[CONTENTID1] Nineteen [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

You wake up twenty minutes before your alarm goes off, the next Monday morning. You glance over at the clock, surprised that it isn't even 7 am yet, before the call of nature is too strong and you scurry to the bathroom, toiletry bag in hand. It is so early that you're the only one there, since none of the other girls have gotten up yet. Grateful for the lack of the long line that usually stretches into the hallway outside, you lock yourself in the first stall and drop your pajama bottoms.

You sit there on the toilet for another second after you finish your business, the exhaustion of waking up earlier than usual, even if just by a few minutes, kicking in. Then you sigh and get up to flush the toilet. You pause at the sight of the reddish liquid in the toilet bowl. Ah, you're on your period. So that's why you woke up so early. Your menstrual cycle has a nasty habit of messing with your sleep.

Clicking your tongue in annoyance, you reach into your toiletry pouch for a pad.

Oh. Is that color healthy?

You pause, pad in hand, and peer back down into the bowl. But you see nothing wrong. The water is a soft rusty copper color—typical for the beginning day or so of your period before it thickens into a deep red.

Ew, that's disgusting, noona.

Eh. It's a natural part of life. Not pleasant, but what can you do about it? Shrugging, you stick on the pad, and then flush the toilet.

Maybe you should drink more water. The color might be a sign of dehydration.

Nah, it's fine. It'll change colors in a few days, Jin-oppa.

Wait a second… Jin-oppa?!

Your eyes widen in surprise. Then you fall to the ground with an earsplitting scream. On your normally silent, all-girl's floor, it doesn't take long for someone to burst through the door, alarmed, "Are you okay?"

From the sound of her authoritative voice, it must be your resident assistant. You try to keep your erratic breathing under control as you pick yourself off the cold tile floor, "Y-yes! It's nothing," you try to sound normal, but your voice cracks. You clear your throat and try again, "It was just a spider."

From outside of your bathroom stall, you hear the RA let out a derisive snort, "That's it?"

"Um… It was big?"

You can almost hear her rolling her eyes, "Alright, just don't scream like that again, got it? You had me worried."

"I won't," you promise, listening carefully for the sound of her exiting the bathroom before you finally unlock your stall. You rush to the sink and splash cold water on your face, willing away the red splotches on your cheeks in your reflection in the mirror.

Those are cute pajamas, ___-ah, Jimin's voice appears in your mind, breaking the brief moment of peace and quiet.

Your façade crumbles, and you bury your face in your hands to muffle your screams. This was going to take a lot of getting used to.

You walk to your astronomy alone, like you always do these days. You pause for a moment, wondering whether you should ask Yoongi to walk with you to your first period class together. But it takes only one brush of his mind with your own to realize that the ice mage is still dead asleep. You shake your head in amusement as you head to class by yourself. It'd be a miracle for Yoongi to show up to class on time, let alone to wake up early enough to walk to class together.

You enter the classroom and shrug out of your heavy winter coat and drape it across the back of your usual seat in the front. You're in the process of removing your thick scarf when the sound of your name catches your attention.

"___."

You look up and your heart skips a beat in surprise to find Sooyoung standing in front of you. It's the first time she's spoken to you since she blew up at you that morning after the accident. You feel helplessly alone and unprepared for this encounter. Where is Min Yoongi when you actually need him?

Your hand trembles too hard to place down the scarf and the length of fabric hits the ground. Neither of you notice.

"Sooyoung…" you whisper, swallowing the lump in your throat as you wait for her to make the first move. She simply stares down at her feet for a while, and you take this as an opportunity to drink up her appearance with greed. After not doing so much as even glancing in her direction for the last month or so, you're blown away by her beauty. With her slim figure, wide eyes and shiny chestnut hair tied into girlish braids, it was obvious why she was always the most popular member of your former friend group. Now, her usually rosy face looks uncommonly pale and the dark bags under her eyes mask her beauty. Even her thick hair looks dull. But still, she is beautiful, and your heart clutches with longing to see her pretty face lit up in one of her usual earsplitting smiles.

Sooyoung doesn't say anything for nearly half a minute that feels like an hour to you. She takes her time wetting her lips and shifting from foot to foot, her eyes trained on the ground. Finally, she raises her head to meet your gaze.

"They shouldn't have done that."

"I'm sorry?"

"Aorn and her gang… What they did to you. What they tried to do to you… That was pretty ty. You didn't deserve that."

You're speechless for a long second. But by the time you collect your thoughts to mutter a "thank you," she's already her heel, flushed with embarrassment, and retreated to her desk. You let out a deep sigh as you bend down to pick up your abandoned scarf. Heat flushes through your system down to your very toes. You glance behind you at where Sooyoung sits in the back. She's not looking at you, absorbed in her books, but still, hope unfurls in your chest like the petals of a fresh spring flower.

Are you alright, ___-ah? It's Yoongi's voice. He's a bit shaky, and you can tell that he's running, but there's no way he'll make it in time. He's going to be late again.

You smile, grateful for his comfort, even when he's physically halfway across the campus. I'll be fine. And you mean it.

After all your normal classes end, you stop by your locker to drop off all your textbooks in exchange for the ones necessary for your elemental class. There are still a few people trickling down the hallway, but they keep a wide berth around you. No one dares mess with you anymore—not with what happened with Aorn and her minions, and especially not since you joined the BTS circle.

You shut your locker and lock it with a click, all your books gathered under your arm, when a flash of color catches your attention. Across the hall, Hoseok freezes as well. The two of you stare at each other for a long, tense second, before you collect yourself and force a smile on your face. A beat. Then he hesitantly smiles back.

"Hi," you greet as he makes his way down the hall to meet you.

"Hi."

A pause lasts much longer than it should. "Did you just get off your hall monitor duties?" you ask an obvious question, just to fill the stagnant silence.

He nods, grateful, "Yes. And you've just finished your normal classes?"

"Yes."

"That's great… Should we head to elemental class now?"

You enthusiastically agree, and the two of you make your way down the deserted corridors of the school. The silence threatens to overwhelm you, and you want to distract from the awkwardness with a conversation starter, but you're too busy forcing yourself to keep your mind blank, in case you project any unpleasant thoughts that might make the situation worse.

Fortunately, Hoseok coughs and initiates the conversation himself, "Did you study for the quiz today?"

You eagerly bob your head up and down, "A little. But I don't think I looked at the Freedom Fighter history section enough—What about you?"

"I didn't study as much as I should have," he admits, "But hopefully the quiz won't be too difficult."

You nod, trying to keep calm as your mind scrambles for the next point in the conversation, but luckily, the two of you reach the classroom at that precise moment. "Well, good luck on the quiz, sunbae."

"You too, ___-ah."

The two of you pause, unsure. Then you bow politely at the older boy and quickly slip through the door into the classroom.

Thank God, you think in relief as you sink down into your assigned seat. Then you freeze entirely as you realize your mistake. All the blood in your body floods to your face. But there's no taking back your slip up now.

Hoseok stops for a moment in the act of pulling back his chair, his spine rigid. He looks over at you, and as a reflex, you look back. The pain in his deep brown eyes makes your chest tighten with guilt. Reading your emotions as they flash across your mind, Hoseok shoots you a tight-lipped smile, as though to reassure you that it's all right. But the smile is forced, and he quickly reverts his gaze to his feet after just a second, as though wearied by having to put on such an act.

You bite your lip, wanting to talk to him, but at that moment, Jungkook drops into the seat next to you, and the quiz begins.

Who was the first colonel of the Freedom Fighters?

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