A/N: Haven't edited, will probably come back to do it later; hopefully.

--

“Just go talk to her”

Joy quickly sits up and looks at Wendy, “I can’t. I don’t know what to say or how to start a conversation even.”

“Just be like, hey remember me? Park Sooyoung. I like you. Want to go out sometime?”

Joy slaps Wendy’s arm, “Does that work for you? Hi Seulgi, I’m Son Seungwan. I’m enamored and want your babies. You can’t just go up to a senior and ask them out like that. Besides, I’m just a freshman, I doubt she’d be interested.”

Wendy huffs, “First of all, you know that’s physically not possible, the whole baby thing. Second of all, I do want her babies, but that’s not the point here. You never know unless you ask.”

“If you’re such an expert, why aren’t you dating already?”

“Hey, at least I’ve spoken to my crush, unlike you who can’t even be in the same room as yours without hyperventilating. Also you should really stop staring at her like that, you’re going to go cross-eyed.”

Joy shakes her head, but knows Wendy is right. She’s had a crush on Irene since her first day of high school when she got lost in the hallways and was lucky enough to bump into the goddess who offered to her to class.

She groans and bangs her head on the table, “I’m going to die alone.”

Wendy laughs, “Yeah, and I’m tall. Cheer up. Have you heard about the archery contest next week? Winner gets unlimited fried chicken for a day.”

Joy’s ears immediately perk up as she sits up, “Chicken?”

Wendy smiles, “Yeah, I was considering entering. Seulgi said she was. Maybe you should too. Who knows, if you win, you could ask Irene to go with you as a date.”

Joy’s eyes immediately light up, “I’m in!”

--

“I .”

“You only missed it by a little.”

“Wendy, I didn’t just miss the bullseye, I missed the entire target.”

Wendy grimaces, “Yeah, but at least you hit something.”

“I don’t think Mr. Kim was particularly thrilled with me when my arrow went straight through his fedora.”

“Yeah, I think he might have crapped his pants.”

Joy runs her fingers through her hair, “What am I going to do? Contest is next week. No Irene, no chicken.”

She stomps her foot, “Freshman year .”

Wendy puts her hand on Joy’s shoulder, “Just keep practicing, you’ll get better eventually.”

“Easy to say for the girl who keeps scoring 8’s.”

“I’ve been doing this longer than you have, plus sometimes I get 0’s.”

“Yeah I saw that earlier, but I think it was because you were too busy staring at Seulgi unnie’s .”

Wendy flushes a bright red, “I wasn’t staring! She just so happened to turn and I was looking in the same direction.”

Joy snorts, “Yeah and when she walked to go get her arrows, your eyes weren’t trailing her either.”

Wendy turns to pick up her bookbag on the floor.

Joy looks at the petite girl, “Wait, where are you going. I was only kidding!”

Wendy tilts her head, “To study. We have an AP biology test in two days.”

“That’s what tomorrow’s for.”

“Not all of us are science geniuses Joy. I seriously don’t understand how you can study the day before and still do better than me.”

Joy shrugs her shoulders, “That’s why I’m in your class. The freshman biology class is a little slow for me.”

“Must be nice. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait, what about me?”

“You’ll be fine. Just keep practicing or whatever. I’ll help you after the exam.”

Joy sighs, “Fine. Good luck.”

A few minutes after Wendy leaves the room, Joy picks up another arrow and stares at the red circle in the center.

‘Alright concentrate. Imagine Yeri’s head.’

She lets go of the arrow and once again it hits the side of the board. She lets out a loud groan.

“Wow.”

Joy jumps and turns around to see Irene standing behind her. The wind is blowing her hair and she looks like she just stepped out of a soju commercial. Her lips curl into a small smile and Joy’s brain malfunctions and she forgets how to breathe.

“Any farther and you could’ve hit someone.”

Joy rubs the back of her head sheepishly, “Uh yeah, I already have.”

Irene’s eyes widen, “No way!”

“Yeah, I shot one earlier that went straight through Mr. Kim’s hat.”

“The teacher for calculus?”

Joy nods and watches in awe as Irene’s smile widens and soon she’s cackling. The small girl who always had a stoic look on her face was laughing like a banshee.

When she finally calmed down she looks at Joy and grins, “It was a ugly hat anyways”

Joy nods in agreement, thankful that the girl didn’t make fun of her for the poor aim.

“So are you practicing for the archery competition?”

“Yeah! Are you?”

Irene nods as she walks over to pick up a bow and arrow.

“I like shooting, it’s a pretty nice stress reliever.”

“Really?”

Joy can’t take her eyes off Irene as the girl straps on her belt of arrows and takes one to put in her bow. She steadies her arm, slowly pulls back and lets go.

Joy’s eyes follow the arrow as it hits the bullseye.

Her jaw instantly drops, “How did you do that?!”

Irene chuckles, “Want me to show you?”

Joy eagerly nods as Irene walks over and tells Joy to pick up and arrow. She tells her to pull back the bow and Joy is so focused on the arrow that she barely notices Irene’s hand around hers pointing the arrow down a little and whispering into her ear to look straight ahead.

She lets go and for the first time that day, the arrow hits the board.

“Oh my god a 3!!” Joy turns and beams at the older girl who returns the smile.

“I’ve never seen someone so happy at a 3”

“I haven’t scored at all today.”

“Then you should try again.”

Joy takes out another arrow and closes one eye. She’s about to take a shot when she feels Irene press up against her back and a hand gripping her arm.

“A little bit this way. If you let go now, the arrow is going to hit the side. You have to keep in mind the trajectory.”

Joy forgets how to speak and simply nods. She hopes the older girl can’t see how red she is right now.

Irene grabs onto her waist and turns her slightly, “Here. You have to also face the target....and shoot.”

Joy lets go of the arrow and it misses the bullseye by an inch.

“Holy crap! Did you see that?!”

She turns around to hug Irene and jumps up and down. It’s only when she sees the discomfort in Irene’s face that she stops jumping and steps back, “Sorry. Got a little excited there.”

Irene quickly shakes her head, “No, sorry. I, uh, was just taken aback. Do you want to practice some more?”

“Definitely.”

An hour later Joy’s arm is sore from all the shooting and she feels her phone vibgrate in her pocket. She takes it out to see a text from her mom asking where she is.

“Do you have to go?”

“Yeah, mom’s getting worried. Thank you for the archery lesson unnie. It helped a lot”

She bends down to pick up her school bag when she hears Irene call out, “No problem Sooyoung, though if I remember correctly, you prefer Joy.”

She halts and turns around, “You know my name?”

“Of course. We met on your first day here. You got lost”

Joy looks down at her shoes, “I didn’t think you’d remember...”

“I always remember cute girls.”

She snaps her head up and her jaw nearly drops, “Cute?”

Irene winks, “Very. You should get going, don’t want your parents worrying”

Joy stammers, “Y-yeah.” Before stumbling out of the room.

It’s only when she’s out of the school that she throws a fist into the air and runs home screaming, “She called me cute!”

—

It’s the day of the competition and Joy is shaking her leg anxiously, waiting for her turn when Irene plops down next to her.

The older girl smiles, “Hey”

“Hey”

Joy suddenly finds her fingers really interesting and thinks about what to say to Irene. The girl has her hair in a high pony tail and it showed off her delicate features.

“I haven’t seen you practicing the past few days.”

Joy turns to look at the older girl, “Oh yeah, I only practiced yesterday. We had a test to study for and Wendy unnie said she was too busy with school, but honestly I think she was preoccupied with someone else.”

Irene’s eyes follow hers as she looks straight ahead and sees Wendy sitting next to Seulgi. The two were up next and it was clear that they weren’t talking about the competition.

“Ahh young love.”

Joy chuckles, “Yeah. They’re cute together though.”

“I bet we’d be cuter”

Joy’s mouth drops open as she looks at Irene, but the girl is too busy looking at the scoreboard to notice the shock on her face.

“I think we’re up soon, do you want to move down?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, cool.”

Irene raises an eyebrow, but quickly smiles and turns to walk down the steps as Joy follows awkwardly behind her.

‘Stupid stupid stupid.’

—

“Next up we have Park Sooyoung”

“Hwaiting!”

Irene raises both her fists and cheers the younger girl on. Joy lets out a shaky breath to calm her nerves as she runs to the white line and picks up her equipment.

‘Come on Joy, don’t embarrass yourself in front of Irene.’

She inhales and takes her shot.

“7!”

Joy smiles and turns to see Irene staring right back at her.

She turns back to the target and pulls out another arrow.

“8!”

She takes a final breath and shoots her last arrow

“8!”

The crowd cheers as she walks back towards Irene.

The older girl is cheerfully clapping, “That was awesome. I knew you could do it!”

She’s about to thank the girl when she hears the announcer speak up.

“Next up, Bae Joohyun!”

Joy looks at Irene who blushes lightly, “Irene fits me more, right?”

She shakes her head and cheers the older girl on, “Good luck!”

Irene nods as she walks to the white line. She gracefully takes out an arrow and angles it before shooting. Her sweet demeanor is quickly replaced by a stern, determined one.

“10!”

Irene smiles a little before taking out another arrow and shoots again.

“10!”

Irene looks up and grins before turning to Joy who gives her a thumbs up.

Irene takes a breath and shoots her last arrow.

“Bullseye! Our first one of the day!”

Joy claps as she hears all the other students begin to complain behind her “How are we going to beat that??”

Irene gently puts down her bow and walks back to her seat.

“Unnie you were so cool!”

The girl giggles, “Thanks.”

“I bet you won that unlimited fried chicken!”

“Oh, I don’t care about the fried chicken.”

Joy scrunches her face and looks almost offended, “You don’t care about fried chicken?”

Irene simply nods, “Yeah, I’m just trying to win it for the girl I like.”

Joy’s heart skips a beat, “G-girl you like?”

Irene turns to look at her and smiles, “Yeah, she’s this freshman who’s a head taller than me and has the most beautiful eyes.”

Joy feels her cheeks heat up, “Really?”

Irene places her hand on Joy’s, “Really.”

Tears well up in Joy’s eyes and Irene’s smile quickly fades and it’s replaced with a concerned look. She puts a hand on Joy’s cheek, “What’s wrong?”

Joy feels quiver as she looks at Irene, “Nobody’s ever given me free chicken before.”

Irene laughs and wipes away the tears coming down, “Well then, even if I don’t win, I promise to buy you some.”

Joy mumbles okay before looking down to see Irene’s hand still on hers and she turns it around so that she can entwine their fingers together.

A smile creeps onto her face as she feels the girl’s thumb begin to run soothing circles into the back of her hand.

She looks up and turns to look at Irene who’s smiling at her and ten feet behind her is Wendy giving her a thumbs up with one hand while holding Seulgi’s with her other.