Wendy didn't exactly know why she was here. 

She should be at home in her cool, air conditioned room, painting on a perfectly blank canvas with a crisp paintbrush in between her fingers. She should be frantically moving her brush across her canvas as she looks out the window, hurrying to get as much detail onto the blank space as she observes the setting sun. She should be in her comfortable bear pajamas that her best friend, Seulgi, got her with a cup of her favorite caramel macchiato in her hand.

And most of all, she should not be at school at eight in the evening.

"Seulgi, I can't believe you dragged me here," Wendy huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. It was way too loud for her liking. She's been in high school for almost four years now, and she's still never been to a high school basketball game until today. All because of her best friend, Kang Seulgi.

Seulgi's her best and closest friend. They're very much similar to one another (although Seulgi's, way more extroverted and athletic than her). They both love art, singing, and most of all, staying at home and watching badly produced and overly-cheesy romantic comedies.

Wendy sees Seulgi as a sister; but she can't deny that her best friend is definitely attractive. She knows that the girl could easily be one of the most popular girls in the school, yet she would rather stay at home with Wendy and drown in popcorn than go to parties and hook up with pretty girls.

Seulgi just smiled at her. She lightly punched her introverted friend's shoulder, winning a whine from the shorter girl. "Wendy. You've literally never been to a high school basketball game. That's just sad."

"It's not sad! I'm just not into this kind of stuff, alright," Wendy said, sticking her tongue at her. Seulgi just shook her head in amusement and rested her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, I just want you to get out of your little bubble for one night, okay? Who knows, maybe you'll meet a pretty girl," her friend teased, wiggling her eyebrows at her.

Wendy laughed and shoved her best friend playfully. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say."

Despite Seulgi's words, she still hated the environment. She hated the obnoxiously loud jocks that were sitting behind her, she hated the smell of body odor that filled the bleachers, she hated the snobby pretty girls that sat in the front row, and she hated how she was at school. 

However, when she looked at the girl next to her, with her eyes bright and her smile wide, she decided that maybe it up for one day wouldn't hurt.

She glanced at the scoreboard high up on the right side of the gym at saw a bright red "10:00" written across it. 

There were ten minutes until the teams would be introduced and the cheerleaders would come out to hype up the crowd. In the corner of her eye, she could see Seulgi glancing back and forth at the timer as well.

Wendy smirked and pinched her friend's cheek.

"Ow! What was that for?!" her best friend whined. She's fully aware of her best friend's crush on one of the cheerleaders on the team. Seulgi never shuts up about the older girl, and she knew she only went to basketball games every Friday to see her.

"You just dragged me here because you wanted to stare at Bae Joohyun all night, didn't you?" Wendy teased, giggling at her friend's slowly reddening face.

"N-no!" Seulgi stuttered, fixing her already smoothened out hair. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Whatever you say, Kang Seulgi, whatever you say you love-bird." Wendy said in a sing-song voice. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Wendy observed the gym, waiting for the ten minutes to quickly pass. She looked at the people around her; they all had wide smiles on their faces as they conversed with one another. There were a few teachers standing by the bleachers, keeping an eye on the high school students. There were a few freshmen cleaning the basketball court to get rid of the slightest bit of dust that might be on the floor. But most of all, there were so many people that Wendy's never even seen before throughout her four years of high school.

She realized that like Seulgi said-- she's never really stepped out of her bubble until now.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention as we introduce the teams playing tonight at our very own high school!" Wendy looked up and fixed her eyes on the middle of the court. The school's principal was standing with a microphone and a big smile on his face as he looked upon the student section.

"You're real excited to see Bae Joohyun, huh Seulgi?" Wendy teased once again, grinning with triumph as she saw her best friend blush once more. She brought her attention back to the spirited principal and crossed her arms.

"Please welcome the visiting team, the Tigers!" The principal announced. The entire student section broke out into a loud series of Boo's and Wendy couldn't help but laugh at her school's spirit. She never understood why high schools were so focused on school spirit and took sports so seriously, but it was somewhat nice to see everyone so excited. She turned towards her best friend and saw her joining in with the rest of the crowd. She giggled when she even saw Seulgi go to the extra mile by giving a thumbs down to the other side.

When the opposing team finished lining up on their side of the court, the principal finally coughed into the mic. The students already knew that the principal was going to announce their own team, so they broke out into a cheer and stomped on the bleachers. She swears the bleachers might collapse any second, considering how shaky and unstable it was. 

"Well, as you all might know by now, please welcome our very own, Knights!" The students let out ear-deafening yells and Wendy immediately brought her hands to her ears.

"Holy !" Wendy yelled, overwhelmed by the screams. Seulgi grinned and simply shrugged, chuckling at her dramatic friend. After the basketball players from her school all lined up on their side of the court, she saw the cheerleaders finally run out, as well. As the seemingly never-ending line of cheerleaders came out, she finally caught the sight of Bae Joohyun and she elbowed Seulgi, who was already staring at her crush.

She laughed at her friend's love-sick expression as she stared at Joohyun and turned her head back at the cheerleaders-- when her teasing smile suddenly fell.

Her eyes followed a particular cheerleader, whose eyes were so bright looking out at the crowd, and whose smile was the most blinding smile she swears she's ever seen.

The girl was tall (definitely taller than her), she had long, wavy brown hair that fell perfectly upon her petite shoulders, pale porcelain skin-- but what drew her to the girl were those eyes.

As she stared at the cheerleader, she swore everything felt muffled. She couldn't seem to focus on the chaotic surroundings or the constant hollering anymore, and the obnoxiously loud screaming and clapping didn't bother her-- it was as if she had the inability to focus on anything else but her. 

Suddenly, she felt Seulgi nudge her shoulder. She turned towards her best friend, whose lips were curved into a teasing smirk. "And you called me a love bird, huh?"

--

That entire night, the only thing Wendy really paid attention to was the pretty cheerleader that stood in the middle of the line beside Bae Joohyun. She didn't really care about the intense basketball game that was happening right in front of her. She didn't even really tease Seulgi about her crush as much as she usually did. She was more interested in the cheerleader that was cheering happily with the rest of her team.

She also might have annoyed Seulgi with a million questions about the girl.

"Who is she?"

"You don't know her? She's Park Sooyoung."

"How old is she?"

"She's a year younger I think, why?"

"Does she actually go here? Why have I never seen her around?"

"I mean she's on our school's cheerleading team, .. And maybe because you're always in your own bubble all the time?"

"Good point. Is she the captain?"

"She's co-captains with Joohyun I think.. what's up with all these questions?"

"Do you have any classes with her?"

"No, I don't. Now stop asking me so many questions."

"Why? So that you can stare at Bae Joohyun?"

"Shut up!"

Needless to say, she earned a punch and a possible bruise from Seulgi from all those questions she asked her that night.

Wendy lied in bed with a small pillow wrapped around her arms, and just could not bring herself to fall asleep. All she could think about was that girl: Sooyoung. The girl with the bright smile. The girl with those bright brown eyes. The girl who was just so undeniably beautiful.

Wendy groaned and shoved her pillow into her face. She couldn't stop thinking about a girl that didn't even know that she existed.

"I'm so screwed," she mumbled into her pillow.

--

"So, Wendy," Seulgi said, a smirk on her lips. The two walked side to side, both holding lunch trays filled with (what she hoped was) a ham and cheese sandwich. "Why did you suddenly ask me to sit with you in the cafeteria?"

Wendy never sat in the cafeteria. She and Seulgi always ate their lunches outside underneath a small tree, just the two of them. No one but themselves.

Wendy shrugged cooly, "I don't know, I really thought about what you said to me Friday night. That I should get out of my bubble?"

Seulgi scoffed playfully and rolled her eyes, "That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard in my life and you know it!" Her best friend laughed and bumped her shoulders. "You just want to see Park Sooyoung!"

Wendy frantically shushed her grinning friend and looked around to see if anyone might've heard her. "Shut up!" Wendy whisper-yelled, her cheeks slightly reddening.

She huffed, "Fine. Maybe I did want to see her. But it's because I literally never see her around, ever!"

"Alright, alright," Seulgi surrendered, picking a piece of her bread and popping it into . Wendy rolled her eyes and looked around the busy cafeteria. There were hundreds of students in this tiny space. She was glad that no one bothered to look at her as she walked through the cafeteria-- she hated attention.

Seulgi lightly slapped Wendy's arm to get her attention and wordlessly pointed at an empty table, already stuffed with the sandwich they just bought. Wendy laughed at her friend-- she could never control herself when it came to eating. The two squished through the crowded rows and when they finally reached the table, they sat quickly, making sure that no one could steal their spot.

About fifteen minutes pass since the pair stepped into the busy cafeteria, and she already hated it. She would rather be sitting under the tree with her best friend by her side, maybe a nice book resting on lap or a sketchbook in her hands. But here she was, nothing but the loud voices of obnoxious high schoolers filling her ears and faces of people she's never seen before. 

And it was all just so that she could catch a glimpse of a girl that didn't even know she existed.

She wondered if the girl ever saw her around. She wondered if the girl's heart also jumped when she first laid eyes on her, and she wondered if the girl thought about her too. She wondered--

"Hello? Earth to Wendy?" Seulgi said, waving her hand in front of Wendy's face and holding her sandwich in the other.

Wendy snapped out of her thoughts and looks up at her friend. "Huh?"

Seulgi gave her a confused smile and uncapped her new water bottle. "You zoned out for a second there," she said before taking a sip. "Is everything alright?"

Wendy gave her concerned friend a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, just thinking about our history test next week," she lied. Seulgi is her indeed her best friend, but she was still a little too embarrassed to admit that she'd been thinking about the cheerleader.

She watched her friend as she passionately ranted about how much she loathed history, and how she completely forgot they had even had a history test. And she tried to pay attention, she did, but it's hard to when all she could think about is how Park Sooyoung's smile puts everyone else's' to shame.

--

"Yeah, so practice tomorrow at six, right?" Seulgi asked her teammate, Jennie, as she pulled her warmer over her head. Jennie nodded and slammed her locker shut before slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder.

"Yep, and its six o clock, not six fifteen," Jennie teased, gently pushing her teammate.

Seulgi and Jennie have been teammates for as long as they could remember. Ever since they were in junior high, they've been on the same soccer team together, and their chemistry was unmatched by others. They both got along very well, and although they weren't best friends, they always had each other's backs.

Seulgi laughed and pushed her back, standing up and grabbing her bag. "Hey, that was only like one time."

Jennie raised her eyebrows at the brunette and Seulgi gave her a sheepish grin. "Fine, maybe like four times.."

Jennie giggled and the two started walking towards the exit together.

"Honestly," Jennie started, breaking the silence. Seulgi turned her head towards her teammate, giving her her undivided attention. "I'm nervous for the season to start."

Seulgi furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Jennie bite her bottom lip in nervousness. She'd known Jennie for six years now, and during those many years, she'd never once seen Jennie show any sign of anxiousness. Whether it was on the first day of high school, or the last few minutes of a final game, her teammate always showed a brave face.

Jennie turned towards her and sighed. "It's just--, it's our senior year and it's gonna be probably our last season ever playing soccer."

"Since it's gonna be our last season, I want us to do really well so that we can leave high school without any regrets," Jennie finished, running her fingers through her messy hair.

She gently placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, she completely understood how she wa