Chaeyoung scanned the courtyard looking for her friends. Upon spotting Dahyun and Tzuyu quietly enjoying their lunches, she rushed over and dropped unceremoniously on the bench opposite Dahyun and Tzuyu who were startled out of their conversation.

“Hello best friends!”

Tzuyu eyed Chaeyoung suspiciously.

“What did you do this time Chaeng?”

Chaeyoung actually looked offended before she grinned and went into an excited rant.

“Why does everyone always think I’ve done something?”

Tzuyu pointed her fork accusingly at Chaeyoung.

“Experience says we should be suspicious.”

“Anyway, I just had the best idea so hear me out. What if instead of just the school’s plaid skirt, we also had the option of pants.”

“Uniform pants? You’ve been watching Sailor Moon again haven’t you. You’re really trying to be Tenoh Haruka.”

“Look, that may have influenced my idea but plaid uniform pants Tzu! The aesthetic!”

“You had me at plaid pants.”

Chaeyoung high fived Dahyun.

“Thank you! See Dubs is supportive, I knew I could count on you being a plaid gay. Yeri said you’d be on board.”

“You already asked my cousin?”

“Well I had to test out my proposal on someone and Yeri’s always supportive of my ideas.”

“That’s because Yeri is a terrible influence. She helped you bleach your hair in middle school and it ended up green.”

“BUT! Wendy unnie took me to a salon when she found us and I got my platinum blond hair anyway!”

Tzuyu rolled her eyes at Chaeyoung who just turned to Dahyun.

“She said you’d be game from the get go after showing me a picture of your extensive plaid pants collection. I don’t know how I didn’t know this about you.”

“Those are my nice going out pants, we don’t really go out, we only ever hang out in sweatpants.”

“Okay, fair. How about you Tzu?”

“I’ll support you but don’t expect me to start wearing plaid pants to school. I wouldn’t look cute in pants.”

“That’s fine we need allies too. You’re the one in student council so you’d know how to get this motion through.”

“It’s way above my position though, I’m just the freshman rep. You’d actually have to go to the heads of student council.”

“Well Dubs is related to the VP and Wendy unnie is the secretary so that should help some.”

“We need to think of an effective strategy to get this to work and we need to get the student body on board too.”

“Well think of this as practice for when you eventually run your presidential campaign in senior year Tzu.”

Wendy and Irene stood in front of their baby cousins who looked like toddlers being reprimanded in their seats.

“Unnie…”

“What’s this I’m hearing about you two running around with a petition to make uniform pants an official option?”

“Well you see…”

“Chaeyoung-ah, is this because auntie wouldn’t let you wear a suit to the last family event?”

“Look no, yes, maybe? I just want the option to look either super cute or super handsome? Is that too much to ask?”

“Well you’re going about it the absolutely wrong way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your method is too slow and will take months if not the whole year.”

The two looked dejectedly at the ground.

“You should have just come to us from the beginning.”

“You’d help us?”

Dahyun looked up hopefully at Irene who just raised her eyebrow at her.

“Dahyunnie, what do you take me for? Of course I would! I know how much you love plaid pants. What kind of unnie would I be if I didn’t abuse my position of power to make it happen. I already had Wendy write up a memo to go around the school about a meeting concerning this very topic.”

Wendy looked up from her tablet with a grin.

“I’ve just sent it and it should be circulated to everyone’s school emails any second now.”

All their phones ping to indicate the arrival of a new email. Chaeyoung reads through the email.

“Tomorrow after school? Isn’t that too soon?”

“The quicker we get the ball rolling the quicker you two and anyone else who wants to wear pants can wear them to school. We’ll both be there to facilitate the meeting, as will Krystal. Be lucky Tzuyu came to us because she knew you were in way over your heads. You both need to take her out to eat or something.”

“Tzu Tzu does care!”

“Now get out of here, you still have classes.”

The two of them stood up in a rush. Chaeyoung hugged Wendy.

“Bye unnie!”

Dahyun kissed Irene on the cheek.

 “Thanks unnie!

The two friends rushed out of the classroom to their next subjects.

Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were in an empty class room unpacking a box that they had just been handed by Krystal. Chaeyoung dropped it on a desk with a loud thud. She pulled out a pocket knife and opened the box. Dahyun picked up a plastic wrapped package and opened it to reveal a pair of pants made of material identical to their school skirts. Chaeyoung took it from Dahyun and held it up.

“Wait explain to me again how we already have prototypes of plaid school pants for when we present to the student council? It’s only been two weeks.”

“Well Krystal unnie's family owns a fashion company and she talked to her older sister about getting them made. Jessica sunbaenim handled it and talked to the school’s uniform suppliers to get a hold of the actual fabric they use for our skirts and talked them into giving her a roll.”

“All because you asked?”

“No? It wasn’t just me! I was with Amber and Seulgi unnie who both threw pouts at her but that didn’t work entirely so they threw me in front of her and made me do the sad puppy dog eyes.”

“Damn Dahyun, is there anyone who doesn’t like you in this school?”

Dahyun and Chaeyoung had gone around distributing the pants to the other students who were pro school pants for the presentation by the student council to the school board representatives. They were happy that they at least had some very vocally supportive sunbaes who also wanted pants.

The three friends went to the locker rooms so Dahyun and Chaeyoung could change into them for the presentation. Chaeyoung was posing in front of the mirror, checking herself out.

“This is exactly what I envisioned, what a look.”

Chaeyoung blew a kiss to herself in the mirror.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer. Honestly you’re such an aesthetic hoe Chaeng I know you’re itching to post it on Instagram. You look great Dubu.”

“Thanks Tzu.”

“What about me?”

“You look okay.”

“Wow, why must you hurt me so?”

During the presentation Chaeyoung was very thankful that Tzuyu had dobbed them into the student council and that their unnies had decided to intervene. Dahyun knew her cousin could be scary but now she understood why she was going to study law. Tzuyu watched on with rapt attention as she watched Seo Juhyun, Bae Joohyun and Krystal Jung not give an inch during their presentation and argument. It was also clear why Krystal was a shoe in for the presidency next year. Tzuyu only hoped she could be as intimidating and persuasive in future.

After the presentation Dahyun and Chaeyoung got high fives and pats on the back from the other students who had also wanted to wear pants to school but had never thought to attempt to make it happen.

“You did good Chaeng.”

Amber ruffled Chaeng’s hair and gave her a side hug.

“Thanks Amber unnie but it was definitely a team effort.”

“Oh yeah, the student council is super powerful, especially under the right leadership. Plus currently they have three of the scariest people in the top positions of power.”

Seulgi popped out of nowhere smiling.

“Plus Wendy can’t cancel out that much scary even with her sunniness.”

Moonbyul walked over and slung her arm over Dahyun’s shoulder.

“This is way better than us wearing sweatpants under our skirts, we don’t have to look stupid anymore to be comfortable.”

“Amen to that.”

Tzuyu was with the rest of the student council who were debriefing about their successful campaign against the school board. Seohyun addressed her council members.

“Thank you everyone for your hard work over the last few weeks. I know it was a pretty sudden thing but you know we pride ourselves in the ability to quickly adapt and get things done.”

Irene followed after her with a few words.

“I would also like to commend our very own freshman representative Chou Tzuyu for actually bringing this to our attention. It is a very important skill to be able to be critical of our own abilities and to know when to seek help. Good job Tzuyu.”

The other council members all clapped and voiced their ascent. Tzuyu blushed at the praise and mumbled out a thanks. Seohyun dismissed them all and Tzuyu wandered over to where Chaeyoung and Dahyun were with everyone else.

“Are you two happy now?”

“Yes!”

“Thanks Tzuyu.”

“Yeah! Thanks Tzu, we couldn’t have done this without you.”

Dahyun and Chaeyoung sandwich her in a hug causing Tzuyu to laugh and pat them both on the head.

“I was happy to help plus you both look super cute like this. The rest of student council also knows who I am now so it’s a win, win situation.”

Dahyun looked down at her watch and frowned.

“Oh shoot, I have to go. I have a practice right now, I’ll catch you two after school.”

“Later Dubs.”

Chaeyoung and Tzuyu waved after Dahyun’s retreating form wondering where she was running off to.

Dahyun raced to the arts wing at full speed only stopping once she was inside the right studio, out of breath. Mina looked up from where she was stretching on the floor and smiled.

“I thought you’d forgotten about me Dahyunnie.”

“Never, Mina unnie, I just got caught up after the presentation. How did you get here so quick? You were there with the rest of the student council.”

“I slipped away straight after. Congratulations by the way, you look very cute Dubu.”

Dahyun looked down and blushed.

“Uh, thanks unnie.”

She shrugged off her blazer and walked over to the piano to sit down. Once seated she rolled up her sleeves.

“So what piece did you want me to play first?”

Mina got up and finished stretching then smiled over at Dahyun on the piano.

“Surprise me.”