𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 7

After finishing your food you head outside and look around, trying to find Seojun. You eventually find him near the back of the building, realising it must be a hideout of theirs because of the desks and basketball hoop set up nearby.

"Yah, Han Seojun!" you call out, your forearms resting on the railing near where they're standing as you lean over to talk to him. The boys all snap their heads towards you, "You never told me your friends went to this school."
"You never asked," he responds, and you roll your eyes before heading down the stairs. His friends just gape as they watch the whole interaction in pure confusion.

While you're walking down to where they're standing, his friends all start bombarding him with questions.
"Since when did you have such a pretty friend?"
"Since when did you speak to girls?"
"Since when did you have friends other than us?"
"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yah, shut up!" he shouts, "What are you talking about, she's not my girlfriend." They're about to interrogate him further, but at that moment you show up so they all turn to face you.
"Annyeong," you smile widely and wave at them.

"This is Y/N," Seojun tells his friends, "my friend and neighbour," he throws them a pointed look, clearly responding to their questions from earlier.
"It's nice to meet you," you reach a hand out towards the boy at the front for him to shake, and they're all silent for a few seconds before they break into cheers.

The boy returns your smile and takes your hand, shaking it around in excitement before making you do a little twirl. They all move closer to you and introduce themselves, and you giggle at their excitement.

"Yes, we have another good looking friend in our group!" They cheer louder, and you look over at Seojun who's standing a few steps away. His face is buried in his palm, clearly embarrassed by his friends' behaviour, and it just makes you laugh even more. They're all really kind to you, and you find it adorable to see how goofy they are around Seojun.

After a while of getting to know Seojun's friends you head inside for your next lesson - since lunch is almost over - you and Seojun walking back alone since they aren't in your homeroom class.
"So what's the deal with you and Suho?' you ask, and he just sighs at your question.

"It's a long story," he says, but then he continues when he sees your expression, "we used to be close, something happened, now we're not. I'll explain the full story to you another time, okay?" You nod, respecting his wishes despite being curious.

You head into your next lesson - where the tables are set up differently since you would be doing a group project - and sit down. You had all been split into groups in advance, so you're sitting at the back beside Jugyeong, with Taehoon, Hyeongyu and Suho also in your group.

You sit in silence for a few minutes while looking down at your notes, trying to figure out which information you should include in your group presentation, before looking up and laughing at the state Taehoon and Hyeongyu are in.

They're sighing exaggeratedly, leaning on each other as though they've completely given up.
"How are we going to do this presentation, I know nothing," Hyeongyu says dejectedly, Taehoon humming in agreement.

"Don't put yourself down like that," you scold them lightly with a smile and they both throw you finger hearts at your attempt of encouraging them, which makes you laugh.
"She's right! Did you forget that we have the school's number one and three in our group? We have the smartest team right now."

You jokingly sigh at their words. You never really cared for your rank. You work hard for your grades so you're glad you can make your mother proud by doing as well as you do, but you don't mind that you're not first or second - it's just never really bothered you as much as it does Soojin.