[Sooyoung’s POV]

To my dismay, I didn’t see Jessica for the rest of the day. Well, I DID see her, but every time we made the slightest bit of eye contact, she disappears around a corner, or in a crowd of people which is hard to believe considering her blonde hair stands out quite a bit. Eager for my revenge, I went into eagle mode, scanning the hallways, washrooms, and classrooms. Despite my best efforts, I failed to even catch a glimpse of her by the end of the day. I let out a heavy sigh and decide to figure out a new plan. I suddenly begin to smirk and devilishly rub my hands together. Jessica will think twice before messing with me again… “Muhuahuahua” I laugh manically.

[Jessica’s POV]

I silently lay on my bed exhausted and concentrated my gaze towards the ceiling. Why had I been avoiding Sooyoung all day? Every time I saw her I got a dizzy feeling, and I ran away without thinking. Could it be that… no… I’ve been out of it lately. Maybe I’m just sick. Yeah, that’s it. Perhaps some rest will…

I awoke to a voice calling me. “Sica…. Sica… wake up! WAKE UP!” The figure stood over me shaking me violently. I open my eyes to be surrounded by tall flames that seemed to mock me as it surrounded us. “We need to get out of here! Come on!” The figure grabbed my hand and pulled me through the flames and I could hear a faint siren sounding off in the distance. Suddenly the figure in front of me disappears leaving me with the haunting flames. I soon realize that I’m in a building collapsing around me and as I look up a piece of debris comes crashing down right above me.

I quickly sit up panicked with my eyes wide-open and heart beating rapidly. I check my surroundings to find myself on the floor of my dorm. I sigh a breath of relief and realize it was just a dream but what was that about?

Deciding to clear my head, I enter the kitchen where Taeyeon was busy organizing papers to even notice me. I go to the fridge to get some water and quickly drink it feeling refreshed. I turn to Taeyeon. “What are you doing?” I curiously ask.

She still concentrated on her papers. “I’m just organizing the sports schedules.  These jock kids sure are…” She looks up at me and bursts out into laughter.

“Yah! What’s so funny?” I angrily ask at her sudden reaction. I realize that my question wouldn’t be answered as she proceeded to laugh and hold onto her stomach. I just roll my eyes and proceed to the main room with the obnoxious laughter still behind me.  I notice Yoona and Sunny lounging on the couch. “Mind if I join you two?” They look at me but before they could answer they burst into laughter just as Taeyeon did.  “YAH! What’s so amusing?”

Sunny clenches her stomach and takes a small breather. “D..did you do your make-up while you were asleep?” She leans on Yoona for support but Yoona does the same as they continue to laugh.

“What on earth are you talking about?” I question her statement but it was clear I wasn’t going to get any more answers from them. Maybe I should have just stayed in my room. I start to head back into my room when I hear mischievous giggling coming from my room. As I reached for the doorknob I recognized the laughing. Sooyoung was back. I reluctantly open the door and notice Sooyoung lying horizontally across her bed reading a book. She looked up acknowledging my presence and began to smile deviously.

“Oh, there you are Sica. I was wondering where you disappeared off to.” Sooyoung smugly smiled at me, clearly trying to hold her laughter. “You looked so out of it, you didn’t even notice me in here!”

She was here before? How could I have missed her? I clear my throat while controlling my anger, “Could you please tell me what’s so amusing?”

Sooyoung smiles at me, “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

I slowly turn to the mirror, “What are you…” I stop and look at my reflection.  I had big, red circles on my cheeks, two ‘moles’ placed under my lip and nose, black lipstick and bright blue make-up around my eyes. I turn back towards her now crying from laughter. Like a cartoon, you could almost see the steam coming from my ears. “Choi Sooyoung… I wouldn’t be sitting there laughing right now if I were you…” I begin to walk towards her curling up my fists.

She instantly stops laughing and fear strikes through her body. My glare is beyond what she had seen before. Sooyoung gulps loudly and stutters, “Y..y..YAH! This was just p…payback for you w…watching me suffer in Phys. Ed!” she sputtered out.

I stop and begin to laugh loudly thinking of the incident. The atmosphere relaxes and we both begin to laugh.  

“That’s not a fair comeback Sooyoung it’s not like I caused you public humiliation. I’m going to go wash this gunk off my face before it stains my skin.” I hastily rush to the bathroom to wash it off. However, much to my dismay the red circles still lightly stained my white cheeks and only spread more as I roughly scrubbed them attempting to remove the now, what looked to be over-applied blush. I sigh in exhaustion as a small headache began to form. Today was becoming too eventful for my liking.

I exit the room to find Sooyoung writing in her journal again, this time with a big grin on her face. “Yah! What are you so happy about huh?” I shout at her breaking her concentration.

“Huh? Oh nothing. Let’s go get something to eat!” She quickly closes her book and grabs my arm dragging me out of the room.

“Yah! Choi Sooyoung, I demand you let go of me right now!” I complain as her grip began to loosen.

“My apologies… princess.” She turned around winking, while giving me an exaggerative bow.  I roll my eyes at her, and she smiles, interlocking her arm in mine, pulling me out the door.

“You know, there is plenty of food in the dorm, we don’t need to head to town.” I state, while reluctantly following her.

“I know, but I just got my allowance, and it’s my treat.” She replies smiling.

I smirk, “Seriously? What’s the catch?” The shikshin queen treating me? There was no way.

“Nope, no catch. I feel kind of bad for what I did. I suppose I went a little over the top again.” She faces me scratching her head.

I suddenly stop remembering my blush-stained cheeks. “I’m going to head back.” I was about to turn when her hand catches mine.

“Wait, it actually makes you look really cute.” She giggles.

I furl my eyebrows. “Are you making fun of me?” I go to walk away but she continues.

“I’m not making fun of you… I have always thought you looked cute.” She sincerely states facing me. Her words seemed to process and she quickly turns away. “Well… what I mean by that is… uh… you are a very… cute… person.” She continued in an awkward tone.

THUMP. My heart jumped. I quickly shake it off turning towards her and begin walk ahead. “I don’t take flattery very well...but…thanks.” I cross my arms. “And…we already walked all this way, so lets go.”  

She shakes her head and catches up to me as we head towards the town in silence.

[General POV]

The two girls reach town and look at their restaurant options. Sooyoung is the first to point out the many places she found online but Jessica seemed uninterested in the subject, shrugging off Sooyoung’s words, frustrating her.

“Well where do you want to eat then?” Sooyoung throws her arms up into the air.

“I don’t care. I’m just hungry, let’s go over there.” Jessica points at a small corner restaurant about a block away.

“Okay, sounds good!” Sooyoung picks up her pace her lips.

When they reach the restaurant, a waitress who looked overworked pointed them to their seats and looked at them with dreary eyes as she took their orders. 

“Hm… do you have a salad WITHOUT cucumbers?” Jessica asked, cleary emphasizing the ‘without cucumbers’ part.

The restless waitress sighs, “I don’t know, why don’t you check the menu? That’s what its there for.” she replies rather rudely.

“I was just asking.” Jessica replied with a solemn tone, slightly glaring at her.

Suddenly another waitress comes out from the kitchen whispering something to the other one who grunted and walked away. “Sorry about that, what would you like?” She asked politely in a cheerful voice.

Sooyoung and Jessica focus on their new waitress, both of their eyes open with surprise. “Sunny?” They question in unison.

Sunny realizes whom she is serving. “Sooyoung?” She looks over to the other girl. “Jessica is that you? I could barely recognize you with that make-up.” She giggled causing Jessica to sink in her seat with embarrassment but still sneaks a subtle glare at Sooyoung.

Sooyoung disregards her glare and looks at Sunny. “So, how long have you worked here?”

“Ah, I actually just started working a few days ago...Taeyeon has been kind of worked up about this whole festival thing, and I wanted to get her something." she shyly replies.

"Why don't you just tie a bow on your head. I'm sure she'd like that gift." Jessica wittily replies causing Sunny to blush deeply.

After a few moments of small chatter, Sooyoung snaps out of a deep thought. "Hey Sunny... does that mean you can get us free food?"

Sunny laughs at her comment, realizing that she was serious and leans in. “I don’t think I could… but I can probably sneak you a piece of dessert when my shift is over.” She winks.

Sooyoung’s eyes begin to glow and her face beaming with anticipation like a child on Christmas Eve. Jessica also begins to giggle at her, but instantly stops to moment the door chimes ring and a person emerges into the restaurant. Jessica becomes frantic and hides her face behind her menu. Sooyoung takes notice and stares at her with bewildered eyes to her sudden change of mood.

“Uhm, you know, I don’t feel very hungry, I’m going to head back now.” Jessica quickly states getting up not giving time for questions.

“Sica wait!” Sooyoung began to chase her out apologizing to Sunny on the way out.

She finally catches up to her. “Sica…what’s wrong?” Sooyoung asks.

The frantic girl begins to calm down. “It’s nothing you need to worry about, I just started not to feel well that’s all.” She assures the worried girl, however she seemed unconvinced. “I just need to take a rest.” Sooyoung was still unconvinced, but accepted her excuse as they returned to the dorm.