—Midterms—

After the spirit week ended, the last week before winter break was midterms. The trio were back on the roof and were nervous about the tests since they had to improve their grades in order to stay friends with Soojin. 

“Guys, calm down” Jiyoon said. “We all worked really hard, the first day is just English and we’ve never had problems with that. We got this!” 

Monday and Soeun nodded their heads in agreement “Yeah! We can do this!”

They cheered each other on and headed to Miss Hayoung’s English class to take their first midterm. 

Once the test was over the three girls asked each other about how they felt. 

Soeun stretched her arms and back saying “I think it was alright, not one of the hardest tests but it wasn’t the easiest” 

Monday also agreed. “It was harder than I thought it would be but I think I still aced it”

Jiyoon smiled at her friends responses “Good! If we keep going like this, we won’t have to worry about the principal bothering us!”

They went to their next class was History but that didn’t have a midterm, only a semester paper which they had finished and turned in. 

Since it was midterms week, each student had a various time for their test and it depended on the classes that they took. For the junior trio the three had finished their classes for the first day of the midterms and were about to head home to study more for their upcoming tests tomorrow. 

While they were heading out Soeun saw Soojin heading to another classroom. I guess unnie has a test now. She thought while looking at Soojin.

Soojin was heading to her next class for her calculus test but felt like someone was watching her. She turned around and saw Soeun looking at her. Their eyes met for a while and Soojin raised her eyebrows silently asking the question “What?”

Soeun was surprised that Soojin saw her and smiled. She raised her right arm slightly and mouthed “fighting!” 

Soojin smiled back and copied the action as well. She waved goodbye and headed in to her class. 

Soeun turned back to her friends when she saw Soojin go inside the class. 

——————

The next day, Soeun and her friends prepared for their midterms again, this was their last day for testing with 3 midterms. The first test was math (Trig/pre calc) and Soeun was very nervous. 

The three were heading to the rooftop to hang out before class when she saw a post it note on the door that read:

To: Soeun,

Don’t be too nervous for your midterms. I know you’ll do great! Fighting! ٩( ᐛ )و

♡ Soojin 

Soeun looked at the note and smiled. She put the note into her phone case for safe keeping, she then opened the door to the rooftop with her two best friends smirking. 

“Hehe what’s with that smile? What did the post it note say?” Jiyoon cheekily asked. 

Soeun snapped back “None of your business!” 

Monday laughed “it’s probably something from Soojin unnie, right?”

The girls started bickering with each other on the roof instead of studying. 

The bell rang alerting the girls to head to class, the three looked at each other nervously Sh*t we forgot to review our notes before the test. 

They headed down the stairs and to math class hoping that the test wouldn’t be too hard. 

———————

Once the math midterm was over the girls discussed how they thought they did. 

Jiyoon bragged “I think that was one of the best midterms I’ve done so far. What about you guys?”

Monday shrugged “not sure, I feel like I knew more things but I don’t know”

Soeun stayed quiet knowing that she did not do well on the midterm. When she got the test she was so nervous that she ended up forgetting everything that Soojin taught her. Frick. I should have studied before the test and not fooled around on the roof. *sigh* Don’t worry about it. She thought. I have other midterms I can’t just dwell on that one, I have to make up for it on my other ones. I still have a chance to improve. 

The trio headed to Mr. Seungwoo’s physics for their next midterm. 

———————

The day ended and the girls cheered leaving campus. 

“Yay!” Jiyoon yelled. “Winter break is here! Let’s get some ice cream to celebrate!!”

“Yah!” Monday yelled back. “Who eats ice cream in winter, it’s freezing!”

Soeun playfully rolled her eyes at her friends, and laughed “how about we go to a cafe then?”

Jiyoon nodded “sounds good to me!”

The three went to the bus stop, and at the bus stop, Soeun was looking for the nearest cafe, and Monday spotted their freshman friends. 

“Hey Jaehee and Jihan! Over here!” She called out to them. 

The freshman looked over and headed to the juniors. “Hey unnies! Did you finish all your midterms?”

“Yup! We’re headed to a cafe to celebrate and relax, know any good places?”

“Yes! There’s this really nice place nearby, Zoa and I usually go over there for our dates” Jihan suggested

“Oh cool! Let’s go there then!” Soeun said. 

“Where are we going?” A random voice behind them asked. 

The girls turned around and said “Soojin unnie!” 

Soojin smiled “Hey guys! Did you all do well on your midterms?” She said scanning over the group. 

Various answers were given. “Yup!” “Great!” “I think I did well” 

Soojin looked and locked eyes with Soeun wondering how the girl did, since she was the only who stayed quiet. 

Soeun just looked away, breaking their eye contact. 

Soojin frowned. Soeun must have not done as well as she had hoped. I hope she’s not too disappointed. 

Their bus arrived taking the girls to Jihan’s recommended cafe. “Zoa is going to meet us there” Jihan excitedly said. 

The entire time from the bus ride to the cafe, Soeun avoided Soojin. Jiyoon noticed this when they were at the cafe and Soeun decided to sit next to her and not Soojin. Wonder what’s up with Soeun. Why is she avoiding Soojin? Is it because of the midterms?

Soojin also noticed Soeun’s strange behavior. The older girl tried to get Soeun to sit next to her on the bus like they usually do, and also tried to talk to her on the way to the cafe. The taller girl deliberately walked faster and instead talked to Monday to avoid Soojin. Did I do something wrong? Soojin wondered. I thought we were getting closer after the tutoring sessions but this feels like how we were in the beginning. 

Soeun, on the other hand, tried to avoid talking to Soojin as she was disappointed about doing bad on her math midterm, and some of the other ones. The grades weren’t out yet but she knew that there was a slight chance that she didn’t improve. The words of the principal kept repeating in her mind. “If you don’t improve on your midterms, you will not be able to hang out with Soojin anymore” Soeun felt guilty to hang out with Soojin knowing that she’ll probably have to stop being friends with the older girl. So instead she decided to just avoid her. 

Soeun was in the cafe sitting between Jiyoon and Monday to avoid Soojin, who was farthest from everyone. She picked at her slice of cake not really feeling in the mood to eat. 

Soojin also feeling a bit upset from Soeun’s attitude also just slowly sipped her hot chocolate she ordered. 

The girls were eating their desserts in the cafe and Jihan, noticing the weird and tense atmosphere between Soeun and Soojin, she tried to lighten it. 

“Mmm! This cake is so yummy! Isn’t this place good?” 

Jiyoon smiled at Jihan’s attempt to improve the atmosphere “Yeah! This place is great! I can see why you and Zoa go for dates here, Right Monday?” She looked over to Monday. 

Monday nodded but was still in her own world with Jaehee as if this was their own private date. 

*Beep beep* Soojin’s phone rang and she looked at her messages. She sighed and told her friends that her father wants her home early, so she has to go. “Sorry guys” 

“No, don’t worry about it!” Jiyoon said. 

Soojin slightly smiled to Jiyoon and looked over to Soeun for one last time. The girl was still avoiding her eye contact. Soojin pouted a bit, and gathered her things heading for the door. 

Jiyoon who noticed the exchange between the two was irritated by Soeun’s behavior. Why is she acting like this? I thought she likes Soojin unnie. 

“Get home safely” 

Soojin paused for a bit, before recognizing that it was Jiyoon’s voice and not the person she was hoping for. “Yeah...” she then headed out the door and to the nearest bus stop. 

Once Soojin left, the girls then turned to face Soeun. 

“Uh What was that?” Jiyoon asked “Why are you being like that to Soojin unnie?”

Soeun shrank a little under the gazes of her friends “N-no reason” 

Jiyoon sighed. She looked over to the other girls and saw Monday and Jaehee talking and Zoa and Jihan enjoying their time together. “Yah, you and me-“ she gestured to the door “we need to talk” 

Soeun slowly got up and so did Jiyoon. “Hey guys sorry were gonna talk for a bit outside. You guys can stay here though” Jiyoon told the others. Monday nodded and gave a thumbs up. 

-Outside-

“Okay, now tell me what’s up” Jiyoon said while crossing her arms and looking at Soeun. 

Soeun sighed and told Jiyoon the truth. “I didn’t do very well on my midterms. I’m hoping I did well enough to improve my grades but I’m honestly unsure”

Jiyoon furrowed her brows “but I thought Soojin unnie helped you out? That wasn’t enough?”

“She did help me out. But I got too nervous and forgot everything. I’m such an idiot”

“So what? You’re just going to ignore Soojin unnie, after everything she tried to do for you?”

“W-well... I... I figured that the principal already said that if I don’t improve then I can’t be friends with Soojin unnie, since her father won’t allow it. He told us not to tell her the reason so maybe if Soojin unnie ends up disliking me then it will make it less hard not being friends” Soeun explained. 

Jiyoon stares at her friend in disbelief “you don’t really believe that, do you?”

Soeun looked at the ground unsure of how to respond. 

“How are you going to avoid her and get Soojin unnie to dislike you? You’re part of the student council club- you’re vice president, you’re probably the closest person to her” Jiyoon said. 

“I...” Soeun paused. “I’ll quit the club. You can be vice president” 

Jiyoon had wide open. Is this girl even thinking?! She thought. “Are you even in your right mind?! Quit?! Hell no! I’m not letting you do that!” 

“B-but there’s nothing I can do! You heard what the principal said!”

“Maybe we can try and get Soojin unnie to change his mind” Jiyoon suggested. 

“No. After winter break I’ll leave the club,” Soeun said and she turned around running to the bus stop to avoid talking to Jiyoon any more. 

“Yah! Soeun! Park Soeun!” Jiyoon yelled after Soeun. “Aish that idiot! What is she even thinking?!” I’ll just talk to her during the break. I think she’s just a bit stressed out right now. Jiyoon went back into the cafe to the other girls.

—Winter break—

*Beep* *Ring* *Ping*

Soeun’s phone kept going off due to the number of text messages and calls that she got from Jiyoon. 

Ugh. When is she going to stop bothering me. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her about leaving the club. They’ve become even more worried since the announcement of the midterm scores. Whatever I’ve given up trying to improve my grades, it’s just impossible. 

Soeun flopped back on her bed after turning her phone on silent. She drifted off into a nap. 

*Thunk* 

“Yah! Park Soeun!” 

Soeun jolted back awake “What?” She looked around wondering who was yelling. She then realized that the loud voice was Monday’s. She turned to look at her window and saw a snow footprint on the glass. Someone (probably Monday) threw her shoe at her window. She stuck her head out her window “What the hell do you want?!”

Jiyoon and Monday we’re outside her house “You weren’t answering your phone so we resorted to going to your house!” Jiyoon yelled back. “Are you really thinking about leaving the club?!”

“Yes!”

“Why don’t you talk to us first!”

“If I do will you stop bothering me!” 

“Yeah!”

Soeun grumbled and went downstairs to talk to her friends. She opened the door “alright, so what do you want to talk about? Also why the hell did you throw your shoe at my window!” She yelled noticing how Monday was balancing on one foot. 

“Okay before we talk let’s head to the mall to hang out and get some lunch” Monday said avoiding Soeun’s question about her shoe. 

“What?!” Soeun exclaimed. “You dragged me out of my room during winter break to go hang out and get lunch?! I wanted to relax in the comfort of my home”

“Too bad. We were supposed to meet up with Jaehee, Jihan and Zoa, and I don’t want to miss seeing Jaehee’s beautiful face just because my friend is being a dumba**” Monday replied. 

Soeun sighed. “Fine but you’re driving right?”

“Yup”

“Okay good, I’m not in the mood to take the bus. Let’s go.” Soeun responded back heading to Monday’s car. 

“But wait. Could you go back up and get my shoe? It fell into your window sill.” 

Soeun glared at her.

Monday shrugged back “well if you don’t get it then I can’t drive, plus I feel like my foot is gonna freeze off”

Soeun sighed and walked back into her house to get Monday’s shoe. She opened up her window and threw it back down at the taller girl. “Here’s your shoe, Cinderella!” 

Monday looked up and saw the shoe heading down, but she didn’t move since she noticed that Soeun’s aim was a bit off. Monday’s shoe was thrown a little too far right and it accidentally hit Jiyoon in the back of the head. “Owww! What the ?”

Soeun saw what happened and started laughing as she tried to apologize, “Pfft Haha I’m so sorry Jiyoon, I didn’t mean to hit you” 

Jiyoon angrily glared at Soeun “Yah!” 

Monday and Soeun kept cracking up and the girls walked to Monday’s car after she had put her shoe back on. Jiyoon grumpily  walked without talking to the other two still irritated about the shoe incident.  

——————

At the mall the trio were greeted by Jaehee who immediately went to Monday, and also the Zoahan duo. 

“Hey unnies!” They said. “You finally got Soeun to leave her house?”

“Yup!”

Soeun rolled her eyes, “Alright so what are we doing?”

“We’re going to have lunch now” Jiyoon said. “Come on, let’s go to McDonalds” 

Once the girls were at McDonalds they saw a girl waiting in front by herself. 

“Hey Soojin unnie!” Jiyoon called out to the girl. 

Soojin turned and saw the girls approaching. She immediately locked eyes on Soeun and smiled, waving to her. 

Soeun noticing Soojin looked away and pulled Jiyoon to the side. “Yah! You tricked me!” She whispered harshly. “You planned to meet Soojin unnie here!”

Jiyoon slyly smiled “what??? I don’t know what you’re talking about? It’s purely coincidental” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Soeun glared back “bullsh*t”

Jiyoon just shrugged and shook Soeun’s hands off. “I already told her what you told me, well... parts of what you told me. She wants to talk to you”

Soeun looked back over to Soojin, who looked back, she sighed and thought, well I had to tell her eventually right? Maybe I can make some sort of lie to get out of the club. She walked over to the girls who had found a table in McDonald’s. 

“Did you order me any food?” She asked Monday 

“Yeah! I got you some fries. You like that, right?”

Soeun smiled “yeah, thanks” she started to eat her french fries. 

The girls were all eating their McDonalds, once they were done, Monday stood up and said “The couples, meaning me and Jaehee and Zoa and Jihan are going to see a movie.” 

Soojin nodded her head “but wait, when did you and Jaehee become a couple?” she asked. 

Monday blushed “I... uh... I didn’t mean like a couple as in 'couple', what I meant was um...”

Jaehee smiled at Monday’s flustering “Since today” she announced while standing up, pulling Monday closer to her and tiptoeing to kiss Monday’s cheek. 

Monday blushed at the sudden kiss whereas Soojin smiled in response, happy that the two got together. Zoa and Jihan squealed happily. Jiyoon and Soeun on the other hand had their mouths open and eyes wide, they quickly recovered and congratulated their friend “Yeah we knew you could do it Monday!”

The two couples got up and headed out to the movie theater. 

Jiyoon who was awkwardly sitting with Soeun and Soojin also said “Um... I also have to go, I’m going to the arcade!” She ran off to give the other two privacy. 

Soeun saw Jiyoon run off and internally cursed the girl. Yah! Jiyoon! Don’t leave me! She sighed in frustration, and looked at Soojin who was the only one left at the table. She hadn’t talked to the older girl since midterms week so it was a little awkward and tense “H-hey?”

Soojin slightly smiled and relaxed a bit when Soeun spoke to her. “Hey, finished avoiding me?”

“Y-yeah...”

“You have some explaining to do, you know”

“Y-yeah...”

“Come on,” Soojin got up “let’s go somewhere more private and quiet” noticing that the McDonald’s was getting more crowded and loud. 

Soeun got up too and gathered her things following the older girl. They had ended up outside of the mall in a nearby park. 

——————

The two were sitting on a bench in the empty park, it was lightly snowing. 

“I love winter,” Soojin said enjoying the scenery. “It’s my favorite season”

Soeun smiled a bit, “me too”

Soojin surprised by Soeun’s voice looked over to the other girl, all the other times Soeun had spoken since the midterms sounded tense and nervous but now she was speaking normally and comfortably like how they were before. Soojin smiled “really?”

Soeun nodded looking at the scenery as well, the ice and snow glistened on the trees and grass. 

Soojin was watching Soeun and the two sat in silence for a while, enjoying the atmosphere until Soojin decided to talk to Soeun “So... why have you been avoiding me lately? I thought we were close friends?”

Soeun tensed up again at Soojin’s question. I have to think of some reason to get Soojin unnie to dislike me, since the principal and her father won’t want us being friends. Soeun looked down at her hands that were in her lap, “No... were not close friends” 

Soojin furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, Not close friends? Then what were they?

“I... I h-hate you unnie. I think you’re a goody-two-shoes, know-it-all, and a spoiled daughter that gets everything she asks for from her father and uncle” Soeun continued, trying to say whatever she could to make Soojin hate her. “Looking at you makes me sick, so once this winter break is over, I’m quitting the club. I don’t want to be vice president anymore.”

Soojin was listening to Soeun’s explanation with a straight face, not saying anything. 

They sat in silence for a good minute until Soeun looked over to Soojin and softly said “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Soojin looked back at Soeun “Well... if you hate me so much tell it to me directly. I want you to look at me and tell me that you hate me and that my face makes you sick”

Soeun gulped nervously knowing that she couldn’t, but still she had to try. She looked at Soojin straight into her eyes and said “I... I h-ha~ *sigh* I can’t” and she looked back down. 

Soojin shook her head, “Remember What I  told you when we first met?”

Soeun tried to think back but was drawing a blank. 

“I told you that ‘you shouldn’t lie to your senior, you know’. Remember?”

Soeun slowly nodded recalling their conversation in the hallway during music class. 

“So stop lying to me, and tell me what’s really going on.” Soojin said sternly. 

Soeun sighed again and decided to just tell Soojin what was going on. “I did bad on my midterms”

Soojin frowned, confused as to why Soeun was avoiding her just because she did bad on her midterms. She knew that Soeun wanted to raise her grades but figured that if her grades didn’t improve it wasn’t the end of the world. “So...?”

Soeun bit her lip, debating whether or not to tell Soojin about what the principal said. “The principal told me that if I don’t raise my grades with these midterms then we can’t be friends since your father said that you can only hang out with smart friends... or something like that.”

“What?”

Soeun continued. “That’s why Monday and I worked so hard to bring our grades up. Monday did well but I didn’t. I’m sorry.” She held her head down. 

Soojin grabbed Soeun’s hands, that were clenched together tightly, and relaxed them “Hey, why are you apologizing?” She softly said. 

Soeun’s throat felt tight and she swallowed, holding back tears. “I screwed everything up, and now we can’t be friends because I’m an idiot” 

Soojin shook her head, putting her arm around the other girl, “No, you’re really smart, Soeun-ah. You must have just done bad because of all the pressure that was put on you” 

Soeun calmed down slightly “But now what do we do? I tried to get you to hate me so we wouldn’t be friends but that didn’t work-“

Soojin laughed “Yeah, obviously” 

Soeun pouted “Hey! This is serious!” 

“Okay, okay calm down, don’t worry. I’ll just talk to my father about it and he should allow you to still be my friend regardless of your grades.” Soojin said. “Actually maybe if he met you guys then he’ll know just how cool you all are!”

Soeun smiled feeling her confidence increase, she put her hand on her chin and raised an eyebrow “you think I’m cool?” 

Soojin rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Soeun “Yah!” 

They laughed together. 

“You should have just told me about what was happening” Soojin softly said, cutting of their laughing session  

Soeun’s laughter slowly died down. “I... I’m sorry, unnie”

“I was so worried when you started avoiding me. I thought maybe I did something wrong, or...”

Soeun shook her head “No, no, unnie it wasn’t your fault, I was just being dumb”

Soojin grinned “You got that right” 

The two continued to talk comfortably with each other. 

——————

“So have you two finally made up?” A voice said from behind. 

The two turned around and saw Jiyoon. 

“Yeah” Soeun responded with a smile and looked over to Soojin who was also smiling back. 

Jiyoon just shook her head at her two friends “geez, you two. Come on, it’s freezing out here, let’s go back into the mall”. She walked back. 

The Sooso duo followed Jiyoon back to the mall. On the way there, Soeun’s hand accidentally brushed against Soojin’s and she bolted back surprised, “Oh my god! Unnie, your hand is so cold” 

Soojin confused looked at her hands, She supposed it felt a bit cold since they were sitting in the snow for a while. She shrugged “I guess”

Soeun grabbed Soojin’s hand again, “Don’t worry my hand is warm” 

Soojin laughed “I see,” when looking at their hands intertwined. “Your hand is really big, Soeun-ah”

Soeun looked back at their hands “Hmm, yeah I’ve been told my hands are big. Your hands are soft, unnie”

Soojin smiled “I guess they’re pretty soft”

Soeun continued to look at their hands when she noticed the bracelet on Soojin’s wrist “Oh!”

Soojin heard Soeun’s sudden gasp and looked at what she was staring at, “it’s the bracelet you gave me for my birthday. I wear it everyday, it’s pretty”

“Really? You like it?”

“I love it <3”

Soeun smiled brightly “I’m glad you like it”

The two walked into the mall and saw the couples waiting for them, since their movie finished. 

Monday saw Soeun and Soojin holding hands and bluntly asked “Are you two dating now?” 

The two immediately let go of each other’s hands, realizing that it probably looked weird to their friends. 

“U-uh No” they both stuttered. 

“W-we’re just friends” Soojin said. 

Soeun awkwardly laughed “ha ha... yeah” mumbling the last part. 

The rest of them looked at the two and shrugged off the awkward behavior. “Okay whatever, as long as it’s not that weird tense avoiding atmosphere I guess that’s better.” Monday said. 

Zoa agreed “Yeah! It was so tense the last time when we went to the cafe and the two of them weren’t talking” 

Soeun threw her arm around Soojin’s shoulder “Don’t worry, we’re good now” she looked at the older girl and smiled “right?”

Soojin returned the smile and nodded “yeah”

———————

The girls were walking to the parking lot/bus stop to head back home. 

The ‘02 trio were the only ones who were leaving by car, the other girls were taking the bus. 

“Do you want a ride Jaehee?” Monday asked her girlfriend. 

Jaehee nodded “sure” 

“Okay I’ll drop you off after Jiyoon and Soeun”

“Sounds good”

The oldest and the maknaes went off to the bus stop but before they left Soojin said “Keep your schedules free over break, let’s hang out some more?” 

The other girls agreed “sounds like fun!”

“Bye!” They all said and went their separate ways. 

——————

Notes 

The story will continue with their Winter break and the girls will meet Soojin’s father during that time. 

Thanks for reading. :)