PD High School, an institution of excellence; an institution where students excelled in academics and arts. Despite its popularity for being a sanctuary of learning and for having annex campuses around China and Japan, the main campus only had 397 students, a total of 21 staff – one is a part-time, and an administration that’s cocky and corrupt.

Nonetheless, the students are not involved in that since they had the power. After all, their parents are board members of the Office of Education within the various regions of the country –

“That is one lame introduction of this forsaken school.” Yena commented, arms crossed. “Besides, it’s not about this place. It’s about – “

A tall puppy tripped over her skateboard and the witnesses had a laugh for a morning. Nonetheless, Yena went to help her up. 

“That was some slapstick, Yujin-ah. Keep that up and you might break your bones in the future.”

“Keep your comments up and your pouty lips will be broken first.” Yujin added and wiped the dust off of her face. “Is she around?”

“Lovergirl~” Yena gave her a hard pat on the back. “They haven’t arrived yet.”

“We did, though.” Chaeyeon waved as Hyewon was pigging out beside her and Yuri was listening to music.

Chaeyeon plastered her signature grin and hi-fived to Yujin and Yena. Hyewon waved and her sandwiches were gone in an instant thanks to Yena and Yujin getting one each. But who was she to run out of food as she got another bag and ate another one. For Yuri, she hi-fived the rest and gave a kiss to Yena.

“Get a room!” Chaeyeon spat as Yujin looked away and Hyewon almost spat her food.

The two broke and did funny faces while hugging each other. They looked around and waited for the last member of their squad.

“민주가  또~” Yena spoke as a frog rushed towards them with messy hair.

“I thought I was late!” Minju huffed and tied her hair. “I didn’t even have breakfast.”

Hyewon threw a sandwich and Minju was quick to catch it with . The other four were shocked. 

“You’re supposed to be a frog, not a dog. Did you and Yujin switch?” Chaeyeon spoke then cackled.

Minju and Yujin would’ve choked Chaeyeon but the bell made them rush to their classroom, running east and going inside the room.

III – A

The sign stands for third branch, section A. PD High School had four branches in the main campus and ALL students are of  the same year hence they’ll graduate together – unless there will be repeaters. It was lazy for the administration to do so but with its cocky attitude, the board won’t support any longer and the school won’t last long. With that, it’ll stand until all students graduate – 

A yawn disrupted the whole class and heads mostly turned around to Chaeyeon. Most of them had their reactions but the class president reprimanded them not to mind about it.

“Thanks for the save, Kaeun-nim.” Chaeyeon spoke as Kaeun gave a thumbs-up.

“The Goddesses are here~!”

It was that call from Doah that made everyone behave, even the dorky squad. Six girls arrived inside the classroom, getting chants, gestures, and squeals as a greeting.

The Goddesses were the most popular girls in the school. It was a huge notice for everyone since ALL members were in the first section of the third branch. They were the pride of their class and have always excelled in all subjects.

They were Miyawaki Sakura, Yabuki Nako, Honda Hitomi, Kwon Eunbi, Kim Chaewon…

…and the most popular of them all – probably in the whole school – was none other than Jang Wonyoung.

“She’s here, AhnYu!” Yena nudged the sleeping puppy. 

Yujin looked up and she was on alert mode, a smile plastered onto her features. She saw the goddess of them greeting everyone with a smile and she couldn’t help but gasp on how beautiful she looked. She would’ve enjoyed this moment but the goddess gasped as their eyes met.

Yujin suddenly coughed and choked. Doah had gotten playful as she shot a Malteser on Yujin’s mouth.

“Touchdown!” Doah cheered.

“It’s a three-point, you dingdong!” Hyewon cussed as she and Yena helped Yujin out. 

Yena does the Heimlich on Yujin as Hyewon hurried to get her water. Yujin managed to spit the Maltese out and it hit someone and got stuck on the uniform…

“Disgusting !!” It was none other than Sakura. “You messed up my uniform!”

Hyewon sighed and got the slobbered chocolate off of her using a tissue. Yujin returned to reality and mumbled an apology to Sakura. Hyewon threw the crumpled tissue and it landed on Doah’s head before it bounced towards the trashcan.

“Hey, Ahn Yujin!” Sakura called. “You owe me for this mess you made!”

“Uh – no she doesn’t.” Hyewon defended her. “It was an accident.”

“She’s right, unnie.” Wonyoung calmed Sakura down. “Let’s not cause a feud. Kaeun-nim will get angry.”

“Calm down now, unnie.” Yujin did the same as she consoled Hyewon by giving her a new Malteser from Doah’s stash.

Hyewon ate the chocolate like aa vacuum and returned to her seat. All of them did since their science teacher arrived. Yujin slumped on her desk and was recovering from the little stunt when Wonyoung turned around and met her gaze again.

, Yujin thought. Her gaze alone was enough to sweep her off her feet. But no. Wonyoung was mumbling a sorry – maybe because Sakura lashed on her. Yujin mumbled a ‘me too’ for Hyewon’s sake and Wonyoung reverted her attention back to the lessons.

Yujin squeaked, causing her to get attention from the class.

“What was that, Ahn?” The teacher asked as she imitated her tone, causing some classmates to laugh.

“Hehe…nothing, Miss Kim.” Yujin answered.

And thus, the class resumed. But for Yujin, it was gonna be a whole class of her inner conscience squealing.

I got noticed by Wonyoung~!!!

+++

Sakura cussed as she used a wet hanky to wipe the excess chocolate off of her uniform. Despite the stain being the size of a mole, Sakura hated being dirty.

“Unnie, don’t mind about it too much.” Wonyoung spoke to her. “It’s an accident. Surely Yujin didn’t mean it. She choked thanks to Doah, after all.”

“Well, she could’ve aimed to spit at a trashcan. I’m not the trashcan, Wonie.” Sakura spoke. “Aigoo, I can’t believe you fell for – “

Sakura’s voice was muffled thanks to Wonyoung’s hand. Sakura got her hand off and was breathing heavily. “Okay, okay! Not in front of the readers.”

“Wait, what – “

“What did we miss?” Nako and Hitomi spoke at the same time as Eunbi and Chaewon were right behind them.

“You two look like twins. You might end up together.” Sakura remarked, getting yells from the duo.

“Still got that stain, Kkura?”

“Ah…as messy as getting pooped by a pigeon, Ssamu.” Sakura mumbled while wiping her uniform.

Just then, Yujin and her squad passed by. Sakura called them to stop and they turned around while doing a pose (except for Hyewon as she was busy enjoying her ice cream).

“You still owe me this, Ahn Yujin!” 

“Hey. I thought we’re over with that.” Hyewon spat despite the cream mustache formed by her philtrum. “Yujin didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Yujin bowed.

“Deal with it, Kkura. It was an accident.” Eunbi spoke.

“What Unnie said,” said Wonyoung.

It froze Yujin. How could someone say something so cute?

“Yoohoo~” Minjoo waved a hand in front of her face. “Big summer blowout~”

Chaeyeon cackled and pulled Yujin away. “We’ll get going now. See y’all on the next period.”

“You too~” Eunbi waved back and Yujin’s squad was out.

The Goddesses spared their waves. Eunbi winced as she was nudged by a smirking Chaewon. “Aigoo~ look at you saying goodbye to Chaeyeon~”

“Hey! At least I wasn’t frozen looking at a frog.”

Chaewon and Eunbi would’ve fought but the Japanese line got attention as they were nudging a frozen Wonyoung. 

They called and nudged her many times. It took quite a while for Wonyoung to return to reality but they didn’t know what was running on her head.

Yujin noticed me~!!!

+++

Yujin was pacing for God knows how long. Her silly friends just watched as they were chilling in Chaeyeon’s house. They would’ve done the usual bonding but Yujin had been off lately.

It wasn’t because she didn’t like to bond with her friends. It was because Wonyoung was running on her mind lately. As a result, she was sharing her thoughts to her friends. Being the supportive and silly friends they are, they just watched their little puppy pace around.

“She looked at me and smiled! She looked at me with those goddamn eyes and that ing smile!!” Yujin added and squeezed Minju’s face. “What am I gonna do?!”

“Gifuhshomsingnas…” Minjoo mumbled. (Give her something nice.)

“Talk to her, bro. Get to know her…” Yuri said as she kissed Yena’s cheek. “…like how my baby duck and I did.”

“Hehe…and look where we are now.” 

Yujin stopped squeezing Minju’s cheeks and the frog massaged her face. Hyewon and Chaeyeon were grossed out that they threw popcorn at the couple to which they caught with their mouths.

“Guys, it’s just a crush. I don’t need to declare myself to her and be my girlfriend. I want to approach her first…” Yujin whined. “…but I don’t know how~”

“You could establish something to do, like go hang out.” Hyewon spoke then had an idea. “You two should study together!”

“Puhlease. Yujin can’t even study math.” Chaeyeon cackled. “You know it could cause an effect with regards to hanging out with the Goddesses~”

“Cut Yujin some slack, guys. You know our little baby’s got a crush. We need to support her,” said Minju.

“Support? Should Yuri and I become the cheering squad and you become the mascot, Kwangbae? Hehe…” Yena asked.

“Don’t question that again.” Hyewon added before throwing a pillow at her.

“I had an idea of actually taking her to the movies. Does that count?” Yujin asked.

Her friends reacted and made a skit to leave Yujin but the puppy whined for help again.

“That’s practically fine, Yujin…but set some ground rules.” Chaeyeon added. “No reacting on the cinema, no attempt to try and wrap your arm around her, and no acting like the dork that got choked with a Malteser, especially knowing that you’re crushing on THE most popular girl in school!”

Yujin knew Chaeyeon was right and took note of it.

“Also remember. She’s a Goddess and you’re a loving dork, dork, dork, dork…” Yena spoke and echoed.

“Spooky.” Yuri chimed while stopping her girlfriend.

Yujin sighed and decided to go for her unnie’s ideas.

I hope she notices me

+++

On the other side, Sakura was frantic after losing a game in Fortnite and of hearing Wonyoung’s words. The rest of the squad were aware of it and they decided to gather  and talk it out in Eunbi’s house.

“Wonie, you’re joking right?” Sakura asked as she held her shoulders. “Did I just hear you really like that Ahn Yujin?! Oh, Lord, Father of all holiness, please tell me our Wonie’s joking~”

“You really like Yujin now?” Chaewon rose from her beauty sleep wearing a clay mask with cucumbers on her eyes, almost scaring the rest. “You realize how it will affect your status as Goddess, right?”

“Caste system.” Hitomi added after eating bread.

“Jeez, Wonie…how did you even settle for that?” Sakura asked, face-palming.

“You mean settling for a dork like her?” Nako added.

“Guys, enough.” Eunbi reprimanded them. “Be nice. Cut Yujin and Wonyoung some slack.”

“Thanks, unnie.” Wonyoung sighed. “Come on, guys. She may be a dork but she means well.” She added another sigh and a look of praise above. “Hananim, thank you for giving me the openness  and perception to have a crush on Yujinie~”

“Pft. Yujinie?” Chaewon added. “Is that someone that will grant you three wishes? Hehe…”

Wonyoung gave a glare and Chaewon was tossed a towel by Eunbi. Just then, Eunbi gave her a word of advice. “If you want to get close to her, try to have an initiative to talk to her. There’s no harm in getting to know each other more.”

“Also, no sudden engagements! You two are still babies!” Sakura added. “You’re our baby.”

“Nako’s more childish than me.” Wonyoung chuckled that Nako raged like an angry bird. “Anyway, thanks for the advice, unnies!”

Wonyoung skipped out of the room to get some snacks. The rest of them sighed and hoped for the best.

I hope Yujinie notices me~

+++

It was another day in school. Yujin was looking for her friends – she even made calls – to which she didn’t see. Just then, a text from Chaeyeon popped up.

We’re at the field.

Yujin ran there like lightning and got there, only to get hit by something on the way. Yujin got up and quickly reacted as she saw who she bumped.

“Oh no…I’m so sorry, Wonyoung.” Yujin helped her up.

“Oh, no…it’s okay, Yujin. It’s my fault for not looking where I was going.”

“No, it’s not. I feel awful…please…” Yujin got a clean hanky and wiped the dust off of Wonyoung’s uniform.

Wonyoung looked calm but the close distance made her inside squeal. Yujin felt the same way for the latter that her palms were sweating. Nonetheless, Wonyoung was spotless and thankfully, she didn’t have injuries.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” Yujin smiled. “Sorry again. I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

“Ah…we’re both blind.” Wonyoung added and they laughed. “So…what brings you here in the field?”

“Chaeyeon texted me and said they were here…” Yujin spoke and looked around. “…but I don’t see them.”

“Same with Eunbi. I’m looking for my friends too.”

The two towers looked around, not realizing that from a distant bush, ten girls were cramped in their hiding spot. 

Yena and Yuri were watching over Yujin, just as Nako and Hitomi watched over Wonyoung. Eunbi and Chaeyeon texted them, Hyewon and Sakura were batting each other quietly, and Minju and Chaewon were silently awkward at each other.

“Did you text them?” Nako asked.

“We did.” Chaeyeon grinned and pressed send.

On cue, Yujin and Wonyoung’s phones rang and they read their texts. They put their phones back in their pockets and sighed.

“My friends went home without me.” Yujin huffed.

“Mine too,” said Wonyoung. “By the way, Yujin…”

“Yes?” Yujin faced to the side and was stopped as Wonyoung faced her too.

Both of their hearts were pumping and they were wondering what they should say. Yujin had the upper hand and asked. “What was it you’re gonna say, Wonyoung?”

“I…there’s this restaurant where I usually eat.”

“Then…” Yujin inched closer. “…will it be fine if I treat you there?”

Wonyoung nodded instantly. Yujin asked again for assurance but Wonyoung’s answer didn’t change. It was decided and the two walked out together. 

It would be a success for the friends through their hi-fives and hugs that turned awkward after sudden contacts. But the true success in this moment was of two babies in the squads acknowledging their feelings and trying to work it out one step at a time.

For Yujin and Wonyoung, it was the first that they finally noticed each other.