Following Joy around despite the crowded hallways wasn’t as hard as if it were Wendy she was following around, Seulgi admitted to herself. The way the girl towered over the rest made up for how she took lengthy steps, perhaps due to how long-legged she was. Seulgi, however, still had to squeeze through and take uncertain yet cautious steps, hoping in silence that she wouldn’t bump into anybody to cause any trouble.

It wasn’t any longer ‘til Joy disappeared into one of the rooms by that same hallway—she didn’t seem to be waiting for Seulgi, so the girl had to pick up her pace so she wouldn’t have to deal with any pleasantries by herself, if ever some random person chose to come up to her and speak to her—in all honesty, she was fine with the small group of friends she’s already managed to garner over the course of the day. To her, they seemed like a very ideal group to stick with already, despite the clashing personalities between some of the members (like Wendy and Joy); nothing a little mediating in between could fix, Seulgi thought to herself.

She finally manages to reach inside the classroom, seeing Joy already settled into one of the seats at the back. She had placed her bag on the seat next to hers, to mark that the seat was reserved for someone.  

The taller girl beckoned Seulgi over, to which she immediately complied, treading towards her with her head lowered ever so slightly, not wanting to make unnecessary eye contact with anybody else.

“Seems we’re in a class full of upperclassmen,” Joy murmured in a breath, only barely audible on Seulgi’s end.

“What makes you think that?” Seulgi settles down on the seat beside Joy, and allows her gaze to scan around the room. Alas, no familiar faces.

“I don’t recognize anybody from freshman orientation. I would know, I have good memory.” She explained, all too casually boasting her ability—which Seulgi envied, considering how bad she was with matching faces with names. “Plus, my roommate is here,” she further elaborates, discreetly pointing over to somebody who was seated among the front, “she’s a sophomore, despite her looks and demeanor.”

Seulgi’s gaze flickered to where Joy was pointing, to see someone with noticeable light brown hair, which were bundled up into two high pigtails. She considered her back for a moment, before knitting her eyebrows—she found that this girl’s frame was evidently smaller in comparison to everyone around her.

“She doesn’t have the looks of one.” Seulgi didn’t want to come off as mean, but Joy twisted her intentions a bit, an impish grin donning her features as she gives Seulgi a pat on the back. It was immensely creepy for Seulgi, but she chose not to be vocal about it, instead offering a small yet obviously uneasy smile.

A bell lightly chimed, sounding from the PA speakers, signaling that it was time for classes to start—and, as if on cue, an elderly woman with her back hunched limped into the room, a walker grasped in her right hand to aid her in walking. The class grew silent, all of their attention averted onto the woman who seemed to be having a hard time even just reaching the teacher’s table up front.

Joy turner her head to face Seulgi, which she felt—and thus, she turns her head in turn, to return her gaze. Joy sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry promptly, rolling her eyes almost too exaggeratedly. As a natural response, Seulgi bit on her lower lip in an attempt to stifle her laugh. Her chuckles deemed soundless, as she lowered her head to avoid being caught by who she guessed was the professor.

“Good morning, everyone.” The woman spoke at a rate of a word per second, to Joy’s dismay.

The younger girl nudged Seulgi on the arm with her elbow, sliding her open notebook over to her desk so that she could see what Joy had written prior (perhaps the night before, when Joy was labeling her notebooks).

{ I disdain Fine Arts,

but for you I’d give it a Vincent Van Gogh. }

Seulgi clamped her hand over , to prevent any audible laughter from spilling past her lips. When she’s recovered, she digs into her bag for a pen and proceeds to write right underneath where Joy wrote.

{ you do know it’s pronounced as “goff”, right? }

She slid the notebook back so that it’d be in Joy’s line of view, and when the younger girl read this, she could only roll her eyes yet again. “You’re no fun.” She mouthed, closing the notebook and averting her gaze (but not her attention) back onto the lady in front.

If anything, the woman was enthusiastic while speaking about the arts. She did crazy gestures and her tone was as exciting as a rollercoaster ride—though the pace at which she talked never hastened. Somewhere in the middle of the class, when Seulgi was attentively taking down notes based on what the professor was saying, Joy dozed off and Seulgi realized that Joy and Wendy weren’t exactly polar opposites.

The lecture seemed to drag on for more than the allotted hour and a half, but that was probably because Seulgi caught herself gazing at the clock a lot more than she had expected herself to.

Sure, the topics the professor rambled on about were utterly interesting, especially for her who had this unspoken appreciation for the arts, but the manner in which she spoke really ruined the whole experience for her.

“Joy, wake up.” She took hold of the still sleeping girl’s shoulder, giving it a light shake in an attempt to wake her up. “Class is over.”

After Seulgi had said these words, Joy immediately sprang up—though her eyes were still stained with sleepiness. “Alright, time to go home and sleep on an actual comfortable bed.” She announced, bringing a hand up and rubbing on her eye with her knuckles.

“How’s about you go with your roommate?” Seulgi teased, tilting her head slightly in the direction of the girl that Joy pointed at previously. Joy put on a sour face, but raises her shoulders into a shrug anyway, bobbing her head in an undefined manner.

“Fine, fine.” Joy got up from her seat and slung her bag onto her shoulder, feet dragging against the marble flooring, making her way to the girl who was still seated and placing her things back