Chapter 2

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I gotta go, I'm gonna be late,

Minjoo texted Yuri on Tuesday morning. She woke up fifteen minutes late and scrambled around her room, hastily trying to make herself look presentable.

Minjoo yanked a brush through her long hair and pulled it back into a sloppy top-knot bun. As for her outfit – standard, straight-legged jeans and a sweatshirt…Really Minjoo? She smeared some concealer on her face, but that was about as far as she got in the makeup department. Yuri was going to smack her into next week.

Minjoo nearly tumbled down the stairs and ran straight out the door without any goodbyes…or breakfast. The downside of living five minutes away from school was that her parents refused to drive. Thankfully she opted for her light blue Vans, so she began running despite her fifty pound bag.

By the time Minjoo got to school, she's sweating and struggling to catch her breath. The second she walked through the door, the bell rang, signalizing four minutes until class starts.

"," she muttered under her breath and sprinted to her locker. Minjoo was still a few halls away when she collided with someone. She went crashing to the floor, and almost all of her bag's contents spilled out.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She groaned, crawling on the ground like an idiot.

"I am so sorry," a deep voice said above her. Kim Minjoo froze. In her frustration, she forgot that she ran into someone else. The girl looked up and became petrified when she met a tall figure. Crap.

"Oh, no, I-uh," Minjoo began to stutter and searched for a coherent sentence, "No, it's, uh, not your fault." Shut up .

Then those soft, perfect pink lips curled up into a grin. "Let me help you," Yujin said, handing me a textbook. Minjoo snatched it and frantically shoved things into her bag.

"No, it's fine," Minjoo said, "You're going to be late." The long wavy haired girl tried to sound friendly, but her voice seemed more hostile than anything.

"What's one more demerit?" Ahn Yujin chuckled and winked, but Minjoo was too on-edge to laugh.

"Just go," Minjoo snapped, "Soyu will be even angrier with two tardies."

I. Am. A. Fool.

Yujin then put her hands up in surrender and backed away. "Fine. Have it your way." As soon as she turned her back to Minjoo, her cheeks became scarlet.

Minjoo snapped out of her daze and ran for her locker. One minute left. She twisted the lock and nearly ripped the door off. After she swapped a few books out, she slammed her locker shut and bolted down the hall.

Unfortunately, the sweat and breathlessness were all in vain. The bell rang a mere second before she ran through the door. Minjoo burst into the room like a mad woman – red faced, dripping with sweat, and breathing heavily like a beast. She was mortified. Of course no one withheld their stares, and Sakura only made it worse by laughing at her.

After a few seconds of utter paralysis, Minjoo took the walk of shame to her desk. Ahn Yujin – the least subtle person she know – smirked as she sat down next to Yujin.

"Tardy, Ms. Kim?" Soyu droned, "One demerit." Her first demerit ever…and it's for being late?! Minjoo live five minutes away from school, for goodness sake!

"Sorry," was all she managed to muster up. Luckily, Minjoo had the flush from running to mask the flush from embarrassment. The girl hung her head as she unpacked her books.

One second late. Ridiculous. Congrats, Mrs. Soyu, you just became her least favorite teacher of all time.

The devil began the lesson, thankfully pulling some attention away from Minjoo.

"Rough morning?" someone whispered to me. Minjoo glanced up. It’s Kim Chaewon.

The long wavy haired girl blinked nervously and cleared . "You have no idea," Minjoo mumbled back. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. Anyone else would have just shrugged it off, but Kim Minjoo was a bit of a perfectionist and an occasional control freak.

Kim Chaewon snorted, "One demerit's not the end of the world." Chaewon smiled at Minjoo. 'Kim Chaewon smiled at me. She was…comforting me.'

"Tha-" Minjoo began to reply, but something wet and sticky hit the back of her neck. Minjoo slowly reached back to wipe it off, but violently shook her hand when she realized what it was. A spit ball. She whipped around, immediately knowing the culprit.

"Rough morning?" Sakura mocked. Minjoo smacked her in the shoulder and rolled her eyes. "You know you love me." Was she seriously doing this right now? Minjoo could not afford another demerit.

"Jealous much?" Minjoo whispered to Sakura, hoping no one else could hear. She returned Minjoo's smack and snapped, "Just turn around," Minjoo grinned at her victory and turned back to her desk. Minjoo met Kim Chaewon's eyes for a moment before the red haired girl quickly looked away.

‘Was she jealous much? No, there was no way.’ There was no way the perfect, godlike, star, Kim Chaewon liked the average, brown-haired, nobody, Kim Minjoo. There was just no way.

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"Minjoo, what the hell are you wearing?" Yuri boomed when she arrived at lunch. Since Jo Yuri and Minjoo had no morning classes together, she had yet to see Minjoo’s disgraceful appearance.

"Come’on Yuri, it's been a bad day, and I'm really not in the mood," Minjoo snapped.

"Ha! I'll say," Sakura chimed in, "You should have seen her walk into English today. She was a mess – ow!" Minjoo elbowed Sakura in the gut before the short haired girl could recap this morning's occurrences. Sakura grumbled something inaudible, but Minjoo ignored her.

"Come," Yuri ordered, taking Minjoo’s hand and leading her out of the cafeteria. They came back ten minutes later, after giving Minjoo a makeover. Yuri swept some blush on her cheeks – not that Minjoo needed any more redness to her cheeks today – and applied some mascara and lip gloss. Yuri also surprisingly had an extra, cream-colored sweater with her that was definitely a step up from Minjoo’s sweatshirt.

"Who are you, and what have you done with the slob who was here earlier?" Sakura teased, jabbing Minjoo in the side.

The long wavy haired girl swear there was steam emanating from her nostrils. "Anyone else want to take a crack at me before I really get angry?" Minjoo was just about to sit down, when someone actually answered her.

"Sure, you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe." Minjoo turned a shade of red that she didn't think was humanly possible as she spun around on her heels.

Ahn Yujin. Of course. She had a way of finding Minjoo in the most humiliating situations.

Minjoo quickly kicked off the toilet paper that had indeed been trailing behind her. She coughed nervously and mumbled, "That was a rhetorical question." Really, that's all she could think to say? Minjoo did anything except make eye contact with Yujin.

Everyone at the table burst out laughing, Yujin included. The basketball star grinned widely and winked at Minjoo again. "I just wanted to tell you that I'll try to get your notebook back to you soon." Then Yujin sauntered away looking very pleased with herself.

"What did I miss?" Choi Yena asked, but all she got was more uproars of laughter.

Minjoo sank down in her chair and pulled her head into Yuri's sweater.

Worst. Day. Ever.

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Later that day, Kim Minjoo dragged herself down the hall to her least favorite class: Algebra II. When the school counselor asked her why chose not to take Honors Algebra II, Minjoo laughed in her face. Well, not really, but she wanted to. Ever since first grade, math has been Minjoo’s least favorite subject.

She took her seat in the very center of the room and began to prepare for class, still bitter from this morning.

"Hey, Minjoo," someone said from the seat next to her. Minjoo looked over, expecting to see Yabuki Nako, who usually sits next to her, but today it wasn't.

"Kim Chaewon? Since when are you in this class?" Perfect, another class that Minjoo can embarrass herself in front of Chaewon in.

"My schedule got switched around a little," Chaewon replied, "So, here I am." She grinned a little, and Minjoo noticed the tips of her ears were red. ‘Was Kim Chaewon blushing? I must have been imagining things.’

"You look different," Chaewon said, "From this morning, I mean." Minjoo eyes widened. Chaewon noticed that?

"Uh, yeah, Yuri always has an emergency makeup kit on her," Minjoo chuckled, "And apparently a sweater, too."

Kim Chaewon smiled. "You have a nice laugh." That was unexpected.

Making Minjoo blushed slightly. "Thanks. You have a nice smile." And there it was, along with some rosy cheeks. Minjoo laughed to herself.

Then a slightly confused Nako entered and took the seat behind Kim Chaewon. "Minjoo," Nako nodded to Minjoo.

"Hey, Nako," Minjoo replied cheerfully, even surprising herself. Nako and Chaewon had become pretty good friends this year, sharing a strong hatred for math. She was a nice person.

"Sorry, did I take your seat?" Chaewon asked Nako.

Nako shook her head. "Hey, it doesn't have my name on it. You're good." Nako grinned and winked at Minjoo. What is it with girls and winking? Minjoo glared at her, but she just smirked. Minjoo was honestly quite confused.

Just then, Yuri moseyed in with her arms wrapped around Yena's stomach. She was giggling obnoxiously and unnecessarily loud, clearly trying to make other girls jealous. But hey, it was working. But when she saw Kim Chaewon sitting next to Minjoo, she forgot that Yena existed.

Yuri walked up to the girl sitting on Minjoo’s other side. "Um, hi, I need to sit here." The girl gaped at her, but eventually got up when she realized that Yuri wasn't joking. Yena shook her head and sat down behind Yuri.

"Hey," Minjoo casually said to them. Yuri smacked Minjoo and nodded her head in Kim Chaewon's direction. With Minjoo’s back to Chaewon so she couldn't see her face, that long wavy haired girl grinned and mouthed I know!

"Girls," Yena scoffed, earning a slap from both Minjoo and Yuri. "Ow, I was kidding!" Yuri frowned and kissed her on the cheek. Not going to lie, Kim Minjoo was jealous. Yuri and Yena were perfect for each other, and they were always so happy together.

"Good afternoon, young grasshoppers," Mr. Seunggi boomed as he strode in, entering as the bell rang, as usual. Although Minjoo hated the subject, Mr. Seunggi was a pretty cool teacher. "I see we have a new addition to our class."

"Kim Chaewon, sir," Kim Chaewon announced politely.

"You were in Mrs. Bae Yoonjung's Algebra II before, right?" Seunggi asked.

"Yes."

"Well, lucky for you, we have covered the same material for the most part, but if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. Unfortunately, you came on a bad day. Is everyone ready for a pop quiz?" The room exploded with groans. "Too bad," Seunggi said as he began to pass out papers.

Minjoo glanced over the questions. Of course he would give us a pop quiz on last night's homework, which she didn't understand at all. Minjoo picked up her pencil and frantically began working at the problems.

Barely five minutes later, Kim Chaewon stood up and strode to Seunggi's desk. To everyone's surprise, she handed in the quiz. Minjoo was on number four, and Chaewon was already done. Luckily, she was the only one finished, so I'm sure everyone else in the class was just as confused as Minjoo was. Maybe Mrs. Bae Yoonjung went over the lesson in her class.

After fifteen minutes, Minjoo admitted defeat and turned in her quiz. she have a feeling she did not do well on that one. Minjoo trudged back to her seat and watched Jo Yuri rub her head in confusion as she stared at the quiz. After twenty-something minutes, everyone else finished, too. Minjoo looked around the room and saw many gloomy faces. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one who probably failed the quiz, and there were definitely people who did worse than her.

"Give me a couple more minutes, and I'll finish grading these," Mr. Seunggi said. Great. Minjoo would get her paper back with a bold, red D on the top, and Kim Chaewon would see it and think she’s an idiot.

That long wavy haired girl turned to Yuri, who was banging her head on her desk. "Well, I failed that one," Minjoo said. Yuri groaned loudly and slumped back in her chair.

"Yeah, well I failed the last one, too," Yuri snapped, "I'm going to get a C in this class."

"Come on, Yuri," Yena said, rubbing her girlfriend’s back, "Two bad quizzes won't hurt your grade that much."

"Let me guess, you thought it was easy," Yuri mumbled bitterly.

"Hell no, I failed it!" Yena said a little too loudly.

"Watch your language, Ms Choi," Mr. Seunggi chided without looking up. Yena smirked and ignored him.

"God, Choi Yena, come on," someone joked, jumping into their conversation. Kim Chaewon moved her chair closer to Minjoo’s and straddled it, her stomach leaning over the back of the chair. The temperature suddenly rose.

‘Or maybe it was just me.’

"Back off," Yena replied, jokingly punching Chaewon in the shoulder.

Yuri kicked Minjoo’s foot and raised her eyebrows, obviously noticing her close proximity to Kim Chaewon.

"Alright, children, back to your seats please," Seunggi announced after a few minutes as he got up from his desk. Kim Chaewon picked up her chair again and moved it back to her desk.

Seunggi began passing the quizzes back. Minjoo’s would be one of the lasts, since she was the fourth person to give up. He placed Yuri's face down on her desk. She hesitantly flipped it over, and then threw her hands up in the air when she saw the grade: a C. Normally, she wouldn't be too happy about a C. Minjoo gave her a questioning look.

"I was expecting so much worse," she giggled. Yena patted Yuri’s back as she shoved her quiz in her backpack. She didn't want to make her feel bad by seeing that she got a B. The perfect girlfriends.

Kim Minjoo finally got her quiz back, but she didn't look at it; was too scared.

"What'd you get?" Yuri hissed to her.

Minjoo shook her head, but Yuri snatched it off her desk before Minjoo could stop her. "You ." Yuri passed it back to Minjoo and pouted. C+. Minjoo rubbed her forehead. ‘Like I said, I'm a perfectionist.’

"Hey, that's not so bad," Kim Chaewon whispered to Minjoo. The long wavy haired girl quickly flipped her paper over so no one else could see. Crap, thanks a lot, Yuri. "Really, it's only four wrong." Minjoo smiled tightly, still not convinced.

"Kim Chaewon," Seunggi boomed, "How did you do it?" He handed Kim Chaewon her paper and beamed at her. Minjoo glanced over. 100%. 100%? Is that even possible? Minjoo glared at her, raging with jealousy. How?

"Did Mrs. Bae Yoonjung go over this lesson already?" Mr. Seunggi continued.

"Uh, no, but she gave us a homework assignment on it yesterday," Kim Chaewon replied. Minjoo’s jaw dropped. Chaewon learned this yesterday? Minjoo was truly baffled. Kim Chaewon knew just as much about this lesson as the rest of them, and yet she still got a perfect grade?

Kim Chaewon looked down humbly and put the quiz away. Mr. Seunggi looked as though he found his new favorite student.

As for Minjoo…she think she found her new tutor.

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To Be Continue

kimmyungsoojung © 2019