During lunch hour, the cafeteria is the noisiest area of the Baeyoung high school building. It is a time for students to unwind a bit after a hard morning of intensive lectures and studies. It is said that such a social gathering is the ideal environment for meeting people one eventually calls friends....

Tiffany set her bowl of noodles down at the empty table. It had been a particularly dreary morning and she was more than happy to consume food and regain her spent energy of struggling to stay awake in class.

But that doesn’t matter though, she thought to herself happily. Because I saw Siwon-sunbaenim today- and best of all, he greeted me. Granted, it had been a brief, polite acknowledgement of her, but nonetheless, Tiffany could not stop thinking about it.

It was the first time she had felt truly wonderful in a while.

Just before Tiffany was about to dig into her noodles, she looked up and saw her 2^nd year friends coming into the cafeteria. “Finally!” she exclaimed as Yoona and Yuri set their bags down at the table. “I was thinking that I was just going to be eating by myself today!”

The two younger girls grinned at her and Yuri said, “Oh we were considering it, since you’re such a dork and all.”

“Yah! Take that back, Kwon Yuri, you’re an even bigger dork than I am!” Tiffany retorted, although she was unable to keep a joking smile off her face. The three girls laughed together.

The smell of hot food was overpowering; it was all Yuri could do to keep still and wait on line. As she waited, she thought back to this morning. She remembered how awkward it had been meeting up with Minho and how they hadn’t said much.

Yuri had done some serious thinking over the weekend. It’s time I moved on, she decided. I can take baby steps. Just small, tiny steps…but I’m ready to start.

Yoona sat down and unpacked the lunch she had prepared at home. As she took out her bento, she absentmindedly thought back to the shopping trip Jessica had taken her on. It was almost embarrassing how many outfits the older girl had insisted she try out as well as how she was showcased in front of awed workers and customers.

In the end, she had purchased a few outfits at Jessica’s urging- clothes that she had yet to even take out of the bags. There was a ridiculously short black miniskirt which “really showed off her legs”, according to Jessica, which Yoona had hidden under her bed lest her parent have coronaries.

Is all this really the right way to catch Donghae’s attention? Yoona wondered. She sighed and shrugged, directing her focus back on her lunch. 

Wavering by the entrance to the cafeteria, Sunny felt as if the cacophonous environment would completely consume her. Nervously, she made her way through the tables crowded with students, trying to search for a familiar face.

Tiffany had asked her to join her for lunch, but she hadn’t exactly told her where…

“Sunny!” She turned toward the direction of the voice and, to her relief, spotted Tiffany sitting at a fairly large table with two other girls. Sunny quickly headed over and Tiffany said, “Yay- so glad you could join us, Sunkyu!”

“Um…is it really all right for me…?”

“Of course it is,” Tiffany assured her. “Sit, sit, we’ve got plenty of room!” Sunny sat down tentatively in a seat.

Tiffany motioned to the two girls on her right and said, “Sunny, these two are 2^nd years Kwon Yuri and Im Yoona. Yuri and Yoona, Sunny.” Kwon Yuri gave Sunny a friendly smile and a wave while Im Yoona greeted Sunny in acknowledgement to their previous meeting.

“Oh so you guys know each other?” Tiffany asked.

“Well…it’s a long story…”

“Tell it! Come on, we’re friends right?” Yoona and Yuri nodded in agreement. Sunny was at a loss of words for a moment. She then chuckled slightly and said, “Yeah…yeah we are…friends…”

The bell rang and Mr. Jung snapped his binder shut. “That’s all for this session- have a good lunch everyone!” Seohyun tucked her physics things inside her bag and let out a yawn. She had been up for most of the night before- not doing homework or even talking to Yonghwa but texting Cho Kyuhyun.

A startling thought had come over Seohyun as she realized that the guilt she felt over Yonghwa was becoming significantly less while she felt herself grow more and more attached to Kyuhyun. And still, she just couldn’t seem to explain exactly why.

Seohyun felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Yoona.

“Hello Joohyun.”

“H-Hi Yoona. What is it?”

“Uh…um…” the older girl stammered. Seohyun raised an eyebrow- she had never seen the top student in the class look so bashful before. “…would you…would you like to join me and a few other girls for lunch today? We have a lot of room and…my unnie wanted to get a few more girls to join so…”

Seohyun thought about it for a moment. She hadn’t really hung out with girls for about a year now since she went out with Yonghwa- except for maybe Sooyoung and the older unnies. Her life was changing as she knew it- would this be any different? Plus...it was rare that Yoona ever came up to anyone and made such a request. 

“…Okay. I’ll come with you, Yoona. Oh yeah and...please call me Seohyun."

Sooyoung wandered around, trying to spot Yuri through the sea of people. In her hand, she held a jelly-filled roll that Changmin had given her minutes before. She had at first eyed him warily and questioned him of the contents, but he assured her that it was perfectly safe and that he hadn’t poisoned it.

“Try it,” he had said smugly. “I bet it’ll be the best thing you’ve eaten- just ‘cause I made it.”

It’s not the BEST thing I’ve ever eaten, Sooyoung thought. …but I WILL give him kudos for it tasting REALLY good. Where are on God's green Earth did he learn how to cook so well...?

Finally, she found Yuri’s table and pranced over, another addition to the growing circle of friends.

Jessica had been casually observing the table for days now. At first, she had glanced at them with vague interest. As the days passed, she noticed how girls who had been strangers before had grown into friends, exchanging food, stories and advice.

Something that, to Jessica, seemed much more real…and something she would very much like to be a part of.

She looked back at the table she was sitting at. Taeyeon was completely absorbed in a book she was reading and the other girls on the cheerleading team were talking about things that Jessica did not even want to bother knowing about.

One day, Jessica took a detour away from her normal table and went towards Yoona’s table. She stopped by and chatted with her. Eventually, the girls implored her to sit with them.

It was the strange gathering of girls that had caught Hyoyeon’s eye. More specifically, it was Jessica, a cheerleader well known for her popularity…eating, talking, laughing with other girls Hyoyeon wouldn’t have thought Jessica would have hung out with.

Normally, she’d sit with Amber and her friends and lately, Hyukjae had taken to visiting her often. Weird as it was, Hyoyeon wasn’t minding his company as she thought she would.

A little time passed before Hyoyeon met up with Jessica on the lunch line and Jessica invited her to come sit at the table which was almost full.

Jessica’s absence hadn’t gone unnoticed. Certainly there had been talk amongst the cheerleaders, but after a few days, they stopped caring. Taeyeon noted this and asked the younger girl one day at practice where she had been going lately. Jessica said that there was one more seat left.

“You should sit with us,” she suggested.

The next day at lunch, Taeyeon followed Jessica to the table. She was met with the sight of seven other girls, some who she recognized, others not so much.

“Girls, this is Kim Taeyeon. Do you mind if she joins?” Jessica asked. Most of the girls agreed.

Taeyeon glanced at Tiffany who seemed slightly surprised. The younger girl then broke into a smile and said in a soft voice, “Yeah…that would be nice.” Taeyeon smiled gratefully at Tiffany and took the ninth seat.

So started the unbreakable bond, seemingly normal to other looking on, special to those nine girls. 

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A/N: did i surprise everyone with the sudden really fast update? :D

midterms are over and for some reason, i haven't had a lot of work to do. so, i took complete advantage of it and, to kind of make it up to all of you, i have updated quickly with another chapter :) unfortunately, the same can't be said for updates later on because i've got projects on the horizon ._. 

this chapter is meant to be a transition chapter. all the girls' stories are coming together (albeit in somewhat awkwardly worded language >.<) as they meet together. from now on, everything will be different- whatever hardships the girls will go through, they'll have each other for support.

hope you guys like it! again, i love everyone of you guys :'D hwaiting~!