test.

characters: soobin, exy, seola

note: low quality update because it's done out of the blue ... and on the spot. :( 

"hey soobin. i dare you to cut your hair short."

sometimes soobin wishes she hasn't befriended kids in school like sojung. she is one big bad influence to her in many ways. soobin can't exactly recall how many heinous stuff she has done in sojung's favor before, though she can't deny most of them were fun and stress-relieving. who would have known egging the most popular student in school--or the most annoying person for soobin--would be that entertaining? it's a great courtesy of sojung that she's able to dump dozens of raw eggs on this girl's head without getting caught. 

but seriously, she thinks sojung has to slow down with the weird dares sometimes. it's not that long before when soobin had to set her teacher to fall on one of sojung's hideous pranks that humiliated him in front of a hundred students. when confronted about the reason why she had to do that, sojung said it's for a cause, but she never really revealed what that's supposed to be. then again, no one caught sojung being the culprit of all those pranks, so no one really had to force her true intentions out of her.

this time around, the dare seems to be different, something personal, and even soobin thinks she can never deal with it.

"cut my what?"

sojung has dared her to do ridiculous things in the past, yes. and soobin, although out of her will, did them all anyway. she has her own reasons of sticking with this weird kid and doing unimagineable things for sojung's liking; and soobin's siding her until she gets what she wants.

hyunjung is totally different from sojung, which makes soobin wonder how the heck these two are supposed to be best of friends. 

hyunjung is the too-good-to-exist type of girl. she has the wits, the talents, and the face. and soobin can still remember the first time they met, when she also realized how much of a kind girl this hyunjung is. 

that's why she likes her. she likes her a lot.

too bad hyunjung lives in a different city, and she only gets to visit their town once every two weeks. and guess where she stays during her visit? of course, at her best friend's place. soobin often wishes she's sojung minus all the eccentricities. 

for now, the only way for soobin to communicate with hyunjung is through sojung, and to communicate with sojung, she has befriended her. that means she has to live by whatever rules this little devil has set for herself and for the people around her, to be able to get on her good side and up all the nice rewards of being sojung's friend. (sojung's standards for entertainment is surely odd for anyone who has met her, but soobin can't still fathom how sojung has that many friends. friends who are, by the way, mostly nice and the exact oppposite of her.)

"cut your hair short!" sojung glees. she's been nagging her other girl friends about "new year, new look thing" saying she has finally let her hair free from ponytails, so the others have to tweak their styles a bit as well. "like c'mon xuanyi already cut hers, and oh! luda too! she even dyed it pink!" sojung is truly influential on her friends, but for soobin, she's just sticking with her until she's close enough with her best friend so she can personally ask for hyunjung's number. she's only done things out of her conscience just so she can attain her goal, that specific goal.

"i'll give you a week for the dare!" she hums, ready to hop off the bus they share the ride on their way back to their own houses.

"and what do i get when i cut it short?" 

sojung pauses for a while, a hand on her cheek. she smirks, and soobin hates it when she sees her doing that, it feels like sojung's up to something not good (which apparently happens ninety percent of the time, it's just that this kind of smile is sending soobin some really extremely unpleasant feeling in her gut.) 

"a new look, of course! and something... a surprise perhaps?" sojung doesn't bid her goodbye, she just gives soobin wink before making her way out of the bus. 

soobin hasn't seen sojung on monday. same goes for tuesday and wednesday. surprisingly, soobin feels safe and free, thanks to the lack of unbearable things she would have done if sojung is around. but her thursday hasn't ended yet when she hears a familiar voice trailing behind her as she saunters her way out of school.

"did you miss me?" 

soobin swears under her breath, but she has to put up a facade. "maybe, a bit." she stops on her track so sojung can tag along beside her. "so what makes you follow me? is there anything you'd like me to do?"

sojung hums, thinking about anything wicked there is left for them to do; there is probably many, soobin can tell. but there's more important thing for soobin to accomplish, which has lingered in sojung's mind, though it's been days of not having it mentioned: "your dare, remember? you still have two days to do that. do it on or before saturday, then you win!" 

sojung's pace is suddenly quicker than soobin's that the latter is the one being left behind. "i gotta do some stuff, so like. i'll see you on saturday. we've got some company at home, and you're welcome to be there! two in the afternoon, yeah? and oh, the dare okay? i mean if you want the surprise"

soobin waves her good bye, but she doubts sojung has seen it.

the dare creeps again in soobin's mind the last minute. it's friday afternoon and she has just honestly remembered about it, has it not been for that brief moment of remembering how odd it is for her not to be doing anything weird that day. sure enough, that's because sojung isn't anywhere on sight again. 

soobin stares at her reflection in the mirror, imagining having short hair, and honestly she thinks she's cute enough to pull off such a hairstyle, but she's just not used to it. the last time she has had short hair was when she's a kid. she's spent the next years of her life having hair length that's beyond shoulder level.

she hurries to her feet, grabs her pouch, and leaves her house for a late afternoon trip to the parlor. sure, soobin decides some things on impulse, but if ever she's going to regret the short hair she's about to get done on herself, there's wig or extensions she can use the next day. 

in soobin's defense, she's just curious about this "surprise" sojung has told her. she secretly wants it. it can't be that bad, can it?

soobin shows up at sojung's place a little bit later than when she's told. she isn't expecting the "company" would be some people who look familiar though at the same time different because there's something unusual... oh, they're all sojung's friends, soobin figures. there's bona, xuanyi, luda, and even meiqi. all of them, soobin knows, thanks to being a frequent visitor of sojung. so it seems as if sojung has actually dared everyone in that place since all of them sure have different hairstyles from the last time soobin has seen them.

luda's the first one to greet soobin and offer the place next to her at the dining table. "what's up with the hoodie?" soobin doesn't answer the query and remains mum, trying to protect her head in case anyone dares to pull down the cloth that's hiding her hair.

everyone is eating and sharing stories when sojung comes back. she's dragging another familiar figure with her.

"hyunjungie!" 

soobin looks up from her pizza plate. sure, it's hyunjung. 

oh, it's hyunjung! 

she's suddenly happy seeing someone she genuinely likes. but at the same time she can't stop worrying that hyunjung is there, and anytime by then she'll be seeing the disastrous change which happened to soobin. soobin is already embarrassed thinking about the reactions sojung's friends will give once they see her hair.

she's noticed hyunjung's hair changed too. but it isn't the least tragic as what happened to soobin's. bangs are covering hyunjung's cute forehead now, and oh dear lord her jet black hair fits her perfectly, soobin is falling harder and deeper for her just by the mere sight.

"now that we're all here, time to flash those new hairstyles!" everyone looks at each other, complimenting and giggling at the changes their hairs have undergone through. but sojung glares at someone in particular. "soobin, take off the hoodie and show us your hair!"

actually, the hairstyle soobin has now isn't as bad as soobin negatively magnifies it. the hairstylist even commended how well it suits her face shape, telling her she looked younger now with the short hair. 

but soobin still feels uneasy, now even more uncomfortable since all eyes are fixed on her.

luda cheers her almost to the point of teasing her by pulling down her hood for her until soobin stops her with a glare. meiqi, who sits across soobin, is smiling to encourage her.

soobin then looks at sojung, almost initiating a staring contest, until she has decided to show her "ugly" hair transformation because that's it. there's no escape. she has willingly stepped into this hall of shame, knowing exactly that she doesn't really have to do the dare. but before so completely removes her hood, she casts a look at hyunjung who's busy with her own slice of pizza.

soobin sighs.

gasps fill the air, quickly being followed by a coarse laughter by the devil named chu sojung. "oh my god, i wasn't expecting that"

soobin's ready to march her way out of the dining area and cry like a baby if it isn't for sojung's bestfriend who slips in a kind remark.

"she's cute though. it suits her a lot"

that's enough to turn soobin's pout into a smile.

a shower of compliments coming from the other girls follow. at least that makes things less awkward and more acceptable for soobin whose embarrassment doesn't turn out to be anything worse than she has imagined. god, does she love hyunjung more because of her praise that saved her.

it isn't that long after when sojung starts dragging them to the living room for some movie marathon, claiming that that's the real highlight of the afternoon. she says they can't miss this movie she knows everyone will like. so the rest come after her, leaving hyunjung and soobin to clean the dining table as punishment for being the latecomers.

"you're really cute, you know" 

soobin flinches, good thing the plates she's holding are scecured in her hands, nothing fell. she turns around finding hyunjung who was smiling at her. her lips curve up as an imperative thank you gesture, but soobin surely knows she can't hide that pink tint creeping on both of her cheeks. 

hyunjung takes the plates from her and places them back on top of the table. 

"we've been seeing each other here for... six times now, but i don't really know that much about you, compared to the others girls here," hyunjung says. that's right. soobin knows she's the odd one out in chu's residence that time. "so i was thinking, maybe we can talk to each other more?"

soobin doesn't exactly remember the sequence of the next events. and it's obvious she has forgotten about this surprise sojung was talking about once she does the dare. but if there's anything she'll have to keep in mind for the day, that's hyunjung's phone number she just got.

/////

sojung proceeds to rant about this stupid teacher who happens to be erting on a lot of female students who belong in his class. she can go all day doing the talk of plotting horrible ways to teach this person a lesson but her best friend's silence is bothersome that she couldn't generate ideas. the mute sound coming from hyunjung is extremely deafening and distracting to her.

"wassup, i could use some input coming from you here"

"sojungie"

said girl is surprised with the kind of tone her best friend has used on her. cute, but it scares her. sojung has known hyunjung for so long that she knows whenever this kind of voice comes out of her best friend, it's because they're going to talk about a serious matter. but what's that serious matter? sojung thinks it's about something academic-related but by far there's nothing this semester that troubles hyunjung. so what could it be?

"how do you differentiate if-" hyunjung seems hesitant to spill the words out of her lips, but she does. "if you like someone... or you love them?"

sojung's judgmental look doesn't seem to falter hyunjung. "oh my god, you're serious?" she actually asks, following with a loud laughter after. "oh my god, my best friend?? is asking me weird things? this is new"

one glare is enough for sojung to get down to business of helping her best friend sort her emotions out. but before she says anything, sojung sets a disclaimer that if there's anyone hyunjung can ask about things like this, she should have not come to her because of the way sojung handles matters. she's not, in any way, good at this field. but her best friend insists that she's the best in coming up with plans and putting them out (although in the most unique way there is) so hyunjung is there, asking for help.

sojung doesn't exactly know how to differentiate the two scenarios. "honestly, you feel the same things, but i think when you're in love, you feel things with... with more intensty?" her best friend stares at her as if that's the most unintelligible concept she has heard for the day.

"I MEAN..." sojung tries hard not to look like a complete idiot while knocking ideas out of her brain. she can't directly word her thoughts for the moment so she opts to use a popular metaphor instead. "i heard that it's crush once the person gets a haircut and you no longer like him. it's love when you still like him even if he has turned ugly." 

hyunjung ponders for a moment before asking again, "but that's for guys, right? for girls it won't make so much of a difference so it's still confusing-"

sojung's laughter fills the air again, but it's only a split second after she takes note of something odd there is in her best friend's words. "wait, what. are you telling me you like a girl"

hyunjung smiles, "like or love, i still can't tell."

it's still unclear for sojung what her best friend's situation is, so she tries to see the bigger picture by asking  things--one of them being about who this girl her best friend has fallen for. 

the whole thing about her best friend liking a girl is already shocking, but what's even more surprising is the answer to sojung's query. "how the heck do you fall for someone you just have seen," sojung starts counting with her fingers, "five times???"

"i don't know. i find her cute," hyunjung is giggling by just the thought of her. "why? don't you think she's cute"

sojung is grossed out. "not my type"

"then we won't have a problem with that. now please help me? you're close with her, right?"

sojung takes a mental note that she's not going to be some sort of a bridge in this thing ever. so she devised a way to make things not seem to be that way. and to make things more interesting, she's injecting some challenge in this plan.

"h-how is getting her a haircut a good help to me-"

"who knows, maybe you won't like her after seeing her hair cut, so that means it's just crush, but here's the real deal"

hyunjung listens carefully.

"if she doesn't get a haircut, i'll get her number for you. if she does, you'll have to be the one to give your number to her."

hyunjung wonders how that's an amazing plan but she agrees to it anyway.

"oh, after this, please don't ask me to help you with her anymore okay. you'll get her number eitherway."