Never in Yena's wildest dreams did she envision today going the way it did. To be fair, nothing in her life has ever been normal, but the events of the day were stretching it by a lot. If she told anyone other than her two best friends what happened, they'd probably look at her like she was a crazy person.

It all started when she'd woken up this morning to thunderclaps echoing throughout the sky. She could've sworn that the forecast the night before said clear skies, but they've been wrong before. That just meant she had to reschedule her picnic with Chaewon and Yujin in case it rained.

On the train ride to her college, she noticed the ocean waves were looking a bit choppier than usual as well. No problem, she'd never been a fan of the beach anyway growing up.

Even stranger was when she stepped off the train, she was greeted by a dead rat that got stuck all over her shoe. Gross, but with luck like hers, she wasn't exactly surprised. She was born with an illness that kept her single mother working around the clock to take care of her after all. This seemed par for the course.

When she finally made it to campus though, she was reminded that there were some good things in life as she watched a tall girl bound towards her like a big puppy.

"Unnie! I thought you were going to be late for a second!" She said while pouting her lips. Yena chuckles and gives her friend a pat on the head, which was difficult because the younger girl was taller than her.

"Just had a little wardrobe malfunction, Yujin. Nothing to worry about," Yena explained, and it was at that moment that the stench finally registered in Yujin's nose.

"Agh, what in the world is that? It smells like you stepped into a dumpster!" The younger girl complained, her nose scrunching up.

Yena winced. "Okay, maybe the malfunction is still malfunctioning." She said, scratching the back of her head in a What did you expect me to do? way.

"Well, you better hope everyone else doesn't have as good a nose as me then. Minseo and the others already give us a hard time as it is." Yujin replied, still waving her hand over her face to get the smell away before a playful smirk emerged from her face. "Or maybe this is just the skunk stench you need to get Sunwoo away from you."

Yena could only roll her eyes at that side comment. No way she wanted to think about some random guy hitting on her this early in the morning.

"Let's just go already. You said we were running late, right?" Yena said, turning back towards campus and walking ahead.

~~~~

"Well look who's last to arrive- the super senior. Did you forget to set your alarm again in your old age?" A young woman covered in designer clothes taunted as soon as Yena and Yujin walked in.

Yena would like to say that she'd gotten used to that insult by now, but that wasn't true. It still ticked her off.  On top of her illness causing her to start school later than usual, she also had a bad case of ADHD and dyslexia that always seemed to get her in trouble. If she had to count, she'd say she's already been kicked out of five schools growing up, not exactly the type of rep you carry around like a badge of honor. She was lucky actually that this college, the Seoul Institute of the Arts, didn't care much about age in looking for enrollees. Instead, they looked at your talents, and one thing Yena knew she could do well was dance. Still, the tuition would've been too much for her and her mother to afford if it weren't for the scholarship they offered her- the same scholarship that was awarded to her two best friends, Yujin and Chaewon.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue today? Or should I say duck?" The woman said, continuing to pepper Yena with insults while her group of friends laughed along.

"Give her a break, Minseo! She was probably held up by her usual partner in crime over here." Another student teased in Yujin's direction this time.

"Aish, we're really doing this right away?" Yujin replied in an irritated tone, and Yena knew that if she didn't step in soon, trouble would follow.

"C'mon, guys. Let's just start pract-"

"Yah, I leave for a couple minutes, and you're already at each other's throats?" A new voice chided before Yena could complete her sentence.

"Always one to ruin the fun, huh, Chaewon?" Minseo sighed, taking a step back as the short-haired girl made her way to Yena and Yujin's side.

"If you think that way about me, that just means I don't consider you a friend." Chaewon responded coldly. Though she was in the same boat as Yena, moving from school to school because of trouble and starting college late, albeit it only for a year compared to Yena's two, Chaewon was never the target of the bullies and cliques in school. She just exuded a chilly aura when around people she didn't like, which makes Yena let out an internal sigh of relief that Chaewon considered her and Yujin as friends.

There was this sudden tension brewing in the air as the two groups glared at each other in silence for a second that felt like minutes which was only broken when the instructor, Lee Seunggi, walked into the room.

"Alright, everyone. Please settle down. It's time for class," he said. Professor Lee was always a peculiar guy. He was a dance teacher but was a bit on the older side already. Though he used a cane, you could also just tell by his gait that his best years were behind him. He also had this odd interest in wearing fedoras and flat top shoes. Their other instructors like Choi Youngjoon and May J Lee definitely had more fun classes, but there was something about old mister Lee that also kept Yena interested. The class he taught was historical dance, so every few sessions, they'd learn about some choreography used in the past. Recently, their topic of discussion has been Greek dancing such as Sirtaki and Zeibekiko.

While the other students thought these styles were boring or weird, Yena, Yujin, and Chaewon were naturals. They would always hit the beats just right, and even incorporated some new flare to their performances.

~~~~

By the end of the class, the whole group was sweating and sitting on the dance floor.

"Another good session, everyone. On Thursday, we will be learning Tsamiko, so please make sure to do your research before coming in. I'll see you next time!" Professor Lee said before limping his way to the exit.

"God, I swear the Greeks had a terrible sense of rhythm. What do you mean jumping on the fourth beat? We should be learning real dancing." Minseo complained when Seunggi had already left.

"You're just upset that you got called out." Yena teased, which may have not been the best idea, but Minseo had it coming.

"What did you say granny? Maybe the only reason you're good at it is because you learned it from your ancestors!" Minseo fired back.

"Okay, okay. Minseo, back off. There's better things to do than waste your breath." One of the male students said, something that Yena would've appreciated if it hadn't come from Kim Sunwoo. Minseo huffed before stomping her way out of the dance hall, her clique not far behind.

"You didn't have to do that, you know?" Yena said, trying not to make contact with the younger guy. Sure, he was a good-looking guy, but Yena wasn't exactly looking for anything right now. That didn't stop Sunwoo from trying to get on her good side though.

"It's fine, noona. It doesn't hurt to have help every once in a while, you know?" He said, flashing a bright white smile that Yena was sure most girls would've been swept away by.

"Don't push your luck, kid," is all Yena replied before also making her way to the exit with Chaewon and Yujin.

"Are you sure you don't want to give him a chance? He seems like a good guy." Yujin said when they were out of earshot.

"I just don't vibe with him, that's all." Yena replied flatly.

"I agree. There's something off about him." Chaewon added coldly.

"Says the girl who doesn't have any friends outside of us." Yujin teased.

Chaewon chuckled. "Do me a favor and count how many friends you have outside of us."

"Enough with the relationship talk, girls. Let's just go get some lunch." Yena said as another clap of thunder rang throughout the sky.

"Whew, talk about bad weather..." Yujin mumbled, the hairs on her neck raising at the sounds from above.

~~~~

By the time the trio entered the cafeteria, the place was already packed.

"Aish, where are we going to get a table now?" Yena whined.

"Well, I do see one palace we can sit at..." Yujin replied while wiggling her eyebrows in the direction of a certain table.

"No way he got here before we did." Yena sighed seeing Sunwoo wave at them.

"You're right. He just got those seats because Minseo likes him." Chaewon said, pointing at the group of people next to Sunwoo.

"This certainly won't be fun." Yena replied, but given they had little choice, she decided to go along with it.

"What are dumb, dumb, and dumber doing here?" Minseo said once the three girls walked into her line of sight.

"Your generous friend here offered to give us some of your extra seats," Chaewon murmured just loud enough for Minseo to hear.

"Is this true, Sunwoo-ah?" She turned to ask the aforementioned guy who was trying not to make eye-contact.

"They need a place to eat too, Minseo." These words were clearly not the words Minseo was hoping to hear as evidenced by the way her facial expression goes cold.

"Fine. We were done eating anyway." Minseo proceeded to pick up her plate and launch its contents all over Yena, effectively silencing the whole cafeteria.

Yujin and Chaewon's eyes widened before shifting to anger. "Why you little..." Yujin was about to step forward, but Yena held her hand up.

"It's okay, girls. I got this," Yena said while wiping the kimchi off her face and walking up to Minseo who was still glaring at her.

"You must think you're real important, huh? Can't let us just live our lives?" Yena said in a low tone.

"Not when your life is getting in the way of mine," Minseo said before turning around to walk away. Big mistake. Yena didn't know what came over her, but at that moment, she decided to give Minseo a shove in the back. The second her hands made contact with her though, a spark occurred that made all the cafeteria lights flicker.

"Uh... Yena? What was that?" Yujin asked before a loud scream was heard.

"YAH!!! MY HAIR!" Minseo shrilled while on the ground, her brown locks a new burnt shade of black. The fire detectors were now going off and drenching everyone and their lunches, launching the whole place into chaos.

"Let's get out of here, Yena!" Chaewon shouts over the crowd's incoherent screaming.

Yena was motionless, staring at her hands in shock. She had no idea what just happened. After a couple seconds felt someone tug on her arm and pull her away, but she could barely register it. Her ears were ringing, and her head felt dizzy.

"Yena? Yena! Snap out of it!" A voice that Yena vaguely recognized as Chaewon yelled in her ears. She couldn't focus though, and eventually, her vision went dark.

 

A/N: Hello!!! Welcome to the new series, IZ*ONE and the Olympians! I don't know how many books this will have, but this is the first one- The Forbidden Ones.

I really appreciate the love the Project IZ*ONE got, and I'm hoping that this new journey could get even the fraction of that. As this is new ground for me, I'm open to suggestions on this story's direction (I will still have final decision though) and ways I can improve.

Likes, Comments, and Questions are appreciated! If you wanna talk about it on twitter, you can use #IZOlympiansAU as the tag.

That's about it, I'm still away from home on a trip, but managed to make the first chapter this weekend.

Have a nice day and see y'all in the next one!