When I heard the name Seulgi being spoken through the town I created this image of her in my mind. I imagined this rebellious arrogant girl like those teenage movies, always partying, dating all the girls, a person who does whatever they want not caring about the consequences.

Then I actually met her and saw I wasn't so wrong on the arrogant part. The way she boards me like I was supposed to feel flattered by her straightforwardness, then she lied to get her way, all of that combined with her always wearing her varsity jacket wherever she goes and having this old school car really reinforced this idea of her on my mind.

But I was being too judgmental, I know this now, and not because she proved herself by being actually kind of sweet. After you get to know her you know her little blunt and straightforward comments are said with the best intentions in mind, it isn't my newfound fond for her, it isn't some rose-tinted glasses situation making me see her different right now.

It isn't anything like that, it's the ridiculous situation we're in right now making me see her with different eyes. Currently, I'm in class not paying attention to what the teacher is saying, it's not like I'm worried or anything. I'm mostly curious, I wonder what Seulgi's mom can possibly say to the principal that can be damaging, I doubt Mr. Choi cares for what we do in our spare time as long as her superstar keeps getting good grades, who would have thought Seulgi was one of those girls with strict parents.

I can see the image of the rebellious Seulgi crumbling in front of me, not in a bad way, more in an extremely amusing way. In a I can't wait to kind of way.

But it isn't that what's keeping me distracted, it was Wendy's comment this morning when Seulgi was telling me her mom would be here later in the day to speak to the principal, they were both laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation which put me at ease knowing we were on the same page. But then Wendy said something. “Krystal is still screwing you over, huh?” Which Seulgi agreed with a scoff.

I've never been into gossip, in fact, I dislike it, but the more I hear about the cheerleader the more tempted I become to indulge in this nasty habit. I would ask Seulgi but I don't think asking about an ex when you have hours dating comes out as a normal thing to do, still, I want to know.

“Hey.” A hand waves in front of me, I rapidly shake my head to wake up from my daydream state and see Joy in front of me. “The bell rang five minutes ago.” She says showing me her food.

“Sorry.” I mutter getting ready to leave the classroom. “Hey Joy, can you tell me about Krystal and Seulgi's relationship?” I ask rummaging in my bag.

“Why don't you ask Seulgi?”

“I could but… That would put me in the crazy girlfriend spectrum.” I sit straight up looking at her. “I'm curious.” Joy nods and takes her seat again facing me, she doesn't share my dislike for gossip.

“Seulgi is really private so I only know what everybody else knows.” She starts her story crossing her arms, I nod and listen to her attentive. “When Krystal transferred here Seulgi was smitten in seconds, like, just a month after she arrived here they started going out. It was a big surprise for everybody since Seulgi never seemed interested in dating, everybody used to joke she was married to the ball.” She leans forward. “Then things started happening. Seulgi started to act unlike herself, it even affected the basketball team, they almost lost the tournament on the finals and everything”

“Why? What happened?” I whisper.

“Nobody knows.” She shrugs. “They seemed pretty happy together and you can't tell what exactly happened between them but after they broke up Seulgi stopped going to classes and everything for a while, she was mostly outside playing.”

“Is that everything?”

“Yeah. I mean, she's pretty private, people know they broke up because they stopped hanging out and avoided each other like the plague.”

“That's weird.” I breathe. “Maybe they just had a bad break up and Seulgi started slacking?”

“Most of those things happened while they were together though.” Joy corrects me. “And she was happy during that time too, it was after the break up she started being herself little by little but she kept missing classes.”

“Is that why I'm tutoring her?”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense.”

“When did all this happened?”

“You're not a rebound if that's what you're worried about.” She shakes her head, yeah I was worried about that. “When she was a freshman, she had her healing time already.”

“Well, I'm even more curious now.” I say to her disappointed.

“Sorry.”

+++

When classes ended I was asked to go to the principal's office. When I enter the familiar place I find Seulgi slouched on her seat with her feet on the desk, she looks annoyed, I poke her behind her neck successfully startling her. “Hi, there pretty lady.” She says sitting up straight.

“Why are we here?” I say taking the seat next to her. “Seulgi, not here.” I warn her when she immediately leans in. She sits back pouting slouching on her chair again.

“Beats me.” She mutters. Somehow I don't believe her but I can't question her further as Mr. Choi arrives at his office, he closes the door behind him and takes a seat on his desk, he takes his time arranging some papers and then he pulls out yesterday's school paper from one of his drawers. "Your mom was here today.” He says, his eyes on Seulgi at all times.

“Is that so?”

“She brought this with her and asked me if I knew something about it.” He shows us the paper. “And then told me about you two not studying yesterday.” I lower my head embarrassed by the implication.

“I fail to see why I'm here.” Seulgi says dismissively. “What I do in my spare time is my business.”

“You're here because you don't know how to lock your room.” He responds. “There's a lock on your door for a reason.”

“We weren't in my room.” Seulgi mutters dejectedly.

“Oh I'm sorry, let me correct myself.” He mocks putting a hand on his chest. “You're here because you couldn't control your hormones until you two were in your room.”

“Ok, I got it this is my fault.” Seulgi says after quietly laughing, this feels like a conversation between friends rather than a scolding.

“She wants me to look for another tutor.” He finally looks at me for a second.

“I don't want another tutor.” Seulgi says like she's talking to a friend. “So don't bother looking for someone else.”

“She also wants me to keep an eye on you two.”

“That's creepy.” I agree. “You know she's just being overprotective.”

“I know and I don't want to look for another tutor, your girlfriend here is doing magic and I don't want to risk it.” He shifts his eyes to me. “Miss Bae, couldn't you have told her to wait until you were in her room.” He complains knitting his eyebrows together.

“I wasn't thinking properly.” I mutter feeling awkward with this conversation.

“Teenagers.” He scoffs sitting back on his chair. “Here's the thing Seulgi, your mom made a very compelling argument as to why I should keep you two separated. It was very convincing I must admit, especially with the tournament already here.” He says in a more serious tone.

“Of course she did.” Seulgi complains sitting up straight. “I'm back on track, I'm not missing any classes and I'm even participating during training.” She numbers with her fingers.

“I know, that's what I'm scared of, this is making you change your mind again.” I furrow my eyebrows confused as the conversation progresses, what are they talking about?

“I won't.” She firmly says.

“But for how long?” He leans in resting his elbows on the table. “Seulgi you know I care about you as if you were my own daughter but I can't trust you, not anymore at least, not with this.” Seulgi looks down. “But I trust you Miss Bae, I trust you to keep her in check.” He says giving me his attention. “No more meeting at her place, alright? Keep away from her mother just in case, be smart. I'm very content with your results, keep it that way but keep a low profile, don't ruin this. Do you understand?” I nod slowly.

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