It was seemingly another regular day with the gang all gathered in class for first period - Homeroom. They were all more excited than usual that day, having visited Wendy’s family bakery recently, and it was apparent that they were eager to get back to their Home Ec classroom and put whatever they had learned to use.

Taeyeon lumbered into the class a little while after the bell had gone off, carrying her usual books and pencil case. She set the things down with a sigh and Irene raised a brow. It was an unusual sight since their homeroom teacher was generally an easygoing person. To have her sigh that early in the morning was probably not a good sign. Did somebody mess up their Maths homework really bad? Perhaps so.

The entire class fell silent and Taeyeon looked up from her things. “Oh? You guys are being very well-behaved today. I should sigh more often when I walk in.” Her mischievous dimple appeared as she grinned. “Right, let’s get started with attendance. Who’s not in today please raise your hand...” she trailed off as she scanned her class. She was about to confirm the absentees when her phone buzzed.

Sighing once more, she excused herself to answer the call.

Once she was outside, the class became alive once more with students trying to guess what was up with their teacher that morning.

“Is she okay? She seemed troubled.” Yeri looked at their classroom’s door worriedly.

“It’s like she has some stuff on her mind or something...”

“Probably? Have you ever seen her like that? She usually comes through the door all ‘RISE AND SHINE KIDS IT’S A NEW DAY FOR LEARNING!’” Joy reenacted how Taeyeon would sometimes greet them on difficult mornings where nobody seemed to want to be in school at all.

Any further questions halted when their teacher came back into the room in quite a rush. “Guys, I’m very sorry but I need to handle some matters. Irene, if I’m not back by the time the bell goes off, can you send my things to the teacher’s lounge?”

“No problem.”

“Thanks. All of you, behave,” she warned before making a hasty exit from the class.

It didn’t take long before the class erupted into a huge discussion about their teacher’s strange behaviour.

“Something is definitely up with her today.”

“She was fine yesterday though.”

“Whatever it was must have happened overnight.”

“I hope everything is okay… it’s weird to see Ms. Kim like that.”

“Right? It’s throwing me off…”

Quite a bit of time passed, and the bell eventually rang without Taeyeon’s return. Irene went up to the teacher’s desk and collected her things, quickly making her way to the lounge as bidden, before making a beeline to the next class while her friends went on ahead of her.

The day continued in a mild state of confusion for those who had Ms. Kim as a homeroom teacher, but it wasn’t until Home Economics that most of her students met up again. Seulgi, Joy and Yeri were about to recommence their earlier conversation, but stopped short when they reached the classroom because something, or rather someone who did not look like they belonged in that class was standing up near the chalkboard. The three of them stood at the threshold and stared at the person - a woman bent over looking for something in the cabinets behind the desk. It definitely wasn’t Ms. Yoona.

For one thing, they realised when the woman stood upright after fishing out a tray from under the desk, that whoever it was was far, far, far, far too short to be their teacher. Her hair colour was off too, unless Ms. Yoona suddenly dyed her hair blonde overnight.

Before they could strike up the courage to say anything, Amber, Krystal and the rest of the class had gathered behind them. It wasn’t long before they also noticed the new person standing at where Ms. Yoona usually stood.

“Who dat?” Amber tiptoed to get a better look.

“Who dat?” Luna tiptoed as well, but to no avail - everybody else was blocking her view.

“Who dat?” Irene joined in, huffing slightly as she had hustled to get there in time after taking a detour to put Taeyeon’s things away.

“... Ew,” Krystal suddenly said rather loudly, and whoever it was standing at the front of the class turned around and everybody froze.

“Yah! Jung Soojung, I heard that!” An icy glare was sent their way and all of them inhaled sharply, save the girl in question who simply rolled her eyes and sauntered into class, not giving whoever it was the time of day.

“Relax, guys. That’s just my sister.”

Seulgi nodded at the piece of information as she meekly followed inside and settled down in her seat. The others also entered, now that the way was cleared, but it was obvious there was still a healthy amount of confusion between them all.

Seulgi was carefully taking out her notebook when she suddenly connected the dots. “Krystal…” she whispered, leaning over to the other team’s table, “was that her camera from the other day???”

Krystal nodded and Joy nudged Seulgi. “Don’t you know what this means?”

“No?”

“That means she’s also Ms. Kim’s girlfriend.”

“HER WHAT??”

“Settle down, please. I have an announcement to make,” Krystal’s sister interrupted.

They quieted immediately - not a single soul dared moved a muscle, except Krystal who was the most relaxed person in the room, snickering at her tense friends.

“Hello, my name is Jessica and I will be taking over this class for the time being,” Jessica began but was interrupted almost immediately by questions. “Yoona has unfortunately...”

“She died??” Yeri blurted.

“What-? No.”

“She got fired?”

“She quit?”

“Her sleeve got caught in the mixer and tore off her arm?”

“Yeri… what the f-”

“Okay, you know what? I need all of you to chill and let me finish talking. Can we agree on that?” Jessica looked around and saw that everybody was nodding. Satisfied, she continued. “Yoona, our Home Economics extraordinaire, had an accident while playing badminton yesterday and broke her arm.” Jessica quickly raised her hand to quiet the class when she saw that they were about to start asking questions again. “She’s fine and resting at home now. She said that you can visit her after school if you wish.”

Jessica was about to continue when the classroom’s door burst open, revealing a panting Taeyeon. “Sica… I… got you… some new chalk… man, I’m out of shape...”

Realising all eyes were on her, Taeyeon straightened herself and stood upright. Clearing , she marched into class and placed the chalks at the blackboard near Jessica. “Keep calm and you’ll be alright.” She said in a low voice.

“What? You think I can’t handle these kids?” Jessica asked incredulously while managing to keep ver voice low.

“We both know I was not talking about the kids, Sica ya.”

Jessica waved Taeyeon off with a huff and the latter quickly excused herself so that class could begin.

The day’s lesson started off well, Jessica went over the lesson plan and notes that Yoona had prepared the night before and was able to pass as a fairly competent Home Economics teacher. The entire class breathed a sigh of relief when their substitute teacher sounded clear and confident as she started telling them the dish they would be making that day - including a little overview of the science and history behind the dish, something Yoona had sometimes incorporated into their classes - before turning around to write the recipe and instructions on the board.

Their confidence in their substitute teacher began to wane, however, when they heard more than a few utterances of “Two grams? That doesn’t seem right…” and “Let’s make it 500 milliliters just in case. I hate it when it’s too thick,” as she continued to transcribe the recipe.

Seulgi glanced around to see her friends paying attention as usual, save Krystal who was snickering at how her sister was being forced into subbing for their class because there was nobody else available.

Things started to pick up when Jessica asked how were their teams usually split and Wendy being Wendy, listed the teams for their substitute teacher. Seulgi’s eyes widened when Jessica announced that they would switch things up and draw lots for their new teams just for that day.

Please please PLEASE let me be in the same team with Irene. I’ll do the dishes after dinner for a week! A MONTH! Please please please...

***

“Oh, come on.”

“Cheer up, Seulgi. Our team is not that bad.” Yeri patted Seulgi’s back as the latter pouted, eyes trained across the room where Irene, Wendy and Joy were. Seulgi sighed and turned to her teammates, Yeri and Amber.

“Well, let’s just focus on making something edible today.”

“Isn’t that our usual goal?”

“You guys are so sad.” Amber came to stand in between them and patted both their backs. “We’ll be fine. You have me!” she reassured her new teammates but they were anything but reassured.

Seulgi dejectedly watched Joy following Wendy around like a large puppy and realized how stacked their team was. “That team has all the ace members-”

“-except Joy,” Yeri interjected.

“-We’re doomed!” Seulgi finished.

Irene glanced over to the sad team after hearing that last comment from Yeri and met eyes with Seulgi. She smirked, quirking her eyebrow, and quickly turned her attention back to her work, leaving Seulgi staring. She felt her face heating up and her friends’ snickering confirmed her fears. Not daring to meet Yeri and Amber’s eyes, she blindly grabbed a bowl and started mixing whatever that was in it.

Jessica kept a close eye on the class from where she stood at the front of the room. Her fingers drummed her desk restlessly as she silently prayed for time to fly by and for class to end without any major hiccups. From what Yoona and Taeyeon had briefed her on the night before, some of the students were quite competent, or at least they were competent enough to make up for what their friends might lack. But still, Yoona warned her that anything could happen in the kitchen so it was best to be alert since Jessica was inexperienced in this particular field.

Seulgi and the rest took turns staring at the board as they read the cooking instructions over and over. It honestly didn’t make a lot of sense, on the surface it seemed like it was a recipe for some kind of pudding but as the instructions went on, it looked like they were making mashed potatoes instead.

“Open your eyes.”

“But it says garlic right there!”

“It’s not in the ingredients list!”

“Well it says ‘add the cloves’, so start peeling.”

Even Wendy and Victoria were baffled and they were the top two students in their little class. Perhaps they truly were doomed. Sweet release.

Jessica, of course, was blissfully ignorant of her students’ confusion. Everything seemed to be going quite well! The students were working together, having little discussions on how to proceed with their cooking and so far, not a single severed appendage. What more could a rookie Home Ec substitute teacher ask for?

“Hey guys, look over here and smile. Yoona asked for a picture,” Jessica called out as they were half way through cooking, phone raised.

The gang happily posed for pictures for their out-of-commission teacher. They had already made up their minds to visit her later and to bring along whatever they had made, should the food turn out presentable. Seulgi took another look at their progress so far, and it looked alright except maybe there was an odd amount of butter in it and they were supposed to add salt and pepper to taste during the mixing process.

Krystal found it odd, too, and had quietly crept up beside Jessica to take a look at the notebook she copied the recipe from. Jessica had yelped ungracefully when she realised her little sister suddenly appeared by her side but coolly cleared and glared at anybody who turned to look.

“Jessica…”

“It’s Miss Jessica in school, Soojung ah.” She reminded her cheeky sister.

“Ms. Jessica…” Krystal corrected herself while rolling her eyes. “Did you copy off the wrong page half way?

Jessica took a look at the pages Krystal was pointing to and blinked a few times before slowly setting Yoona’s notebook back on the table.

“It’ll be fine.”

“But-”

“It’ll be fine,” Jessica iterated more firmly with a tight smile and a pointed look.

Krystal shrugged and left her sister alone to rejoin her friends who were about to set the little cups of ‘pudding’ into the steamer.

“Let’s hope for the best.”

***

Seulgi trudged towards the art club’s classroom quite dejectedly. Slow to put her books away in her locker, and slow to retrieve her camera, she couldn’t quite shake the disappointment of today’s home economics class. It just didn’t feel like she was getting any better at cooking. She tried to keep in mind that it had only been a few weeks since she had started, but Seulgi wasn’t used to struggling when it came to picking up a new skill.

She had gone through primary and middle school showered in praise for her outstanding and accelerated pace in various subjects and endeavors, so to hit a wall week after week in something she thought should be fairly simple like cooking food, was quite frustrating.

How was she supposed to catch the eye of someone like Irene if one of their only classes together was in a subject she was terrible at? She was afraid of what kind of impression she was making - though remembering the smiles and laughs she had received so far gave her some encouragement. It was too bad Irene couldn’t see her here, Seulgi thought as she entered the art room, in her true element.

“Seulgi! I thought maybe you weren’t coming,” Yeeun, their advisor, said warmly, turning from a table of students working lumps of clay. “Irene, you can go with Seulgi - she’ll show you the dark room and the equipment. I’ll look and see if we have a camera we can loan you in the meantime.”

Irene?

Seulgi blinked and looked over to see who the advisor was addressing, and sure enough at another table right near the door sat Irene, nodding at the teacher. She scooted out of her seat and bounced up next to Seulgi expectantly.

“Why are you here?” Seulgi asked, feeling a little stupid as soon as the words left .

Irene snorted. “I’m in the art club, silly.”

“Since when??”

“Since now. Are you going to show me the dark room or not?”

Surely she was dreaming. Seulgi let her backpack slide off her shoulder as she smiled down at Irene. “Uh, this way…” she managed, as she forced herself to turn and head towards the closet-like dark room at the back of the class. Irene? In her art club? And doing photography? It was all too good to be true, and Seulgi had a distinct bounce in her step as she lead the way, opening the door into pitch black room.

Irene wrinkled her nose a bit as they entered, and Seulgi stepped ahead to switch on the light, bathing all the equipment in a deep red hue. She looked back and saw Irene’s expression and smiled.

“Smells a little?”

“Yeah… like vinegar,” Irene confessed as she followed Seulgi’s motion and closed the door behind herself.

Seulgi nodded and gestured to the small tubs on the long table that lined one wall of the closet. “It’s the baths for the pictures,” she tried to explain. She took Irene through some of the equipment, with the disclaimer that she hasn’t yet been able to use it since her camera was digital.

Irene followed along quietly, though she was more fascinated with the photos clipped along the wires overhead than with the glass projectors and chemicals. “So you didn’t take these?” she asked, stopping in front of a picture of a cloudy sunset, whose colors were convoluted by the red light of the room.

Seulgi’s smile faded a bit. “No, I’ve just been doing digital so far. You know, on the computer.”

Irene grabbed her hand and turned, heading for the door. “Show me.”

Seulgi couldn’t help a big grin spreading over her face as she followed obediently. Now this was more like it.

***

“Why the long faces, guys?” Yoona looked at her pouting students as they sat around her living room.

“We wanted to bring you some of the food we made but everybody’s came out really bad so we got some apples instead.” Yeri pointed at the fruit basket they had picked up along the way.

“Everybody’s???” Yoona’s eyes widened, her gaze cutting to Wendy and Victoria almost immediately and saw them nod slowly. “Oh my. Jessica is quite the something, huh?” She laughed at her colleague, her mismatched eyes showing. “What happened?”

Wendy and Victoria started retelling the events of their class, about their supposed pudding dessert that ended up being a salty and buttery mess that had to be tossed, about how Taeyeon had come in when class almost ended to make a small batch of pudding so that they didn’t end the class empty handed.

They stayed for a little while longer before Yoona told them to go home as the sun began to set.

“Go home, already. It’s dinner time!” She smiled, shuffling them towards the door when she saw her students were reluctant to leave. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a little fracture. The doctor said it’ll be all healed up in three weeks. So I’ll see you guys in a month or so.”

“A month?” Yeri cried, and Krystal very audibly groaned.

Yoona tried not to laugh again. It was very unprofessional to make fun of another teacher in front of the students. “It’s not that bad, is it? Just hang in there and when I come back we can make something really special, okay? Maybe I’ll even come in for a visit.”

An echo of sad okays was heard and the group of teenagers shuffled out of the room. Seulgi was the last one out and lingered by the door before Yoona gave her a reassuring nod. Bowing, she closed the front door and went to catch up with her friends.

“Man… who knew sports could be so dangerous.”

“Yeri… everybody knows that…”

“No, I meant who knew playing doubles could be so dangerous?”

“Yeah, it does seem really rare for your doubles partner to accidentally hit your arm instead of the ball…” Irene mused as they continued their walk home.

“Yikes that sounds so painful..” Luna grimaced and crossed her arms.

“Remind me never to play doubles.”

“Agreed.”

***

“Seulgi, what’s wrong?” her mother asked that night at dinner.

Seulgi looked up from her plate, chewing contemplatively as she regarded her mother.

“You didn’t take any potatoes. You love potatoes.”

Seulgi slowly stopped chewing as she eyed the bowl of mashed potatoes warily. “I’m not that hungry,” she tried, unconvincingly.

Her mother quirked an eyebrow. “Well, if that’s true, then you’re probably not interested in any dessert.”

Seulgi’s eyes widened in distress.

“I made chocolate pudding~”

It was going to be a long month...

(((a/n: Speaking of a long time... here we are finally with an update! Hopefully it won't be another two months before we come back again XD Please enjoy!)))