Breaking Out // Gahmi

Thirty-Three

Dami PoV

"You guys won't believe what happened yesterday at the council meeting!" Sua slammed down her lunch right next to me, startling me so bad I dropped my fork. It landed in my Mac n cheese. I groaned and fished it out again, debating if I should wipe it clean or get up and get a new one. I wasn't in the mood to stand up, so. Tissue it is.

The others didn't seem to be as startled as I was. Siyeon was peacefully munching on her sandwich and didn't even bother to look up, Jiu did look up, but still seemed unimpressed. Only Yoohyeon perked up, ignoring her food and turning to Sua.

"What did that monster tell you? She didn't threaten you, did she?" Yoohyeon put down her fork. Yoohyeon was there at the council meeting, so I was confused why she wasn't in the know either. Did something happen? She didn't mention anything yesterday evening.

"No. She blackmailed me?" Sua scrunched her eyebrows as Yoohyeon slammed her hand on the table in anger. "But in a good way?"

"How can one blackmail someone in a good way?" I asked, confused.

"Well, essentially she proposed to step down as vice president." Sua shrugged, stuffing her sandwich into her mouth. Now Jiu and Siyeon seemed to perk up as well, while Yoohyeon unclenched her fist from the table.

"That's not so bad." Yoohyeon said. Jiu and Siyeon gave each other a loaded look I couldn't interpret. "There has to be a catch though, right?"

True. It was hard to believe Handong would just give up like that, not without gaining something in return. Who knew what wicked plan she was thinking up. There was probably some ulterior motive in her mind, that we couldn't fathom yet. That was the only explanation I had, why Handong would do something like this.

"Not really." Sua said, mouth still half full with food. She swallowed, before she continued. "She made a request for this school band to play at the festival. I didn't even know we had a school band to begin with, but it doesn't sound like an insane or unreasonable request. I don't see the harm in letting them play."

"So you agreed to her terms?" Jiu asked now, after listening for a while, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah. Why not? Figured we can kill two birds with one stone, since we need some entertainment for the festival anyway."

Jiu shot Siyeon another look. It seemed hopeful, but Siyeon shook her head slowly. "Give it some more time." She just whispered, which confused me even more. They had this way of communicating without words and I felt oddly left out.

Before I could sulk more about it, Yoohyeon hit my shoulder so hard I almost doubled. "Oh, hey. You know who was also there at the meeting?" The grin on her face was so wide it almost scared the living shit out of me. That couldn't mean anything good.

Now Sua wiggled her eyebrows at me, seeming in on Yoohyeons aim. "Gahyeon." She dragged out, poking me into my side. What have I done that everyone was physically annoying me today? Why lord, why was everyone ignoring personal boundaries today?

"So?" I tried to sound nonchalant, though I felt intrigued. Why would Gahyeon go to the council meeting? She never went with Handong before. At least Yoohyeon never brought it up before and she had accompanied Sua to every single one so far. I think she would have mentioned it, if Gahyeon had been there before. So why now, when Handong apparently was ready to give up her spot on the council? That just seemed fishy. I hope Handong didn't drag her into another one of her crazy schemes.

Siyeon seemed to sense my sudden discomfort that washed over me and took it upon herself to change the topic. "Hey, Dami, did you decide what to do about your parents yet?"