Chapter 4 (1/1)

A year later, Yeri and Sooyoung eventually joined them in middle school, and the group of friends were completed once again. As for the dynamics of their friendships, things stayed pretty much the same. Wendy still looks over everyone like a mom, Sooyoung and Yeri still pranks Seulgi every now and then, Seulgi still says dumb things, and Irene still punches Seulgi every time she says dumb things. What did change, however, is the amount of boys in the school simping for Irene, and Seulgi doesn’t know how to feel about it. Seulgi changed her clothes for PE and went out of the locker room. She spotted her PE friends in the gym playing basketball for the meantime while everyone else was still getting ready. Once everyone changed into their clothes, the coach forced them to run a few laps around the gym for their usual drills. After the warm up, the class went to one half of the gym while a different class occupied the other side. They did their stretches before proceeding with the activity for the day. In the middle of stretching, Kai gave Seulgi a nudge with his elbow, successfully grabbing her attention. “What?” she asked. “Look,” Kai pointed his lips to the girls on the other side of the gym, “they’re kinda hot.” Seulgi rolled her eyes. “You say that to every girl you see.” “I don’t say that to you,” he countered. “Cuz we’re like bros, you idiot. I would kill you if you did.” A couple of seconds passed until Kai spoke up again, “don’t you agree though?” Seulgi barely gave it a thought and absentmindedly hummed in agreement. “Especially Irene, did you see the way she stretched her neck? How does one look so hot doing a simple thing? You’re friends with her, right? You should help a bro out and set us up.” Now that got Seulgi’s attention. “Hell nah!” She gave the boy a light shove, “Irene’s my best friend. Hell, she’s more like a sister to me. If you lay a hand on her, I won’t hesitate to beat the crap out of you.” “Why are you so offended? Do you like Irene or something?” Kai smirked, trying to provoke a response out of Seulgi. “No, it’s not that. I only see her as a friend,” she brought up her right arm for a stretch, “you’re not good enough for her, and I just want the best for my friend.” “Yeah, right,” he said, not convinced. “You can go for other girls. Treat them nicely, just don’t go near Joohyun.” “I only see her as a friend, my ass.” Kai isn’t the only boy who noticed Irene’s blooming beauty. Plenty of the other guys do too. In fact, Irene has been garnering the entire male population’s attention in their school, evident by the amount of letters she receives daily. For some reason, Seulgi feels the need to be protective. Just protective, right? They have been friends ever since daycare days after all, so it’s normal to feel protective...right?

Seulgi can’t pinpoint the exact moment she started seeing her best friend in a different light. She doesn’t even know in what way it’s different, but oh does her body know for sure. You see, Irene is a clingy friend. Seulgi never really minded her excessive skinship. In fact, she’s used to it. But what she’s not used to is how her body is starting to react to them. She first noticed this at that damn sleepover. The group of friends decided to have a sleepover at Irene’s house the following friday night. As usual, they argued about which movie to watch with the top contenders being horror and romance. After a rock, paper, scissors match between Wendy and Sooyoung, it was decided they would watch horror. Irene and Wendy groaned at the outcome while Yeri and Sooyoung high-fived each other with an indifferent Seulgi beside them. They sat on their usual spots: Yeri and Sooyoung on the floor and the other three on the couch with Seulgi sitting in the middle. “I’m sandwiched between two scaredy cats.” “Oh shut up, Seul.” After a bit of chattering in the beginning of the movie, the girls eventually quieted down, completely entranced by the movie. Fearing the suspense building up with the luminous background music, Irene closed her eyes shut and hid behind Seulgi’s shoulder. The latter naturally wrapped her left arm around the terrified girl to provide comfort without losing her focus on the movie. However, as the movie came near the peak of horror, Irene’s touches became too much to handle for the bear. Not minding the placement of her hands, the frightened girl recklessly buried her arms and face anywhere on Seulgi's body as she yelped at the jumpscares. Seulgi could also hear Wendy’s squeals from her right side while Sooyoung and Yeri were laughing at their reactions and at how ugly the jumpscares were. Despite her eyes being glued on the tv screen, her mind was somewhere else. All she could think about is the hand placed on her stomach and the breath blowing against her neck. Good thing that the lights were off or else Irene would notice her reddening cheeks and question its appearance. It was beginning to feel too hot for Seulgi as Irene’s hands unconsciously roamed across her body, stopping at an area in the vicinity of her crotch. She gulped nervously, willing every fiber of her body to control her wild hormones and prevent herself from popping a boner. Unfortunately, all was too late as she feels blood rushing to her crotch and confirms with her eyes that she, indeed, has an obvious bulge down there. As an attempt to hide her dick which seemed to have a mind of its own, Seulgi discreetly searched for a pillow around the couch to place on her lap while taking Irene’s hand that has been mindlessly travelling lower and place it on top of the pillow--her thumb drawing circles on top of the clenched fist.  Seulgi may have stopped the wandering hand, but her breath was still hitting her neck. She could even hear the high-pitched whimpers calling for her name but why oh why does it sound so sexy to her ears? Like she’s begging for her, needing her ins-UMPH Seulgi got out of her trance, feeling a fist pounding her stomach repeatedly while hearing the piercing screams on her left ear. “Ouch ouch, Joohyun-ah!” Seulgi cried out in pain. The rest of the night was filled with screams and laughter all around Seulgi. And before her mind could get stuck in the gutter again with those touches and needy whimpers, a punch to her stomach followed with a shrill scream brought her back each time.

Sometimes, it doesn’t even take a touch anymore. Just the mere sight of Irene makes her feel some type of way. No, I don’t feel anything for her. It’s just those fucking hormones, Seulgi reassured herself, shaking her head. On the last day of middle school, their school usually holds a pool party for the batch of their third years. The party was held in their school’s swimming pool, decorations set up to commemorate their promotion to high school. Drinks and chips sat on the table for some light snack to the hungry swimmers, and the cooler beside it housed ice cream. On the chairs, towels were strewn around while some were neatly folded and accompanied by red cups half filled with sprite or pepsi. The floor is wet as those who dipped their feet decided to move elsewhere to shoot their shot with their crush or to head back to the tables to grab more doritos. Friends played around and pushed each other into the water, filling up the air with screams. Amidst the chaos sat Seulgi on a far corner away from everyone else, wearing her swimming shorts and a shirt. She’s waiting for Wendy and Irene who were running a little late. She even met up with Yeri and Sooyoung who punched her a bit too hard for “leaving” them once again. Seulgi rubbed the spot on her arm, hoping a bruise wouldn't form. Seeing her sitting alone and helping herself to some junk food, Kai came up to the munching girl. “Hey,” he patted her back, “what are you doing here all alone?” “I’m just waiting for Irene and Wendy. They should be here soon,” Seulgi answered as she looked inside the can and noticed she’s down to her last pringle. She pouted. “Ah you’re waiting for your two girlfriends,” Kai chuckled as he was shoved by the bear-like girl who rolled her eyes. She brought up her cup of sprite to wash down the saltiness of her chips. “Oh sorry, you’re too loyal to the one and only Irene for you to be two timing,” an obnoxious laugh followed this time around. Seulgi’s eyes went wide, the sprite sprayed from her mouth at the statement. “How many times do I have to tell that we’re just best friends?!” “Until you guys start dating ‘cuz then I’ll be saying ‘I told you so’ instead.” Kai glanced at their mutual friends in the pool, dismissing them with a wave of a hand when they asked the two to chill out with them. “That’s never gonna happen,” Seulgi shook her head from side to side. “You never know.” An awkward silence passed by momentarily before the girl opened her mouth once again. “You know you can go back to your friends if you want to, right? I can handle myself here.” “You really wanna get rid of me, huh?” The boy joked. “Join us for a bit then instead of looking like a loser with no friends. You know...Tzuyu likes you. As in like like you” He pointed to a tall, beautiful girl talking with Nayeon and Jihyo near their mutual friends. “You mean the Chou Tzuyu? Really?!” Seulgi exclaimed then whispered lowly, “she’s way out of my league.” She then eyed her admirer, apparently, staring at her curves accentuated by her yellow bikini with an open mouth and wide eyes. Chou Tzuyu is the Taiwanese transfer student who immedi