You don’t belong with me (2/?)
Title: You don’t belong with me (2/?)
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Humor
Pairing: Jonghyun x girl!key(Gwiboon), platonic Minkey, 2min(Minho x girl!taemin(Taeyeon)), others implied
Word count: 2886
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summary: Gwiboon (also known as Key), is in every way the college’s reigning queen bee- the one that every girl hates but wishes to be. Unfortunately, people like her don’t get the boy of their dreams (handsome, charming neighbor boy with his own rock band) because she’s just not his type; he needs to be with the devoted nerdy girl pining for him. Or is it?
A twist on the usual ‘nice nerdy girl gets boy’ theme!
Chapter one
"What do you think of the final list, Key?" Seohyun asked as she pencilled in the names carefully.
They were sprawled out on the cream-coloured carpet in Key’s living room, discussing who to accept for the club. Aside from Taeyeon whom they'd practically accepted on the spot; they'd also directly took in Hyuna, a girl whose sexy aggressive moves almost rivalled Key's. That and because her boyfriend was Junhyung, a senior who had graduated and whom they were acquainted with.
"These people are the best. We’ve got some other good ones but these girls are just gold."
There were really mediocre dancers, there were some excellent ones; some had promise but freaked out when the music started, some were just plain horrible-no sense or rhythm whatever. They had seen so many people trying their luck but the list of people they had now were truly the best they'd seen.
"Alright, so we have Taeyeon and Hyuna plus Minji, Lizzy, Suji, Jiyoung, and Luna."
"But you're sure we should have Luna in?" piped up Nana.
"She seems like she has a very nice personality and the girl's pretty good."
"I hear... the girl sings well though. I think either the choir or vocalistars might poach her." Nana's sources of information were amazing and all knowing.
Key furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully.
"If it's choir, ugh no. another wallflower-land. But if vocalistars want her then wow; she must be pretty darned good."
Vocalistars was the school's elite vocal-arts program-part club part academic, they scouted the best student voices to train. A certain Kim Jonghyun was one of them, along with the student council president, Lee Jinki.
"So okay, we'll see first. If choir wants her; we'll try to convince her to join us. If it's v-stars then it's her own choice?"
The rest nodded in agreement with Nicole.
"So if we don't take Luna... then we still have up to three more spots."
"Krys?" at that the girls all quietened and looked at key.
"She's good you know, you'd expect nothing less from princess Sica's sister." she said slightly boredly but sensibly.
"But..."
"She tries too hard I know. I’m not sure whether or not she even likes dance or is she just doing this for Sica."
"She wants to be in cheerleading more than dance I should think."
Key shrugged.
"I’m not sure if I want to break my dancers-only rule though." she admitted.
"I think she knows that too."
She pondered for a moment then decided.
"Let's take her. But I’ll only put her onto my squad if she's good enough."
"Hmm... then, Amber?" Nicole mentioned; looking at the tentative list and squinting for a moment before circling a name.
"Ah. I love her too. But why she even on the list?" she continued, looking towards Key.
"She's different, adds a unique style to the club." Key simply stated. There was also a certain other reason but no way was Key going to say it unless she wanted to embarrass herself.
"Very different. You think she'd be able to fit in?”
Eventually they all agreed that Amber would be an interesting addition and decided to admit her, as well as a girl named Sulli, who was apparently already popular with the junior crowd despite not really being the strongest dancer.
After all, facades were still the name of the game in this era of détente.
Ever since the seniors had graduated, their little clique had only taken up one table in the cafeteria. With the inception of the juniors, the cafeteria tables had to be rearranged. Not all the dance members sat together- only Nana, Hara and Nicole joined Key at her ‘jock and cheerleader/popular table’ with Minho, Dongwoon and Jinwoon. Occasionally some of the other members of sports teams like Mir, Chansung and Junho would join them; especially if they had something to confer with Minho about.
Seohyun’s boyfriend, Yonghwa had his own band and Hyorin was close to the vocalistars so they sat with their friends at an ‘affiliate table’ or ‘chingu table’. That was a safe zone of sorts and quite accommodating since Jinki and Jonghyun sometimes sat there too. That was also the traditionally designated table for the ‘rock band’ people- Key’s friends; FT Island would sit there too.
Luna, the girl who eventually decided against joining the dance team (as key expected, the vocalistars did approach her) became a new addition to that table, along with a sweet-looking girl, Ji-eun (nicknamed IU) who was a close friend of several popular graduated seniors. Suji- a new addition to their team- sat with Minyoung (who turned out to be an old friend of hers) there as well.
It was only at the new ‘seating arrangement review’ as Minho nicknamed it did Key fully realize that Tae was a wallflower. It was the day where their audition results were announced on the club’s bulletin board and traditionally, where the students decided how they were to be ‘branded’ for their rest of their college life. Key had never been subject to this ‘branding’; she’d always had a place to sit and never alone. Some didn’t have such luck: Key understood she was blessed to have so many friends.
Tae had come by to look at the bulletin board and was overjoyed that she had been accepted. Although the club committee had already told her (by way of their powerful in-charge) that she was definitely in; she still couldn’t believe it until she saw it with her own eyes.
“Congratulations!”
The skinny teenager spun around at the sound of Key’s distinctive voice. Key had spotted her looking at the board slightly nervously from afar and gave her a small wave.
“Thank you! Please take care of me.” She bowed. Key suppressed a grin and the urge to ruffle her hair. The girl was just too sweet for words.
“We really like you. So welcome to the club!”
Taeyeon smiled; all sweet genuineness.
“Key, your girls are…” Minho turned the corner and realized Key was speaking with Taeyeon and nodded politely. The younger girl returned a polite nod shyly.
The jock and the cheerleader exchanged a quick glance- the unspoken words clear between the two with such one simple look- before Key nodded once.
“We’re going to have lunch at the cafeteria; a few of the other members are there already. You want to head over there with us?” Minho asked with his usual ease and practiced casualness.
Traditionally, when asked by the most popular male student of the school population such a question on such an important day, the average, sane girl would jump for the opportunity. Especially when one got to appear at the cafeteria with said gorgeous guy and the queen of the college scene; popularity was bound to skyrocket.
Key doubted her sanity when she actually hesitated and eventually declined.
“I…uh, would love to. But I think my friends are waiting for me there already. Actually… oh, where is she… another friend-ah, Yeonmi-ah, is waiting for me.” She went to behind a pillar and dragged a bespectacled girl with braids (who was… hiding behind it?) out.
Minho could have laughed- Key looked like she was about to hyperventilate. The bespectacled girl looked like she was about to pass clear out.
Taeyeon continued like there was nothing odd about this situation.
“So we’ll see you at the cafeteria! It was nice meeting the two of you.” She gave a half-bow and left with her friend.
Key was speechless.
“What kind of situation is this?” asked Nicole, confused as she bit into her sandwich.
“Is she completely clueless or is she just daft?” Key bit out, poking her chicken with great gusto as she stared (or rather, glared) at the table at the opposite side of the cafeteria. The wallflowers seemed to be looking her way surreptitiously and whispering among themselves. Hell, the entire cafeteria seemed to be whispering; even the emo-goth kids that were relegated to a corner.
Taeyeon simply sat right at the edge, sipping her strawberry milk as she attentively listened to what the girl opposite of her was saying. She didn’t seem to realize anything at all.
“But waeeee.” Key complained. Minho just silently leaned over and grabbed a piece of mushroom. She glared at his unhelpfulness. He seemed to want to say something but just shook his head.
Key continued her rant.
“I feel a bit snubbed.”
“I think she doesn’t know what she’s doing either. Her friends are looking a bit mystified as to why she’s still there too.” Nana supplied helpfully.
Nicole looked at Key meaningfully.
“Then do you still want her in?”
"Technically, it'd didn't happen overnight. It was a long time coming; something also known as growing up." Key remembers Minho ever saying. They were something like thirteen then, in middle school, when ‘the social divide’ happened.
Yet, it felt as if one day everything was fine and dandy; the next, everything fell apart and changed.
Somehow, Key’s popularity just catapulted astronomically and everyone wanted to be her. Sometimes, back in the early years, she wondered though, what if it had been different?
What if she hadn’t been that outspoken and sassy but instead, milder and more laidback?
Would she have become a wallflower that was always subject to insecurity?
Then she thinks it’s impossible- she’d never been that way. She’d always been the way she was and very happily so.
And because of that, there was much conflict between her (and her like minded friends) against the wallflowers. If the current situation was a détente-the easing of strained relations- complete with uncomfortable situations, it was ‘rollback’ then: the destroying of enemy state. The wallflowers were openly hateful and spiteful so Key refused to play nice either. The results were best described as disastrous.
Eventually, with time and change, things eased, but things were hardly likely to return to a truly peaceful state.
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to tell me, Gwiboonie-ah.”
She wanted to throttle Jonghyun. Pity he was in his room and she was in hers.
She huffed and wrote in capital letters on her whiteboard.
“YOU ARE RETARDED. >.<”
He read it and pouted.
“Merong :P”
She bit back a laugh and flopped into her window seat. She was annoyed and frustrated but he was doing a pretty decent job of cheering her up despite his sheer idiocy.
“Jokes aside, I think you know better.” He wrote.
She furrowed her brow. Getting advice from him was probably harder than asking an oracle. Maybe she’d go out and buy an octopus or two tomorrow, look how far Spain got in the world cup because of Paul, she thought randomly.
She was also probably going crazy.
Gahh.
Jonghyun seemed to write something but erased it when he looked up at her. Instead, she read his board and almost screamed.
“Your hair is messy.”
Smoothening her hair down with her right hand, she attempted to glare at him but he wasn’t looking at her. He finished writing with a flourish and held up his board with his right hand, his left hand on his head, making a half-heart.
“Baby, all the years I’ve known you; one quality I admire so much is your sense of fairness.”
Her breath hitched but she simply nodded.
He was right; she knew what she was supposed to do.
“Everybody, let’s try again! Five, six, seven, eight… turn!” Nicole called out. Key just leaned back at the bar and stretched as she watched the juniors do an old routine which she could perform by heart.
Nana stood next to her, examining her eyelashes in the studio mirror.
“I’m a bit surprised.” She suddenly said.
Key turned and looked at her.
“Why?”
“I mean, we obviously know that you’re not really a mean bitch, but I wasn’t really expecting you to let Taeyeon stay. When Nicole told me this morning, I must admit, I was quite shocked.”
Key looked down for a moment at her nails and exhaled.
“Let’s just say somebody made me realize that I had to be fair. Her skill… is more important than my pride. I don’t want to judge people the way the wallflowers do.”
She looked towards the middle of the studio where Tae was following Nicole’s steps with complete precision and totally in sync with the senior members.
Nana looked confused for a moment but smiled nonetheless. Key shook her head and leaned towards her and patted her hair.
“Let’s go through the new set choreography.”
Nana nodded enthusiastically.
She was so in tune with the thumping beats; she failed to realize Tae standing at the doorway watching her.
“Ah. Sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt.” The younger girl spit out embarrassedly as Key stopped and walked over to put the music on pause.
“No harm done, dear.”
Tae looked at her, without the usual fearfulness Key got from the wallflowers but with that hint of curiosity and reservation.
“I thought you left with the rest of the girls?”
Key had wanted to work on the choreography for the cheerleading routine alone; as she oft did after dance practice.
“Ah… I did. But I realized my phone’s not with me, so I came back.”
“Oh! Is this yours?” Key held out a white Samsung with a myriad of silver charms- she’d found it next to the stack of mats. Tae made a happy sound and accepted it gratefully. Key suspected she was one of those that misplaced her things with alarming regularity.
Tae thanked her again then looked hesitant, like she wanted to say something else. Key crossed her arms. If there was one thing she hated; it was hemming and hawing.
That and stupidity.
“Darling. If you have something to say, say it.”
“Is… this the new set for your cheerleading squad?”
Key blinked. She wasn’t quite expecting that question.
“Yes. It is.”
“I… adore this bit.” Key wondered how long Tae was watching her as she managed to execute almost three eights of her choreography perfectly.
The older girl was a bit stunned but smiled proudly. Tae continued on,
“I like the style- very Lee Youngshin; um… I’m not sure if you’re familiar…from the dance crew Skylights?”
Key’s mouth dropped open.
“She’s… my favourite choreographer!” They said in unison. There was silence but both girls smiled, wide and completely genuine.
They sat in the studio and chatted for hours- they surprisingly had so much in common. Key could never really find someone to discuss stuff like her favourite dancers and choreographers with; but now it seemed like she found the perfect discussion partner. Their dance styles differed greatly; Key’s sexier feminine one compared with Tae’s powerful, masculine moves.
“…I know right. But I hated what came after that.” Tae demonstrated what she meant. Key nodded in agreement.
“The jump here is ugly. But without it the dance loses the originality.”
“Yes, that’s true, but if she replaced it with a stylized cabbage patch or box step instead?”
Key tried to visualize it and found that Tae had a point.
“That… would work.”
Taeyeon smiled and flashed a cute ‘v-sign’ before she said thoughtfully.
“Gwiboon-unni.”
“Hmm?”
“I…to be honest; didn’t really expect that you would use dance steps to so carefully choreograph moves for cheerleading.”
Key raised an eyebrow at her honesty.
“Why not? I like dance and I believe cheerleading’s not meant to be cheap and trashy.”
Taeyeon fell silent again. Key shook her head before she said anything else.
“Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.”
Her eyes widened comically.
“I…”
Key crossed her arms and said mock-fiercely.
“No refusing. It’s late.”
When they were seated in Key’s car, Taeyeon gave her the address. Key thought hard for a moment before exclaiming,
“Ah. You just live one street away from Minho!”
Tae looked down a bit to indicate that she knew.
“You and Minho-oppa… are together?” Tae casually asked.
Key kept her eyes on the road but giggled. She looked at Tae for a brief moment before deciding it was safer to give her the ambiguous answer instead.
“We… are very close friends. We’ve known each other for almost a decade now.”
Key turned at a junction and slowed the vehicle when she spotted the familiar tall figure walking along the pavement.
Speak of the devil.
“Yah, Choi Minho!”
He stopped when he noticed her car.
“What are you doing here... oh. Hello.” He waved as he spotted Taeyeon climbing out of the passenger seat.
“Late night practice?” He guessed.
“I’d say the same, judging from your sweaty self.” Key answered.
“I’ll be right back!” Taeyeon suddenly said and as Key watched the direction she was headed, her stomach flipped a bit.
Minho leaned closer.
“Wallflower alert.”
She nodded as Tae spoke to the girl about something. The girl kept looking in their direction and whispered to Tae every few moments which annoyed Key for some reason. Tae looked their direction as well but quickly looked back at her friend.
Minho watched Key roll her eyes and knew she was irritated.
“I’ll walk her home since it’s not very far. I’ll tell her you said something cropped up. You do owe me one though.”
Key looked at Minho in gratitude. He really did know precisely what she was thinking.
A/N: *cringes* I apologize for fail. I don’t know what I was writing D: I just wanted to post this chapter up so badly since I’ve been letting it rot for so long now.
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Humor
Pairing: Jonghyun x girl!key(Gwiboon), platonic Minkey, 2min(Minho x girl!taemin(Taeyeon)), others implied
Word count: 2886
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summary: Gwiboon (also known as Key), is in every way the college’s reigning queen bee- the one that every girl hates but wishes to be. Unfortunately, people like her don’t get the boy of their dreams (handsome, charming neighbor boy with his own rock band) because she’s just not his type; he needs to be with the devoted nerdy girl pining for him. Or is it?
A twist on the usual ‘nice nerdy girl gets boy’ theme!
Chapter one
"What do you think of the final list, Key?" Seohyun asked as she pencilled in the names carefully.
They were sprawled out on the cream-coloured carpet in Key’s living room, discussing who to accept for the club. Aside from Taeyeon whom they'd practically accepted on the spot; they'd also directly took in Hyuna, a girl whose sexy aggressive moves almost rivalled Key's. That and because her boyfriend was Junhyung, a senior who had graduated and whom they were acquainted with.
"These people are the best. We’ve got some other good ones but these girls are just gold."
There were really mediocre dancers, there were some excellent ones; some had promise but freaked out when the music started, some were just plain horrible-no sense or rhythm whatever. They had seen so many people trying their luck but the list of people they had now were truly the best they'd seen.
"Alright, so we have Taeyeon and Hyuna plus Minji, Lizzy, Suji, Jiyoung, and Luna."
"But you're sure we should have Luna in?" piped up Nana.
"She seems like she has a very nice personality and the girl's pretty good."
"I hear... the girl sings well though. I think either the choir or vocalistars might poach her." Nana's sources of information were amazing and all knowing.
Key furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully.
"If it's choir, ugh no. another wallflower-land. But if vocalistars want her then wow; she must be pretty darned good."
Vocalistars was the school's elite vocal-arts program-part club part academic, they scouted the best student voices to train. A certain Kim Jonghyun was one of them, along with the student council president, Lee Jinki.
"So okay, we'll see first. If choir wants her; we'll try to convince her to join us. If it's v-stars then it's her own choice?"
The rest nodded in agreement with Nicole.
"So if we don't take Luna... then we still have up to three more spots."
"Krys?" at that the girls all quietened and looked at key.
"She's good you know, you'd expect nothing less from princess Sica's sister." she said slightly boredly but sensibly.
"But..."
"She tries too hard I know. I’m not sure whether or not she even likes dance or is she just doing this for Sica."
"She wants to be in cheerleading more than dance I should think."
Key shrugged.
"I’m not sure if I want to break my dancers-only rule though." she admitted.
"I think she knows that too."
She pondered for a moment then decided.
"Let's take her. But I’ll only put her onto my squad if she's good enough."
"Hmm... then, Amber?" Nicole mentioned; looking at the tentative list and squinting for a moment before circling a name.
"Ah. I love her too. But why she even on the list?" she continued, looking towards Key.
"She's different, adds a unique style to the club." Key simply stated. There was also a certain other reason but no way was Key going to say it unless she wanted to embarrass herself.
"Very different. You think she'd be able to fit in?”
Eventually they all agreed that Amber would be an interesting addition and decided to admit her, as well as a girl named Sulli, who was apparently already popular with the junior crowd despite not really being the strongest dancer.
After all, facades were still the name of the game in this era of détente.
Ever since the seniors had graduated, their little clique had only taken up one table in the cafeteria. With the inception of the juniors, the cafeteria tables had to be rearranged. Not all the dance members sat together- only Nana, Hara and Nicole joined Key at her ‘jock and cheerleader/popular table’ with Minho, Dongwoon and Jinwoon. Occasionally some of the other members of sports teams like Mir, Chansung and Junho would join them; especially if they had something to confer with Minho about.
Seohyun’s boyfriend, Yonghwa had his own band and Hyorin was close to the vocalistars so they sat with their friends at an ‘affiliate table’ or ‘chingu table’. That was a safe zone of sorts and quite accommodating since Jinki and Jonghyun sometimes sat there too. That was also the traditionally designated table for the ‘rock band’ people- Key’s friends; FT Island would sit there too.
Luna, the girl who eventually decided against joining the dance team (as key expected, the vocalistars did approach her) became a new addition to that table, along with a sweet-looking girl, Ji-eun (nicknamed IU) who was a close friend of several popular graduated seniors. Suji- a new addition to their team- sat with Minyoung (who turned out to be an old friend of hers) there as well.
It was only at the new ‘seating arrangement review’ as Minho nicknamed it did Key fully realize that Tae was a wallflower. It was the day where their audition results were announced on the club’s bulletin board and traditionally, where the students decided how they were to be ‘branded’ for their rest of their college life. Key had never been subject to this ‘branding’; she’d always had a place to sit and never alone. Some didn’t have such luck: Key understood she was blessed to have so many friends.
Tae had come by to look at the bulletin board and was overjoyed that she had been accepted. Although the club committee had already told her (by way of their powerful in-charge) that she was definitely in; she still couldn’t believe it until she saw it with her own eyes.
“Congratulations!”
The skinny teenager spun around at the sound of Key’s distinctive voice. Key had spotted her looking at the board slightly nervously from afar and gave her a small wave.
“Thank you! Please take care of me.” She bowed. Key suppressed a grin and the urge to ruffle her hair. The girl was just too sweet for words.
“We really like you. So welcome to the club!”
Taeyeon smiled; all sweet genuineness.
“Key, your girls are…” Minho turned the corner and realized Key was speaking with Taeyeon and nodded politely. The younger girl returned a polite nod shyly.
The jock and the cheerleader exchanged a quick glance- the unspoken words clear between the two with such one simple look- before Key nodded once.
“We’re going to have lunch at the cafeteria; a few of the other members are there already. You want to head over there with us?” Minho asked with his usual ease and practiced casualness.
Traditionally, when asked by the most popular male student of the school population such a question on such an important day, the average, sane girl would jump for the opportunity. Especially when one got to appear at the cafeteria with said gorgeous guy and the queen of the college scene; popularity was bound to skyrocket.
Key doubted her sanity when she actually hesitated and eventually declined.
“I…uh, would love to. But I think my friends are waiting for me there already. Actually… oh, where is she… another friend-ah, Yeonmi-ah, is waiting for me.” She went to behind a pillar and dragged a bespectacled girl with braids (who was… hiding behind it?) out.
Minho could have laughed- Key looked like she was about to hyperventilate. The bespectacled girl looked like she was about to pass clear out.
Taeyeon continued like there was nothing odd about this situation.
“So we’ll see you at the cafeteria! It was nice meeting the two of you.” She gave a half-bow and left with her friend.
Key was speechless.
“What kind of situation is this?” asked Nicole, confused as she bit into her sandwich.
“Is she completely clueless or is she just daft?” Key bit out, poking her chicken with great gusto as she stared (or rather, glared) at the table at the opposite side of the cafeteria. The wallflowers seemed to be looking her way surreptitiously and whispering among themselves. Hell, the entire cafeteria seemed to be whispering; even the emo-goth kids that were relegated to a corner.
Taeyeon simply sat right at the edge, sipping her strawberry milk as she attentively listened to what the girl opposite of her was saying. She didn’t seem to realize anything at all.
“But waeeee.” Key complained. Minho just silently leaned over and grabbed a piece of mushroom. She glared at his unhelpfulness. He seemed to want to say something but just shook his head.
Key continued her rant.
“I feel a bit snubbed.”
“I think she doesn’t know what she’s doing either. Her friends are looking a bit mystified as to why she’s still there too.” Nana supplied helpfully.
Nicole looked at Key meaningfully.
“Then do you still want her in?”
"Technically, it'd didn't happen overnight. It was a long time coming; something also known as growing up." Key remembers Minho ever saying. They were something like thirteen then, in middle school, when ‘the social divide’ happened.
Yet, it felt as if one day everything was fine and dandy; the next, everything fell apart and changed.
Somehow, Key’s popularity just catapulted astronomically and everyone wanted to be her. Sometimes, back in the early years, she wondered though, what if it had been different?
What if she hadn’t been that outspoken and sassy but instead, milder and more laidback?
Would she have become a wallflower that was always subject to insecurity?
Then she thinks it’s impossible- she’d never been that way. She’d always been the way she was and very happily so.
And because of that, there was much conflict between her (and her like minded friends) against the wallflowers. If the current situation was a détente-the easing of strained relations- complete with uncomfortable situations, it was ‘rollback’ then: the destroying of enemy state. The wallflowers were openly hateful and spiteful so Key refused to play nice either. The results were best described as disastrous.
Eventually, with time and change, things eased, but things were hardly likely to return to a truly peaceful state.
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to tell me, Gwiboonie-ah.”
She wanted to throttle Jonghyun. Pity he was in his room and she was in hers.
She huffed and wrote in capital letters on her whiteboard.
“YOU ARE RETARDED. >.<”
He read it and pouted.
“Merong :P”
She bit back a laugh and flopped into her window seat. She was annoyed and frustrated but he was doing a pretty decent job of cheering her up despite his sheer idiocy.
“Jokes aside, I think you know better.” He wrote.
She furrowed her brow. Getting advice from him was probably harder than asking an oracle. Maybe she’d go out and buy an octopus or two tomorrow, look how far Spain got in the world cup because of Paul, she thought randomly.
She was also probably going crazy.
Gahh.
Jonghyun seemed to write something but erased it when he looked up at her. Instead, she read his board and almost screamed.
“Your hair is messy.”
Smoothening her hair down with her right hand, she attempted to glare at him but he wasn’t looking at her. He finished writing with a flourish and held up his board with his right hand, his left hand on his head, making a half-heart.
“Baby, all the years I’ve known you; one quality I admire so much is your sense of fairness.”
Her breath hitched but she simply nodded.
He was right; she knew what she was supposed to do.
“Everybody, let’s try again! Five, six, seven, eight… turn!” Nicole called out. Key just leaned back at the bar and stretched as she watched the juniors do an old routine which she could perform by heart.
Nana stood next to her, examining her eyelashes in the studio mirror.
“I’m a bit surprised.” She suddenly said.
Key turned and looked at her.
“Why?”
“I mean, we obviously know that you’re not really a mean bitch, but I wasn’t really expecting you to let Taeyeon stay. When Nicole told me this morning, I must admit, I was quite shocked.”
Key looked down for a moment at her nails and exhaled.
“Let’s just say somebody made me realize that I had to be fair. Her skill… is more important than my pride. I don’t want to judge people the way the wallflowers do.”
She looked towards the middle of the studio where Tae was following Nicole’s steps with complete precision and totally in sync with the senior members.
Nana looked confused for a moment but smiled nonetheless. Key shook her head and leaned towards her and patted her hair.
“Let’s go through the new set choreography.”
Nana nodded enthusiastically.
She was so in tune with the thumping beats; she failed to realize Tae standing at the doorway watching her.
“Ah. Sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt.” The younger girl spit out embarrassedly as Key stopped and walked over to put the music on pause.
“No harm done, dear.”
Tae looked at her, without the usual fearfulness Key got from the wallflowers but with that hint of curiosity and reservation.
“I thought you left with the rest of the girls?”
Key had wanted to work on the choreography for the cheerleading routine alone; as she oft did after dance practice.
“Ah… I did. But I realized my phone’s not with me, so I came back.”
“Oh! Is this yours?” Key held out a white Samsung with a myriad of silver charms- she’d found it next to the stack of mats. Tae made a happy sound and accepted it gratefully. Key suspected she was one of those that misplaced her things with alarming regularity.
Tae thanked her again then looked hesitant, like she wanted to say something else. Key crossed her arms. If there was one thing she hated; it was hemming and hawing.
That and stupidity.
“Darling. If you have something to say, say it.”
“Is… this the new set for your cheerleading squad?”
Key blinked. She wasn’t quite expecting that question.
“Yes. It is.”
“I… adore this bit.” Key wondered how long Tae was watching her as she managed to execute almost three eights of her choreography perfectly.
The older girl was a bit stunned but smiled proudly. Tae continued on,
“I like the style- very Lee Youngshin; um… I’m not sure if you’re familiar…from the dance crew Skylights?”
Key’s mouth dropped open.
“She’s… my favourite choreographer!” They said in unison. There was silence but both girls smiled, wide and completely genuine.
They sat in the studio and chatted for hours- they surprisingly had so much in common. Key could never really find someone to discuss stuff like her favourite dancers and choreographers with; but now it seemed like she found the perfect discussion partner. Their dance styles differed greatly; Key’s sexier feminine one compared with Tae’s powerful, masculine moves.
“…I know right. But I hated what came after that.” Tae demonstrated what she meant. Key nodded in agreement.
“The jump here is ugly. But without it the dance loses the originality.”
“Yes, that’s true, but if she replaced it with a stylized cabbage patch or box step instead?”
Key tried to visualize it and found that Tae had a point.
“That… would work.”
Taeyeon smiled and flashed a cute ‘v-sign’ before she said thoughtfully.
“Gwiboon-unni.”
“Hmm?”
“I…to be honest; didn’t really expect that you would use dance steps to so carefully choreograph moves for cheerleading.”
Key raised an eyebrow at her honesty.
“Why not? I like dance and I believe cheerleading’s not meant to be cheap and trashy.”
Taeyeon fell silent again. Key shook her head before she said anything else.
“Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.”
Her eyes widened comically.
“I…”
Key crossed her arms and said mock-fiercely.
“No refusing. It’s late.”
When they were seated in Key’s car, Taeyeon gave her the address. Key thought hard for a moment before exclaiming,
“Ah. You just live one street away from Minho!”
Tae looked down a bit to indicate that she knew.
“You and Minho-oppa… are together?” Tae casually asked.
Key kept her eyes on the road but giggled. She looked at Tae for a brief moment before deciding it was safer to give her the ambiguous answer instead.
“We… are very close friends. We’ve known each other for almost a decade now.”
Key turned at a junction and slowed the vehicle when she spotted the familiar tall figure walking along the pavement.
Speak of the devil.
“Yah, Choi Minho!”
He stopped when he noticed her car.
“What are you doing here... oh. Hello.” He waved as he spotted Taeyeon climbing out of the passenger seat.
“Late night practice?” He guessed.
“I’d say the same, judging from your sweaty self.” Key answered.
“I’ll be right back!” Taeyeon suddenly said and as Key watched the direction she was headed, her stomach flipped a bit.
Minho leaned closer.
“Wallflower alert.”
She nodded as Tae spoke to the girl about something. The girl kept looking in their direction and whispered to Tae every few moments which annoyed Key for some reason. Tae looked their direction as well but quickly looked back at her friend.
Minho watched Key roll her eyes and knew she was irritated.
“I’ll walk her home since it’s not very far. I’ll tell her you said something cropped up. You do owe me one though.”
Key looked at Minho in gratitude. He really did know precisely what she was thinking.
A/N: *cringes* I apologize for fail. I don’t know what I was writing D: I just wanted to post this chapter up so badly since I’ve been letting it rot for so long now.