Genre: Crack, Fluff, Romance, School

Summary: A typical school love story where Chaewon, your typical architectural student, are in-love with ENOZI's popular cheerleader sweetheart, Hitomi. At first, Chaewon thought Hitomi is just way too out of her reach; until she fainted in front of her where everything rapidly changes.

Word Count: 9778

Hashtag: #SSBB_ShesOutOfMyLeague

She's Out of My League

“Now to start our program, let me present to you all our school’s pride, IZ*BUBZ cheerleading squad!”

Series of loud screams can be heard inside the wide gymnasium as the popular cheerleading squad walked across the area, greeting the crowd cheerfully, waving their hands up high and the crowd responds with screams. It was rowdy that Chaewon can’t helped but to wince as the piercing voices of her schoolmates resonated into her. She knew this was a bad idea. Coming to an event she don’t even know what for and if not for the fact that her best friends will be attending, she won’t too. 

Chaewon sighed and yanked her friend’s arm softly who’s in her left screaming her lungs out. “Yah Yena, when this will end?” She asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s ask this giant here” Yena said, pulling the girl beside her left who are also screaming loudly with the crowd. “Yah Yujin, what time will this program end?” Yena asked.

“Probably six in the afternoon or something. I’m not sure, why? Do you want to go home already?” Yujin asked without looking at the latter. Her crush is already dancing at the center, making Yujin crazy. “GO MINJOO! AHHHH!”

Chaewon just released another sigh of frustration. I should be studying right now, but instead I have to wait 4 more hours of damnation. She thought. As much as she wanted to ditch her friends and go home, she wouldn’t be able to because her school required them to attend this event and she can’t go out the school premises until it finishes which is to her is a complete bull. So, of course, without anything to do anymore she turned her gaze at the people dancing in front the stage. And not even 5 minutes in the performance, she’s already bored. Enjoying this type of entertainment had never been her strong suit. 

But what if I escape and go to the rooftop? That’s probable. Yeah. Maybe I should do it.

She was about to stand up and execute her plan, but then she halted. Because looking at the stage, she saw the cutest girl– if not, the most beautiful person she ever saw in her life. The girl is wearing her cheerleading uniform that have white and pink linings on it, with her hair tied into clean ponytail, perfectly coiffed except for her disheveled fringe that just added the adorableness of the latter. The cheerleader is also wearing her cute smile that Chaewon undeniably adores now, her fluffy cheeks are showing and if not for the fact that the girl is dancing at the front she might as well jog her way to her and squish it.

She never seen a girl quite like her. And the way she danced? Holy . It’s like she’s not asking for attention, per se, all she does was, well, dance. But you are still going to end up looking at her.

To say that Chaewon is not enticed by it, is a complete lie.

“Yena…” Chaewon called out. Yena turned to her side and saw Chaewon in utter trance.

“What’s up? Are you okay?” She worriedly asked.

“Who’s that?”

“Who?”

“The girl at the center, what’s her name?”

“Oh her? That’s Honda Hitomi, from class 2-1. Why’d you asked? Are you interested?” Yena flashes her friend a smirk.

Honda Hitomi.

Am I interested?

“Maybe…”

ꟷ

          And that’s how Chaewon’s attraction for the ENOZI’s cheerleading sweetheart, Honda Hitomi, started. Chaewon hardly gets a crush to someone. To be honest, this might be the first time she felt attraction towards another person at all. She’s always been this type of kid who don’t dream about fairytale stories. All she cares about is going to school, finish her degree then probably changed the society. But love? No fun at all. So whenever someone will try to pursue her, if there’s any, like one in grade school, she just rejected him. Because aside from the fact that she is very gay, she’s just not interested at all.

But for this one.

God.

Honda Hitomi.

How would she even begin to describe her? 

She’s so talented, intelligent and so beautiful that it almost floored Chaewon. And not just that, the girl is so kind that she might be a saint at this point. Hitomi is a warm-hearted person, hard-working, bright, thoughtful and everything in between. That’s why it’s no shocker when the girl have a lot of suitors in line to have her ‘yes’. 

Hitomi is just way too out of her league. 

Way up there that she decided to never attempt courting her because Chaewon is just not the type of person where that kind of girl usually end up with. So she stays hidden and admire Hitomi at the corner. But it’s not like she’s subtle about it, she’s just not vocal about her admiration. Actually, it leaves her friends wander what’s happening with her because after that event, they noticed that Chaewon changed. She stays in university after class just to watch cheerleading practices with Yujin more often which is weird because she usually goes home after class. 

So when Chaewon finally admit her adoration to the ENOZI’s sweetheart, Honda Hitomi, they are not even surprised.

“Hey, Chaewon. Look it’s your crush!” Yena intoned as Hitomi and their friends passed by their table. The group are currently situated at the study area. It’s a wide covered place and tables with chairs are scattered around properly and it is the area where most students spend their time either studying, doing their activities or eating.

“Shut up, Yena.” She retaliated, her tone hardening. A warning sign that if Yena don’t stop, the book she’s reading right now will end up on Yena’s face. But of course, Yena is not scared by that– in fact, she’s even more determined to annoy the other. “What? She might finally notice you” She said.

Knowing that Yena’s not going to zip , Chaewon could only sighed in frustration. “When are you going to approach her, Chaewon?” Yujin softly asked. She glanced to her friend after making sure that Hitomi and her friends are already away from their table.

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe the day you are brave enough to approach Minjoo” Chaewon could feel the uneasiness rippling into Yujin, making her sighed in relief because that means she won. But then, Yujin really had to asked, “What if that day is today?” 

“I would like to see you try” 

Okay first of all, she underestimated Yujin’s bravery because the moment those words rolled out from , the chaotic gay that is Ahn Yujin suddenly stand up from her sit to approach Minjoo. Of course, everyone in the table, and by everyone means Hyewon, Chaeyeon and Yena including Chaewon herself, are witnessing the long-awaited interaction unfold. 

“Holy ” Yena cursed. “Is she for real?!” Chaeyeon asked excitingly.  

Hyewon, for the first time in her life, put her food down just to witness this once in a lifetime moment. “She’s really doing it, what the !” She cry out. On the other hand, Chaewon is also panicking right now, if Yujin really do it, IF she really do it then Chaewon have to do it too.

Regrets. Regrets is all I have

They watched Yujin walked hastily to Minjoo’s direction. Her head is held up high, her gaze are fixated to her crush. The four people at the back are anticipating the interaction with their hands glued together. “Hyewon ready your camera, just in case” Yena whispered.

Hyewon smirked and put out her phone. “Aye, cap!” 

“Uh, hi?” Minjoo asked curiously to the girl who suddenly show up at their table, looking at her albeit intensely. They are busy eating when the girl walked into their table and stand in front of her. She didn’t notice it at first because her back is facing the girl, she only realized it when her friends told her to turn around.

“…”

Minjoo looked at the girl worriedly. “Are you okay?” She asked in a calm tone.

Still no response. Yujin’s brain is a mess, her frontal lobe is probably off somewhere that she can’t think of anything to say. It’s like she was thrown into abyss and don’t know how to get back. She was literally just staring at Minjoo.

Meanwhile, at the back of the chaos, the other 4 are intensively looking out for their friend.

“Guys, I think Yujin malfunctioned,” Chaewon continued “She’s not moving!” She said. 

“Somebody save her from embarrassment, come on!” Yena declared while aggressively shoving the other girls. “Yah! You do it!” Chaeyeon demanded, pushing Chaewon to stand up to get their friend.

Chaewon stood up, but stop herself first. “Why me?!” She asked.

“You are the one who provoke her! You should do it!” Hyewon said. 

“No way in hell I’m going in there! I might end up in the same situation!” She exclaimed. She’s not going to risk her life and show herself in front of Hitomi. She might embarrass herself in front of her crush, so she remain seated again and watch the scene unfold. 

On the other hand, 

“Umm…” Minjoo looked far back and she can see Yujin’s friend looking at them with pure anticipation. When the es noticed that Minjoo is staring at their way, they immediately scattered around and looked at things except at their direction, pretending that they are not watching their friend gay panicking. “Yujin, right?” Minjoo asked, calmly.

Yujin remains frozen on her spot, “Y-yeah…” She uttered softly. Yujin almost faint right at that moment when Minjoo flashed her soft smile at her. Take me. She thought.

Minjoo chuckled because of Yujin’s cuteness. She always see Yujin in her practices at their gymnasium bench. At first, she thought the girl just like watching their practices until she realized that she’s cheering for Minjoo’s name every competition (not that she’s looking out for the girl’s presence). That’s when Minjoo knew she’s not just a bystander. However, these past few months, not only Yujin are there watching but also the short haired friend of hers, who is looking at their direction earlier. 

Her train of thoughts got cut off when Yujin finally respond. “I-I, umm… I just want to say that– uh, w-well…” Due to the nervous breakdown, Yujin can’t help herself to stutter and smack her head, making Minjoo smiled. She’s cute. She thought. 

“Y-you are great. At dancing. I-uh- I admire you,” Yujin paused and inhaled. “Yeah. I admire your talent. Keep it up. Hehe. Bye” After saying what she wanted (part of) to say, Yujin turned around to walk away but she got blocked before she even go.

“Well, that was a disaster” said by the person blocking her way.

“ off, Hyunjin” said by one of Hitomi’s friends, Yuri. They’ve been silent the whole time, just watching the cute scene in front of them until someone has to ruin it. 

 “What?” Hyunjin walked and stand beside Yujin, who is hanging her head low and not joining the conversation. He placed his arms at her shoulder and said, “If I talk to my crush might as well prepare myself first ‘cause I’ll end up looking stupid. First impression is important, right Minjoo?” He concluded, while looking at the girl in front of them, even tightening the grip of his hold to Yujin’s shoulder.

“Stop it, Hyunjin” Hitomi immediately retorted when she noticed Yujin is getting uncomfortable. 

“Hi Hitomi!” said by the other person with Hyunjin, Kim Jaehwan. He walked closer to the girl and sat beside her, which got a series of displeased expression from the other girls.

“Piss off, Jae” Nako said, also part of their squad.

“Anyway, I just wanted to give you this” Jaehwan offered and gave the lemon yoghurt drink to Hitomi “Heard you’ll have a practice later so…” 

And Hitomi, being the kind hearted she is, accepted the drink. 

“And also, I forgot, here Minjoo” Hyunjin gave her an iced coffee, Minjoo just looked at Hyunjin’s hand with a cup of iced coffee. “Uh– I do-”

“She don’t drink coffee” Yujin said while looking at Minjoo then glanced at the guy beside her, taking off the arms placed on her shoulders. “Just a tip” and walked away. She’s in the middle of walking back to their table until Hyunjin yanked her arms.

“Don’t walk away from me,” He continued “No one walks away from me until I say so” He said, weakly but with anger. 

Hwang Hyunjin, along with Jaehwan, are part of the gang in their school. Most of times, they are avoiding fighting at their school to not get expelled, but sometimes there are just fights that cannot be avoided, like what’s about to come now.

Yujin can feel the anger in his voice so she chose to better off walk away again, but little did she know Hyunjin was about to push her until someone from her side spoke.

“Touch her again and I’ll feed your arms to my hyenas” 

“C-Chaewon unnie…”

Pure silence enveloped their table. No one’s moving an inch, even Hyunjin who remain focused at the girl who spoke-out. The tension was so high that the sanest person in there decided to break it. 

“Uh, let’s not break this out of proportion,” Hitomi said, calmly. Standing between Yujin, Chaewon and Hyunjin. “Jaehwan, please take Hyunjin now” She demanded.

“Alright,” Jaehwan stood up from his seat and tugged Hyunjin’s arms. “Let’s go, Hyun” And then they walked away.

“We’re sincerely apologized for that. Hyunjin, um, he’s just very aggressive when it comes to-“

“Don’t say sorry,” Yujin continued “It’s not your fault that his ego is more fragile than a glass” She said, looking at the girl passed Hitomi’s back. “Are you okay?” She asked.

“Y-Yeah,” Minjoo responded “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay,” Yujin flashed Minjoo a smile “Anyway, we should go now. We’re sorry for bothering you” She said and bowed. 

However, Chaewon remains at her position. 

Standing in front of Hitomi, her crush.

As much as she would like to take her gaze off and walk away, Hitomi is looking at her too, intensively. And she just can’t take her eyes off her. Using all the courage she have, she finally spit the words building up in .

“A-Are you alright?” I stuttered . Where’s the thick face you’ve shown earlier to those ?

Chaewon is having a world war in her mind. She probably messed up because the girl in front of haven’t responded yet. It was good 30 seconds of eye contact until Hitomi decided to kill her right at that moment.

“Yes, I’m alright,” Hitomi smiled warmly. “Thank you for asking.”

Hitomi ing smiled at me.

She smiled at me.

Oh my god! Holy . I’m hyperventilating.

! Damn!

I can’t breathe.

“Chaewon, are you okay?” Hitomi asked, looked at her worriedly and caress her arms. Chaewon is just looking at her with her eyes wide open. Hitomi also notice the continuous aggressive breathing of the girl. Is she hyperventilating? She concluded. 

! She’s touching me and she knows my name! I’m dying, ! Chaewon thought.

Noticing that Chaewon is probably malfunctioning right now, Yujin nudged her friend. “Yah unnie! Get a grip.” She whispered, which got immediate response from the girl.

“Y-Yes. Yeah. I’m okay.” She said, breathless. 

“Are you sure?” Hitomi asked.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m g-good. I’m fine” 

As if the god’s is not entirely with her today, and it’s all because of the concerning amount of CO2 she inhaled right at this moment, Chaewon suddenly out. 

Good thing? Hitomi catch her.

Literally and figuratively.

ꟷ

          From the looks of the room, Chaewon thought that she’s probably in their university’s clinic. She just woke up from the embarrassing moment that just happened earlier in the morning. 

“Oh, you’re awake” the nurse, Miss Eunbi, said to her. “How are you feeling?” She asked.

“I’m okay now. Little dizzy but I can manage” Chaewon stated.

Eunbi offered her a cup of water and a capsule “Oh, okay. Drink this medicine then you’ll be fine,” She continued “Are you going back to class?” 

“Yeah. I can’t skip”

“Alright. You can go now. Just remember to drink the meds I’ve given to you, okay?” Eunbi asked which got a reply of a nod from Chaewon.

She walked her way to their classroom. The teacher let her in and the girls welcomed her, asking about her condition. They are about get noisy again if only their teacher didn’t almost throw the marker she’s holding. Knowing that they might get detention, they stayed focused on the class.

After 2 hours of lecture, they went back to the study area where they are positioned earlier. 

“Just when we thought Yujin panicking couldn’t get any worse, but here we are. You ing fainted!” Hyewon exclaimed, pointing at Chaewon whilst laughing.

“I still can’t believe it. Like who faints in front of their crushes? Only you! The second hand embarrassment you have brought upon me” Yena snapped. Chaeyeon is just laughing her off at the corner with Yujin, who is doing her best effort to not laugh so much because technically, she’s part of the accident.

“Oh shut the up you all!” Chaewon said, aggressively. “I’m built different” She continued.

“Yeah because no does that!” Hyewon said and released a loud laugh. My head, oh my head. Chaewon watches her friends make fun of her, laughing at the most unfortunate that ever happened in her life. Out of all the moments I could have done it, it was really the moment where I’m finally talking to Hitomi.  

She was busy thinking about how is she going to retain her reputation back that she didn’t notice that the girls are not laughing anymore and looking at the girl standing at her back.

“Hey” the girl called.

When the voice penetrates her ear, Chaewon froze again. She glanced up at her friends and she can see them eyeing her with their brows going up and down. . Chaewon turned around and faced the girl. And just how fast she fell for the girl’s charms, that’s how fast her brain malfunctioned again.

“Hi, Chaewon” Hitomi greeted, all smiles. “Are you okay now?” She asked, softly. 

Determined to change her impression to Hitomi, Chaewon pulled herself back to Earth and responded. “Yes, I’m okay now. Truthfully this time.” She said. Her face is smiling but her brain is on full blown panicked mode.

“That’s good. You made me worried there” Hitomi said and pat Chaewon’s head, which the cause of Chaewon’s misery again.

I’ll be damned.

“Well, I just wanted to check up on you. I’ll go ahead now,” Hitomi grinned. “Be extra careful, okay?” She said, softly. Because of the closeness that Hitomi initiated, Chaewon was completely ruined so she just nodded at Hitomi. 

Before leaving, Hitomi pat Chaewon’s head again and adorably smiled at her then she left.

I’m doomed.

The other girls looked at their friend, completely in trance. “Chae…” Yena called. “Earth to Chaewon” She said while waving her hands in front of the girl’s face.

“ it, I’ll do it.” Hyewon said, motioning to smack Chaewon with their architectural book.

“No! Yah!” Chaeyeon, of course, prevent it from happening.

“Guys…” Chaewon started.

“Yes?” They asked.

“I can’t breathe…” Chaewon stated, almost blacking out.

“No!” The girls immediately went closer to Chaewon and slap her lightly “You can’t faint again” But then she did it again. Chaewon fainted for the second time.

“Sweet lord” Yujin could only sighed while carrying Chaewon on the way to clinic.

ꟷ

          Days had passed and they already moved on from all the things that happened week ago. Yena is still teasing her about it, but not that much anymore. Things are already back to its rightful places and just like before, Chaewon remains the achiever amongst them. Studying her off because their finals are already near and she can’t kid around now. So all she just did was to read and practice until she probably already memorized each content on her book. It was just like that for the past few days until Arts Design subject came in, where Chaewon have to communicate with different students she don’t know.

Apparently, she’s classmate with her friends to all subject except for this one and it’s because of the reason she honestly don’t know. Probably, they got confused and mixed her up. Amongst all the people there, she only know one and that is Kim Minjoo. So when their professor instructed them to partner with someone for an upcoming project, she didn’t hesitate to approach Minjoo.

Luckily, Minjoo agreed. No surprises because they’ve been talking and asking each other for the homework since they realized that they are classmates and Minjoo said she don’t know anyone in their room too. Right now, they are goin’ to meet up at the library to finally plan out their project. She said to meet up at 3 PM, but it’s 3:10 already. Is she going to show up?

Whilst organizing her things to get ready for their activity, her phone vibrated. She picked up her phone and read the message she received.

“Have fun. But not too much fun. Minjoo‘s mine” She read. Silly Yujin. She was about to type and respond to her friend when she noticed the girl she’s been waiting for, finally arrived.

“Sorry I’m late. We have to do another round before coach let us go.” Minjoo hastily prepared her stuff then took a seat opposite to her.

The latter glanced at her and said, “Oh, it’s alright, It’s only 10 minutes. So did you bring the book?” 

“Ah, yeah. Here. Borrowed it from my friend,” Minjoo continued, “What are we going to do today again?” She asked.

“Well, since we are done with the concept, we’ll go ahead with the planning now.” Chaewon replied.

“Oh okay”

It’s been a good one hour before they able to come up with proper plan with their project. Chaewon is quite happy that she partnered with Minjoo though. She’s not used partnering with people doing projects that’s why she’s grateful to Minjoo for being laid back and making her feel comfortable but very helpful too. Nevertheless, she can’t say that in front of Yujin though, she don’t want to die early.

“Hey, Chae” Minjoo called. 

“Hmm?” 

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Aren’t you already asking me?” Chaewon asked teasingly.

“Hah, you’re funny” The latter just rolled her eyes out and laughed sarcastically. Chaewon just released a chuckled, “I’m sorry. Sure, go ahead” She said.

“About Yujin, your friend,” Minjoo chuckled nervously, “I’m curious, is she seeing someone?” She asked. 

Chaewon gave her a puzzled look before answering. “Ah. Yes, of course.” With that Minjoo deflated. “Oh...” 

“Why wouldn’t she? Yujin have working eyes. Of course, she’s seeing me, seeing you. She’s seeing peop-“

“I swear to god, Kim Chaewon! Can you spare me from your sarcasm?” Minjoo demanded, making Chaewon laugh inside. She never knew it was this easy to tease the girl. “Well, Kim Minjoo, you have to be more specific.”

“Are you being serious right now?” Minjoo stressed. The exasperation in her voice is visible.

“Nah. I’m just messing with you. Anyway, my answer is no. I think. She’s not the kind that tells her romantic adventures though. But one thing I know is that she’s too caught up with someone to be in relationship with anyone” She stated. “So she likes someone, but they are not together?” The latter asked.

Chaewon nodded.

“Well, do you know who?” Chaewon can see the anticipation in Minjoo’s eyes, but of course she’s going to crushed that. As much as she wanted for Yujin to have her girl already, she can’t do that to her friend.

“There’s no way I’m gonna tell you that” She stressed.

“Worth a shot”

“You gotta have to ask her. Why’d you wanted to know, by the way? Do you like my friend?” Chaewon smirked. She thinks she knows the answer. She can sense it by the way how Minjoo behaving right now. Something she usually sees with her friends whenever they talked about their crushes.  She just wanted to make sure about that so she asked.

“N-Nothing,” Minjoo replied, startled. “I was just curious. That’s all…”

Chaewon sighed by that. “You know, I always have thought that you are good with everything, but turns out I’m wrong”

“What do you mean?” Minjoo throw her a confused look. 

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