Minju and Chenle walked through the crowded hallway, talking about their classes and how stressed the work was making them.
The pair was making their way to their first period class, dodging some students who were rushing to not be late to theirs. "I can't believe Ms. Nam failed me. I think that was the best essay I've written in my whole life."
"Chenle, you say that for every essay you write." Minju said, laughing a bit.
"Okay, but that just means that I keep improving each time." Chenle retorted, "That's what we call character development, babe."
Minju snorted, nodding her head in mock agreement. "Definitely, character development. So proud of you, Lele."
"Thank you, thank you, Miss." Before Minju could answer, she accidentally bumped into a figure.
This caused her books to fall out of her hands and onto the floor. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?" She asked.
The girl turned around, smiling at them. "It's okay, Minju. I'm completely fine." She then bent down to pick up the books, while the two best friends stared at her in shock.
"Nari?" Chenle asked first. Nari looked up at them, slightly smiling.
"Yeah?" She asked, before busying herself with the fallen books again.
The girl was sporting new dark hair and looked almost unrecognizable since everyone was used to the bright purple and pink hair. "Your hair?" Chenle asked once again, pointing at her as she got up.
"Oh, do you like it?" She carefully asked, subconsciously pulling at the ends of her hair.
"It looks really nice!" He answered, taking the books out of her possession.
Nari giggled, "Thank you!"
"You look beautiful, Ri." Minju said, taking her books back from Chenle's hold.
Nari simply smiled at the girl, nodding her head. "We better get to class or else we'll be late." She quickly said, leaving without checking if the two were following her.
The two reached the classroom just in time to see everyone's reaction to the return of the girl. There were a lot of whispering and stares.
Sua caught sight of the once purple haired girl and her eyes widened. "Oh my God, where have you been?!" She exclaimed, jumping off her seat and immediately engulfing Nari in a hug.
"I'm sorry for just disappearing." She replied, hugging the girl back.
"It's okay. As long as you're fine." Sua said, her words slightly muffled.
Just then the bell rang and all the students took their seats. "Your hair looks great, by the way." Sua quickly said, as she returned to her seat next to Minju.
Nari replied with a quick 'thank you' just as the teacher walked into the classroom. "Good morning, class." Ms. Nam greeted. The class lazily greeted back, the teacher nodding her head.
"Right, so, I've spoken to Mr. Lee and after some serious discussion, we have decided that we will be doing another project for the term." The whole class erupted into protest and whines.
"Now, now, class. Calm down. We are simply doing this since all of you did terrible in your essays." Ms. Nam said, eyeing Chenle from the corner of her eye. "But good news is, it will be a paired assignment. You will be working in groups of two, which will hopefully make the work load a little bit lighter."
"We were nice and decided that you may choose your partner yourselves." Immediately chatter began between the students as they wanted to secure their partner as fast as possible. "You can discuss your partnering later. First let's discuss the project. Each of you will choose a popular fairytale and rewrite it to make it more modern." Ms. Nam explained.
"It's a fairly easy task. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. That's all for today, I expect all of you to work on the assignment for the rest of period." Ms. Nam concluded, taking her seat at her desk.
Minju immediately turned around in her seat, facing Jisung. "You are my partner. No argument, thank you." The boy stared at the girl, shocked but slowly nodded his head, gulping.
"Okay, then I'll partner with Nari." Sua said. The girl looked up at her, surprised.
"Yeah, I'd love that!" She answered.
Chenle looked between his friends, a horrified expression on his face. "Hey! What about me?"
Minju looked around the classroom, smiling when her eyes landed on the familiar girl. "Eun Ae!" She called out, catching the girl's attention. She motioned the girl to come over.
"What are you doing?" Chenle whisper yelled at Minju.
"We all know you're terrible at this, so I'm simply helping you." She replied.
"Uh, what's going on?" Jisung asked, confusedly looking in Sua's direction. She only shrugged her shoulders, waiting to see what happens next.
When Eun Ae reached them, she brightly smiled at them. "Hey, guys!" She said, eyes landing on Chenle. She softly smiled at him, him raising his hand in a half salute.
"You probably already know them, but these are my other friends, Sua and Jisung." Minju said, gesturing to the two. Jisung awkwardly waved at her, as Sua stared the girl down.
"And this is Nari, my bestie." Chenle quickly added, not wanting to exclude the girl. Nari lifted her head, an quiet oh escaping her lips, before smiling at Eun Ae, who returned it. Chenle gave Minju a look of disappointment, which made her respond with a shrug.
"Chenle doesn't have a partner, because he sucks at essays." Chenle was about to protest, but Minju continued. "But I heard that you are amazing at them! So, how would you like to pair up with him?" She asked, beaming at Eun Ae.
The girl was stunned for a few moments, mouth slightly agape as she flickered her eyes from Minju to Chenle. "Me? Uh, I don't know if that would be a good idea..."
"Oh, come on! You can help him improve his grades." Minju continued.
"Lord knows he needs it." Sua muttered, causing Chenle to lightly hit her shoulder.
He tsked, before returning his gaze back to Eun Ae. "I'm sorry about them. Don't feel intimidated by these idiots. You totally don't have to if you're not comfortable!" He said, smiling.
"Oh, no! That's totally not it. I'd love to help you, but only if you'd want me to help you?" She quickly said, waving her hands in front of her.
Minju smiled as she watched the interaction, glad she did her research on the girl beforehand. "Hm, I wouldn't mind." Chenle finally said.
Eun Ae's smile widened, nodding her head before retreating back to her desk, waving goodbye at the rest.
"Okay, you," Sua pointed to Minju, "I saw what you did, so don't think I'm letting you off the hook that easily. But," She turned to Chenle. "What just happened?"
Chenle gave her a confused expression, not sure what she meant. Sua rolled her eyes, grunting out of frustration. "Someone please explain who that girl is and how do we know her? And why does she give Chenle heart eyes?!" Sua bombarded them with questions.
"You saw it too?!" Nari exclaimed from her seat. Sua nodded, reaching over and high-fiving the girl.
"She gave me heart eyes?" Chenle asked. All three girls sighed, giving Chenle a pointed look. "What?"
"Chenle, that girl likes you." Jisung said, trying to suppress his laugh.
"Even Jisung can see it, Lele. Are you dumb?" Minju exclaimed getting a bit too excited.
Chenle looked over to Nari for help, but the girl gave him a helpless face. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this information, though?"
"You get to know her, Lele. That's what you do." Sua said, the rest nodding in agreement.
hello! sorry for not updated, i was writing tests and stuff. but now it's holiday 😁
how are we feeling about eun ae? also, nari black hair 👀
o
h and happy jeno day!! 💘