Hyoyeon

“Nrrg…” I groaned to myself as I rolled over in the bed. I was in that state of minimal consciousness when I heard some…annoying sound in my ear. I tossed and turned but it wouldn’t go away.

I opened my eyes a tiny crack to find Hyukjae’s stupid, grinning face right up in front of my own and singing loudly, “Wake uppppppppppppppp, Hyooooooooooooooo!”

Eunkyung-unnie chuckled as we rushed into the kitchen, me busily fixing my hair and Hyukjae holding his swelling cheek. “Damn Hyo, you didn’t have to punch me so hard…”

I smirked. Having a crippling left hook has always been something I’ve been proud of. “Oh poor you,” I said sarcastically, whipping my hair up into a high ponytail. “You totally deserved it.”

“Hyo, we’re already late as it is, if I hadn’t woken you up…”

“I prefer to be awoken by something other than the likes of you, thank you very much,” I shot back, hurriedly grabbing my pack and a piece of toast Eunkyung-unnie had set out for us.

“Have fun at school, kids- don’t get yourselves in too much trouble!” Eunkyung-unnie said teasingly as we ran off to Baeyoung.

“Hey, hey, hey, slow up there, Hyo- you’re sprinting like it’s the Olympics!” he called out to me. I was a few dozen paces ahead of him and perfectly fine that way.

“Well you said that we were late. So, I made it a point that I get there on time.” Hyukjae snorted, easily caught up to me and took my hand.

“Yeah, right. You just don’t want to be seen with me.” With a swift movement, he dragged my body towards him and held me close. “Come on, Hyo. I know you inside out.”

I felt my face redden and indignant rage rile inside me. I tried to twist myself out of his grip, but damn that idiot monkey was strong. “Shut up. You don’t know me anymore.”

“Well…it’s not like I really got a chance to…” he replied, suddenly looking serious. I felt a painful tug in my heart just looking at his face.

“Whose ing fault was that? You left. That’s it. If it weren’t for your dance group opposing mine, you would mean nothing to me…” I shoved him off of me and went off, feeling myself grow more and more upset at just the thought of remembering, remembering how alone I’ve been for all these years.

 “Hyo…whoever said things have to stay the way they ended up being?” Hyukjae demanded behind me. I turned, a little startled by how loud his voice had been. He sighed, his eyes having trouble meeting mine. “You know…I still care. I’ve made some ty, stupid mistakes in the past but that doesn’t mean I can’t ever make up for it. I still…I still want to help you attain your dream, Hyo.”

I stopped in my tracks and stared at him. He caught up to me and took my hand again, a small, hopeful smile on his face. I sighed and couldn’t help but smile.

“Nice speech, Monkey but…” I reached up and flicked his forehead hard. He cried out in pain and I smirked. “…I think I’m fine with us staying rivals. For now anyway. Besides, you are helping me attain my dream as it is- how do you think I’ll get better if I don’t have something to motivate me?”

He stared at me for a moment, but then broke out into a sheepish, gummy grin. “So the angry, raging passion to kick my in dancing is good motivation for you?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“I’m flattered,” he chuckled.

I took a short stroll out of the classroom, relieved to be on break. As I passed by a hallway, I heard something that sounded like a scuffle between a girl and a guy. I’d like to call myself a saint, but I’m still just your normal high school student.

I made my way down the hallway to see what was going on- and ended up stumbling right upon a couple having an intense make-out session, looking as if they were about to melt into the lockers

“Mmm…oh…Jonghyun…”

“That’s it, Sica…say my name…” The girl peeked her head out over the guy’s shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Uh…Jjong…Jjong!” After nuzzling into her neck, the guy turned around and finally noticed me.

“Oh…uh…erm…e-excuse me…” I stuttered, bowing awkwardly and removing myself from the scene as quickly as possible.

It wasn’t so much interrupting a couple having some alone time; it was more the surprise of seeing people I hadn’t seen or spoken to for quite a while.

Jessica Jung, my former best friend from middle school- the last I had heard of her had been the various rumors about her and the cheerleading team that circulated constantly throughout the school. And she had been hooking up with, if I wasn’t mistaken, with then nerdy “Four Eyes Jjong” from middle school…only now grown up into a teenage heartthrob.

Talk about a really awkward situation.

“Um…Hyo…Hyoyeon-ssi?” Jessica caught up with me.

“Oh…hey, Jessica-ssi…er…new boyfriend?” I asked amiably.

“NO, no, not really…” she said quickly, playing with the blonde locks of her hair, her cheeks crimson. “It's, uh...it's really complicated...a-and I don't really even like him that much, just...Hyo…could you, like, not…spread this around?”

“Hm…I don’t know about that…” When I saw the pleading look in her eyes, I giggled and said, “Ah, stop worrying, Sica, your reputation is safe with me.” She let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you…so, uh, how are things?”

“Okay, I guess.”

I guess what they say about crossing paths with someone and rekindling friendships when you least expect it is true.

Sunny

“All right- that’s enough! You can take a two minute break!” Groans of relief spread throughout the various gatherings of girls in the gym who had been running laps together in packs. I stopped, and prided myself on the fact that I wasn’t breathing heavily. Most people wouldn’t think it, but I used to have to put in quite a bit of effort in keeping in shape for cheerleading. I still made a point to exercise on a routine basis. 

All the girls stood at attention as our gym teacher informed us of the activity of the day. “We’re playing volleyball today! Form teams of six!” I stood still in my spot as girls rushed off to find their friends, brushing past me as if I didn’t exist.

Being the one person no one ever wants on your team is something you really never can get used to.

I sighed to myself, expecting the teacher to put me with some team that only had five people and then having to slink towards them, pretending I didn’t feel their knowing stares on me.

“Um…excuse me? Hey…” I felt someone tap my shoulder. I saw that it was a girl with straight, medium-length brown hair. “Hi…would you like to join our team?”

The rest of the girl’s team stared at her and one muttered, “Yah, Fany, what the hell?” I myself was shocked and could do nothing more than stand there in disbelief.

“What? What’s wrong?” the girl asked innocently. “It’s not like she has the plague or whatever. Here, come join us!” Wordlessly, I shuffled over to their side.

The girl noticed and motioned for me to come closer. “Come on- we don’t bite. At least I don’t. I have no idea what’s up with them though. But it’s whatever you know.” She gave me the friendliest smile which, even as a girl, I believed any guy would fall hard for. I went over and stood by her side on the court. As we waited for the teacher to arrange the matches, the girl turned to me and asked,

“So what’s your name? Sorry, it’s just that I don’t want to keep referring to you as ‘you there’ you know?”

“…I’m Lee Sunkyu. But you can call me Sunny…” I said hesitantly, feeling more and more pairs of eyes flick towards us.

“Really? That’s such a cute name. I’m Hwang Miyoung- but please call me Tiffany. I think I’ve seen you in class...but there are like fifty other people in our class as well, so I’m sorry if I haven’t noticed you before. It’s very nice to meet you, Sunny,” she said, offering her hand to me and smiling once more. Dazed, I took her hand and shook it. Now that I thought about it, she actually was in my class- I just never paid close attention to her before. 

Suddenly, the sound of the whistle pierced the air and the teacher told us to begin our games. Volleyballs flew up into the air and then were immediately slammed over the nets.

I maintained my position in the back, not really doing much except maybe bumping the ball once or twice. Tiffany wasn’t exactly the most athletic person on the team- the ball usually went way out of bounds when it came to her and she was hopeless at blocking. But every time she fell over trying to dive for the ball or the ball hit her in the face, she would simply smile and keep playing, continuously cheering for us the entire time.

Cries of “Yah! Get the ball! Get the ball!!” snapped my focus to attention. The ball was falling rapidly towards the floor- it was just an extra step off from my right side. Instinctively, I made a quick sidestep and dug up the ball at the last minute. It rebounded from my arms and fell just in front of the net on the other side. We won the point.

“Whoa!! That was so awesome, Sunny! You’re so good at this!” Tiffany said in awe. The other girls glanced at me with sheepish, mild approval. Embarrassed, I insisted it was nothing and shrugged it off. But I couldn’t deny the sudden, small burst of confidence I had- something I hadn’t felt in a while.

The ball came soaring over the net once more. I ran to it and popped it up, enabling the setter of our team to get full control of the ball. We won another point.

The next time the ball came over on our side, the setter hesitantly set me the ball. I wasted no time running up, leaping into the air and spiking the ball just inside the boundary lines of the other court, gaining us the winning point.

All this time, Tiffany was cheering non-stop. After the game ended, she came up to me and high-fived me. “You were such a beast! I could never do that! You’re amazing, Sunny!” The other girls trailed behind Tiffany and wordlessly gave me high-fives.

A bubble of giddy relief burst inside me. “Thanks,” I said. “You did pretty well too.” Tiffany giggled and thanked me. I followed her and the rest of the girls out of the gym, feeling like a part of the crowd for once.

I tried to focus on my chicken scratch notes, but the cacophonous environment of the cafeteria prevented me from concentrating very much- as did the rumbling of my stomach. The lunch my dad had prepared for me had been stolen- those particular students made it a point to come in contact with me at least once in a while to inflict their torment.

Something tapped my head. I looked up and to my utter surprise, Sungmin was standing beside me.

“For you,” he said curtly, tapping me once more with the juice box and handing me a piece of his sandwich.

“Oh…I’m fine, Sungmin. Really.”

“Just take it, Sunny. You’re going to end up starving in the afternoon,” he insisted.

“…Fine. Thank you though, Sungmin. Here, why don’t you sit down?” I patted the seat next to me.

“I actually have to go to the library to finish up a project…I’m sorry…I will the next chance I get though,” he promised me. I nodded understandingly and he patted me on the shoulder before taking off. As I looked back at my notes, behind me I could hear someone say:

“Not even the wants to sit next to her…guess she really is a dirty .”

I remembered the acceptance I thought I had felt in gym that morning. Biting back the tears, I realized how hopeless it was to think I would ever disregard the past and tried to ignore everyone around me as much as possible for the rest of the lunch period.

Tiffany

You know that feeling of excitement when you befriend someone and you feel like they’re slowly responding to your offer of friendship? Just saying- it’s a pretty awesome feeling.

Sunny is so amazing at athletics and above all, seems like a really nice girl. But why did she seem so shy and afraid of me? And why does everyone seem to ignore her? That’s no way to treat someone. She doesn’t seem to have friends- maybe I should invite her to have lunch with me and Yoona.

These questions and thoughts circled in my head for the rest of the day as I took a seat next to her, noticing the stares I elicited.

After class ended, I came up to her and asked her to come with us to lunch sometime.

“…you mean it, Tiffany-ssi?” she asked, staring at me with incredulity written in her eyes. 

I grinned and said, “Yep!”

“I wouldn’t be intruding or anything…?”

“Oh gosh no! Don’t worry about it, the girls I sit with are sweethearts. They won’t mind at all. I’ll see you tomorrow, Sunny!” I patted her on the shoulder and smiled.

Hesitant, Sunny raised her head...and finally returned the smile. “…I’ll see you too, Tiffany.” 

I was humming to myself as I made my way from the bus stop to the library. The warm breeze of summer twilight felt really good and cheered me up considerably. I swung open the door to the library and hurried to the spot where Siwon-sunbaenim and I had our tutoring sessions.

“Hi, Siwon-sunbaenim!”

He looked up from his book and greeted me, “Hello, Tiffany-ssi.” I couldn’t help but grin when he called me “Tiffany.” I eagerly sat down next to him and couldn’t wait to start- even though it was calculus.

Oh the things Siwon-sunbaenim does to my mindset.

“…so then you write down the equation, punch into the graphing calculator and you’ll get the volume of the cross-section. Do you understand?”

“Yup. I get it completely,” I said, smiling at how simple and easy it now all seemed now that Siwon-sunbaenim had explained it fully to me.

“…you seem really cheerful, today. More so than usual anyway,” he observed. I felt my heart leap in giddiness.

“I…I had a really good day today,” I told him.

“Really? How was it a good day?” Doing all I could not to suddenly fall over in happiness from the fact that he was trying to make conversation with me, I replied,

“I don’t know. It was really good weather today, I actually understood most of the lectures today…oh, and I made a new friend as well.”

Siwon-sunbaenim nodded and then turned his attention back to his notes. We continued the session, but now I was completely distracted by just his very presence.

“…Tiffany-ssi, you’re not concentrating again,” he eventually chastised me. “We really need to get through this chapter, especially since your chapter test on all this is in two days.”

“Ah- sorry, sunbaenim,” I apologized. “…It’s just that my head’s been running at full speed. And...I couldn’t help but make up a little poem from my awesome day."

Siwon raised his eyebrows at me- it might have been just me, but he seemed somewhat intrigued. "Poem?"

I smiled brightly at him. "Yup! Wanna hear it?" He nodded and I recited my poem: 

“In a ways, in a ways, the world is bright,

Live in this moment, seize this day

Let nothing stop you, plunge into the new world

The horizon your canvas, the sky your limit."

There was a silence between us. “Um…I…I just kind of came up with it…haha, it’s a little bad I know,” I giggled nervously. I turned and saw that Siwon was staring at me in the most curious manner, as if he was in a trance.

Suddenly, he snapped out of it and returned to his formal, business-like persona. “Well…our time has ended anyway. I would suggest you study intensively tomorrow night so you do well on your test.” A little disappointed to see the adorable look of fixation he had had before completely disappear, I bowed and thanked him. As I gathered my things, he said, in such a low voice I almost didn’t hear it,

“…if you don’t mind, I’d like to listen to more of your poems sometime.” My heart filled to the brim with happiness.

“Don’t worry, sunbaenim- I’ll definitely show you more of my poems!” I promised him. He looked up…and for the first time ever, I saw a small smile playing on his lips. I bid him goodbye and hurried off, unable to calm the pounding in my heart. 

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A/N: Annyeonghaseyo! Cee-Cee here and -gasp- i've updated once more! and quickly this time! :') 

midterm exams are coming up and so is a school trip...so i have no idea if i'll update as fast. please wait for it though! and hope you guys like this chapter :D

btw...i made up tiffany's on the spot poem as well. it's really corny LOL.