One. Two, three. Four... Five, six, seven...eight...and nine. Including herself.

Nayeon knows perfectly well that dozens of sports teams, clubs, organizations, and other gatherings for extracurricular activities operate right here on the campus, but at the moment only a handful of people have shown up to the obligatory after-school budget meeting. She's only the captain of the girls' varsity soccer team, a kick-and-run jock, but Nayeon has managed to memorize and thus recognize each and every face currently seated at the conference table: Yoo Jeongyeon (president of the art club), Hirai Momo (captain of the advanced dance squad), Minatozaki Sana (captain of the varsity cheer squad), Park Jihyo (president of the glee club), Myoui Mina (president of the ballet club), Kim Dahyun (president of the birdwatching club), Son Chaeyoung (president of the poetry club), and Chou Tzuyu (captain of the intermediate dance squad). This group obviously didn't comprise of all the possible leaders, captains, or presidents of their school.

Nayeon glances at her wristwatch again. "It's been twenty minutes past the scheduled meeting time... Where the hell did everyone go?" She sends her sharp gaze into the direction of a certain brunette responsible for attendance. "Momo, did you forward the emails to everyone like I asked you to?"

A spatter of crumbs escape from the dancer's mouth as she mutters under her breath, "." Nothing else needs to be said to indicate that Momo had completely forgotten about her task. She wraps up her unfinished evening snack and stores it in her bag out of guilt.

Meanwhile, the soccer captain kneads harshly at her temples. She probably should've anticipated that something would go wrong. That's how these damn budget meetings usually go, sadly enough. "Okay. That's fine. Don't blame yourself. It's my fault for entrusting you with that important task, knowing how busy and forgetful you can be. Well, there's no point in taking roll so we're going to skip that." Nayeon shoves the roll sheet back into the green folder labeled, 'Budget Meeting'. "If Momo didn't send the emails, then how did the rest of you find out about this meeting?"

"Oh, I got this!" A peppy Sana volunteers to provide an explanation, raising her hand and flinging it around haphazardly. Before anyone could even blink, she quickly goes: "First, Momo told me about the budget meeting, so then I told Mina - because of course I tell my girlfriend everything. Then Mina told Chaeyoung, Chaeyoung told Dahyun, Dahyun told Tzuyu, and finally Tzuyu told Jihyo. Honestly, it wouldn't have been that hard to continue the cycle and get more people to come but Jihyo just had to ruin it by catching the flu. Thanks a lot, Jihyo."

The glee club president appears totally offended by the start of Sana's sudden blame game. "Hey, this is my first day back! I'm actually still recovering but at least I made it to this meeting!"

"That's really too bad because there's no point when you've pretty much single-handedly ruined it! Although it was Momo's fault in the first place!" Momo frowns and places a hand over her chest. She didn't expect to hear her already tarnished name thrown into the little argument, especially by her own close friend.

"Alright Minatozaki, if you really have a problem with me, you should just bring your hamster-faced, pom-pom shaking over here and say it directly to my face!" Sana starts to make her way over to Jihyo, but Nayeon quickly intervenes before the situation could escalate any further.

"Oh my god - Sana, Jihyo, please calm down, be quiet, and sit back down. Otherwise - I swear to everything good and holy in this world - I am going to kick both of your asses with my brand new cleats on. The studs have not been worn down, unlike my other pairs, and I guarantee that you will feel it." Sana and Jihyo steal furtive glances at Nayeon's feet (why would she wear her cleats to the budget meeting?), and they don indignant expressions but immediately do as they're told to nonetheless.

Just when everyone thought that it was all over, Sana remarks, "Geez Nayeon, you need to chill. We were just joking around, the way friends do. Would you like some help getting out that stick up your - " The echo of a skin-to-skin slap rings throughout the room as Mina's hand seems to suddenly appear over Sana's mouth, and the rest of her words are magically muffled.

"I'm really sorry about that," Mina apologizes to Nayeon and everyone else attending the budget meeting. "Please continue where you left off." The ballerina doesn't appear to have the intention of releasing her girlfriend anytime soon, and the cheer captain is beginning to turn slightly blue. However, Nayeon and the other meeting attendees think that it is absolutely fine, and they pretend not to notice. (Disclaimer: No Minatozaki Sanas were harmed during this meeting.)

"Anyway, let's just commence the official budget meeting now and see if we can achieve anything productive today, which I somewhat doubt... What is on the weekly agenda..." Nayeon's finger slides down the page until she notices something that brings the slightest of smiles to her face. (It's a smile of relief.) "Ah, this shouldn't be too difficult. I know we have some pretty creative minds here, so how about we try and brainstorm some ideas for our next fundraiser?"

Chaeyoung's hand goes up into the air, and Nayeon calls on her to speak. She regrets it instantly. "Who died and made you the boss of us?"

Without bothering to also raise her hand and wait to be called, Tzuyu replies, "According to the agreement we made about weekly leader rotations, Jihyo is technically supposed to lead the budget meetings during this week...but she unfortunately succumbed to the flu last week. She will always be remembered in our hearts."

"I'm literally sitting right next to you."

Tzuyu cups a hand around her ear. "Did anyone else hear that? It sounded like Jihyo... Is her spirit in this room, somewhere among us, at this very moment?" Her eyes begin to wander about the room as if she were searching for a sign of her friend's presence. Jihyo successfully fights off the urge to smack her.

"Anyway, I missed a lot while I was gone and I have to catch up on a lot of schoolwork, so I personally asked Nayeon to assume my position for this week. I know how responsible and attentive she is, and that she's more than capable of leading these budget meetings. If anyone seriously disagrees with my choice, they should s