatic and psychological in this chap so ill try again for fluff next chap lmao

 

im sorry its so wordy idk what i was thinking (pls dont expect other chaps to be this long)

 

 

---

 

 

Their next lab was only a few days later and Nayeon was more than ready to start the bet. She had spent almost all night writing down ways to make the little Myoui fall for her charms.

They entered the class and Nayeon looked over to where Mina was sitting in front.

Unfortunately for her, Mina was too preoccupied on reading today's lecture in advance and didn't even look up. She was either immune to Nayeon's presence or frozen in fear.

 

Definitely frozen in fear, Nayeon convinced herself.

 

Nayeon and Sana walked over to the teacher's desk and blocked his view of the class.

"I'm here," Nayeon greeted, as if attending class was an accomplishment.

"Yes, Miss Nayeon, I am aware," the teacher deadpanned, not new to her obnoxious attitude. "Now please have a seat at the back, because I'm not letting you sit on my chair. Again."

(Nayeon enjoyed herself way too much that class. She had bothered the teacher enough so she could sit at front, and just stared at the class who refused to even look in her direction, which was, unfortunately for the teacher, the same direction where he was trying to teach.)

"Don't you think I should be rewarded for, I don't know," Nayeon offered with her usual grin, as she spun the globe on the teacher's desk, "My good behaviour?"

Mr. (a/n *insert generic korean last name*) Kim slowly looked up at Nayeon from his seat. No, he wasn't scared of her. He just didn't have the energy to deal with her again for another year. He knew she terrorized the students when she didn't attend class, and even when she did attend. There was nothing much he, or any teacher, could do about it.

Just one last year, he thought, rubbing his temples, And I'm free of her.

"What do you want, Miss Nayeon?" He gave in, knowing that she had something ominous planned already. She couldn't even let him have a peaceful first week of school.

Nayeon opened in a fake gasp and put her hand over her chest, suprised (but not really) at the fact that the teacher complied. Mr Kim gripped his pen tighter, she really was testing him.

"Sir, I don't think working with a friend was a good idea," Nayeon sighed, as she exaggeratedly patted Sana on the back to 'comfort' her. Her best friend nodded in sad agreement. "Do you think can Sana work with... "

Nayeon pretended to look through the class, knowing full well which unlucky lab partner she was going to select for her dear Sana. And which lucky lab partner Nayeon would end up with.

"... that girl instead?" Nayeon pointed to the girl next to Mina, who was sitting in perfect posture, seemingly towering over them, even if she was seated.

 

The teacher stared back at the smirking Nayeon, who undoubtedly did not choose that team randomly.

He didn't know what Nayeon had in mind with this switch, but he did know he didn't want to deal with what would happen if he refused.

"Fine, Miss Nayeon," the teacher exhaled in defeat, praying that his lifespan wouldn't be reduced from what she made him go through every day. "Do whatever you want, just don't bother me again."

"Thank you, kind sir," Nayeon replied, walking back to her place in victory. 

 

This year is going to be the worst one, Mr Kim inwardly grumbled.

 

 

-

 

 

"Alright, class, I'm going to start today by making a small modification with the lab teams," the teacher announced, earning an elongated groan from the class.

 

Nayeon readied herself by grabbing a pen from the closest student, and glared at another until he gave her a page of loose leaf. She wasn't going to meet her future fake girlfriend without making a good impression.

"It was a thoughtful suggestion made by Miss Nayeon," he continued, which instantly silenced the class. 

He looked towards Mina and Tzuyu in pity, hoping they would forgive him for what he was about to do.

 

"Miss Tzuyu, your new lab partner will be Miss Sana. And for Miss Mina..." the teacher pointed towards the back of the class, and watched as the class widened their eyes at the realization.

 

"You'll be with Miss Nayeon."

 

The class slowly turned towards the infamous duo as they played rock paper scissors to determine who would be the loser to sit at the front. Nayeon rejoiced as she won and got to stay put, while the class feared for the soul of Myoui Mina. They watched as Mina tensed up at the sound of Nayeon's cackle and slowly packed her things to move.

Sana reluctantly got up and made her way to the front. Silence engulfed the room as Mina slowly walked towards the back, head down to avoid the stares and clutching to her backpack like her life depended on it.

 

"She won't hurt you," Sana comforted her as they crossed paths, making Mina flinch at the touch of Sana's hand on her shoulder.

 

Mina slowly lifted her head to see Im Nayeon with an unreadable expression on her face. She was smiling, but her eyes were giving off a different vibe.

When she sat down in peace, she froze in place, waiting for Im Nayeon to do whatever Im Nayeon did. She waited for a mocking laugh, a passive aggressive insult. She waited for her pen to be taken away from her, for her textbook to be pushed to the floor. She waited for her to instruct the whole class to stare at her, to judge her. She waited and waited, but nothing happened.

Mina opened her eyes and slowly peeked to her side. She only saw a still smiling Nayeon, giving her the space she needed and not coming close to her. She saw Im Nayeon being suspiciously civil. For once. 

Mina let out the breath she was holding. It looked like Nayeon wasn't going to do anything. For now at least.

 

(And somewhere deep down, she wanted to believe what Sana had told her.

That maybe she wasn't going to hurt her after all.)

 

 

-

 

 

"Okay, Sana, the next part of the plan is to find out things about her," Nayeon read her notes, dragging her finger along the page where she wrote down her different steps (because what else was she supposed to use her notebook for?). "She doesn't have anything on social media, so we have to deal with this on our own."

 

It was already early October, and Nayeon was getting impatient. Mina wasn't falling for her, and Nayeon didn't understand why she hadn't immediately fallen for her irresistable charms yet.

She couldn't find a chance to talk to Mina, or to even get the girl to glance in her direction. The teacher didn't have any labs planned, and Nayeon wasn't about to have a conversation mid-class with someone who was busy taking notes. She didn't want to scare the girl away either if she told her to meet up after school. Nayeon was pretty sure if someone had heard her say that, they would have contacted the police straight away.

 

"You mean like shtalking?" Sana said, mouth full from her lunch. Nayeon always thought she looked like an adorable hamster when her cheeks were puffed up like that.

"No! Not stalking... We just need to know what her interests are. What her hobbies are. But without her knowing though, so I can 'surprise' her when I bring up something she likes."

"So... stalking?"

Nayeon gave her an annoyed look. She wasn't going to follow Mina around or anything.

 

They had a whole half table at the cafeteria to themselves, because Nayeon liked her personal space, but mostly because people were too scared to sit next to her. She could've had a whole table to herself, but she knew the cafeteria was full already (and hogging 6 seats for only 2 people made it so some students had to either eat outside or stand near the walls). Nayeon knew she was mean, but she wasn't that mean.

Nayeon looked around, trying to find the person in question. She wanted to see who she sat with, and if she had other expressions than the quiet and nervous one she had in class. It's been weeks and Nayeon has never seen a trace of Mina at the cafeteria. She was starting to wonder if she even ate here.

 

"Have you ever seen her here during lunchtime?" Nayeon asked, reaching over to the table next to her to grab a delicious looking apple out of someone's lunchbox. "Aw, this was for me? Thank you!"

"I don't think so... What if she ate outside with her friends?" Sana replied, salivating over an extra tupperware full of her mom's kimbap.

"Her? With friends?" Nayeon scoffed. "Yeah, right."

 

There is no way someone like her had friends, Nayeon thought. 

 

"Don't be so mean, Nayeon," Sana scolded. "Even someone like you has a friend."

 

Nayeon quickly took one of Sana's rolls and put it in as a small payback for that comment. She spent the next few minutes staring at Sana eating before her patience rapidly ran out. She let out a mix of a sigh and a grunt and abruptly stood up.

"C'mon," Nayeon said as she dragged Sana out of the cafeteria.

"Yah! I'm still-I'm still eating!" Sana exclaimed, trying not to drop her lunchbox.

 

 

Maybe Nayeon was going to follow Mina around.

 

 

-

 

 

They searched everywhere. She wasn't at any of the tables outside near the school building. She wasn't on any of the staircases with friends. Heck, she wasn't even in any of the bathroom stalls eating alone.

 

"Nayeon, that's a bit mean," Sana said as they explored the 3rd bathroom on their journey. 

"How so?" Nayeon asked, dramatically kicking open each stall doors one after the other. 

"I don't think it was nice to assume she would be that much of a loser that she would eat here alone. I think that only happens in movies."

At the last stall, Nayeon saw the shadow on the ground of what most likely was a person. She 'slowly' kicked it open and gestured Sana to come over, with a smug smile on her face. Sana peaked inside in fear, hoping the person didn't hear what she had just said. Fortunately, it wasn't the certain individual they were looking for, but it was someone who definitely heard Sana calling them a loser for eating in the bathroom.

"Who looks like the mean one now?" Nayeon grinned.

Sana, ashamed, quickly apologized and offered the student the rest of her lunch.

 

They exited the library, their final location, in defeat. Mina was nowhere to be found, unless she actually ate in the principal's office or something. 

"We're never going to find her," Sana sighed. She sat down on one of the window sills in the hallway, exhausted from all the walking.

"We shouldn't give u-" Nayeon started.

She stopped when she saw a familiar figure outside. Nayeon approached the window, and squinted at the student in gym clothes seemingly raking leaves on the front lawn. 

"Oh, there she is!" Sana happily said.

"Why is she-"

Nayeon was interrupted once again when she saw a few other students approach Mina. They were also in their gym clothes and carrying garbage bags that were probably filled with leaves by the looks of it. She saw Mina smile in the students' direction, and, even from this far away, Nayeon could see how gummy it looked.

It felt kind of refreshing. Mina looked like a different person without her hair covering her face all the time.

 

"Ah, I think they're in that club! You know the one that volunteers around school and stuff?" Sana said.

 

Oh, Nayeon thought, THAT club.

 

Nayeon knew of that club, not enough to know its name, but enough to know that the members get pushed around a lot. Pushed around as in bullied and mocked. Not necessarily by her, but by other students that thought they were cool enough to purposely drop trash in front of them, for example. (Nayeon might have been guilty of destroying a pile of leaves they had raked a few years ago, but that was all in the past. Her bullying methods have matured.)

 

"So this is what she does every day..." Sana said in admiration.

 

Nayeon started to feel something unfamiliar. Something deep down was telling her not to mess with Mina. Something deep down was telling her that Mina probably had been through enough, and that she was someone Nayeon had no reason to hurt.

She immediately burried the thought. That hasn't stopped her from bullying before, why should it stop her now? She was committed to this plan.

Nayeon stared at the young Myoui in frustration. They managed to find out one thing about her, but she couldn't use this as a common point. 

Nayeon was sure the club was full of nice people, but she would drop dead at the thought of cleaning a toilet or anything related to chores. Especially doing free community service with nothing in return.

 

There was always something in return for Im Nayeon.

 

 

-

 

 

This wasn't a coincidence. There was no way Im Nayeon would ask to switch lab partners like that. It was unimaginable.

 

Why would she even want to be with me anyway? Mina thought. I don't even think she knew I existed until now.

 

When she heard the teacher call out her name in class that day, she feared for the worst. She thought she was being punished by being sent at the back, with the worst bully this school had as her lab partner. There was a reason she sat in front. It was closer to the door. It was the furthest away from her. The faster Mina could get out of her sight, the less her chances are of getting picked on.

What she didn't understand was why Nayeon hadn't laid a finger on her, or hadn't said anything emotionally scarring yet. Mina thought she would get pushed off her seat, or have Nayeon draw on her notes as soon as she sat down, but... They haven't spoken ever since that first introduction to each other. Nayeon even looked like she was struggling trying to start a conversation with her.

Was it because Mina had done nothing wrong to Nayeon? Maybe Nayeon didn't find any reason to bother her? But that hasn't stopped Nayeon before, and everybody knew that. She bullied everybody.

Mina was confused. And kind of curious at her unusual behavior. 

It was almost like... she was trying to be friends.

She immediately burried the thought. Nayeon didn't do things to please others. Every thing she did had a selfish motive behind it, no matter how nice it may seem.

 

When she entered the lab class to Nayeon already at their desk, waiting for her with that same smile, Mina knew there was something she was hiding.

 

 

There was always something in return for Im Nayeon.

 

 

-

 

 

There was some time left at the end of the class, and the teacher had told them to start working on their first lab. Everyone was reading over the details together and separating parts.

 

Nayeon and Mina, however, already spent half of the time in silence, waiting for the other to speak up.

 

One of the next steps for Nayeon was to make Mina falsely believe the she was breaking through her 'tough bully' walls. She was going to make herself look vulnerable so Mina would feel more comfortable around her. And what better way to show how she was different than what Mina thought by showing her that the powerful and beautiful Im Nayeon actually studied?

 

"Um, I-I can do the hard parts of this lab," Mina shyly said, hesitatingly glancing at Nayeon."You can do the hypothesis... a-and the materials, if that's okay."

 

God, she thinks I'm an idiot, Nayeon internally rolled her eyes. But this is the perfect opportunity.

 

"You think I'm not smart enough to help you out with the rest?" Nayeon pouted in her direction, resting her elbow on the desk and looking hurt. (Fake hurt.)

"No! I-I just, I just thought you-" Mina frantically tried to defend herself, even if Nayeon might've read her mind. "I thought you didn't want to... to work..."

Mina suddenly felt bad for Nayeon. She never once thought that she would feel this way. It was just the vibe Nayeon gave off that led her into thinking that school wasn't really a priority for her. But Nayeon was right. Mina did unfairly assume things about her, and for that she was sorry.

Nayeon smirked at the look on Mina's regretful face. She totally didn't believe that Nayeon would be a good lab partner.

"Listen, I never told anybody this, but," Nayeon whispered. "You had the highest score for the final last year, but I had the highest the year before that."

The only people who knew of her academic performance were Sana, and the teachers, who had agreed to keep it a secret (or else).

Mina visibly twitched. "Um, aright." There was no way she was telling the truth, she thought.

"You don't believe me."

"N-no, I do!" Mina lied. "It's just that.. just that..."

When Mina stopped talking, Nayeon knew she had won. Mina kept underestimating her, and now she was the one who looked like the bully. Nayeon grinned at her. She was having too much fun playing around with her like this. She bent down to grab the exam from 2 years ago (that she had been dragging around for a few weeks now like an idiot waiting for this moment) from her bag and dropped it on the desk in front of Mina.

And there it was. The 100% on the front page next to a perfectly handwritten Im Nayeon. Mina's 96% only paled in comparison. She stared at the test paper in disbelief and back at Nayeon whose raised eyebrows (a/n she has eyebrows in this fic im not gunna do her that dirty) were screaming 'Now do you believe me?' right at her.

Mina didn't know how she felt about this situation. This meant that all these years, it was with Im Nayeon that her grades have been fighting for dominance.

 

"So it was you!" Mina exclaimed, a little louder than her usual quiet voice, which took Nayeon aback.

"Oho, so the little nerd was this competitive," Nayeon replied. Mina couldn't even feel offended at the comment, because, now that Nayeon had exposed her grades, she was considered a little nerd as well.

She caught Nayeon chuckling at the end of her sentence and revealed her two front bunny teeth. They were bigger up close. This made Mina laugh a little bit, but she instantly caught herself because people would see that she was... laughing... with Im Nayeon.

But if Nayeon was this good at school, why didn't she want the others students to know? Nayeon seemed to read her mind once again as she spoke up.

"I have a reputation to keep up," Nayeon sighed, thinking that revealing a little bit more about herself wouldn't hurt. "They think I'm some badass bully that would rather skip school, and that brought me to where I am now, so... I'd rather keep it that way."

 

There was a