BZZT BZZT BZZT…

…

BZZT BZZT BZZT…

As a rectangular box buzzed from its time, a small Korean girl groaned, rolling onto her side whilst hugging a plushie of a dog.

BZZT BZZT B-

A milky white hand searched for the box on the bedside table, successfully hitting a button that made the annoying noise stop.

“Okay okay I get it… I need to wake up, it’s not break anymore.”

The girl sat up and yawned, drowsily rubbing at her eyes as she let go of her plush. She stood up, pulling away her window curtains to reveal almost-dead trees, leaves blowing around in the wind.

‘It's almost winter…’

The girl smiled, heading over to her small bathroom to clean herself up and get ready for the day to come. 

She glanced at herself in the mirror as she fixed up her school uniform, brushing aside her long hair. 

She thought to herself, ‘I need to dye my hair again…’

Her hair was naturally dark, but past her chin, her locks were a platinum blonde all the way to the tips near her midsection. 

“Minjeong-ah, are you ready for school?”

The named girl, Minjeong, quickly went out to open her room’s door, “yes eomma~”        (mom)

She grabbed her bag from the floor, doubling back into her room to grab her phone from her desk before walking over to the kitchen, where her mom stood smiling at her.

“Good morning eomma.”

“Good morning, jal jjaseo?”          (Did you sleep well?)

Minjeong sat down at her seat at the table, “yes, I did.”

The girl quickly ate her breakfast, cleaning up after herself before bidding her mom goodbye.

“Bye eomma!”

“Have a good day at school~”

Minjeong headed out the door into a chilly October morning, holding her backpack straps as she walked down her street to catch the morning bus. When she did, she sat near the front, pulling out a book from her bag to read on her ride to school.

SM High School… 

Minjeong had no idea what her school’s name meant, all she knew was that it was well-known for their dance and choir program. But… She didn’t like to be in the spotlight. She loved to dance and sing, but not in front of a whole bunch of people… Either way, she went to school, studied, did what she needed to do… That’s just who Minjeong was.

Her stop came so she hopped out of the bus, thanking the driver before walking down the cobbled walkway to her school. Groups of students would laugh and play around near her, but she walked alone, holding her book in her hand as she quickly walked to the looming school building. She greeted the security guard with a nod, walking away with a bowed head as she walked inside the school’s doors. 

Silently, Minjeong went up the stairs, brushing past girls and boys alike as she headed to her homeroom. No one was inside, and she silently sighed in relief. She went over to her locker in the back of the class, putting some things away before grabbing a few school books.

“Look who’s here…”

Minjeong flinched, unwilling to turn around from her open locker when she heard a terribly familiar voice.

Shoes clacked on the floor, and as they stopped right behind her, she gulped.

“It’s the nerd.”

The male voice’s owner held Minjeong’s shoulder and turned her around, her eyes constantly on the waxed floor.

“Why aren’t you looking at me, too scared aren’t ya.”

“Leave me alone…”

The boy laughed, a few of his friends behind him laughing along.

“Aw, is the bookworm going to fight back today?”

“…”

“Hey!”

The girl startled when the book she was reading in the bus was yanked out of her hands, and she finally looked up at the six-foot-tall junior, her biggest fear formed as a fellow student, mostly known by others as Johnny.

One of his friends snickered, “wow, I think that’s the loudest I heard her.”

Johnny rolled his eyes, waving the girl’s book around, “want this back?”

The girl jumped, unable to reach the novel due to their extreme height difference. He opened the book, seeming bored out of his mind as he skimmed a few pages.

“Boring, boring, blah blah, why do people like you read these things?”

He tossed the book back to Minjeong who struggled to grab it, before pushing her into the classroom’s lockers, causing her to wince in pain.

“Loser.”

Johnny knocked all the books out of Minjeong’s arms, loose papers scattering around them as she stared at the floor once more, afraid of what he’d do if they met eyes.

“Oh come on man, she’s coming.”

Johnny turned to a friend who was jogging away from the farthest door, “who?”

“You know who, the VP.”

He sneered, pushing Minjeong one last time as he passed her, his friends doing the same before they all scampered off out the back door.

The girl slowly slid down to the floor, staring at all the papers and books on the ground with her before hiding her head in her knees.

‘I just need a little moment to calm down…’ She thought, taking deep, shaky breaths.

She didn’t realize that another person came in, the other student’s eyes widening at the scene before walking up to the girl.

“Are you okay?”

Minjeong jumped, pressing herself to the lockers from the shock of hearing another’s voice.

She looked up, seeing a black-haired girl stare down at her in worry.

“U-uh yes, I’m fine.”

That girl was the student council’s Vice President, a junior just like Minjeong who was in her homeroom, and also had amazing visuals.

Minjeong looked away to avoid her dark eyes, stating more firmly, “I’m fine.”

She then began to clean up the mess around her, picking up paper after paper of her homework and notes. She heard the vice president help her pick up her stuff, and in the end they both stood up, the taller girl handing Minjeong the fallen papers she grabbed.

“Thank you…”

She hummed in response, “of course! I wish I could have come sooner though… I saw Johnny and his friends leave this room before I came, was it him that did this?”

Minjeong tensed from his name, nodding as she stared at their shoes, clutching her stuff a bit tighter, “yes, it was him.”

She heard the vice president huff, “don’t worry, I’ll talk to-”

“Please don’t.”

She startled as Minjeong looked up, “come again?”

The shorter girl shook her head, “don’t talk to anyone… I- um… What he did was nothing.”

The vice president hesitated before giving Minjeong a soft smile, “okay, I won’t say anything… I’m Yoo Jimin by the way, but you can call me Karina.”

Minjeong returned her gesture with a weak smile of her own, “yeah, you’re the vice president… And uh- we’re also in the same class.”

“Yes I know. You’re Minjeong right?”

Minjeong tilted her head, “how’d you know?” 

She wasn’t well known here except to Johnny and his group of bully friends, so she was surprised that someone as high as the vice president of the student council knew her.

Karina chuckled, “Kim Minjeong, a straight A’s student that all the teachers love since she’s such a good person. Yeah I think I’d know you being the Vice Prez.”

Minjeong flushed from her comment, scratching her head in embarrassment as she looked away, “o-oh… Yeah I guess… But I normally go by Winter.”

“Winter huh…” Karina grinned, “that’s a pretty name.”

Winter… Her best friend gave her that nickname when they were little kids, probably due to Winter’s birthday being on New Years day. So the name stuck ever since.

Winter shyly smiled, “your uh- name’s pretty too, Karina-ssi.”

Karina laughed, “no need to call me that Winter, I’m not a teacher or anything.”

“You’re older than me though aren’t you?”

Karina tapped her chin, “then… you can call me unnie, we’re just classmates afterall.”

Winter nodded with a smile, “okay then. Thanks though, unnie.”

“For what?”

“For helping me right now… You didn’t have to.”

Karina smiled, “well, in my eyes I wanted to help you.”

Winter blushed once more, “o-oh uh- thanks, Karina-unnie.”

It wasn’t that Winter was attracted to the vice president, not at all. Even though she does like girls, she rarely sees Karina outside of class, so she doesn’t know her that well. Winter’s just a normally shy student who never really gets complimented much, so it shocked her to have so many compliments from the same person at one point of time.

Karina was about to reply when one of the classroom’s doors slammed open, causing both of them to jump in surprise.

“WINTER!”

Behind the open door was a girl with long caramel-colored hair, her doe eyes widened in worry as her hand held the door.

“Uhhh hi?”

“Are you okay? I overheard those tall jocks talking about you when I walked by them.”

Winter smiled, “I’m fine, thanks for worrying.”

The girl glanced at Karina, “and what’s the vice president doing here?”

Karina’s eyes dropped in slight annoyance, “my homeroom is here. And Miss Uchinga, please refrain from slamming the door open, it can cause a disturbance and damage the classroom’s door.”

The Japanese girl sighed, “my humblest apologies Miss VP, but I was just worried about my dear~ best friend.”

Uchinga Aeri, otherwise known as Giselle, was indeed Winter’s best friend, childhood friend as well, but the complete opposite of Winter. She was a popular student here in SM High School, many found her cool but was startled to see that one of their popular peers was actually really nice. 

Winter rolled her eyes, “stop talking like that, it doesn’t make you sound any smarter.”

Giselle pouted, “you’re the dumb one.”

“You’re the dumber one.”

Karina coughed, “Giselle, school is about to start in a few minutes, please head over to your own homeroom.”

Winter looked to the floor with her cheeks tinted pink while her best friend rolled her eyes, walking inside and up to the shorter girl.

“Before that, here.”

A book was lightly hit onto Winter’s head as Giselle spoke again, “I finished it. It was actually surprisingly interesting.”

The younger girl grabbed the book, seeing that it was one of hers which she lent to Giselle a few weeks ago.

“Thanks Giselle.”

“Now I’ll go, before vp here yells at me again.”

“I never ye-”

“Bye Winter!”

Before Karina finished, Giselle was already out the room, the door left open.

“I never knew you two were close.”

Winter weakly laughed, “a lot of people say that… Who knew one of the most popular kids here would be best friends with a nobody like me.” 

As students began to slowly come in, Karina squeezed Winter’s shoulder and gave her a smile.

“You’re not a nobody, and you’re really nice too… I suppose Giselle is as well.”

With that, the vice president went to her seat near the front, acting as if nothing happened.

Winter softly blushed, quickly going to her seat near the window to avoid looking like a weirdo for just standing in the back like a statue.

‘I might have made a new friend…’ The girl thought with a small smile on her face as she stared at Karina before class began…

________________________________________________

Thank you for reading this far on my first chapter! Apologies if there's any grammar mistakes, I'm not the best writer... And no hate towards Johnny, I just used random people from SM 🤡 -Minah