“Why can’t I see the air? I can feel it perfectly though...” she thought as she stared out the window and stretched her arm and tried to grasp the air. Brows furrowed and eyes squinted

 

Soon, her focus on answering her question disappeared when a woman wearing revealing clothes pass by the street “Oooh... That’s a handful of asset she got there” she smirked to herself as she watched the woman pass by with agape jaw and naughtily lit eyes. Eyeing the woman’s as she contemplates on what exactly is the reason for her preference in women.

 

Taeyeon never glanced at men. She totally prefers women through and through. It was partly because she grew up with her brother that the both of them shared the same tastes. Partly because according to her, she was born with a handsome face and she was so pretty that she fell in love with herself. Well, that was according to her.

 

“Taeng, youre drooling”

 

She snapped out of her dirty thoughts and glared at her best friend who suddenly sat on the usual vacant seat beside her as students started to scatter and flow out of the room as the bell that indicates their lunch break rang.

 

“Shut up, Soonkyu” she barked back

 

Her friend narrowed her eyes indicating how she despises that name “Stop calling me that.” She stood up and smoothened her red pleated skirt “The girls went ahead of us because you’re so engrossed in staring at something outside—or rather, someone with something outside. Come, let’s grab lunch” She said “Unless... You plan on going overtime in ogling y passersby” she smirked and walked over the door

 

Lee Soonkyu or preferably known as Sunny basically knew Taeyeon since they were babies. They both grew up together but they both contrast each other’s personalities and interests. Things that Sunny dislikes, is what Taeyeon likes and what Taeyeon dislikes, is what Sunny likes. They’re compatible that way and they want to keep it that way.

 

“Hey! I wasn’t ogling at passersby!” she defended herself as she stood up picked up her blazer and swung it across her shoulders as she ran to catch up with her best friend

 

“Whatever you say Taeng, whatever you say”

 

She rolled her eyes at her best friend and decided to end their bickering by being silent.

 

They walked in comfortable silence towards the cafeteria earning fair amount of turned heads of the students they passed by. They were used to it. The both of them together with their 7 other friends are pretty popular in this school. Each being from a well-off family with high reputations and even without these, they were unearthly gorgeous and charming, it was hard not to notice them.

 

“Hey!” they stopped walking and turned towards the familiar loud husky voice addressing them

 

A familiar sight of a red haired girl came running towards them smiling so wide that her eyes disappeared into crescents came into their view

 

“Hey Sunny… Taeyeon…” the redhead greeted again panting as she finally reached her two short friends and a lot more attention was drawn into them now that another member of the group has come

 

“Hey, ‘sup Fany—”

 

“Hi Tiffany!” Taeyeon exclaimed a bit too excitedly and linked arms with Tiffany and began leading her towards the cafeteria leaving behind her shorter—by 2 centimetres—friend behind shaking her head

 

Tiffany Hwang is this beautiful red head girl that Taeyeon likes. She once confessed to her years ago and well, let’s just say that it didn’t end up well. The whole gang knew about her preference and Tiffany knew that her best friend has a crush on her but she didn’t mind. It was just a crush after all. Admiration.

 

“Don’t run like that! You might slip! And when you slip, your honey yummy thighs might be injured! Or your knees might be scraped! Or your might—“

 

“Cut it Taetae.” Tiffany cut her off “Are you sure that you’re worried about my wellbeing or are you worried I’ll damage my body leaving you nothing to ogle at?”

 

“I—“

 

“Oh, she’s already reduced to ogling at other people’s assets Fany” Sunny interrupted as she caught up “No need to worry.”

 

“Hey!” Taeyeon protested

 

“Really?” Tiffany referred to sunny with a glint in her eyes—a warning that she’s up to no good and that she’ll be teasing Taeyeon with Sunny all day “Oooh I can imagine her drooling”

 

“I wasn’t!” Taeyeon tried to defend herself again

 

“She was exactly doing that! How did you know?” Sunny continued to ignore Taeyeon’s protests and looked at Tiffany with a grin full of mischief

 

“Stop it you two” Taeyeon cut in before Tiffany could answer. She cleared and thought of something to change their subject “I thought you went ahead with the others” she asked referring to the redhead’s entrance

 

“Oh, that. I went to search for Jessi. You know her. Loitering around the campus asleep.” She answered

 

Jessica Jung. She’s the girl who you rarely find awake. She loves her bed more than anyone else. Jessica always seems icy cold which gained her the nickname “Ice Princess”. But inside the cold exterior is a warm heart, reluctant and shy to make its appearance. Jessica is actually a good friend to have other than having to receive all those death glares and sadistic hits; she’s surely a good one. Taeyeon can definitely testify to that.

 

“Where is she now then?” Sunny asked noticing that their certain friend wasn’t with them that moment

 

“I don’t know” Tiffany shrugged as they reached the cafeteria and approached their friends seated at their usual table. One of them saw them coming and gestured exaggeratedly that they should come quick

 

“What are they up to?” Sunny stated with suspicion as she noticed the familiar glint of mischief in her friends’ eyes

 

“Must be something bad” Taeyeon answered and Tiffany agreed, “They never did anything right”

 

“What are you guys up to?” Sunny asked as they reached their table

 

“Shh!!” The tall girl shushed and hastily brought her index finger over her lips “Lower it down Sunny!”

 

Choi Sooyoung, their tall friend who eats more than anyone else hence gaining the nickname “Shikshin” which literally means “Food god”. Despite the nickname, the tall lanky girl never seems to gain weight. She’s one of the big bullies in their circle of friends. Despite being the third youngest, she makes fun of the older ones including the younger ones most of the time—in a fun manner, of course.

They may bicker around a lot but Taeyeon can’t deny that being around Sooyoung is—even though there are times that Sooyoung can annoy the hell out of her, yeah—indeed comfortable to be with. Sooyoung may be loud but she can always shut and lend an ear when needed.

 

Taeyeon looked over and saw them snickering over something—or rather, SOMEONE—as Taeyeon peeked and discovered that they were hovering over Jessica’s sleeping figure while holding a pen doodling over her face here and there

 

“That’s enough eonni!” Seohyun, the youngest in the group and the most proper one who obviously didn’t join in politely scolded them as they scribbled nonsense on Jessica’s face

 

Seo Joohyun or Seohyun, who they like to address as their ‘baby’, being the youngest out of the nine. Even though she’s the youngest one, when you see the way the other 8 behave, you’ll have to think twice because it turns out, that the youngest one is actually the one with who still has her sanity intact(though she has her own moments).

How she—a perfectly formal and proper being—strayed into this bundle of dorky people is surely a mystery but they like to think of it as, fate. Taeyeon can’t help but be thankful to have Seohyun among her friends. She disciplines them and discipline is something they really need.

 

“Shush Joohyun.” The tan resident prankster addressed the youngest with while drawing whiskers on Jessica’s cheek “Just wait until our masterpiece is done. You’ll start appreciating it for sure” she grinned while she added some stray dots here and there

 

Kwon Yuri, the resident prankster. She surely loves to pull a prank to the girls. She’s the hyper-active friend we all have. Where’s the fun in a group of friends without the idiotic one, right? Despite the idiotic and hyper-active image she has amongst their circle of friends, Taeyeon can’t deny that this one is a certain hottie. Kwon Yuri’s body just screams HOT and that’s something all them boys and girls drool over for. And yes, Yuri does swing that way along with Taeyeon but the both of them never thought of making a move because that’ll probably be like filthy bromance for the both of them. Just the thought of it makes them want to puke their insides out.

 

“That’s right Seohyun” her blonde eonni agreed “when will you ever start to appreciate our hardwork?” she exclaimed silently and over dramatically

 

Kim Hyoyeon’s the one with the YOLO attitude. She does what she wants and she doesn’t care. Well, you only live once right? For Taeyeon, Hyoyeon is the one who seems to have the loosest screw on her head. Hyoyeon just goes wild and when she does, she really goes all out and no one can stop her in that. She’s a free spirit and Taeyeon highly admires that.

 

Taeyeon watched and grinned at her friends’ behaviour. They were always up to no good. And looking at Jessica’s scribbled face, she almost snorted out loud after they insisted that this is their work of art. Jessica’s normally flawless face was now doodled with whiskers and a couple of dots all over her face. Eyes were drawn on her eyelids and sparkles were drawn on her forehead making Taeyeon grin wider. “What would Jessica do to you guys when she finds out?” Taeyeon wondered and shivered involuntarily at the thought. No one messes with the ice princess. No one.

 

“I got it eonni!” a girl with doe eyes sparkling with excitement ran to them and whispered loudly

 

Im Yoona. Along with Yuri, she also has remarkable prank skills and along with Sooyoung, she also devours anything edible without having to gain weight at all. For others, she may be the perfect ideal girl we all dream about. She’s perfect from the root of her hair to the heels of her feet. Her features make her look innocent and pure but don’t let that fool you, she’s the total opposite. She acts like one of the guys and her doe eyes are always glimmering in mischief. She may look delicate and frail but she can totally manage to break someone’s bones when needed.

 

“What’s that Yoona?” Tiffany asked and squinted at the plate the girl brought. Yoona turned to her and smiled slyly as she whispers like that of Gollum’s “cu..cumber.. saaa..laaad”

 

“Cucumber?! Are they nuts or are they nuts? Are they trying to get themselves killed?” Taeyeon frantically thought and again shivered at what Jessica might do when they did what she thinks they will knowing that Jessica despises cucumber and it’s smell with a passion “But then..That could be fun” she pondered again as her lips curled into a smirk.

 

She draped her blazer on a chair and approached Yoona and took the plate from her hands “Let me do the honour” she playfully said as Yoona let go of the plate with a victorious grin, “Sure. Go ahead eonni”.

 

Taeyeon grinned and approached Jessica as the others backed away seemingly aware and frightened of what is about to happen next. They covered their ears in anticipation as Taeyeon lifted up a piece of cucumber with a fork and hovered it near Jessica’s nose as she fans with her hands hoping that the sleeping girl will get a whiff of what she is—

 

“AAAAAAAAAAK!!!” Jessica bolted straight up and covered her nose while screaming at the top of her lungs with a pitch that is of a dolphin that made students near their table cover their ears in surprise. She then looked up at the culprit and sent an icy glare towards Taeyeon who was unable to move due to her ear tearing scream

“KIM TAEYEON!!!” she shouted and lunged over Taeyeon who successfully ran away with all her might. She turned around and saw Jessica’s icy glare but cannot stop herself from laughing because of the noticeable scribbles on her face even from afar.

 

However, her grin faded as Jessica started to run after her which she never expected since the lazy girl never bothers to stand up much more run.

 

She ran with all her might towards the hallway. Stealing glances every now and then to check their distance. Hell, she still wanted to live. And that wish will be crushed if Jessica manages to catch up with her.

 

She ce more and grinned to herself as she noticed that the girl was chasing her no more and as she was about to turn back ahead, she bumped into someone and fell on her

 

“Oof!” she grunted as her hit the floor

“Ouch...” the guy who she bumped into grimaced as he tries to stand up

 

She looked up and saw a rather feminine guy holding eyeliner in his right hand and his left hand gripping a mirror while leaning against the wall for assistance. She looked at his face and held back a laugh. It seems like he was putting on eyeliner when she bumped into him and everything was messed up.

 

She stood up and dusted herself and was about to apologize when the guy suddenly glared at her “YA!” he shouted and the students surrounding looked over and was surprised to see the Taeyeon being yelled at. Taeyeon herself was surprised but at the same time pissed off. She merely raised her eyebrows as she nonchalantly loosened her tie and wiped her sweat.

 

The guy glared at her once again and looked at his mirror and gasped out loud which made Taeyeon raise her eyebrows more at the sight. “He’s weird... a guy applying eyeliner in the middle of the hallway... Wait. Is he even a guy?” Taeyeon thought but before she could ask any of those the weird guy or, with Taeyeon’s words, the not-so-straight guy yelled at her yet again “YA! YOU RUINED MY EYELINER!”

 

Taeyeon’s lips curled up ever so slightly with amusement. “Is he serious or is my theory actually right?”  And again, before Taeyeon could say anything an ear piercing scream echoes the hallway

 

“KIM TAEYEON!!! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!!” Taeyeon turned her head and saw Jessica running towards her with her scribbled face and icy glare

 

“OH SHI--!” Taeyeon cursed and ran for her life leaving the guy fuming and confused but Taeyeon was sure that he was definitely mad about his eyeliner but there’s more business to mind right now and a frustrated guy with ruined eyeliner is nothing beside a raging ice princess with nasty scribbles all over her face

 

Taeyeon swerved left and right not daring to look back and ran with the speed she never thought she could muster. She turned left and found herself entering a door towards the women’s comfort room and scuttled towards the farthest cubicle panting as she locks herself in.

 

She waited for a few minutes before realizing that she lost the ice princess and the coast is now clear and decides to go outside of the cubicle

 

She walked towards the sink and washed her face sticking with sweat from the marathon she had just now. She grabbed tads of Kleenex and dabbed them on her face and neck hoping to dry out the sticky sweat—now mixed with water—streaming down. She loosened her now tight necktie and ed a few buttons due to heat. She stared at her reflection on the mirror for a while and noticed her exhausted face.

 

Her blonde hair darkening because of sweat and water causing it to stick on the sides of her face, her breath shallow and her cheeks flush. She has never run that fast ever in her life and she vowed silently that she will never do so again.

 

After gaining composure and having her normal breathing back, she went out of the bathroom only to bump into someone again though this time, she didn’t fall down. “What’s with people bumping on me today?” she thought, irritated.

 

“YOU!” a familiar voice too high pitched for a normal guy echoed through the walls. Taeyeon looked up and saw the guy she bumped with earlier.

 

“What?” she tilted her head “Do I know you?”  The eyeliner guy simply glared at her harder. She noticed that his ruined eyeliner was already fixed and that was probably the reason why he was at the comfort room.

 

She tilted her head to the other side “What?” she raised a brow. The eyeliner guy glared harder (if that was even possible) and stormed off in the most feminine way. With his hips swaying and legs crossing as he stepped.

 

 “Ok, what’s with him?”  Taeyeon thought. She shrugged it off and walked away.

 

“Taeyeon!” Tiffany came running towards her “You’re running late! You better hurry before Mr. Han’s temper flares up.”

 

“Who cares” she nonchalantly answered. Tiffany shrugged and walked past her and she grabbed her arm “Wait, why are you still here if I’m already late?” she asked

 

“Well duh, I’m obviously going to the comfort room” Tiffany rolled her eyes and Taeyeon let go and nodded off. She walked away leisurely not caring a thing if she’s late or what. She never paid attention in his classes anyway but she still miraculously passed.

 

Soon, she picked up her pace as she thought of being scolded by the youngest again. Afraid of the agonizing time of being lectured about life.

 

She then noticed that there was someone following her. It wasn’t Tiffany because the bubbly girl will for sure approach her. This wasn’t the first time someone followed her. Fair amount of stalkers had been doing that since day 1.

 

She sighed loudly to express her frustration “Stop following me” she said

 

“I’m not following you” she tensed up as she recognized the voice that was screaming EYELINER

 

She smirked to herself “Not following me? What are you doing then?” she said, still walking briskly

 

“Duh, I’m obviously WALKING” he answered

 

She scoffed at the chic remark “smartass” she thought “Do you really have to walk behind me? There’s a lot of space here you know. You can walk ahead of me for all I care” She spat back

 

“I don’t want to”

 

Taeyeon glanced at her destination that was one step away “Fine. Whatever” she said as she turned the doorknob and went inside the room with all eyes on her. She spotted her friends and victoriously grinned at them showing how proud she is for staying alive.

 

She stepped forward into the room but stopped in her tracks when the subject teacher cleared his throat “You’re late, Miss Kim” he sternly said

 

She turned towards him and tilted her head “Yeah. I know. So?” she answered in a polite tone which sugar coated the sarcasm in her words. She glanced back at her friends and saw Seohyun shaking her head in disapproval with her brows furrowed.

 

She sighed and turned to Mr. Han, bowed slightly and apologized “Sorry for being late.” She muttered half-heartedly

 

Mr. Han crossed his arms and asked “Why are you late? You better give me valid reasons Miss Kim”

 

She blinked at him and contemplated at what she was going to say. “Do I really have to tell him?” she thought “fine”

She sighed and began “I was chased by Jessica—you know, Miss Jung—all over the school threatening to kill me so I ran. She chased me throughout the lunch break” she honestly stated making the class burst out in hushed laughter

 

The professor raised one of his brows in clear amusement for the honesty “And do you mind telling me where Miss Jung is? She hasn’t arrived yet”

 

 

Taeyeon looked around and indeed Jessica was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and turned to her teacher “I don’t know. She’s probably dozing off the garden or rooftop.” She nonchalantly said

 

 

She stood there in front of her teacher waiting for him to talk until her legs started getting all wobbly due all that crazy running “Do you mind if I sit down now? My legs are shaking like crazy from that chase” she pouted

 

The teacher nodded and Taeyeon immediately went to her table beside the window and found her blazer there. She wore it after she sat down and fixed her tie and buttons. After she massaged her legs a bit, she once again dazed out of the window admiring the clouds and wondering why the sky was blue and all the nonsense things she could wonder about. She was weird that way and she likes it.

 

The door to their classroom was opened yet again. She didn’t notice. She was too busy squinting her eyes as she stared at the sun but quickly looked away and pondering about why people thinks that the sun is colour yellow when all she sees is a white blinding light. She was about to think about where the wind was coming from when she heard a familiar voice that made her turn her head towards the front. Her eyebrows were raised to their highest and jaw slightly agape as she eyed the unwanted visitor.

 

“Okay, introduce yourself” the professor commanded him