Chapter 1: Acceptance
Motivation
I looked in shock at my acceptance letter. I made it into both Cal Tech and Stanford?
Someone giggled. "Tiffany, if you keep that up, you're going to catch flies."
I shut my mouth, embarrassed. Taeyeon approached me from my left, but I turned around. After spinning around for a while, Taeyeon finally gave up and attempted to look over my shoulder. I giggled as she started to jump, like a hyper little kid, in hopes of looking at what was in my hands. "Tiffany~ did you make it?"
I pretended to be suppress tears of disappointment. "N-No ..." I made my voice shaky, as if I was on the verge of breaking down.
Taeyeon grabbed my waist and pulled me into a hug. "Aw, don't cry, my beautiful princess," my heart leapt at the name. Taeyeon always called me that when trying to soothe me. Which is totally NOT a reason why I pretended to be sad. "At least you can join us at Stanford, right?"
"Yea--"
"Yah! What are you crying about? You made it!" A stern voice said. I looked over to see Jessica to my right, staring at the letter I was holding in my hands. How come I didn't notice her?
"Thanks, Sica!" Taeyeon said happily. "Good job, Fany! But don't do that again, it makes me sad to see you cry," Taeyeon scolded me, tapping my head.
I giggled again. "Sorry,"
"Too bad that means that you'll go to college without us ..." Jessica commented, sounding distant. Something sparkled in her eye that might have been tears. Taeyeon looked down, too.
"Aw, guys. Don't make me feel bad about this. I still have time to reply, and I might choose Stanford over CalTech," I told them warmly, although really, I already thought about this. The thought of 4 years without Taeyeon was ... unthinkable. And of course Jessica. But especially Taeyeon.
I just couldn't pull myself to do it, no matter how much I liked CalTech. Honestly, I don't know how I made Stanford, but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when all of us got acceptance letters to the university.
"Tiffany! Don't worry about us, we can still video-chat, right? You should go to CalTech! It is your dream school, after all. I promise we won't lose contact, and after 4 years, we be together again!" Taeyeon said with a shaky voice, although the way her eyes lost their happiness was an obvious sign of her sadness. I saw Taeyeon cry when I had to move, once. And that moment was when I decided that I wanted to protect her, care for her, so she would never have to cry again. I made that silent vow as I released Taeyeon and headed to the airplane, head down, face damp. Tears weren't worthy of staining her innocent, child-like, beautiful face.
I pulled both Jessica, who was spacing out, and Taeyeon, who was trying to smile, into a group hug. "Guys, I don't think CalTech is worth being separated with my best friends." No response. "I mean, Stanford is still a REALLY good school, right? So I'm sure I'll be just fine there." I felt them raise their shoulders in hope.
"Really, Fany?" Jessica's muffled voice came from my slightly wet shoulder.
"Yeah! I mean--" I was cut off by my two best friends as they crushed my lungs by hugging me tighter.
"YOU'RE SO NICE, FANY!--"
"OMO, YOU'RE JJANG, TIFFANY!--"
"I'M SO HAPPY THAT YOU CHOSE TO STAY WITH US--"
"I MEAN, OF COURSE YOU WOULD CHOOSE TO STAY WITH US, BUT--"
While they were spazzing out, overlapping each other's voices (and essentially deafening me, which was a new experience because it was usually me who was the loud one), I was busy trying to breathe. I mean jeez, for two girls, they really had a lot of strength.
I tried to wriggle out of their grasp, as I didn't think I could overpower them, as loud as I was. I just simply couldn't afford the precious oxygen right now. Then, I remembered that my arms were free. I poked their pressure points lightly, but it still ended up with Taeyeon and Jessica jerking violently to each other. It was funny how sensitive they were in that area.
They collided, and immediately grabbed each other for support.
"Yah! What was that for?" Jessica said, rubbing her hip.
I gripped my knees, gulping in huge amounts of air. "I ... needed ... to ... breathe ..."
Taeyeon grabbed her neck nervously. "Heh heh .. sorry about that. A bit of an over-reaction."
I looked up at Taeyeon. Her beauty once again made me breathless: her milky-white skin; her perfect, brown eyes; her thin lips that were curved into a blinding smile ... then I remembered why I lifted my head. "Over-reaction? I think that was putting it lightly ... I mean, you were basically crushing me to death--"
"Yah! Can't I be happy that I'm going to college with my two best friends?" Taeyeon pouted (which was absolutely adorable, by the way. Taeyeon says she doesn't like aegyo, but really, she's the master at it).
"You were pretty dramatic yourself, gripping your knees as if you just ran a marathon," Jessica pointed out. Taeyeon high-fived Jessica while I pouted.
"It wasn't dramatic! It was an appropriate response to how tightly you were hugging me!"
Jessica huffed, puffing her cheeks out. It was also adorable, but no where near as cute as TaeTae's aegyo. I smiled and pinched her cheeks. "I'm sorry! Forgive me?" I gave my brightest smile, which caused a smile to creep up on Jessica's lips.
"Maybe ..."
Then, my grin turned evil as I had an ... idea. "How about ..." I lunged forward. "Now?!" I asked, tickling her.
She started laughing, trying to wriggle out of my reach. I was persistant, though. "S-Stop!" She said, breathless.
"Not until you forgive me!" Jessica fell down onto the couch in an attempt to escape my wrath, but I followed her, pinning her down with my legs. I continued tickling her.
"O-O-OK! I forgive you!" Jessica managed to say. Satisfied, I got off of her. Jessica stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in her shirt, eyeing me warily. I just smiled innocently at her.
Then, I turned around to face Taeyeon, who had a huge grin on her face. She immediately wiped said grin off her face. "What?"
"Nothing ..."
I sighed. "Tae, were you looking--"
"No! I'm innocent!"
"...right. ByunTae," I said, sticking my tongue out at her. Secretly, this was one of the things I loved most about Tae. She deemed me worthy enough to satisfy her byuntae needs (or as Jessica and I affectionately call her, ByunTae), which made me feel good about myself. And slightly hopeful, although I knew Tae was straight. But that wasn't enough to keep my hopes down. Byuntae, by the way, roughly translate to "ert" in Korean.
"Well, it's not my fault that you're --" Taeyeon stopped herself.
"I'm ...?"
She shook her head. "Nothing,"
I grinned at her. "Right."
Jessica went up to Taeyeon and hugged her. "Stop teasing my TaeTae," Jessica said. My heart jumped with jealousy. It was stupid, though. I mean, best friends hug each other. But still ...
"Yeah, Fany. Why are you so mean?"
"What? I chose to go to Stanford instead of CalTech, and you guys are still calling me mean?"
Jessica stuck her tongue out at me, still hugging Taeyeon. "You couldn't have survived CalTech without us, anyways."
"... So?"
Taeyeon laughed her ahjumma laugh. 'Ahjumma laugh'? Well, her laugh sounds like an ahjumma's: deep and ... well, ahjumma-like.
Jessica let go of Taeyeon (I internally sighed a breath of relief) and hugged me. "Thanks for choosing to come to Stanford with us," Jessica told me seriously. But before she could progress further, I shushed her by putting my finger on her lips.
"You're welcome," I told her, giving her a warm smile. "Friends are there for each other, right? And what kind of a friend would I be to ditch you guys for my selfish wants?"
Jessica smiled back, her eyes shining.
The rest of the day was spent talking about all the things we'd do at Stanford.
First chapter! :D
I already told you guys about Tiffany choosing the college her friends are going to rather than her proffered college, so this was an introductory-type chapter :D
Don't expect much, though, just because I updated on the day I decided to post the description/forward of the story. I just feel like I shouldn't leave the reader hanging by just posting the description and forward and leaving the reader hanging. Sorry to authors that do that if it offends you, but that's just my personal opinion :P
I usually update within 4-6 days, although I'm trying for 3-5 days (I know, such a big difference! O: ). I just forget to update on the 5th day sometimes, and then since I don't want to rush the chapter, I wait until the 6th day to publish it.
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