CHAPTER 2:expose

Everyone has a story of how they met, and despite what Jihyo thinks, most of the council has history with each other.

Momo and Mina met two years ago when Mina first started out at the Starbucks outlet they work at, and became friends over stacking boxes and shittalking their then-manager, who was a wanker who couldn't tell his left from his right, or his frappes from his Americanos. It was a slow start, because Mina hid behind boxes when Momo came in for the better part of a month, but Momo had come in one day grumbling about being written up and things have fallen into place from then on. They're an unlikely pair, but Mina likes to have a older figure around to guide her (though it's usually the other way round).

Dahyun and Tzuyu know each other from that period in Dahyun's sophomore year when she was cycling through various after-school activities and settled on the track team for two months. She was a good sprinter, energetic and twitchy, though she depleted the team's stash of energy drinks in a week and ended up twisting her ankle after tripping over a misplaced hurdle at the first track meet of the season. Tzuyu bought her a bottle of Gatorade as a goodbye gift when Dahyun announced her departure, and that's all there is to it.

Chaeyoung might be the only person who doesn't have prior connection with anyone in the council, but that's overriden by how fast she opens up to new people. The spunky sophomore already has Jeongyeon and Tzuyu wrapped around her little finger, and that's within the first day of meeting. It's pleasant, and Jihyo knows that there won't be any problem getting Chaeyoung comfortable.

Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo know each other from... well, even they're not sure where they know each other from, because they've been friends for so incomprehensibly long. Since birth, possibly, although Jeongyeon likes to bring up the point that Nayeon couldn't walk until she was two, and that Jihyo didn't speak till she was three. Jeongyeon also likes to call herself a 'developmental diva', so that's that.

Simply put, the three of them have been friends since forever, whether it may be because of their mothers also being best friends and putting their almost identically-aged children together to play, or that time when they all joined the photography club in elementary school, which had zero real cameras, for the record. (Only Nayeon ended up staying in photography, up till junior year when she quit to join council.) One of Jihyo's earliest memories, in fact, is yelling at Jeongyeon to come inside when she was out in the garden in the rain, looking for a snail to put in Nayeon's toybox.

And then there's Nayeon and Sana. They met halfway through a softball match on the last day of sixth grade, with Nayeon in the stands to support Jeongyeon. Or to be more accurate, Sana accidentally let go of her bat while batting, which let to said bat meeting Nayeon's face. Sana had ignored the screams from the bleachers and completed a home run, only realizing what she had done when she looked up and Nayeon was on the floor.

She had visited Nayeon in the hospital, Nayeon had kissed her while she was hopped up on painkillers, and the story tells itself. Nayeon hates it when people say she and Sana have been together since forever, but it's true - they spent seventh and eighth grade dating in that tentative, awkward middle schooler way, before entering high school and becoming a lot less awkward and a lot more interested in touching each other all the time. A glow-up indeed.

-

mina [4:12pm]: so, jihyo, i was thinking

                             we should have an outing somewhere! for bonding purposes

                             :D

-

"Momo-unnie? What are you doing with my phone-" Mina's face falls when her phone begins lighting up and ringing. The look on Momo's face is positively devious, and Mina knows Momo well enough to know that that is bad news. "Oh no."

jihyo [4:13pm]: oh yeah sure! i dont mind

"No need to thank me," Momo says, and Mina groans, fervently typing. Momo has been relentless about getting Mina and Jihyo to get closer since Mina told her about the 'platonic crush' the other day. That, and relentless in making fun of Mina for calling it a 'platonic crush'.

("You know I'm not hom*phobic, right? Just say it, Minari. You're g*y."

"Am not. It is a friend crush," Mina insists, only for Momo to burst into laughter again.)

mina [4:14pm]: sorry momo had my phone

                             what i meant was like a group outing! all 9 of us

jihyo [4:15pm]: oh

                             yeah sure! ill text the group chat to ask where they want to go

Looking over her shoulder, Momo groans. "Minari, you just cockblocked yourself."

"There is no blocking of c*cks," Mina says sagely, swiping out of the conversation and watching as Jihyo sends the invitation to the council group chat. "It's just weird to suggest a one-on-one outing like that, unnie. She probably thought it was weird too."

Momo devolves into a fit of coughs and eye-rolls. Mina pats her back sympathetically - Momo's been so sick recently.

"Besides," Mina remarks, "This'll be a good opportunity for the council to b*nd."

"Would be nicer if it was just the two of you."

"For the last time--"

-

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***