Alice is popular, boys love her, and even girls love her. And so does her best friend, Irene.
....friends to lovers angst with the pressure from overbearing parents to self discovery
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What better way to raise your grade than studying with your best friend?
Irene and Alice are seated on the floor of Irene's bedroom, flashcards sprawled out in different spots. They have been matching Spanish cards together for the past 20 minutes, Alice being surprisingly more competitive than Irene, especially for someone who hates studying more than her.
Irene informed Alice about her school dilemma earlier in the week, saying she'd need to distance a bit before her parents made it so that she'd distance for good. Alice, being the good friend she is, offered to study with her. This took Irene by surprise, Alice hates studying more than anything. She wings almost most of her exams.
"It'll be fine," She had said, "You know how to make studying more fun... somehow?" Alice and Irene were running laps in the gym. Having to stay inside because of the cold weather.
"It's not my fault you're intolerable when we aren't doing something fun," Irene laughed, keeping a steady pace with her jogging. Alice was faster than her, naturally. But she modified her speed to match Irene. Being seen alone was more embarrassing to her than running half her normal speed. She had to jog every morning at 7 am in rehab, so when she came back she was twice the speed she had went in.
"I'm not intolerable, I'm fun!" Alice laughed, hitting Irene on the side of the head. Irene laughed and bit her lip, hitting Alice's stomach with the back of her hand.
Alice wrapped her stomach in response and squealed. "You know I hate it when you do that!" She yelled in shock, a couple of students turned to them. Alice got her hand ready to hit back, but it was too late, Irene was sprinting the rest of the lap, Alice chasing shortly behind. They laughed and giggled the rest of class, earning a couple of looks from others and being the loudest ones in class that day.
And now they're here, playing a flashcard game with Spanish translations. They both take Spanish class together, having both did it in Middle school. They are quite proficient in it, Irene more than Alice but still. Irene's parents pushed it onto her in elementary school when she wanted to learn more about her language, Korean. Both her parents are half Korean making her also half Korean. But her parents don't care much for the culture, resulting in a rather American-sounding name for Irene. It's unique, yes; the name coming from the Greek language, meaning peace. But it was nowhere near how names worked in North Korea. It was a shame, seeking out the one grandparent she could get in contact with to know more about her family's lineage and culture. She didn't find out much, her grandmother had dementia and could barely remember anything herself and passed away shortly after. Of course, Irene tries to research as much as she can, but it isn't the same. She doesn't get that feeling of inside knowledge that she is longing for.
"Irene, it's your turn," Alice says, waving her hand at Irene's face. She blinked back to the real world, bringing herself to understand what was going on around her again.
