Momo trudged up the stairs to the third floor, head pounding, silently cursing her best friend who lured her into going out even though school started the next day.

"Momoriiiiiiiiing, will you come? Pretty please?”

Momo glanced over at Dahyun before turning her attention back to the rack of clothing in front of her. Why did she invite her again?

"Dubu, I already told you classes start tomorrow. I can’t."

The younger pouted from the other side of the rack. "Your first class doesn't start till 12:30."

"Exactly. I don't want to roll out of bed at noon, hungover, and have to rush to class. Who knows what my teacher will make us do, for all I know we'll have to do the monologues we're doing for auditions and I barely have them memorized as is.”

"I thought you theater majors were supposed to be able to pull those out whenever. And no one said you had to get drunk.”

Momo raised her eyebrow at Dahyun. "You're just as bad about procrastinating as I am. How's that film you've been talking about doing for the last, what, nine months going? AND It's you guys. Getting drunk is implied, if not expected." Dahyun opened as if to refute the statement but then thought better of it. She wasn't wrong.

"What do I have to do to convince you?"

Momo chuckled. "You can't. Summer is over and I have get my priorities back in order. What do you think of this shirt? I like this color.” She held up a light pink button up against her torso, looking in the mirror. "The color is nice" Dahyun hummed in agreement, mind obviously somewhere else.

Slowly, a devilish grin broke out on her face but was quickly schooled into an agreeable expression when Momo turned around. "Do you think I should try it on?"

"I don't see the point, you look good in everything. ."

Momo laughed and exaggeratedly flipped her hair, whapping Dahyun in the face. "I didn't ask to be born this beautiful, babe."

Spluttering, Dahyun attempted a punch at Momo's arm but missed as the older girl dodged it, still laughing as she started walking to the front. "You have anything else you wanna look at, Dubu?”

Dahyun huffed and trailed behind Momo. "No I'm good. One of these days I will get you.” They reached the checkout counter where a long line was winding from the front. "Damn, why is it so busy?" Momo muttered.

"So about tonight..."

She shot her best friend a warning look. “Dubu."

Dahyun put her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, you know, Tiffany will probably be there." Just as Dahyun thought, Momo perked up at the statement and Dahyun stifled a laugh as she tried (but failed) to keep her expression casual and there was obvious interest in her voice as she said, "Oh really?”

"Yeah I told you everyone was gonna be there. Still not interested?”

Momo bit her lip and weighed her options. She knew going out with her friends was a guaranteed hangover and she had already sworn to herself that this year was going to be different, meaning no drinking, no weed, no procrastination. But if Tiffany was going to be there...Momo hadn't seen her since school ended and she couldn't deny the lighting designer had been on her mind a lot through the last couple of months.

"Fine. But just for ONE drink. And then I'm done”

Dahyun clapped and jumped up and down happily. "Yay! I knew that would work. You'll be glad you came out.”

"I came out a long time ago. Unlike you." Momo stuck out her tongue

"Cute, Momoring. Real cute.”

"Aw stop sulking. Come on, I'll buy you a pretzel."

Ugh. She hoped the aspirin would kick in soon. She shouldn't have gone out. Tiffany was nowhere to be found and Momo suspected Dahyun had pulled one over on her. And as usual, she used alcohol to quell the disappointment. Bad life choice.

She really hoped her acting teacher wouldn't make them do anything. But she was new and no one knew anything about her. It would be just Momo’s luck that they'd start doing movement work or something. Her stomach lurched at the thought.

In all honesty, Momo was kind of nervous about seeing everyone again. She hadn't really managed to make many close friends last year. No one tells you that changing your major halfway through your college career would usually mean starting from scratch. So there she was, a 20 year old freshman in a class with a bunch of 18 year olds.

She wouldn't call herself an introvert by any means but it was harder to deal with a crowd of people instead of one or two. So she kept her distance. Going down to the basement where everyone hung out made her nervous so she would stay up on the first floor in between classes, not really interacting with people in the department unless she was in class. She was fairly certain no one disliked her and while she wasn't close with anyone, she got along with them decently.

She stopped outside the door to the rehearsal room and braced herself.

"Here goes."

She pushed open the door and there was a moment while everyone who was in the room looked toward her.

“It’s Momo!”

She felt a small body slam into her and looked down to see Son Chaeyoung squeezing her tightly. She returned the hug, smiling, as others came towards her shouting out greetings. As Chaeyoung released her, she greeted them with hugs as well which she found odd but definitely not unwelcoming.

They made their way back over to the side of the room where all the backpacks were, talking about their summers; Jo Kwon talking/bragging about his experience being in American Idiot, Hwasa talking about going abroad to France for the summer while Jackson had gone to San Francisco for an acting intensive workshop. A wave of jealousy passed over Momo as she listened. She had spent the entire summer working two jobs, washing dishes and waitressing, in order to save money but she tried to let it go and be happy for her classmates. Looking around, she saw everyone except for Tzuyu and Xiumin which wasn’t surprising since they were almost always late.

Two people in the corner caught her eye. One was Park Jihyo, a directing/management major and a girl Momo didn't recognize. She gave a friendly wave to Jihyo, guilt rising as she recalled how the red-head had tried several times to approach Momo during class last year but the latter was always so aloof, too wrapped up in herself to appreciate the gesture. Bless her heart, Jihyo never stopped trying. Momo made the decision to actually give Jihyo a chance this year. It didn't surprise her that Jihyo would be the one to talk to reach out to a new person. She had always been like that, endlessly friendly and an excellent conversationalist. If anyone could make the new girl feel more at ease, it was Jihyo. Momo herself didn't really acknowledge the other girl, only giving her a small smile after waving to Jihyo.

Pretty girls made Momo nervous.

Just then, their teacher entered and greeted the class with a commanding aura.

“Hello all, my name is Bae Yoon Jung and I will be your intermediate acting teacher for this semester. Please form a circle on the ground and we’ll start by going over the syllabus.”

As everyone was sitting, Momo somehow ended up sitting next to the new girl. After going over the syllabus, Professor Bae said, “Now since I’m new on the faculty here, I’d like to ask that we go around and introduce ourselves, particularly because I understand there is also a new student.” gesturing to the new girl.

The girl’s cheeks went red and she quickly looked down as if in doing so, the earth would swallow her.

“We’ll start from my left and work our way around, shall we?” gesturing to Jackson. For a guy who was as well-built and tall as he was, his voice came out a lot higher pitched than Momo, and apparently the rest of the class remembered, causing everyone to start laughing. He took it all in stride, grinning while he spoke. “Yo, I'm Jackson Wang. Sophomore here with an emphasis on performance and if I didn’t have a sore throat right now, I wouldn’t sound like a squeaky toy so everyone shut up.”

Sitting next to him was Jo Kwon a well-groomed, lithe young man who carried himself with the confidence of Beyoncé. “Hello, I'm Jo Kwon, also a sophomore. I’m double-majoring in performance and directing/management.” His smile bordered on arrogance which made Momo roll her eyes a bit. He was funny, yes, but his humor often came at the expense of others.

Tzuyu was next, sitting with her back ramrod straight. She was the president of student board within the department, the senator who represented the department within the college, and a member of at least five different clubs on campus. Momo was fond of Tzuyu and admired her work ethic but really thought the girl needed to lighten, preferably before she gave herself an anyuersm.

After Tzuyu came Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung was an interesting character. Momo knew she was very smart and an especially good writer but also a little odd. Chaeyoung was very hot and cold to people, greeting them with a bear hug one day and the next not talking to anyone at all. You never quite knew which one you’d get on a given day.

Then came Jihyo. Unlike the majority of the people in class, Jihyo was strictly directing/management, only in the class because it was a requirement which Momo thought was a little ridiculous. But the school wanted their students to be well-rounded so here she was.

Sana was also from Japan but grew up in Korea. It seemed like she could blind the room with the sheer brightness of her smile. She was not the brightest bulb in the box but she made up for it in pure kindness. It never ceased to amaze Momo how she could get away with almost anything with just a few well-placed smiles.

Xiumin was quiet, someone else who also kept to himself freshman year. Momo felt a kind of kinship with him since discovering through the exercises they did prior his parents also divorced while he was young and dealt with many of the same issues Momo did following that. They had an unspoken understanding and respect for each other which she appreciated.

Last but certainly not least was Hwasa. The girl oozed confidence and it would be annoying if she didn’t have the talent, plus some, to back it up. But instead of becoming arrogant and cocky, Hwasa was probably one of the most genuine people Momo had met in her life, never failing to give credit for the work others did and cheering them on.

Hwasa nudged her and Momo's attention snapped back. It was her turn already? Oops. Having been caught spacing out already, she attempted to avoid both the teacher and new girl’s gazes as she spoke. "Hi, I'm Hirai Momo. I moved here from Japan when I was 10. This is my third year in college but I'm technically a sophomore in this program. I'm 21 so I'm the grandma of the group."

There were a couple chuckles including one from New Girl which made Momo kind of proud. "I'm a performance emphasis...yeah that's all I got." She looked at Professor Bae who gave her a smile and a nod and then to her right at New Girl, signaling she was done talking. Momo could see her hands shaking a bit and she felt kind of bad for the other girl. She couldn't imagine how intimidating it must be to come into a classroom full of people who already knew each other.

“I'm Myoui Mina. I'm 20 and a transfer from Japan. I’m a directing/management emphasis. I’m looking forward to working with you all.”

Her voice was soft but steady and Momo took the opportunity to study her face. She had a mole on the top left side of her nose and a hell of a jawline. Soft yet still somehow angular…she realized Mina had stopped talking and was now looking directly at her. She quickly tore her gaze away, feeling her face heat up.

Looking around the circle, Professor Bae smiled and said, “It’s lovely to meet all of you and I’m very excited to have this opportunity to work with you. Since it’s only the first day, I’ll let you go early but be sure to come to class on Wednesday with the monologues you’re planning on doing for auditions prepared if you’re a performance emphasis. I’ll also be sending out a list of scenes that will be your first assignment and who your scene partner will be so keep a look out for that.”

The noise level in the room grew again as everyone began packing up their stuff. Despite the warm welcome Momo received earlier, she wasn’t keen on sticking around especially since she knew her meter was about to run out so she took off quickly.

Getting new scenes and finding out your partners was her favorite part of assignments and she was really looking forward to what Professor Bae had picked out for everyone. She hadn’t worked with most of the people in her class so she had no idea who her partner would be. Now she just had to get through the rest of her classes and work without throwing up or passing out from this dumb headache.

Momo sighed. This was gonna make for a long Monday