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HYEJOO: NOVEMBER 13TH 1999

Hyejoo never looked forward to her birthday, this year was no exception. Each and every year there would inevitably be something. It was not to say that her bad luck was exclusive to her birthday but more it followed her around like a shadow, until the day of her birthday when it became an apparition. But as everyone would say, what did you expect from being born on the 13th. 

“Ugh Mommy, I’m totally buggin’ about tomorrow can I please skip this evening to prep.”

The apparition in question.

“It’s Hyejoo’s birthday, Sooyoung sweetie. It’s her choice.”

Sooyoung, her older sister. She stood taller than their Mom, a towel wrapped around her head, sleepy eyelids, and the black bags under them that no one would be allowed to take note of outside the three of them in the kitchen now. 

“Yeah, fine. I guess I’ll just read over the campus prospectus during lunch,” she pulled out the usual syrupy smile that assured her the position of favorite child. 

Hyejoo tapped a black painted fingernail on the kitchen table, her face setting into its natural scowl. Perhaps a tiny part of her hoped Sooyoung would actually wish her a happy birthday. Instead, she just heard the creak of the third step as Sooyoung made her way upstairs to get dressed.

Hyejoo followed suit, clunking up the staircase that divided hers and Sooyoung’s rooms so their doors were opposite one another. Sooyoung would turn left at the top and Hyejoo would turn right. That is, usually. Today, Hyejoo found Sooyoung on the right, in her room, in her closet. 

“Uh. What are you doing? I literally have an obsidian stone over my door to keep out demons, and yet...here you are.”

Sooyoung practically jumped out of her skin as she turned with a shirt in her hand. “Don’t you like totally worship Satan? I’m looking for one of my tops you stole.”

“Yes and that’s why I treat all of that with respect. You have to protect yourself, bonehead. And why would I steal your top? I don’t want to dress like you .”

“Maybe if you did, you would have more friends rather than looking like the girl from The Ring.”

“Her name is Sadako Yamamura, of course, you wouldn’t know that.”

“And good for me that I don’t,” she began to make her way out of the closet, the top still in hand.

“You gonna give that back or what, Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “I told you, it's mine.”

“It’s black, it's definitely mine.”

Sooyoung scoffed. “Look I know you don’t know any other colours, but just ‘cause it’s black doesn’t mean it's yours.”

Hyejoo was getting antsy. “Ugh fine, rock paper scissors.”

“Fine. Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot.” 

Sooyoung threw out scissors and Hyejoo threw out rock.

Irritated, Sooyoung threw the top at Hyejoo and stomped to her room, the opening sounds of Bug a Boo by Destiny’s child blasting through her bedroom walls.

Hyejoo was almost glad she would be at school for the rest of the day and wouldn’t have to deal with Sooyoung until after. Almost.

*

She was lent against her locker waiting for Yerim when she saw a flash of a flame spark in front of her face momentarily.

“Watch it, Freak.”

“Bite me.” 

Hyejoo wondered if evil was hereditary as Chaewon, sister of Sooyoung's god awful girlfriend, glanced back with a satisfied smile.

Of course, it hadn’t been Chaewon herself who had taunted Hyejoo with an open flame, it had been her muscle, Hyunjin, who turned back to make eye contact with Hyejoo, the same way she always did, like she could telekinetically decapitate her, before ripping down one of the flyers for the school talent show. Flicking the zippo lighter again, she set the corner of it on fire. Chaewon flipped her hair with approval and Heejin on her other side, unaware of the situation, was busy applying lip gloss in a pocket-sized mirror.

Hyejoo was used to this, the daily prodding of Chaewon and her cronies. It had been going on since last summer. Even with her being a year older and in 9th grade so they didn’t share classes, Chaewon had consistently found ways to make sure Hyejoo was reminded that she was at the bottom of the food chain for a very specific reason. All it had taken was for her to flex her status in Rosy Middle School for everyone to avoid Hyejoo. 

“Hey Birthday girl!”

Well everyone except Yerim.

“Yo!”

And the 7th grader, Yeojin.

Yerim opened her locker and the talking began. “So I was thinking we really need to work out a better strategy for the Dark Portal. We haven’t been able to get past it for over a week now! I’m really thinking we should’ve just been orcs instead of humans like orcs aren't that bad, right?” She swung her head to look at Hyejoo for confirmation with her usual wide smile.

“See I was thinking, we enchant more items and once the orcs slay Anduin Lothar, we make a pincer formation. We didn’t try that yet.”

Yeojin yawned loudly, purposeful.

“Yes Yeojin, your presence has been acknowledged,” Hyejoo said, patting the much shorter girl on the head.

“Oh man, I thought I was a goner if you were gonna keep talking about Warcraft. Anyway Happy Birthday, Hyejoo! I made you this.”

Yeojin held out a card that was coloured in black with a red pentagram on the front and the words ‘Have a HELL of a birthday!’

“Thanks, Yeojin...That’s really cool,” Hyejoo said as she received it.

Yeojin nodded at the approval and smiled, showing off the rows of braces. 

“Hey now, I made you THIS,” Yerim said, retrieving a book from her locker and then placing it in Hyejoo’s hands. 

Hyejoo starred at the cover and blinked.

“Well it's not gonna open itself!” Yerim laughed. 

Hyejoo carefully opened the first page, she traced a finger over its contents.

“Yerim…I...I don’t know what to say.” 

“Just keep looking through the pages I stayed up all night making it.” 

Hyejoo blinked hard to stop tears from forming as she saw the pictures Yerim had glued in stemming all the way back to their first play date when they were 5. Both of them in oshkosh dungarees, Yerim making a peace sign while Hyejoo had stuck a finger up one of Yerim’s nostrils. 

Yerim had drawn little borders around the photos and notes here and there like ‘you’re the best best friend!’ next to a photo where Yerim had fallen on her butt in the snow and Hyejoo was captured pointing and laughing at her. Of course, after she had reached to help her up before Yerim just pulled her into the snow too;

‘One day we’ll start our own band’ next to a photo of them on a plastic keyboard and drum kit respectively; ‘life's better when we’re together! hyerim 4eva <3’ next to a photo of them smashing Yerim’s 11th birthday cake into each other’s faces. 

“Yerim, this is...this is really—” 

“You don’t have to say it, I already know.”

Hyejoo looked up from where she was tracing her finger around a border. She gave Yerim a knowing smile, whose true layers of meaning could only be fully deconstructed by a lifelong friend before saying “corny.”

The bell rang signaling the start of the first period and an end to Hyejoo’s attention span. 

“Lame.”

“Ah don’t wanna be late!” Yerim slammed her locker, you especially shouldn’t be late, Hyejoo, I know you have Saturday detention tomorrow, don’t make it worse for yourself.”

“Or you could, who cares about rules man. We need some anarchy up in this school!” Yeojin foghorned. 

“Hmm Yerim’s probably right,” Hyejoo eye-rolled and straightened the top Sooyoung had tried to steal from her this morning. 

“Boo! Down with society!” 

“Yeojin, aren’t you already failing social studies?” Yerim said with her hands on her hips.

Yeojin narrowed her eyes, “I…that's none of your business,” she gripped her books and started power walking in the opposite direction of Hyejoo and Yerim. Once she was out of reach for Yerim to scold her further she turned and threw up the hail satan devil horns with her tongue sticking out. The older girls shook their heads, walking to their own class. Math. 

*

The smell of incense burned Sooyoung’s nose, Hyejoo knew this because she wouldn’t stop saying it every five seconds. Sooyoung had promised to take her to the mall after school, a gentle nudge from their mom so Sooyoung could buy a gift for Hyejoo, even though Hyejoo said she would only go into the mall “ironically”. 

Last year Sooyoung’s gift had been in two parts: the first a free lipgloss from a magazine, that Hyejoo had quickly discarded. The second playing 2 hours of Super Smash Bros on the N64 which had been inevitably cut short after Sooyoung had chosen Jigglypuff “Because she’s cute and a girl” . Hyejoo tried explaining that pokemon could be any gender and not everything that has pink had to be a girl but Sooyoung shushed her. 

Hyejoo selected Link and after 15 minutes of pummeling the spherical singing pokemon, Sooyoung had thrown down her controller and said this game was giving her an “extreme case of loser” before storming out. Since then she had only dared to play with Yerim on the weekends when she wasn’t grounded for truancy or whatever thing she was being blamed for. 

“Why is all the lighting so bad in here?” Sooyoung said while admiring herself in a mirror, playing with her hair making it flop on one side then changing it to the other.

“You’re ugly either way.”

“YoU’rE uGlY eItHeR wAy,” Sooyoung repeated, mocking Hyejoos voice, a favourite of hers, and following it with a scoffed “as if.”

Hyejoo left her narcissistic sister to lose herself in her reflection and decided to check out some of the trinkets in the store. 

She thrived in places like this, putting on a mood ring and reading that it signaled she was feeling ‘unsettled’ . Probably correct, who could feel relaxed when they had Sooyoung criticising their every move.

She looked over the crystals, the bags made of hemp until she reached her favourite- the ‘occult’ section. 

Her hand skimmed a ouija board as she kept slowly walking, taking in everything she could. She picked up a book called ‘Demons Deserve Love: How to Exorcise Self-Care’.

“See anything you like? Fancy a tarot reading?”

She was startled at the red-haired woman silently appearing in her peripheral vision and almost dropped the book she was holding. 

“Uh just browsing.” She said hoping to rid herself of the woman.

“You’re into the occult, huh?” The woman’s eyes flicked to the pentagram around Hyejoo’s neck.

“Uhm yeah I guess?” She found herself holding the necklace self consciously.

“I have something very special for you, it is Friday 13th after all,” the woman guided Hyejoo to the back end of the store. 

In amongst the dust and cobwebs lay a black box. The woman insisted Hyejoo take a careful look and when she did so she instantly recoiled and yelled.

“Hyejoo?” Sooyoung appeared at her side.

“What is that thing?” Morbid curiosity got the better of her.

“Ah this is the famous mummified bat wing.”

“Ew,” Sooyoung said.

“Cool,” Hyejoo said.

“Why would anyone want that?!” Asked Sooyoung, Hyejoo thought that was kind of rude.

“Ah you see, some say it has mystical powers reaching back from an ancient god that used this to see life from the other side.” The woman said with an air of mystery but seeing Sooyoung's unamused face she added, “bats do of course hang upside down if you get where I’m going with this.”

“Right...Hyejoo, you good? You really wanna see anything else in here?”

“Hey you said you’d buy me a birthday present.”

“Hmmm I guess I did.” 

“Birthday?” The woman asked curiously. 

Hyejoo nodded. 

The woman continued, “those born into the 13th are always said to experience life in an unusual way.” 

“Yeah she’s cursed, can you tell?” Sooyoung said nonchalantly while checking her nailbeds, hip jutted to the side giving her the appearance of boredom. 

“Triskaidekaphobia,” The woman mused. 

“Bless you,” Sooyoung replied without looking up.

“No, child. Fear of the number 13. In ancient history, it is said 12 is the perfect number.”

The dim lighting in the room began to flicker.

“Christianity, the last supper, twelve becomes thirteen when Judas Iscariot arrives. I’m sure you know how that ended; Norse mythology, twelve gods until Loki appeared, making it thirteen and bringing evil to the world.” 

The woman’s voice although not particularly loud in volume still filled the space. 

“Why even the 13th Mayan calendar shows the end of the world! Strange occurrences revolve around that number.” 

Sooyoung was clearly disinterested, her eyes focused on the collection of love candles, “neat. Hyejoo are you gonna get anything?” Sooyoung snapped her fingers at her awestruck sister, bringing her back to reality and somehow making the room lighter again. 

“I want the batwing.”

“Ugh, weird much?” 

“Yeah, that’s why I like it, it's cool.”

“Okay, I guess. Ms...uh..” Sooyoung squinted her eyes at the woman’s name badge. “Vivi. We’ll take the batwing.”

“Score,” Hyejoo said under her breath.

“Fair warning, the secret to unlocking its powers have been lost to the ages. However, anything can happen on Friday 13th.”

“Yeah, yeah. How much?”

“Can you put a price on such a rare and coveted artifact?”

“So it’s free?”

“Do I look like a charity?! I have a store to run, capitalism doesn’t make way for freebies! $25.”

*

“Welcome to Crabshack, the only crabs you’ll be leaving with are the ones you digested...Oh hey Sooyoung,” A girl shorter than both Sooyoung and Hyejoo, a notepad in hand, smiling a little too much at the sight of her sister. No wonder Sooyoung's head was so big.

“Jungeun! Hey thanks so much again for covering me tonight, I owe you one,” Sooyoung winked at the girl who gave her the finger guns back. Hyejoo breathed out a laugh, unintentionally drawing attention to herself.

“Oh you must be the birthday sister in question! That's rad. Happy Birthday, Hyejoo? Right?” 

It was very unlike any of Sooyoung's friends to even acknowledge Hyejoo’s presence let alone speak to her so all she could muster was a quiet confused “uh thanks,” the girl smiled and took their orders while darting her eyes to Sooyoung whenever there was a pause. 

After ordering the three of them at the table waiting in silence: their mom writing in the Filofax, Sooyoung staring everywhere but Hyejoos direction and Hyejoo rapping her fingers on the paper table cloth. 

“Do my ears deceive me or did I hear we are shellebrating a birthday today?!” 

A bobbed haired girl wearing a ‘have a crabby day!’ t-shirt came over, armed with bibs and the tiny crab hammers.

“Oh Haseul, it’s my…” Sooyoung looked over at Hyejoo. “It’s her birthday.”

“That's clawsome !” 

The girl named Haseul tied a special birthday bib around Hyejoo’s neck that said ‘Holy crab, it’s my birthday! ’ The proximity: highly uncomfortable but she would make an exception for her birthday. 

The other girl, Jungeun? Was tying a bib around Sooyoung and Hyejoo had to stop herself from laughing at how awkward her usually confident sister looked.

She tied her bib around her neck as the bags of seafood started piling up in front of her.

Hyejoo wasted no time digging in and twiddled her fingers in delight while rummaging for the fattest crab in the bag. She felt resistance in snatching it away and looked to see Sooyoung’s hand grasping the other claw. 

A small shuffle of wills began as each of them silently fought for dominance over the crab. This could be solved very simply, Hyejoo would beat her dumb sister's ass into submission. Unfortunately, this was real life and she needed to rely on the power of words.

“Sooyoung, it’s my birthday.”

Sooyoung looked at the crab, looked at their mom, eye-rolled, and then reluctantly let go, settling for a juicy shrimp. 

Hyejoo unabashedly waved the crab victoriously in the air before swinging it down and banging the crab on the side of the table.

“Are you a cavewoman?!”

“What?”

“Where are your manners? There are other people here.”

“Whatever. It’s my birthday.”

“That doesn’t mean you can behave like a troll. What’s next? Squirting the sauce directly in your mouth instead of on the table?!” Sooyoung said as she dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. 

“I’m not going to listen to someone who’s wearing a bib.”

“You’re wearing a bib too, butthole.”

“Sooyoung…” 

“Sorry, Mommy,” She gave Hyejoo her fake evil smile which made her eyes almost disappear and when their mom looked back down to her Filofax, Sooyoung lent on her hand in a way which only made her middle finger visible on her cheek. 

Hyejoo retaliated by yawning and rubbing her eyes with her own two middle fingers, admittedly there was crab juice on them but she’d be damned if she showed any weakness in front of Sooyoung.

Sooyoung looked at Hyejoo while she smacked the crab with her hammer. 

Hyejoo looked her dead in the eyes back while she snapped the shell off of one of the crab legs. 

Sooyoung mouthed “you’re gross.”

Hyejoo mouthed back “suck it,”  before slurping the contents of a claw. 

The familiar beep of a pager sounded “hey honey, I have to run to work soon so Sooyoung can you watch Hyejoo tonight please.”

“Oh but Mom I have to get ready for tomorrow,” Sooyoung was in the midst of coating her lips with that god awful gloss that looked like it was dipped off the back of a baby seal.

“Please Sooyoung, Hyejoo is too young to be left to her own devices.”

“I’m fine on my own.”

“You’re 14 today young lady, not an adult.”

A night with her and Sooyoung alone sounded like hell on earth, she would definitely be staying in her room.

*

She plonked herself at the PC and let Windows 98 whir up, adjusting the new batwing ornament on her desk. What a day. She was desperate to just kick back, play some Warcraft and chat to user Ch03rry and maybe a certain someone else on AOL instant messenger (AIM). 

She pressed connect and saw the little yellow aim man running and “dialing…”, she breathed out a sigh as the dial tone sounded but her relief was cut short when she heard a distorted voice through the dial-up sounds. 

Not now.

She heard a door slam open.

“Hyejoo it's MY time with the phone!”

She slammed open her own door. 

“You’re a hog, you ALWAYS have the phone! It’s MY birthday.”

Sooyoung stood in the doorframe, her clear case bedroom phone with its neon coloured parts in hand, looking like a silverback gorilla ready to charge.  

“Because my girlfriend is more important than Borecraft.”

“That's not even witty! It's WARCRAFT.”

“And it SUCKS!”

“You suck!”

Sooyoung made a move to close the space between their rooms, the telephone line dragging itself behind her.

Hyejoo darted her hands out as Sooyoung approached her grabbing the phone, attempting to prise it from Sooyoung’s hands, she held fast though, stupid cheerleader and her quick reaction times .

“MOOOOOM HYEJOOS INSANE!”

“She’s not here you freaking idiot.” 

The tug of war between each of their grips becoming more violent as Hyejoo attempted to throw out a leg to make Sooyoung lose her balance

Sooyoung took the kick to the shin and rammed Hyejoo back, crossing the line to her room.

“Get out of my room!” 

“Get out of my life!”

They heard a voice on the other end of the phone.

“No, not you, Jinsoul baby!” Sooyoung shouted so Jinsoul would hear.

“Baby?! You’re...so....gross!” Hyejoo was getting tired from the physicality of the fight, what she had in strength she did not have in stamina, gym was never her subject. 

“Maybe if you were normal you would be able to get a hot girlfriend too so then you’d get over your weird fat crush on Marilyn Manson.”

“Manson is a god, not a crush!” 

“Ew.”

“Aw babe, you really think I’m hot?”

“Yes, baby, you’re the hottest girl in the whole school.”

“You’re cute when you’re right.”

“God when will you two stop, I’m gonna yack.”

“I won't stop until you give me back my fricking phone.”

“What so you can go “Oooh I love you Jinsoul, ooooh you’re so hot even though you have no personality, oooh maybe that's why we work so well cause I don't have one either.”

Sooyoung gave her a hard shove.

“You’re ruining my life! I wish I was an only child!”

“No, I do because then I wouldn’t have to put up with you!” 

“Why can’t you just be normal?”

Sooyoung pulled the phone to her chest, Hyejoo’s grip still firm.

“Why can’t you stop being a bitch ?”

Hyejoo took advantage of the gravity of her b-word trump card that left Sooyoung’s mouth open and pulled the phone back to her chest.

“Take a chill pill Hyejoo, out of both of us you’re the black sheep.”

Sooyoung pulled the phone. 

“Oh I’m so sorry I can’t be the stuck-up perfect princess you are where everything is handed to you. Hey since you’re so perfect, why aren’t you moving out for college next year?”

Hyejoo pulled the phone.

“You have no IDEA how hard I have to work or what I have to do for this family, especially when I have to live with the embarrassment of having a sister like you.”

And that was it. 

Neither of them was sure who’s fault it really was but they would both blame each other. 

Both watched in horror as Sooyoung’s phone sailed through the air and careened into the screen of Hyejoo’s monitor. 

Both of their jaws dropped open and they looked at each other in panic before simultaneously letting the anger take over.

“Well now look what you’ve done!” they said in unison, foreheads pressed together.

“I’m home!” Came their Mom’s voice from downstairs and as if lightning had struck the spot where they were standing, the sisters jolted apart.

“If you tell Mom about this you're dead, Hyejoo.”

Hyejoo knew it, it wouldn’t even matter if she did blame Sooyoung though, she was the one with the reputation, she was the one who would get in trouble. 

Sooyoung gave her a warning look before pulling the phone out of the screen and stomping back to her room, giving a characteristic sweet “Hi Mommy,” and turning back to give Hyejoo one last look of murder before closing her bedroom door.

*

Hyejoo did not come down to say goodnight to her Mom. She’d spent the rest of her night listening to her walkman, the eerie sounds of Marilyn Manson’s Tourniquet filling her ears and she kept rewinding to the chorus: ‘take your hatred out on me, make your victim my head, you never ever believed in me, I am your tourniquet.’ The thought of seeing Sooyoung right now made her blood boil and she knew she would not be able to hold herself back from headbutting her.

She was jerked out of her Manson therapy session however when she saw the door move in her peripherals, pausing the pain-stricken vocals. 

So it was no surprise when she heard a little knock on her door and her Mom popped her head around the corner. 

“Hey honey, sorry I was back a little late and missed the rest of your day.”

“It’s okay.”

“Alright well I’m going to bed now, so I hope you sleep well. Happy birthday.”

“Night.”

“Oh and no cheese before bed, you'll get nightmares,” she closed the door with a sad smile on her face.

*

“nO cHeEsE bEfOrE bEd. Whatever,”  she mocked as she unwrapped the plastic, the sounds of the storm masking the tearing. 

She lent on the open fridge door, chewing with her mouth open, the only source of light from the machine itself and the occasional flash of lightning outside. 

She eyed the remaining contents of the fridge, the remnants of birthday cake from Crabshack, apples, plums and milk.

This house is so wack there is no good food. 

The witching hour was her favourite time because at least she could actually get some peace in this house. She pulled the last string of cheese from the stick and wrinkled her nose before shutting the door. She trudged back up to bed, taking care to avoid the creaky third step. 

She walked past the cracked monitor, the box with the mummified bat wing had set up shop in front of it, hiding the damage from view. Settling herself back in the embrace of pillows, she put a hand behind her head and looked up at the ceiling covered in posters, the one directly above her being the paled face Marilyn Manson himself, she looked into his mismatched coloured eyes.

“I wish I was an only child!”

No one understands me.

“Why can’t you just be normal!”

She felt hot streaks burn the sides of her face as they rolled down her cheeks. 

This is who I am.

Manson would understand. He would tell Sooyoung to go screw herself. 

Sooyoung can go screw herself.

A fork of lightning illuminated her room.

“I have to live with the embarrassment of having a sister like you.”

Thunder rolled.

I wish she understood.

SOOYOUNG: NOVEMBER 13TH 1999

On paper, Sooyoung was the epitome of the perfect hard working 17 year old:

A straight-A senior;

Head of the cheer squad, Go Jaguars!; 

Vice President of the Associated Student Body (ASB); 

Dating the captain of the football team; 

Employed at the fine establishment of Crab Shack. 

On paper, Sooyoung had it all figured out. 

She read over the test answers again that Haseul had stolen for her on the promised exchange of getting her a date with Jiwoo. People put on a facade that they’re above high school politics, Haseul usually charged money or nothing but everyone had a price. Sooyoung had learned that in all her efforts to sit at the top of the food chain. 

She readjusted the towel on her head, making a chant up to remember the order of the answers. Her Mom’s voice called from the floor below, making her mess up the order. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of annoyance. 

She came down to the voice of her mom telling her to hurry up and get ready so they didn’t miss the bus. 

Sooyoung was already wound up about the next 24 hours. Her future totally depended on it. 

“Mommy, I’m buggin’ about tomorrow can I please skip this evening to prep.”

Her mom reminded her it was Hyejoo’s birthday, her choice. She looked over at her raven-haired sister, the chipped black nail polish on her fingers, the consistent bored expression... was that a zit? She should put some concealer on that before school. 

Sooyoung collected herself, not wanting to put any more stress on her mom, and forced herself to smile, “yeah, fine. I guess I’ll just read over the campus prospectus during lunch.”

She had already planned her outfit for the day, something that was cute but looked like she hadn’t put too much effort in, nobody likes a try-hard.

She rummaged through her closet, but left, frustrated when she couldn’t find the black t-shirt she’d planned to wear. 

Maybe it had been mixed up in Hyejoo’s closet. 

Opening her door slyly, she peered her head out, looking directly at the door that was opposite hers. 

Opposite in every way imaginable. 

Sooyoung’s door: a ‘GO JAGUARS!’ banner, some polaroids of her and the girls, various female celebrities including a Jennifer Lopez editorial cut carefully from a magazine.

Hyejoo’s door: a scruffily written ‘NO POSERS ALLOWED’ sign, an upturned crucifix, and some nails that had haphazardly been hammered in.

She tiptoed her way, avoiding the noisier floorboards, to the room. Collecting a tissue from her pocket to touch the door handle of Hyejoo’s room, she slid herself in noiselessly. 

It had been some time since Sooyoung had dared to enter the threshold of the miniature Church of Satan. It was like a sanctuary to anyone in a band that looked like they hadn't showered in...ever. Sooyoung wordlessly thanked the universe she was not attracted to men as she shuffled through the dark room, taking care not to tip some candles formed in the shape of a star on the floor. 

Why does it smell like that?

Her eyes looked at the mess of black in the closet. This was a challenge.

Knee deep, wounded from the occasional spikey bracelet that was cast on the closet floor, there it was, amidst the heap of black tops. How did Hyejoo ever find anything, she will never know. 

“Uh. What are you doing?”

Chills ran up her spine, turning her head, she looked up at a very disgruntled Hyejoo.

“I literally have an obsidian stone over my door to keep out demons, and yet...here you are.”

Rude . 

Sooyoung had barely spoken to the brat today and yet here she was already insulting her when she was the one who took something that wasn’t hers. “Don’t you like totally worship Satan? I’m looking for one of my tops you stole.”

“Yes and that’s why I treat all of that with respect. You have to protect yourself, bonehead. And why would I steal your top? I don’t want to dress like you .”

Time was short and she wanted today to be over as quickly as possible to make sure she had her head on straight for tomorrow. Eden College was the best in the state, she had to make a good impression. It had to be perfect, tomorrow had to be perfect. Today really should've been about her preparing. She would settle this with Hyejoo. She wouldn’t waste her time on immature, trivial matters, she was almost an adult.

Sooyoung found herself throwing out scissors, losing to rock and losing the top.

Whatever.

*

“I’m going to become a vegetarian, Sooyoungie,” Jiwoo was leaning on her arm, looking morose. “Coach is always bugging me about working on my core right? So what better way than to eat loads of apples.”

“Apples are good, but why only apples?” Sooyoung turned away from the blackboard filled with historical dates. 

“Uh duh! Apples have cores?!”

“I don’t think…”

“The plan is to become a vegetarian because they only eat vegetables.”

“Actually you can eat more than just vegetables and apples are a fruit,” Sooyoung was trying to scribble the rest of the last few dates before it got rubbed off the board.

Jiwoo looked at her manicured nails, “Whatever. You know you have to work on your avocados.”

Sooyoung put down her pen, “Jiwoo, it’s abdominals.”

“Ew? I’m not constipated?” Jiwoo frowned.

“Of course, you know what, I totally support your lifestyle change.”

Jiwoo put a hand to her chest, “oh my god, that like means so much more coming from the cheer team captain.” Sooyoung stuck out her tongue and Jiwoo smiled before placing her hands under her chin. “So what’s the 411?”

“Ugh I have that math test after lunch and then Eden College campus tour tomorrow.”

“Oh my god, we can totally go to the mall after school, help you pick out the cutest outfit so everyone knows you are a hot bitch!” 

“Jiwoo, please don’t use coarse language in my classroom.” 

Both their eyes widened as they turned to see the rest of the class with their heads towards them and Ms Kim at the front of the class looking disappointed more than anything. Timid, Ms Minji Kim, loved her students and wanted nothing more than the best for them to the point of it severely affecting the behaviour management of her classes. 

“Oh uhm, so sorry Ms Kim. I was just asking Sooyoung if...if...” she strained her eyes to the board, “...George Washington...was a...hot...bitch.” she faltered. 

Ms Kim was exasperated as the class erupted into laughter. Sooyoung looked around with agitation until she heard one of the boys yell “good one, Jiwoo!” calming her worry that her friend had embarrassed herself. It was a cutthroat society they lived in, one wrong move and your status was in hell. She’d seen the rise and fall too many times. 

“Jiwoo, I think in answer to your question, it’s a matter of opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just wish you kids wouldn’t say such crass words rooted in sexism…”

“I’m sure Jiwoo was trying to reclaim it for the girls, Ms Kim,” a girl at the front said. 

Sooyoung had snapped back to the conversation they were having before Ms Kim interrupted. “I can’t go to the mall, I have uhm to prep tonight. Straight after school.” Sooyoung hurriedly tacked on, “you shouldn’t go to the mall either, Jiwoo.” 

Jiwoo pursed her lips thoughtfully, “oh if you think so, I definitely won’t!”

Relief flooded her chest, there was no way she could be caught dead going into Hot Topic at the behest of Hyejoo. What if Hyejoo made her do one of those goth makeovers and she would have to comply because it was her birthday. What if someone saw. It was already such a risk going there with her anyway. She shuddered before staring back to the front of the class. Her eyes drifted from the board to the back of the head of one particular class mate sat at the front who had recently opened her mouth.

“Hey don’t forget you have to go on that date with Haseul at some point.” 

“Oh gosh of course. Anything you say Sooyoungie. I hope she takes me somewhere dark, I haven’t made out with anyone in a while.” 

Sooyoung’s eyes darted to her friend and back to the board again. Sooyoung would only be caught with Haseul during ASB activities or at work. In any other setting, she risked social suicide. Jiwoo had taken one for the team. 

The bell ringing stopped her thoughts. She packed her things away and walked to the door with Jiwoo when she saw blonde hair, a letterman jacket, and a lopsided smile. 

“Hey babe,” Jinsoul was lent against the door frame. 

“I’ve gotta go bathroom real bad, must be all those apples, catch up with you girlies later! Mwah! Mwah!” Jiwoo sung, unloading air kisses as she power walked backwards down the hallway. 

“I was waiting on you, you took ages,” Jinsoul tapped the side of her cheek to signal Sooyoung to move her lips there. 

“Ugh not my fault, Ms Kim was telling us not to call people bitches,” Sooyoung said before pecking the blonde. 

“I guess I’ll forgive her. Let’s hurry up. Jungkook said he was going to kick that geek Jacob’s ass on the quad and I wanna watch.”

A loud “ahem” came from behind them. 

Sooyoung turned, looked down, and frowned. 

“You know it’s against the rules to show PDA on campus right?”

Jinsoul moved Sooyoung to the side and lowered her voice, “it’s also against the rules to smoke weed too, right?” Haseul stared daggers but Jinsoul continued, “so run along, pint-size.” She waved her hand dismissively.

Haseul looked behind to check Ms Kim wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, and luckily she was just deeply invested in reading a paper. 

“Well I would if your peroxide burnt head wasn’t in the way, we don’t all have to be prisoners here while you suck face... if you would just make like a crab and move to the side.”

“Why are you staying so late after class anyway, Jo? Asking for extra homework?” Jinsoul was now hunched, eyes level with Haseul’s.

“None of your business, Jung, and if I told you all my secrets then I wouldn’t be top of the class now would I?” Haseul’s eyes bore equal intensity back at Jinsoul.

“So you’re saying I am smarter than you, it's just because you decide to kiss teacher ass while I actually have a life. And even then you can only hang out with teachers because you’re a TA.”

“Not that it’s any of your business but I actually have a date with Jiwoo tomorrow.”

Jinsoul opened her mouth to retort but Sooyoung had watched the bickering tennis for long enough. “Babe, the quad?”

Jinsoul tore her eyes away from Haseul and back to her girlfriend, “oh right, yeah. time to go watch this boy get his ass BEAT ,” the last word loud enough to make the other girls jump a little. 

Jinsoul grabbed Sooyoung’s hand and marched off. She looked back for a moment to see Haseul shuffle her books to find a more comfortable position before holding her head up high and walking the other way.

*

God, why did everything in this store smell like Hyejoo’s room? 

Her eyes landed on a mirror.

She was sure no one had seen her step into this store but even so, she better make sure her hair looked good. She removed the butterfly clips, placing them between her teeth. Now was it better on the left side or the right? Maybe she should start mixing it up a little? Not that she could even tell which looked better. 

“Why is all the lighting so bad in here?” 

“You’re ugly either way.” Hyejoo chided behind her while she looked at some totally lame dragon figures, wearing the top she had stolen from Sooyoung this morning.

“YoU’rE uGlY eItHeR wAy.” Sooyoung repeated, in Hyejoo’s voice, why was her voice always so whiny. And ugly?! “as if.” She was one of the most popular girls in school, she was dating Jinsoul Jung. She had even overheard some of the footballers questioning if she was prettier than Jinsoul. Of course, that was like totally ridiculous, Jinsoul was way pretty like there was no one better in the school. Ugh. School. Homecoming. College. Money. 

She was snapped out of her worries when she heard Hyejoo scream. 

She ran to find her, there's no way anyone would lay a finger on her sister, she knew people, she would sue. 

When her eyes met the context of the box the worker was holding, she understood. God that was so gross. 

Before she knew it Hyejoo was asking her for a birthday present. It was Hyejoo’s birthday. She remembered she’d said it during a fleeting sentimental moment the other day when her mom brought out the photos of them as kids. That was it was sentimental until she saw a picture of them in their old room with the bunkbeds. She remembered how Hyejoo had tried to break the bed by shaking it to flatten her underneath. Well. It was still Hyejoo’s birthday. Getting her something she wanted was the least she could do, right? Even if she had already rejected the idea of getting something from the shopping channel, Sooyoung had no idea why. But did she really have to get this… this was so tragic. She decided the cashier’s ominous, all-knowing vibes outweighed her choice to muse on the topic further. She yielded so she could get the hell out of here and prayed no one she knew was walking past at the same time.

*

“Welcome to Crabshack, the only crabs you’ll be leaving with are the ones you digested...Oh hey, Sooyoung,” Jungeun said. Her hair looked sleeker, she probably used the serum Sooyoung recommended when she said her hair smelled nice the other day. Sooyoung wasn’t sure how that worked seeing as they both worked around seafood so the stuff she used must be good. Jungeun was nice enough to cover her shift so of course, Sooyoung would be more than happy to impart some of her top-secret beauty tips.

She winked at Jungeun after thanking her for the shift cover and Jungeun replied with the finger guns. It was like totally grunge chic or something. Whatever. She was speaking to Hyejoo about something now anyway. She’s...speaking to...Hyejoo…weird.

She waited for Jungeun to look at her again before listing off the order. She figured she could indulge tonight, crab is protein anyway, Coach was always talking about protein benefits. She could do the Jane Fonda butt lift tape when she got home after phoning Jinsoul.

Jungeun left to get the stuff ready and Sooyoung looked between her busy, overworked mom and her little moody sister before deciding that she was better off daydreaming about how good she was going to look at Homecoming.

Head cheerleader and Vice President of the ASB meant she was going to have to juggle the big football game with the organisation of Homecoming (most importantly making sure the lots were drawn for the king and queen). Jinsoul was the President of the ASB and as the first girl in the history of the school to make the football team, the most popular girl in school, she was expected to be crowned Homecoming Queen. Jinsoul was admired by everyone, everyone except for the secretary of the ASB—

“Do my ears deceive me or did I hear we are shellebrating a birthday today?!” Haseul, secretary of the ASB, asked.

“Oh Haseul, it’s my…” Sooyoung looked over at Hyejoo unsure of how much she wanted to be associated with her, especially as Haseul knew a lot of people. “It’s her birthday.”

Jungeun came out to help Haseul with the bibs (Sooyoung requested Hyejoo get the ridiculous birthday one) and Jungeun tied up hers. 

Maybe Jungeun did use that stuff, now that she was closer Sooyoung could smell her hair. Jungeun was way cool to wash it and style it even though it's totally not the grunge thing. She felt Jungeun’s fingers brush against the back of her neck and suddenly she was all too aware that Jungeun, her coworker, was putting a bib on her. She swallowed and steeled herself in preparation for what was about to come.

If there was one thing she and Hyejoo did have in common, it was the insatiable love of crab. 

Naturally, this meant that when the plastic bag of assorted seafood arrived, it was inevitable that the sisters would fight for the most delectable one. Sooyoung would usually win due to her being taller and more active so of course she needed the bigger crab.

Hyejoo had her birthday ace up her sleeve today and although Sooyoung made an attempt, the birthday card would always trump anything else in the presence of their mom. 

However, it didn’t mean that Hyejoo could act like an ogre and loudly bash the crab on the table when a whole hammer existed right next to her. Sooyoung was irritated at the attention Hyejoo was getting from her Super Smash Bros. act (no Sooyoung has not actively played on the N64, she just happened to walk past Hyejoo playing it on the tv, she just happens to know the pink one, and how the pink one wasn’t a girl and wouldn’t win against the elf boy, the elf boy that could spam moves so fast, no Sooyoung definitely had never played). Sooyoung looked around to make sure no one, especially Jungeun or Haseul were watching Hyejoo’s antics before scolding her. Why couldn’t she be civilised at this plastic bag food and paper towel table establishment! She dabbed the corners of her mouth to emphasise her thoughts. 

The two sisters engaged in a silent war of middle fingers and violent actions before their mom’s pager beeped.

“Hey honey, I have to run to work soon so Sooyoung can you watch Hyejoo tonight please.”

“Oh but Mom I have to get ready for tomorrow.” Sooyoung was reapplying the lipgloss she’d lost during the devouring of crab.

This was awful. 

“I’m fine on my own.”

“You’re 14 today young lady, not an adult.”

Hyejoo was ruining her life. She couldn’t let down her mom though. 

*

Somehow she had made it through the day. Her outfit for tomorrow was picked out, her homework could wait. Really, her mind was racing about the college campus tour tomorrow. She was pacing in her room unable to quiet the nerves. She decided she should call Jinsoul, take her mind off it. 

She laid on her front, punching in the numbers from memory on the neon buttons. 

Two rings before she heard the familiar slur in Jinsoul’s voice. 

“Hey babe.”

“Hi, I missed you.”

“Word. I miss you babe, your hair looked good today, I like it when you wear clips, it’s cute.”

“Oh, you noticed?”

“Of course babe, gotta make sure the second hottest girl in school is looking on point.”

“The second? Who’s the first?” Sooyoung said with a twinge of jealousy.

“Me of course, you’re so silly.”

Sooyoung laughed. Her girlfriend was so funny.

“Why are you laughing babe?”

She stopped. Her girlfriend was so...so. Whatever . 

“No reason. What’s my favorite football player doing?” Sooyoung was bouncing her leg. 

“Oh you know just—” urrrr EEEE “thinking” urrr NNNGGGG CRRRRcrrrr “homecoming” KEEEEEEE grrr nnnnnng. 

Sooyoung groaned in frustration, the dial-up noises screeching in her ear. She stomped to her door, throwing it open. 

“Hyejoo it's MY time with the phone!”

She knew Sooyoung always had the phone at 8.

“You’re a hog, you ALWAYS have the phone! It’s MY birthday.”

She did not want to do this right now, tomorrow was so important. All she wanted was to just take her mind off of it for an hour. Jinsoul would expect her to call too, the thought of disappointing her made Sooyoung’s stomach turn into a knot.

“Because my girlfriend is more important than Borecraft.”

“That's not even witty! It's WARCRAFT .”

“And it SUCKS !”

“You suck!”

Sooyoung charged at her sister, phone still in hand. She would put her in her place, she was older, she knew how things were supposed to be.

Before she knew it the argument had escalated, as it always did and she found her phone leaving her hands, courtesy of Hyejoo and smashing through her sister’s PC monitor. The comment about not moving out to college had hit a nerve. Sooyoung had opted to stay home to make sure she could still work and help her mom pay the bills as moving out would be an extra expense. She was surrounded by affluent people who didn’t need to do such things. 

And now the monitor was smashed, another expense. 

She found her way back to her room after saying a sweet hello to her Mom, making sure to turn back to glare at Hyejoo. so irresponsible . 

She debated calling Jinsoul back but she didn’t really feel like talking to anyone right now. Instead, she plugged in her headphones and the opening guitar riff to Don’t Speak by No Doubt filled her ears. 

She let it roll down her cheeks. Giving herself to the song to feel everything as she poured her soul into her diary. Once it wrapped up she l put on her brave face again and closed the heart-shaped lock before stashing her diary under her bed. 

She wiped away the frustration while going downstairs. Her evening wrapping up while watching an episode of Friday Night Live with her Mom, her head on her shoulder. 

Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. She excused herself, bidding goodnight before climbing the stairs. 

She flopped into bed, Hyejoo’s words floating between her ears. 

“Why can’t you stop being a bitch?”

Hyejoo doesn’t understand. A flash of lightning cuts through the sky. 

Sooyoung put an arm behind her head and looked over at the display of medals opposite the foot of the bed.

How does she not care about things like this? Achieving things? Being so stubborn that she couldn’t think of living in a way that’s actually helpful. 

She lives so carelessly and it’s going to ruin the rest of her life for her if she doesn’t start caring more about important things.

She felt the heaviness of sleep, the rain crashing on her window as thoughts whirled in her mind. Wishing that maybe Hyejoo would see Sooyoung’s way, was the right way. Thunder rolled as she closed her eyes. 

-

Anything can happen on Friday 13th...

Chapter Text

Three screams were heard in the Ha household on the morning of Saturday 14th. 

The first when Hyejoo grabbed her face in Sooyoung's bathroom, after walking straight into the wall.

The second was continuous from the moment Sooyoung opened her eyes to Marilyn Manson and continued to look in the mirror of Hyejoo’s bedroom. 

The third counts as one scream as the sisters were so unison when they opened the doors to their opposite bedrooms, facing each other to see that the nightmare was a reality.

Thankfully they were the only two in the house at the time and none of their neighbors had decent hearing. 

“Why do you have my FACE?!” 

“Why do you have MINE?!”

“This is a dream. THIS IS A DREAM!” Sooyoung pinched her arm but nothing came of it, just redness on Hyejoo’s skin. 

“I’m going to close my eyes and when I open them I will be in my bed and this never happened,” Hyejoo almost chanted as she closed her eyes but when she opened them again it was still her own body looking back at her. 

“THIS ISN'T HAPPENING TO ME! I REFUSE!” Sooyoung was shouting, almost in tears.

Hyejoo’s brain was beginning to turn when she felt the rumble in her stomach and reflexively placed a hand on it. That’s when she felt like she was touching a frozen chocolate bar. 

Her confusion caught Sooyoung’s attention and her eyes widened as she too placed a hand on her own stomach before saying the word “no” over and over. She rushed into Hyejoo’s bathroom and the no’s became louder reaching a fever pitch. 

It wasn’t long before stomps were heard, progressing in speed until Sooyoung was shaking Hyejoo and screaming at her to give her her abs back. 

“DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED FOR THEM?!”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?! PEEL THEM OFF LIKE VELCRO?!”

Sooyoung was shaking her until she dropped to the floor in a dramatic heap of defeat. 

“Tell me it’s a dream, it has to be a dream, no this is a nightmare,” she whimpered.

“I don’t think we’re waking up. Get a grip Sooyoung, let’s just…” she hated having to be the more mature one, “let’s just retrace our steps or something.”

Sooyoung sniffed, “well I was writing in my diary and listening to music,” sniff “and then I went downstairs and it was raining and I watched FNL with Mom,” another sniff, “and then I went to sleep.” Hyejoo did not need to know about how she’d cried. 

Hyejoo did note that Sooyoung had avoided bringing up their argument which is what Hyejoo had been sitting on all night but she wasn’t going to admit she was crying over it, Hyejoo doesn’t cry. 

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Sooyoung sniffed again but picked herself up from the floor.

Hyejoo was retracing her steps and thinking about what was so different but her mind kept going back to the argument. 

“I’m just thinking, I could’ve looked up if this has ever happened to anyone before but SOMEONE broke my computer.”

Sooyoung wiped her nose on Hyejoo’s top, “that was your fault though.”

“YOUR phone went into it.”

“Because YOU tried grabbing it off me.”

“Maybe if you just let me have computer time on my birthday!”

“You know I have the phone at 8–crap what time is it?!” 

“It’s 7.”

“UGH I don't have time to argue with you Hyejoo, I have 2 hours before my college campus tour we need to change back!” 

It had been an hour since the initial discovery, after a lot of poking and prodding of each other’s faces, Sooyoung was taking deep breaths as instructed by Hyejoo who told her the school counselor was always telling her to breathe. 

“Okay,” Sooyoung said, taking a big gulp of air, “we didn’t try hitting each other really hard, maybe if we do that, our souls will just jump back where they belong like a magnet.”

“Alright, alright. We should get a running start, I’ll go to the door and you stay here and I’ll try running into you.”

“Why do you get to start? I want to go first. I'm the oldest.”

“I’m already stood up!” said Hyejoo in the body of Sooyoung. It was weird to argue with yourself. 

“It was my idea I’m running into you.”

“Ugh, what if we just both run at the same time.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Sooyoung took another deep breath. 

Hyejoo or was it technically Sooyoung as the body was doing the motion, moved from Sooyoung’s room to the doorway of Hyejoo’s.

“Okay, we’ll do a countdown, after 3.”

“Okay.”

“3—”

“1—”

“WHY ARE YOU COUNTING THAT WAY?!” they said in unison

“I said after 3!” yelled Sooyoung in Hyejoo’s voice.

“Yeah, so 1, 2, 3,” Hyejoo counted on Sooyoung’s fingers, “after 3!”

“No, it’s after the three numbers are done so it’s a countdown.”

“But you said after 3, which implies after three is the last number!”

“No, it’s like in movies where they do a countdown before anything starts.”

“Well in music they count in.”

“Okay well NASA counts down.” 

“What do they do in Cheer, Sooyoung, pretty sure it’s also a count-in.”

“What does Windows do when you shut it down, Hyejoo, pretty sure it gives you a countdown.”

“How do you know that?” her eyes narrowed.

“That’s not important,” Sooyoung waved her hand, “run into me right now.”

“As you wish your majesty.”

The irresistible force paradox, also called the unstoppable force paradox or shield and spear paradox, is a classic paradox formulated as

"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”

The answer, in this case, is a sore head, a stubbed toe, and two bruised egos.

Hyejoo wished Sooyoung had just asked her to slap her instead. 

Sooyoung wishes she’d fallen down the stairs and woken up to this just being a bad dream. 

“Look,” Hyejoo said calmly after a long silence, “detention is in 1 hour and so is your tour right? We tried switching, but whatever this is needs a different solution but we don’t have time. So we can just call in sick to the tour and only do detention.”

“I can't not go?! Do you understand this is one of the most important days of my life?!”

“Well I can't miss detention again, Sooyoung! I’m already on my last warning.”

“How are you even that bad at school?”

“I just—don’t worry about it but I have to go,” Hyejoo shrugged and found her right shoulder was much stiffer. 

“Fine. God. You going instead of me this is totally wack.” Sooyoung slumped down onto the floor again, burying her head in her arms.

Hyejoo couldn’t exactly agree as she had once again managed to evade detention, she could even just say she went on the tour and not even go.

“Don’t you even think about skiving off the tour Hyejoo,” Sooyoung looked up as if she could read her sister’s thoughts, “this has been booked for MONTHS. MONTHS!” There are only three eligible candidates for Eden and I am one of them and don’t you dare think for a second that you’re going to screw this up for me.” 

“Sheesh okay, I guess it’s only fair since you’re getting a detention.”

The girls disappeared into their new respective bedrooms.

Sooyoung was looking at her old nemesis, the closet, in horror wondering how she was going to piece together something. 

Similarly, Hyejoo was looking at the copious amounts of bottles, powders and brushes, wondering how she was going to do anything to her face. 

Eventually, they pieced together what they could and emerged similarly at the opposite doors.

“Hyejoo, what have you done to my FACE?!” it was just as she had feared Hyejoo would’ve done to her at the mall.

“What have you done to my shirt?! Why is it CROPPED?!”

“Isn't it cute? I thought I’d spice it up a bit. Please I need to fix your face, my face?” Sooyoung walked over to her actual room shoving the hot topic nightmare Hyejoo into the bathroom for an unscheduled make-up masterclass. 

“What did you even do to get detention?” Sooyoung asked, finishing the end of the much more subtle eyeliner.

“I don’t even know anymore, I open my mouth I get detention, I close my mouth I get detention, I go to school I get detention, I don’t go to school I get detention. It’s just a never-ending cycle of detention,” Hyejoo rolled her eyes.

“Don’t move. I’ve never had a detention in my life,” Sooyoung stated, her mouth staying open as she applied mascara to her own face, doing make up this way was a lot easier.

“Well isn't this great, we’re both going out and getting new experiences. Isn't that the type of crap you like Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung slammed down the mascara wand, “NOT DETENTION! NOT MISSING OUT ON ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

Hyejoo was expecting another explosion, in all honesty, she was surprised it hadn’t come sooner. Sooyoung was definitely getting the short end of the stick.

“Calm down. So dramatic. Look, I’m in the same whatever body messed up thing this is as you right? So let’s just get through the day, that's all we can do.”

Sooyoung sniffed, which Hyejoo knew meant she agreed but was too proud to say so. Afterall as the eldest, shouldn’t she have been saying those words?

“Fine. I’ll just go and not say anything. That’s what you usually do in detention right?” Sooyoung picked up the wand and capped it, 

“Depends on the day, sometimes I’ll get into it with Kibbers and sometimes I will be silent. Can't be predictable.”

“Consistency isn’t exactly something you’re known for,” Sooyoung was now applying foundation with a big fluffy brush.

“And the only thing you’re consistent with is being a pain in the a—”

“Enough. Focus, Hyejoo,” She held the brush like a knife.

Of course, she wouldn’t turn down a chance to look like the more mature one again. Hyejoo had won some points so the natural order was for Sooyoung to even the score.

“Kibbers runs detention?”

“Oh, you remember him?”

“Does one forget someone as... theatrical ...as him?” She waved the brush in the air, “He once sat us all down while he wrapped a silk 6ft scarf around his body to do some interpretive dance and then at the end was like “sometimes we truly find ourselves by acting not as ourselves.”

There was a pregnant pause between the two before Hyejoo spoke. 

“Yeah, he’s always saying crap like that.” 

“I am so glad I stayed away from theater. Too many freaks,” she moved on to concealer and was dabbing it lightly with her ring finger.

“I can actually agree with you there.”

They made eye contact before Hyejoo continued, so let me make sure I’ve got your requirements, “No talking to strangers about anything other than syllabus and campus,” she counted on her index finger, “no talking in general if you can help it,” she counted on her middle finger and looked at Sooyoung for confirmation and found her sister holding out a lipgloss, “and no straying from the tour.” 

“That’s most of it I suppose, just, you have to think like me. Please. Please. Please. Don’t pull any of your weird satanic crap, Hyejoo. I’m begging, please just be normal.” 

Normal . 

Sucking in her instant recoil from the word she decided that sure, she’ll be Sooyoung. She’ll play the part better than Sooyoung herself. 

“Sure Sooyoungie,” she says in her perfected airhead voice, “I like totally can be you. Oh my god! What are you wearing today?!” She tugs at the sleeve of Sooyoung’s (but her own) shirt, “this is so tragic, I’m like totally gonna hurl,” she applied the lipgloss loudly.

Sooyoung slaps her leg, “shut up. I totally do not sound like that.”

Hyejoo mocked dialing a phone number on her hand and pulled up the receiver to her ear, speaking into her pinky finger, “Oh my god, babe? You will never believe what happened today… That quiet girl, Mina, was wearing the same top as me today, it was HUMILIATING —”

“I think I’m sooooooo much better than this dumb school and these lipglossed posers,” Sooyoung began in her carbon copy Hyejoo tone, “You know maybe I won’t wash my hair for a week and only talk in grunts. Oh, what’s my grade card look like? Maybe if I could read I would tell you!”

“My grade card is all A’s because I cheat on my tests and have no dignity about asking teachers for extra credit in private and I’ll make them do whatever I want because I make everyone do what I want!”

Hyejoo discovered what her face looked like when it was shocked.

“How do you...who told you that?”

“Please. You think your phone voice is quiet…”

“I, uhm.”

Hyejoo loved leaving Sooyoung at a loss for words. It was her victory today and she would take it graciously. 

“It’s fine, Sooyoung. Just be careful about what you say, you have much further to fall than I do.”

Sooyoung swallowed. She couldn’t deny the truth.

“Okay. Fine. I’ll stop. Let me finish your makeup and uh Hyejoo. I need to call Jinsoul before we go.”

*

“So when you said you need to call Jinsoul, what you meant was I need to call her because I have your voice now,” the phone was in Hyejoo’s lap. 

Sooyoung flipped head hair or rather Hyejoo’s  hair, “Well you did say I’m not quiet on the phone, it’s time for your acting debut I guess.”

Hyejoo stared at the see-through phone responsible for the demise of her one escape. She could have her revenge right now, she could break this phone and then Sooyoung would know how it feels. Maybe that would break the curse. She looked at her older sister who was opposite her on the bed, her legs were crossed and she was drumming her fingers on her thigh. She was nervous, Hyejoo didn’t really have the heart to suggest breaking the phone right now nor was she filled with the anger that usually came when they fought. She let her dial the number.

“ What do you mean you can’t watch me play today?!” 

“I’m sorry…” Sooyoung nudged her to say the word, just like they had practised before picking up the phone, “...b-b--”

“You always come and watch me practise, it's our thing baby. Don’t you love me anymore?”

Sooyoung glared at Hyejoo and mouthed “of course I do.”

“Of course I do. You know it’s that I have this college thing today and—”

“What college thing? You didn’t tell me about a college thing.”

God even Hyejoo knew about the college thing, Sooyoung never shut up about it. She looked at Sooyoung, somewhat crestfallen, and inhaled deeply.

“It's a campus tour for the college I want to go to, Eden college. I’m looking to get a scholarship and you know only three people from our year have been accepted so its a big deal,” Hyejoo parroted the information she heard Sooyoung say a million times, Sooyoung was looking at her like she couldn’t believe Hyejoo recalled any details, she wasn’t stupid, she just didn’t care.

“Oh well, you should let me know sooner next time?”

“Sure.”

“Okay baby, you hang up now.”

So Hyejoo did.

“What did you do that for! We say “no you hang up” six times each, Hyejoo. What the hell!” 

“I’m never gonna do that.”

“Ugh, you have to pretend to be me, if you start doing stuff that I wouldn’t do it’s suspicious!”

“I have limits, Sooyoung.”

“Kibbers would not be proud,” Sooyoung tuts. 

“Ah shut it.” 

***

“Ha, Sooyoung?”

Hyejoo’s brain took a moment and she tugged the sleeves of the sweater she’d tied around her middle (Sooyoung only owned cropped tees), “oh me?”

“Oh, you know what this means?”

Hyejoo tilted her head, had she already been found out?!

“Uh—”

“We are...TWINS!!” 

Before she knew it the campus tour guide had wrapped her firmly into a hug, the type that looks like an octopus about to devour a frozen fish stick. 

After what felt like an eternity of compression and something very sweet-smelling, Hyejoo was released from the shockingly muscular arms and found her feet planted back on the ground. 

She questioned if twins really would have the same name because it didn’t seem practical from a parental point of view. 

“Hmm, I guess you having two Sooyoung’s might be confusing, so you can call me Joy, everyone calls me that anyway because well you know,” she humbly pointed to her smile and Hyejoo noticed the cross around her neck thought maybe that wasn’t really why people called her that. 

Joy, seemingly aware of her gaze and her silence continued,  “Joy, like the good song, Joy to the World, praise Jesus!”

Joy clapped her hands together so hard it echoed through the courtyard. 

“Now let’s begin our grand tour!” 

“Hey, Sooyoung!” A voice said near her ear and she whirled around to see a taller girl with glasses scratching the back of her head shyly.

Rule 2: Don’t talk to strangers  

“Uh...Hey?” Hyejoo had never seen this girl before, not in any of Sooyoung’s polaroids. 

“Yoohyeon!” the girl thankfully supplied. “Haha. Uhm it’s okay, we barely talk at school, you know I’m in some of those AP Science classes, you know haha. Oh and like English, I sit like 2 rows in front of you, I think actually we went to the same elementary and middle school…”

Panic was beginning to tingle in Hyejoo’s limbs. What would Sooyoung say to this girl?

“Oh uhm ew AP classes, right?”

“Haha oh yeah tell me about it, like man why do we have to do it! I just want to be a simple brain surgeon, you know?” Yoohyeon hit her arm playfully, Hyejoo looked at the point of contact and Yoohyeon quickly shuffled to put some space between them.

Hyejoo was reminded that Sooyoung has status. 

“So are we the only ones from school here?”

“Oh yes, I think so! I think only Haseul qualifies for here in our year actually other than us, but it doesn’t look like she’s here. So if you wanted to stick together? haha. If that’s okay with you, of course, Sooyoung, I would hate to intrude!”

Was Yoohyeon intimidated by her sister? Had her sister gone out of her way to make this kid feel excluded?

“It’s fine Yoohyeon, we can get to know each other better right?”

“Oh!” Yoohyeon pushed up thick-framed spectacles, “yes I’d love that!” 

*

Sooyoung was mortified, never in her life had she ever been in detention. Her brain had run through thousands of outcomes, what did they even do? Would there only be the kids with knives? Was she safe? Was she going to be laughed at?

It turns out it was worse than all the possibilities she had thought of, it was boring. It was boring and everyone there was a nutcase. Of course Hyejoo would be found in a place like this.

She looked around the room to see one of the detainees, Nakko, biting the corner of her desk. A boy, Felix, who just stared at the back of another boy called Eric’s head and giggled to himself. Two girls were chatting about something, Nancy, who was painting her nails and Somi, who was painting on a knock-off Louis Vuitton bag. 

“I don’t know why you insist on talking, you know how this works, we’ve been here enough times. Head down. Get on with your work—” Mr Kibum Kim, affectionately dubbed Kibbers, adorned in his usual designer black turtleneck, turned around to see, much to his surprise that the regular detention attendee, had her head down and was getting on with her work.

“Hmmm. Suspicious,” his eyes narrowed. 

It must have been unsettling for the man, sometimes he would cut some slack to Hyejoo and they would end up sitting talking about various life philosophies purely out of boredom and other times he would pry and be met with an emotional stonewall. In a way there was an almost comfortable air between them where he would just expect Hyejoo to behave one of the two ways. But today she was completing homework. This new character development was puzzling. As a man of the theater, he immediately started scribbling down all the potential reasonings for this specific character (in this play he was writing, who in no way resemble any of his students... purely fictional), to change their actions. 

Nancy and Somi continued their conversation, Nancy popping gum in between each sentence and Somi giving her exaggerated eye rolls at everything the boy Nancy was talking about did. The percussion of Nakko’s teeth hitting wood and the faint bassline sneaking out of Ryujin’s headphones created a cacophony of noise that was making it hard to focus. 

“Hyejoo, once again I’m asking you to not talk. I have a lot of work to do!” his hands highlighting his notebook with a dramatic open-palmed shove to the air.

Sooyoung looked up from the homework she had unfolded, that Hyejoo had not even started, and furrowed her brows, she hadn’t said a word. 

“Uh sorry Mr Kibum, that wasn’t me?” it was definitely Nancy.

“And I’m Beth Buckley playing Grizabella in the broadway version of Cats!, although,” he paused, swooping his short bangs to the side, “I would pull off that wig better…and I do look good in nylon,” he finished by putting a hand under his chin and looked wistfully into the distance.

Sooyoung blinked, turned her head to look at Nancy who shrugged and then Somi who grimaced back at her before continuing to paint the knock off Louis Vuitton bag, was that a ‘my little pony’ painting? The process made Sooyoung shudder so put her head down again to continue with the algebraic formulas in front of her. Sooyoung was used to Kibbers’s sass, she was not however used to being on the receiving end.

*

“So as you can see to your left, yes this is a famous set of stairs, some white man did something here once. Wait, wait a minute…” 

Joy turned around and fished for something in her jacket pocket, emptied whatever contents in her mouth, exhaled loudly. She probably didn’t want to be rude and chug coffee in front of the whole group or something, Hyejoo figured. Joy smacked her lips together and turned around full of energy once again. She really must like coffee. 

“Where was I? Ah! Steve Jobs himself, once stood on this very step! And now he is a CEO.”

“Yeah but he’s not Bill Gates,” Yoohyeon chuckled to Hyejoo, who actually understood the difference and thought of her smashed monitor at home. How she could’ve been spending her night on Warcraft, talking to Yerim, talking to—

“Ladies, keep up! Especially you, twin! I don’t want you missing a thing!” Joy had grabbed Hyejoo’s arm and was leading her at the front, she looked back at Yoohyeon for reassurance and found the girl trotting to keep pace. She certainly didn’t smell like coffee.

It hadn’t occurred to her until she pictured the monitor in her mind and the batwing she’d used to hide it from her Mom, that maybe the introduction of a magical object might have been a catalyst to whatever the hell had happened to her and Sooyoung. 

Joy had led them up the stairs to accommodation and they were walking past the open doors until they reached a closed one.

The batwing might be the key to switching them back, but she would have to work it all out before telling Sooyoung, Sooyoung couldn’t keep a cool head in these situations.

Joy did not bother to knock rather she twisted a hand forcefully on the doorknob. The door opened to a haze of smoke, a smell Hyejoo didn’t recognise and two girls sat on the floor listening to what she instantly recognized as Zombie by The Cranberries. 

“Heyyy Joy, for the last time I have a pet skunk, she gets nervous when you just barge in like that.”

Joy’s smile almost faltered but she soon remembered her place, “yeah, you know there’s no “ pets” allowed on campus and I also am not dumb, Siyeon.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t!” the girl called Siyeon grinned before looking at the rest of the crowd, “fresh meat!” she nudged a girl next to her with black hair who was staring intently at the wall, snapping her to attention, eyes wide. 

“Oh, people. Wow,” the wall girl said blankly and moved her eyes in what appeared to be slow motion. 

“You’re just in time actually, Joy, me and Momo were gonna mess around with a ouija board, if any of you wanna join?”

“Excuse me, I am a good Christian girl, Siyeon.”

“Oh, even better we can get sacrilicious in here.”

“SacriLEGious. Much like the satan's lettuce I know you have in here!”

“And that’s communion wine in your pocket.”

“MOVING ON TO THE NEXT PART OF OUR TOUR!” Joy bellowed and swiftly turned heel to continue the walk down the hallway.

Hyejoo was still looking into the room when she felt Yoohyeon tug on her sleeve, “you coming?”

“No, no I want to see this ouija board.”

“Well pull up a pew, ms?” the girl called Siyeon asked while tying her half blue half black hair into a ponytail.

“Hye-Sooyoung!” Hyejoo faltered.

“Hey yourself?!” Siyeon laughed, confused, Hyejoo thought she’d never seen anyone cooler in real life.

“I’m Yoohyeon,” Yoohyeon waved meekly and looked around the cloudy room, where Hyejoo was already plopping herself down to help form a circle. “Sooyoung, don’t you think we should keep up with the rest of the tour?”

Rule 3: Don’t stray from the tour

“Nah, it’s fine, this is probably more interesting anyway, close the door, Yoohyeon.”

Yoohyeon nodded and joined them on the floor after closing the door.

Momo was looking at the wall again.

“So that tour was kinda lame right?” Siyeon smirked and leaned back on her hands.

“Oh totally, it's my first tour and I hope it’ll be my last,” Hyejoo said, trying to play it cool.

“Sooyoung, don’t be silly, it’s been your dream to come here since forever,” Yoohyeon chuckled and Hyejoo gave her a death glare.

“Your dream? To come to Eden?” Siyeon questioned, she had something that resembled a cigarette in her mouth but it smelled like the rest of the room when she blew out the smoke. “Well it's not too bad, they just sell you the dream of it being everything you could ever want and moulding your mind into being a leader of the future but at the end of the day it's still part of the establishment man.”

“Some of the country's brightest minds have been to this school, Siyeon,” Yoohyeon said.

“And I’m not doubting that but at the end of the day—” she passed the weird cigarette to Momo who took it reflexively, still gazing at her wall, “--you gotta make sure you don’t get caught in the rat race man. Sooyoung here doesn’t exactly seem like she’s into that life.”

Momo took a few hits and held it out to Yoohyeon, “uh what is this?”

“That's just some relaxing herbs medicine stuff we take, when you come to college, there's a lot of expectation right, lots of work, sometimes you just need this stuff to blow off some steam,” Siyeon waved a hand.

“Oh okay!” Yoohyeon sucked in the smoke and instantly coughed her lungs out. 

“Oh shit, I should've warned you, sorry Yoohyeon.” Siyeon was on her feet and hopped over the middle of the circle to pat Yoohyeon’s back, “you’ll be okay, you won’t die.”

“I’m gonna die,” she coughed out.

“No no it's good, hey Sooyoung throw me a bottle from the side.”

Hyejoo looked at the counter where she saw a water bottle on top of a copy of ‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath and next to a long glass tube, she’d seen ones like that in the Occult store.

Yoohyeon drank from the bottle and the coughing subsided, she looked around the room at everyone and announced “That’s weed,” before throwing herself into a hysterical fit of giggles.

Hyejoo looked at Siyeon, who was bemused, and turned to her to say “she’s just had one hit.”

Hyejoo herself was starting to feel a little different after inhaling the smoke in the atmosphere but refused a hit, this was Sooyoung’s body and she figured that was something Sooyoung might actually kill her for. Even if she hadn’t specifically stated it in the rules.

Siyeon, eyes half-lidded placed a glass cup on the ouija board, “okay no more games, now we will get serious,” the lights flickered to give her words dramatic emphasis, one could argue it was spirits but more than likely it was the cheap wiring done by the dean’s cousin for 30% off his usual, back alley pricing.

“Everyone put a finger on the glass.” 

Momo was suddenly alert and though still silent, her finger slapped on the glass much faster than the rest of them. Once they were all touching the glass Siyeon inhaled heavily, closed her eyes and everyone followed. 

“Okay…I have no idea what we do now,” she confessed with her eyes closed.

“I read you’re supposed to think of a question you would like the answer to and then we will call on the spirits,” Hyejoo provided, peaking an eye open.

“Oh yes, right.”

“And then we address the spirits to ask if any are present,” Hyejoo finished.

“Word, okay.” 

They all closed their eyes again.

Silence.

“So were you going to ask them, Siyeon?” Yoohyeon asked, eyes still closed.

“Oh no, I was waiting on Sooyoung.” 

“Oh sorry I didn’t get that, you want me to lead the seance?” Hyejoo asked with her one eye looking at Siyeon.

“Yes, I think you should lead the seance?”

“Okay then I will lead the seance,” Hyejoo nodded, closed her eyes and proceeded to clear her throat, “Spirits.”

“Wait, I’m not comfy,” Hyejoo peaked again to see Yoohyeon shuffle and readjust, “okay, sorry continue, Sooyoung.”

Hyejoo inhaled, “Spirits.”

“Momo you have to close your eyes!” Siyeon interrupted.

“How did you know her eyes were open if yours were closed?” Yoohyeon asked.

“My eyes were closed, I could just sense her staring at me.”

“Okay well Momo close your eyes too,” Hyejoo said, beginning to let her patience wear thin.

“Spirits.” 

This time the rest of the group was silent.

“If you are here, please let us know.”

To her surprise, the glass actually began to move. 

“Quick quick spell it out!” Yoohyeon yelled.

“‘B’, okay the first letter is ‘B’!” Hyejoo could barely contain her excitement.

The glass moved to the next letter, “‘O’ maybe it’s someone called Bob?” Yoohyeon declared.

“Okay, next letter is..’O’ again?”

“Are they saying boo because they’re a ghost?”

“No, wait it’s moving again! It’s moving! Its…”

Siyeon threw herself backwards cackling.

“Siyeon. Why did you make it go to ‘B’ again.”

She wiped a tear, “I swear dude it was not me! This ghost just has a thing for… b-b-boobs” she sputtered out, letting the laughter take over.

“Grow up Siyeon, aren't you in college?!” Yoohyeon protested, clearly biting back a smile.

“It wasn’t me!!” 

“It was me,” a quiet voice said and they all turned to Momo who was smiling sinisterly at the board. 

“That’s hilarious, who invited Momo, man?” Siyeon slapped the other girl on the back and her grin deepened, “sorry guys, no more messing around, sorry, let’s see if anything here.”

If you didn’t already piss it off too much. 

Hyejoo began her spirit speech again.

This time the glass spelled out a name and Hyejoo let herself dare to think of the question, how will me and Sooyoung switch back?

“Oh man, there's actually something here! How about we all ask it a question?!” Siyeon said excitedly. 

“I would like to ask if there's a god, for science,” Yoohyeon nodded.

“I wanna know if there is a god why he doesn’t do anything to stop wars and disease.” Siyeon followed.

“I want to know if there's a hell,” Momo said quietly.

They all turned to Hyejoo to garner a question, she wasn’t sure if she could really tell them.

“Well I guess, I want to know if something happened, could you undo it?”

“What like change the past?”

“Uh sort of, more like, if something happened out of your control, could you make it right again?”

“I don't see why you need to ask a ghost for that Sooyoung. Of course, you can try your best to make things right, that's part of the human experience.” Siyeon clapped a hand on Hyejoo’s shoulder to reassure her. She felt Yoohyeon’s eyes on her and she hoped she hadn’t created a situation that would bite her in the butt later on.

*

The girl called Ryujin was sat next to her with headphones on, game face, bopping her head furiously to the Real Slim Shady by Eminem. Sooyoung knew this because the volume was certain to give her long term hearing loss. Jinsoul’s cousin and teammate, Wooyoung would continuously rap over the LP, badly.

She wondered what Jinsoul was up to right now, whether she could have their scheduled call together tonight, hoping she wouldn’t have to let her down. Her thoughts began to creep again to how the hell she was going to get out of Hyejoo’s body, but she shoved it away. If Sooyoung was good at anything it was remaining focused on the task at hand. Surely she would just fall asleep later and wake up to Saturday in her own body. This was a cruel nightmare, she was under so much stress it made sense right? She had to start meditation or something, she would have to fit it into her schedule of course. 

She stared a little too long at Ryujin who felt the gaze and turned, still bobbing her head. Sooyoung jutted her chin out to show acknowledgment and that seemed to resonate with Ryujin who turned back, still bopping.

The thing with detention is now that Sooyoung had completed all of Hyejoo's outstanding homework, she was left with nothing to do. A rare case for Sooyoung much so she started bouncing her leg and looking around the room.

“Hyejoo with that much energy perhaps you should be performing something,” Kibbers chided.

Of course, he didn’t know Sooyoung’s whole life was a performance. As for Hyejoo, she just walked out of the theatre. 

“Sir, can you give me something else to do? I’ve finished my homework.”

She needed the distraction. Being in a room with Ryujins headphones, the sound of Nakko’s teeth against the wooden desk and the clock ticking was not doing her mind any favors. 

“Now what game are we playing? I’ll believe you when Andrew Lloyd Webber admits phantom is based on himself.” 

“No really I’m done I need something else to do we still have 4 hours.”

“Well, Hyejoo. Your mind really does fascinate me but I’ll bite,” his eyes cast themselves upon Nakko and he shook his head before looking back at Sooyoung. “You’re offering to do something extra? You, who is constantly in detention for not showing up for classes and not doing homework. You want something else to do because you’ve finished your homework?”

“That’s exactly it.”

“Interesting,” he opened his notebook again and began furiously scribbling away. 

“You know Hyejoo, I’m doing a play outside of school, maybe you can run lines with me.”

“Why not?” After all, it's not like she was sacrificing any social status.

Kibum walked over to her, placing a tattered copy of ‘Twelfth Night’ into her hands, “Act 2 Scene 2.”

“This is just a monologue?”

“Oh well I’ll be damned, you will actually have to talk at an appropriate time for once.”

Sooyoung ignored the sleight, after all, it was aimed at Hyejoo, not herself. She remembered this play, it was about two siblings losing each other in a shipwreck and one of them posing as a man and being sent to profess his master's love to a woman but then they end up in a love quadrant of sorts. Messy and lots of miscommunication down to the fact that the main woman, Viola was not who she claimed to be.

She began Viola’s monologue in which she realises that the lady she was sent to to tell of her master’s love had actually fallen for her. She was reaching the middle of it and found she seemed to understand Viola’s struggle, it’s hard to pretend to be someone else.

“Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness—”

“Cut.” Kibum interrupted, the words hitting for some reason, “that wasn’t bad at all Hyejoo, I’ve decided it. You can scrub away your next month’s worth of detention if you act in the talent show.”

“Uh...I’m sorry? What?!” 

“Oh don’t be so modest, that was above expectation, you got into character.”

“No, Mr Kim, Please,” Sooyoung could not act in a talent show, there was no way she would be a drama freak. 

“Hyejoo, a month’s worth of detention gone just like that,” he clicked his fingers.

Hyejoo.... Of course. They would’ve switched back by the end of the week, it wouldn’t be her even performing, it would be Hyejoo. Surely Hyejoo would want her Saturdays back, right? There was no harm in saying yes.

“Okay Mr Kim, what am I performing?”

“Oh, that's entirely up to you.”

*

Hyejoo did not like the feel of the chair she was sitting on in the communal area, much less did she like the way the RA was popping her gum and with her hands on her hips, Joy looking smug next to her.

“I’ve gathered information that some people are being really disrespectful in these dorms.”

This was it, Hyejoo was going to get Sooyoung kicked out before she even enrolled. They must know about the pet skunk. She never meant to push it this far and get Sooyoung kicked out, she just wanted some fun, how often is it a fourteen year old was let loose on a college campus. Sooyoung was going to kill her, she was going to stuff her pom-poms down Hyejoo’s throat and choke her out. 

“Look, if you’re using ouija boards on campus.” 

Oh god, the ouija board. Were they prohibited? How could she explain this to Sooyoung?

“you have to make sure you’re closing the demon portals. Every. Time.”

“Are you kidding me Jennie, you got all of us out here to talk about demons?”

“Can it Zuho, this is a serious problem.”

“I can’t believe this.”

The relief that filled Hyejoo made her almost forget all about the pet skunk.

“Look, before we devolve into arguments about who’s done it—” Joy’s face fell, “I just want y’all to be conscientious toward each other. This is a haunted college.”

“Jennie, I will volunteer to sage the dorms,” Siyeon piped up.

Joy’s eyes squinted before she turned around again to have some of her secret communion wine.

“Jennie, if we see a ghost who do we call?” asked Yoohyeon.

“Who even are you? I don’t even know who you are, do you go here?”

“I will purge the world of ghosts,” Momo said and the entirety of the room turned to look at her and she just stared at the wall and giggled.

“Okay you heard her, Momo is your girl. Anymore questions?”

“Yes, will the perpetrators be punished?” Joy asked, turning to Jennie.

“I don’t think there's a need for that, we are working together to be the future so we all need to learn to live together.”

Joy rolled her eyes and skulked out of the door, “tour follow me,” she said dejectedly.

Hyejoo waved to Siyeon and Momo, Siyeon telling her they’ll hang out when she enrolls. “Imagine if I was still in this body by then” Hyejoo laughed to herself before dread started to creep its way into her bones. 

She walked into the hallway and felt a tug on her sleeve and looked up to see Yoohyeon, eyes full of concern. 

“So what you said back there earlier, you don’t have to tell me of course but like, you’re not uh cheating on Jinsoul are you?”

“What?!” How did she even come to that conclusion?

“Oh sorry I know it’s totally not my place but like you know if you needed someone to talk to. I know we aren’t that close or anything but you seem like you have a lot of worries deep down. That’s not the impression you give off at school.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well at school everyone thinks you’re perfect.”

Hyejoo knew better than anyone that Sooyoung was definitely not. This is the same Sooyoung who frets incessantly about what people think of her, the same Sooyoung whose tongue is made of acid, the same Sooyoung that steps on anyone to get to the top.

“Oh, no everything's fine, thanks.” 

Rule 1: No talking to strangers about anything other than syllabus and campus.

After the little scare, she could at least try to do better the rest of the day.

*

She watched the clock tick to 1pm and detention was finally over. She had done it. She had made it, and her classmates hadn’t noticed a single thing wrong.

She swung Hyejoo’s backpack on one shoulder as she stood up. 

Ryujin gave her a courtesy nod as she left, still bobbing her head, the other girls ignored her and the table biter, Nakko, was shaking as she left the room. Detention had been an experience.

“Hyejoo!” Kibbers called as she was almost at the door.

Sooyoung turned around and gave her signature fake smile.

“God that's scary, don't ever do that again. Listen I need you to officially sign up on this sheet for the talent show.”

“Oh no problem.”

She slung the backpack off her shoulder, her pen had to be in here somewhere. Her hand felt around the bottom, the various pieces of trash, seriously why doesn’t Hyejoo ever clean this bag out. She started picking up the debris, a gum wrapper, broken pencil until her hand found a crumpled piece of paper, she pocketed it for later.

“Just use my pen, Hyejoo, I don’t want you to be here any longer.”

“Right,” she wrote, much too neatly, Hyejoo’s name before walking into the hallway.

Curiousity or rather nosiness got the better of Sooyoung as it does, her hands found themselves unraveling the paper she’d found in the bag. She smoothed it out on her thigh, looking at the black marker scrawled on the white:

‘I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER’