Jiheon

“Huh?” Megan takes the lollipop out of “Is someone giving you a hard time!?”

Immediately the girls in earshot turn their heads.

“What? Is someone being mean to you at school?” Chaeyoung asks looking over with a serious expression.

“We’ll go there tomorrow. Tch, who does this girl think she is being mean to our youngest?” Jiwon says with a scoff and twirling the pop that is now back in .

“Ah..no no it’s not like that, it’s just a misunderstanding” I say trying to calm the situation down.

“Jiheon if somethings wrong you should tell us, so we can help” Jisun says in a calm tone looking up from her book.

“Everything’s fine,  it’s not a big deal, I promise!” I try and say with an enthusiastic tone, insisting it’s all okay.

“Are you sure? Haha why didn’t you say that earlier then geez, you were letting me get all worked up” Megan says with a laugh, making fake looking punching motions to signify what she was preparing for.

However Chaeyoung doesn’t seem so convinced, as she keeps looking over at me and then slowly turns back to the show she was watching.

I always tell them everything, so I ended up talking without thinking when Jiwon asked about school.

Even with the stress that comes along with it, I’m usually quite happy to go to school and not be an “idol” for a little while.  But recently I’ve been unable to hide the fact I’m a bit down and the girls seem to be picking up on it.

After reassuring them that I was alright, I headed up the room I shared with Saerom, Nakyung and Seoyeon before anyone else, which wasn’t abnormal for me.

Usually I like to be alone, or at least in a quiet space, it makes me feel the most comfortable for schoolwork or even just watching a show.

Being in my bed with my iPad after a long day felt much better than it probably should.

Before I do anything else though, I should make sure I didn’t forget any assignments. I always do them immediately, so I’ve never forgotten, but even still I always check to make sure, it’s become a habit of mine.

When I go to the school website I’m always reminded of how bizarre it is that I really attend there.

“SOPA” School of Performing Arts Seoul, It’s a famous school that lots of idols have attended over the years, and it’s still so weird to think I am one of them.

Unsurprisingly though, everything seems to be just as I expected, I have all the work done.  

Well...everything but one.

The header on the schools webpage reads “Student Council Elections begin September 29th, Applications due by September 14th”

I stare at it for far too long, in the dark room my face is only lit from the screen in front of me.

Sigh...  What should I do...

It’s been a goal of mine for so long, but everything seems to be pushing me away from it.

I also don’t want to be a burden to all the girls, we already have such a hard time trying to coordinate around my school schedule so adding on extracurricular stuff is probably too much to ask.

I close the iPad with a click and rest my head on the pillow beneath me.

I lay there staring at the ceiling for a while before letting out a long sigh and putting my hand over my eyes, “What’s the right thing to do..” I think to myself as I fall asleep.

School:

Walking up the hill, I get lost in the sea of uniforms approaching the front gate. It used to be overwhelming during the start of the semester, but I’ve gotten used to it over time.  It’s Monday, so first period should be math, and I am guessing Yujin won’t show up, as I didn’t see her outside.

Well it’s not so bad sitting alone, I mean I get extra space to put my books.

“Plus I get to sit next to the window” I think to myself opening the door to the classroom. But to my surprise, there she is, sitting with her head against the desk and snoring.

She got here before me?? Wow that’s pretty impressive! Good for you Yujin!

“Hey’ I say nudging her a little.

“Class will start in a few minutes, you should probably get up”

She just looks up at me and groans. But eventually she sits up and rubs her eyes.

“You got here pretty early, I was surprised” I say to her taking the books out of my bag.

“Yeah...Eunbi told me if I didn’t get my homework done she wouldn’t let me eat the leftovers anymore” She says with an exaggerated frown.

“Oh, so you got here early to work on it? That’s a good idea” I say, pleasantly surprised.

“Ah yeah well... sort of...I thought maybe you could um...help me” I hear her say and immediately glare at her.

“You mean, let you copy mine?” I ask raising an eyebrow.

She returns a quick nod paired with a shameless smile.

Sigh “That’s no good Yujin you need to be able to do it yourself or how else will you improve? I’ll help but I won’t just let you copy mine”

She proceeds to fake cry and kick her feet under the desk before relenting.

“Fineee....gosh I guess I have no choice, I can’t miss Eunbi’s cooking!!” She says with newly found energy.

She rummages through her stuff for a moment before spinning back over to me.

“Ah, well can I use your iPad then??” She asks turned towards my bag.

“NO!”, I hear all my braincells scream in unison.

“Uh...”

It’s not that I care if she uses it....it’s more that I am unsure if her definition of “use” is the same as everyone else’s.  

In the meantime though, she has started doing what I will refuse to call “aegyo”, while poking her fingers together and pouting her lips.

“Ah...I guess you can...so please stop doing that..” I say, trying to be gentle.

“Haha I knew you’d help me out! You’re the best Jiheonah!!” She says to me as she reaches into my bag.

She pulls it out and stares at the iPad with a blank expression just a few inches from her face  “I wish I could do math like you” She says addressing it earnestly.

. . .

“I should just focus on myself”  I think as I open up the textbook.

I hear her flip the case over and unlock it, until she pauses for a moment.

“Jiheon what is this..? Is today really the last day for the applications?” She questions me laying the IPad in front of me.

. . .

Wait what?

My head shoots up from the textbook and I quickly grab the iPad and exit out of the tab.

“Haha I don’t know I was just looking at my school assignments last night, that’s all” I quickly try to explain to her.

I can’t believe I forgot that was on there, man I’m so careless!

“Have you turned in your application yet?? You haven’t, have you..?”

She gives me a questioning look and continues.

“Well that’s no good, we have to go after class then, I’ll go with you while you do it, we don’t have much time” She says packing up her bag.

I take the rest of the class to come up with excuses for why we don’t need to go. All of which fall on deaf ears.

“No it’s completely fine, It’s not really for me, and I don’t think I can do it anyway. Plus, it’s not really convenient for everyone else, we’ll have a promotion coming up soon and I don’t want to bother them” I say trying my best to convince her.

 “Huh?” She says giving me a disgruntled look.

“Of course they will understand, they will be happy for you, so we got to hurry up and make sure we can find someone in the office. So let’s go!” She says grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me out the door.

When we reach the front office, in what felt like thirty seconds, I am completely out of breath while Yujin seems to be more energetic than ever.

“Ah I think we got here in record time!” She says laughing and then hits me on the back.

I grimace and without the energy to give a retort I just remain bent over trying to regain my breath.

But as soon as I stand up I hear “Oh crap” and am immediately pulled back down beside her underneath the office window.

Now crouching down she gives me a serious look.

“Mr. Joon is in there, he’s in his office!!” She says wide-eyed and stealing a glance back in through the window.

“Yeah? So what?” I say grabbing her arm this time and pulling her back down to eye level.

“What do you mean so what?!? I haven’t showed up to his class in like 2 months!! He’s going to kill me!” She says looking around and then takes one last peak in.

“Okay here, switch spots with me” She tells me pulling my body towards her as we waddle to the othe