"Okay, guys-” The ringing of a phone interrupted Jinyoung, but he just sighed and continued, “-before we wrap up, I wanted to remind you that the Halloween contest is coming up.” He walked from one side of the room to his desk, moving papers around until he found the marker to write on the board. “Everyone has to prepare a routine of some sort for me to evaluate you, but it’s up to you whether you participate or not.”

Chaeyoung squealed in excitement, drumming with her fingers a melody while debating the many possibilities she had. On the one hand, she could work with some of her friends, which was always fun. But on the other hand, she could also ask Mina if she was interested in performing together. She looked to her right, where Mina was gracefully sitting, and imagined their hypothetical stage.

Although more than a month had passed since school started, she still hadn’t seen Mina dance and curiosity was getting to her. Besides, they lived in the same house, meaning they would have more time to practice and improve their routine.

“Chae,” a brunette with big eyes approached Chaeyoung,  “do you wanna work together? Last year we did an amazing job.” She leaned her elbows on the younger’s desk, staring right into her eyes.

“Jihyo!” The younger exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in forever.” And it was true, they hadn’t talked since the party before school started, which, by the way, was held at Jihyo’s house. Chaeyoung felt so embarrassed about her reckless actions that she avoided her completely instead of apologizing, but at some point, she had to acknowledge it to move on. “Sure! Sure!”

Chaeyoung had worked many times with Jihyo because the latter not only had an outstanding voice but was also a great leader. Last year they got 2nd place, but hopefully, they’ll upgrade their show and win this year, it was their last opportunity. 

“Great! So I was planning on asking Nayeon and Tzuyu as well, if that’s okay with you?” She flashed the younger a quick smile before realizing Mina was witnessing their interaction in utter silence. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jihyo.” She took her hand out for a handshake, which the Japanese woman reciprocated immediately. 

“Mina.” She spoke quietly because Jihyo’s cheerful personality was almost intimidating, it was an odd feeling.

“So I’ve heard.” She replied, not in a mean way though. Just acknowledging the facts.

‘What is that supposed to mean?’  She nodded, not wanting to keep the conversation going.

Jihyo looked to her left, where Chaeyoung was. “Well, I’m going to ask the rest.” She tapped the table twice before lapping on her feet. “I’ll talk to you later. And it was nice meeting you, Mina.” She smiled warmly and left.

Chaeyoung gave her an awkward thumbs-up and sighed in relief. “Why was that so uncomfortable?” She supported her neck on the back of her chair and stared at the cream-colored ceiling.

“Who is she?” Mina turned to her side and started playing with the hem of Chaeyoung’s jacket. The younger had noticed that was a habit of hers whenever she felt uneasy.

“She’s a friend, but also the owner of the house we went to for the party.” She rubbed her eyes and turned to look into Mina’s eyes. ‘So pretty- What?’ 

“Oh.” Was all Mina could think of. “I should apologize to her. You know, for the chaos I caused.”

Chaeyoung stopped Mina by laying her forearm on her lap, pressing just enough to keep her from leaving the seat. “Of course not. I caused this and I’m going to fix it.” 

Although Mina really wanted to focus on what was leaving Chaeyoung’s lips, all she could feel was the hand that was softly gripping her thigh. Was Chaeyoung aware of it? She hoped not. “Hmm.” She nodded and grabbed the intruding arm, barely lifting it until it let go of her flesh. Mina’s initial plan was just to stop it, but instead, she turned it around and drew amorphous figures on its palm.

They didn’t speak for minutes. Chaeyoung just let Mina do whatever she wanted. The younger was calm yet so overwhelmed at the same time. Her senses were on the edge, feeling how the drawings were being almost engraved on her soul. If Chaeyoung had to use one word to explain what she was experiencing, it would be: silly.

Chaeyoung still wasn’t sure if she was imagining everything. The way Mina’s eyes sometimes glanced at her lips when they did their night routine together, or how she would say there was a lash on her cheek but would never get anything out, using the excuse that it fell to the floor (a trick Mina had actually learned from Sana). 

But what she did know was that she liked it. They were really close friends, or at least that’s what she told herself.

“Hey, lesbos.” Chaeyoung heard the voice she knew too well. She withdrew her arm a little too fast and stared back at Tzuyu, her face beet red.

“Shut up!” she smiled at her friend and tried her best to hide the inevitable embarrassment. “What’s up?”

Tzuyu shook her head and looked down at the two seated girls, “What is up?” She asked playfully and raised her eyebrows. “Nayeon told me we are working together. I just wanted to tell you that we have an idea and we thought we might run it by you.”

“I’ll be there in a second, let me grab my stuff.” Chaeyoung stood up and put her black notebook inside her backpack, running to catch up with Tzuyu. 

On another note, Mina had no idea what to do. Did she want to participate in the contest? Wouldn’t it be too much for an exchange student?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Momo, who dragged Chaeyoung’s chair and sat on it. She poked Mina’s arm repeatedly until she got her out of the trancing state. “So, what are we doing?”

Mina stared back and tilted her head, “Huh?”

“We are signing up for the contest. It looks like we both have people to impress.” Momo smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“And who would that be, Momo?” She didn’t want to give her feelings for Chaeyoung away, especially when they were probably just a phase. She hoped they were.

“I don’t know, Mina.” She looked around to make sure no one could hear and continued, “We could do a duet, that would be fun.”

“Why do you want to impress Dahyun though? From what you told me, she’s a .”

“She just has some things…” Momo wasn’t sure she could speak about Dahyun’s confession to her friend, it was personal.

“What things?” She raised an eyebrow, determined to get an answer.

--- (last night) ---

They were laughing. So hard Dahyun’s mom had even texted her a warning to keep quiet because they all had to get up early the following morning. But even though they tried their best to hush, it was impossible. 

It had all started with Momo apologizing to Dahyun for making her uncomfortable when she walked in on her… having fun by herself. It had happened weeks ago but it still bugged her in the back of her mind, and she needed to fix it. Things were weird enough by themselves, there was no need to worsen it.

So Momo sat on the edge of Dahyun’s bed while the younger was busy on her phone and started apologizing, saying how sorry she was and that she should learn to knock before entering; but Dahyun started laughing instead.

Dahyun didn’t think it was funny at first, laughing was just an automatic response to make things less awkward, and it worked. “You should’ve- seen your face, it was priceless!”

Momo quickly joined her and their giggles only got louder as minutes passed. She leaned her forehead on the pillow Dahyun was laying on as well and tried to calm herself down.

Damn, were giggles contagious. 

“Momo, shut the up or my mom will kill us both.” Dahyun spoke softly, she was feeling lighter.

Momo nodded, or at least that’s what Dahyun assumed after feeling the pillow barely move up and down. And she did calm down. Immediately. All of a sudden even the air was too thick.

Dahyun tilted her head to the left and realized Momo was now staring at her, eyes filled with something she wished to identify. Her heart was thumping out of her chest, why did it have to be so goddamn easy to be with Momo? Why did she have to be so goddamn perfect? Just, why?

They were like magnets, and Dahyun was too tired to fight back the urge to kiss her. Just when their lips were about to kiss-

“No.” Momo raised her upper body and sat once again in her original position, her back facing Dahyun. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t