Seulgi’s grades in Biology had really improved since Irene begun helping her. Her overall grades too. Once or twice they’d meet after class to study and after a couple of weeks it had become a habit.

Irene’s car was parked in front of Lucky that December afternoon, she was waiting for Seulgi to finish her usual coffee meeting with her friends. While she waited, Irene and Jisoo had been quizzing each other in preparation for final exams. The first semester of senior year was about to come to an end, only two weeks left.

After the three friends left the coffee shop, Wendy and Moonbyul walked away, heading to their respective extracurricular activities. Seulgi lingered back for a while longer, a tall boy making her company. They were chatting animatedly, though they both looked slightly flustered. Eventually, the boy waved goodbye and got on his bike as Seulgi walked toward Irene’s car. The conversation and general mood surrounding them had piqued Irene’s interest to the point she had gotten a few of Jisoo’s questions wrong, very unlike her.

“Hi, there. Hello, Jisoo. How’s it going?” Seulgi greeted them as she sat in the back seat.

“Nothing much, we were just going over some World History material,” Jisoo replied, setting aside her flash cards.

“Was that one of your friends?” Irene asked, curiously.

“Yeah, he’s been trying to teach me dance during breaks at school. After the accident, he thought it’d be a good idea. Performing with your whole body instead of just with your hands or something like that, he said,” Seulgi replied as she fastened her seatbelt.

“Does he have a name?” Irene asked, starting the car and speeding away from Saint George’s Square. Jisoo was looking at Irene with a odd expression but remained quiet, listening to the other two girls in the car.

Seulgi was looking outside the window, hoping it would snow soon. The weather had surely gotten colder during the past weeks. “Sehun,” she replied. “He’s in my grade so we vaguely knew each other, but we got closer the day of the accident. He was the boy riding the bike,” Seulgi added.

“Oh, I didn’t know,” was all Irene muttered in reply.

They dropped Jisoo off at her house and continued their way to Irene’s house.

“So, what were you guys talking about?” Irene asked after a while.

“Who?” Seulgi asked in return, confused.

Irene was looking straight ahead, utterly focused on the road. “You and Sehun?”

“Oh, actually he was inviting me to the Winter Formal. It’s right after our last day of school,” Seulgi replied, grabbing her backpack. Jisoo and Irene lived nearby, so they were already at Irene’s house.

“And what did you reply?” Irene said, probing further, while she opened the car door.

“I just said I’d think about it. Winter Formals are not really my thing. I only went once during sophomore year, but I guess since it’s my last year at IBS I should probably go. Do you guys have something like that at Trinity?” Seulgi said.

“We call it Winter Ball, but it’s basically the same thing. I was actually thinking about throwing a party at my house afterwards,” Irene replied, making her way inside her house.

“Oh my god, I'm starving,” Seulgi said once she saw a tray of snacks on Irene's desk waiting for them.

“You’re coming to my party, right? Bring your friends, too. It’s not gonna be anything too big, no more than fifty people,” Irene commented, rummaging through her wardrobe for some clothes.

“I’ll think about it,” Seulgi merely said. Irene had said fifty people as if that was a small gathering, but to Seulgi that sounded like quite a big party.

— — —

Seulgi and Irene were watching an episode of Gossip Girl after wrapping up their study session early, Irene really liked the show.

“So, are you any good at dancing?” Irene asked suddenly, distracting Seulgi from the TV.

“I don’t know, I don’t think so,” Seulgi said nervously.

“Aren’t you gonna show me