THE NEW GIRL

“Yoong! You’re going to be…”

“Latelatelate!” chirped Sulli.

“Nope!” Yoona grabbed a banana and a Pop Tart and ran for the door. As usual.

“Coat!”

“Way ahead of you, Mom!” Yoona called back cheerfully.

“Have a good day!”

Yoona ran out the door. For once, the bus wasn’t at the bus stop yet. Donghae waved but Yoona didn’t take the time to wave back, she just kept on running because the bus was pulling up to the curb. Shaking her head at herself, she sprinted the last few yards, stopping by the bus’ open doors.

“Oh, after you,” she said, grinning at Donghae and panting.

“Why, thank you,” Donghae laughed and climbed on ahead of her. “Such chivalry.”

Yoona winked. “Hey, I can be a gentleman when I need to be.”

Donghae slipped into a seat laughing at her and Yoona fell in beside him still trying to catch her breath.

The bus stopped at school and they got off it together, one after the other, heading inside to hit their lockers before finding their seats in homeroom. They’d chosen lockers right next to each other back in September, a privilege they’d earned for being on the honor roll the year before. As long as they kept their grades up, they would keep these lockers forever. They often joked about which one of them would blow their GPA and have to move out of the “nice” neighborhood first.

The inside of Donghae’s locker door was plastered with pictures. Some of them were pictures of things he’d done and postcards of the cool places he’d been with his family, one or two were of him and Yoona, but most of them were of stupid Ga In. Yoona had no idea when that obsession had started, but she was already plotting ways to end it.

Yoona’s locker was pretty bare except for a postcard Donghae had sent her from Fuji Mountain, a mirror where she could make sure her hair was okay before going to class, and a picture of her cat who she had named Mr. Fuzzbutt, but her mother had changed to Smokey.

Yoona still called him Mr. Fuzzbutt anyway.

They unloaded their heavy backpacks, keeping just the books they’d need for the next few classes, then headed for homeroom.

When they walked in, there was a girl that Yoona didn’t recognize talking with their teacher, Mr. Song, by the blackboard. She was a little shorter than Yoona, with long, wavy brown hair, and she had on a skirt that hung to her calves that just covered the tops of really nice brown, dressy boots. (A/N: I made this school kind an American High School that didn’t wear an uniform)

“Good Morning, Mr. Song,” Donghae said, giving a bow Mr. Song and then they walked past his desk. Donghae didn’t seem to give the new girl a second look, but Yoona was already intrigued by her hair.

“Morning, Donghae, Yoona. Oh! Hey, Yoona, come up here a minute, would you?”

“Teacher’s pet,” Donghae teased quietly and poked her with his elbow. Yoona shot him a look and then went back toward Mr. Song.

“Oh, Mr. Song, what’s the matter?”

“Yoona, this is Jessica Jung; she’s new and is going to be joining our class starting today.”

“Hi,” Jessica said, sounding a little shy, or maybe just a little nervous. She didn’t look nervous at all, though. She smiled at Yoona, and Yoona tried to smile back, but ended up just blinking at Jessica for a moment.

“Uh. Hi,” Yoona finally managed to say, instead of ‘wow, your hazelnut eyes so beautiful’ which was the first thing that had come to her mind. Jessica’s eyes were a deep, dark hazelnut, and they seemed to sparkle like stars. Her face is so flawless and seems so … soft?

“I told Jessica that you were someone that might have time to help her get caught up in trigonometry.”

“Oh.” Math. Of course.

“Only if you want to,” Jessica said uncertainly. “I mean, if you don’t that’s cool. I’m sure can find someone else.”

“Huh?” Yoona blinked again, trying to catch up. She’d obviously missed part of the conversation.

Jessica put a hand on her arm. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking worried. That was when Yoona realized that she was still staring.

“Oh! I… yes. Fine! I’m sorry. Just… tired. Trig, sure, no problem.” Yoona forced a smile and tried to relax. God, how embarrassing. She hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Happy to help.”

Mr. Song smiled at her. “Great. I’ve given Jessica the last week’s worth of assignments, maybe you can help her catch up this week during X-period.”

Yoona nodded. “Sure, yeah.”

“Thanks, Yoona,” Jessica smiled again and Yoona just stood there stupidly. The bell rang making Yoona jump but at least it brought her back to reality. Homeroom. Class. Right.

Mr. Song headed for his desk. “Try to get more sleep, Yoona, huh?”

Yoona rolled her eyes.

“Thanks a lot,” Jessica said. “I’ll see you at X-period.” She hurried to a desk on the far side of the room by the windows, which must have been the seat that Mr. Song had assigned to her.

Yoona turned around and walked to her desk trying to pretend she didn’t see the look that Donghae was giving her. Donghae’s assigned seat was right behind Yoona’s and he grinned broadly at her as she walked toward him.

“She’s cute.” Donghae poked her as she sat down. “Really cute.”

Yoona just nodded back at him. Jessica was more than just cute, she was beautiful. She was the most beautiful girl Yoona had ever seen.

Donghae kicked her chair making Yoona turn around. “What?”

“So, what did Mr. Song want?”

“Oh, he asked me to help Jessica get caught up in trig.”

“Jessica?”

“The new girl.”

“Wow. Really?” Donghae looked over toward the windows and Jessica.

“Yeah.”

“And are you going to do it?”

“Of course. She’s… nice.” Nice. That was neutral enough that Donghae might not .

Donghae snorted. “Brown-noser.” He brushed off the end of his nose with two fingers.

Yoona glared at him. “Shut up, Hae,” she snapped, and then turned around to face the chalkboard.

“Geez, I was only joking.”

Yoona ignored him as Mr. Song started roll call.

***

Donghae caught up with Yoona at lunch. “Are you mad?”

“No, I’m not mad.” Yoona really couldn’t stay mad at Donghae for long, he was her best friend. They had always been like brother and sister that way, they’d bicker, stomp around and pout for a while, and then they’d get over it. “I just hate it when you…” Yoona stopped and collected her thoughts. “Just because I get As sometimes doesn’t make me a brown-noser or teacher’s pet or whatever you think I am.”

“Come on, I was joking, Yoong.”

Yoona put her tray down at one end of an empty table. “I know. But still--”

“Is it okay if I join you guys?”

Yoona looked up at the voice, but Donghae beat her to answering. “It’s a big table.”

Jessica looked at him, and then at Yoona. She seemed a little uncertain.

“Don’t listen to him, Jessica. He’s a jerk.” Yoona patted the seat next to her and Jessica smiled, moving aroun