Eunha stood there with the clothes in her arms still a bit shocked by what happened. Sowon swallowed hard and took a step away from the short girl, resting her back against her locker.

“I’m so sorry…” whispered Sowon, not daring to get closer to the short girl. “You have the right to hate me.” she continued as Eunha was still silent. “I ed up…” she said and Eunha started sobbing letting the clothes fall at her feet.

Sowon immediately walked closer and Eunha turned to her before hugging her and sobbing some more. Sowon held her and let her cry as long as she needed without a word, she knew it was all the stress of what she lived some minutes ago that was going away. Eunha finally calmed down and let go of Sowon a bit embarrassed. She saw that she dirtied the tall girl’s basketball jersey and tried to brush the dirt away.

“I’m sorry..” said the short girl in a low voice.

“It’s okay.” said Sowon taking her hands to stop her. “Go take a shower.” she said as she turned around, took her towel and gave it to Eunha who was picking up the clothes from the floor.

“Thanks,” said Eunha shyly as she hesitated. “I think we need to talk…” she said and Sowon nodded.

“We can talk after, I’m not leaving, I will wait for you.” said Sowon with a reassuring voice and Eunha nodded as she walked away to the shower. Sowon hesitated to join the other girls while Eunha cleaned herself but she would need to face her little sister and her friends soon or later so why not just go for it now.

Sowon sighed and walked out of the lockers, while the other girls were sitting on the benches. They all stopped talking and looked in Sowon's direction.

“How is she?” asked Umji first and Sowon looked at her hesitantly.

“A bit shocked.” answered the tall girl as she approached them and went to sit on the bench too.

Behind her was sitting SinB who gently put her hand on Sowon’s shoulder in reassurance. Sowon looked back at her then at Yerin who smiled at her.

“Do you think the school will expel the two team captains?” asked Yuju shyly to Sowon.

“I don’t know, I hope so, the football captain was already expelled and he came back into the school creating more problems and our team captain may have had some warning about her attitude as she helped him.” explained Sowon as this school was always too nice with students, giving them dozens of “second” chances.

“She probably won’t be the captain anymore so you can maybe have your title back.” said Yerin with hope but Sowon hesitated.

“I’m not sure I deserve it.” she said in a low voice while looking down. “Everything happened because of me.” she said and Umji frowned before hitting her sister’s arm.

“Yeah, what were you thinking?!” she asked her with a mad tone and Sowon looked at her surprised. “Why would you act like that? I feel like you've gone crazy since the New Year's Eve party…” said Umji calming down a bit now.

Sowon looked at Umji then looked down. “I don't know, I clearly wasn’t thinking at all at the moment…” she confessed. “Everything just happened so fast, I panicked and made a mistake.” she said and Umji frowned even more.

“I still don’t get it.” she told her sister and Sowon looked up shyly.

SinB who was sitting on the bench behind them looked at Umji then at Sowon and sighed while rolling her eyes.

“You seriously don’t see it?” she asked Umji and Yerin hit her in the leg to make her shut up. “Yay! you don’t hit me!” complained SinB hitting back Yerin, who whinned in pain and hit her back again.

“See what?” asked Umji and Sowon panicked as she looked at Yerin and SinB.

Yerin put her hand over SinB’s mouth to make her shut up for good. “Maybe Sowon is old enough to talk for herself.” said Yerin and she felt SinB calming down and nodding.

“Okkmay.” mumbled SinB as Yerin started releasing her but still had her hand on .

“I…” started Sowon but the lockers doors opened. She looked at Eunha walking shyly closer to them. Her pants were fitting her but the t-shirt and the vest were clearly too big for her small body. Sowon smiled as Eunha was really cute dressed like that then she blushed realizing everyone was still looking at her waiting for her to talk.

Eunha stopped in front of them. “You okay?” asked immediately Yuju as she stood up and jumped from her bench over the bench Umji and Sowon were sitting on to go hug Eunha who opened her arms and hugged Yuju back.

“I’m better now.” she whispered to her and Yuju held her more tightly.

“Come sit.” said Yuju as she pointed to the bench and Eunha hesitated as Umji was patting the seat just between her and Sowon.

Yuju went to sit back beside Yerin. Sowon looked at Eunha and stood up. “Eunha, can I talk to you please, I owe you some explanations and apologizes…” said shyly Sowon and Eunha nodded. She did want some explanation from the tall girl.

“You can talk to her here.” said Umji with a protective tone and Sowon smiled, proud of her little sister. 

“I won’t do any stupid stuff again, I swear, I just need to talk to her.” said Sowon and Umji sighed not really wanting Sowon to take Eunha away to talk.

“Why can’t you just apologize to her here?” asked Umji again and this time it’s SinB that hit her and made big eyes at her to tell her to let go.

Umji frowned but nodded. “Okay, I’m thirsty anyway.” she said standing up and patting Eunha’s arm as she walked away from the basketball court to the door. Yuju jumped from her bench again and followed her. 

“I’m thirsty too.” she said following Umji and leaving Eunha and Sowon alone.

Yerin pulled SinB by the arm, “We are coming too.” said Yerin as she winked at Sowon while passing by her, dragging a curious SinB who wanted to listen to them and know if Sowon would finally confess or not. Yerin hit her arm and took her out for good.

“So here we are…” said Sowon, a bit embarrassed to be alone with Eunha again. “Wanna sit down?” she asked awkwardly as she sat and Eunha followed her sat too.

They stayed silent a little moment then as Sowon was about to finally talk, Eunha was faster. 

“Why did you do that to me?” she asked hurt and sad. “You humiliated me and then you acted like you cared and wanted to protect me while everything that happened was your fault.” said Eunha as she had all this on her chest for a long time now and needed answers. “You are so confusing Sowon…” she added looking down. “Why me? did you knew I liked you, I was an easy target for you? easy to manipulate?” asked Eunha looking up at Sowon and meeting eyes. She saw that Sowon had teary eyes.

“It’s really not that Eunha, I swear, I was sincere that night, I never wanted to trick you or anything.” said quickly Sowon wanting Eunha to know the truth.

“But the bet?” asked Eunha unsure.

“There was no bet Eunha, it was just me and you, and what we shared that night was real…” said Sowon and she saw how confused Eunha was. “Listen when we got back to school I wasn’t sure how to act with you, we agreed to kinda keep this for ourselves, I couldn’t just walk to you and claim you in front of everyone so I kept some distance hoping to have a moment alone with you to finally talk to you.” explained Sowon sincerely. “But at the training, some girls started to complain about me, they kept saying I was disgusting, that I liked girls and should not share the lockers with them and all… even my coach started saying I should date a boy to calm the rumors…” explained Sowon and Eunha frowned.

“I didn’t know that…” said Eunha and Sowon took her hand in hers.

“You couldn’t know… to stop all this rumors and complains, I just lied and told them it was a bet, I thought they would just forget all this if they thought it was just a stupid game but that girl wanted to be captain and used this against me even more, and of course it eneded up exploding on your face too…” said Sowon sadly. “If I had known before how things would go I would have never said anything like this but I just couldn’t say that they were right without outing me and also you to the whole school…” said Sowon and Eunha nodded. “I felt so bad as soon as the words left my mouth, and when I saw you, when I realized you heard that lie, and when I saw the hurt in your face, something inside me broke down, I was hurt too and really didn’t know how to fix this… I knew you would hate me and I was ready for you to think I was the bad guy…”

“Why didn't you come to me to clear things up?” asked Eunha sadly.

“I tried, but you didn’t want to listen to me, I guess you were too mad at me to give me a chance to explain myself…” said Sowon and Eunha remembered when Sowon asked to talk to her and regretted not giving a chance to the tall girl sooner.

As Eunha looked down, Sowon put her hand on Eunha’s chin and made her look up at her. “It’s not your fault, it’s all mine.” said Sowon to reassure Eunha and not make her feel guilty over everything that happened.

“It’s not all because of you… my article didn’t help either, all the hate toward you it created and all the fake bullying rumors that it started…” said Eunha looking at Sowon in the eyes. “I’m sorry too…” she said and Sowon shook her head. 

“Don’t be, that was a very good article.” said Sowon with a little smile making Eunha roll her eyes but smile back.

“What are we doing now?” asked Eunha, relaxing a bit now everything was clear.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure about one thing, I want the ones that hurt you to pay for it…” she said determinedly and Eunha smiled.

“Okay, but I was talking about us…” said the short girl, a bit more shy now.

Sowon looked at her. “Oh that… well I… I don’t know… you… you probably still hate me and all so I can give you all the space you need and stay away from you, really I won’t bother you or anything...” said Sowon looking down sadly.

“I don’t hate you…” whispered Eunha and Sowon looked back at her. “I could never hate you even when I wanted it so bad…” confessed Eunha. “And I’m not sure I want to be away from you either…” she added a light blush appearing on her cheeks. “That connection we shared at the party was magic, I never felt this with anyone before and I can’t let this slip away without trying to fight for it…” said Eunha and Sowon smiled before biting her lips together. “Maybe we could try again, if you still want it…” said Eunha even more shy and not believing the boldness that she used to say this.

Sowon looked at her and swallowed hard, she wasn’t sure how to form an answer as her heart was beating so fast. She saw the panic in Eunha’s eyes as she wasn’t saying anything so she moved closer and kissed the short girl on the lips.

“Ahh! finally!” yelled SinB making both girls jump in surprise, they looked toward the door and saw four faces peeking through the door and looking at them.

“Yah! Get out of here!” yelled Sowon to the girls who giggled and ran away quickly. As Sowon turned back to Eunha, the short girl was laughing. Sowon smiled at her and Eunha got closer to kiss her again.

“Would you be okay to officially be my girlfriend?” asked Eunha as she slowly moved from Sowon to look her in the eyes. “I don’t want to hide and I don’t want any lies between us anymore… even if it will be complicated at the school with the rumors and the people will talk about us..”

“I don’t care about the school and what they think of, Eunha I want to be with you.” said Sowon sincerely and Eunha bit her lips to hide the big smile that was coming on her face.

“I want to be with you too.” she said and Sowon hugged her.

Eunha was feeling so safe in Sowon’s arms and it only confirmed what she was thinking, together they would be able to face anything and anyone.

They quickly jumped appart when the door opened and the coach entered, looking at Sowon confused.

“Well as you two are here, you can come back to the director's office, the other girls are already there.” informed the woman as Sowon nodded and walked out followed closely by Eunha.

As they entered in the office only Yuju and SinB were there. The director stood up and looked at the girls. “You aren’t making my job easy young ladies.” he sighed.

“You three will all get a warning.” he informed Eunha, Yuju and SinB and the girls started to complain but he lifted his arm making a sign for them to shut up. “SinB you missed classes and recorded a fight while sharing it on live with almost all the school perturbing all the other students instead of calling a teacher for help.” he explained and SinB nodded as she didn’t have a choice, at least she wasn’t expelled.

“You two.” said the director looking at Eunha and Yuju. “You published an article that builds hate toward another student instead of talking to teachers or try to solve the problem with us.” he said then he looked at Sowon and sighed.

“Sowon,” he started and Sowon faced him, he hesitated. “I will have to expell you for another week.” he said and Sowon looked down. 

“Why that?” asked suddenly Eunha, taking a step closer and standing in front of Sowon facing the director. “She did nothing…”

The director frowned. “I read your article, she still bullied you and all the bullies were expelled, the two captains, definitely and the others as a warning got expelled one week and Sowon will be treated the same for her act.” he explained but Eunha shook her head.

“No, she didn't really bully me…” started Eunha looking down shyly. “It’s a misunderstanding, really, the girls from her team that bullied me would have bullied her too…” explained Eunha but the director looked at Sowon then at Eunha and frowned.

“Your article was a lie?” he asked not understanding.

Eunha panicked now, “No, not everything, it’s just that Sowon didn't do all this to humiliate me… she had to say it was a bet because the girls and even her coach pressured her…” said Eunha shyly.

Sowon looked at her coach then at the director. “It’s complicated but when the girls found out I was close to Eunha they started talking about me behind my back, and the coach instead of listening to me just made me understand that I should do anything to make the rumors stop…” said Sowon and the coach looked at her sorry.

“Why didn't you talk to us and clear things up?” asked the director to Sowon now.

“Admitting I liked Eunha wasn’t an option at the moment, especially when I saw how the coach reacted when she talked to me after the incident with the team… and it wouldn’t have changed anything, they were already bullying Eunha… I just wanted to protect her, that's why I started to fight with the football team and my teammate…” confessed Sowon and the director sighed again.

“I really don’t know what to do with you now…” he complained as he went to sit down at his desk. “I guess I will give you a warning too, because you entered the school while you were supposed to be expelled.” he said as she wrote it down on their files. “Now go and try to keep a low profil till the end of the year.” he told them as the girls stood up and walked out of the office.

Umji and Yerin were waiting for them outside.

“So?” asked Umji to her sister.

“We all got a warning but nothing more and the captains got expelled definitely.” explained Sowon and Yerin smiled.

“That’s good, you can be our captain again!” exclaimed Yerin jumping in happiness.

Umji looked at Eunha then at her sister. “So… you two?” she asked them shyly and Eunha blushed.

Sowon looked at Eunha then at her little sister. “Well Eunha and I…”

“We are dating.” cut Eunha taking Sowon’s arm into hers. 

Umji frowned. “Of course you are, we saw you kiss earlier, but my sister didn’t even take you out on a proper date!” she said and Eunha giggled as she was worried Umji would be mad at them for hiding this.

“We had a great date on New Year's Eve, didn’t you all read my article?” asked Eunha laughing, then she looked at Sowon blushing.

“Well I’m still mad at you both, I’m the last one to find out.” she said before glaring at SinB who looked at her best friend offended.

“Yah, not my fault, Yerin can be very scary sometimes…” said SinB and Yerin hit her arm playfully.

“You are the scary one!” answered Yerin but she received a light slap from SinB and they both giggled.

Yuju looked at them rolling her eyes in annoyance then took a step closer to Umji. “I’m mad too,” she said standing beside Umji and taking her arm in hers. “Now my best friend is dating her crush and SinB seems to be getting closer to someone she likes too, we will soon be the only one single.” she said pouting and SinB blushed before jumping on Yuju.

“Yah! What are you talking about?!” she said and Yuju giggled while Umji defended her and started tickling SinB.

“She’s right tho! SinB you were hiding stuff from me! if it wasn’t for Yuju to pointing out to me earlier I would still be clueless!!” she said and SinB yelled even more as she was attacked by the two girls.

Sowon looked at them then smiled.

“Well I hope you won’t be mad at us for too long because with Eunha we got an idea and we will need your help.” said Sowon as she looked at Eunha who smiled at her.

“What idea?” asked Umji as they all stopped messing around to hear more about Sowon and Eunha’s idea.

“A sort of pay back for what the football captain did to Eunha.” said Sowon with a smirk as she explained her plan to the girls and they all agreed to help.

Later that day, when it was getting late and dark outside the girls meet up at the address Sowon gave them, it was a place closer to where the football captain was leaving. They all meet up close to the mall. The football player was leaving 2 streets away.

They were all wearing black hoodies like Sowon suggested it and were carrying a backpack. 

“You all got something?” asked Sowon as she opened her bag. “I got eggs.” she said and all the girls opened their bags to show what they got. Yuju got toilet paper, Eunha too, Umji got flour, Yerin had spray paint, and SinB a hammer.

All the girls looked at SinB worried. “What?!” she asked, confused. “The plan was to ruin his car as he cares more about his car than his girlfriend.” said SinB repeating Sowon’s words.

“Ruin it, as dirtying it.” said Yuju, a bit scared by SinB.

“Look who’s scarier now,” said Yerin with a teasing tone as she gave SinB a bottle of spray paint. “Here you can use that.” she said and SinB rolled her eyes but smiled at Yerin as she put the spray paint in her bag and closed it.

They all put their hood on their head and walked toward the street the guy lived in, they approached his house and as usual, his car was parked in the street while his parents cars were in the alley and the garage. 

“Go!” whispered Sowon as she took the eggs and started throwing them on it. Umji followed with some flour that was sticking well to the eggs. Eunha and Yuju rolled some toilet paper around while Yerin and SinB wrote some treat on the car like “” or “dickhead “ before putting paint everywhere they could.

They were almost done when one of the windows of the house opened.

“Yah!” yelled the football player and Sowon took Eunha’s hand in hers as they started to run away. But SinB took the hammer in her bag and hit one of the side mirrors before hitting the front window. It shattered into a thousand pieces and Yerin jumped, surprised. Yuju throwed some eggs inside and Umji emptied the rest of Flour inside the car too before taking Yuju by the arm and running away too.

“SinB!” called Yerin as the guy opened the front door now. She grabbed SinB and pulled her down, hiding them both behind the car.

“You are crazy…” she whispered and SinB looked at her scared as the guy was approaching the car thinking they all ran away.

“Let’s go.” said SinB taking Yerin’s hand and standing up to run away.

“Come back here!!” yelled the guy but they just ran as fast as possible, they stopped at the corner of the street and let their back rest against a car while regaining some breathing.

“I thought we were done…” said Yerin as she looked back making sure the guy wasn’t following them.

Yerin didn't see him but they heard some footsteps coming to them so SinB pulled her in one of the bushes, they fell down, Yerin on top of SinB, they face close, SinB swallowed hard, she could feel Yerin breath on her face.

“What are you doing?” asked a voice they both knew well.

Yerin quickly stood up and helped SinB out of the bush. “We thought he was after us.” Yerin said, clearing and Sowon bit her lips to hide her smile, they were both blushing. 

“Well you were not hiding very well.” she told them before turning around. Eunha was on the other side of the street with Yuju and Umji who told them about SinB and her hammer.

They all walked away laughing, it was satisfying to make the bad people pay. Now that everything was cleared up, they could go back to their normal life. After everything they went through and that night full of action, their friendship kept growing stronger.

In the end, after all the misunderstanding and mess the New Year’s Eve party caused, everything went well once the truth was established. This little adventure helped the girls find their real friends and fight for what they loved.

SinB and Yerin kept ending up in embarrassing situations but neither of them was making the first move even if all their friends knew they liked each other. 

Umji stopped trying to be popular at all cost, she even started to get closer to Yuju, they were spending most of their time together. Umji even took part in the journal team, she got trained by Yuju that teached her everything to become a good writer, Umji was really interested in telling the truth and fighting injustice. Yuju was on the same page as her, they got a lot more in common than they thought and Umji liked spending more time alone with the girl in the journal room even if she wasn’t ready to admit it to herself yet.

Eunha continued to assist at Sowon’s match, taking pictures and writing about the team, but now Sowon was smiling and winking at her during the match, and would join her after so they would hang out together. Sowon regained her captain title and told her teammates that she was dating a girl, but neither of them got a problem with it in the end, and accepted her back without any second thought. 

***

Eunha stood up and clapped as Sowon scored at the last second making her team win. All the girls jumped and celebrated while Sowon ran to the side of the court and took Eunha in her arms, lifting her and turning around in happiness. She put her down and Eunha giggled as Sowon was really happy.

Then to everyone’s surprise, Sowon kissed Eunha. The short girl kissed her back and smiled into the kiss, it was the first time they kissed in front of other people at the school. Eunha blushed but she liked the fact that everyone knew Sowon was hers now. Eunha deepened the kiss and Sowon held her tighter.

They broke apart as the whole crowd here for the match cheered on them.

Eunha blushed even more, she looked at Sowon who giggled but was blushing too.

“Looks like we really officialized our relationship now,” said Eunha smiling as they already agreed not to hide but till now they were still quite discreet and shy.

“That’s good, like you said before I don’t want more secrets or misunderstandings and I’m glad everyone can see how pretty and amazing my girlfriend is. '' said Sowon before caressing Eunha’s cheek. “I love you.” she whispered before walking away to join her team.

Eunha smiled and watched Sowon walk away. She couldn’t be more happy. 

FIN