“Park Jihyo to the principal’s office, Park Jihyo to the principal’s office.”

 

Jihyo glanced up at the speaker in the library, unable to help the slight annoyance she felt at the piercing voice calling her name. She had a history test in less than an hour, and she’d hoped to spend every minute of her free period studying. Apparently fate had other plans for her, though.

 

Sighing, she gathered all of her papers and materials, packing them into her bag. As she left the library and headed down the hallway toward the principal’s office, she wondered what she had been called down for. As student council president, Jihyo meeting with the principal wasn’t unheard of, but usually their meetings were scheduled beforehand. She hoped that this had something to do with her student ID card that had gone missing a few days ago.

 

Once Jihyo stepped into the office, the secretary immediately pointed her down the hallway to Principal Park’s personal room. The door was shut, and Jihyo knocked against it twice, waiting to hear the principal’s voice telling her to come in before she stepped inside.

 

Jihyo was surprised when she saw another girl sitting in front of Mr. Park’s desk, her head bowed and her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. Even if she couldn’t see the other girl’s face clearly, Jihyo recognized her instantly— Hirai Momo, one of the captains of the school’s dance team. What is she doing here, and why does she look so… upset?

 

Mr. Park gestured for Jihyo to take a seat in the chair next to Momo. As soon as she sat down, the man began, “I’m very sorry to bother you, Jihyo, I’m aware you’re in the middle of a study period at the moment. I just wanted to inform you that we found your ID card that you reported missing a few days ago.”

 

Jihyo’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s great.” She glanced over at Momo sitting next to her. “Did you find it and return it? I really appreciate it.” Her warm smile slowly turned into a frown as the Japanese girl just shrunk further into the chair, avoiding eye contact.

 

Mr. Park’s deep sigh brought Jihyo’s attention back to him. “Unfortunately, Miss Hirai here did not simply find and return your ID. I’m afraid we had to confiscate it from her after she tried buying herself lunch with it and the cashier noticed the picture didn’t match. According to her, Miss Hirai said that you were her girlfriend and you gave her permission to use it. Is this true?”

 

Jihyo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She knew next to nothing about Momo other than the fact that she was an amazing dancer— Jihyo didn’t think they’d even had a single conversation, especially since Momo was a year above her. Why would she steal Jihyo’s card and lie like that, saying she was Jihyo’s girlfriend of all things? It made no sense.

 

“Uh, no, it’s not,” Jihyo eventually replied, finding her voice again. “I really don’t know why she would have said that?” She looked at the side of Momo’s face again, feeling a burst of annoyance because the girl didn’t even have the decency to look her in the eye. In fact, Jihyo couldn’t even read her expression because Momo’s face was completely turned away.

 

“That’s what I suspected,” Mr. Park said grimly. His hands folded on the desk in front of him, he addressed Momo. “Miss Hirai, I’m sure you’re aware that stealing someone else’s ID card like this is a dire offense.”

 

Jihyo was shocked to hear a sniffle. When she glanced over again, Momo’s face was finally revealed. Her eyes were damp with unshed tears and her lower lip was jutted out in a pout— in any other situation, Jihyo would have found it adorable.

 

“I know,” Momo choked out, and she turned her face to Jihyo. “I’m sorry, really, really sorry.” Even if the girl did steal her ID and everything, Jihyo couldn’t help but forgive her instantly. Momo’s wet eyes made her feel almost guilty, even if Jihyo knew that she did nothing wrong and this was entirely the dancer’s own fault. Get a hold of yourself, Park.

 

“That may be so, but the school takes these offenses very seriously.” Mr. Park paused for a few seconds to study Momo’s face. Jihyo didn’t like his serious expression and knew that what he would say next wouldn’t be good for Momo. “I’m afraid that I’ll have to remove you from the dance team as punishment.”

 

Jihyo heard a tiny, barely audible choked sob from the girl next to her and before Jihyo’s mind could catch up with , she was interjecting.

 

“Wait, Mr. Park, I really don’t think that’s necessary.” The principal’s expression was clearly confused, and Jihyo saw in the corner of her Momo staring at her as well. “I mean, she said she was sorry. That’s all I wanted to hear.” Jihyo shrugged her shoulders and glanced over at Momo whose damp eyes were swimming with uncertainty. Pointedly, Jihyo stated, “I think she’s learned her lesson. Right?”

 

Momo’s head bobbed and Jihyo gave her a small smile of encouragement. Mr. Park looked between them before eventually sighing. “Well, that might be good enough for you, Jihyo, but we still can’t completely dismiss bad behavior. Momo, you can stay on the dance team, but you’ll be required to attention after school detention for four weeks. I hope you realize how lightly I’m letting you off for this… Don’t make me regret it.” His eyebrows were furrowed sternly, and Jihyo was reminded that although Mr. Park was beloved at their school, he also could be pretty intimidating at times.

 

Momo nodded her head and mumbled, “I understand, sir. I promise this won’t happen again and I’ll stay out of trouble.”

 

Mr. Park nodded and gave a small, tight smile. “I hope so, Miss Hirai. Alright, now that we’ve settled this, you two are free to go.” He returned Jihyo’s ID card to her and gave Momo a slip of paper telling her where and when her detentions would be.

 

Both girls gathered their things, Momo clearly in a hurry to leave and get as far away from Jihyo as possible. But Jihyo was stubborn, and was determined to not let the dancer get away that easily.

 

“Hey, Momo! Wait up a minute!” she called after the girl, picking up her pace to catch up with her.

 

It was clear that Momo was uncomfortable, yet she still slowed down enough for Jihyo to walk next to her down the hallway. “I said I was sorry, okay?” she said quietly. “And I’m serious, it won’t happen again.”

 

“I know,” Jihyo replied honestly. Momo glanced over at her questioningly, and Jihyo was relieved that her eyes didn’t seem as watery anymore. “I just wanted to ask you why you took my ID card.”

 

Momo coughed awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders. “I guess… I guess I thought it’d be… uh… fun?” It was a poor answer, and completely unconvincing.

 

Jihyo’s eyebrows arched critically. “Really?” she deadpanned. “It seemed like fun to you, to steal my ID just to buy yourself some food and almost get yourself kicked off the dance team?”

 

“Yes?” Momo replied weakly. She was clearly aware that Jihyo had seen right through her sad attempt at an excuse.

 

Jihyo sighed and shook her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Momo, you were almost in tears in there when you were apologizing to me. You don’t seem like the kind of person to steal things for no reason.”

 

Momo winced and rubbed her forehead with a hand. “Well, technically I didn’t steal it, I found it on the ground outside the cafeteria…”

 

Jihyo rolled her eyes. “Alright, well, you still took and used something that wasn’t yours. And I forgive you, but the least you could do is tell me the truth about why you did it,” she pointed out.

 

Momo stopped suddenly in the hallway and gave a small, slightly whiny groan. “Okay, fine,” she eventually agreed, and her voice was self-conscious when she said, “But promise you won’t judge me.” Her curiosity even further piqued, Jihyo nodded and gestured for the other girl to continue. “Alright, well basically I ran out of money in my lunch account a few weeks ago. But my mom just lost her job and my parents have really been struggling to pay the bills lately, so I didn’t want to burden them even further by asking for lunch money. I know that stealing is wrong, and honestly it’s not even that big of a deal skipping lunch. But my friend were starting to notice my stomach growling constantly and that I wasn’t eating and I guess I was just too embarrassed to tell them, I don’t know. So then when I found your card just lying there, I just…” Momo shrugged helplessly. “I guess I just thought I’d borrow it for like a week so I could get my friends off my back and then return it without you ever knowing. It was dumb, I know.”

 

Momo looked terribly small in that moment, and Jihyo just wanted to reach out to give her a hug. The student council president’s eyes softened— seeing Momo look so sad and guilty made her heart ache for her. “I’m really sorry, Momo,” Jihyo said quietly, tentatively reaching out to place a hand on Momo’s shoulder. “I didn’t know you were going through that.”

 

Momo just offered a lopsided smile as if to say, Hey, what can you do. Before Jihyo could say anything else, the bell rang, and she remembered that history test she had to take. Jihyo’s head tilted back and she groaned slightly before returning Momo’s smile.

 

“Wish me luck on my history test. I’ll see you around?”

 

Momo blinked a few times in surprise before nodding her head. “Oh, yeah, sure. Good luck.” She gave a slightly awkward wave before whipping around and walking down the hallway.

 

Jihyo laughed a bit to herself. ID thief or not, the dancer was cute, that much she had to admit.

 

——

 

By the time lunchtime rolled around, Momo was ready for the day to be over already. That confrontation with Park Jihyo and the principal that morning that been humiliating enough, Momo didn’t want to have to walk in the cafeteria with her growling stomach and possibly have to see the girl again. But she knew that her friends would have heard her being called to the office, and they’d be extra worried if she didn’t show up for lunch.

 

Sure enough, as soon as she sat down at their usual lunch table her two best friends began interrogating her.

 

“Why’d you get sent to the office, Momoring?” Sana asked, her brow pinched in concern.

 

“It wasn’t anything about your grades, was it?” Mina added worriedly. “I told you that if you were having trouble in chemistry that you could always ask me for help. You don’t want to get kicked off the dance team for bad grades, that’d be silly.”

 

Momo couldn’t help but roll her eyes, smiling. Even though she was the oldest in their little trio, Sana and Mina always treated her like a younger sister and were constantly looking out for her. Momo wasn’t really complaining— she knew that they loved her to death, and they were the best friends Momo would ever hope to have.

 

“No, it wasn’t about my grades,” Momo eventually explained, suddenly becoming nervous about how she was going to explain the whole ordeal to them. “I may have… Well, I may or may not have done something pretty bad.”

 

Sana and Mina exchanged confused, troubled looks. “What do you mean, something bad?” Mina eventually prompted.

 

Sana leaned forward and said, her voice completely serious, “If you need help with a body, you know we’ve got your back.”

 

Momo couldn’t help but laugh, and Mina rolled her eyes, slapping Sana’s shoulder. “What?” Sana demanded, affronted, “We’d have her back, wouldn’t we?”

 

“Thanks, Sattang,” Momo said dryly, “But I didn’t kill someone.” She paused and decided to just spit it out. Her voice overly casual, she continued, “I just, uh, stole Park Jihyo’s ID card to buy myself lunch.”

 

There were a few seconds of shocked silence before Sana exclaimed incredulously, “You STOLE whose ID card?!”

 

“Keep your voice down!” Momo hissed, glancing around nervously. She prayed that Jihyo wasn’t at lunch yet, or at least was far, far away from their table.

 

“Wait a second,” Mina began slowly, reaching out a hand to calm Sana down next to her. “Why’d you need Jihyo’s ID card to buy lunch? Why don’t you just use yours?”

 

Momo gulped. Apparently it was naive of her to hope that her friends would skip over asking about that part. “Because I… ran out of money a few weeks ago, and… I know my parents can’t afford to put more money in my account?” She hid her face slightly, embarrassed. She knew that her friends wouldn’t judge her, but she didn’t want them to feel bad for her.

 

Sana gasped. “You mean all this time, these last couple of weeks when you said you just weren’t hungry or you left your lunch at home— really you were lying?!”

 

Momo felt the guilt wash over her all over again as Mina leaned forward to take her hand across the table. “Momoring,” she said gently, prompting Momo to look up at her. “You could have asked either one of us and we would have been glad to buy you something. You should have told us the truth at the very least.”

 

Feeling tears begin to gather in her eyes yet again, Momo nodded slightly. “I know,” she mumbled, “I just— I guess I didn’t want to bother or trouble you guys at all.”

 

Both Sana and Mina shook their heads, and Sana’s hand reached forward to rest on top of Mina and Momo’s.

 

“We’re your friends, you don’t have to lie to us or keep things from us in fear of bothering us,” Mina told her earnestly, Sana nodding in agreement.

 

Momo smiled. “Okay,” she agreed. Both Mina and Sana squeezed Momo’s hand, and there were a few seconds of peaceful silence before Sana interrupted it.

 

“Just to clarify, though,” she began, and her shrill voice was enough to warn Momo that oh no, here we go. “You didn’t want to bother us, your best friends since childhood, but you were perfectly okay with stealing Park Jihyo’s ID card?! Like, Miss I’m-the-beautiful-popular-and-perfect-student-council-president Park Jihyo?! And she just, forgave you, just like that?! Is she your new sugar mommy or something, because if so I totally appro—“

 

Momo shrieked and began violently kicking Sana under the table, ignoring Mina’s soft warning of, “Hey, guys?”

 

“SHE IS NOT MY SUGAR MOMMY, MINATOZAKI, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN—“

 

“Guys!” Mina interrupted, her voice much louder this time. When Momo and Sana stopped arguing to look at her, Mina pointed to something behind Momo’s shoulder.

 

Momo felt her heart drop in her chest when she saw Park Jihyo herself standing there in all her glory, obviously trying to hide a smile. “Oh, hi, Jihyo,” Momo said weakly, wanting nothing more in that moment than to simultaneously slam her head repeatedly against a wall and throttle Sana.

 

“Hey,” Jihyo greeted brightly, smiling down at Momo for a second before her gaze shifted to the other two girls at the table. “Mind if I borrow Momo here for a second?”

 

Sana’s grin was positively infuriating as she said sweetly, “Go right ahead.”

 

Momo reluctantly stood up from the table and followed Jihyo as she walked away, shooting one last glare back at her friends. Sana just winked smugly while Mina offered her an encouraging thumbs up.

 

Once they were a safe distance away from the table, Jihyo glanced over at Momo with a smirk. “So… sugar mommy, huh?”

 

Momo couldn’t help but pout, cursing Sana for even bringing up something so ridiculous. It was just her luck that Jihyo had to overhear that. “I swear that was all Sana and not me…” She facepalmed and groaned slightly, “She’s so embarrassing, please don’t listen to anything she says.”

 

Jihyo laughed but thankfully dropped the subject. Momo eventually realized Jihyo was leading them to the lunchline, and she couldn’t help but start to feel awkward again. “Well, I guess you know now that I can’t exactly afford to buy a school lunch, so…” She forced out a slightly self-deprecating laugh.

 

Jihyo shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Today, lunch is on me. Get whatever you want.”

 

Momo froze in place for a few beats, staring at the side of Jihyo’s face. “You don’t have to do that, you know,” she said defensively. “This is why I didn’t tell Mina or Sana about my… situation. I didn’t want them feeling bad for me and spending their parents’ hard earned money on someone who isn’t themselves.”

 

Jihyo just shook her head again and waved a hand dismissively. “My dad put way too much money in my account this year, ‘just in case’.” She made air quotes with her fingers as she studied the food behind the glass. “I have to spend all of it by the end of the year or else it’ll just go to waste, and there’s no way I’m going to eat that much food by myself.” She shrugged and tossed Momo a smile. “So really, allowing me to buy you a meal or two would be doing me a favor.”

 

Momo scoffed a little bit. This Park Jihyo was definitely good, and student council president for a reason, though Momo already knew that. “I still think it’s kind of weird that I stole your ID card, and yet you’re not even mad at me.”

 

“Well,” Jihyo drawled, “You said it was technically found, not stolen, right?” Momo both hated and loved the little smirk on the younger girl’s face.

 

Momo released a long sigh, feeling her defences begin to crumble. “Okay, fine,” she eventually agreed. “One meal. But that’s it!” She pointed her finger at Jihyo in what she hoped was a threatening manner, though it looked more cute than anything.

 

Jihyo nodded, a twinkle in her eye. “Right. One meal.”

 

——

 

As it turned out, one meal ended up being every lunch for the rest of that week, and the week after that.

 

Every day Momo would try to argue with Jihyo, and every day Jihyo had a new excuse. “I’m the student council president!” she had exclaimed one lunch, “What kind of president would I be if I didn’t fulfill my duty of making sure that every single student ate well and didn’t miss any meals?”

 

It was kind of annoying, but Momo had to admit that her persistence was pretty endearing as well. She enjoyed spending time with Jihyo anyway— the girl was loud and had a lot of interesting stories, and she always laughed at Momo’s dumb jokes. Jihyo’s own two best friends were interesting as well, even if they spent more time arguing with each other than talking to Momo. Momo chose to ignore the looks Mina and Sana gave her when she snuck away more and more often to spend time with the other girl.

 

They were in the middle of quietly sharing a cup of ice cream one lunch period when Jihyo said out of blue, “You know, I’ve been wondering…”

 

Momo swallowed her bite of ice cream and nodded for Jihyo to continue. The abruptness of her statement kind of worried Momo about what she was about to ask.

 

“So, when you got caught with my ID… Mr. Park mentioned that you called me your girlfriend? Why’d you call me that instead of just your friend or something?” Jihyo’s eyebrows were raised and she stared steadily at Momo, awaiting her answer.

 

Uh-oh. Busted. Momo coughed a little bit, fully aware that her face was turning bright red in embarrassment. That was another detail she had wished would never be questioned. She considered trying to lie or brush it off, but she remembered how well that method had worked a couple of weeks ago.

 

“It… slipped out,” Momo admittedly shyly. There were a few seconds of silence, but Jihyo didn’t say anything, forcing Momo to give further explanation. “I… may or may not have had a tiny crush on you since I heard you give your speech last year when you won student council president.”

 

Jihyo laughed, and Momo buried her face in her hands. “Huh,” Jihyo mused, “Stealing their ID card and buying yourself food with it… It’s certainly an interesting way to try and impress your crush, Hirai.” Momo whined in humiliation, and Jihyo continued before taking a bite of ice cream, “Though I guess I can’t really judge you, because it kind of worked.”

 

Momo’s fingers immediately spread and she peeked through to gape at the other girl.

 

Jihyo’s grin widened and she teased, “Why do you look so shocked? Is me being interested in you that surprising?”

 

Momo’s fingers dragged away from her face and she admitted, “I guess I’ve just been thinking this whole time that the only reason you’ve been so nice to me is because you feel bad for me.”

 

Jihyo’s face immediately crumpled in a frown and she shook her head rapidly. She sought out Momo’s hand with her own and intertwined their fingers. “Of course not, Momo,” she said softly. “I really, really like you. You don’t have to feel self-conscious or embarrassed around me, or around anyone, really. No one is judging you, for the money situation or anything else, okay?”

 

Momo took a deep breath and nodded. She knew she was letting her insecurities get the best of her, and she didn’t want to let that get in between whatever she had with Jihyo. “Okay,” she agreed.

 

Jihyo’s free hand reached out to cup Momo’s cheek and move her face so they were making eye contact. Momo couldn’t help but mirror the grin that was making its way across Jihyo’s face.

 

“You know, if it makes you feel any better…” Jihyo began, a mischievous look in her eyes, “You can be the one to pay for dinner on our first date.”

 

Momo released a surprised squeak and Jihyo tilted her head back with a full laugh at the cute sound. Even after they had finished their ice cream and left the cafeteria to head to class, their hands remained squeezed together tightly, swinging between them.