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In hindsight, coming out to her super conservative parents the summer before her senior year was probably a bad idea, but Kyungri had been drunk on confidence after telling Hyungsik. Of course, he had probably always known but she had only come to terms with being gay junior year and even then she was worried that nobody would accept her.Then she decided that senior year would be her year. Root out the friends that wouldn't love her anyways, and surround herself with people that she wanted there. Feeling that her parents would hate it and want her out of the house was expected, but she had been working every summer for the past two years and then some, so she and Hyungsik had saved enough to get an apartment together if worse came to worse, but what she didn't expect was her parents... not being angry?Instead, they sigh and say "We thought you might say it that." Before Kyungri can say a word, though, they hand her a school pamphlet. "We already signed you up. You're leaving next week." She looks and it’s... An all girls catholic school. Wow.There’s a lot of shouting, a few unshed tears, but her parents say they’ll pay for beauty school if she comes back and isn’t straight then. Fuckin’ easy.-Before she starts packing, she looks up the school on the Internet. Old style catholic homosexuality is a sin and no sex before marriage and all that jazz. It seems that as long as she keeps her head down and does her work she should get through it. Plus, she knows that her sexuality won't change, and this means her parents will actually pay for her beauty school."I can do this," she says under her breath as she begins to pack her makeup bag. She shoots a text to Hyungsik, and he immediately texts back with a string of exclamation points and question marks. She dials his number and puts the phone between her ear and shoulder as she packs.
"Is the all-girls school supposed to be a punishment? For being gay? Does your mom realize how ridiculous that is?" He sounds frustrated."They're stupid I know," she says, "but if they pay for my beauty school it'd be huge. They're basically gunna pay me for being around girls for a whole year. It's so dumb it's almost brilliant.""But what about me?" She can hear his pout over the phone and laughs."It's a half hour train ride away. You can visit on weekends and I'll probably come to your place for holidays," she says, knowing it won't be imposing. Hyungsik and his family were always there for her when nobody else was."Alright. Bye nerd.""Later loser," she smiles and hangs up.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The school is huge. Like, really really big. All gothic architecture and stained glass windows and if Kyungri wasn't still mad at her parents she might've gotten excited. There are girls all around, and it’s only the move in day. Classes don't start for five more days. There’s a line outside the main office where freshman girls are getting their room assignments. Kyungri hates lines, so she decides to walk around for a bit.
Walking along a path, she comes to a sort of fountain in the center of the campus. It’s beautiful, and the girl with long straight black hair sitting on the edge is breathtaking. Soft eyes are trained on a book she’s writing in, her hair in a tight high ponytail. There are a few loose strands of hair that frame her face. Kyungri forgets her own name for a bit. Deciding to take the initiative, she sits down next to the girl and smiles at her. "Hi. I'm Kyungri," she holds out her hand, "I'm new."
The girl looks at her and mutters a soft, "Good afternoon," before going back to scribbling in her book.
Kyungri thinks the girl is adorable. "What's your name?"
"Sera," she murmurs and gives Kyungri a soft not-all-there smile. "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Sera. What year are you?" The girl seems shy, but if there’s one thing Kyungri is good at, it’s talking.
"I'm a senior," the girl closes her book and sets it in her lap. "And you?"
"Same, actually!" She gives a big smile to the girl. "I just transferred this year because my parents were worried about me dating... The wrong kind of people, I guess." Kyungri rubs the back of her neck.
"Well, that won't be a problem at an all girls school," Sera lets out a nervous laugh and tightens her grip on her notebook.
"Right," Kyungri eyes the girl suspiciously, unsure if she’s getting truly queer vibes from the other girl or if she’s just hoping a lot. "Well, I have to get my room assignment," she stands up and waves at Sera. "I hope we see more of each other," she grins and goes off to the main office.
-
As soon as she finishes moving her stuff into the room, she flops down onto the only bare bed and groans. They told her that she'd have a roommate. She doesn't mind really, she’s just worried that her roommate might be a big meanie and make her not swear or sing or listen to music or-
"Hi! You must be the new girl," a cute girl with her hair back in a french braid smiles at Kyungri, who shoots up from her spot on the bed.
"That's me," she laughs nervously. "I'm Kyungri."
"Nice to meet you," the girl smiles. "I'm Hyuna. Basic rules: don't be too messy. Cleaning day every Saturday so that nothing piles up too much, and you know just no really gross things."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Kyungri nods and gives the girl a small smile. She seems nice enough.
"Good," the girl grins and plops down cross legged on her bed. "So what brings you to St. Lawrence's? Kill someone? Lose your virginity? Come out to your parents?"
"Door number 3," Kyungri lets out a nervous laugh.
"Same. I'm pan. Parents said that wasn't a thing and I'm like yeah sure send me to an all girls school see if I care so they did and I've been here since sophomore year," the girl smiles fondly. "Lots of girls here have similar stories, so don't worry about it. The teachers teach no homo sin crap but we all ignore it," she laughs.
"Seriously?" The girl grins and thinks of the girl from the fountain. "It's cool, that you're pan, I mean. My guy friend came out as pan to me the same time I came out as gay to him. I'm just gay though. Like I don't care too much whether someone is nonbinary or agender I'm just not a member of the I like dudebros club." That makes Hyuna laugh.
"There are some people that are non-binary or genderqueer here, but most of them are pretty quiet about it because, well, God only made two genders according to the teachers," Hyuna rolls her eyes and goes to start unpacking her things. Kyungri stands to do the same and starts by taking her makeup bag and putting it on top of her dresser.
"Almost forgot to ask," she turns to Hyuna, "are we allowed to wear makeup?"
"Rules say no, but the teachers don't know how to spot a tightline and mascara. They also can't tell what a filled in brow looks like," she turns to Kyungri and grins. "But I'd go nude pink with the lipsticks."
"How about phones?" Kyungri takes her phone out of her bag and checks for messages.
"They say they'll confiscate them but never actually do, so you should be good as long as you don't wave it around."
"Awesome."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kyungri is running late for her first class. She’s so used to missing first period for honors privilege at her old school that she had legitimately forgotten to set her alarm. "I'm a fucking idiot," she grumbles as she runs to her first period. Stopping at the door, she knocks and puts on her best apologetic catholic schoolgirl face. (Having practiced this face before, she had never known she'd need it in an actual catholic school.)
"You're late," a stern-sounding teacher says and Kyungri nods, keeping her head down.
"My apologies, Miss," she mumbles, trying to sound apologetic even though she isn’t.
"Sit," the teacher says. "Back of the room, next to Sera."
Kyungri's head shoots up and she scans the back of the room, grinning when she sees the girl with the high ponytail. She goes to her seat and puts her school bag underneath the chair. She looks to her right and sees that Sera is writing in that notebook of hers.
"Miss Ryu," the teacher booms, "put that notebook away before I confiscate it."
The look of pure fear on the girl's face as she closes the notebook and puts it in her bag confuses Kyungri. Mostly, it just makes her even more curious about this girl.
-
"Hyuna I'm gunna die," Kyungri groans as she flops face first into her bed and flails.
"You were only late today," Kyungri can practically hear Hyuna rolling her eyes.
"It's not that," the taller groans and sits up to face her roommate.
"Then what are you groaning about?" Hyuna doesn't even take her eyes off her book.
"I sit next to a really cute girl," Kyungri covers her face with her hands and proceeds to roll around on the bed.
"Who is she?" Hyuna sounds amazingly uninterested.
"Her name is Sera and she's cute and quiet and I'm gunna punch myself in the face."
"Wait a second," Hyuna lifts her eyes from her book, "Sera? As in like Ryu Sera that always carries around a notebook?"
Kyungri lifts her head and looks at her elder. "Yes! She always wears her hair in a ponytail and she's so cute and-"
"I tutor her for math," the girl interrupts.
“Lucky,” Kyungri grumbles under her breath, crossing her arms. “I wanna spend more time with her.”
Hyuna rolls her eyes so hard Kyungri can practically hear it, and that’s the end of that conversation.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s a partner project. Kyungri didn't know those existed in catholic school. She turns to Sera to see the girl scribbling in her notebook, which is unsurprising.
"We should probably get to work," the girl scoots her desk closer and smiles at Sera.
"Oh," the girl looks up to Kyungri and her eyes are wide. She quickly wets her lips and wow those lips are soft and Kyungri wants to kiss her-
"Miss Park and Miss Ryu," their teacher sends them a look and Kyungri blushes and bows her head. Sera puts her journal away and opens the textbook.
"So," Kyungri opens her own book and clicks her pen, "how about I do the answers for evens, you do odds, and we can swap to write them on each other's? Sound good to you?"
"Sure," the other girl mutters and takes her pencil to the lined paper.
Fifteen minutes pass and Kyungri puts her pen down to stretch her hand. "I finished my half," the girl grimaces when she hears the bones in her hand pop.
"Same here," the other girl places her pencil down and gives her paper to Kyungri. "You can copy my answers first."
"Thanks," she grins and winks at the other girl. Her hand twitches as she picks up the pen, and she sets to writing down the answers.
"You're different," she hears Sera mutter, and her head raises to make sure the girl is talking to her.
"What do you mean?" The girl goes back to writing the answers and waits for the other to speak.
"I mean you're very... Open. Like an extrovert."
"That's me," she smiles, not looking up from the paper. "My ex said that I always talked too much. It annoyed her friends apparently. It was whatever. She was a shitty girlfriend."
"She?" Kyungri looks up and her partner looks amazed.
"Well yeah," she laughs. "Have you seen me? I'm way too hot for boys," she goes back to writing, almost finished.
"Have you ever," the girl lowers her voice, "kissed a girl?"
"A couple times, yeah." She puts her pen down and hands both papers to Sera. "Why do you wanna know?"
"I don't," she says defensively as she takes the papers. "It's wrong," she mutters. Kyungri thinks the way her hand is shaking and the pink dusting her cheeks said something different.
"Hey, if you're curious about it that's completely okay," Kyungri looks around and when she sees nobody is looking, she quickly leans in to peck Sera on the cheek. "Now you know about being kissed by a girl." The redness running along Sera's cheeks and the smile tugging at her lips makes Kyungri grin like an idiot. She loves girls. She also may really really like this one.
"How are you so comfortable with it?" Sera is writing down the answers and Kyungri leans her arm on the table.
"Practice I guess? Also like I am the way I am and I can't change that and I accept that. I also don't think it's wrong because love is valid." Kyungri smiles a bit. "Plus my best friend back home accepted me, so that kinda lessened the blow of my parents being not so accepting of me."
"Is that why you got transferred here?" Sera puts down her pencil and looks up.
"Yeah, but I don't hate it like I thought I would. Too many cute girls to be sad for too long," she winks and the other blushes and drops her head. "You're adorable," Kyungri smiles.
Before they can continue, the bell rings and Sera stands up, but her journal falls out of her bag. She doesn't seem to have noticed as she’s rushing out to get to her next class. Kyungri figures she can take it and give it back to her when they see each other third period.
-
Sera doesn't show up to third period. Kyungri asks the teacher if she knows what happened, but she tells Kyungri to stop worrying and continue the assignment.
-
Seventh period is over and Kyungri still hasn't seen Sera. She heard from Minha that Sera hadn't gone to gym. Needless to say, Kyungri is worried, but she figures the only person to ask about it is Hyuna.
She opens the door and is surprised to find Sera there, crying into Hyuna's shoulder. Kyungri feels her heart clench as she drops her bag and runs over to them.
"Sera lost her journal," Hyuna clarifies as she rubs Sera's back in little circles, trying to comfort the girl.
"Shit, I'm sorry," Kyungri runs to her bag and takes out the tiny notebook and runs back to the bed. "It fell out of your bag first period when you were leaving," she bites her lip as she explains to Sera, who’s shifted just to peek around Hyuna's neck. "I picked it up and was going to give it to you third period, but you never showed. I didn't read it, I promise."
"You didn't?" Sera sniffles and Kyungri shakes her head.
"Not one word. I swear." Kyungri speaks and is almost knocked to the ground when Sera flies into her arms and gives her a bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you," Sera nuzzles her face into Kyungri's neck, and the younger smiles and wraps her arms around Sera, rocking them back and forth.
"Gross," Hyuna stands and picks up her bag. "You two have your gay moment, I'm going to get coffee. Laters." She walks out the door but Kyungri is so distracted by how Sera feels, warm and smelling like vanilla shampoo.
"Really really really thank you," Sera squeezes Kyungri once more before leaning back, her arms still wrapped around Kyungri's neck.
"It seemed like you really cared about the journal," she shrugs.
"Do you... wanna know what I write in it?" Sera looks down as a faint pink dusts her cheeks.
"Only if you want me to know, Sera," Kyungri smiles and brings around the hand that’s holding the journal so she can hand it to her.
"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Sera mutters.
"Promise," Kyungri smiles and holds up her pinky. "Pinky promises are unbreakable." Sera lets out a beautiful laugh and hooks her pinky with Kyungri's.
"You're an idiot," Sera laughs.
"Yes, but I'm a cute idiot," Kyungri counters.
"Maybe a little," Sera blushes and takes the journal as she stands up and instead sits on Hyuna's bed. She flips through the pages of her journal and hands it to Kyungri. "Read it."
"Yes, ma'am," the younger giggles and takes the journal to start reading.
"You wrote this?" Kyungri's eyes turn soft, looking up at Sera with a smile before looking back down at the page. Soft queer poetry with hearts sketched in the margins is all that covers the page.
Soft lips
Soft hips
Gentle kisses
Girls in love
Sera is blushing as she tucks a stray bit of hair behind her ear. “I did.”
“You are so cute,” Kyungri can’t help but smile.
“Oh, shut up,” Sera laughs nervously, punching Kyungri in the arm. “Don’t tell anyone about this though, okay?”
“Oh yeah no problem,” Kyungri hums, shutting the book and handing it back to Sera. “But, if you wanna, maybe, act any of this out, I’d be more than happy to help.”
Sera’s eyes go wide. “You really?”
“Really.”
Sera looks shocked, so Kyungri just leans in to give her a kiss on the cheek, happy to wait for whatever comes next.