Seulgi scuffed her shoe against the concrete and leaned against the fence by the tennis courts. She sighed and pressed her forehead to her palms. Why the did she do that? The look on Wendy's face...

Seulgi didn't want to think about it. Actually, it was Wendy's fault. Right? Seulgi was just minding her own business. Wendy was being all stuck-up and nosy. Seulgi had her own problems, not that Wendy had seemed to care. Irene this, Irene that. It made Seulgi want to puke.

Seulgi knew she hadn't been seeing much of Irene lately. Whose fault was it, really? Seulgi let the sunlight soak into her skin as she thought. It's not that she'd been avoiding Irene, per say, but things were complicated. Seulgi was a busy woman. She had dance practice to attend, basketball season to prepare for, and a girlfriend to take care of. This was all on top of academics and schoolwork.

And the emotional stuff. Ugh. Why were emotions so complicated?

Every day, emotions made Seulgi tired, stressed, happy, and then stressed again. It was just so exhausting.

YooA had made for a nice distraction. She was like a ray of light in the darkness of Seulgi's life. Behind the facade of carefree popularity lurked Seulgi's inner self, the one she hid. For good reason. It was too much for Seulgi, so why would it be any less for someone else? YooA was so kind, and nice, and smart, and pretty, and talented. Seulgi could on and on. YooA certainly knew what to do with her hands, too. Seulgi had gotten her fair share over the days. Even though the relationship had begun slowly, an official status had sent them spiraling out of control and jumping from zero to one hundred real quick on the dating meter. Seulgi guessed they just kind of clicked, so the two had taken that step in their relationship. Multiple times.

Seulgi hadn't been bluffing to Wendy.

Thinking of Wendy again brought Seulgi back to Irene, dear Irene. Seulgi hadn't hung out with her in a long time. But whenever Seulgi was free, Irene was off with Bo Gum or doing student council stuff or whatever. Irene was busy too, and even though she wouldn't admit it, she was her own form of popular.

Irene had her fanboys and commanded an air of respect as Class President. She was intelligent off the charts and could be incredibly scary. One serious look from her rendered a room silent, especially after a signature shush. Just one shush was enough to turn the volume from 100 to -10. That's how quiet it would get.

People admired her from afar. Seulgi could tell. Maybe you had to be on the outside to notice, but it used to be that Seulgi would trail by Irene in the shadow of her delicate beauty. Boys would nod shyly at Irene in greeting, eyes wide when Irene would wave back in response. It was as if Irene was blessing them with one small interaction and for many, it was enough. Irene had held some sort of mystique that drew people to her like a moth to flame. Everybody wanted to know who she was. Who she was. Not the friend that was always with her.

That was before Seulgi glowed up, turning from a small, slightly chubby freshman into a rock hard abs-olute hottie with a body. Once the baby fat dropped, Seulgi's face matured, though still very round. Her gaze, instead of shy, turned intense, the slant of her monolid eyes nearly smoldering people's clothes. That's how people began to view her. Seulgi was a new hot thing, a commodity of sorts. Everybody wanted a piece. The girls who began to look Seulgi's way were straight out of Seulgi's fantasies. She never could've imagined that her, Kang Seulgi, could ever be popular.

Popular. It was still weird to think about.

There'd always been a lopsided ratio of girls to boys who'd become enamored with Seulgi. In that way, at least. Not that Seulgi minded. Her closeted self had screamed on the inside but stayed hidden until now.

She still couldn't believe she was out. With a girlfriend. Girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend,

Seulgi loved the way the title sounded. She loved to say it, to let YooA know she was hers. To actually have a girlfriend was so unworldly. The fact that not only did girls actually find her attractive but wanted to date her still astonished her from time to time. She relished in the attention. She was only human, after all. But the popularity didn't help the fact that the relationship between her and her friends, even if they hadn't said anything, had definitely soured. Seulgi was unsatisfied, and she found comfort in her girlfriend. Girlfriend. Seulgi really loved that.

Seulgi couldn't blame them, but her friends were always busy. Seulgi was busy, and her friends were busy. In her free time, she gravitated towards YooA the most, but wasn't that only natural? They were dating, after all. Plus, Irene had Bo Gum, and clingy Wendy otherwise. Joy was all over Sungjae, and Yeri was off probably causing some sort of trouble. Seulgi liked spending time with her friends, but her instinct now just made her think of YooA. Plus, as her girlfriend, YooA was obliged to deal with Seulgi, and it was a given that she'd want to spend time with Seulgi.

Seulgi hated being clingy, and the whole arrangement really worked out. Seulgi didn't feel needy or weird, she just felt right. YooA felt right.

When it came to her friends, they'd always been busy. Wannie flirted her way through middle school and hadn't stopped once she reached high school. Besides that. she was a goofball who constantly hung around anyone who was free. Joy had always enjoyed flirting as well, her conquests more serious. Unlike Wendy, Joy had actually decided to date a few lucky people over the years. Wendy had been dashing from girl to girl before Seulgi even really understood what a crush was like, leaving each before anything turned serious. Wendy had never really cared about serious relationships a