Chapter Four

Monday

Yoomi woke up to the sound of her phone’s alarm, signifying the start of her first day of school at Trillins Academy. The groggy girl groaned, reaching over to turn it off. Once the noise stopped, she laid there and stared at the ceiling. Yoomi suddenly cringed to herself, remembering what had happened yesterday. She really hoped that she wouldn’t run into that guy again, despite the promise that she had made him at their parting. If he was in any of her classes -which he very well could be, since Sumin said that he was in the same grade as them-, then she might as well just drop out now. Well, that’s a bit dramatic, but still, it was awful, especially after Sumin had explained to her exactly who he was.

“Oh Sehun, huh?” Yoomi’s lips muttered his name soundlessly to herself, lost in thought. Apparently, he was popular on campus and an S-rank, whatever that meant, though from the way Sumin talked, she assumed it was something impressive and meant he was a person that she wasn’t supposed to piss off. Oops. When she had asked, interested about the new term, Sumin had suddenly smirked and clamped up, telling her that she would just have to wait until later to know or figure it out on her own. She had said, playfully, that it was just a friendly punishment for getting herself into trouble on only her second day there. They hadn’t even known each other a full day and she already seemed to know Yoomi’s weaknesses! She had pouted the entire night, and when whining to Sumin and trying to act cute to get her way failed, she had sulked in bed and went to sleep with her thoughts still buzzing curiously. Now, some of the novelty had worn off and she was ready to avoid the situation and the boy, altogether.

She groaned as she recalled the encounter again.

*

“Well?” he hissed at her, waiting oh-so-patiently for her explanation or apology- note the sarcasm. Why, oh, why did she constantly find herself in these types of situations?

Suddenly, Yoomi’s brain decided to start back up. “Oh my god, I am so s-”

“Save it,” he cut her off harshly before she could even get a full sentence in. His eyes narrowed further and Yoomi swore that she felt the air stir around her slightly, though that was probably just a feeling created by the tense atmosphere and her own nervous energy at the moment. “What are you going to do about my shirt, huh Latte girl?”

As if electrocuted, Yoomi jumped, eyes wide. Her gaze snapped back to the angry boy’s stained shirt and she once again flinched. As if acting on a mind of their own, her hands reached out and frantically attempted to pat him down or wipe the liquid away. The only problem was, she didn’t have any tissues or napkin with her currently.

“W-what are y-you doing?!” the boy yelped, personality doing a complete 180 in a second, face turning red. The pink hue to his cheeks took away some of the bite from his glare, but his eyes were still narrowed harshly in her direction. One of his hands caught her own in its grasp and he squeezed lightly, halting her clumsy and rather embarrassing attempt to clean his ruined shirt.

“Sehun? What’s going on here?” a voice asked with some amusement, and at that moment Yoomi yanked her hands back quickly, beginning to become flustered herself. Just what exactly had she been doing? Thankfully, the voice managed to interrupt their little moment, sparing Yoomi from doing any more stupid things in her panic and making the situation worse. The boy in front of her abruptly turned to look at the voice, which belonged to another nearly equally tall boy with sun-kissed skin and a smirk that should be illegal. With his intense eyes no longer on her, Yoomi felt like she could finally breathe, cheeks cooling down and losing their color. Seizing the opportunity, she took this moment to apologize to him properly.

“I'm so sorry! I’ll pay to have your shirt cleaned, or buy you a new one if you want,” she promised. Her gaze wandered curiously to the newcomer that had saved her in a way, who she assumed must have been the other boy’s friend. He was staring at her with raised brows, but she didn’t have time to look at him in more detail. Apparently, her proposal had been the wrong thing to say, because the boy whipped his head around back to face her, his face a mask of stone and his lips beginning to curl to accompany his menacing glare. “Sorry?” Yoomi tried again with a sheepish smile, feeling much calmer than she had been a minute ago when the accident was still fresh and she had been swept up in the heat of the moment. The appearance of his friend had given her the much-needed chance to collect herself.

“You-”

“As much as I’d love to get to know your cute new friend, I’m hungry and you said dinner and drinks were on you tonight,” his friend spoke up again. At that moment, Yoomi let out a breath of relief and silently thanked whoever he was, though she was still feeling nervous and guilty, subconsciously looking off to the side so that she wouldn’t have to meet the eyes of either her savior or the boy she had managed to make so angry. Of course, that didn’t last long- as always, her curious nature won out over everything else and she couldn’t help sneaking a few peeks at the pair of boys standing before her. From the brief glance she had caught of the newcomer before, he was one of the most attractive guys she had ever seen in her life, like every other guy she had met at this academy so far, and he was calling her cute? Even if it was only jokingly to tease his irritated friend, Yoomi was amused and a little flattered by the comment.

“Yeah, well, now drinks are literally on me! This girl just-”

“Yoomi-ah!” Sumin exclaimed, quickly rushing to the girl’s side after coming out of the cafe, seemingly oblivious to the life-or-death situation she was in- or maybe Yoomi was the one oblivious to the seriousness of the encounter, since she didn’t know the boys as well as Sumin did, nor did she know their rank and the rumors that surrounded them. “There you are, let’s go! I still have a lot to show you,” she smiled widely as if she didn’t just break the tense atmosphere with her bubbly exclamations. She began to tug Yoomi away, chattering on about some cool magic store that she wanted to take the now confused girl to.

As they left, Yoomi looked back over her shoulder one last time. Debating for only a second on whether or not it was a good idea, she called back to the duo before she turned the corner and disappeared from their line of sight. “Hey, Caffè boy! The next time I see you, I’ll buy you a new shirt, okay?” she shouted back, calling him by the name of the other half of her spilled drink.

“Yah!” Sumin whined, surprising Yoomi by hitting her on the arm and freaking out. “Do you have any idea what you just did? Or who that was?” Yoomi opened , but Sumin didn’t give her a chance to speak, continuing to chatter on anxiously. “Of course you don’t, you haven’t even gone to school officially for a day yet. Oh, Yoomi-ah,” she heaved a heavy sigh, pursing her lips as she stared at her blinking friend, “what am I going to do with you?”

“Continue being a great roommate and help me out?” Yoomi suggested weakly, not fully understanding why Sumin was so concerned but realizing that she must have messed up even more than she had originally thought if her bubbly, angelic roommate was worried. But just like that, the wide grin she was used to seeing on Sumin’s face was back, her roommate laughing at her.

“Aww, I love you! Who knew getting a roommate would be so much fun?” Oddly enough, it was that amused, mischievous chuckle of Sumin’s that unnerved Yoomi more than her previous scolding.

*

“Yoomi-ah,” Sumin called from her side of the room as she dug around in her dresser. “It’s time to wake up! You should really start getting ready if you want to get some breakfast and make it to class on time.”

Sumin was right. She needs to actually get out of bed and get ready. It was her first day of classes, after all, and she would hate to be late. With that in mind, Yoomi sat up, shaking yesterday’s encounter from her head completely.

She washed up quickly and went over to her closet to get dressed with plenty of time to spare. This would be her first look at her uniforms since she hadn't had any time to take a look at them the day before. Taking out the physical training uniform first, she was given two sets that consisted of a fitting gray racerback tank top with the school emblem in gold on the bottom left, short gray running shorts with workout leggings to wear underneath during winter and a two-tone cropped windbreaker jacket with the school emblem on the left chest. A pair of gray and white sneakers of the highest quality were also given.

The next item she found looked like the academy's very own loungewear clothes. It consisted of a super soft white cotton tee with black linings plus the school emblem on the left side of the chest and black cotton shorts with white linings. Yoomi had a feeling she was going to like this loungewear very much.

Next up, the normal uniform was awfully cute, so much so that she really wouldn’t mind going to school anymore. A long-sleeved white button-up shirt worn under a fitted black v-neck vest with the school crest pin on the left side of the chest is paired with a high waisted pleated skirt, solid black like the vest with two white linings along the bottom and ending around her mid-thigh. She clasps her student ID badge on her shirt collar and pins on the single golden star on the vest to signify her grade level. The pair of black leather low-pump shoes with a strap around the ankle completed the set. And since it was starting to get just a little chilly lately, she decided to wear the knee-high socks as well but left out the long sleeved blazer as it wasn’t too cold yet. This was the spring/winter uniform, and for the summer uniform, they would just wear the short-sleeved shirt instead of the long-sleeved one. Yoomi wondered why that guy from the subway she had bumped into was wearing a blue uniform instead of the black one that she was wearing. Making a mental note to maybe ask Sumin about it later -hopefully, she’ll stop teasing me and actually answer, Yoomi complained to herself with a mental pout-, she finished straightening out her uniform and came out of the bathroom.

“Awww, Yoomi-ah! You look so cute in our uniform!” Sumin squealed the second she saw Yoomi and then proceeded to twirl the girl around in front of the mirror. Sumin’s uniform looked the same as hers, except the other girl’s bowtie was black with gold stripes for A-class, whereas Yoomi still didn’t have a bowtie or necktie yet. Sumin had told her that she would probably get hers once they have figured out what rank she was in, but once again brushed off the topic of ranks and classes before Yoomi could even ask. While her roommate continued gushing over her, Yoomi studied Sumin in her uniform as well. She looked really good in it, better than Yoomi thought she did. Now that Yoomi really looked at her, she noticed that Sumin had nice caramel tan skin and that she loved wearing bright clothes and accessories that reflected her personality perfectly. Even her school bag was in this bright hot pink color that hurts your eyes just from looking at it with colorful, round pins of various sizes covering it everywhere.

“Come on, Yoomi! We have to get going to the cafeteria! The soufflé always runs out if you don’t get there early enough!” With that, Sumin grabbed both of their schoolbags and tugged Yoomi out of the room by her hand, leaving her barely enough time to pull her sparkly new shoes on.

Luckily, the soufflé had not run out by the time they got to the cafeteria. Or rather, by the time Sumin got to the cafeteria. She was in such a rush to get to her soufflé that she forgot about Yoomi, leaving the poor girl behind. They were running along the corridors of the dormitory when Sumin let out a frustrated groan, releasing Yoomi’s hand. Her wings appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden and she just flew there instead, leaving Yoomi to stare at her disappearing figure dumbly and then walk to the cafeteria by her own lonesome self. She didn’t really mind though, because without Sumin urging her to hurry, she was able to take in her surroundings better, and what she saw left her in awe.

In contrast to the rather empty and silent campus she had seen when she first arrived, the academy was now pleasantly noisy and bustling with life. There were some students walking like her but in small groups with their friends that were talking happily and laughing. To Yoomi, they all looked like there was this ethereal sort of glow surrounding them, not to mention they were all attractive, like the perfect cast of those high school dramas Soohee used to make her watch all the time. They seemed a little exotic looking as well, adorning an extra bright twinkle in their eyes and smooth, flowy hair more beautiful than she had seen in any hair commercial.

What caught her attention even more though, was the fact that some of the other students had apparently gotten the same bright idea as Sumin and were flying around campus. Their iridescent wings sparkled and shimmered when the sun seemed to catch them just right and the sight stole Yoomi’s breath away, effectively distracting her from her original destination.

When she did finally get to the cafeteria, only taking one wrong turn, she was proud to say, it was buzzing with people everywhere. All around the room were students wearing the same uniform that she now did, chatting loudly with their friends. Immediately, her eyes scanned the crowded space, looking around for Sumin or a flash of her colorful bag, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. In the end, she dragged herself over to the line with a sigh. The food they had displayed and ready for students to take was a wide assortment ranging from simple breakfast foods like fruits to more high-class meals Yoomi would have never even thought to eat for breakfast on her own, like the soufflés that Sumin had been so excited for. Fortunately, she was able to grab her meal by herself without much incident, and just as she was getting out of line, she heard Sumin’s voice call her name from somewhere behind her. Letting out a short sigh of relief, Yoomi turned around and smiled when she spotted her friend. There she was, sitting at a small table not too far away with some guy Yoomi didn’t recognize, waving her arms enthusiastically in her direction. Chuckling under her breath at the bubbly girl’s antics, Yoomi carefully weaved her way through the crowd of students to make her way over to the table, not forgetting to put on a pout just to fool her friend.

“Yoomi-ahhhh, I’m so sorry!!!” Sumin apologized profusely to the sulking girl when she got to the table she was sitting at. “I wanted soufflé so much and I was afraid it would run out, and then I forgot that you couldn’t fly yet that’s why I went ahead without you. I’m sooooo sorry!!” Sumin clung onto Yoomi’s arm, tugging it lightly and trying to give the girl her best puppy dog eyes as she begged for her forgiveness. Yoomi, however, remained stoic.

“I had to get here on my own,” she pouted lightly. “I almost got lost because you abandoned me.” Here, Yoomi threw in a few dramatic sniffles for effect, though she made sure that her tone was tinged with playfulness so that Sumin knew she wasn’t really mad at her.

“Wah! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me,” Sumin cried, clutching onto her harder. She rubbed her face against Yoomi’s shoulder like a cat, causing the other girl to finally break out of her act and laugh.

“Hahah, you’re most definitely forgiven! Please just don’t leave me like that ever again.” Hearing that she had been forgiven, Sumin’s frown immediately turned upside down