Seulgi and Jackson looked at each other in confusion. There was something terribly different in the air. Maybe it wasn’t terrible, in the sense, but it was something that had thrown them completely off track. 

Jackson raised his eyebrows at Seulgi. Did she know something he didn't? Seulgi shook her head slightly. He knew that they went on a date too, and that was as much as Seulgi knew. 

Minho and Joohyun would keep giving each other glances and looking away the moment they met each other’s eyes.

“Okay. What the is going on??” Jackson narrowed his eyes at the two. Seulgi rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t have to be that aggressive, Jackson.” 

“Fine. Can someone please enlighten me of what happened over the weekend for you two to be acting like” Jackson frantically gestured, “this?” 

Joohyun laughed at his attempt to be more civil, which had started off well, but the frantic and aggressive gesturing was completely contrasted. Minho rolled his eyes. Jackson was definitely the drama queen, but this was what made the friend group funny and well balanced.

The bell rang before any of them could answer Jackson’s answer, and Seulgi walked the other direction while the 3 of them walked to their Calculus class. Before they left, Seulgi made them promise that they would wait until their third period (where they all had Dance) to spill any tea.

As Calculus started, Minho and Joohyun could see Jackson fidgeting. The moment they were allowed to collaborate on a worksheet, Jackson whipped towards them.

“What happened? I can’t wait til 3rd period, are you kidding me?!” 

“Wel-” Minho couldn’t finish the word when Joohyun covered his mouth.

“We’re waiting for Seulgi.” Joohyun reminded him, nudging her head towards the worksheet. Jackson muttered angrily under her breath, and while Joohyun was too far to hear what he was saying, Minho couldn’t help but laugh.

It seemed as if all of them were waiting for it to be the 3rd period. The moment they filed into the room with their clothes changed, they huddled in the corner. Lucky for them, today was a chill day where they were supposed to be watching a documentary on the life of dance. 

“I’ve been waiting 3 damn periods for this.” Jackson huddled closer, trying to keep his voice low so it wouldn’t bother other students. 

“You took her to the view? The view?” Jackson emphasized ‘the’, knowing that Minho never took people out to the view. Jackson let out a low whistle, impressed with how much Minho was attracted to her. 

“Is it… special?” Seulgi asked curiously, not understanding the gravity of Minho taking Joohyun out to a view. Jackson turned slowly, and nodded with his eyes wide open.

The rest of the week went on with the similar tension between Minho and Joohyun. Seulgi and Jackson, although a little bit uncomfortable with the said tension, were just waiting for Jackson to ask Joohyun out. It was so obvious that both of them liked each other. The short glances and the way they looked for each other in a crowded room and then pretending they weren’t looking were all caught by the couple.

At lunch, their hands would brush next to each other, and the both of them were too scared to hold it. They would let it awkwardly touch and wouldn’t move, even though it was hard to eat with one hand. They tried to not be too obvious of what was happening under the table, but Seulgi and Jackson had a hard time containing their laughs when it was so painfully obvious. 

By Thursday, Jackson asked Minho when he was planning to ask Joohyun. He knew that both of them, once sure of their feelings, weren’t ones to wait to ask someone out. 

“I’m going to do it after school tomorrow. Maybe take her out to the view again.” Jackson nodded. He fished out his phone and texted Seulgi, who was wondering the same thing. 

The rest of the day passed quickly, and like usual, it was time for lunch. They sat at their end of the table, somewhere no one else really settled because everyone else knew it was claimed. To their surprise, a really pretty girl with long, black hair was sitting there fidgeting with her phone. They were approaching her from the back, and while Joohyun, who had transferred to the school that year, didn’t know the girl, the other 3 stiffened. 

“Jennie?” Minho called out. 

She turned around with tears falling down her face. Joohyun had to keep herself from making a face. The girl named Jennie was beautiful. She had sparkly eyes, a cute nose, and high cheekbones. She was confused though, as to why she was crying and why Seulgi and Jackson looked like meerkats staring at Minho.

“Jennie? What’s wrong?” Minho rushed over to her in panic. 

The girl’s shoulder shook even harder, letting out bigger sobs as Minho embraced her. He was so focused on the girl in his arms that everything seemed to be irrelevant.

Joohyun, Seulgi, and Jackson were still standing behind them, unsure what they should do when Jennie was sobbing in Minho’s arms. Joohyun looked worried, and sent glances to Seulgi and Jackson, who returned those worried glances with their own set of worry, but for a different reason. 

Jennie whispered something into Minho’s chest, and he leaned down and put his ear next to her lips to hear her better. Nodding, he took her backpack on his right shoulder and wrapped his arm around her waist with his left arm.

“I’m going to take her to the infirmary.” Minho glanced over to the three, gesturing that they should sit down and eat. 

Jackson held his gaze, seemingly challenging his friend’s decision to do so. Joohyun could tell that there was a different tension in the air, and she didn’t know why or what even caused it.

Joohyun sat down to catch Seulgi rolling her eyes.

“Spill the tea.” Joohyun whispered, lowering her head. 

At first, Seulgi shook her head in refusal.

“I’m going to find out somehow and I’d rather it be from you guys. I’m not stupid, I can tell somethings up.” 

“She’s his ex.” 

Joohyun nodded her head to Jackson’s statement; she was already expecting something similar by the way Seulgi and Jackson responded.

“Well that’s one way to downplay what she did to him.” Seulgi muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Joohyun to catch on.

By the end of their recap on what Jennie did to Minho, Joohyun had a frown on her face. She couldn’t believe Jennie treated him like trash and used him just for her emotional benefit and threw him away once she was doing better. Minho really did put his all for that relationship, staying up with her when she had a hard time dealing with her family and sacrificing more than his sleep. It had taken a toll on him too when he came to school with bags under his eyes and his grades started dropping.

“He promised. He promised not to even talk to her because he knew she would make him fall again.” Jackson shook his head in disappointment. Most of the people in school knew that Joohyun and Minho were talking, and she could feel the whispers start to set in when Minho had hugged Jennie in front of her and escorted her out. Word had travelled fast, and by the time it was time for 5th period, when they all had the same singing and rapping class, Joohyun was approached by a group of girls.

Most of the group had sympathetic expressions on their face, which threw Joohyun completely off. 

“No one can beat Jennie in Minho’s mind. It’s okay though, Joohyun! You’re pretty and no boy would complain if you liked them.” The leader tried to comfort Joohyun, who was even more confused. Unable to come up with a response, she nodded and the group of girls walked away, some of them patting her shoulder.

Joohyun was really confused now. She didn’t think it was a big deal that Minho had taken care of Jennie when she was crying. It would be rude of him to have ignored her. But with the sympathetic gazes throughout the class, Minho still missing, and the background story, she couldn’t help but think if she was just a rebound. It was hard to give up on someone that you loved so much just a few months ago. 

Joohyun messed up on her singing, forgetting the lyrics and even forgetting some of her rap, which never happened.

“Hey, you okay?” Seulgi poked at her side, trying to keep her voice low so other students stopped trying to interfere.

“I was. And now I’m confused.” Jackson nearly smacked his forehead and decided to just rub his eyes in frustration.

“That idiot.” He muttered more things under his breath, that only Seulgi caught. She nudged her side, wanting him to shut up before he ruined, what hopefully, would happen tomorrow. 

The day ended without Minho coming back to school. Joohyun sent him a few texts, letting him know what he missed in sing/rap class and their AP Bio class. A few hours went without response, and so Joohyun sent him another text asking if he was okay. Minho was usually very punctual about replying to her texts, and it was weird to be left on delivered for hours on end. Joohyun texted Jackson and Seulgi to see if they were in contact with him, only to be told that he cut off contact with them as well. Jackson mentioned something about how Minho was reverting back to when he dated Jennie, never responding to text messages or calls until he was apart from Jennie.

To their disappointment and confusion, they received no texts or calls from Minho. 

To their surprise, Minho showed up the next day to school. It was obvious that he had gotten little to no sleep, and what really surprised them was him and Jennie walking into school together. It wasn’t an easy sight to miss because the school was openly gawking at them. 

Rumours spread fast, and it was apparent from the aftermath of the breakup that Jennie had completely destroyed Minho. Soon, Joohyun felt heads turn towards her. Needless to say, the students were confused on how Joohyun fit into this entire mess. They knew that they were talking, and that it would probably have turned into something more by the way they looked at each other. 

Joohyun groaned, not wanting to be caught up in all this mess, and shut her locker firmly to walk off to her first period. Jackson, who gave Seulgi a chaste kiss, caught up to her in a few strides. Jackson was fidgeting, wanting to say something to Joohyun, but under instructions from Seulgi not to open his mouth and make the situation worse. 

Sitting down in their Calculus class, Jackson watched Joohyun pretend to act normal. When Minho walked into the room however, she looked up and gave him a firm look. There were bits of disappointment and confusion to what had gone on the past night. 

Minho tapped her shoulder, trying to get her attention when the teacher walked in. Visibly relieved, Joohyun picked up her pencil to write notes. Minho looked at Jackson for help. He could tell that Joohyun wasn’t in a good mood, and had suspicions of himself being the core reason why. 

When Jackson ignored his look and shook his head in disappointment, he knew that he messed up. Bigger than he thought he did.

First and second period was an awkward mess, with none of them wanting to talk to Minho because they were all disappointed with the way he had gone back to Jennie and how he was when he was with Jennie. 

During passing period, Minho was finally able to catch Jackson and have a quick talk with him.

“I messed up. But I couldn’t just leave her crying, Jackson.” 

“I know. But now Joohyun knows about your whole mess… And so does the whole school.” Minho groaned. Word travelled faster than anyone would expect it to, especially with Joohyun being one of the prettiest girls at school.

“She won’t talk to me. I tried in Calculus and she just completely ignored me.” Jackson gave him a no , Sherlock face.

“Don’t you think you would be conflicted? If the person you liked went off with their ex, didn’t text back or call, and came to school in the morning with her?” Minho let out another groan. 

“I- My phone’s been broken because I dropped it in the toilet yesterday at Jennie’s. And she came to my house to walk here with me to talk about yesterday’s issue.” Jackson smacked him in the back of his head.

“You. Are. An. Idiot.” 

The bell rang, and with a final glare Jackson walked off to dance with Minho running behind him.

After dressing in dance appropriate clothing, they met in the classroom. Jackson had sent Seulgi a text explaining what Minho told him, and they both decided it would be better for Joohyun to hear it from Minho himself. 

“Okay everyone! Finals are coming up in a few weeks. The final project will be a partner dance!” The girls collectively let out a grumble while the boys couldn’t help but smile.

“It doesn’t have to be a boy and girl partner dance.” All of a sudden, the girls started whispering, finding their own partners while the boys looked at each other in disgust. “And you guys are free to pick your own partners this final.” The teacher chuckled at the glares he received from the boys.

Joohyun turned to Seulgi, hoping that she would be her partner instead of doing it with Jackson. With a goofy grin, Jackson held up their intertwined hands. Seulgi mouthed sorry to Joohyun, who rolled her eyes. She wasn’t on good terms with Minho, but she didn’t really know anyone else in the class. 

Jackson hit Minho across his back, frantically gesturing at him and back at Joohyun with almost a maniac, confused look on his face. Even after being hit, Minho was hesitant to ask Joohyun if they wanted to be partners. It was obvious that she was scanning the room to other boys, and they could see a few courageous boys make their way up to her. 

Jackson shoved Minho harshly to Joohyun, and in order to steady himself he had to grab onto her petite frame. 

“Uhh… Jackson pushed…” 

“Oh.” 

Jackson’s jaw dropped.

“Are you serious? Are you stupid??” Jackson took another swipe at Minho, who was barely able to avoid it. 

“Doyouwannabedancepartners?” Minho rushed out, finally escaping Jackson’s flailing arms. Joohyun raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to do it with me. Jackson, stop forcing him.”

Jackson wanted to slam his head into a wall.

“Seulgi, they’re BOTH dumb!” He whined, holding his girlfriend’s waist and shaking her back and forth. 

“It’s not Jackson. I really want to be your dance partner, Joohyun.” Joohyun knew she didn’t have much of a choice; she was uncomfortable with the other boys and girls in the class, and she was pretty sure she would be unable to hold a grudge until the end of the semester.

“Okay boys and girls, I’m going to give each of you two genres. You have to create a performance with both aspects.” The teacher smiled while taking out a hat with a bunch of cut up paper in it. One by one, the students went to pull out a genre from the hat.

Some boys fell onto their knees in despair when they saw that they had to do a ballroom dance with their boy partner, while some girls jumped around as cheerleading was also once of the genres. Jackson and Seulgi pulled out hiphop and street dancing, which were easy to mix. 

“What’d you get?” Minho glanced at Joohyun’s paper. 

“Jazz. What’s yours?” Joohyun peeked over at Minho’s slip.

“... Waltz.” 

“Damn.”