Irene felt unsettled when she stepped back into the school halls. Now that her college applications were in, she thought she could focus on enjoying the rest of the semester. All she really needed to do was pass, though she of course would continue trying her best, and her free time could be spent on cheerleading, homework, and Seulgi daydreams. When she returned to school, however, she found that the only thing she could focus on was the insessant whispers that followed her to class.

"Did you hear..."

"Oh, my god..."

What the hell were they talking about? Irene was baffled. She could hear everyone tittering about but had no idea what they were actually talking about. She sort of wanted in on the whole thing, until someone came up to her.

"The whole school is talking about you." 

What. The. .

"Sorry, girl. I swear I didn't tell anyone," Yongsun looked apologetic, and spoke again at the lack of audible response, but Irene was busy burying her face in her arms. This could not be happening. No way. No.

"What are they saying?" Irene's voice was muffled through her sleeve. "Is it bad?" Is it about Seulgi?

"Oh, it's nothing that bad. Word of your breakup has gotten around, naturally, since Bo Gum is one eligible bachelor, but that also means rumors. And there are plenty of rumors swirling about you."

Interally, Irene breathed a sigh of relief. She forgot Yongsun didn't know who she liked. "Great. That makes me feel a lot better." 

"It's nothing too bad! Just the usual of 'she must've cheated', 'what's wrong with her', 'maybe she likes women', and—"

"What? Oh, for 's sake." Irene raised her head to look incredulously at Yongsun, who raised her eyebrows.

"You probably have one or two sympathetic supporters out there wondering what Bo Gum did wrong, as well, but damn, Irene. I don't think I've ever heard you swear like that."

"And I'm going to start swearing like that a whole lot more. . Is everyone is hung up on this?" 

"Maybe not everyone, buuuut almost everyone. The underclassmen love a good gossip about the upperclassmen, and everyone loves a good gossip involving the football players. That's what happens when you date somebody that a lot of people have an eye on. They're all relieved he's free, you know, but at the same time, the pick-mes can't fathom the idea that anybody would willingly break up with Bo Gum because it's Bo Gum, which means there has to be something wrong with, well, you. They're probably the ones running their mouths. The pick-mes. I mean, who else has the time for this B.S?"

Maybe she likes women, Irene repeated in her mind what Yongsun said. Were people on to her? She guessed they weren't technically wrong on that one, but she still had loved Bo Gum, truly, and she didn't like that anyone might invalidate that. Even more, Irene didn't want Bo Gum to think that their relationship meant nothing to her. She had already hurt him once, and while it needed to happen, she didn't want to hurt him any more.

"Yongsun."

"It's got to be that one freshman. What was her name?"

"Yongsun."

"Annie... Amie... Arin... Did it start with an 'A'?"

"Yongsun!"

"Oh, yeah, Irene? What?"

Irene gestured wildly for Yongsun to lean closer. Now Irene was slightly paranoid that people were not only talking about her but listening and watching her as well.

"I need to tell you a secret."

"Oh, my god. Are you going to tell me about that secret crush of yours?" Yongsun asked, eyes wide.

"Shh! Who knows who's listening?" Irene half-screeched, half-whispered. "But yes."

"Eeee!" Yongsun couldn't help an excited squeal. "Spill."

Irene took a deep breath. She might as well tell Yongsun, anyway.  "It's Seulgi."

"Did I just hear that right?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Someone's sassy this morning."

"Maybe because the whole school is talking about her!"

Yongsun chuckled and patted Irene on the shoulder. "Relax. It'll die down. This, however—" Yongsun waved her hands around, looking for the words. "This is crazy. Not crazy. Actually, yes. Crazy. You like a woman!"

"You're more surprised I like women than me liking Seulgi?"

"I'm sure half the school has a crush on Seulgi. Have you seen her? People have eyes, Irene. Unfortunately for you, yours took a while to work. If you had ever revealed to me that you liked women in the past, I definitely would've pegged Seulgi as your type. You patter after her like a lost dog all the time. And you mope."

"Please! Am I really that bad?" Irene's voice went up an octave.

Who else could tell? Was the only reason people didn't think she liked Seulgi was because they still thought she was straight? Was that really the only thing standing between her and her feelings being revealed?

"Yes, but it's okay! I'm here for you, and you may have forgotten, but I happen to be very close with somebody who knows a lot about Seulgi's love life. Don't tell Moonbyul I told you this, but things are not looking up for YooA."

Irene couldn't help but perk up at that. Seulgi had already told her some of her doubts, but what had she told Moonbyul?

"I'm only telling you because I trust that you won't let this get traced back to me, and because sorting things out between you and Seulgi would make your friendship less rocky. So, really, I'm doing this for you two, but Moonbyul said Seulgi is really thinking about breaking up with YooA. Like, really thinking about it,"

"What does that—"

"Alright, everyone! Back to your seats! Class is starting now." The teacher clapped her hands together as the bell rang, sending Yongsun back to her desk before Irene could finish.

Irene sighed and pulled out her books. She was clicking her pencil when she felt a sudden tap on her shoulder from behind, and a note plopped onto her desk.

I'll tell you at practice. Fighting!

When Irene looked around, Yongsun was already looking and gave her a wink before turning back to face the front.

Irene had to wait several more hours to find out? Ugh.

It had already been several hours. Irene waited not-so-patiently, tapping her foot and willing the bell to ring faster. She was sitting in afternoon class, ignoring the whispers from behind her while crafting a plan to corner Yongsun, who had suddenly developed enviable skills of tactical evasion during their lunch break. She had dodged Irene not once or twice, but thrice! Irene would hold back on giving Yongsun a piece of her mind, but she knew the girl was having a nice little giggle to herself about giving Irene a hard time.

Once the bell finally rang, she zipped out of her seat, nearly crashing into a pair of boys who always came in late but were first to leave. After careening down the busy hall, she burst into the locker room with the full intent of gripping Yongsun by turtleneck of her uniform and shaking the answers out of her. It drove her nuts. She had to know the details.

"Yongsun! Yongsun, I swear—"

"Hi, Irene."

"Seulgi!"

"Well, that is my name." Seulgi smiled a lopsided smile that actually made Irene feel butterflies.

"Oh, and you're in your uniform."

"We have a game today." Seulgi looked down and fixed her jersey so that it poofed out of her shorts just right. She then looked back up at Irene, head tilted to the side.

"Right." ! I knew that. I definitely knew that.

"I'd ask you to come, but if I remember correctly, you're cheering for the boys today," Seulgi said with a hint of disappointment.

"You remember correctly." Irene didn't know how she managed it, but she felt herself ask next, "How about I come to your next one?"

"I'll hold you to that, then."

"Seulgi! We got to help JV!" Wendy popped her head in from the other side of the locker room that led directly into the gym. She waggled her eyebrows upon making eye contact with Irene. "You can talk to our friend later!"

Irene closed her eyes for a brief moment. Thank you for that heavy emphasis, Wendy. Once Seulgi turned over her shoulder to reply, Irene began staring daggers at Wendy, but Yongsun popped in her periphery from within row of lockers instead. 

"Irene! Come here!"

"I'll see you later, Seul." As Irene went to dip past her crush, she decided it was a good opportunity to make an excuse for contact. She placed a hand on Seulgi's shoulder as she walked by, sending along a small smile as she did so, and immediately turned into the row of lockers Yongsun was hiding in. 

Yongsun slung an arm around Irene to pull her in close for a gossip circle. "Hehe. Have fun over there?"

"Were you listening in?"

"Don't sound so scandalized! It's not like you were saying anything juicy. Although, I did hear you get an invite to watch her play." Yongsun pretended to faint.

Irene gave her friend a flick on the forehead and opened her locker to drop off her bag. "Then you heard me accept."

"And I need to tell you something important. You were curious about what I learned from Moonbyul, weren't you?" Yongsun raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you?"

"Yes, yes," Irene said, hushing her friend. She looked back to see some of the other cheerleaders walk past, already in uniform.

"Relax, Seulgi already left. She did glance in this direction on her way out though. She certainly likes to keep her eye on you. What if she'd looked when you were changing..."

"Don't say things like that." Irene could feel the oncoming blush as she pulled her uniform out. "God, she doesn't even have to be here to make me a mess..."

"Wow, you're down bad. Like, really down bad. Insanely down bad. I don't know whether to say this is embarrassing or cute to watch."

"Thanks for your endless support. Now tell me what you learned!"

"So impatient. But you are very welcome. Anyway, Seulgi's going to break up with YooA. Probably."

"Oh, come on! I already knew that! Jesus, I spent the whole day jittering like a caffeine addict and that was it?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes! We had this... moment over break. She told me she was worried about their relationship, and it seemed like she wanted to end things."

"I meant about the jittering, but . You tell me all about that moment later. I don't have much for you then. The 'probably' is a heavy one, though, so I think that breakup is going to come sooner than you think. You already knew it might happen, but did you know Seulgi is going to give it just two more weeks? Apparently, if she's still unsure by then, she's calling it quits. And if she makes a decision before then, well, I guess you'll find out, but it really did sound like Seulgi's sure and that the two weeks are more like... a buffer. Scared to hurt YooA's feelings, I guess."

"Two weeks can't come soon enough... But that's out of my hands. Ugh. I want them to break up, which is so selfish, but at the same time, I don't want YooA to be hurt. And, also at the same time, I don't want this to blow up in my face! Selfish again! I bet YooA hates my guts, and if she finds out anything about me and Seulgi she's going to come for my throat. If not her, then her friends. I've already been a problem in their relationship. Can you imagine what will happen if YooA finds out she was right to worry about me the whole time?" Irene tried to blink away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Yongsun looked sympathetic and pulled Irene in for a hug. "Hey... I know it's really stressful, but on the bright side, they'll both be free to find true happiness." She sighed and looked at Irene's quivering lip. "I don't really know if this is going to make you feel better or worse, but I'm sure they had some good moments together. That means the relationship wasn't a waste, and they both had something to gain from it. So even if they break up, hopefully that means YooA can walk away from it feeling like she didn't waste her time. Yeah, she'll be sad. That's a given. Even if Seulgi is the one to initiate the breakup, she will probably be sad, too. It's hard to make changes in your life sometimes, even if they're necessary, and if they can't give each other what they need, then breaking up sooner than later is what is best for both of them. They can move on with their lives, have a fond memory or two, and find the next best thing in life. You are Seulgi's best friend, and you do spend a suspicious amount of time with her sometimes, and everybody with eyes can see that Seulgi cares about you a lot. We both know that YooA's noticed, too. Yes, best friends can be close like that, but you can't blame a girl for being on her toes. Plus, you do have an actual crush, so maybe bonus points to YooA for potentially sniffing that out before the rest o