It was Monday.

 

Yuri never did like Monday. Not like the usual reason that it was too far from Friday night or because it was the start of school. She disliked Monday just because it was Monday. It didn’t really make sense for other people; there was no tangible reason for her to dislike the day. It was like every other weekday, except that it just happened to be a Monday. And she didn’t like Monday.

 

But it was Monday today, which meant she had no particular interest to do anything for the remaining half of the day. While Mr. Lee was discussing something about the Pythagorean Theorem she absently fiddled with her pen, dismantling it then fixing it then moving onto her bottle of liquid eraser and trying to scrape off the hardened liquid from around its screw cap and stopper. When she was done with that she began toying with the hardened white peel with her pen, trying to draw a miniscule doodle of a cat.

 

A small balled up paper landed on her desk. She glanced up, watching Mr. Lee if he had noticed, before pulling the paper towards her, gently brushing the crease out.

 

You’re not listening, are you?

 

Yuri snorted softly. Turning the paper over she wrote ‘Am I not being obvious enough?’ before balling the paper back up. Once again, glancing up at Mr. Lee, whose back was to the class, before firing the paper back to the expectant Taeyeon seated a chair behind her to the left.

 

A few seconds later another note bounced onto her table.

 

This is going to be on our quiz on Wednesday.

 

Well then it’s a good thing we’re in the same class. Teach it to me later.

 

Yul, I know you dislike maths and I’ll be glad to explain it later, but at least try to look interested. You know you’re not exactly Mr. Lee’s favourite student.

 

Dislike is too light a term to describe my relationship with anything correlating with maths. I abhor it. And Mr. Lee isn’t exactly my favourite teacher either. The feeling’s mutual.

 

Can’t you just sit back and pretend?

 

It’s Monday.

 

After she tossed her reply she leaned over her table, crossing her arms over the surface and rested her chin on them. Their little note passing ended there. Yuri continued fiddling with her pen, the slightly girlish tone of her teacher’s voice going into one ear and out the other.

 

Maths was for the serious kids. She was more of a free-thinker kind of girl. Her mind was too busy thinking of more fascinating things like, what would it feel like if she could stick her hand in a cloud. Since the cloud is made up of condensed water vapour it should feel cool to the touch. When it rained the droplets were cold. So is it as cool as the inside of the refrigerator?

 

A nudge on her shoulder bought her out of her musing. Languidly she looked up to the child-like face of her cousin. She entertained the thought of reaching up and squeezing Taeyeon’s cheeks until it turns pinkish but brushed the thought away. Taeyeon would probably throttle her if she dared that. Instead she began picking her stuff and shoving them into her bag.

 

“Why do you have to be so difficult during Mondays?” she crammed the last of her stuff into the nearly spilling bag and zipped it up. Throwing Taeyeon a sideward glance she began walking to her next class.

 

“The same reason why you’d be difficult if you find out the stores ran out of your favourite gummies. It’s out of our hands but we just can’t pass the opportunity to act like a spoilt sport now can we?” Yuri replied casually, lightly fanning Taeyeon away. She nodded her head to a few of the students that greeted her on her way, her cheeks starting to ache from the strain of keeping up her smile. She easily found her destination, thank God for her height, and started to hasten her pace when she felt Taeyeon’s hand wrap around her wrist. She sighed, stopping to throw an irritated frown at her cousin.

 

“Yul.. Is this becau-”

 

“Whatever you’re thinking off, no, it’s not it.” Yuri abruptly cut Taeyeon off, not liking the sudden softness in her tone. Her eyes darted around them, checking if any of the other students were looking at them. She didn’t need to look to know the expression on Taeyeon’s face, she could already imagine it. She scrunched her nose, exhaling her frustration through her nose as not to make too much of a noise and make Taeyeon even more annoying as she currently was. “Look, I just don’t like Mondays. I don’t feel like doing anything on a Monday. That’s all.” She said tightly, gently prying her wrist away from Taeyeon’s grip.

 

She made the mistake of meeting the shorter girl’s worried gaze. She bit the inside of her cheeks.  Damned that Taeyeon, making her feel things she didn’t want to.

 

“But, if it makes you feel happier, I’ll be a lot more agreeable by sun down.” Yuri said, smiling crookedly to appease the girl. For extra measures she extended her arm, casually slinging it around Taeyeon’s shoulder and pulled the girl closer. “We’ll go out and have an ice cream party and eat all their available ice cream until our stomachs burst.”

 

Yuri grinned, knowing fully well Taeyeon’s ultimate weakness. She glanced furtively at Taeyeon’s face, nearly laughing at the conflicting emotions projecting on her face. A short while later the shorter girl settled on a wide goofy grin, thinking about the various flavours she wanted to stuff into , and stared dazedly into thin air. Yuri pulled her along, deciding to accompany Taeyeon all the way to her classroom. She could always sprint back to hers, it wasn’t much of a problem.

 

She bid Taeyeon goodbye a moment later, playfully shoving her into her classroom, promising not to escape later for their ice cream date. A moment later she whips out her phone to let the American duo know through their group message.

 

Tiffany’s screen name pops up a second later as she types up her answer and Yuri snorts as she reads the new name. PinkPanther. She could already imagine Taeyeon’s exasperated look and Jessica’s signature deadpan expression.

 

[PinkPanther: Heck yes! I’m in dire need of some sugar since Jessie won’t share her twinkies with me.]

 

As per usual, Jessica doesn’t respond. Yuri wonders if she even bothers reading any of the messages before the end of the day.

 

“Hi Yuri.” Yuri looks up from her phone, meeting the eyes of a rather dashing looking male student. Tall, dark(slightly from all the time under the sun), handsome, and popular. What every girl wished for in a guy. Yuri knew him. The guy was her first friend when she transferred a few years back. Ok Taecyeon, star varsity player for their school’s basketball team, the Blue Knights’ point guard- second only to their current captain and small forward- and was the next in line to be captain once the seniors graduate. Fortunately, unlike the stereotypical jock that was rampant in most schools Taecyeon was a good kid. He doesn’t stand aside when he sees someone being bullied and would be one of the first to help someone out. Not really one of the brightest kids in their year, but he does well enough not to compromise his position.

 

“Hi Taecyeon.” Yuri nods her head, glancing back at her phone to check the time, noting that there was still no response after Tiffany’s message, before pocketing it. She adjusts the sling on her shoulder and side-steps Taecyeon, but she’s stopped by his hand around her wrist.

 

“Hold on a second.” He says. When Yuri glances at him, a brow raised in question, and he retracts his hands quickly, almost like he was scalded by hot iron. Self-consciously he stuffs his hands in his pocket, grinning crookedly at her as he shifts his weight from one leg to the other. “I was wondering.. you know we got a friendly game this Friday against the Cavalries.”

 

“Yeah, I heard. Jun-oppa isn’t going to be able to join this one right? That makes you stand-in captain. Good for you!” Yuri says, putting in as much enthusiasm in her words. She never really did care much for basketball, it wasn’t her type of sport.

 

“Yeah.” One of Taecyeon’s hands goes up to his face, rubbing the bottom of his nose as his eyes darts somewhere else. “uh.. are you going to watch?”

 

Yuri stares silently for a few seconds, the side of her lips twitching slightly. “I’m not so sure..”

 

“I’ll make sure we beat them and hold our title as this years undefeated champs.” He boasts, puffing his chest out. He reminded Yuri of male birds during mating season and she nearly laughs.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. We’ve totally got this in the bag. Come watch alright?” He grins wider.

 

Yuri’s smile wavers for a second, but manages to control her features. Taecyeon doesn’t notice. “Well.. I guess I could-”

 

Before she could say any more Taecyeon cuts her off. “Great! See you at the game. Make sure you come and cheer m- us on, alright.” He quickly corrects his fumble and jogs right back to his group by the water fountain. He turns to wave at Yuri before his best friend, Nichkhun, grabs him by the head and the group starts heading to the other direction. The smile on Yuri’s face falls a second after and she sighs tiredly. She rubs a hand over her face, mentally chanting in her mind to ‘smile, Yuri’.

 

A buzz in her phone brings her back to the present. Shifting her bag around once again, she pulls her phone out of her pocket.

 

[Jessica: Okay.]

 

And a small smile pulls at her lips.

 

 

 

 

 

“I want that!” Taeyeon announced, beaming brightly with her face nearly pressed up to the glass of the ice cream counter, greedily eyeing the various flavours on display, like the big kid she is at heart. “And that too! And that!” she said, pointing at one thing then moving to the next.

 

Yuri already had her phone out, silently recording the scene from a distance, trying her best to keep still despite her restrained laughter making her whole body quiver.

 

“Yurwee-yah. What are you doing?” Tiffany asked, peering over Yuri’s shoulder to get a glimpse of the small monitor of Yuri’s phone.

 

“Shh.. I’m collecting blackmail material for future use.”

 

“You’re gonna use blackmail your own cousin?”

 

“Uh.. only when it’s needed.” Yuri responded, ending her recording and slipping her phone back into her pocket before Taeyeon could notice. “I think you should know by now Ppany-ah, I never pass up on the chance to gather dirt on someone. But don’t worry I don’t use them for evil purposes… unless it’s funny.”

 

“I haven’t even said anything.” Tiffany paused, she shot a quick glance up to Taeyeon before pulling her phone out and huddling close to Yuri. “Send me a copy.”

 

Jessica pulled out a chair from one of the empty tables near the back. Glancing up to the two girls giggling to each other she scoffed, plunking tiredly into the chair. “You guys are so childish.”

 

“Says the girl who snapped a picture of me half .” Tiffany rebutted quietly, sticking out her tongue out at Jessica as she snapped her phone close.

 

“Ah. But, what I have is legitimate blackmail material, not childish videos of Taeyeon drooling on the glass of some ice cream shop.”

 

“Oh My God! You didn’t delete it?!” Tiffany squeaked, horrified.

 

Jessica watched on amusedly as the colour drained from Tiffany’s face. “Duh. It’s blackmail material.”

 

“Jesshika daebak!” Yuri cheered. Slipping into the chair beside Jessica she held up her phone, eyes glittering in mischief. “I’ll give you dirt on Taengoo if you pass me Ppany’s picture.” She bargained.

 

“Yah!” Tiffany protested. Jessica cringed at the volume, her hands shooting up to her ears.

 

“Lower your voice, Tiff. We’re not at the dorm.” She hisses, throwing a glare at the now pouting Tiffany. “And no. It’s for my eyes only. Unless Tiff backstabs me and then everyone in campus will have a copy of that picture.”

 

“I’m not going to backstab you! Why are we even talking about backstabbing? Yurwee-yah, do I look like the backstabbing type? Jessie, please, delete that picture.” Tiffany pleaded, crouching at Jessica’s side and gripping her hands, shooting the indifferent girl one of her best puppy dog look.

 

Jessica gave the girl a quick side glance. “Nice try Tiff, but by now I’m completely immune to your puppy dog look.”

 

“Fine.” Tiffany sniffed. Jessica didn’t miss the way Tiffany was eyeing her bag where she usually left her phone in.

 

She smirked. “And don’t even bother. I have a pin lock on my phone gallery and back-up copies, just in case.”

 

It wasn’t true. Jessica was too lazy to boot up her laptop just to transfer a few files, but she did have two snapshots of Tiffany in semi-. The girl was taking a long time picking out her clothes and walking around their room with just her and towel on. Jessica just couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease the girl. And it was worth it, seeing the normally happy-go-lucky girl brood like a child on the brink of a massive tantrum after her little bluff.

 

“I guess you’re at her mercy. You might want to sew your mouth together Ppany-ah.” Yuri jested, receiving a slap to the arm from a pouting Tiffany.

 

“Do you really think I don’t know when to keep my mouth shut? No wait, don’t answer that.” Tiffany groaned, easing into the nearest seat while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

 

This was pure entertainment for Jessica.

 

“Okay, what’d I miss?” Taeyeon asked, slipping into the last empty seat. She looked between Tiffany to the snickering Yuri and finally to Jessica who casually waved her off.

 

“Nothing.” Jessica replied curtly.

 

“Did you put in our order?” Yuri asked, playfully quirking a brow.

 

Taeyeon made a face. “Of course! Unlike some people I remember my friends.”

 

“Hey, that was one time. And it was a long time ago!” Yuri said heatedly, sticking her tongue out. Taeyeon retaliated with a tongue stick of her own.

 

“Say Taeyeon, are you going to come over tonight and discuss our lesson?” Jessica suddenly asked, ending the childish fight between the cousins.

 

Yuri straightened up her seat, nudging Tiffany’s feet from under the table. Tiffany looked back at her, shaking her head as she pursed her lips. She watched her roommate with renewed interest. It wasn’t every day that her roomie initiated conversation that wasn’t laced with mock or scorn. More so if it pertains to someone else’s business.

 

Taeyeon paused, looking pensive. “I’m not too sure. Our current lessons aren’t that bad, but there’s a part in Maths that’s a little confusing.” She said, rubbing the base of her ear sheepishly.

 

“I can help you with that.” Three pairs of eyes widened at her offer.

 

“Really?” Taeyeon asked warily. She sent a questioning look to Tiffany, the later a little too preoccupied gawking at her roommate to spare Taeyeon a glance. Hesitantly she nodded her head. “I guess I could use the help.”

 

Jessica hummed distractedly, staring blankly at a spot on their table. A second later her eyes flickered over to Yuri, her lips pulling into a smirk. “Yuri-yah. You want to tag along tonight?”

 

Yuri blinked. “What?”

 

“We’ll go over the lessons then we can have a slumber party after that.”

 

“What?!” This time it was Tiffany. The girl straightened up in her seat, exchanging worried glances with Yuri. Then she switched to the surprised Taeyeon. Biting her bottom lip she wearily regarded Jessica, trying to deduce what was going in on the girl’s mind bringing all of them into their room. “Who are you and what have you done to our Jessica?”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I am merely offering our room and my assistance to my friends.” She argued calmly, ignoring Tiffany’s unconvinced frown.

 

“Well..” Taeyeon drawled, looking in between Tiffany and Yuri, her eyes lingering on Yuri for a few seconds longer. Yuri missed the spark in the girl’s eyes as she was too preoccupied gaping at Jessica. “if you’re offering your services then I can’t see why not. Yul could use the help in Maths too.”

 

“What?!” Yuri snapped her head after hearing her name and her least favourite subject in the same sentence. “Yah!” she attempted a swipe at Taeyeon’s head, catching nothing but air when her target pushed her chair back and away from harm. Taeyeon grinned triumphantly at Yuri’s disgruntled frown.

 

“I’m pretty sure she didn’t understand the last lesson.”

 

Before Yuri could object again Jessica clapped her hands together, halting the words at Yuri’s tongue. “Great. That’s settled then. After this we’ll have a group study session over pizza.”

 

 

 

After their afternoon ice cream stop, with Taeyeon burping and groaning from eating too much ice cream (Tiffany had instantly stepped to her side for support while Jessica and Yuri both shook their heads at the big baby) they started off towards the nearest pizzeria, opting to walk as to help the ‘poor baby’ digest.

 

They had a mini squabble about what to order, each one wanting a different kind of toping, but they weren’t quite sure they could finish two orders. Even Taeyeon, still suffering from her ice cream coma, argued with her cousin’s choice, though Yuri suspected it was more because the girl just wanted to bicker with her for fun. When their disagreement got to the point where Yuri was close to strangling her shorter cousin the cashier had intruded and recommended one of their new pizza, if a little bit exasperatedly, and before any of the three girls could think too much about it Jessica had decided to end the decision for them and paid up for the 12 inch pizza and left the three to catch a quick nap on one of the nearest table.

 

It hadn’t taken long to go through their four lectures, they all pretty much understood the gist of it. It was when they touched Maths that problems started to crop up. Yuri had barely understood the previous lessons, topped off with Taeyeon suddenly announcing Yuri’s less than enthusiastic response to the subject, the two cousins had ended up wrestling on the floor. A pitiful sight really. It was more of shirt tugging and failed arm locks accompanied by pushing and pulling and kicks that mostly hit obstacles rather than body parts. At least Tiffany had enjoyed herself watching the funny scene while chomping down on the last piece of the pizza.

 

Finally the two girls split up, each breathing heavily from the energy wasting activity, Taeyeon more so than her more athletic cousin, glaring at each other and silently daring the other to make a move. Tiffany was on the edge of her seat, her cheeks a little puffed from the forgotten, chewed up pizza in as she held her breath, waiting for whoever would make the next move. Taeyeon and Yuri’s staring contest, however, was cut off abruptly by a sharp pain on their ears. Jessica, having enough of the monkey business, had slipped off from her perch on her bed and grabbed both girls by the ear, tugging and twisting mercilessly, ignoring the yelps and pleas to be let go. It wasn’t until Tiffany started to choke on her pizza that Jessica relinquished her grip to attend to her spastically coughing roommate, giving the two amateur wrestlers’ time to fix themselves.

 

After that was a gruelling hour of trying to teach Yuri formulas and equations, an hour that irritated yet amused Jessica. It had seemed like everything they tried to teach her were never quite absorbed the way they had hoped. There was a seriousness in the way the girl had looked over the notes but the glassiness in her eyes proved otherwise. Taeyeon had even resorted to slapping her cousin behind her head every time it looked like she had zoned them out, and it was usually responded with an elbow to Taeyeon’s ribs.

 

Finally, after Yuri had gotten the grasp of it and had managed to solve simple equations, fumbling only when it came to negatives- she kept overlooking the sign at the end- they had called it a night. Tiffany had sworn loudly that she wouldn’t give up on Yuri and would make her ‘a math genius by the end of the week’. Yuri had laughed at that, playfully saluting her.

 

At the end of four hours, freshly bathed, with their stomachs full and the shredded pizza box left on the study table, Jessica collapsed backwards onto her bed, tired but satisfied.

 

Tiffany had tried to entice them into playing spin the bottle, but Jessica had quickly pointed out a huge flaw with the plan. “How can we play spin the bottle without a bottle?”

 

Then snake. “No wait. I left my board back home.”

 

“How about Pictionary?”

 

“That’s a great idea Tae Tae!”

 

Yuri was quick to offer her notebook and pen, grinning from ear to ear. Tiffany giggled at the cute expression on Yuri’s face, playfully threatening to pull her cheeks to their deaths if she wouldn’t stop grinning that instant. Yuri’s face fell into a pout, but that only exacerbated Tiffany’s squealing as she jumped the taller girl, clinging to her like she was an over grown stuff toy.

 

“Don’t you think a pen is too thin?” Taeyeon stated evenly. Jessica raised a brow, taking in the slight furrow of Taeyeon’s brows and the thinning of her lips as she stared(glowered) at the two.

 

“We can use our marker! Jessie and I haven’t really used it since the start of sem.” Tiffany said, finally detaching herself from Yuri, who was wearing a lopsided grin while staring insolently back at Taeyeon. Jessica mentally noted to have a chat with Yuri later. She had the faint idea that they were both rooting for the same team, might as well converge.

 

When Tiffany came back with the marker Jessica rolled over to the inside of the bed, placing her phone by her head. She was beginning to slip into her covers when Yuri decided to sprawl her body onto the bed, leaving just a little space left for her.

 

“Get your black bean body away from my bed Kwon.” She half-heartedly glared at the back of Yuri’s head, lightly kicking the long, thin arms out of her space.

 

“Black bean?” Yuri sat up, twisting her body to stare at Jessica, eyebrow raised. “Where’d you get that?” she asked, trying to grab one of Jessica’s feet that were still pushing her out of the bed. She shrugged, pulling her feet away from Yuri’s reach.

 

Undeterred Yuri reached for Jessica’s feet once more, managing to grab one when Jessica tried to kick her feet in defence. It became a game of tug-of-war after that, Yuri’s vicelike grip holding Jessica’s feet down, trying to drag her out of her bed, while the fairer girl tried to wriggle and pull her way out. She had managed to get Jessica to the middle of her bed when Taeyeon had decided to intrude in their violent little game.

 

“Stop monkeying around black bean.” Taeyeon called, shaking her head.

 

“She got that from you!” Yuri cried, letting go of Jessica’s feet she shoot an accusing finger at her cousin, the latter sticking her tongue childishly back at her.

 

“I don’t need to tell her anything. It’s a universal fact black bean.”

 

“You mean like your shortness.”

 

“I HAVE A NORMAL HEIGHT FOR A GIRL, DAMN IT!” Taeyeon growled, outraged. Grabbing a pillow from Tiffany’s bed she hurled it towards Yuri, her small body following after.

 

~~~

A/N: Okay, so after going through this again and again, and, just to reassure myself, another five more times, I finally felt that it’s about time I post it up. Yay! That only took me like a hundred years.

 

On another note, I am going to be insanely busy for the next… month, maybe. This lazy bum is going to be talking a huge step into the real world and be going back to school. Now ain’t that just terrific? That’s not for another half month though. Reason as to why I’d be busy for the first half would be because I’m leaving home and moving to a whole other country so by mid-October I’m going to have to get used to living in a hostel or wherever it is I’m gonna end up in, look for a part-time job and settle in. That won’t be till about a week from now though so I’m racking my brain and squeezing out as much plot as I can while I’m still leeching off my parents, God bless their soul for putting up with me.

 

Great! Now.. This lazy bum is no coward and I’m ready to take on the challenge of uprooting myself and start to really be independent... so while I’m still here, a week to go, I think I’m gonna curl up at a corner somewhere and do deep breathing exercise cause hyperventilating ain’t my thing. *hyperventilates and starts going crazy*

 

Anyway... I can continue that later.. Hello to the new subscribers and everyone else. Hope you guys aren’t itching to throttle me for my late updates. I try to shorten my chapters as much as I could but I think my minimum, disregarding the prologue, would be seven pages in word. I hope the length could like balance out my delay. I know some would rather have shorter word length and more chapters dishing out every week, unfortunately that’s not me. My poor brain can’t handle the word vomit of ideas randomly popping up in my mind and has to take time to organize and segregate before writing it down, and by that time I usually forget.. hm..

 

Stay awesome people. Leave a comment or a hello if you feel like it, no pressure.

 

Le gasp! Longest A/N ever!

 

Until next time, Scribbles out~