the lonely hearts club [saida, minayeon, jeongchaeng]

Chapter 12: this is why i hate parties

Dahyun drives them to Joy's house later – Tzuyu is shoved inside a car with Sana and Chaeyoung, both of which look even more miserable than Tzuyu herself, which is impressive considering she had to witness the girl she has been crushing on since Freshmen year flirt with a guy for the entire evening even if he looked completely uninterested.

She watches as Dahyun tries to make small talk (in that awful Annabelle costume that will give her nightmares later), but neither of them seem to be in the mood. To be completely honest, neither does Dahyun, although she is a significantly better actress than both of them. In the middle of the dance, after Tzuyu had sneaked out to give Sana and Dahyun a bit more space when the songs started to slow down Dahyun had somehow managed to follow her. The blonde was terribly flustered when she asked her why she'd followed her all the way to the bathroom, pink to her ears when she shrugged, "I didn't want to leave you alone." Which seemed like a bullshit excuse then and still does now.

"It was fun, wasn't it?" She asks, trying to fill in the silence. "I really liked Jeongyeon's costume, it almost matched with Chaeyoung's."

Tzuyu bites back a flinch. If only she knew.

"It was fun," Sana gives a half-hearted nod, head against the window. She spares a glance at Chaeyoung, who just swallows.

"I thought Nayeon was going to be Homecoming Queen though," Dahyun nods, hands unsteady on the steering wheel. Tzuyu stares at them for a little longer than necessary, wondering what's going on exactly. "But I'm happy that it was Mina. She's nicer, I think."

"Yeah, she is," Chaeyoung snorts slightly.

Dahyun doesn't say much after that, evidently sensing no one is truly in the mood to talk about anything. They pull up to Joy's fast enough though; it's not far from School. It's also a huge ass mansion, so it's pretty hard to miss.

When she gets out, Tzuyu catches a glimpse of Nayeon stepping out of Jeongyeon's car along with Jihyo and her date. She doesn't look sad or disappointed, she looks a bit lost. Jeongyeon on the other hand, in her ridiculous Mad hatter costume, looks like she wants to be anywhere else right now. It seems no one is in the mood to get drunk and make bad decisions today.

Mina and Momo must already be inside she figures, probably driven by Jackson. She wonders how Nayeon is doing so well knowing Mina is probably going to be leaving with her date (and Homecoming King) later and bites her lip. Nayeon is a bitch at least a 90% of the time, but she also understands what is like to see the person you like be with someone else. Although she figures Nayeon doesn't just like Mina. It's way deeper than Tzuyu can actually imagine; it must be if she has spent the last three years still holding on to her.

As if on cue Nayeon turns to nod at Tzuyu, like they are about to enter some sort of warzone. Honestly it might be. High school parties are scary (not that she'd know since she's never actually been to one).

Chaeyoung suddenly takes hold of her arm and drags her close.

"I need to get plastered," she sighs. "So I can at least pretend I have a crush on Sana."

"And also because Jeongyeon's been avoiding you like the plague," Tzuyu adds, and when Chaeyoung glares at her she just purses her lips in annoyance at her best friend. "You know I'm right."

"No, you're not," she glares even harder, but after a second or two her gaze softens. "I can't fight you right now, I'm too distressed. Let's just get drunk, please."

Tzuyu nods. "Yes," and then under her breath, "... distressed because Jeongyeon has been ignoring you..." but Chaeyoung doesn't get to hear that part because she's already dragged her inside where the music is so loud Tzuyu can barely hear her own thoughts.