dot dot dot | winrina

nonsense

❝ when you get close to me

baby my tongue goes numb

sounds like bleh, blah, blee ❞

‒ sabrina carpenter, ' nonsense '

winter pov

"Winter, come on!"

Ningning blasted an impatient glare at the redhead, grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hallway. High school students of all shapes and sizes lined it, taking miscellaneous items from their lockers and joking among themselves. It was last period, and the two were rushing to homeroom. Well, Ning was, and she was dragging Winter along behind her.

"Ning, just because Aeri's locker is this way-"

"Hey, quiet down!" The blond glanced around conspiratorially, as if any teenager in the hall cared explicitly about her massive crush on the Korean-Japanese girl. "Shh. Shh. And no, that's not it. We have to get to homeroom, one, and I heard from this girl in my bio class who heard from Jake in chem who heard from-"

"Ning," Winter reminded her.

"Right! Anyways, the cheerleaders will be holding practice today, and it's open for people to watch! So we have to get back fast so we'll get there first and we can watch!"

"Wait, why are we watching?" Winter cut herself off with a yelp as Ning continued to drag her down the hallway. "Hey, ow!"

"Because Aeri will be there," Ning announced matter-of-factly, and Winter heaved an enormous sigh.

The day the half-Japanese girl had transferred to SM High, Ning had been passing by to go to a class, and according to her, it was love at first sight. Winter had been beside her, and she had to quite literally drag the besotted girl to their next class before being late. Ning had gaped at the girl the entire time they'd walked past, hearts in her eyes and stars in her gaze. Ever since, Ning had harbored a massive, seemingly one-sided crush on Aeri, who seemed to Winter as a mysterious, hard-to-understand person with a taste for dark fashion.

"I knew it was about Aeri. It always is eventually."

"Anything for my future wife," Ning said dreamily, and Winter gave her a reality-check slap.

"Ow!"

"Well-deserved," Winter sniped, and Ning pouted, crossing her arms across her chest.

- - -

Winter hung back around the gym doorway as Ning peered around the frame.

"Whoa," Ning admired, staring at the cheerleaders, who were currently in some complex formation that involved a lot of piling on top of one another and flipping. "They're all so flexible!"

"Yeah, that's kinda the point of being a cheerleader," Winter sighed, walking up the steps behind Ning as they got seats to admire the girls practicing below. "Being flexible."

"Yeah, yeah," Ning nodded absentmindedly. "You know, why'd Nakamura from the soccer team never become a cheerleader? She's crazy flexible, have you seen her gunning for the ball on the field?"

Winter shrugged and sat back against the cool metal, knocking her head methodically on the seat behind her. It had been a long day, and she still wasn't quite sure why they were even there. But whatever. She and Ning had been best friends since diapers, and she'd do anything for the other girl.

The cheerleaders below finished their formation and split, jogging towards their changing rooms. One in particular caught Winter's eye.

Karina Yu, head cheerleader, future prom queen, and girlfriend of Lee Heeseung, captain of the boys' soccer team. She was unfairly gorgeous, with long, wavy, dark hair and chocolate eyes that glinted like diamonds. She was tall and slim, with long legs and a small face. She and Heeseung were considered to be the school's power couple- he was tall, with soft black eyes and floppy bangs that seemed to draw in every girl on campus.

Currently, she was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, laughing as she ran across the wide gym, walking with her friends, Chaewon, Wonyoung, and Sakura. Both were cheerleaders and very sought-after in their own right. In fact, Winter's friend in music class, (who also happened to be a basketball player), Yunjin, harbored a massive crush on Chaewon, and her friend Yujin liked Wonyoung.

It was also widely suspected that Sakura was head over heels for Nakamura Kazuha, the star player of the girls' soccer team that Ning had mentioned earlier.

God, everyone has crushes these days, Winter thought to herself as she watched Ning make heart eyes at Aeri, who hadn't yet noticed her. Who hasn't caught the love bug?

- - -

Ning skipped towards the gym door, her bag bumping on her shoulder, Winter struggling to keep pace behind her.

"Hey, it's Yizhuo, right?"

Ning stopped so suddenly she almost went flying if Winter hadn't caught her before she faceplanted and broke her nose.

The voice behind her was one Winter easily recognized, one that was seldom heard, and one that Ning ranted about for hours on end.

Ning turned slowly, her blond hair slightly mussed and her brown eyes wide, staring directly into the black eyes of Uchinaga Aeri.

"Uh- uh- uhm," was all the Chinese girl could stutter out before Winter snapped her fingers in front of her face in quick succession to startle her back into her own body. "Uh. Yes. Yizhuo. That's my name. Yizhuo."

"But you can call her Ning," Winter added, and the blond shot her a grateful smile.

"Cool," Aeri replied. She was in dark sweats, her black hair loose behind her, and Winter could practically hear the fast beating of Ning's heart at the moment. "So I was wondering, you know Kazuha, right?"

"We're... uhh... yeah... sorta?" was Ning's ever-so-intelligent reply, and Winter resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Well, she's holding a party at her place, 'cause her parents are out for the weekend. She asked me to ask you. You in?"

Winter watched Ning's jaw drop in surprise, and then the words tumbled out of her mouth as she stammered in a desperate attempt to reply.

"Uh- I mean- um- I- uh- well-"

"Yes, we're in," Winter interrupted, a big smile on her face. "We'd love to."

"Sure," Aeri nodded, giving them the closest thing they could get to a smile, then turning to go.

"Oh God," was all Ning got out before she clutched her heart dramatically and nearly collapsed, Winter rushing her out of the gym before she probably had an aneurysm.

What Winter didn't notice was the brown-eyed cheerleader staring after her as she left.