[MINJU’S POV]

As I walked to the next room, I still can’t help but feel a pair of eyes looking at me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m used to people looking at me and tell me how beautiful I am. It’s a given, being the school’s actress and at the same time, a beauty queen. All eyes on me, the crowd coming over to me for pictures like how I’m such a celebrity, that’s always been it. But the pair of eyes I’ve been feeling is somewhat different. It's indescribable. It’s not the feeling of a stare from just a fan to their idol. Not just the stare of adoration. I quickly turned my head to try and catch a glimpse of this admirer of mine but sadly, I didn’t see them. I heave a sigh and continued on walking.

I entered the classroom for our next subject, Natural Sciences. If I’m going to be honest, I love Natural Sciences, especially when we’re talking about animals. I’ve had this fascination with animals and their behavior. I remember one story about my childhood, that one story when Chaeyeon auntie told me that I once copied a llama eating. Weird, but it’s cute. I mean, I am cute, right? As I got in the room, again all eyes were on me as I got in.

“Minju! Minju! Can I have a selfie please?”

“Minju can we take a picture together?”

“Can you sign my notebook for me?”

I smiled at them and did poses for their pictures. I signed their notebooks too. I guess popularity comes with a price. To be honest, I just wanted to finish schooling to get out of this responsibility. I’m the school’s top bet in beauty contests, although I’ve been bagging contests here and there, I just grew tired of it. Is that really what I want? I remembered Mr. Park’s assignment to us. An essay on who we are and our legacy. I thought hard. Who do I want to be? I’m pretty sure I have my legacy already, but am I happy with it?

A few moments later, our professor, Ms. Shin, came in. She’s followed by a few boys carrying a large box. It’s probably another model of something we’ll discuss. I like how Ms. Shin always has models every lesson so we can fully imagine and observe her discussion. I took my seat beside my seatmate, and lab partner, Kim Chaewon. She looks stressed, or sad… no, she’s just asleep. Cute, I said lowly with a small smile on my face. I tapped her shoulder, and then subtly poked her cheek for her to wake up. How was she able to fall asleep while sitting? A talent by smart people, I guess? She sat there looking like she’s in deep thought, but in reality, she was just sleeping. Some may not know, but I’ve always been fascinated by her. How she says that she’s Ms. Nobody of the campus but she’s the university’s resident genius. She’s already won many awards in different state competitions. Not only that, but she’s also a known volunteer in the school, helping out people she meets.

“Chaewon-ah” I called out to her, just loud enough for her to hear.

“Hngg…” She whined a little. She’s like a little baby. “O-Oh.. Minju.. I–“

“Come on, sleepy head, Ms. Shin is here. You don’t want to be called out for sleeping on her class now, would you?” I said with a little bit of a teasing tone. I saw her scrunch her nose and then replied with a low voice, trying to keep herself hush.

“Yah! I.. I don’t.”

“Class, to have a grasp of our lesson, I would like you to answer this anagram” Ms. Shin said as she posted two papers on the board. She revealed the first word to us, this was fairly easy. The first word is RED SPI. I quickly raised my hand, much to the delight of Ms. Shin.

“Yes, Minju-ah?”

“Spider, ma’am”

“Correct, Ms. Minju. Please take your seat” I was about to show off to Chaewon  but when I looked at her, she was sleeping again in her seat. She’s sleeping while sitting, I almost thought she was thinking for the answer, although she would have known by then since she’s a genius. I looked at the board again and this time, it was a rebus. I examined the question well. From what I understood, it seems to be the letters T and A plus a man running plus a woman dancing, or is that a ballerina minus T and U plus a musical note. I racked my brain for an answer but to no avail. My hope right now is this woman beside me, who seems to be asleep. I lightly poked her cheek once more, cooing to wake her up.

“Chaewon-ah~ Chaewonnie sweetie. Time to wakey wakey or Ms. Shin is gonna catch you”

THE WOMAN YOU ARE TODAY KIM MINJU. TO HAVE CALLED CHAEWON SWEETIE. AMAZING.

As I was busy panicking, I didn’t notice her wake up. She did this cute little whine that brought me back to my senses and then rubbed her eyes, focusing on board. It only took her like five seconds and then she suddenly raised her hand. Ah, the genius that she is.

“Yes, Ms. Chaewon?”

“The answer is Tarantula, ma’am” she said with confidence. She never doubted the answer. I wish everyone had the confidence like her. Everyone marveled at her answer, well it was expected of her anyways. She has that effect on people, even on me. How she delivers herself when she answers questions. How she has confidence every time she delivers a public speech. I wonder how no one could like her. I know one person, though. The name rhymes with Jim Linju.

“Correct, Ms. Chaewon. The answer is Tarantula. Alright, let’s proceed to our lesson. For today, we’ll be talking about spiders. For starters, spiders are animals with eight legs, as you already know. But, spiders are not insects. They are in another class called Arachnids.” Everyone was focused on the lesson, as I was too. Spiders always creeped me out. Everyone was occupied in the lesson, looking at the presentation Ms. Shin has prepared. I was busy taking notes when Chaewon suddenly poked my arm.

“Hey, did you know?" She said, pointing at one of the images. "Those crab spiders can change their colors to blend in with nature and then attack their prey? Well, it depends on the background if it is yellow or white.” She whispered to me, not to be loud and disrupt Ms. Shin’s presentation. “You might want to know”

“Actually,” I said, closing my notebook then laying my head on our shared table, copying her. She had this little blush on her face that I can say is very cute. “What else do you know?”

It all started with that. Right there, chief. It started with that smile. She smiled at me. I saw the glitter in her eyes when I asked her for more information. Honestly, I could listen to her all throughout Ms. Shin’s presentation. She’s seriously cute.

“Did you know that spider silk is actually five times stronger than a strand of steel with the same thickness?” She said with much enthusiasm. “And it is made of liquid. It hardens fast upon contact with air. Also, did you know that all spiders spin silk but not all spiders spin webs? It’s amazing actually. There are spiders that do not use their web to catch prey. Aside from Tarantulas, there is a kind of spider called the Wolf Spider. Aside from being hairy, they also have claws, which make sense of their name. Hair like fur, claws, fast, dangerous. They literally catch and hunt their prey, and they have large eyes that allow them to see in the dark. It’s really a different way from using webs and silk.”

“You sure know a lot about spiders, Chaewon”

“You may not know it, but I might be a spider myself”

“And I’m the insect who’s willing to get caught in your web”

“What?”

“What?”