What Are We Called?

Sprouting

The morning sun brillantly shone down on earth, but not enough to brighten up Chaeyoung's mood. She's not depressed or anything, she just didn't feel like going to school that day. She wasn't sick, though she looked like it, just lazy. But there she was, walking on the sidewalk to school. Her mother warned her loud and clear about her grades and attendance, so she had to suffer. She had already been doing it for long already but her body still can't get used to it. Aside from that, her mind was also feeling too much peace since she moved here. She really should be celebrating it, but it seemed so odd for  her that her parents are letting her run around freely, like they aren't holding her by the neck anymore.

Are they cooking something?

Chaeyoung stood at the side of the road, waiting for the green light to turn on as he wondered those things. Her face glowed as the sunlight striked her face. Almost holy-looking if it wasn't for the bag that was thrown to her head to ruin the ambiance. She clutched her head as she winced in pain and turned aroung to see who did it to her.

"You little-"

"You saying something?"

It was Irene, their overly competitive group leader. She placed her hands om her hips as she looked at her from head to toe.

"What was that for?" Chaeyoung asked as she picked Irene's bag up.

"You weren't attending our group's practices, remember? It'd be just fine if you're just an extra BUT YOU'VE GOT A LEAD ROLE AND YOU WEREN'T EVEN TAKING IT SERIOUSLY!"

"Come on, it's just one fucking scene you're talking about."

"One. fucking. long. scene. for your information. And nobody's willing to replace you. Now you're getting us screwed."

"Are you done?"

The green light lit up as she finished her sentence. Chaeyoung forcingly passed Irene's bag to her to catch and began to walk to the other side of the road.

"You've got to be kidding me." Irene said as her eyebrows met.

She then started to run to catch up to Chaeyoung who was walking faster now.

"Running away from responsibilities? You really like messing things up, don't you?"

Chaeyoung put her feet to a halt and turned to her with an irritated expression on her face.

"If you think I'm gonna fuck things up at our performance later, you're wrong. I don't work like that. If you don't trust me, fine, replace me then. I don't fucking care. If not, then don't. That's it. You don't need to go blabbering around telling me how irresponsible I am 'cause I'm so sick of it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be late for our class. I'll go now."

Chaeyoung knew well that she was the one who's on the wrong side and that she shouldn't act like that to their leader. She wanted to apologize but instead, she left her there alone. She facepalmed in her mind for what she had done.

Not a good way to start your day.

====

The whole class was in a huge panic. Everybody was getting ready for the short act they were going to perform first thing in the morning. Actually, they looked more like in a chaos than in preparation. Shouting voices, loud rushing footsteps, people bumping into each other - such noises have overpowered the room, maybe even the whole campus.

Mina was sitting quietly at her seat at the corner of the classroom far from everyone else. She was reviewing her lines for the short play. Being the only one having all the qualities they were looking for, she was chosen by their teacher to play the role of Juliet in the scene they were assigned to. She was dressed in plain white gown that reached down to her heels. Simple yet elegant when it's her who's wearing it.  Aside from the pale pink liptint and laid back hair, nothing else was done to fix her but she stood out among the other Juliets.

Jeongyeon, who had just came back from the dressing room, went to Mina upon noticing her. She sat on her table and put down the script in front of her face to get her attention. Luckily, Mina wasn't the kind of person to get mad easily. She just looked at her with a curious face.

"What?" she asked with a gentle voice.

"There's something you're not telling me," Jeongyeon said in a serious tone.

"What are you talking about?" Mina slightly tilted her head sideways in curiosity.

"Let's go straight the point," Jeongyeon folded her arms across her chest, "Chaeyoung called me the other night to ask for your address. She seemed to be a bit  of  in a hurry though. Why did she ask that? What happened to both of you?"

Mina sighed. She was hesitant to answer her question because she doesn't want her to worry but she knows that she'll find out anyway. Jeongyeon will surely scold her for not letting her know if so happens.

"I had an attack and she came to help me, that's all."

Jeongyeon wanted to shout at her for not informing her but she didn't want to embarrass her in front of their busy classmates. Besides, that would also be an overreaction.

"You had an attack, and you called her instead of me?"

Mina could clearly hear the pain in her voice when he spoke the last words. She understood her at once because they already knew each other for long already but it wasn't her whom she asked for help.

"Calling her was an accident, okay? All that I had in mind that moment was that I needed to call someone for help. I just randomly tapped on the contacts list and -" Mina paused when she realized something, "Wait a minute. Why are you making me explain this to you?" She looked into her eyes and said, "Are you jea-"

"No." Jeongyeon cut her off before she could even say the word. She doesn't want it to come from her.

"No? Then why?"

"Nothing," she muttered as she stood up from the table and left.

Mina burued her face in her hands. Of course, she knew that Jeongyeon was lying. Though he denied it, it was clear that she meant otherwise.

"What was that?" someone asked slowly.

Mina looked up to see who that someone was. As she lifted her head, she was almost stunned by the view in front of her eyes.

Royal blue long back suit worn over white long sleeves with ruffles on the sides of the buttons, plain black trousers and a pair of leather boots -- a manly combination that left Mina's mouth  agape.

Chaeyoung slightly bent down and waved her hands in front of her face.

"Minari? Your mouth's wide open..." she said as she held Mina's chin up to close her mouth.

"You okay? Did something happen?" Chaeyoung saw that she didn't look like she wanna answer the question so she stood up straight and said, "Okay, I guess this is none of my business..."

She turned around to leave, but as she took her first step, the back of her suit was tugged by Mina.

"It's not none of your business. I'm sorry you felt that way. I'll just talk to you about it later."

She slowly let go of her after her last sentence, hoping she did not offend her too like she always does to people.

Chaeyoung turned around and saw the troubled look on Mina's face. She was sure that she's not fine so she gave her a warm smile to lighten the mood.

"Save that seriousness for later. Now, you have to brighten up for the performance, okay?" she said as she patted Mina's head gently."

Mina was quite surprised with her action. It was as if Chaeyoung was being too nice to her unlike with others. And her gentle touch -- she could feel her care towards her through it. That is why when she retrieved her hand again, she felt inadequate.

"CHAEYOUNG-AH!!"

Chaeyoung looked down as she looked down as she grinned.

"I gotta go now," she told her as she left.

Mina could only watch her walk away towards her groupmates. As her vision swept across the room, she caught Irene glaring at her, like piercing her with spears through her body and soul.