"I'm gay."

Those few words hung in the air, suspended for all to stare at. Some marveled, some looked on horrified, and others were just plain surprised.

Irene wasn't sure exactly how her face looked, her resting face a widely known phenomenon, but she was sure that inside her mind, a gay panic button had revealed itself and she, being the gay panic she is, smashed the gigantic rainbow button to her heart's content. 

Wee woo! Wee woo!

Sirens blared in the distance for only Irene. She knitted her brows and stared at her best friend. Seulgi.

Seulgi was gay? 

Irene wasn't surprised, per say, but she certainly hadn't expected the girl to announce it to the school. Well, announce it loud enough for anyone near to hear and no doubt spread like wildfire until even the principal's aunt's cousin's hoobae had found out about it. Irene continued rolling the scrap piece of paper in between her pointer finger and thumb.

"Are you going to say something?" Seulgi sounded shy. She looked at the ground and held her left bicep.

"Wow..." Wendy's mouth formed a big "O" and slowly formed more words. "Now you can join those two!"

"Yah, unnie!" Yeri smacked Wendy's arm.

"You can join us, all right," Joy said with a wink.

"You can shut up!" Yeri smacked Joy's arm.

Seulgi, playing with her fingers, began to warm up, seeing that her friends were reacting quite nicely. However, there was still one person left.

"Hyun-ah?" Seulgi said her name carefully, the fragile object rolling off her tongue and falling out of with a plop before shattering on the floor, bringing Irene back to reality. Irene blinked.

"What?"

"Are you going to say something?" Seulgi balled her shirt in one fist. No doubt there would be wrinkles later. Irene made a mental note to iron the shirt out for Seulgi later.

"Um..."

"Please say something."

Seulgi's pleading eyes dug into Irene's heart, squeezing hard. Wendy, Yeri, and Joy stood to the side bickering, leaving the two alone. Irene was at a loss for words. She didn't really know what to tell Seulgi. Hey, I'm happy for you? Good job? I'm so proud? Irene wasn't sure.

"Seulgi... I'm happy so proud of you."

.

Seulgi looked confused.

"I mean, I'm happy for you. And I'm proud. it must have taken a lot of courage for you to tell me, err, us." Irene cursed at her awkwardness. How could the school's sweetheart fall apart? Not even in front of a stranger, but just a friend.

"Ah... yeah." Seulgi relaxed. "I just felt like I couldn't hide it any longer, you know?"

"Yeah," Irene said automatically, before correcting herself, "I mean, no, I don't know, but I know."

Seulgi laughed good-naturedly. Irene couldn't help but smile back. "Okay, Hyun. I'm glad you aren't mad at me."

"Mad?"

"Wel