“Mina-ya! Minariiiing.”

Mina snapped out of her trance and turned her head to see Sana’s face inches away from hers. She pulled back in surprise and almost fell from her seat. “Yah, why are you invading my personal space!”

Sana huffed, “It’s ‘cause you weren’t listening. I want to talk about our plans for prom. Should we get a limo or just stick to your car?”

“Why would you take my car? I’m not even going.”

“Huh?! Why?”

The younger one sighed and rested her cheek on her palm as her arm leaned on the table. “What’s the point? I’ll be the only one without a date.” Momo and Chaeyoung had made their way to their lunch table and sat down on their designated seats just as Mina was letting out a depressing sigh. “You have Dahyun, and Momo’s got Chaeyoung. Who am I supposed to dance with during the slow songs or offer to get cheap punch to? And don’t say we can go as friends because I know damn well you two are going to leave me by myself.”

Momo already had half open to say just that, but then she closed it again when her friend beat her to it. The oldest of the group glanced at Jeongyeon from the other side of the cafeteria. “Don’t even think about it,” Mina told her, already reading her friend’s mind. “There’s no way I’m asking Jeongyeon to prom.”

As Mina shut her idea out before she could even utter them, Momo’s eyes turned to the girl across Jeongyeon.

“I’m not asking the student council president either.”

“What’s wrong with Jihyo?”

“I’m not her type.”

Chaeyoung spoke, “Aren’t you like everyone’s type?”

“Why? Am I yours?”

The youngest one choked on her food, coughing it up and then forcing it down . She chugged a glass of water to avoid answering. Mina gave a light laugh at her reaction. “You’re not funny,” she stuck out her tongue at her and continued to eat, slowly this time in case Mina says something that could cause her to panic once again.

“I’m just saying give her a chance,” Momo brought up the topic again. “I heard no one’s asked her yet so she’s free. And besides, Jihyo is the only one available right now that can have a conversation with you without running away in tears.”

Mina turned to her, her eyebrows raised, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She means you make people cry,” Sana commented with a mouthful of food.

“I do not!”

“Unintentionally maybe. But you definitely don’t leave people b with happiness.”

“You guys are so mean to me lately. And to somebody that doesn’t have a date too. Whatever,” the youngest Japanese gave a slight pout before stuffing her face with her lunch.

It was just then that Dahyun approached their table. None of them even saw her coming. She merely sat down next to Sana and smiled at them. Everyone aside from Sana stared at her, specifically at her natural colored hair that was purple just before the weekend.

Dahyun was about to dig in when she noticed the pairs of eyes on her. She looked up at them, “Sana said I was invited… right? I can sit here, right?”

“Y-yeah. It’s not that...” Mina uttered.

“You’re hair...” Chaeyoung chimed in.

“Ah, the-” Dahyun was about to reply when Sana interrupted and answered them for her.

“The dye came off,” Sana said.

“Wow,” Mina leaned back in her seat. “You went on a date and now you’re finishing each other’s sentences. Wow. When will my prom date come?”

“Jihyo won’t go to you. You have to go to her,” Momo said. “Oh, look, she’s getting up. She’s coming this way. Why is she coming this way?”

Everyone’s eyes turned up to the girl who was making her way around the tables. They would think that she was making her rounds and talking to people but no, she was definitely making her way to their table. In just a matter of seconds, the student council president was standing before them, the rest of them looking up at her wondering what the hell she was doing there.

“I heard you don’t have a prom date yet,” Jihyo spoke to Mina and was looking only at her. Everyone else held their breaths. Throughout their years of being in the same school together, Jihyo had always been this figure that was far from where they were. She was always at the top of all the events, working on them behind the scenes, gaining the teachers’ respect, everyone relied on her on all the school events. It was amazing how she could have such high grades considering how busy she seemed. But not once, in all the years they’d been to school together, did they ever cross paths. And since none of them actually had her in the same class, her personality was a mystery to them all.

The five of them looked up at her, barely making any noise, waiting for her to actually ask Mina to the prom. But their expectations were shattered when the girl said, “Do you want to help the prom committee instead?”

All held breaths came out at once, and Sana could almost be seen rolling her eyes. Mina tilted her head in confusion. “What makes you think I want to join the prom committee?”

“Maybe not, but you don’t have anybody to go with and we seriously need all the help we can get. I know you’re good at organizing things and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss such a grand night simply because you don’t have anybody to go with.”

“No, thank you.” Mina crossed her legs and kept her eyes on her tray of food, not giving Jihyo another look. She had made her decision clear and from her stance, it didn’t look like she could be persuaded any longer. Jihyo looked down on them, thought of something to say for a moment, and as if going against the idea, she turned around and went back to her table.

Jihyo flopped down on her seat with a sigh. “I tried,” she told Tzuyu, a long time friend of hers as well as the vice president of the student council.

“Unnie,” the girl next to her said. “You asked the wrong girl.”

“Eh?” Jihyo tilted her head in confusion. “It was Mina, wasn’t it?”

Tzuyu groaned. “I was talking about Momo.”

“Momo?” Jihyo turned to her, as if shocked. Then her eyes narrowed as she recalled their conversation. “But Mina didn’t deny she didn’t have a date to prom…”

“Wouldn’t she go with her girlfriend?”

Nayeon joined in on their conversation and uttered, “I heard they broke up.”

Jeongyeon, who had been quiet this whole time and was merely letting her friends do whatever they wanted, quickly snapped her head up. “Really?! Since when? Why?”

The oldest shrugged. Jihyo turned to Tzuyu again and smiled, “Well, Mina said no anyways so it’s all good.”

“It’s not all good. We’re still short on people. Our secretary and two members just had to get a flu before the big event and now we’re behind on all the planning. Prom is less than 2 weeks away and we haven’t even put up a banner about the theme.” Tzuyu sighed as she thought of all the things they would have to do. She turned to her other friends and batted her eyelashes in an attempt to start a futile persuasion. “Would you guys do us a favor and help us out?”

The short-haired blonde shook her head, saying she still had her softball practices to attend to. Nayeon refused with the excuse that she wouldn’t be of use either way, seeing as how bad she was with doing work she didn’t like. The youngest of the four scratched her head, then she finished her meal and spoke to Jihyo with a nonchalant tone, “Enjoy your lunch now while you can, since until prom, we’re going to have to spend our lunches in the student council room.”

With a mouthful of food, Jihyo looked at her with pleading eyes, “Are you serious?”

Tzuyu turned to her with a smile, a smile that indicated she was not joking. The president looked over at her plate, as if cherising its existence with all her heart. Even though Tzuyu was the vice president, she acted more responsible than Jihyo herself. She always planned things accordingly and made sure everything was spot on. Jihyo was glad her friend was there by her side. Although Tzuyu can be shy to new people most of the time, she boomed with confidence behind the scenes. Jihyo couldn’t have found a better partner, her childhood friend that she cherished more than anything else, though she could be quite scary sometimes.

The lunch bell rang, signalling its end, and all the students started moving around to get out of the cafeteria and into their next classes. Mina, Momo, and Chaeyoung were headed in the same direction so they walked together. As they did so, Mina sort of trailed behind them as the other two talked about their attires for the big event.

“What color dresses do you have?” Momo asked the younger one.

Chaeyoung gave it a thought. She didn’t want to blurt out that she didn’t own any. She was going to have to rent a dress for the occasion. “I don’t remember. I rarely wear dresses,” she answered. “What color is yours? I’ll match it.”

“Hmm. I have a few light-colored ones that I’ve been meaning to wear. If you don’t mind...”

“Not at all! I’ll see what I have and let you know.”

Mina and Chaeyoung had art next, so Momo parted ways with them. The students took their unfinished canvases to finish for the assignment and the teacher merely sat on her desk, doing paperwork. Chaeyoung leaned close to Mina and said, “I need your help.”

“Let me guess. You need a dress.”

“H-how did you know?”

The Japanese chuckled, “I saw your closet. Didn’t look like there were any dresses hidden underneath all your sweatshirts. Why did you even tell her you have any? You could’ve just been honest.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want her to overthink anything or feel bad for asking me even when I have nothing to wear. She looked so excited, I didn’t want to destroy that.” Chaeyoung started continuing on the work that she started last class. “That being said, I don’t know much about fashion or what looks good with what. So-”

“I don’t have a dress that would fit you,” Mina interrupted.

Chaeyoung shot her a look that caused Mina to shut . “Let me finish,” she said with gritted teeth. “I’m just going to rent one. But I need your help in picking it out for me. I would ask Sungyeon-unnie to do it, but then she’ll go crazy and start doing a makeover. All this stuff isn’t really Dahyun’s thing so I doubt she would be of much help. And Jeongyeon-unnie is always busy so I can’t bring myself to ask her. I mean I could ask my mom, but with all the work she does, I want her to rest during her freetime.”

The older one gave a light chuckle as she watched her ramble. “You don’t have to give me a bunch of excuses, you know. You don’t need to persuade me. I’ll go with you.”

“Really?” Chaeyoung then narrowed her eyes at her, “What’s the catch?”

“Ya, do you think I’m that mean? Why does there have to be a catch?”

“No, I mean, but why would you go out of your way?”

“Fine,” Mina sighed. “Hmm, how about you help me study for the next exam?”

“You have good grades though...”

“T-that doesn’t mean I don’t need to study.” The Japanese gave a light huff and started doing her work as well. She caught Chaeyoung smiling silently at the corner of her eyes and she couldn’t help but smile as well. She got a bit too distracted that she accidentally painted on the wrong color. The tree in her painting was now red instead of its natural green color. She paused and stared at her mistake.

Chaeyoung glanced at the other’s work and then at her. “Are you dumb? Why is your tree red? Aigoo,” she gave her a sad but sarcastic look. “Is it that time of the month?”

Mina pulled her painting away from Chaeyoung’s view, keeping it close to herself. “I-I did that on purpose! I like red, okay.” The younger one laughed and went back to her work.

Talking to her like that, acting as if they had known each other all their lives, it brought Mina slight happiness. Of course, she wanted to be the one she spoke with about matching prom dresses. She wanted to be the one who would take her on that first dance. She wanted to pick her up and drive her to the venue, and possibly offer to get cheap punch for her. But being able to be like that with her, even only for a while, it was enough.

The thought came to her that she wouldn’t be there to lead her during the dance. She won’t be there to ask her if she’s having fun. Or if her shoes were becoming too much of a bother. And that she had accepted. At the very least, Mina wanted to at least see her in the dress that she would be helping her pick out. And so after school, the Japanese knocked on the student council room door.

“I’ll join the committee,” she told JIhyo.

~

Students bustled out of their classrooms the moment school ended. Some rushed to their lockers, others to their sports activities, most of them zoomed past the gate. Dahyun walked out of the room and was immediately greeted by Sana. The Japanese had cheerleading practice, but they took their time walking towards the gym.

“How come you haven’t ask me what kind of dress I’d be wearing for prom?” Dahyun asked her.

“Hm? We’re going to prom together?” Sana asked in a somewhat teasing way.

The younger one girl narrowed her eyes at her. “What do you mean? I thought it was a given we’d be going together, since you’re trying to date me...”

“I don’t remember you asking me, Ms. Kim.”

“So you want me to ask you?”

“Who knows,” the Japanese replied. She kept her hands behind her as she walked. They took the longer way to the gym and started making rounds of the entire school. She was going to get chewed out for being late, but it was always worth it.

Dahyun chuckled, and then she sighed. “Sana, would you go to prom with me?”

Sana turned her head at her, “Yah, what kind of proposal is that? Don’t you have the least bit romantic bone in your body? Forget it, I’m not going.” She gave a light pout and started walking faster towards the gym, leaving Dahyun watching her back disappear into the door.

“Why is she so confusing...” the younger one muttered.

Sana did indeed get a scolding for being late. As the cheer captain, promptness was highly expected of her. After all, practice couldn’t get started without her. She had the choice of being on top of the pyramid, but Sana chose to be a support at the bottom, and the pyramid just wouldn’t go well without their main support.

As punishment, Sana was told to run around the bleachers 3 times. But what was supposed to be a harsh punishment, Sana did it with ease. She finished just before they could go over their routine.

“Do you have your outfit for prom?” one of the girls asked her.

“Of course. But my clueless date hasn’t even asked me properly yet.”

“You seem angry.”

Sana huffed and wiped