And so, life goes on.

“One more slice of black forest cake, please!” JB calls, flashing his student ID at me.

I groan. “You know your student ID only gets you one free slice of cake, right?

“Oh, come on.” He sticks out his bottom lip. “You love me. Please.”

“Oh my god.” I turn to the counter, where Haemin is organizing bills. “Haemin, what should we do?”

“Give him another piece,” Haemin calls back. “I’m feeling generous today.”

“She’s feeling generous!” JB exclaims. He gets up out of his seat and rushes over to her. “Are you feeling generous enough to go to the Winter Formal with me?”

“For the last time, I need time to think about it,” she huffs. “I don’t know if I even want to go! If the Andong kids are as bad as Mihi’s said they are-,”

“Hey, not all of them are bad. The group we’re going with is pretty chill. You’ll like them!”

“You’ve told me that already! Just give me some time, jeez!”

JB sighs. He dramatically trudges back to his seat and pouts.

“Calm down,” I laugh, setting down his second slice of cake in front of him. “She’ll say yes. Don’t tell her I told you this, but we went dress shopping yesterday.”

JB’s head snaps up, an incredulous look on his face. “Seriously? Did she buy anything?”

“Yeah! Fei, Min, Jia, Hyuna, and I helped her pick out a dress, while Bomi and Jimin went and got some accessories. It was their first time in a department store. It was kind of funny, actually.”

He buries his head in his hands, an enormous grin stretching his lips wide.

“Awesome,” JB says. “I was scared I ed it up last week at that basketball game. I knew it was kind of stupid of me to go and hug her after we had just beat her school’s team, but I just wanted to say hi. She looked pretty embarrassed.”

“Yeah, she told me about that. Apparently everyone from her school started freaking out and asking her how she’d started dating an Andong boy.”

“I know. Everyone from Andong was flipping out, too. You should’ve been there. It was hilarious, in a sad, twisted way. It took me about 3 days to convince them that I wasn’t dating Haemin.”

“People at my school still think we’re dating,” Haemin says as she walks by our table.

“Sorry,” JB says, a guilty, yet somehow pleased smile on his face.

“Wait, if you take Haemin to the Winter Formal, won’t people really think you two are dating?” I ask.

JB grins. “Who knows?”

I rub my temples. “Oh, god, JB. What are you doing, dude?”

“How about you?” JB counters. “Have you decided if you’re going to the Winter Formal yet? It’s in a week.”

Biting my lip, I shake my head. “No... I haven’t decided yet. I don’t know, dude. Will it even be worth it?”

“I really want you to come- and I’m positive Haemin does, too,” he adds. “But I don’t want to pressure you into anything. Just know that we’ll all be by your side the whole time, okay?”

“Aw, JB.” I wrap an arm around his shoulders. “You’re so sweet. I... I’m still thinking about it. I guess I’ll figure it out- hopefully soon.”

The last few weeks have been quite satisfying. I have distanced myself from the entire Andong crowd, save for the new friends I have made: my dinner group. A few more people join our table every week. It is comprised of a motley of Andong students: everyone from burnout druggies to nerdy students to popular jocks. We are all unified by one primary characteristic: we are sick and tired of the facade we were forced to put up in front of everybody else. At our table, we can truly be ourselves. This has put us in a rather odd social position: on one hand, everyone knows who we are, and there are whispers about us sometimes when we walk through the halls. Some people judge us, sneer at us for being “weird” and “losers”.

But a lot of people have continued treating us all the same way. For example, Hyuna is still a staple at crazy weekend parties. She is still regarded as a gorgeous, rebellious wild child who is friends with the “cool kids”. The difference is that she does not participate in group politics anymore. No more pulling insane stunts- like that tequila-chugging thing that we did months ago- just for the attention of others. No more making out with one guy just to make another guy jealous because he was flirting with another girl who was supposed to be friends with her.

Instead, she just goes, drinks, has fun, and then hangs out with us the other half of the time.

I feel like we are making a difference. We are diffusing the core elements of the whole “Andong mentality”. The belief that you have to portray yourself as perfect inside and out by acting a certain way.

Our group has stuck two middle fingers up to that notion and flung it in the trash. Which some people appreciate. They are usually the ones who join us.

A few days after I started sitting at my new table, Fei, Min, and Jia all moved over from my old table to come and sit with us.

“Sorry we didn’t come earlier- god, move over, JB,” Min said, wedging herself between me and JB. “I’ll be honest: at first, Jia and I were pretty pissed at you. I mean, you were the one who came to us and asked to make you cool. And then you suddenly turn around and say it all? I mean, what was that all for?”

“But then Fei talked to us about it,” Jia hummed, twirling noodles around her fork. “I mean... what you said was right. And I thought that what you said about wanting to be friends with some of us was pretty nice- I knew you were talking about us.” She pauses. “Wait, you were talking about us, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” I said, grinning. “I was looking straight at you guys. Duh.”

“Whatever! It was dark at that party, okay?” Min shook her head. “Anyway. We tried talking to Mark, Suzy, and Jackson, too. But Mark and Suzy were pretty adamant on not associating themselves with you. And Jackson’s reason for not moving was, ‘This table’s closer to the dessert line.’”

“Why am I not surprised?” JB asks.

“Yeah. So.” Jia let out a short huff of breath. “Here we are. Don’t judge us if we gorge ourselves, okay? I see you’re happily eating carbs. How’s that pasta?”

“It’s ing great,” I replied, shoving rice in my mouth. “Try your noodles, dude. They’re really good.”

Jia exchanged a nervous look with Fei, and then tentatively placed her forkful of pasta in . After a second of chewing, her eyes suddenly lit up.

“Holy !” she exclaimed, rapidly shoving more noodles in . “These are so ing good! Oh my god!”

“I told you!” I laughed. As Jia squealed about how freaking good carbs felt, I turned to Fei.

“Hey. Thanks for believing in me,” I smiled, wrapping my arms around her in a hug.

“Aw, Mihi.” She hugged me back. “I’ve been feeling what you’ve been feeling for years. I mean, I could rant about how awful Suzy’s made me feel for the past few years, self-esteem wise. I don’t know. I just feel like her ego’s so big, but she pretends to be all modest and shy about it, and- I don’t know- everyone thought she was so nice and perfect, and I didn’t want to screw up our friend group or anything, so I just kept quiet. I felt trapped, dude. But then you just told everyone off and I was pretty impressed.”

I burst out into laughter. “Oh, god. When I look back on that night, I feel embarrassed about how crazy I must have sounded. I mean first of all, I was kind of drunk off my . And second, I’m pretty sure I started shrieking at some point.”

“Yeah, you did get pretty loud,” Fei giggled.

“Honestly, though, Fei, you’re freaking amazing and gorgeous and kind as hell and spectacular. Thank you, seriously, from the bottom of my heart.”

“Right back at ya, Mihi,” she said.

Some others- like Krystal and Suzy- completely shun us. They look down on us and laugh.

Oh, Suzy. I used to think she was so kind, so genuine. But after I saw through her mask of fake sweetness and innocence, my perception of her completely changed. Her actions following my little tirade at that party simply reinforced my new notion of her: she completely ignores me, occasionally even throwing subtle, rude comments at me as I walk past her. Somehow, I am not even angered by this. I am simply grateful that I distanced myself from someone like her. Fei’s words echo through my mind: Her ego’s so big, but she pretends to be all modest and shy about it, and- I don’t know- everyone thought she was so nice and perfect.

Suzy would have revealed her true colors to me sooner or later. At least I got away from her before anything really bad happened.

And then there are some who are completely indifferent to my table and I.

One of those people is Oh Sehun.

A/N: YUHH guys i got an instagram hmu at @ruebiie

BTW s/o to thankyoukaindlyxx for finding mihi's theme song: hell no's and headphones by hailee steinfield!!! it fits PERFECTLY OMG hehehehe :^))