As shy and awkward Yoojung was, she couldn’t find the courage to seek out Doyeon during school hours, besides stealing glances when she would see the taller girl in the hallways. The first time they met, she got assaulted by her bright blue water bottle, so Yoojung had an excuse to talk to her, even if it was through a mouthful of tissue. Thus, within the first week of her gap tooth, Yoojung kept to herself, her friends and football, letting herself wallow in her awkwardness. She hadn’t even bothered to flash a smile across the room with her new tooth after her dentist trip.

Being to awkward to say anything to her had worked until the cheerleading team had practice on the same day, and Doyeon came jogging over to the team after practice, holding something wrapped up in her varsity jacket. She stops right in front of Yoojung, and she can feel the football team’s eyes on the duo, curious as to why the cheerleading team’s lead visual was speaking to one of their players.

“Yoojung-ah!” Doyeon starts, pouting, “I understand that I nearly killed you with my water bottle, but you don’t need to ignore me!”

“I-Ignore you?” The shorter girl replies, completely shocked, “No, it’s just that I-“

“Never mind that! It’s okay, I nearly decapitated you!”

“That’s.. That’s a bit much..” Yoojung mutters, smiling softly at Doyeon’s constant hyperboles regarding their little

“It’s how it happens in the movies, so I hope that it’ll stick in your mind forever,” The taller girl winks, before shoving whatever was in her arms into Yoojung’s, “This is to make up for the almost-homicide, I had to remake them over and over because you wouldn’t speak to me in the hallways!”

“Yeah Yoojung, she’s been pestering me all week about why you haven’t spoken to her! I can’t focus in class!” Dahyun yells from afar, causing the shorter girl to erupt into laughter and the taller to frown in defiance.

“Hey, I didn’t ask about her that much!” Doyeon protests, before turning to the girl in question and smiling again, “Don’t ignore me anymore, Yoojung-ah.”

Yoojung watched as Doyeon jogged back to her team, before looking down to see what she had been given. Shifting the jacket, it revealed a box with a little purple sticky note on top, sporting the other girl’s handwriting.

A gift from me that isn’t a missing tooth! - Doyeon

Laughing, she opened the box, spying the large batch of cookies which drowned in chocolate chips. Before she could grab one to bite, a certain Jeon Somi had snatched one out of the box before jogging off gleefully to the locker rooms.

“Thank Doyeon-unnie for me!” She called over her shoulder, grinning maniacally.

-

The cookies became Yoojung’s snacks in class for the next two days, because of the sheer number that Doyeon had made for her, they might’ve lasted her weeks if she didn’t eat them constantly. Not that she minded, because the baked goods were absolutely delicious; she would constantly be happily munching on them, due to the sheer luck that she sat near the back in all of her classes. Math was especially great, because the girl who sat next to her, Kim Yeri, always had her own snacks to eat in class, so she wouldn’t be pestering Yoojung for one of her own cookies.

“Cha Eunwoo is staring at you again.” Yeri whispers next to her in math, making Yoojung panic and cover the cookies up with her hands.

“Do you think he wants some?” Yoojung asked, suddenly feeling protective of her cookies, “I’m not willing to share.”

Yeri giggled under her breath before returning to her workbook and the pocky underneath her desk, chewing on the chocolate covered sticks.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and the class started to pack up their things. Looking up from her cookies, Yoojung noticed Chae Eunwoo smiling at her across the classroom, waving excitedly before making his way to her still cluttered desk.

“Hey Yoojung!” He exclaims, noticing the cookies in her hands and the handwritten note on top of it, “Oh, I didn’t know you were friends with Doyeon!”

“Stereotypical football player and cheerleader friendship,” Yoojung laughs, closing her hands around her cookies tighter, unwilling to share, “Bound to happen; our teams are nearly always around each other.”

Eunwoo laughed in agreement, before looking Yoojung straight in the eyes. Do people always ask for cookies with this intensely?

“Listen, I was thinking,” He says, running a hand through his hair while maintaining eye contact, “Are you free after school sometime? We could go grab a bite to eat or something.”

Oh. He didn’t want cookies.

“Oh, uh,” Yoojung stammered, taken aback by the request, “I’ll have to check my schedule, I’ll get back to you?”

Eunwoo grinned almost creepily, before nodding and running off to meet his friends outside the door. Yoojung sighed; he was a nice enough guy, but there were rumors around him, and bad vibes. She didn’t want anything to do with that.

Packing up her textbooks, she slung her bag over her shoulder to head to the cafeteria, knowing that since it was Wednesday, Somi would insist on sitting inside so as to have full access to the stream of pizza that was supplied on this certain day. Passing through the hallways and pushing the doors open, she hadn’t even stepped into the cafeteria before spotting said girl asking to put three more slices on her tray, much to the dismay and shock of the lunch ladies and the students behind her. The poor lunch lady looked like she wanted to faint when Mina, who was behind Somi, asked for double the amount.

Seeing the rest of their friends seated at a table far from the commotion that the two hungry girls were causing, Yoojung headed there, dropping her bag down to the floor and taking out her cookies. Chungha took a pause from lecturing Jieqiong to stare incredulously at the younger girl.

“You’re still eating those?” Chungha asked in disbelief, as Jieqiong laughed at Yoojung’s defensive expression.

“Leave her alone unnie,” Jieqiong chimed, “She doesn’t get declarations of love everyday!”

“H-Hey!” Yoojung protests, “It wasn’t a love declaration, it’s because I lost my tooth!”

“And she responds to that by making you sugary things. Mm, I love an intellectual.” Yeonjung pipes up, causing the girls to erupt in laughter.

Yoojung sticks her tongue out at her friends before starting to chew at another cookie, and would’ve enjoyed the free hour to enjoy her cookies if not for Jieqiong saying “declarations of love”.

Eunwoo stuck in her mind that entire lunch, and the malicious stories about him, even as Chungha told Jieqiong off for her hopeless crush on the Volleyball captain, and Mina and Somi got into a fist fight over the last slice of pizza between them.

_

Making up her mind that lunchtime, Yoojung proceeded to desperately avoid Eunwoo’s gaze in the remaining classes of the day, so as to not answer him, and she thought she had made it without having to say anything to him. Walking out of class and towards the school gate, she could just make out the shape of Somi and Yeonjung waiting outside for her. She could just go home and forget about this.

“Yoojung!”

But, of course there is no such luck.

Yoojung lowered her head and gripped the straps of her backpack tighter, hoping that the owner of the voice would go away. But of course, to no avail. Cha Eunwoo jogged to catch up with her.

“Did you ever think about that offer I gave?” He said, smiling. Something about it wasn’t exactly friendly, like the first time he asked, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“Uh.. Eunwoo, I’m sorry, but I don’t think so.” Yoojung said quietly, trying to walk faster to get to the school gate. At least if Somi and Yeonjung were there, he would back off a bit. He might be taller than the trio of them, but she wouldn’t be alone. Of course, she wouldn’t be so lucky; Eunwoo jogged a bit faster to stand in front of her and block her path.

“What did you say?” He questioned, cocking his head to the side and leaning towards her face, “I didn’t quite hear you.”

“I don’t think so.” She repeated, scared out of her wits of what he would say next.

Something flashed in his eyes, something hostile and unreadable.

“You’re going to regret that.” He hissed, “No one says no to me.”

He walked straight from there, brushing hard against Yoojung’s shoulder and stalking off to find his band of friends. Frozen for a few seconds, she stood still, before starting to slowly make her way to the gate where her best friends were waiting.

Somi couldn’t even say “Hello”, because as soon as they made eye contact, Yoojung burst into tears. Ugly, terrified tears.

She just hoped the stories about the girls he chased weren’t true.