“I hate your happiness, I hope you know that.”

Jeongyeon unslung her arm from Nayeon’s shoulders, much to the older girl’s chagrin. Across the lunch table, Jeongyeon met Sana’s petulant frown with an unimpressed glare. 

“Trust me, the nonstop moping made it obvious.”

Sana huffed, stabbing into her lunch. “It’s just ridiculous. We were a team, Jeong! Nayeon’s flirting was never supposed to amount to anything, you were supposed to be stronger than that!”

Nayeon chuckled. “We all knew she’d succumb one day.” She reached up to pinch Jeongyeon’s cheek, earning a groan and a shove for her efforts. Sana frowned deeper.

“I don’t know why you think we can’t be a team anymore. Nothing has changed,” Jeongyeon said, earning yet another scoff from Sana. “What?”

“Of course things have changed. Two of my best friends since elementary school started dating each other and you’re all gross and sappy now.” Sana wrinkled her nose.

“I thought being gross and sappy was your thing,” Nayeon said.

Sana opted to ignore that. “We can’t exactly flirt with underclassmen together anymore if you and Nayeon are busy with your committed monogamy.”

“Of course we can!” Both girls glared at Jeongyeon. “Okay, maybe not. But you still have Momo.”

At her name, the girl looked up from her tray, where she had been working her way through enough food to feed a small army. “Whmm?”

“Momo is too invested in eating to fill both of your places in the group,” Sana said.

Swallowing thickly, Momo spoke. “She has a point.”

“It’s just not the same!” Sana groaned.

Nayeon stretched an arm across the table. “Oh, come on, Sana, cheer up! It’s the first day of a new school year, plenty of new girls for you to flirt with. You could find something like what Jeong and I have.” She smiled sweetly at her girlfriend, who responded in kind, though it was rather forced.

“Who says I want something like your relationship?” Sana said. “We flirt with people, it’s what we do! It’s how we became friends.”

“Ah, yes,” Nayeon reminisced. “It was third grade. You tried to kiss Jeongyeon on the playground and Momo and I teamed up to push you off the slide. What a beautiful start to a lifelong friendship.”

“I still have the scar from when we told Jeong how we had successfully defended her honor and she threw a truck at us,” Momo said, giggling. 

“See what I mean? We would never have made such beautiful memories if Nayeon and Jeongyeon decided that they ‘like each other’ or ‘could stand being in the same room’.” Sana said. “I feel like an era is coming to an end.”

“Sana, nothing is coming to an end. We’re all still friends. Momo still eats like a pig, I’m still awesome, Nayeon is still annoying.” Jeongyeon grinned, only slightly faltering when her girlfriend hit her shoulder. “It’s just the same old group.”

Sana looked between the three girls skeptically, pouting deeply as ever. She wasn’t reassured. It was the first day and this school year was already going downhill. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, her friends were in a happy relationship. This .

~~~

Dahyun stumbled through the halls, weaving her way between the students and tripping every other step. She stuttered apologies over her shoulder to the people she’d bumped into as she all but sprinted to her locker. It was the second day of class and she’d already overslept. Tightening her tie with one hand and clutching her backpack with the other, she arrived at her locker, only to be greeted by the disgruntled faces of her best friends. Their slight displeasure turned to slight fear as Dahyun skidded to a halt and desperately began to open her lock.

“Chaeng, Tzuyu, how are my bestest friends in the world doing this fine morning?” she said, wrenching her locker open and throwing books into her bag almost randomly. 

“Whoa, okay, slow down.” Chaeyoung reached out with the apprehension of a zookeeper approaching a rabid lion, stilling her friend’s rapid hands. “What’s happening?” Dahyun turned to her, almost in an almost fanatic daze.

“I overslept and I had to run here and I think I made some enemies in this hallway but I made it so now I have to get to class, if you don’t mind.” She returned to her frantic rummaging in her locker, only to find her way blocked once again by Tzuyu.

“You need to calm down.”

Dahyun huffed. “What I need is to get to first period, Tzuyu. First impressions are very important, what you do the first few days in high school set you up for the next four years.” 

Tzuyu rolled her eyes. “What impression do you think you just made bolting down the hall like you’re on fire?”

Dahyun opened to respond, but found herself floundering, running her hand through her hair. “I, uh well, now that you-”

“Hey, freshie, you okay?”

The three friends turned around to see a girl leaned against the row of lockers across the hall, eyebrows raised and slightly concerned. She had short blonde hair and her arm was wrapped around another girl with rather large front teeth. Dahyun stuttered, blood still racing from her sprint down the hall. Before she could answer, another girl joined the couple.

“Jeongyeon, Sana said she has a problem with something in the gym and she needs your help,” the girl said. 

The blonde girl, apparently Jeongyeon, groaned. “Ugh, fine.” She turned to Dahyun. “Try not to kill yourself before second period, alright?”

Dahyun nodded quickly. Jeongyeon and her girlfriend headed down the hall with their friend, although with none of the scrambling and weaving that Dahyun had employed to make it through the crowd. It was more like sauntering. In fact, the crowd seemed to part just for them. Dahyun was confused, but still running very high on adrenaline and desperate to get to her class.

“Okay, well it’s been lovely talking to you, and them, whoever they were, but I have to get to science now.” She shut her locker with a bang. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu both opened their mouths to speak but Dahyun was off before they could get a word out. “I’ll see you at lunch!” she shouted over her shoulder.

They turned to each other, twin looks of exasperation on their faces. Chaeyoung ran a hand through her hair.

“How long until she realizes her class is the other direction?”

“Excuse me, sorry!”

“High school is already so much fun.”

~~~

True to her word, Dahyun met Chaeyoung and Tzuyu at a table in the cafeteria a few hours later. She seemed to have calmed down since the episode that morning, but her hair was still a bit of a mess and her tie had never been totally straightened. She plopped her bag down on the bench across from them with a dramatic huff and sat down in the same manner. Chaeyoung just chuckled and slid her a tray of food.

“You’re an angel, Chaeng, I don’t tell you that enough,” Dahyun sighed as she dug in.

“How’d your first impression go this morning?” Chaeyoung asked, smiling at her friend’s antics. 

“Ugh, I don’t want to talk about it,” Dahyun said, shoveling rice into . 

“That bad?” Tzuyu asked. Dahyun groaned in response. “Come on, what happened?”

“Well, I made it to Science on time, but apparently I ran into my teacher earlier when I gave my track team try out in the hall. He didn’t appreciate having his coffee spilt on him first thingin the morning. I don’t think any amount of  punctuality is going to be enough to give me a good reputation with Mr. Lee.” Dahyun groaned as Chaeyoung burst out laughing. Tzuyu couldn’t even hold back her small smile. “Hey, stop laughing!”

“Stop doing stupid things for me to laugh at,” Chaeyoung said through her laughter.

“This is tragic, Chaeng,” Dahyun said. “It’s going to follow me for the rest of high school.”

Tzuyu offered a comforting pat. “You’re being overdramatic, Dahyun. It’s not going to follow you for the rest of high school.” Chaeyoung, finished with her hysterics, nodded in agreement.

“Aren’t you that freshman who was running through the hallway like a maniac this morning?”

Chaeyoung started laughing again.

Dahyun looked up to see two older girls standing next to their table. One had large eyes and was clutching a clipboard, the other stood poised like a queen to her side. Dahyun grimaced. 

“Yeah, that was me.”

The poised one cracked a smile and the one holding the clipboard seemed to be fighting back her own grin for the sake of professionalism. “Well, as student rep, it is my responsibility to tell you that running in the halls isn’t allowed,” she said. “But as someone who’s had the displeasure of taking Mr. Lee’s class, I have to thank you for spilling his coffee all over him.” She grinned brightly, and Dahyun felt slightly more at ease.

“My name is Jihyo,” said the one holding the clipboard. “And this is Mina.” She gestured to the girl next to her. 

“I’m Dahyun, and this is Chaeyoung and Tzuyu,” Dahyun said.

“All freshmen?” Jihyo asked.

“Unfortunately,” said Chaeyoung. Jihyo laughed goodnaturedly.

“Yeah, it’s an awful year.” She looked around the cafeteria. “We could give you some tips if you want. Technically we’re supposed to be fundraising right now, but it wasn’t going anywhere.”

Chaeyoung snickered. “Oh, please give Dahyun here some tips. She’s one more hallway dash away from the hospital.” Dahyun scowled at her friend, but nevertheless moved her stuff over so Jihyo and Mina could sit down.

“Alright so, this is JYP High.” Jihyo took on the air of a business professional giving a final markup for the quarter. “It’s not that hard to succeed in this school, but you should follow some basic guidelines. Principal Park seems easy going but you should really try to keep off of his bad side. Don’t use the bathroom in the north hall, it’s basically just used for smoking weed. Don’t smoke weed. If Lee Sunmi asks you for something, just do it, don’t ask questions.” Dahyun nodded, wondering if she should start taking notes. It seemed like a lot, but her fears were also slightly abated. It felt handleable.

“Lastly, if any of them starts flirting with you, run far, far away.” Jihyo nodded behind Chaeyoung and Tzuyu to a table at the back of the room, next to the window.

“What?” They whipped around and their eye’s fell on four girls, who, strangely, they recognized.

“Wait, we saw them earlier,” Chaeyoung said. “At Dahyun’s locker this morning.”

“Yes, you’ll see them everywhere,” Mina said. “They’re the closest thing this school has to royalty.

Tzuyu seemed skeptical. “Royalty? Bit cliche isn’t it?”

“Cliche, but true,” Jihyo said, maintaining her seriousness. “Everyone in this school is in love with at least one of them.”

Dahyun started to share Tzuyu’s skepticism. “Well, I’m sure they’re popular but this seems a little extreme.”

“Just let me explain a bit more,” Jihyo said. “The one with brown hair and bunny teeth is Im Nayeon. Her parents own Im Corp., she’s absolutely loaded. Lives in some giant house downtown, throws ‘the biggest party of the year’ almost every weekend. She doesn’t know half of the attendees but they definitely know her. She’s the queen bee, with a little less evil scheming and little more airheadedness.”

As they watched the group, Nayeon leaned into the girl seated next to her, earning what looked like protest from the other friends and the girl herself. Dahyun recognized the girl from earlier, Jeong... something.

Jihyo answered Dahyun’s question before she voiced it. “Short, blonde hair is Yoo Jeongyeon. Notorious girl crush, captain of the basketball team. She’s the top of the junior class. Apparently she and Nayeon started dating over the summer. I have no idea how it happened, they always seem to be fighting.”

Jeongyeon shoved Nayeon away and went back to eating her lunch. Nayeon looked offended and said something they couldn’t make out. Another girl, who Dahyun recognized as the friend who had appeared at the lockers earlier, burst out laughing.

“The girl with bangs is Hirai Momo. She’s on the dance team with Mina here.” Jihyo gave the girl an accusing look.

Mina bit her lip. “Momo is… well, she’s a good dancer, I’ll give her that. As big of a flirt as the rest of them, really sweet but a bit slow. Honestly, she might have been perfectly nice if the rest of them hadn’t gotten to her so young.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes. “Mina has a soft spot for Momo.”

“I do not.”

“Please, Myoui, save it for someone who believes you.”

“It’s not like that-”

Tzuyu cut in. “Who’s that last one?”

They turned to look once again, and saw the last girl putting up her best attempt at pouting as her friends tried to make her laugh. Jeongyeon reached a hand out to her face and she brushed it off, a smile cracking through her frown.

Mina and Jihyo shared a look, serving only to increase the younger three’s curiosity.

Jihyo took a deep breath. “That’s Minatozaki Sana. Arguably the most dangerous of them all.” Dahyun was going to cut in, saying that seemed a little harsh, but Jihyo went on. “She will flirt with anything that moves. Really bubbly, giggly, but that’s only the facade that covers the beast within. Broke Eunha’s heart last year. And Joy’s. And Jennie’s. And-”

“I think they get it, Jihyo,” Mina cut in.

“I’m just trying to give them the most accurate information.” 

Mina shrugged. “It’s dramatic, but it’s true. You shouldn’t get involved with them if you can help it.”

Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu nodded slowly, still a bit disbelieving. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch and Jihyo and Mina stood.

“I hope we were helpful,” Jihyo said with a genuine smile. She really did seem to have the girls’ best interests in mind. “If you ever need anything else, assistannce in figuring out the school and whatnot, you can ask Mina or I.” Mina nodded in agreement. “Good luck with freshman year.”

They waved goodbye and followed the stream of people out of the cafeteria. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu started clearing the trash from the table, but Dahyun was stuck in her own thoughts. She thought about the group of girls and everything Jihyo said about them. She was inclined to believe Mina and Jihyo, but the girls didn’t seem that bad. They seemed kind of… nice. 

Dahyun stood and followed her friends out of the cafeteria. She split with them at an intersection and headed down the hall she thought (sincerely hoped) lead to her Algebra class. Her mind continued to churn. She thought back to that morning, when her heart was racing and she was freaking out, and Jeongyeon offered some help. Or just to that talk in the cafeteria. Jihyo and Mina had made them all out to seem so nefarious or dangerous, but the four girls were just laughing and joking over lunch, so much like Dahyun and her own friends. It didn’t feel like she needed to be afraid of them. But still, there must be some reason for the warning? 

Deep in thought, she was walking almost blindly and Dahyun didn’t notice the person in front of her, or the wet floor sign, or her foot slipping. Until she heard a crash, and found herself on the floor with a growing pain on the back of her head and warm body on top of her.

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry,” she stuttered. The person she’d run into groaned and propped themselves up on their elbows, hovering over Dahyun. 

Dahyun’s heart almost stopped when her eyes refocused and she made out the face currently inches from her own.

“No need to apologize,” Minatozaki Sana said, smiling like a serpent.