So Nyuh High: Term One

Better Late Than Never

“Mum! I’m late! I’m skipping breakfast okay? Bye!”

Yoona lost no time in putting her shoes on and dashed out of the house in a hurry. She ran at top speed and saw the school looming up in the distance several minutes later. The school wasn’t that near to her home but she was a really fast runner. The shelves in her bedroom were lined with trophies and medals, evidences of her great victories at various track and field competitions.

She made a beeline for her class after finding out where it was on the blueprint, smiling and waving to familiar faces along the way. Her eyes scanned the crowd as she walked down the corridor, searching for someone. She looked carefully but that person was nowhere to be found. With a victorious glint in her eye, Yoona turned around to take one last look before entering her classroom. She went right to the back and sat down on the seat nearest to the backdoor. It was a strategic seat to pick, as it would make it easy for her to sneak out through the backdoor if she felt too bored in class.

Making herself comfortable, she began to look around her class with interest. There were several people she knew from her middle school but weren’t particularly close to. Several other people entered the classroom after Yoona. They eyed the seat next to Yoona but she told each of them that it has been occupied by someone. Moments later, the bell rang and everybody settled down, waiting for their teacher to arrive. Just as she was about lay her head on the table, the front door opened and a man entered the classroom.

“Good morning girls, welcome to your first day of school at So Nyuh High. I am your form teacher and you can call me Mr. Henney. I am also your English teacher. As this is your first year in high school, there will be lots of things to get used to but I’m sure that all of you will do just fine.” said Mr. Henney with a slight smile.

The room was abuzz with excitement for Mr. Henney was a good-looking man. To be precise, he was a major heart throb and half of the girls in class had definitely experienced love at first sight the moment they set their eyes on him. His good looks definitely perked Yoona up but she was nowhere as excited as the other girls were. She wasn’t the sort of girl who’d go gaga over a good-looking hunk though and it seemed to others that she was very cool about good-looking people and that added to her appeal.

However, what most people didn’t know was that Yoona wasn’t immune to good looks. She was well aware of the gorgeous people around her but her heart had only room for one, hence, her little interest in other good-lookers, many of which tried to get closer to her but failed miserably.

“… homework… detention… abide by the rules…”

Yoona’s attention was drifting away as the teacher talked about school rules when a loud bang startled her. The door groaned as it swung on its rusty hinges and a tall, lanky long-haired girl appeared in classroom panting heavily, looking as though she had just done a marathon. Yoona couldn’t stop her lips from curling up into a wide grin.

“YES! She’s freaking late for the first day of school! Ha ha ha!” thought Yoona happily, “I’ve won the bet! She OWES me now.” She couldn’t resist lifting her arm to wave at the late-comer. The class had begun whispering among themselves. There were two things that were being whispered about at that moment – her model-like proportions and her drop dead gorgeous looks.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

She could barely breathe as she swept into the main building in a mad rush to get to her class. It was a cool and windy day but she was totally drenched in sweat after running all the way to school.

“What rotten luck I have today,” grumbled Sooyoung as she scanned the blueprint of the school that she had saved in her mobile phone. “So, it’s on the second level,” she muttered, as she began to climb up the stairs, two or three steps at a time. Her long legs were really handy in situations like these but her fitness level left much to be desired. She was anything but athletic to say the least. Her favourite activities consisted of eating, eating and eating. Well, that and dancing. She was the lead dancer in many musicals during her middle school years and her gorgeous appearance even earned her a commercial for a well-known household appliance company. Few would recognize her in it however, as she was pretty young at that time. Over the years, she had matured into a sophisticated looking young woman who had the power to attract the eyes of everyone around her.

“Ah! There it is. At last!”

She ran towards the door in a flurry, not seeing the small puddle of water on the floor. The next thing she knew, she had slipped on the slippery spot and crashed through the door, causing the ruckus that had startled Yoona and the entire class. Gasping for breath, she bowed to the teacher who was still in shock. He quickly recovered and put a stern look upon his face.

“Why are you so late? Are you Choi Sooyoung?”

“Yes, I am, Sir.”

“My name is Mr. Henney and I am your form teacher. Now, explain why you are thirty minutes late for class.”

“Ummm… I… I ummazlep”

“Speak clearly. Don’t mumble.”

Sooyoung sighed and spoke out loudly, “I overslept this morning.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yoona waving at her. Resisting a strong urge to return the wave, she kept her eyes on Mr. Henney.

“This will be the first and also the last time I will let you get away without having to do detention. The next time you are this late, don’t even bother to plead to get out of detention. Now find yourself a seat and pay attention,” Mr. Henney lectured sternly.

“Thank you Mr. Henney.”

Sooyoung turned and saw an empty seat beside Yoona. “Awesome!” she thought as she made her way to that seat. Just before seating down, she reached over and slid her long slender fingers down Yoona’s arm.

Little did she realize what an effect that simple act had on Yoona. Yoona blushed instantly and tried to will all the goose pimples that had risen to go away. She also pressed her hand on her chest in a futile attempt to slow her heartbeat down. Sooyoung did not notice the subtle reactions in Yoona; instead, she flashed Yoona a huge grin and took her seat.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

Thirty minutes later, Sooyoung felt a kick. She grunted and ignored it but then she felt it again. And again. The last kick was particularly strong and caught her knee. Her leg kicked up in reflex, banging the table and creating another ruckus. She opened her eyes to see the entire class giggling at her. Mr. Henney wasn’t amused however and he shot her a warning look. Feeling extremely embarrassed, she cleared loudly and sat up straight in her chair. She shot Yoona a death glare.

“What?!” she mouthed.

“You owe me,” Yoona mouthed back at her.

“I know.”

Yoona giggled and grinned widely.

Sooyoung pouted and pull her hands down her face. “What a wonderful day this has been,” she thought. “What’s even better is that we’re not even half done with it!” she groaned silently.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

It felt like half a century before the bell went off. Sooyoung jumped to her feet and dragged Yoona out of the classroom and into the cafeteria without paying any attention to the classmates who had wanted to introduce themselves to her. Yoona rolled her eyes but was smiling inside. She’d never let Sooyoung know that she found her especially cute when she was hungry.

“Bulgogi!!!”

Yoona turned around and saw Sooyoung dashing towards a stall to order her lunch. She sighed happily and walked to another stall to get herself a bowl of jajangmyeon. Her queue was shorter so she got her noodles first and looked around for seats. Sooyoung soon joined her with her bulgogi and tackled the dish with fervor. Yoona had started eating first but Sooyoung finished eating first. Sooyoung propped her head on her hands and watched her friend as she finished her noodles.

“So, what wish do you want fulfilled?” Sooyoung asked with a grin.

“Mmmoorraakksstaw!” mumbled Yoona with full of noodles.

“What?”

“Rrowwerkorster”

“Ah, rollercoaster. Haha! Why am I not surprised at all?”

“Cos you know me best.”

“Of course, he he!” Sooyoung laughed and reached over to ruffle Yoona’s hair. It was something that Sooyoung loved doing to Yoona and Yoona loved it when she did that. Yoona beamed, thinking about her day out with Sooyoung at the rollercoaster park. “It’s a date!” thought Yoona with a smile.

“Hey, make it just the two of us okay.”

“Anything you say Im Yoona. I’ll be your prince and you’ll be my princess. It’s our royal outing and the royal day will be this Saturday. Are you free this Saturday?”

“Yes, my shift is on Sunday this week so I’m free on Saturday.”

“Great! It’s a date then. See you in class tomorrow, Yoongie.”

“Bye Sooyoungie!”

The two friends parted ways to go home. Yoona would have loved to walk home with Sooyoung but their homes were in opposite directions. Still, the thought of going on the date perked her up and she skipped home, whistling a happy tune.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

Seohyun was reading Ariel by Sylvia Plath. She was absorbed in it but heard the door opening. She looked up and gave her sister a warm smile.

“Yoongie, how was your first day of school?”

“It was great! Sooyoung was late and I won our bet.”

“Yoongie ah… what about the lessons? Are your teachers interesting?”

“Well, there is this Mr. Henney…”

“What about him? Is he brilliant?”

“He certainly is good-looking but as you know, I don’t go ga-ga over such things.”

“Unnie! It’s so difficult to talk to you about school and teachers. Please pay more attention to your studies, unnie.”

“Ha ha, I was just teasing you Hyunnie, lessons were fun and interesting and Mr. Henney is a good teacher too. Of course, his good looks help to attract our attention as well,” said Yoona. She laughed and gave her sister a tight squeeze that made her squeal in protest, making Yoona laugh even harder.

Time seemed to crawl as slowly as an injured snail but Saturday finally arrived. Yoona’s energy was uncontainable as she literally bounced off her bed and into the shower to get ready for her royal date. Since they were going on rollercoasters, she couldn’t wear a dress or anything too revealing. She had spent the previous night picking out something suitable and had decided on a nice pair grey denim shorts to go with her loose fitting white top. To complete the casual yet chic look, Yoona donned a pair of black gladiator flats on her pretty feet. Underneath her outfit, was a y black bikini that would set off a series of nose bleeds at the park later. She then packed a towel and some other necessities into a funky looking hobo bag.

Her dearest sister was pouring over her books again which had become the norm in this home. If she wasn’t reading a book, she’d be eating sweet potatoes or doing some homework. Yoona gave her sister a huge hug from the back which made her squeal again. Yoona loved hearing her sister squeal. She found it really cute and couldn’t get enough of it. Seo slapped Yoona’s arms and pushed her away.

“Go! Go for your royal date already. Have fun!”

“I sure will!” said Yoona, grinning from ear to ear and skipped down the stairs happily. As she stood on the pavement waiting for Sooyoung to pick her up, Yoona chuckled, thinking about that life-changing dream and phone call. To think that it all began like this…

It had been just another school day when Yoona went to the dance studio to look for Sooyoung. They had agreed to meet there because Sooyoung wanted an extra practice to prepare for her showcase as a graduating student. Yoona gazed at the ceiling-high mirrors that wallpapered the walls. She had never been to the dance studio in her middle school before and she was curious about every nook and cranny in the studio. She suddenly wondered why she had never visited this building especially when Hyoyeon, her best friend, also attended dance classes here before she graduated.

She wandered down the corridor and reached Dance Studio 9. She peeped in through the glass panel on the door. Sooyoung was inside practicing hard. Yoona was about to push the door open and announce her arrival loudly when her hand froze on the knob. Her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped at the sight that beheld her.

Sooyoung had done a sudden drop, landing with her right hand on the ground and her beautifully toned left leg stretch out straight. That move was following by a series of twists and turns on the floor before standing back up to do more y hip twists.

Yoona’s eyes followed all of her moves and it wasn’t till the music stopped that she managed to come back to her senses. Sooyoung turned around and saw her face behind the glass panel. She gestured for Yoona to come in. Yoona was in total awe of Sooyoung at that moment. was gaping open and she gushed about how awesome Sooyoung was when she danced.

“W-wait a minute. What do you mean when you say ‘when I dance’?” Sooyoung pouted, “So I’m not awesome when I’m not dancing?”

“W-wah? No, no, no, of course you are awesome at all times!” proclaimed Yoona.

“HAHA! Relax, I’m just kidding. I know what you meant,” said Sooyoung with a laugh and a wink. She reached over to ruffle Yoona’s hair before heading to the showers.

From then on, Yoona was always at the studio with Sooyoung. She couldn’t pass up on a chance to watch Sooyoung dance. Then one night, she had a strange dream about a tall, dancing girl. The girl kept dancing and swaying her hips. It was hypnotizing. All of a sudden, she saw her face. It was Sooyoung. She had dreamt of Sooyoung dancing really seductively and the most puzzling part was when she leaned forward and planted a kiss on Sooyoung’s nose at the end. That moment was so tender that it awakened her.

She couldn’t figure it out. What was that dream about? In the end, she called Hyoyeon, her best friend to tell her about her dream of Sooyoung. Hyoyeon, being a Choding, immediately about it.

“Ooh la la… our little Yoona is falling in love,” chuckled Hyoyeon.

“No, I’m not! Maybe I’m just crushing over her,” said Yoona, “Her dance moves are so awesome!”

“Oh yes you are! You are in love!” chirped Hyoyeon.

“Argh! You’re so impossible Hyo, I’ve got to go to sleep now, talk to you later!” said Yoona.

“Trying to get away aren’t you, HAHA! Anyway, I give you my blessings. May the force be with you, my friend!” Hyoyeon said with a laugh.

“Argh, I’m not listening to this anymore! Goodbye!” said Yoona with a laugh.

However, Hyoyeon had done it. The seed had been planted in her mind and Yoona started to wonder if she really was … in love.

Yoona smiled at the memories. The smile turned into a huge grin when she saw a brilliant lime green Kawasaki ZX-10R pulling up alongside where she stood on the pavement. She got onto the bike and Sooyoung ruffled her hair and petted her head affectionately before helping her with her helmet as always. Once the helmet was secured, they sped off to the rollercoaster park, Everland.