TiaJuli : 1

Tia, like Jessica, had come from the States. Her Korean was a bit broken, but it always improved from one day to the next. Luckily for her, she had been blessed with club members that all spoke English to some extent.

She stayed by Hayana, who could translate for her if need be. She understood Korean, she really did, she just had a difficult time trying to piece her words together into something that made sense.

But today was one of the few days that Hayana was absent, which left Tia fending for herself.

Usually she tried to keep to herself on such days, sticking to her corner of the room. It was proving to be difficult however, boys followed too closely and girls kept inviting her to do things that she didn't understand. Both groups spoke in rapid fire Korean, never once slowing down to ask if Tia understood. She could only nod her head and respond in short phrases.

Which then to led to her being metaphorically pushed into a corner having girls dragging her around and her not understanding a thing. It's not like she could ask the other club members since they weren't in her year.

They were speaking in complicated phrases and their speed made it impossible for Tia to at least use context clues. She was being put between a metaphorical wall and rock, with neither of the options being any more pleasing than the other.

“Give her a break,” Tia heard a soft voice from behind her, “She’s still learning, it’s only been a month since she’s been here.”

The girls stopped talking, before collectively realizing that Tia seemed uncomfortable. They mumbled out sorry’s before excusing themselves. Tia stood silently, mouth agape, as they walked away without much of a fight.

“Take care of yourself,” she almost didn’t catch the other girl saying that. It was almost as she wasn’t planning on Tia being able to hear her whisper like voice.

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“Juliane helped you? Remind me to thank her next time,” Hayana paused slightly, “or well you should be the one doing so.”

Tia scrunched up her eyebrows, “Juliane?”

Hayana gave Tia a straight face, “She sits next to you during class.”

“I would have remembered her if she did,” Tia playfully stated. Hayana could only hit her playfully, “You’re just slow, that’s why you don’t remember her.”

A fake pout found itself a resting place on Tia’s face, “Why are you so mean to me?”

They both stared at each other, both trying to contain their laughs, “I can’t stand you sometimes.”

The two always found themselves in the club room, sharing lunches or the latest gossip. Best friends, inseparable, and no one would doubt it.

Over the course of the next few days, Tia started to notice Juliane a bit more. She noticed how the other girl came late to class, always, even on the days she herself was late. Taking Hayana’s advice, she wrote her a thank you in a letter. She was always better at writing Korean anyways.

Much to her surprise, she found a sticky note on her locker later that day. A simple “No problem.” was written on it, the hangul laid there dully.

She huffed in annoyance; she put effort into that letter, putting to use her decorating skills. She even added small drawings after her sentences.

Hayana and Luhan stared at her, amusement written all over their faces. The sight of an annoyed Tia was something they didn’t get to often see, unless it was convention time. Usually Tia was too busy to even feel annoyed with the things around, either she had to finish a new cosplay or a commission from a buyer.

“Why are you so upset by this?” Hayana called out to the pacing figure.

Stopping her tracks, Tia looked at her incredulously, “Who just writes something as simple as ‘No problem’?!”

“Maybe she’s a simple soul, or something like that,” Luhan stated quickly, eager to push Tia’s buttons a bit. Tia looked back and forth between the two sitting on the couch, before snarling at them. The two erupted in giggles as she huffed and went to work on her Sailor Senshi cosplay. The skirt was giving her a headache, just like this situation was.

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“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, you just snuck up on me,” Tia went into full fledged ramble mode, words spilling out constantly in English, her tongue not even bothering with Korean.  

It had been an accident, it really had, not matter what Luhan or Hayana would later claim when she told them (if she ever did). Hayana had been absent once again, the second time this week, so she stuck to herself during the lunch period. It had been a silent walk to her locker, no one else could be seen for miles in her opinion. So when she had felt a hand on her shoulder, she reacted in a way that would make her self-defense teacher proud, but anyone else cringe in pain. Her fist may have or may have not have hit the perpetuator square in the nose.  

“You probably can’t even understand me,” it was then she looked up to meet the eyes of the person wincing as they clenched their nose.

An already bloodied Juliane stared at her, her nose adding unto her present injuries. Tia winced at the healing cuts over her forehead, “It just had to be you didn’t it.”

Juliane smiled weakly, “I can understand.”

English, oh sweet English, was leaving the lips of the tall girl. Tia quickly shook herself out shock, rushing over to the other girl, “We need to t-take you to the nurse or something!”

Juliane winced at the change in volume coming from the other girl, “That lady just saw me because of these,” hands motioning to her face, “cuts. I highly doubt she would be happy to see me again so soon.”

Tia thought to herself before she reached over to grab the hand of the slightly shorter girl, “In the club room there should be a first aid kit.”

Juliane struggled, “You don’t need to all that, I just wanted to say hi to you, since you seemed…I don’t know, lonely, I guess.”

Tia stopped in her tracks, glancing back at the girl, “Thank you for doing that, but I insist on helping you.”

The rest of the walk was silent, Tia mulling over the events of the day.  She thought about how Hayana seemed to be getting sick more often or just not coming to school. She thought about Juliane. She was nice to her, she picked up her pencil during class without hesitation whenever it fell, she did these little things, even if Tia didn’t always notice them.

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Wincing, Juliane tried to ignore Tia’s hands. Sure, she was being careful, but sometimes she gripped at her nose too hard.

“So how do you know English?” Tia mumbled out, a light blush covering her cheeks at the proximity of the other girl.

Juliane chuckled, “You’re going to an international school, and you’re surprised someone knows English? I mean wasn’t my name a hint?”

Tia huffed, “I mean everyone else has an English name, and not all of them speak English."

A brief smile was exchanged between the two of them, Juliane’s stare unnerving the girl, “Good news is that I didn’t break it, and well the bad news is that it’s going to bruise and probably hurt a lot for the next couple of days.”

Juliane thanked her, collecting her stuff from the club’s couch. Her eyes wandering around the room, hands grabbing the Koopa plush Tia had given her to ease the pain. Having noticed the curious spark in the girl’s eyes, Tia made a move to hand her a controller.

“I’m fine,” she waved it off, “Interesting club decor you have going on.”

Posters of various games littered the walls, plushes much like the one she was carrying were thrown across the room, game boxes were no longer lined up neatly. Hayana not being here really has affected the club, and it doesn’t help that Hyemi is still on that ski trip with Sera.

“It’s a mess, I know,” Tia regretfully admitted, to which Juliane shook her head.

“It looks like someone actually lives here, like a home,” and for some reason those words resonated deeply Tia.

She ushered her to sit on the couch, “Let’s play.”

Even after initial protests, Juliane found herself in a heated match of Street Fighter. It had been a lot of button mashing at first, but soon she started to draw out some of the character’s combos.  

Kris then later found Tia by herself sleeping soundly hugging a leather jacket. Not only that but a Koopa plush was missing. He searched around for it, but only found a sticky note with the dull words of, “See you,” written on it.

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“I don’t think it means anything,” Tia loudly declared to Hayana and Luhan. She could hear Jessica and Kris loudly sigh in the background.

Luhan quickly flicked her forehead, “She left her jacket with you. I’ve never seen her without it, in the past year she’s been here.”

Hayana nodded quickly, "Tia, you gave her one of your Koopa plushies, and your favorite one on top of that."

“I almost broke her nose,” Tia huffed, “and if there was something going on she would have left me a long letter thanking me for taking care of her and introducing her to the world of gaming."

Kris shook his head, “She would never do that.”

The three stopped chattering and turned to look at Kris, eyebrows all furrowed in confusion. Jessica took that as her cue to explain, “She associates herself with a rough crowd, and well that crowd’s motto is ‘Don’t do feelings’ apparently.”

Tia continued with a confused expression, “How do you two know about her?”

“The people are mostly from Tiffany’s school,” Jessica replies curtly, “I asked about them and Tiffany just told me that they don’t do anything illegal, they just like to loiter around the city. I wouldn’t be surprised if Juliane smokes or drinks.”

Tia took offence to that, “Don’t act like you know her.”

With that she walked out of the club room, slamming the door behind her. Luhan and Hayana looked at Jessica, disappointment written all over their faces. Kris merely cracked a smile, “You’re good, Jess.”

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Juliane didn’t come to school the entire next week, and her jacket was starting to smell less like her as time went by. It's smell of light vanilla and leather always seemed to comfort Tia.

Hayana tried to get her to come to the club as regularly as she used to, but she was still upset with Jessica. Not even promises of sweets later made her budge.

It was when she was starting to lose hope, that Juliane showed up on time to school much to the surprise of everyone, even the other delinquents (though Tia didn’t consider her one). The black eye was the only thing Tia could notice, and before she knew it the class erupted in gossip. It took a lot for their teacher to settle everyone down.

Hayana exchanged worried looks with her. It took a lot for her to wait until class was over to bombard Juliane with questions.

When the bell rang, said girl was the first one to leave, almost leaving her stuff in the process. It took Hayana’s urging for her to follow after her.

“Juliane! Stop!” It was times like these when she had wished she had been blessed with her father’s athletic abilities, “I know you can hear me!”

Students around them got out of their way with no hesitation, most fearing the one being chased by the newly exchanged student. It took a dead-end for the other to stop and listen to her words.

“How did you get that black eye?” Hopefully she could be understood through the wheezing, she was not made for running it seems.

“It’s nothing,” was the only thing given to her, followed by a quick, “I’m going to the nurse.”

She searched her bag, being fast in pulling out the lone leather jacket within it, “Your jacket.”

Juliane faltered in her step, “You can-”

“No, you’re putting it on right now. You can’t get a cold on top of all of that,” she was putting her foot on this one.

She didn’t care if she was treating the other girl like a little kid, “And forget the nurse, we’re going to the club room.”

Hayana followed them once she caught up to the two, making sure to not disrupt whatever the two had going on. She smiled with an amused gaze as Tia fussed over the scowling Juliane.

The rest of the club found them much in the same position the two had been since they arrived there, Juliane clutching at the Koopa plush that had been given to her and Tia muttering about how the girl should be more careful.

“Hey,” Jessica called out to the supposed delinquent, “Thanks for defending Tia’s honor or whatever.”

Juliane stared blankly, “Whatever, anyone would have done it.”

“What is she talking about?” Luhan questioned Kris, who was busy counting the controllers that littered the club room.

“In the morning some creeps from a convention were trying to get a boy from our school to get some pics of the one and only Tia Jasmine Hwang Cuevas, so Juliane and her crew beat them up. Granted she took quite a few hits, but it was worth it, wasn’t it Juliane?”

With that the girl shot up from her seat, “I have to go now, but I have something to give you,” she motioned for Hayana to pass her bag.

Tia waited expectantly, would this be the long letter of how thankful the other girl felt? She was presented with a pass. It took a while for her to realize what it was, and she jumped up and down like an excited kid.

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“How did you even get three day passes to this convention? I thought it had been sold out.” Tia excitedly looked around the venue, feeling overwhelmed by the sheer size of it.

She was dressed in her now finished Sailor Senshi cosplay. It was finished in high quality materials, a near perfect replica of the anime’s iconic clothing. She was known for her cosplays after all. Her blonde Venus wig laying neatly as she posed for various pictures.

Juliane chuckled, “A friend couldn’t go anymore, and his brother didn’t seem up for it, so he gave his passes to me.”

“You have to introduce him to me,” Tia smiled widely, “I need to give a thank you!”

“I’ll tell him for you,” Juliane stated. She looked better, it had been two weeks since she had given the pass to the girl. Her black eyes was nearly gone, and now there was no evidence that Tia ever hit her nose. That was a fact that she had been thankful for, when she noticed at least.

Juliane seemed to be enjoying herself, laughing at her antics or pointing out booths. She felt herself get spoiled as Juliane bought her anything she liked without hesitation, though she did the same for the girl, she had a less keen sense of what the girl liked.

“My mom doesn’t like that you’re trying to steal her job,” Juliane randomly stated as they walked through the artist corner. Tia looked at her weirdly, “What?”

Juliane bid goodbye to artist she had been talking to, “My mom’s the school nurse.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tia hit her playfully, “Thank you for bringing me and buying me stuff.”

“Anyone would have done it,” the girl shrugged it off a blush covering her ears and cheeks.

Tia huffed in annoyance, “Is that your catchphrase?”

Juliane simply kept walking, glancing at a commissions booth once or twice much to the amusement of her. Soon after almost six hours of walking around they both decided it was a day well spent.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 10 in the morning,” Juliane stated, before handing an extra bag to her. She stopped the curious girl from snooping into the bag, “Open that when we get you home.”

She doesn’t know when she fell asleep on the drive home, but she does know she woke up to Juliane’s soft humming and in the girl’s arms. She had instructed her to drop her off at the club instead of her house due to her parents being out of town anyways. Plus today was Friday, so Jessica was guaranteed to be there even at this slightly ungodly hour.

“Looks like you’re up,” Juliane smirked, “And here I thought I was going to have to leave you outside the door.”

Tia laughed, motioning her to put her down. She thanked her silently, before she felt a jacket being draped across her shoulders. She breathed in the smell of elegant perfume and Juliane.

“Now it smells like me again, so you can hug it or whatever when I’m not there.”

Somehow the other girl’s blush extended to hers, and she clutched at the bags that were given to her shortly before. Soon after, Juliane excused herself and nearly ran back to her car.

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She didn’t look into the bag until the morning after, and she almost gasped in surprise (or well cried really). Jessica and Hayana looked at her weirdly from their makeshift kitchen, “What is it?”

She pulled out the framed commissioned art. No wonder she kept looking in that area, it was to surprise her with this, and a sealed envelope. Opening it up, she was careful in setting aside the frame.

It was a letter, an actual letter written out in English and Korean, with cute stationery stickers and drawings. She carefully read over the letter, giggling in some parts and scowling in others, before finally sighing in contempt. The jacket still hung around her shoulders, so that made changing into something warmer a bit easier.

She grabbed her purse and quickly made her way towards the door. Calling out a quick goodbye to the sitting girls, she did little to explain her abrupt leaving. The only thing she left behind was the art commission and the letter to act as her voice.

Hayana scanned the letter while Jessica hung up the commission, "This is becoming a tradition isn't it, Jessica?"

Jessica nodded slightly, staring up art. The single phrase of “Player 1” stood in the middle, but one could tell there was a second part of it missing.

“Meet me at XXXX, whenever you can, or something like that,” Hayana read out loud, “I should tell Juliane she has some really pretty handwriting.”

Jessica sighed, “Anyone can have pretty handwriting if they put care into it.”

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Juliane had little time to react to Tia’s awkward figure embracing her tightly, her own coat still being worn. Her own friends giggled and snickered at the exchange, but she wasn’t blushing at that. She was blushing at this whole touching thing.

She was ready to ask her, so she breathed in, “Wi-”

A finger pressed against her lips, “It’s becoming a tradition for this to happen, so I have to be the one to ask.”

Sure, Sera had asked Hyemi, but honestly if she hadn’t they would have continued to beat around the bush with each other.

Juliane stood there, shifting nervously underneath the younger girl’s gaze.

“Will you be my player two? Know that you have to be more careful, because my player two can’t always be beaten up, okay?” Tia smiled, noticing Juliane scoff at her claims.

“Sure, or whatever,” a light kiss was placed against her cheek upon her answer.

Tia pulled apart, “I only kiss on the first date, so guess what you have to do.”

Juliane sighed, ruffling the other’s hair, to which she was hit playfully.

“Are you going to introduce me?” Tia questioned excitedly, already waving a hello at the other five that were there.

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She will be the first to admit that she’s not the best with hints, you really have to be straightforward with her. But that’s okay because people that are patient enough like Juliane exist for slow people like her.