Line 49 (Chapter 1, Part B)
Title: Line 49
Pairing: Yulsic, 4 more to be revealed
Rating: G - NC-17
Genre: Drama, romance, angst, high school AU
Summary: The struggle is different for everyone; we all take different measures to deal with our problems. Friendships are created and tossed upside down, love is found, love is lost, and trust is formed and betrayed as these nine girls find their places in each other's lives.
Chapter wordcount: 5,940
Prologue
Part A
“What if they’re bullies?” Taeyeon asked as the girls stood watching the reception get emptier and emptier.
“Come on,” Sooyoung sighed. Sunny and Taeyeon had taken turns for the last 10 minutes in coming up with theories about the new friend, including “what if they have hidden tentacles” and “what if they love Baywatch”. “It’s my friend we’re talking about here. Do you think I would be friends with someone like that?”
“You know everyone,” Sunny spluttered, pacing in front of the taller girl. “One of them is bound to be a bully.”
“And, and, besides! Her friends, you don’t know her friends,” Taeyeon filled in. “They could be aliens for all we know.”
“They aren’t aliens,” Sooyoung grumbled, tiredly staring at the door, willing for it to open and free her from her friends’ madness.
“That would be cool,” Seohyun, who had been silent the entire conversation, said. The other three stared at her. “What?” she asked innocently.
“Great,” Sunny said, going back to pacing. “Maybe they could take you to your home planet.”
Seohyun’s mouth fell open.
“Because you’re an angel, just like we said…” Taeyeon tried. “Right, Sunny?”
Sunny stared at her as she walked past her for the millionth time. “Right,” she said, giving up. “But Sooyoung,” she continued while making big eyes at the taller girl, “since you’re the one who’s about to bring this flock of… vampires or whatever on us, you have to protect us if something happens. Okay?”
Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “You two need to relax. Nothing’s gonna happen.”
“That’s a lot, coming from the girl who was about to wet herself from nervousness just this morning,” Sunny pointed out.
Sooyoung looked scandalized. “Hey-I wasn’t actually-you know-“
“Sooyoung, please… just protect us,” Taeyeon begged, trying to look as cute for Sooyoung as she dared.
The taller girl rolled her eyes again. “Fine. You have my protection.”
Sunny jumped up to her and threw her arms around her waist. “Thank you,” she purred. “See, this is why I love you, Sooyoung. This, and your mother’s cooking.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Sooyoung agreed, patting Sunny’s shoulder tiredly. “There she is,” she then said as Yoona entered with Sungmin beside her and her friends crowding behind them. Sunny immediately released Sooyoung.
“Go protect,” she said and gave Sooyoung a nudge in Yoona’s direction, which resulted in the tallest almost knocking over a bypassing boy. She glared at Sunny over her shoulder, making her way over to the new group. Sunny just responded with a smile and pulled a dazed Seohyun and a very stressed Taeyeon closer to herself.
“So, what do you reckon?” she asked lowly once they were huddled together.
“Well,” Taeyeon said, observing Yoona as well as she could from the distance, “she looks normal enough.”
Sunny shook her head. “No, see, normal is bad,” she said. “No normal person would ever like us. Would you have said paranoid or socially retarded, I would have done a dance of joy.”
Taeyeon nodded slowly. “Point taken,” she agreed and sighed when Seohyun raised an offended eyebrow at the two shorter girls. “Love you, Seobaby, but I wouldn’t ever call you normal.”
Seohyun huffed and redirected her gaze back towards the entrance, where introductions between Sooyoung and the new girls were in full order. “I think she looks nice,” she said, and the pout could practically be heard in her voice. Sunny put a reassuring arm across her back.
“Her probable boyfriend looks a bit scary though,” Taeyeon mumbled, nodding discreetly towards Sungmin, “And that renders her, too, slightly dangerous.”
“Are you kidding?” Sunny questioned. “He’s like tiny!”
“So are you,” Taeyeon argued back, “and yet you wound me and Sooyoung mentally every day. Size doesn’t matter.”
Silence passed for a few moments. Seohyun’s mouth formed a scandalized, perfect “o”, and Taeyeon prepared herself for a loud “hey!” and a painful slap on the arm, but it never came.
“Okay, true,” Sunny said at last. Taeyeon felt oddly proud of herself.
“Oh god, they’re coming over now,” Taeyeon whispered in a desperate voice. They all straightened their backs and tried their best to not look too frightened. “Prepare yourselves for insults, bites and/or possible tentacles.”
“God, Tae, don’t be so dramatic,” Seohyun said, stepping forward to smile warmly at the newcomers.
Taeyeon noted a knock on her shoulder but kept her eyes on Sooyoung’s unreadable face as she felt Sunny lean in close to her.
“Our youngest is insane,” Sunny whispered. A grimace that was supposed to be a smile but came out more like a wince broke through on Taeyeon’s face. Her entire head felt like a mask, or to be precise, a Halloween costume.
“So,” Sooyoung said as she came to a stop in front of her friends with Yoona, Sungmin, Jessica, Yuri and Tiffany behind her, “gathered at last, huh?”
Taeyeon, Sunny and Seohyun all nodded in silence.
“Everyone, these are my friends, Sunny, Seohyun and Taeyeon,” she continued, sensing the awkward atmosphere that threatened to break through, and pointed to each of them as she said their names. The trio silently held up their hands in greeting, and Taeyeon noticed that even Seohyun seemed to have lost a bit of her earlier composure. Jessica, Yuri, Sungmin and Tiffany mirrored their actions, though looking a lot less awkward and afraid of falling through the floor.
“Hi,” Jessica said, and Taeyeon smiled at the high-pitched voice.
“And this is Yoona, Jessica, Yuri, and… Tiffany, right?” Sooyoung hesitated, not having met her before. Tiffany nodded with a slight laugh and a smile that reached all the way to her eyes, and probably the sky and moon as well, Taeyeon thought. Sooyoung smiled apologetically back, before turning to Sungmin. “And… I’m sorry, what’s your name?” she asked, her face twisted in a sorry expression. Sungmin looked about ready for a mental institution.
“Sungmin…” he said and quickly eyed them all one by one as they stared at him in silence. “And… he’s leaving!” he added after a few silent seconds, turning to Yoona.
“You’re- you’re leaving?” she asked, surprised. She didn’t want Sungmin to go off alone after what she had witnessed that same morning.
“I’m going to the assembly hall, I’ll see you there,” Sungmin said, backing away from the group towards one of the corridors. “Or, you know, later. Whenever.”
Yoona almost followed him. “But…” she tried, not knowing what to say when the other girls were around. “What about-“
“It’s okay,” Sungmin reassured her before she said too much. “I’ll talk to you later.”
If anyone had asked, Yoona knew she wouldn’t have been able to explain the worry she felt when she watched Sungmin sprint down the corridor and keep as far away from the other people walking as physically possible. Even though it had been years upon years since they last saw each other, it felt to her as if he stepped back into her life right where they had left off, and she was immediately as fond of him as she had always been. It didn’t seem like Sungmin felt the same, though, which both worried and saddened her.
She turned back to the group with a mostly faked smile. “I guess it’s just us girls then,” she laughed.
“It could be a lot worse,” Sooyoung replied with a smile, throwing an arm over Yoona’s shoulders. “As I was saying, this is Yoona, Jessica, Yuri and Tiffany.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Seohyun said, managing to keep the awkwardness from seeping into her voice.
“You too,” Tiffany beamed. Yuri and Jessica nodded in agreement.
“We’re very grateful to you for helping us, you know…” Yuri said warmly, “keeping from dying in this place.”
“It’ll be our pleasure,” Seohyun replied. Taeyeon cringed a little at her words, but kept her approving smile on.
“Alright,” Sooyoung said, clasping her hands and looking around at the now empty room. “We’re already late, which isn’t the best start to our first day,” she laughed nervously. “Luckily the four of you have the four of us at your disposal, so allow us to show you the way.” She offered her hand to Yoona, who hooked her arm in Sooyoung’s.
“Let’s go,” she smiled, and the two started walking off alone before Seohyun and Tiffany rushed to their sides. Taeyeon and Sunny remained behind, waiting for Yuri and Jessica to walk off before them. A few awkward moments of staring at each other passed before the couple understood Sunny’s and Taeyeon’s intentions.
“Let’s head out, troops!” Jessica squeaked, holding her free hand up high in the air. Yuri quickly grabbed her girlfriend’s other hand and led her away, shooting Sunny and Taeyeon a wide-eyed glance that seemed to say “I’m sorry I let her eat so much sugar”.
Sunny grabbed Taeyeon’s arm and held on tight. “Our youngest may be crazy,” she whispered as they followed the others, “but she is better than us at this.”
“Much, much better,” Taeyeon nodded.
They sighed in unison as they absently watched Jessica cling to Yuri’s arm and lay her head on her shoulder, laughing.
“Well, at least we’ll always have each other,” Sunny offered.
Taeyeon smiled at her friend. “Always.” Remembering that, at the end of the day, was all they really needed.
Chapter 2: "Line 49 for homo- and bisexual youngsters."