*Chapter 1*

"What happened?" I heard Gayoon whispering to her friend, sat at the table in front of me.

"Tiffany apparently--" Jihyun's reply was cut short once she'd turned around to realise I was sat behind her. She flashed me an apologetic smile, but it offered little consolation. I felt completely worthless.

"I'll fill you in," I hissed, "when Tiffany found out my family were no longer rich, she pretty much told me I'm not allowed to be seen anywhere near her. Satisfied?" I asked, overwhelmed by my anger.

The teacher noticed our arguing, so decided to interupt. "What's going on, girls?" our science teacher asked, his commanding voice silencing the whole class.

"Nothing," I shrugged, returning to my study. Our teacher looked at me with concern, but decided it was probably better to move on as quickly as possible. I could hear someone's laughter at the back of the class.

"Fine," he said, "then, class, we need to work in pairs for our next task, you have a minute to choose your partner," he continued to instruct, "or I'll make the choice for you."

I sighed, knowing I'd be the one left on my own, having to get paired with someone I didn't know, or worse, someone I used to be friends with.

I remained seated, waiting for the minute to pass, knowing I had little choice in the matter. I was surprised to feel a soft hand brush up against my shoulder, and to hear a quiet voice mutter behind me. "We really are sorry," I heard Nam Jihyun's voice again, "it was inconsiderate of us to talk about what's happened, behind your back, especially when it's none of our business."

I couldn't stay mad at her warm smile for long. "It's okay, I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"Hey, umma," I heard Gayoon say from the table in front, "Hyuna has no partner again."

Jihyun's face light up, with an idea. "How about Hyuna and Jiyoon work together? We won't get in trouble for trying to work in a three, then."

I looked behind Jihyun, back towards Kim Hyuna. She was blushing a little. It wasn't like I had much of a choice. "Sure," I smiled, "I don't mind."

She quickly moved her things over to my table. I hadn't really spent much time around her before, so I hadn't got the chance to notice how pretty she was. I was probably staring.

"Do you know what we're supposed to be doing?" she asked.

I answered honestly, "Nope, you?" I giggled slightly as she shook her head.

"I always just copy off umma--" she paused, realising I probably wouldn't understand what she was talking to, "I mean, we call Jihyun unnie umma"

It was cute, that they had little names for each other. I wasn't used to that at all, and I was jealous.

I giggled, "I was hoping you'd be smart, because I'm usually clueless~" I added, "we're completely going to get in trouble."

"omo~ I have an idea!" Hyuna whispered, leaning in to me slightly, I could feel her hand against my shoulder, it gave me a weird sensation of butterflies in my stomach, nothing like what I'd experienced before. I tried my best not to make it obvious. "distract them, I'll go sneak up and check what they've written."

I nodded, anything to get her away from me. The feelings were driving me crazy. "UMMA," I shouted in my best aegyo voice, "we need help~"

Jihyun and Gayoon both giggled at my loud aegyo, completely oblivious to Hyuna's advancing towards their table. "You need to do this by yourself!" Gayoon said, picking up my pen and handing it to me.

"Oh, I see what's going on here," Jihyun said, catching Hyuna peering over at their half-finished work. "I always thought it was maknae who was the really mischevious one, but it's you Kim Hyuna!"

I giggled as the slightly older girl snatched her work back. I felt like I was already a part of their group, it was so strange how quickly they'd accepted me. I never knew people could be so friendly and nice, I was too used to the iness that existed in my old friendship group.

Class finished quicker than usual, it must've been because I was having fun for once. I was about to head to the dining hall to have lunch by myself, but Hyuna's calling out my name stopped me. "Where do you think you're going, unnie?" she asked.

"To get some food." I was stressed, all I wanted to do was eat. It was my coping mechanism. Yet another thing the others had insulted me for.

"On your own?" she grabbed my arm and pulled me back, stopping me from walking away. The butterflies had returned again.

"Yeah." I answered, kind of coldly. I was trying my best to avoid giving away how chaotic my insides were every time she'd touch me. Plus, despite all that had happened, I still had to maintain my boyishly charismatic appearance, right? It would be completely weird for me to suddenly turn into a blushing, nervous wreck every time I got too close to her.

"Come to our table," she offered.

I shook my head in return, "It's kind of awkward, me just suddenly trying to be involved with your group, despite you guys having known each other for much longer. I don't wanna intrude."

She pulled my arm even harder, nearly knocking me off my feet, "Don't be silly, unnie, do I have to say it?"

She didn't give me a chance to answer, say what? She'd already pulled me a long with her, into the large dining hall, filled with everybody. A few people looked at me, but I think I was starting to be old news. I was glad.

"Sorry if dorky Hyuna's annoying you," Gayoon apologised, noticing I was being dragged to their lunch table.

"Unnie~" Hyuna whined in protest, "umma, tell unnie to stop calling me a dork."

"Stop shouting so loud," Jihyun cautioned, "you're such a baby."

"Ya~ you're stealing my job unnie," Sohyun spoke up, who'd previously been reading one of her study books. I didn't recognise her, she was in the year below us so I don't think I'd ever got the chance to ever speak to her. At least I briefly knew Gayoon, Jihyun and Hyuna from the classes we'd shared together.

"Oh no, double trouble!" Gayoon sighed.

"We outnumber the maknaes now," Jihyun giggled, "hopefully there will be more order around here."

I'd never felt so welcomed before, they just all were so friendly. I tried to repress the massive grin threatening to emerge, but I couldn't stop it completely. I sat in between Gayoon and Jihyun, away from the mischevious maknaes. The popular girls had always made fun of them for being carefree and for doing their own thing, instead of following what was popular or what all the other girls were doing, but I found it refreshing.

I guess this is kinda short, but I know other chapters will be longer~