chapter twelve            

the results of the assessments were due that morning. all six girls had their breakfast together. ji-ae's note had probably done the trick and minah had chipped in the preparation for breakfast as well. chaebyul maintained her polite and quiet demeanour while both eunji and hyusu tried to start a conversation with the tight-lipped minah. she did nod and answer their questions, but it was never more than a word or two. ji-ae looked on encouragingly. on the other hand, kymin remained detached from the rest. 

the girls cleared up and headed for the noticeboard long before the rest of the school finished their breakfast. the corridors were still empty as the girls scurried through the hallways. the noticeboard hung precariously on the far wall. dashing ahead, hyusu waved as she spotted their names. kymin lagged behind. the rest scanned the board eagerly, searching for their names and grades.

minah knew that she would definitely make the top five percent of the cohort. she glimpsed her sister's name while scanning the board for the first three students that achieved a higher average percentage than her. other than boa, she didn't recognize the other two high-achievers. lee taemin and cho kyuhyun. she was still processing their names when somebody enveloped her in a hug. sulli smiled up at the girl. "congrats min! you're in the top five percent again; top in our level, no less! no wonder they call you the cheonjae.." min nodded distractedly. "boa's got 97% though.." sulli's expression darkened. the latter knew how strict minah's family was and how they tended to compare the siblings. even missing by only 1%, her family might not take the news too well; and that would definitely mean that her best friend was going to get hurt. hiding her grimace, sulli pulled the other in the direction of the mess hall. "whatever. this calls for a celebration!"   

ji-ae was pleased at her results. she wasn't in the top five percent of the cohort, but she was definitely in the top five percent of her level. it was her personal best so far and she was glad that the days she spent gruelling over her work had paid off. she was definitely be at least in the advanced class for all of her subjects. scrolling through the list, she found a few more students who might be in the same class as her. some of them she had never heard of before. lee sungmin, kim woobin, kim heechul. she went further down the list, and gave an excited yelp when she realized that suho had made it as well. continuing down the list, ji-ae hoped that the queenka would not be assigned to her class. baro tapped her on the shoulder as tiffany pointed off to the far right. suho was waving at her excitedly. acknowledging the two spirits, she made her way towards her best friend. 

chaebyul and eunji were chattering excitedly as they registered their results. there was a chance that they were going to be in the same classes - for all except mathematics anyway. chaebyul humbly suggested that the only reason she got a higher percentage was due to her mathematics, when both her korean and english were lower than eunji's. the latter shook her head and castigated the younger. "don't put yourself down like that. you got a higher percentage because you worked so hard for it. you  deserved it!" she ruffled chaebyul's hair affectionately. chaebyul shyly took the other girl's hand in her own and beamed. "komapwo eun!". they were interrupted as their future classmates tackled them away. jung soojung, lee sungyeol and jeon jungkook. nobody that they hadn't seen before. sungyeol pointed at two boys at the far corner. "that's oh sehun and kim jongin; I think they'll be joining us for some of the classes as well; we have pretty similar grades!" jungkook nodded and both of them slung their arms around the girls as they headed for their first lesson. "meimei!" a voice shouted across the hall as chaebyul spun around. "good job!" yixing held up a thumbs-up as he disappeared back into the crowd. "who's that?" eunji turned to chaebyul quizically. "her brother, of course!" sungyeol answered for the younger as he ushered them away from the now-forming crowd.

 hyusu wasn't pleased with her results. she had expected better grades. still, she was glad that she was above average. I must have spent too much time ogling at the boy in the library. she was about to leave when she heard a familiar voice call her name. "su!" sungmin galloped towards her with zitao in tow. "guess what! I think  zitao's going to be in your class! and by the way, good job!" her brother patted her on the head as hyusu smiled. zitao began listing the others who might be in their class. kwon yuri, zhang yixing, lee hyukjae, lee donghae and kim taeyeon. hyusu nodded absently as she spotted the boy from the library. sungmin noticed her gaze and raised his eyebrows. "that's kim ryeowook. do you know him?" shaken out of her daze, hyusu hastily denied knowing him. "he's one year your senior I think." he added, noticing how hyusu blushed at the mention of him. beside him, zitao tsk-ed as he wagged a finger at her. "it's not like that!" she huffed, pulling away from both the boys. they chased after her. 

 kymin was distraught. she knew that she wouldn't score well, but to be in the bottom twenty in the whole school was embarrassing. ji-ae had asked her if she was okay, and the girl had brushed off her misery and motioned for ji-ae to go on and celebrate with her friends. she wouldn't be in the same class as any of her friends or dorm-mates - well, other than for english and science. she had never felt so alone in her life. her brother and best friend seemed to have heard the news as they crowded around her. "hey kyminnie, it's okay, you can improve from there. at least you're not the last in the whole school." heechul made a feeble attempt at a joke, earning jongsuk's grimace. "no, it's okay.. I knew I couldn't have done well.." kymin put on a pretence of nonchalence, stalking away from the noticeboard. she immediately got called out by her korean professor. "kim kymin!" she halted in her tracks as the rest of the pupils in the hall turned to stare at her. kymin blushed a deep crimson as the boy nearest to her sent her a snide glance. all of them knew. bowing her head, she went up to the professor. "songsaeng-nim.."

"you're enrolled for peer-tutoring in korean, mathematics and history starting next week." 

co-author's note:     heyyy so this is chapter twelve and I'm finally adding all the characters into the story! I'm so sorry for the slow progression so far.. there're so many variables >.< and it's starting to become a high school au ohmygod.. I'll add a barrage of spirits soon! hope that you all enjoy it as much as I do~ so sorry for the wait I've been completing my uni applications >.< thank you all those who have commented although I couldn't reply you all individually I feel like hugging everyone of you!~

p.s I'm going to to open a new applyfic soon - it's kind of like a project group idol group thing.. anybody interested?