AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I've decided to split this chapter into two seeing as it's already becoming long. So instead of the original four-chapter story that I planned, this will be a five-chapter story instead. I hope you guys like it! Some important details will be revealed in this chapter. Also, I'm not an expert on pills and stuff cause I don't really believe in medication and stuff yeah I'm weird I know, so feel free to correct me. Anyway, I hope you're ready! Comment what you think below! Thank you for the support so far! 

Here's Falling, Part 1

IRENE POV

September 19, 2017; 5:25 PM

Today marks the beginning of our dance club application process. I entered the school's dance room and immediately found Wendy listening to music in the corner of the room.

"Hey, Wen." I smiled at her.

"Looks like someone had a good night sleep." She commented.

"Not really. I slept late again. I don't think you can even call it sleep. A three-hour power nap maybe?" I said half-jokingly.

"Jesus, Rene. You should really get more sleep."

"I would if it was easier than this, Wen. You know that." 

Wendy stared at me in silence for a few minutes before giving me a soft hug. "I know. I'm sorry. If there's anything I could do I swear, just tell me. Maybe we can have a sleepover sometime and help you get some sleep." 

I smiled at her kindness and understanding. That's Wendy. Kind and understanding. She's really more than a bestfriend to me. She's like my sister. She's been there for me for as long as I can remember and she's the only one who truly knows what I'm going through. She might not understand it fully, but she knows. 

"Thanks, Wen. You're the best sister I never had." 

"What is this sappy ? You should really get more sleep, gosh." I laughed at her seemingly disgusted face. "But you're also the best sister I never had, Rene."

"Alright! Good afternoon, everybody! I'm Moon Byulyi and you can call me Moonbyul. I'm the dance club's captain for this academic year and it's nice seeing new faces around here. Let's get this party started!" The cool and charismatic blue-haired girl announced and all the applicants instantly dropped whatever they were doing and faced front.

"First up, let me introduce all the current members of the dance club for academic year 2017-2018." Moonbyul then proceeded to run through all the members one by one. I noticed the certain bear-like neighbor of mine standing at the very back of the line. She was wearing an orange sweatshirt today. A huge contrast from her choice of outfit the previous night.

It was finally her turn to be introduced. "And this is Kang Seulgi, the only freshman among our dance club members. She and I go way back in high school and we've won back to back national championships together for our dance team back then. She's under the dance club as an honorary member, meaning she doesn't have to go through the application process as we've already seen her abilities. Although she will be under probation for this semester and might be given a full status or removed from the team by the end of the semster, depending on her performance." The captain explained to all of us and I could see all my co-applicants nodding their heads in approval and some are even looking at the bear in awe.

"Hey everyone, I'm Kang Seulgi. I hope to be closer to you all. I would like you all to treat me like you would treat your co-applicant as technically I should also be with you guys as an applicant." She laughed shyly and waved her hands to all of us and I could see most of the people in the room already smiling along with the charismatic bear.

"Humble as ever, huh? Quit charming these new applicants with your charming personality, Seul. This is starting to feel like high school all over again!" Moonbyul said as she slung her arm over Seulgi's shoulder and slightly ruffled her hair.

She gave Seulgi a light tap in the before saying, "Alright, you bear. Go to your position as well." Hmm, I was right. She does look like a bear, even her high school buddy says so. For some weird reason, I felt somewhat proud for noticing that detail about Seulgi right away. Although that one's kinda obvious. Maybe the others have figured it out as well. Sad. Wait. What am I even thinking? What kind of childish thoughts are these? My goodness, Wendy's right. I should really try harder to get some sleep.

"Seulgi and Irene!" Huh? What? Why is the captain calling both of our names?

"Hey dumbo, what are you doing? Go up to Seulgi! We're assigning org buddies!" Wendy whispered to me as she gave me a little shake.

"Oh uh yeah. Coming! Sorry about that!" I quickly stood up and ran beside Seulgi.

"And lastly, Wendy and Eunji! Alright! They will be your org buddies. As I have said earlier for those who weren't paying attention," Moonbyul gave me a little look before continuing and I instantly felt guilty. "Your org buddies will be responsible in guiding you through all the requirements needed for your application process. Now for the requirements, they shall be explained by the dance club's vice captain for this year, Ms. Jung Eunji."

"Hey everybody, so for the application process. There will only be three major requirements. First, is the attendance for the weekly trainings every Tuesday and Thursday. You will be required to attend in at least 70% of the weekly trainings to get a good record for the final evaluation. You will only be allowed to incur a total of 3 unexcused absences before we terminate your application. The second requirement will be the member portfolio. You will be required to make your own slam book-ish type of document which contains the details of each member and their signature. It is up to you how you will decorate it and what kind of information you'd like to include in the slambook but the most important part is the signature of the member. You are required to get at least 90% of the members' signatures in order to get a good record. And lastly, is the finals. The finals shall be a pair dance with your org buddy. This will be used to evaluate you on how well you work with another member of the team in case you get accepted."

Everyone listened intently as Eunji explained the requirements and some were even jotting them down on their notebooks. I find these requirements easy enough to pass and they all sound reasonable to me. I could only hope that Mr. Park would also give out requirements which made at least half the sense that these requirements do. 

"Alright, any questions?" Eunji smiled as she checked to see if there are any inquiries from the audience. "None? Alright. As Moonbyul stated, your org buddies will be the ones working closely with you so you can ask them for help and guidance with these requirements. If at any point you wish to discontinue your application, you may approach me and we can talk about it. I sincerely hope that you would all push through as we would be delighted to have you all if you'd show us the same dedication and passion that we're expecting from you. Good luck to you all and we're looking forward to your performance in the application process!" Eunji smiled and signalled for Moonbyul to take the floor once again.

"Alright, everyone! That's it for today's meeting. The real training starts on Thursday. You may stay behind and get talking with your buddies or you may opt to go home now. Thank you for coming!" Moonbyul gave one last wave to all of us before proceeding to hang with the other members with no org buddies assigned to them.

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard a soft voice ask beside me.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that a while ago. I guess I kinda spaced out." I said shyly.

"No need to apologize. You look really tired. I understand. So org buddies, huh? Hi, I'm Kang Seulgi, your org buddy." Seulgi lightly laughed and extended her hand to me.

I took her soft hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Bae Irene. Please take care of me." I can't help but smile as I saw her eyes turn into crescents.

"Bae, huh? I just realized I wasn't able to get your full name last night."

"Oh yeah that was you! I totally couldn't recognize you with your orange outfit today." I laughed as I remembered the incident last night. 

"Hey! Did I really look that bad last night?" She pouted.

"Cute." Damn, Irene. You just couldn't stop your mouth, huh?

"Huh? Did you just call me cute?"

Embarrassed at having been caught calling her cute, I immediately thought of an excuse. "I was referring to your sweatshirt. I think it's cute. Orange is my favorite color you know." A lie. Purple is my favorite color but seeing her look this cute in orange might be enough to change my favorite color to orange.

"Oh uh okay. Forgive me for assuming anything. Well orange is my favorite color too. I guess we were meant to be org buddies afterall?" She said as she gave me an unsure smile, a clear sign that she was slightly embarrassed.

"Hmm, fine. I guess you're kinda cute too. And yeah, seems like we were meant to be org buddies based on last night's events." I laughed as I saw her shocked face affer being called cute. She's so darn adorable!

"Uhh.. yeah." I see her struggling to find her words before blurting out. "You're beautiful, Irene. And I'm lucky to have a beautiful org buddy like you. I promise I'll do whatever I can to be able to help you out through the process even though I don't know much. Just come to me anytime you need help, even if it's not dance club related issues."

She gave me a sincere smile and I was touched at the kind words she just uttered all I could utter was a small "Thanks."

"Anyway, we should exchange numbers so we could easliy contact each other if anything comes up." She gave me her phone and I took out mine to hand to her.

"There. What did you save me as?" She asked cutely.

I showed her my phone screen and she immediately laughed out loud. 

"You saved me as a bear emoji? Well then, I hope you don't mind cause I saved you as a bunny emoji." She then proceeded to show me her phone and I saw with my own two eyes that I was indeed saved as a bunny emoji.

"What? Why a bunny emoji?" I asked with shock evident on my face.

"Well, I assume that you saved me as a bear emoji as I seem to resemble a bear. And I could say the same to you. Well, not exactly the same. The same, but like in bunny form." She laughed.

"I resemble a bunny? Nobody has ever told me I looked like a bunny." I asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, yeah. You have cute doe eyes like bunnies do and I don't know you just kinda resemble one in general." She said as she was forming two large O's with her hands and hovering them above her eyes in an attempt to mimic my "cute doe eyes", which made me laugh.

"Alright, alright. I see your point, bear."

"Glad to know we're on the same page here, bunny."

We started walking towards the exit and I immediately see Bogum by the door waiting for me.

"Anyway, wanna walk home together? We could talk about the requirements on the way home." Seulgi asked.

"Uh, I don't think so. She's going home with me." Bogum aggressively butted in.

"Bogum-"

"Who are you and why do you want to take my girlfriend home?" Bogum asked Seulgi angrily as he poked Seulgi on the shoulder hard.

I could see all the members of the dance club and the people in the hallway looking at us and I felt embarrassed at the scene.

"Woah, dude chill. I'm Seulgi, her org buddy and neighbor. I just thought we could walk home together since we're going in the same direction anyway. Sorry, I didn't know she'd have company today." 

"Seulgi, I'm sorry you should go ahead. Let's just talk more later. I'll call you." I said, ashamed of Bogum's actions.

"Sure, no problem. Talk to you later, Irene." She said as she turned around to walk out of the campus.

"Bogum, what the hell?" I asked him angrily.

"Sorry, babe. It's just I disappear for one second and someone's trying to take you home already? And I didn't even know you were applying in the dance club. And since when were you friends with your neighbors?"

"What's with all of the questions? You would know if you actua