Seulgi doesn’t talk much to the seniors. She’s never really had much reason to. She knows the more famous ones, of course, because that’s just basic sense in a school like this but she’s never gone out of her way to talk to them or draw their attention. Probably for the best, just in case they got upset she was looking at them wrong or anything when she was just looking at the spaces behind them. It was a real problem back in middle school.

When the seniors occasionally flit over to their classroom to try and attempt to recruit Soojung for various athletic teams, she’s not exactly surprised. Soojung just complains she’s too tired to think about things like that right now and, mercifully, Seungwan shoots them all apologetic smiles and shoos them away, asking to try a different time. So much for Soojung’s low profile. Seulgi wonders if that smile is finally getting tinged with some signs of remorse.

It used to be that the seniors only ever dropped by to see Seungwan. (That was the norm, anyway. There was the occasional call by siblings who happened to attend the same school too.) Being class president also means serving on the student council. (Seungwan seems the type. Her looks are pretty and neat as totally as expected from a rich family’s darling daughter. Their school uniform, pressed white shirts and crisp dark blazer, suits her well. Seulgi always feels like a kid playing dress up in hers. She can’t really imagine what it’d be like to have to wear a proper suit to work every day.)

Now the seniors are coming over to their class for Soojung. Usually, anyway. And Seungwan too, just so occasionally but not unexpectedly.

That’s why it’s so surprising when Bae Juhyun knocks on their class door and asks for her.

Her specifically. Her: Kang Seulgi.

But it is Bae Juhyun, who’s outstandingly beautiful and popular and who was internet famous at one point just for being that pretty — the pictures were all over SNS and Seulgi’s pretty sure all the neighbouring schools know who she is — so Seulgi dutifully follows her place in the school hierarchy and complies with her wish not just because she’s her senior, but because she’s popular, an it girl and Seulgi really doesn’t feel like making enemies with anyone who has that much clout around school. Besides, Bae Juhyun is supposed to be pretty nice, apparently. Cute and shy underneath that dazzling appearance.

She’s not really seeing it now, though.

After being walked through hallways and through crowds of people who would split apart like the red sea as Bae Juhyun’s shoes clicked against the floor, Seulgi finds herself shepherded into a secluded corner of the school in a dead end of a corridor by a storage room with a busted window and a the sinking feeling she’s about to get mugged or something similar. There are no witness to be seen. The air is still and quiet and it would be a little peaceful if it weren’t for the fact there’s a third year (apparently) glaring at her, arms folded, expression pensive. Seulgi keeps the most neutral expression she can. No sense poking lions.

Bae Juhyun-sunbaenim looks her up and down warily. “Be nice to Yeri.”

“Oh,” Seulgi says. She blinks. She recalls. Yeri? Oh, Yeri. That kid who hangs out with that other kid who keeps bugging her. “Um…sure?”

“And to Sooyoung as well?”

“Who?”

“Sooyoung. Especially be nice to her,” she says tersely, eyes narrowing and the almost glare that’s coming her direction reminds Seulgi of the way the second romantic lead slash former best friend of the protagonist in a drama reluctantly entrusts the love of their life to the deadbeat first romantic lead in a moment of— 

“Oh. Oh! Wait, I think you’re misunderstanding something here. The—”

“Don’t interrupt me.”

Seulgi’s pretty sure the one being interrupted was her and that Bae Juhyun-sunbaenim hadn’t really started saying anything, but who is she to protest right now?

“You better take care of yourself,” Bae Juhyun warns. “I’ve got my eye on you.”

“O-okay,” Seulgi says, trying to be diplomatic. “I will do that.”

“And you should be nice.”

“That’s a general aim for me, sure. I’ll continue to work on it.”

“Don’t play games, Kang Seulgi.”

Seulgi doesn’t really like the tone, or the use of her full name, but a senior’s a senior and she keeps shut to the extent that it’s going to avoid getting her hit. “I’ll watch myself.”

“You’d better.”

Seulgi just nods.

"If you don't, they'll be-- there'll be--" Bae Juhyun stutters out, stumbling over the words. "There will be consequences. Don't you think otherwise."

"Why would I ever think otherwise?" Seulgi says although it might be pushing it. (She does mean it, though.)

Bae Juhyun sniffs, nose high in the air. “Your reputation speaks for itself.”

“I have a reputation?” Seulgi echoes. “Where did this come from? Who says these things? What’s going on?”

But it’s too late. Bae Juhyun has scampered off. Literally scampered, like her tail was between her legs, flustered, embarrassed, all spent of intimidating energy. Shy.

 Seulgi shrugs. Maybe the rumours are right after all. Bae Juhyun’s not that intimidating after all.

=

Soojung finds her standing there alone and dumfounded because Soojung was apparently following them. (Not that anyone ever hears Soojung but okay. Soojung has two modes and only two: blindingly obvious or deep stealth. Either everyone in the vicinity is aware of her, an aura that somehow breaks through a crowd, or she disappears into anonymous white noise. No in betweens. Just the alarming tendency to switch between the two without much sense or foreshadowing.)

“You okay?” Soojung says. It’s one of those days, or at least one of those sentences, where her accent is a little off. She might be doing it on purpose, though. Seungwan thinks it’s funny. (Eight percent of the time, anyway, but Seungwan also sometimes likes to pretend she can’t speak Korean—when she disagrees too much with whatever it is she’s hearing, that is.)

“Fine,” Seulgi says.

“Who was that?” Soojung says because of course she wouldn’t know who Bae Juhyun was.

“No one,” Seulgi says after deciding it’ll be an easier explanation than a whole mess involving precocious middle school students with misplaced crushes and mysterious high school seniors with confusing personalities and too much image and reputation behind a name. “Just a sunbae who wanted to ask me something.”

Soojung sticks her tongue out, biting it between her teeth. It’s a thinking expression, even if it is a weird one. Seulgi knows because she sees it in self-study periods when Soojung gets stuck on the particularly difficult math questions. (That international gulf between Asia and the States that people like to joke about didn’t develop out of thin air.) 

“Pretty,” Soojung says. “She was really pretty. Was that Bae Juhyun?”

How legendary must a person really be, Seulgi wonders, if even Jung Soojung has heard about them through the school grape vine? Or maybe she’s just not giving Soojung enough credit. She can have some sense every now and then. Maybe even more. Seulgi’s getting too cynical these days.

“Mmmm.” Seulgi nods. “That was her.”

She wonders if she should correct Soojung and tell her to add in the honorifics, if only when she’s speaking aloud and in the earshot of someone else. Then again, it’s not like she doesn’t think, Oh, that’s Bae Juhyun in her head too and Soojung’s just her friend, speaking to her in private and not even bad mouthing anyone. 

Soojung mirrors her, nodding to herself. “Bae Juhyun, huh? Okay.”

Again, Seulgi wonders if she should mention those honorifics. Soojung doesn’t really get sensitive whenever her being American is brought up, but being reminded she’s foreign or somehow not Korean enough (and that’s the real issue, Seulgi thinks, that really makes her nervous) doesn’t tend to really end well.

(Some days, Seulgi also wonders if Soojung even has an English name. She’s never offered on to Seungwan, and her SNS is under a fake name for presumable reasons of privacy. Jung Soojung sounds nice in that order, but someone on the other side of an ocean is bound to have made fun of Soojung Jung. Or maybe not. Maybe Seulgi just always thinks the worst of people. Maybe they would have found it funny in a way that didn’t require making fun of anyone and they would have moved past it as easily as that. But, somehow, Seulgi doesn’t think that’s the case.)

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Huh?” She must have been making a face. A weird expression, too pensive or thinking or something because Soojung looks concerned. Seulgi tries to brush it off. “No, not at all.” 

Soojung on the inside of her cheek, chews it a little, and resumes her normal expression. “Are you getting picked on?”

“What? Why would you— No, I’m not getting picked on.”

Soojung shrugs. “You get called out to the middle of nowhere and look pale. It’s an easy conclusion to make.”

“I’m not pale.” When you really got down to it, Bae Juhyun wasn’t even that intimidating.

“There aren’t any mirrors here, so how could you tell?” Soojung’s voice is snippy and a little cold. There’s the underlying bite of steel under the words but Seulgi has no idea where they’re supposed to be directed or if it’s supposed to have come bubbling up at all. The bite in Soojung’s words aren’t sharp, pointed knives that strike precisely where it hurts, slipping through the seams between sheet plates of armour—it’s a blanket chill of fog through the air, like acid raining down, just everywhere without focus, steam leaking out of a kettle, something bursting free and not caring where it spreads.

Seulgi can’t tell if she’s angry or annoyed or who she’s even upset at: Seulgi for (apparently) lying about how she feels? Herself for not being able to help her friend? Bae Juhyun for (seemingly) being bully or at the very least a inconvenience? What was even the prompt?

Is Soojung even upset at all or has Seulgi misread the situation completely, the way Bae Juhyun totally misunderstood the situation at the gates and how it related to Sooyoung and Yeri? Since when did Seulgi even think this much or this hard about problems that weren’t even problems like this?

Her frustration is just going to show on her face now. Soojung is bound to pick up on that with the mood she’s currently in. Seulgi tries to restrain herself.

“Are you okay, Soojung?”

Soojung shifts. She grabs her arm with one hand and turns, awkward and a little away from the question. She breathes. Seulgi breathes. Watching and waiting.

“I wanted to talk to you about something too,” Soojung admits. “But forget it. I think I need to think about it myself more before.”

“Okay,” Seulgi says. “Okay, that’s fine.”

Soojung turns away so Seulgi can’t see her face. She says, quiet, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Soojung.”

“Still, sorry,” Soojung says. “That wasn’t— I shouldn’t have done that.”

Tossing out ‘it’s fine’ again doesn’t really seem like it’ll do much good. Seulgi’s hands press into her sides. There’s nothing to grab on to. Soojung is as solid as air slipping through her fingers. Unfathomable as wind. Who’s fault is that really?

So she just says, “I’ll be here you decide to say something.”

Soojung nods. 

It’s a return to normalcy that felt pretty welcome as far as Seulgi was concerned, until right now anyway.

Now it’s just— 

Well. Now, is just—

Soojung sure has all the luck in the world if she can keep avoiding situations like this. Barely five minutes after her first encounter with pushy upperclassmen and here she is again. (She should have just followed Soojung instead of sticking it out on her own.) 

Well. Now's now. No time like the present.

Seo Juhyun is leagues more intimidating that Bae Juhyun.

Seulgi doesn’t even know why Bae Juhyun’s the one with the intimidating reputation just because she has a cool expression that can seem a little aloof. Anyone with half a brain should be able to tell that Seo Juhyun is the one who’s totally and utterly terrifying. 

Maybe it’s because she’s so polite and civil. There’s always an approachable smile on her face and that must make her seem very relaxed and down to earth. That impression is wrong. That is a lazy person’s impression. Seo Juhyun may have a smile on her face but she also has posture that’s ramrod straight, more proper than her impeccable manners, and a glint in her dark eyes that’s the clear look of a hunter with too much ambition to surge forward in life. Bae Juhyun is a normal high school student, coincidentally a very beautiful one. Seo Juhyun is only a high school student at the moment because that’s the formality of life and that’s the uniform she’s  got on. She’s not really a high school student. She must be, like, the president in training or something.

When Bae Juhyun glared at her, Seulgi felt a little uncomfortable and reached to adjust the collar of her uniform shirt. When Seo Juhyun just looks at her—looks her up and down with more discerning consideration than a first time buyer trying to stare down the real estate agent to stop bluffing at their could-be dream house—Seulgi feels uncomfortable but doesn’t dare try to fiddle with her collar in case Seo Juhyun-sunbaenim comments, displeased. (Everyone knows she’s a stickler for neat presentation and uniform code adherence.)

And where the is Soojung anyway? Is this some sort of karmic penance she has to pay for not being the kind of girl who accompanies other girls to pee? Why does Soojung take so damn long to pee anyway? What’s up with her? Why would she leave like this?

And more importantly, why is Seo Juhyun-sunbaenim so scary? She’s not even making any sort of upset expression. (Maybe that would be easier to deal with. Seo Juhyun’s perfectly level, neutral smile creeps her out just a tad. Or maybe not creep out exactly but freak out. Discomfort. Instill ungodly fear into. Something along those lines.)

“Ah, I see,” Seo Juhyun says, after a bit. Seulgi begins to notice she’s standing up extra straight.

“Sunbaenim?”

“Kang Seulgi-ssi, isn’t it?”

How polite must Seo Juhyun really be if she bother with things like that when talking to her school juniors. Seulgi isn’t even being talked down to—it’s all formal language.

“Yes?”

“You’ll be fine. Don’t worry too much. I’m sorry if Juhyun scared you at all.”

Oh god. This is damage control? Bae Juhyun sent Seo Juhyun to clean up after her?

“I heard she came after you a little. She can be a impulsive like that. She didn’t mean anything too bad. Nor did she mean to say anything about you. She was just concerned about her dongsaengs. You know how people can get.”

“I’m youngest in my family,” Seulgi admits and even she’s impressed how fluent and calm the words come out. “So I wouldn’t really know.”

“You’ve never had younger friends? You can end up taking care of them quite a bit.”

“Not really. I just stick to the usual kind.”

Seo Juhyun gives her another smile. This one is just as gentle as all the others but Seulgi can’t find much comfort in it, just the nagging sense this is far from over.

“Will you be okay with Juhyun?”

“Um, it’s no problem, Juhyun-sunbaenim. The situation with Juhyun-sunbaenim— I mean, with Bae Juhyun-sunbaenim— I mean, everything is fine. I know she meant well. She didn’t even come on that strongly. It was fine.” Seo Juhyun looks at her, expectant. “Um, it was fine, sunbaenim. Juhyun-sunbaenim, I mean. It was fine with— 

“My friends call me Seohyun to clear up that confusion.” Seulgi is mercifully interrupted. “They said it suits me too.”

Seohyun is a pretty name, very feminine—Seulgi can see where they’re coming from. (Isn’t it getting popular there days?) Hasn’t she heard that drifting around school? She’s pretty sure she has. But then again, when Seulgi learns things, they go in one ear and out the other just as fast.

“You can too. I won’t mind it. A lot of the school does already, you know.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Seungwan worries about you, did you know? You should talk to her.”

Seungwan complained about her during one of those student council meetings? That’s a little much. Seungwan helps out with those sorts of things on a semi-frequent basis, as do most of the class presidents, but Seulgi never thought it was a thing that she particularly enjoyed much given how much work she had to do out of school on top of that.

That razor crisp tension in the air is a little lighter now, though. This must have been the other thing she was sensing. So if the debacle with Bae Juhyun was a pretence, why is she so concerned about how Seungwan feels?

Seo Juhyun— Seohyun— Sunbaenim puts a light hand on her shoulder. Her fingers are cool and long and elegant and they just brush away some invisible lint lingering there on the school standard blazer.  She leans only the littlest bit forward and says to Seulgi, quiet and discrete like it’s their little secret, “Take care of yourself.”