Mean Girls

xv. an eye for an eye

The sound of fierce whispers is instant.

The second Hwiyoung's mouth leaves hers, Ryujin knows she's completely and utterly screwed.

It doesn't matter who kissed who, it doesn't matter that Ryujin instantly pulls away. The only thing that matters is that her peers have been starving and this kiss might as well be a fucking buffet that they'll throw themselves over, frothing at the mouth.

The weight of the backlash is going to hit her with the force of a thousand tsunamis.

Ryujin doesn't know how she makes it to the end of practice and she doesn't even find refuge in the safety of the locker rooms as her teammates are all over her.

Ryujin attempts to shrug it off and make light of it and she succeeds until someone exclaims, "I could have sworn he wasn't over his ex. Speaking of, she's totally going to freak. It's all over twitter."

"She was there. She ran away like she was on fire."

Ryujin's heart thuds painfully in her chest and she has her phone in her hand before she realizes she's even moved.

It's worse than she imagined.

#RyuYoung

Ryujin's breath gets stuck in her throat and she dumps down on the bench. The first thing that pops up on the Godforsaken tag is a video. Fuck.

The quality is shitty and blurry and might as well have been recorded on a fucking potato, but Ryujin can recognize Chaeryeong anywhere. She watches her frantically gather her books and speed off in the blink of an eye. She watches it at least five times until she feels sick to the pit of her stomach.

She lifts her head just as Yuna enters the room.

Everyone including Ryujin stares at her, waiting for the inevitable snarky comment, but to everyone's surprise, nothing comes. Yuna merely surveys the room, eyes resting on Ryujin for a few seconds, looking troubled, then she disappears off into the showers.

Ryujin gulps. Something is wrong.

Ryujin catches Yuna in the parking lot later, far away from prying eyes and ears.

"Yuna! Shin Yuna!"

Yuna whips around, her large hoop earring slapping her face, but she barely blinks. "What's up?"

Ryujin searches her face but is unable to read it. "You were in a rush to get out."

Yuna turns and struts towards her car. "I'm tired." "Wait," Ryujin huffs.

"Yuna, what's wrong?"

Yuna's forehead creases into fine lines. "Why would there be something wrong, Shin?" She reaches her smart, little sleek car and reaches to open the door but Ryujin blocks her path. "What are you doing?"

Ryujin worries her lip between her teeth for a moment. "Why do I have a feeling that you think I did something wrong when we both know I did nothing wrong?"

Yuna tucks a curly strand behind her ear and studies Ryujin. "Is this about you and Hwiyoung sucking faces?"

Ryujin's cheeks flush with embarrassment. "We weren't sucking faces! He kissed me! You saw that!"

Yuna sighs heavily. "Get in the car."

Ryujin frowns, confused. "What — why?"

"Just do as I say, Ryujin!"

Ryujin reluctantly climbs into the passenger seat and watches Yuna pull out of the parking lot. "Where are we going?"

"I'm craving McDonald's," Yuna explains, and makes such a sharp turn that Ryujin's heart nearly falls out of her chest.