Today was a good day so far. Only a few people clocked her before turning their heads back to whatever they thought was more interesting than Jinsoul in her normal attire.  

Instead of the polo shirt, Jinsoul would wear a white short sleeve button up with the class’s color tie. She doesn't like to wear her polo...because it was a little too tight.  

Jinsoul was a fan of baggy clothes that hung to her knees. So none of her outfits truly fit her. Not even her glasses. Pulling her coat tighter over her shoulders she rummages through her locker.  

There were stacks and stacks of paper and AP text books. It always took her a second to find what she needed. She’s so preoccupied that she doesn’t notice the athlete standing quietly behind her.  

Sooyoung fiddles with the straps of her backpack. She’s not sure when she’ll greet Jinsoul. The girl was pretty focused on flipping through her locker. Sooyoung rocks back and forth on her feet waiting for her to turn around. Jinsoul’s hair was in a low bun, Sooyoung wondered how long it was because she’s never seen it down. 

“Aha! There you are silly.” Jinsoul sticks her tongue out pulling on her calculus text. Once it’s out the Jenga tower of books she gives it a kiss on the front for good measures. Turning around she’s met with the…unreasonably cute athlete that had weirdly popped up in her life and kept doing so.  

It scared the outta her sometimes. How Sooyoung would randomly pop up. 

She screams and drops her calculus book. Both of them surge to pick it up. Jinsoul cups when she bumps her head into Sooyoung’s. Her glasses fall and her world is dark, she’s blind she cannot see no longer she’ll die from being less adapted than the other people of the earth. 

Sooyoung tries not to think about how cute Jinsoul’s scream was or the fact her head was throbbing because who has that hard of a head and picks up the book and glasses for the girl. 

Jinsoul is standing with her face in her hands, Sooyoung doesn’t know if it’s from embarrassment or that her head was hurting. Still Sooyoung is mute, because she can’t come up with anything to say.  

She almost drops the glasses and book when Jinsoul peeks between her spread fingers because wow something shouldn’t be that cute. The moment doesn’t last long enough however because Jinsoul goes back to covering her face.  

“Jung!” Sooyoung turns and it’s the hall monitor. Jungwoo the boy she was pretty sure that got high in the bathroom every morning but somehow got the position to boss everyone around. He skips up to then giggling, “Hey Sooyoung~.” 

She only blinks when he hip bumps her. He then turns to Jinsoul who has revealed her face. Only for it to be covered back up by a pretty pink slip of paper. “You know you can’t wear jeans girl...also really...those jeans. Maybe I wouldn’t consider giving you these everyday if you’d break dress code by wearing something cute.” The blonde haired boy blows a kiss and waddles away.   

Sooyoung watches as Jinsoul rips the paper off her face and shreds it to pieces.

Jinsoul slams the pieces of paper inside her locker and jerks the book and her glasses out of Sooyoung’s hands. Today was going good. But now her mood was ruined. Sooyoung was probably making fun of her and she couldn’t live with herself if she looked up to see the girl laughing at her. 

But she wasn’t, Jinsoul freezes. Sooyoung was stone cold. She doesn’t say a thing. Jinsoul turns on her heel and starts to walk to class. Sooyoung follows her.  

Jinsoul walks faster. 

But Sooyoung is the fastest girl in the school. 

It’s a race and people are watching them. Jinsoul’s face turns red well because she was so out of shape and power walking took a little effort. She finds the finish line though and makes a cut to dart into the class. 

Jinsoul was reminded again that Sooyoung is the fastest girl in the school.  

Sooyoung hears the squeak from impact and holds onto her arms. Jinsoul’s glasses slip down her face and she gets a little dizzy from how soft Sooyoung’s hands are. Especially when they graze her face to place her glasses back up properly. 

Looking up she doesn’t mean to squeak again because Sooyoung is scary hello? She’s four inches taller than her and her face never cracks. But even then, she still had the cutest freaking nose...stop it Jinsoul.   

What’s up with this girl though? 

Trying to side step Sooyoung she’s blocked by the door. The first bell hasn’t rung yet, Sooyoung had plenty of time to get out what she had to say. A student stands behind them awaiting his turn. Sooyoung let’s him by but when Jinsoul tries to get in she blocks the door with her arm.  

Her future math tutor ducks and so does she Jinsoul tries to limbo under and Sooyoung sticks her leg out. Jinsoul gives up then and steps back. Her face as blank as Sooyoung’s. The girl is breathing hard and Sooyoung bites the inside of her cheeks.

Jinsoul was kinda adorable when frustrated, wait what?  

“Good morning…” Sooyoung steps out of the door frame and into the hallway. Jinsoul backs away with every step forward.  

Awkwardly she’s greeted back by Jinsoul who seemed a bit on edge, “morning.” Jinsoul looks her up and down probably wondering why she was being so weird. Sooyoung didn’t mean it, she just couldn’t let Jinsoul go to class without talking to her first. 

“Four? At the library.” Jinsoul nods quickly at her question. She was a bit weirded out by Sooyoung. Why couldn’t she just message her that? Instead of doing all of whatever the hell they just did.  

Sooyoung sighs out, god why was she so nervous around Jinsoul? Embarrassed by her actions she blushes hard and it's notice by Jinsoul. “Okay um...have a nice day.”  

Jinsoul watches the girl dart off. Confused about what just happened. Sooyoung had followed her and did all that...to say that? She tries to not let it go to her head. 

The feeling that was eating at her. 

~~~~

After calculus Jinsoul shuffles up to Mr. Kim’s desk. The man is erasing the board before she calls out to him, “Hey Mr. Kim?” He turns quickly and smiles. Jinsoul was one of his favorite students.  

“What’s up soul?” They were pretty close. He was the supervisor for the mathletes team although Jinsoul was his right hand and usually was the one that made things go smoother. The girl had a knack for these kinds of things. Always with a smile on her face, she’d make things work.

Except today, he can see the tension in his students features. Mr. Kim can only hope that the bullying hasn't finally broke Jinsoul. Many times he tried to do something about it, but Jinsoul would often tell him off. Saying that she could handle it. 

The girl taps at his desk, “could I have all of Ha Sooyoung’s stuff? Like the tests and quizzes.” Mr. Kim doesn’t react at first, too preoccupied with his students blush and wandering eyes. 

Oh?  

Ha Sooyoung was a student he wasn’t so familiar with. All he knew was that she was failing his class. But he didn’t want that because the girl seemed to be a very hard worker and respectful. Maybe not so kind...but she was respectful. 

“Um can I ask why?”  

Jinsoul pops and her blush gets deeper. “I’m tutoring her.” Mr.Kim smiles, this was wonderful news to him. 

He motions to Jinsoul and she follows him to his black filing cabinet. It takes him a bit to find it but soon he has all of Sooyoung’s history in his hands and gives it to Jinsoul.  

She smiles and looks through it, “thank you Mr.Kim.” Jinsoul’s smile slowly drops realizing how bad at math Sooyoung is. God this was going to take a lot of time. 

Jinsoul looks up terrified and her teacher nods at her, “no...thank you.” 

He wasn't going to have to fail Sooyoung.

Because Jinsoul was quite the teacher. 

~~~~  

Sooyoung is leaned against the lockers near the library. The moment this morning replayed in her mind all day and the more she thought about it the more she got embarrassed. Pinching the bridge of her nose she groans out to herself, “Ha Sooyoung you are so stupid sometimes.”

She doesn’t understand why it was so difficult to talk to Jinsoul. Sooyoung has the feeling that the girl didn’t really like her that much in the first place or wasn’t comfortable around her. Judging by the way she was staring at her this morning she freaked the girl out. 

Making a high pitched sob she buries her face in her hands.  

Never has she been this way around someone. Just straight up weird, so why with Jinsoul she felt like was going to have a heart attack.  

Sooyoung was not chill around Jinsoul. She was the opposite. The only person in the whole school that she was like this around. She didn’t understand.  

Dragging her hands down her face she looks around the hallway, good no one was seeing her internally breaking down over a girl. With a nod of her head she concludes that she’ll go back to being cool and calm. 

Not caring about anything. Just doing her. 

Not following Jinsoul and freaking her out just because you wanted to talk to her. 

People came to talk to her, not the other way around. 

People got nervous around her, other people didn’t make her nervous. 

What’s up with you? 

She had her eyes closed but when she opens then Jinsoul is standing a few feet away. The same look she had this morning. The girl pushes her glasses up and Sooyoung scrambles to stand up straight. Yeah, just be cool.  I’m so nervous…

“So…” 

“I’m sorry about this morning.” Sooyoung interrupts her.

Jinsoul smiles, “oh it’s okay! I just thought we were playing a game or something.” Jinsoul lies because honestly the frown on Sooyoung’s face was heartbreaking, this girl was weird as but in a good way Jinsoul concludes. Sooyoung sighs and a bit of the tension in her chest is relieved, “so you ready?”  

Walking into the library Sooyoung is amazed at all the books. She’s never been in the library. Jinsoul leads them to a study room and lets Sooyoung go in first, “no funny stuff okay? We have work to do,” She blushes and ducks inside into the tiny room. 

Jinsoul raises her brows and whispers to herself, “a lot of it.” Sooyoung doesn’t hear it and starts to unpack.  

Her tutor scampers around the room getting her things ready and pulls out a tiny book of her lesson plan for Sooyoung. She had spent her whole lunch and free period doing so. 

“No track today?” Jinsoul asks her and Sooyoung only shakes her head in reply. She closely watches Jinsoul talk to herself in a slow mumbled voice, taking off her jacket as she does so. Sooyoung thinks that her tutor dresses like a professor...who also had a bad case of alcoholism.   

Her tie was loose, the buttons were not finished, her jeans barely hung to her body. Everything was messy about Jinsoul. Sooyoung found it interesting how the girl was so dysfunctional looking but still at the top of her class. 

Jinsoul begins talking a bunch of nonsense Sooyoung doesn’t quite understand. Writing down numbers on the board. It’s just like class, except Jinsoul is a slower talker which is kinda helpful, but just like her look. Her teaching is messy. 

Sooyoung is zoning out when Jinsoul turns to check if she’s doing okay. But Sooyoung is picking at her nails, thinking about dinner. “Hey you getting this?” Sooyoung looks up and hums. She lies, nodding her head. 

For some reason she didn’t want to burden Jinsoul anymore. Maybe she should just cheat or something. Even if it would wound her pride a whole bunch. 

But thankfully, Jinsoul is not as nonchalant as she seems. Although she doesn’t care about most things, she does however care if she’s being helpful. “It’s okay you know?” Sooyoung blankly stares at her like she always does. 

Jinsoul wish she knew what was going on inside her head. One minute Sooyoung was chasing her down and being frustrating and the next she was looking at Jinsoul as if she was a wall.  

Sooyoung scoots away when Jinsoul slides towards her and sits down. She lets her eyes dart from her tutor to her notebook. Which was blank, “Sooyoung, I can’t help you if you don’t let me.”  

“Help me, help you.”  

For a moment Sooyoung can’t think of anything. She could only focus on the curl of Jinsoul’s eyelashes and the beat of her heart, that was way faster than before. 

Jinsoul’s voice is a lot softer now. Just like at the track field that one day. When she told Sooyoung that she liked listening to her. The same voice that made Sooyoung’s stomach knot up. It makes her open up, “I don’t understand, like you’re talking and Mr. Kim talks but it doesn’t make sense to me like it does to you guys.” Sooyoung basically whines crossing her arms. See none of this would happen if she were just smart. 

But no, her brain didn’t work like others. She cried about it often now. 

Jinsoul nods and leans over. Sooyoung looks down while Jinsoul scribbles something in her notebook. Of course the girl smelled good, just like apples, Sooyoung’s favorite fruit.  The proximity makes her blush so she leans back to give Jinsoul more room. 

“Try this out,” Sooyoung looks down at the question. She remembers it, one of the problems on her last exam. Sadly, she still doesn’t know how to do it. Wanting to impress Jinsoul, however, she picks up the pencil and stares at the numbers. 

Jinsoul idly waits, but Sooyoung only twists the pencil in her hand. After a few minutes she point, “you have to isolate that.” Sooyoung nods and draws a circle around the x. Jinsoul tries to not laugh but god… 

Shaking her head she takes the pencil out of Sooyoung’s hand, “let's go step by step.” Jinsoul does it slowly and linear down the page. Sooyoung follows the girl’s every move and listens closely to her low voice.  

Oh my god I’m kinda getting it.  

“Now you’re turn.” Jinsoul had gotten the answer but doesn’t write it down. Handing the pencil to Sooyoung she points to the blank half of the paper.  

Sooyoung does the same as Jinsoul using the help of the other steps and the girls walkthrough whenever she got stuck, after repeating the question five or six times. Jinsoul gives her a similar problem. 

She gets halfway through it by herself before she needs help.  

Jinsoul smiles the whole time, Sooyoung may be a slow learner but she was a good student. The other people she’s tutor usually just begged for her to do their work. But Sooyoung would get frustrated if she helped too much. 

It was admirable. 

How hard this girl wanted to work. Jinsoul appreciated it because she loved teaching things. For the first time in forever she was being successful. They quietly work together, mostly Jinsoul whispering if Sooyoung needs help and the scribble of the pencil against paper. 

It’s been an hour and a half before Sooyoung works through and entire problem by herself. She looks towards Jinsoul and her tutor smiles when she sees the answer. “Good job Sooyoung.” She can’t help it, her chest feels light and she’s pumped full of adrenaline. She’s learned a new thing and now all she wants to do is perfect it. 

If there was something to know about Sooyoung, it was that she didn’t smile. 

But the giddiness is too strong, she doesn’t feel as helpless as before. Her lips stretch across her teeth and her eyes scrunch up. Jinsoul catches it all, her pupils dilate as her jaw drops. Thick lips she found pretty before upturn and she notices that Sooyoung has the cutest smile and pair of front teeth ever. Just like a bunny… 

Oh brother. 

~~~~ 

“Hey baby,” Sooyoung continues to chug down her water. Track practice was finally over but somehow instead of Jinsoul, who was supposed to be here, stands Rose. “I’ll drive you home.” Sooyoung looks around, disappointed that Jinsoul wasn’t here...was she even coming?  

Swallowing down the sad feeling in she waves off Rose, “I’m not finished you can go.” Rose never offered her a ride home, she never even came to her practices or meets.  

Sooyoung will run it off.  

She shouldn’t care if Jinsoul blew her off or not. It wasn’t her business. Sooyoung needed to worry about herself. 

“HEEYYYY!” They both turn to the echoed scream. Sooyoung barely reacts to Jinsoul who was sprinting towards the bleachers in a pink jumpsuit. Her hair in a high ponytail swinging as she clumsily jogged up to them. Sooyoung raises a brow as the girl stares at her with wide open panting. 

It’s the silliest face she’s ever seen, “you’re late.” Jinsoul’s face becomes even sillier at her tone. Rose is furious as she looks between the two. Sooyoung’s normally blank look on her face and Jinsoul who is now hunched over coughing.  

“God this is so lame!” Rose stops on the ground and storms off after shoulder checking Jinsoul. Making the girl whine and rub her shoulder at the assault. 

Sooyoung doesn’t pay any mind to it and only stands to stretch.  

Jinsoul wipes the sweat off her brow, Sooyoung’s face was even more set in stone today. The girl barely looks at her as she warms up. Jinsoul frowns, she guesses things were back to normal after how weird yesterday was.  

After she’s done loosening back up she looks to Jinsoul, who is standing and rubbing at her ear. Sooyoung looks at the track suit and shoes, “What are you wearing?” Jinsoul flinches a bit at Sooyoung’s voice and grabs her clothes to pull on them.

Studying them she only guesses, “my running outfit.” Sooyoung crosses her arms as her trainee pulls and tugs at her clothes. 

“You’ll need to wear something different.” 

“Why?” 

Pointing towards her shoes, “first of all those are not made for running, their sole purpose is fashion.” She points up and down Jinsoul’s body, “that’s too heavy and hot, it will slow you down and catch too much air.” Jinsoul starts to shake at Sooyoung’s blunt tone, she hangs her head low as Sooyoung goes on and on how she needed to have clothes that didn’t weigh her down and were tight so she can cut through the wind resistance. 

“Look at me.” Jinsoul peeks up and Sooyoung points at her body which was perfect and lean, “it makes a difference, I’m lighter and faster.” 

The girl adjusts her glasses, “well not everyone looks like you.” Sooyoung doesn’t catch it but she narrows her eyes at Jinsoul who muimbled under her breath. 

“What was that?” 

“Nothing!” Jinsoul squeaks and stands up straighter. She sighs in relief when Sooyoung goes back to talking about track. Sooyoung sure was serious at running and knew a lot about it. Jinsoul could tell how passionate she was just by the way she spoke. After being lectured by a new side of Sooyoung, the scariest side Jinsoul thinks she realizes something, Sooyoung has been talking a lot about the physics of running. “Wow you’re kinda smart.” 

Sooyoung pauses in her rant about acceleration and stares at Jinsoul, “huh?”  

“You’re talking about complex mathematics.” Jinsoul regrets even saying anything because Sooyoung starts to blush and her facial features go back to default, “don’t get shy now this is the most emotion I’ve ever seen from you.” She claps her hand over , why did she just say that.  

But it was true, Sooyoung was really into whatever the hell she was talking about.  

“Right um...forget about it let’s just start.” Jinsoul nods as Sooyoung has a tiny breakdown in her head. Was she being weird again?  

Jinsoul is commanded to take off her track jacket, under is a baggy shirt. Sooyoung stands to the side and waits for Jinsoul to get ready at the line, the girl’s form is awful it’s painful for Sooyoung to watch. 

Sooyoung claps and Jinsoul starts to run...only for Sooyoung to stop. The girl gives her a questionable look and Sooyoung jogs up towards her, “um what was that…” 

“That’s how naruto runs.”  

This girl could not be serious but Sooyoung doesn’t say anything or show her judgement through her features, “well don’t do that. It’s...yeah just don’t do that.” Jinsoul shrugs and goes back to the line waiting for Sooyoung to signal. The second time is just as worse.  

Jinsoul pouts when Sooyoung stops her again. “Here go sit down and watch me.” The girl drags her feet over near the stands and sits down. Bringing her knees up to tuck them underneath her chest. Sooyoung thinks it’s adorable but she has something else to focus on right now. Something that was second nature to her. 

“Are you watching?!” The girl was staring at the ground but brings her gaze up to Sooyoung. She yells out the steps, the forms and gets down in position.  

1...2...3 

She bursts up and sprints for only a little bit before slowing down to bounce on her feet. Looking over to Jinsoul her ego skyrockets when the girl is slack jawed and standing. Sooyoung’s speciality was her takeoff. She was like a rocket and had great stamina to keep up the pace of her blast.  

Walking over to Jinsoul she scratches at her head, “WOAH!” The girl starts to excitedly praise her forgetting that she was supposed to be the focus all along. Sooyoung doesn’t know if it’s the heat from the sun or the fact she just ran so fast to impress Jinsoul but her body was a bit hotter than before.  

“You’re amazing Sooyoung! That was so freaking cool!” Jinsoul shakes her and giggles cutely.  

Sooyoung doesn’t think she’s ever had this much of an adrenaline rush after a run. People have told her over and over again that she’s amazing. But somehow Jinsoul who didn’t know jack about being athlete really made her feel like an all star.  

The rest of the practice Jinsoul mimics her and runs her hardest. It’s the most fun Sooyoung has had in a while. When she and Jinsoul jog next to each other and she elbows the girl in the ribs whenever she slacks. 

Still, it isn’t enough to bring a smile on her face. 

~~~~ 

Sooyoung sprints to the library, her coach had kept her over to talk about a few things. Season was about to officially start. However, she was late to her tutoring session with Jinsoul. 

They fell into a routine, they’d alternate every day from math lessons to track practice. Essentially Sooyoung got to spend a few hours one on one with Jinsoul everyday. And even though it was something that she found herself wanting more and more. 

It still wasn’t enough. Because they would usually just do their thing in silence. They were getting nowhere in terms of being friends.  

While Jinsoul had gotten comfortable around Sooyoung and didn’t find her as scary as before. Sooyoung was struggling with how addicting Jinsoul’s smile was. 

This was hindering her normal agenda, which wasn’t much of anything. Sooyoung’s mind was about as blank as her face. The only thoughts being food, track, and occasionally school. Maybe 1% of the time she’d think about girls. 

But now 99% of the time she thought about girls or really just one girl. Jung Jinsoul, who she stared at for lunch instead of eating her packed lunch. Jinsoul who had hundreds of expressions all either adorable or funny enough to make Sooyoung laugh inside her mind. Jinsoul who genuinely cared about her and was patient and kind and... 

“Hi you’re late.” So, so pretty. Sooyoung holds the door open panting a little bit and Jinsoul gently smiles at her. Sooyoung doesn’t think someone’s ever actually treated her this way. Just like some normal person instead of royalty. Like she was a real person with real feelings instead of the statue that she seemed to be like.  

Jinsoul could tell when she was having trouble with a problem just by the longevity of her sigh. The girl was extremely observant. It was weird having someone knowing things about her instead of just assuming.  

“Hi Jinsoul,” it’s quiet again today because Sooyoung is practicing problems. She still needs help a lot but Jinsoul usually points them out to her with her pen.   

The hour and a half passes and Sooyoung is left with a notebook full of solved problems but an unsolved heart. 

God why did she think about this girl so much.  

Jinsoul starts to pack her things, “good job today Sooyoung! I know you’re gonna kill that quiz next week.” Sooyoung shakes a bit in her seat, from the praise and from the nerves from what she was about to ask. 

The girl turns and walks towards the door, Sooyoung surges to grab at her arm. 

Jinsoul stares at her arm that’s being gripped and back to Sooyoung who’s about to out, “actuallyIwasthinkingwecouldwalkhometogethertoday.” She blabbers out. 

“W-what?” You are so embarrassing Sooyoung. 

Sooyoung stands to break off the nerves, “can I walk you home?”    

She doesn’t get an answer, only a smile. 

~~~~  

The hardest equation she’s come across yet skips in front of her. Jinsoul’s tie dangles from her hands and the girl’s buttons were loosened up from the heat.  

Sooyoung glides her fingers across the chain link fence, slowly following Jinsoul as the girl twirled on the sidewalk. Never had she seen someone so carefree and energetic.  

It almost brings a smile to her face.  

Jinsoul looks at her and starts to walk backwards, Sooyoung tilts her head at her wondering what was going through Jinsoul’s mind to bring such a mischievous smile on her face. 

In reality, Jinsoul was just gushing with butterflies because Sooyoung’s ears stuck out cutely. 

“Hey Sooyoung, What’s it like to be popular?” She thinks for a moment and shrugs. She doesn’t know exactly. 

Sooyoung’s not always been so popular but now that she was it felt a little bland. “Kinda boring I guess.” She quicks a pebble underneath her feet. “Everyone has this idea of you, like you’re cool and like the hottest on earth but I don’t really feel that way. I think I’m just some ordinary person.” Jinsoul hums, Sooyoung was the embodiment of cool and was no ordinary person. 

Jinsoul considered Sooyoung aloof, which in many ways was the definition of cool. The girl was unapproachable and didn’t come off as that friendly. She didn’t get involved and never seemed to be interested in anything.  

That was her first thoughts of Sooyoung, however, while she still seen Sooyoung that way, sometimes she thought that maybe the girl was just a bit shy.   

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t cool, “you don’t think you’re all that?” Sooyoung focuses on the rattle of the fencing and the cool spring air that stuck to her skin. 

The sun was just warm enough to keep her comfortable but there was another source of heat. It was from the intensity of the girl’s stare who was walking in front of her, “I’m not that special.”  

Their feet scuffle against the pavement and Jinsoul finally takes in how gorgeous Sooyoung is. Her tan skin seems to glow in the golden hour, never has she been so thankful for the sun set. The girl is almost lost as she keeps her fingers against the chain fencing. 

“I think you’re really cool Sooyoung.” 

The sound of sneakers against concrete stop, Sooyoung watches Jinsoul as the girl walks over to lean onto the fence. In the distance a bunch of kids are playing basketball at the public court. 

Sooyoung joins her and slides in next to her, she still can’t get over the height difference. If she were to hug Jinsoul, the girl would fit right into the crook of her neck. 

Hands start to move loosely as Jinsoul explains her thought process, which in toll is a whole lot. “You know how some people are just cool because they play a certain sport or they’re super hot or whatever.” Sooyoung was popular for only that reason, she knew she was attractive and she was the captain of the biggest sport at their school besides basketball. 

“Like so what if they’re on cheer squad and have great style and a nice set of .” Sooyoung snorts as Jinsoul mocks a certain voice near the end. “Who cares if you’re popular. It’s not gonna matter in a year or so.” Sooyoung couldn’t agree more, for some of the people that surrounded her on a day to day. Popularity was everything to them when to her it wasn’t a big deal.  

Jinsoul sighs, “It’s all just fancy background.” Sooyoung was right, being popular must be boring. Like who just goes around ing with people like her, they must have lame lives Jinsoul’s concludes because she didn’t have the energy to go around doing all that.

So Jinsoul didn’t give a about these people who liked to mess with her, because they gave too much of one about her. Since she minded her business, she knew she’d grow up and prosper after she graduated. All those other people would become bald and probably become bigger losers than they are now.  

Still, although Sooyoung fit all the categories of people she despised, she was nothing like them. “Take that away and they’re pretty dull in comparison to you.” She sighs out. No one could compare to Sooyoung in her eyes. Or maybe it was her stupid brain and heart telling her that Sooyoung was different just because she was super cute and was nice to her. 

“Sooyoung you’re just...cool. If you weren’t the captain of the track and the most popular girl in the school you’d still be the coolest person I have ever met.” 

Jinsoul goes quiet after that, Sooyoung is on thin air. Her whole body is buzzing with this feeling she’s never had. “Why do you think I’m so cool Jinsoul?” 

The girl shrugs and kicks at the fence, “You don’t need all the background, being yourself works just fine.” 

“That you don’t care about all of that. You’re genuine.”  

There’s a breeze that flows between them and Sooyoung gets lost while staring at the girl’s profile. In this lighting, it was almost like looking at art. 

That’s one hell of a compliment Jung Jinsoul. 

I wish I could tell you the same. 

“You’re nice I think.” Jinsoul turns to her and looks up at her. The girls black eyes shining behind her glasses.  

Sooyoung swallows down the tension, god when did all these tingles get inside. Was she coming down with a fever? “You think?” 

“Yup, but I’m getting mixed signals

You never smile but your the kindest person I’ve ever met. It’s cute. So maybe you’re nice.” 

Sooyoung grips tightly onto the fence, god she was going to throw up. Why was her tummy doing somersaults. It was getting cooler outside but she was breaking out into a sweat. Jinsoul just called her cute...maybe she didn’t know. 

Jinsoul bumps her with her hip, “You could’ve asked anyone to help you with math, but you picked me and sometimes I consider myself lucky…Sooyoung you know you didn’t have to help me but you still do.”  

Sooyoung nods at her too overwhelmed with how her body is malfunctioning. Her mind is blank however but her chest is thumping and she has goosebumps all up and down her arms and legs.  

It’s a cozy feeling that’s so warm and relaxing. But at the same time Sooyoung feels like she’s gonna pass out from how light headed she is. It’s intense but it’s good, so good in fact she never wants it to end. 

What the hell is going on?

They start to walk again but this time shoulder to shoulder. Sooyoung clenches her fist every time they brush against each other. She wonders how soft Jinsoul’s hand was, but she’s embarrassed about how sweaty hers were.

It takes her at least fifteen minutes to say it, “I think you’re special Jinsoul.” The girl slides closer to her and now their arms are touching. Sooyoung’s goosebumps reappear and she tries to swallow her heart back down , “I’ve never met someone like you.” 

Jinsoul doesn’t say anything back. They walk in silence but it’s comfortable. They both understood they didn’t need to blabber to fill in the gaps, it was nice just being together. 

When it comes time to say goodbye Sooyoung feels a sense of dread and disappointment. She wouldn’t see Jinsoul until the morning. Even then she didn’t have the courage to go up and talk to her considering how embarrassing it turned out last week. 

Jinsoul stands in front of her gate glancing back and forth between her home and Sooyoung. “Thank you, for walking me home Sooyoung.” She nods at Jinsoul, still sad at the fact that they were splitting up.

You’ll see her tomorrow it up.  

“You’re welcome um...see you tomorrow?” She asks, the nerves eating her alive and Jinsoul nods with a cute smile on her face. 

Sooyoung turns and starts off, ignoring how all those good feelings inside were disappearing. “Wait!” She faces Jinsoul’s house again and gasps when her body is slammed into by another. 

The next thing she knows, she’s being engulfed into a hug. Now this must be heaven. Sooyoung is too shocked to even move. But Jinsoul whines against her skin that might be sticky, “stop being weird and hug me back.” Her limbs are finally not paralyzed and she wraps them around Jinsoul’s tiny frame.  

It lasts a lot longer than a typical hug and Sooyoung feels herself melting into Jinsoul’s embrace. How could someone be this soft and warm? It must be a crime.  

Sooyoung has never been this affectionate with anyone other than her family and she can already feel herself getting addicted to this. She doesn’t want to let go so she squeezes tighter and rests her chin on top of Jinsoul’s head. 

The most perfect moments don’t last forever however. And Jinsoul pulls back. But not without one last thing.  

Sooyoung holds her cheek that’s flaming hot as Jinsoul backs up, her eyes wide and her jaw clenched, into her iron gate almost falling backwards. The girl waves at her and sprints inside. 

She’s still glued to the pavement though.  

Jung Jinsoul just kissed her cheek. 

Turning around she starts to briskly walk then jog and then straight up sprints home. While she’s still holding her cheek she feels it puff up. She was smiling and soon it turns into a giggle. Her sprint turns into skipping when she reaches her neighborhood.  

Her smile was splitting her entire face and she felt on cloud nine as she replayed the moment in her head. 

For the entire night, freaking out her family and herself. Her cheeks and jaw start to hurt by the time she’s getting ready for bed. Her sister even threatened to call the emergency hotline. 

Sooyoung couldn’t stop smiling. 

~~~~