“Do you think it was right for me to do what I did?” Ellin asked Gummi as they both lay on her bed, exhausted from the day they had just went through. “Yeah, I’m actually proud of you Ellin. You’ve really grown braver since year 9” Gummi said, reassuring her friend.

“I think so too… but why do I feel a little sorry for him?” Ellin sighed.

“Maybe it’s because you use to like him and the old Jinyoung still remains with you, but Ellin… he’s long gone now so you don’t have to feel bad” Gummi consoled. “You’re right about that,” Ellin agreed.

“Well, I should go home now. My mom’s probably waiting for me,” Gummi said as she got up. “Oh wait, I keep forgetting to give you this” Gummi took out a notebook with plain dark red covers from her bag and handed it to Ellin.

“What’s this?” she asked. “It’s Jinyoung’s…I kind of might have stolen it when we went to go prank him” Gummi laughed. “You stole it from his room!?” Ellin asked in disbelief and shock. “Uh-huh…it seems to be his journal… I didn’t look in it though, since I wanted to give it to you first” Gummi explained.

“You stole Jinyoung’s journal for me?” Ellin laughed, “I don’t want this Gummi, why would I want to read this?” Ellin said, shaking her head. “I thought you might say that but I just had to take it, just in case” Gummi smiled.

“Well I’m not going to read it” Ellin refused.

“That’s fine, just throw it somewhere then…or burn it” Gummi joked.

Ellin got up and threw it in the back of her closet, brushing her hands together once it landed “all gone” she grinned.

The next morning soon arrived and while most of the student body was excited to see more drama ensue, the creators of it were dreading to show up. Well, except for Choa who decided to come to school early to study for a test.

She tried her best to keep her eyes open and memorize more of the notes in front of her but she slowly dozed off. Well, until someone decided to wake her up.

“Choa? Choa wake up” someone lightly patted her shoulder. She groaned and waved her arm in refusal “5 more minutes mom” she mumbled.

“It’s not your mom, it’s me, Shinwoo” he laughed.

Choa finally opened her eyes in embarrassment “aish, why the hell are you even here this early?” she asked, annoyed and still half asleep.

“I told you I tutor early in the morning” Shinwoo replied. “I thought you were joking about that” she yawned, “no…I really do tutor people”

“Then why the hell did you need me to help you in math?” she asked suspiciously “Uhh…well, I’m not good in math. It’s my worst subject”

“What? Get a 96 instead of a 97 on a test or something?” Choa joked. “That’s a big difference, okay?” he joked along.

“Hey Choa…I want to ask you something…” Shinwoo said hesitantly as he sat in the seat beside her. “What is it? It’s about Ellin, isn’t it?” she guessed, crossing her arms.

“Girls really can read minds” he mumbled, “Seems like I’m right” she said, laughing at his reply.

“Yeah, well…is it true? What he did to all of you…is that all true?” Shinwoo asked with an expression that hoped for her to say no.

“Shinwoo…I know you might be shocked since he’s like your best friend but… it’s all true” Choa revealed. Shinwoo looked down in disappointment. “But, I really don’t feel like having more drama in my life. If he’s going to keep bugging us for hanging with you and Gongchan then stop. Go back to being friends with him. Aren’t guys good at not caring about the ty things their friends do and think?” Choa sighed.

“Well, I can’t just shake it off and go back to being the same and neither can Gongchan” Shinwoo replied.

“We’re not in the same circle. There’s only a year left so you might as well make life easier for yourself and stay in the cool and popular crowd” Choa advised.

“But what if I don’t want to? What if I’ve had enough of being in this stupid circle?” Shinwoo vented, desperation in his eyes. “What if my standards for friends have gone up and I can’t bear to just stand around and watch bad things happening to other people?” he continued.

Choa was beginning to get confused at what his words meant. It was as if he was crying for help and asking her to save him.

“What do you mean? You want to ditch your friends to hang out with us? Why do you want to be friends with us anyway? It really makes no sense at all to me, actually” Choa said.

“I enjoy it, okay? I like the vibe, it’s carefree and I can act like myself…I feel suffocated sometimes when I’m with the other guys… that and…I like y-“

“Choa-ah” Soyul chimed as she walked in the room, interrupting Shinwoo.

“Soyul-ah, have you seen Ellin?” Choa asked. “Nope…but I saw your sister, she’s with Gongchan outside. They’re having a competition of who can kick the soda can the farthest” Soyul laughed.

“Losers” Choa joked.

“Mmhmm…and why are you here with Shinwoo so early?” Soyul asked suspiciously. “I don’t know…we were just the first ones here” Choa shrugged. “Sure” Soyul grinned to herself. “Well, will you come and buy some banana milk with me? I kind of don’t want to face the nasty students alone who keep bugging me about apparently befriending illjins” Soyul chuckled.

“Of course I will” Choa agreed.

Before Choa left the room with Soyul, she felt like she had to say one more thing to Shinwoo “I’m sure if you 5 boys all sat and talked to each other seriously, things would get better. But you guys don’t seem to be up to that, huh?” Choa squeezed Shinwoo’s shoulder and gave him a comforting smile.

“You coming Choa?” Soyul asked from the door.

“Yeah, wait up” she called, running towards her friend.

Ellin and Gummi both leisurely walked to class even though they were close to being late. Once they got close to their class, they began to hear a ruckus going on inside. As they commenced forward they saw a bunch of girl’s huddling around what looked to be Jinyoung’s desk.

“Wow…they haven’t change one bit” Gummi chuckled “I am so shocked” Ellin said sarcastically.

The students were showering him with little gifts and saying things like: “Oppa, it’s okay” and “we know you had your reasons.”

“Are they seriously defending him?” Minsun choked as she walked up to Ellin and Gummi. “I really didn’t expect anything less than this but… how can they be this stupid and pathetic?” Minsun scoffed.

“Don’t you know? The popular boys could probably throw someone off of a balcony and everyone would probably defend them one way or another” Ellin laughed. “Yup, they’d probably say that Oppa couldn’t control himself or that the victim brought Oppa to do it. Such bull” Gummi raged as she threw her book back on the table, making everyone turn around to look at her in fear.

“They’re here” everyone whispered, “we should leave” others said as they squeezed out of the classroom door.

“Ya, Jung Jinyoung, how about you transfer to another school again? I heard that Haksun high is accepting students with rich parents who’ll defend their every disgusting act. It’s perfectly suited for you, don’t you think?” Gummi advised. “Why would he need to transfer, Gummi? He already goes to chrome high” Minsun chuckled.

Jinyoung just took what the girls were saying and didn’t dare to retort back. He knew he couldn’t lose to them since, at the end of the day, they had more on him then he did on them.

“Choa…you know Shinwoo left his tutor session early to talk to you, right?” Soyul suddenly confessed as they sat alone at the cafeteria table, waiting for the rest of the girls to join. “What do you mean? Why would he do that…” Choa asked, genuinely confused. “Well, he saw me in the hallway and I told him that you were at school early to study. I also told him you were in class already too. After that, he immediately said goodbye and left,” Soyul explained.

“What are you trying to say Soyul-ah?” Choa questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Common Choa, you’re smart, you know what I’m saying. He’s clearly interested in you!” Soyul exclaimed.

“I don’t think so…” Choa laughed. “Where the heck are the rest of the girls?” Choa said, changing the topic. “I don’t know…maybe we should go look for them” Soyul said worriedly.

“Alright, I’ll go to the roof and you go to their class. Those are the only two places they would be” Choa said, “alright, I’ll also check the bathrooms” Soyul said before they split up.

Choa made her way up the stairs and as she opened the door to the roof of the school, she ran into, none other than, Shinwoo.

“What are you doing here?” Choa asked as she closed the door behind her and walked up to him. She looked down and spotted something in his hands “is that a cigarette?” once she verified that it was she hit his hand, making the item  fall to the floor.

“It’s not mine, I swear” he quickly defended. “I’m sure it isn’t” Choa said, crossing her arms. “It really isn’t!” he insisted.

“So, this is where all the chrome high students do their dirty work, huh?” Choa questioned. “Well yeah… but I seriously don’t smoke. I found it on the floor and was going to pick it up and throw it in the garbage… I’m kind of a clean freak…” Shinwoo explained as he took out a wet napkin from his pocket to clean his hands.

“I guess I’ll believe you…for now” Choa joked.

“So, why are you here?” Shinwoo asked. “I’m here to look for Ellin and the girls. I wonder if Jinyoung’s tasteless lovers got to them before I did” Choa worried.

“Ellin? Why? You can’t find her? What if something bad happened to her? You know how high schoolers are, they can get very violent” Shinwoo worried.

Choa was a little taken aback by how worried Shinwoo seemed to be. It got her thinking about what Soyul told her.

“What if he has a thing for Ellin? I mean, that would explain why he skipped his tutoring session to ask me about her…and would explain why he’s always hanging around us…” Choa thought.

“Shinwoo, do you like Ellin perhaps? Is that why you keep hanging around us? Are you just acting nice to get to her?” Choa asked without hesitation. “If you’re trying to play the role of the “prince who sweeps the broken girl off of her feet” then quit it” Choa suddenly raged.

“Why are you accusing me all of a sudden?” Shinwoo asked, confused and frustrated by Choa’s sudden accusation.

“Why? Because it makes no sense that you would be close friends with a guy like Jinyoung for two years and then suddenly dump him for us. Nothing makes sense. Is Gongchan in on this too?” Choa asked impatiently.

“Listen Choa, I know you have trust issues and all, but accusing people of things they didn’t even do isn’t the solution!” Shinwoo shouted. “But fine, if you can’t believe that I just wanted to be your friend just because I enjoy hanging around you, then maybe you’ll believe this instead” Shinwoo took a step closer to her before speaking “I like you Choa, okay? Not Ellin, you. You’re the reason why I’ve wanted to get to know you and your friends better. Happy now?” Shinwoo confessed.

Choa looked into Shinwoo’s eyes for a moment and then began to shake her head “are you trying to pull some sort of a prank on me?” she asked unsurely, “Is this some kind of sick joke? Because it’s not funny!” she yelled.

Shinwoo let out a deep sigh “I guess you’re right. We really don’t belong in the same circle. Fine, you win Choa. I’ll leave you and your friends alone and go back to hanging with Jinyoung like a popular boy should. See you around” he said before opening the door slamming it on the way out.

“What the hell is wrong with him…” she thought. “or maybe….maybe I’m the problem this time.”

Suddenly, Choa’s phone began to ring “Choa, I found them. They had to deal with a bunch of Jinyoung’s delusional and dumb crazies. I found them yelling at them” Soyul said. “Figures, I’ll meet you at the cafeteria” Choa said before she hung up.

“Shinwoo, there you are. I was looking everywhere for you” Gongchan said as he ran up to Shinwoo in the hallway. “Let’s go eat, I’m starving. I lost in a game to Minsun today so I have to buy her lunch” Gongchan laughed.

“Gongchan…about that…I kind of just got into a fight with Choa and... well I’ve decided to just go back to my place. Sandeul and Baro are both ignoring me and the rest of the school keeps giving me dirty looks”

“You too?” Gongchan sighed “it’s the same for me but…I don’t really care” Gongchan smiled “I’m actually surprised you do… what did Choa say to you?” Gongchan asked.

“I- I told her I liked her and she started yelling at me…” Shinwoo let out. “She was accusing me of using her to get to Ellin and I just got so frustrated. I had to clear up the misunderstanding so I told her but…she didn’t even believe me” Shinwoo vented.

“You said she was yelling at you before you confessed to her, right? Not a good idea… she probably said that out of anger…” Gongchan tried to comfort him. “I’m just done with this. I’m going to just finish high school with as little trouble as possible like I planned to before” Shinwoo sighed.

“Well…if you don’t want to sit with them anymore then I’ll come with you…I’m not going to leave you by yourself with Jinyoung” Gongchan laughed.

“You don’t have to… Minsun is probably waiting for you” Shinwoo said. “I can buy her lunch later, let’s go” Gongchan gave Shinwoo a comforting smile and they both headed to the cafeteria.  

The days passed by and nothing in Chrome high changed. Shinwoo and Gongchan went back to hanging with Jinyoung and everything seemed to be back in its place for a while. Everyone was too busy studying for midterms to even talk to one another so things became quiet for a few weeks. The girls continued to study together and got into game mode because Gummi, Ellin, Choa, and Minsun knew that this was their time to show people what their brains were made of. Soyul also offered to let the girls photocopy some of her notes, after all, she was the smartest student in the school.

Midterms week finally arrived and everyone was extremely nervous but also eager to get it over with at the same time. The days flew by quickly and the students of Chrome high finally made it to the Monday after midterms week, AKA, results day, the day everyone dreaded even more than writing the actual exam.

Gummi was the first of her friends to get there, and the moment she did, the huge crowd in front of her suddenly made way for her. “What, did these losers finally acknowledge what a queen I am?” she mumbled to herself as she walked through. She looked for her name and couldn’t find it. “Where the hell am I? Did I do THAT poorly?” she muttered. 

“Look at the first sheet” Gongchan directed. “What’s the use? I know I didn’t make it to the top 10 list” Gummi laughed as she looked at the first sheet on the wall.

“Oh my god” she gasped “I- I’m first” Gummi cheered. Suddenly Soyul came beside Gummi “how’d you do Unnie?” Soyul asked.

Gummi was a little hesitant to answer since she had just realized that she had taken Soyul’s place. “I…I’m number 1” she said, scratching the back of her head.

“What…? Really? That’s- that’s great Gummi” Soyul said, giving her a forced smile. Soyul then looked at the list in fear at where her name had fallen. Her eyes widened and she stayed frozen there, unable to move and unable to speak.

Has everyone watched Strawberry milks OK MV? It's so cute and the complete opposite of how i make Choa to seem in this fic hehe. But i really love badass Choa and basass crayon pop in general, hope you all do too. The girls are so mean to B1A4, right? Hope banas don't get mad. This is only the beginning of the fic!