#the freshman boy is mixed Asian and as far as I can tell is the only Asian kid currently in this high school

[deathsmallcaps]

I need advice.

I’m a white intern working in a mostly white southern(ish) high school. Students of Color number at under 2%, perhaps even lower. It’s a very white, rural community - I grew up in a fairly mixed, suburban northern community, and part of my family is Black.

Several of my white students say rude things to my Students of Color. I’ve told them to knock it off *as appropriately as I can* but I’m probably one of the few adults that actively discourage that behavior.

I don’t want to let this shit fly under the radar, but I also know that if an adult of authority *who will only be here for a couple more weeks* interferes, and then doesn’t stick around, it could make things worse. Additionally, I know these kids are probably very very very used to this ‘system’ and that making a short-term change could be more harmful than helpful.

I asked one of my senior students after a very racist incident *where she was laughing along with the perpetrator but I told him to stop anyway* that I can move him, or her, so she could be more comfortable (admin either does nothing or slaps wrists, especially for seniors). She said it was fine and that he was always like that.

I must emphasize, I think they were bantering (they talk so much I think they consider each other friends?), but it was also wayyy fucking out of line, especially in a school setting. And the guy says so much out of line shit I’m surprised he isn’t rocking a full set of dentures to replace the teeth he ought to have lost by now.

Another student took me up on my offer to move people, but I ended up moving him, which sucks because he was the victim in this situation. Unfortunately, I have to keep his aggressors in their spots, as they are highly rowdy in all the ways and require a lot more supervision than he did. And the class is really full. These were also all freshmen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that affected the victim’s reaction.

So I’d really appreciate advice as to whether I should let it be, or continue as is, or step it up even more, from People of Color in largely white, especially rural, communities. Like any advice from current or previous educators, especially Educators of Color would be appreciated, but specifically southern/rural ones would be wonderful. I’m going to talk to my family members about it, but they’ve lived in more Northern settings their entire lives and they may have less … applicable (?) experience to the situation.

Again, I’m an intern, I’m going to only be there until winter break 2024, and I don’t want to fuck things up for these kids in the long run with my northern ally ‘sensibilities’. Thank you!

[peaches-of-1]

Chapter 3: Extracurricular Activities

Black!Female!Reader x E’Dawn

< Previous | Next >

Today was your first day going to dance practice after school. It was one of your lighter days, so it wouldn’t be too bad. It’s just...the outfits weren’t made for your American ass. Even though you had lost some weight after the drastic change in your diet that came with moving to a new country, there was still enough there that you were worried these Asian made shorts would rip trying to go over your hips.

Looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror, it wasn’t too bad. You ordered two sizes bigger than you thought you would need for your bloated days. You didn’t know it would be your regular pair.

“Not bad.” You said, taking one last look before heading to the school gym. Maybe you were being paranoid, but were those guys taking pictures of you?

[12 hours ago]

You wiped your eyes and woke up at 6am. After waking yourself up through a bit of web surfing on your phone, you nudged yourself out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for school. Hair, makeup, making sure you had done all your homework, and doing the homework you didn’t finish but was due in 4 hours. Just like the responsible college kid you were.

Lisa was playing music as she poured her cereal and danced in the kitchen. You decided to join her before applying anything to your lips. She was super excited to get the day started for some reason. You had another roommate that you never saw traces of except in the trash can.

“What’s got you excited today?”

“First day of Dance Practice!” She squealed.

You gasped, “Oh, right! I forgot that was today. It’s right after my English class since it got switched last second.”

“You’re so silly.” Lisa giggled and took a sip of juice. “Hey, how are you feeling? We all talked in the group chat, and he sort of got kicked out of said chat. Not like he was saying anything.”

“Uh, yeah. I saw. I just. Neither of us were completely right. I could’ve been faster with my decision or told him I needed time to think, but he also had the possibility to tell me that he was lying about actually waiting forever for me.”

“Wait he said that?”

You nodded. “Yep. He said he’d wait for my answer and respect it, but it’s my first month in a new country. I’ve got a lot of things going on, and couldn’t he wait? Just a little?”

“He should’ve, jeez. Some men just have no sense of patience or like anything really. I’m really sorry. I knew you had a bit of a crush on him, or that you were starting to get close with him.”

You sighed, “Thanks, Lisa. You’re the best. You wanna meet up before practice or will you be busy?”

“Yeah, sounds good. No wait, I’ve gotta go straight from a class to practice, so not today. I’ll see you there, though.”

With the added information, you reminded yourself to pack your dance clothes in a separate bag to keep in your car until it was time to change. You made sure you had everything on the check list and then you headed off for school ahead of Lisa.

Hyojong’s English class had been the most boring of all his classes. It was filled with people who either had no idea how to speak English past a greeting and apologizing and what was in music or people who thought they could speak English better than everyone. E’Dawn knew how to write English better than he could speak it and wasn’t very good at conversational English.

It wasn’t until he saw familiar brown combat boots and a red skirt did he actually think that it might be a good class after all. You sat down, not having seen him. If you had seen Hyojong, you would’ve sat next to him. Right? He saw you set your backpack down and approach the teacher.

You two bowed to each other and then exchanged a handshake. The following conversation was in English, and it caught the attention of the rest of the class who probably didn’t understand half of it. The way you spoke English was beautiful. Why were you even in this class?

Class began and the teacher spoke in a mix of Korean and English as she usually did. She introduced you and E’Dawn felt like he understood everything you were saying even if he had never head the words before.

“Hi, I’m (Y/F/N), and I’m a freshman this year. I’m here to do some research on how English is taught in college classes as it is part of my writing class to write a research paper on a topic of my choice for my final project.”

Hyojong waved and you waved back which made him really happy. People looked and you grinned before finishing up. “I will probably be interviewing some of you, but don’t worry, I know Korean too.” You repeated it all in Korean and got more nods from everyone listening.

The teacher spoke as well, “(Y/N) is here to observe and said that she’s willing to help you if you have any questions for her, but only after you’ve finished your daily work. Thank you, (Y/N).”

You bowed to the teacher and sat down in a front row seat in the farthest right column. You took out your notebook and started taking notes about today’s lesson. When the teacher told the students to get into small groups to practice with each other, a lot of them tried to come to you, but the teacher told everyone to stop before you got trampled.

“Form groups with your actual classmates. (Y/N) will come around and look into each group for a bit and do her thing.”

The group practiced ordering food at a restaurant. Those who were more well traveled were able to do it better. Hyojong was trying even harder now that you were in class. He noticed you go around and sit in on different groups and ask them questions in both Korean and English. Some even asked you to question them in English so they could guess.

When you got to Hyojong’s group, you bowed to them since they were all older than you.

You spoke in Korean, “So, I was wondering what made you take this class in the first place.”

Most of them were business related and wanting to better communicate with future business partners. Others like Hyojong were planning to go abroad some time in the future and believed communication would be easier since English is a universal language.

“How are you today, (Y/N)?” Hyojong asked in English with a unique inflection that made you smile.

You answered, “I’m doing well, oppa. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Is this actually right? What we’re being taught?”

You looked over his shoulder in the textbook and scanned it, not seeing anything wrong until...

You leaned down over the book and made sure you read that right. You did, and you were all adults. You had to explain this.

“Yeah, so far so good. Only, you wouldn’t um...you wouldn’t say ‘Who do you usually eat out?’ unless you add the word ‘with’ at the end. Without that word, it changes the connotation completely.”

One boy in the senior colors asked why, as did the whole table. You explained how it was slang for giving oral to a female or a butthole. They all covered their mouths and you nodded.

“I should probably tell the teacher this, so she can tell everyone else. That’s a really bad mistake to make. Hyojong-oppa, can I see your book for a bit, please?”

He handed you the book, and you approached the teacher asking to see her in the hallway. After a moment, the two of you returned and Hyojong couldn’t believe their textbook had such a mistake in it. The teacher addressed the class telling them to fix it in their books and praised you for being such a great asset to the class.

You returned the book to E’dawn who couldn’t help but smile at you, “Be careful, or she might assign you to read through the whole book and point out what needs to be fixed.”

The others laughed and one of the girls who were with them asked how to say a certain word. You pronounced the word for them slowly and then were called to the front of the class to have volunteers to "make plans for lunch” with you. When class was over, Hyojong asked if you had anything to do before changing for dance practice.

“Ah, no. I just wanted to ask the teacher a few things.”

“Ok, I’ll wait for you outside, so you can walk me to my next class.”

You smiled and felt a slight blush rising, “Sure. Sounds good.”

E’dawn stood outside the classroom and waited for you as you asked the teacher whatever. He wanted to tell you that he had a crush on you, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. The reason he hesitated was because you were just so beautiful and he wasn’t sure if you were completely over...whatever you and Vernon had been.

He didn’t want to do anything too rash in case it caused you to turn him down, so the blonde decided to wait. His mind wandered to what your first date might be like. Should he take you to Hongdae or someplace classier? If it were in Hongdae, he’d pick someplace that served American food to make you feel at home. It would start raining and he’d hold your hand as you took cover. You’d thank him and kiss him for thinking so quickly.

“Um, oppa?” Your actually voice and a poke to his tummy made him wake up.

He woke up from his imagination to see your sweet face in front of him with a curious spark in your eyes. Your messenger bag strap was held by both of your hands as you raised your eyebrows and laughed.

“What were you thinking about?”

He blushed, “N-nothing. So, onto my next class.”

On the way to his next class, he told you how glad he was that you had made it onto both dance teams. You asked how he got into dance, and he said that he was into hip-hop.

“It lead to making want to learn how to rap and dance. Just the amount of pure talent in hip hop just inspired me to push myself in a different direction than I was going.”

“That’s amazing.”

He stopped, “This is me. I’ll see you after class then.”

You nodded and let him go, but you both turned around and told each other to wait. Instead of just talking over each other, he told you to speak first. You asked him a question you had been wondering about for a whole week. Even though you were pretty sure about the answer, you wanted to hear it come from his mouth.

Looking down and twisting your shoulder strap, you asked, “You’re not seeing anyone are you? Like, I know you’re not dating Hyuna, but is there anyone else?” You nervously bit your lip.

“Nope. I’m single. Have been for a while.” He sighed and gave you an obvious look before saying. “Wish I had someone though. Why?”

“No reason!” You bowed. “I’ll see you in practice later!” And you rushed off before your cheeks got any hotter.

So yeah, you were totally into Hyojong. He was opened to dating. It wasn’t until you were drinking some cold coffee in the cafe that you realized that would’ve been a great time to ask him to go out with you.

“Fuck!” you slammed your drink down and then looked around. After apologizing for interrupting, you went back to your studying and finished typing up your findings from your first day in Hyojong’s English class.

After looking at the time, you had an hour before practice. You went to your car to make sure you had everything since you had enough time to stop by at home if you didn’t. You had everything for both of your groups.

For the All-Female dance team, you had to wear red shorts and a blue crop top with white tennis shoes and socks. Your white socks were all dirty, so you decided fishnet socks would have to work today. The team was called S.H.E which stood for Soul Heart Excellence. You also had to have backup black heels, which you did.

Then for the Co-ed dace team, you were given snap pants in both blue and red and a blue jacket with “Spotlight Dancer” on the sleeves as well as your name on the back of it. Red and blue shirts were provided with the team name on the front. That name? Urban Shine to reference a former K-pop group called Urban Zakapa. The shoe requirements were the same: dress shoes and white lace ups.

You decided to change in the bathroom just because you knew there’d be staring in the changing rooms, and you just didn’t want that today. There were a few African names on the list. None of them were Spotlight dancers, though. Every way you thought about it ended up with you being stared at. Maybe it was all in your head, but by the time you convinced yourself of that, you were in a bathroom stall getting undressed.

Even though you ordered a few sizes above what you thought you would need since it was Asian sizing...maybe you should’ve gotten even bigger. You just prayed that your ass wasn’t hanging out of the shorts when you were stepping out. You put on the ones you ordered for your bloated days and decided they’d work better for your regular pair. At least the top fit well.

You crossed your fingers and hoped that you wouldn’t look like the stereotypical black girl in the back of music videos when you came out of the stall. Looking at the mirror, you looked more normal than you thought you would.

“Not bad.” You said, putting your clothes into your practice bad and then heading to the school gym.

As you walked from the gaming hall to the gym that was about a block away, you felt like more eyes were on you than need be. You checked to make sure you didn’t have your Special jacket on. Then you thought you saw a pair of guys recording or taking pictures of you. Were you just being paranoid? Either way, your face got hot from embarrassment.

Hyojong saw you as he was dressed in his own outfit for the He Is Magic dance team, aka H.I.M. It was blue sweat pants and a red tank top with white lace-ups. For E’dawn, that was converse. A pair of Keds was in his bag as required as well as his co-ed dance team outfit. Today the guys were told to wear the blue snap pants with a white shirt. His red Spotlight Dancer jacket was in there as well.

He noticed that you seemed to be looking over your shoulder a lot. Were you uncomfortable? Either way, he didn’t like the look on your face and wanted to make you feel better. As he got closer, he heard some guys talking about you, no not you. They were talking about your body, objectifying you, as if you were only walking past them for their amusement.

Sometimes he had done this, but it was mostly just saying how pretty a girl was and then hoping he had a good day. Not this. This was disgusting, and he nearly grew horns when they got their phones out to start taking pictures of you. Hyojong started running and called your name.

Dear God, who’s calling my name now? You thought as you heard someone yelling for you. Wait, you knew that voice. Turning around, you felt relief wash over you when E’dawn came running towards you.

He put his arm around you, “Are you ok?”

“I just feel really exposed. Nothing’s hanging out, right?” You had to ask, and you trusted him to be honest with you.

E’dawn answered, “Nope. Everything fits fine. If it feels uncomfortable, do you wanna wear my jacket?”

You shook your head, “Just you being here is helping me a lot. Thanks, oppa.”

“You’re welcome. I’d do anything for you.”

As the two of you walked towards the gym, there were arrows pointing to the different practices for the sexes. You two kept talking about classes and stuff and didn’t notice you were walking to the girls’ practice until you were standing outside.

“Oh, I guess we’re here. You are an absolute life saver, oppa.”

“You make me so happy when you call me that. Just because no one says it as cute as you do. ‘Oppa~, you’re so great’” He imitated you with a high voice. “ ‘Oh my gosh, oppa! Oppa’s a lifesaver! Oppa, this isn’t phrased correctly, it means a naughty thing!’ So cute.”

Both of you laughed. Hyojong hugged you and said that he’d see you later. His closest friend Hui saw it since he was talking to Hyuna. All of the other girls saw it too.

“Hui, let’s go to practice! Don’t wanna be late, ya noob!”

The man with silver purplish hair and a bucket hat told Hyuna farewell and went to catch up with his other friend. Lisa and Rosé called you over and introduced you to some of the other girls they had met while doing warm ups. It was still 10 minutes until practice started officially, so it was fine to just mill around a bit.

You met Jisoo and Jennie who were just super adorable human beings.

“Are you two dating?” Jennie asked, pointing to the door.

“What? No. We’re friends.” You said, getting into a V-sit position and reaching towards your right foot. “I wouldn’t mind it, though. Hyojong’s a great guy.”

As you talked about your blonde and sweet oppa, Hyuna smiled and texted her friend. She told him to ask you out the next time you two were together and just to trust her when he asked why. He said there were no promises.

“Alright, my Sheros, let’s go around the room and introduce each other! I’ll start. My name is Kim Hyuna, call me Hyuna or just by my honorific since a lot of you are younger than me. I’m one of the co-captains, but I can’t be here all the time because I have cheerleading practice which is usually at the same time...”

She went on for a bit, introducing the other co-captain Korai Nonanes who was Japanese and very well recognized for being the leader even during her freshman year when their actual captain quit last second. Korai was the reason why they never got less than second place.

After getting to know everyone, you all went over the basic dance steps and did some trust exercises. Then it was time to disperse. A lot of the girls redid their makeup. Some were also in your co-ed dance team. You were wearing a lot of waterproof things since you knew it would be hot today, so you were fine after checking your eyeliner and lipstick.

When you changed into your second outfit, you unsnapped the pants to your lower thigh. You were humming the band tune to yourself when you heard Rosé giggle.

“Are you excited to see E’dawn again?”

You blinked and couldn’t help but smile, “I wasn’t even thinking about him until you said something.”

“And look how big your smile got!” Lisa cooed. “Ask him out, (Y/N)!”

Even Jisoo spoke up, “I think you two would be really cute with each other.”

Puffing your cheeks, you replied, “I’ll think about it.”

It had been two months, and you still had not asked him out. Hyojong hadn’t asked you out, either. Both of you were just extremely nervous and bashful to move the relationship you had past being best friends which you were at this point. The best of friends. You two were even partners for the Spotlight Dancer Duet since you two worked so well together.

The amount of people who asked if you were dating increased. Your friends even had to ask you, “Are you sure you’re not dating?”

You two were just close since neither of you would say anything about your feelings for each other. Instead, you “accidentally” flirted with each other and did everything that couples did except makeout. You’d even kiss each other’s cheeks and foreheads, but you weren’t dating. Nope, not at all.

Today was an exciting day since it was Theme Day for competition being held after winter break. All three groups got different themes and then had to elaborate with them on their own.

For the girls, it was Rock Music while the guys got International Music. Mostly, it was just taking a survey of songs you all wanted to dance to. You picked a lot of songs you listened to or heard while growing up plus some things that your parents listened to. Queen, Nirvana, Def Leopard, KISS.

When it came to the co-ed Urban Shine, the female leader Stevie A called for a drumroll while K. Gami opened the email. All the dancers hit their legs rapidly until you were given the signal to stop.

“Fairy Tales!”

Everyone’s mind went to Disney cuteness and princely manners. While reading the email, K. Gami explained that the troupe had to choose 3-5 different classic fairy tales they’d like to turn into dance and send it in. They had to pick several in case someone picked their top one first. That meant this was the quickest brainstorming session ever.

They sent in the following list:

Aladdin

Peter Pan

Alice in Wonderland

Wizard of Oz

Not even 5 minutes later, they got back what they would do while they were doing a dancer version of “Trust Pinball”. Another drumroll was done and they announced that Urban Shine had gotten Peter Pan. Taller men tried out for the parts of Captain Hook, larger men and some girls for Smee. Then auditions were held for the main parts of Wendy and Peter.

Not many people auditioned when they saw that you and E’dawn were individually auditioning. The auditions were basically a minute and thirty seconds of in character dance, a mix of ballet, contemporary, and street dance. The lead positions were closed to Spotlight Dancers anyways, but even the others who had been dancing for a while didn’t want to impede of this potential match finally being made.

In short, you got Wendy and E’dawn got Peter.

“So, the Spotlight Dancers can stay to help us figure out an outline, and the rest of you are free to go home. Get some rest and study!”

After everyone left, Stevie A asked what you guys wanted to do. There were eight spotlight dancers: You, E’Dawn, J. Seph, Hyuna, Hui, Somin, Matthew, and Jiwoo.

Matthew had gotten to be Captain Hook while Somin became Smee. Hyuna would become Tiger Lily. The others would be Wendy’s siblings and Jiwoo was Tinkerbell. You mostly watched while they all created a basic story line and a schedule to get everything done like costuming, etc. It wasn’t until they got to the topic of music genres that E’dawn made sure to ask your opinion.

“Um, I think that each section should have it’s own genre or subgenre. Like, if we’re doing pop music as the main type, we could have songs that are more classical based for Wendy, rock or hip hop for Hook, that sort of thing.”

Hyuna gasped, “A LOVE SONG WHEN PETER MEETS WENDY! They kiss right?”

You blinked before Matthew clarified, “It’s not a real kiss, but it’s a thimble and an acorn they exchange to symbolize a kiss.”

“They should kiss.” She said with sass.

“Or not.” Hyojong said. “I like that part a lot since I think it’s deeper than a kiss.”

“Same here. It’s just so romantic, and it ends up saving his life. We have to keep it.”

The choreographers agreed. Then they asked for music suggestions.

“I think pop could do us some good. It’ll resonate with the audience better and we can be trendy by adding some American pop music. I want five songs from each of you by midnight tomorrow.” Stevie A said. “I think that’s it for tonight. You lucky ducks get some sleep now.”

Everyone moved to pack up and chatter some more. Hyojong offered to walk you to your car. You agreed, and neither of you noticed the knowing looks shared between the other dancers. They were just waiting for one of you to ask the other out on a legitimate romantic date.

You yawned as the cold night air sent prickles up your arms.

E’Dawn smiled at you, “So, Wendy, are you excited for competition season to begin?”

“Very. I love Peter Pan, so I’m so glad we got to do that one. I would’ve loved to have done Alice in Wonderland too.” You texted Lisa and your other roommate in the groupchat to say you were going home. “What would your second pick have been.”

“Alice, of course. It’s so awesome and psycadellic. The costumes for that performance would’ve been amazing. I hope we do a spin on this concept too.”

“Like making it modernized or something.” You both said.

You looked up at him and giggled, “Ok, so that’s a great idea, but I don’t wanna wear jeans. Even leggings sometimes chafe.”

“So a shorter dress?” He asked, “I mean, I guess it’s ok if you’re comfortable with it and we don’t get disqualified.”

“Ok, so maybe leggings with like a blue peplum shirt.”

He nodded, “Oh wait, does that mean, I have to wear leggings too? OR like will green sweatpants be ok?”

To be completely honest, you started to crack up out of embarrassment for imagining his area his tights. How large would it be? How thick? You had to laugh at how wild your imagination went in a few seconds and stop yourself from looking at his crotch.

Hyojong chuckled, “What?”

“You in tights. I hope you just get regular pants. I’m sure that would get us disqualified. Like, imagine if you were doing a lift and something ripped or you got ‘excited’ out of nowhere.”

In all honesty, it wouldn’t have been out of nowhere. He sometimes had thoughts about you, and would turn himself on just by being near you or his own imagination. He just imagined cuddles that went other places and sometimes it made him dizzy just thinking about you.

He laughed it off, “You’re exactly right. I’ll make sure tights are not part of the costume. What if they wanted you to wear a skirt?”

“Maybe if it was a bit more flowing instead of frilly and maybe a bit see-through, that would be more modern. Make the top more frilly. Maybe just make it like a return of Peter Pan and have me in a nightie.”

Hyojong swallowed, “And if we wanted modern child?”

You thought for a bit, “A bit of frills. Mayhaps we could go back to the tights idea, or maybe leggings. Ooo, Leggings and an oversized shirt. Kids and adults do that all the time nowadays. Maybe just a blue pants and shirt set? Need to write this down.”

It was obvious that E’dawn liked you, at least to himself. He was completely and utterly attracted to every aspect that you had to give. Your mind. Your voice. Your dancing skill. Everything, but this was probably the moment he fell in love with you. Your face was looking at the notes in the phone and typing out what you two just talked about.

His heart wouldn’t calm down, and he wanted to kiss you. He really wanted to kiss you, but he couldn’t. He was too nervous to ask, too nervous to just do it. Everything in his body screamed to take the chance. E’dawn just froze.

[Three weeks later]

It was just a week until winter break began and the school had been decorated for the upcoming holiday season. Most everyone wore Christmas colors for the allowed accessories: hair clips, socks, shoes, ponytail holders. You and E’dawn were putting on your matching reindeer antlers after practice tonight.

Everyone threw on a sweater or a jacket to brave the cold night and dash to their cars with sweat making everything sticky.

The set up was great and you had mostly been working on the ensemble work instead of the smaller group things. The costumes would be revealed after Christmas, and you had seen the sketches.

It would be silky light blue pajama top and bottoms for you as Wendy. The bottoms would most likely be shorts for mobility and a flowy light blue robe to go over it. They said that they would add bows to the bottoms to make it more “girly” and like Wendy-esque. Also, since she was essentially barefoot, you’d have to find ballet flats to match your skin tone. Heh, that’d be fun. At least they didn’t shove you in “nude” slippers and tell you to deal with it.

E’Dawn Pan was glad that he wasn’t wearing tights or leggings, and you were too. He was wearing green shorts with a green vest over a shirt that had stars all over it. For shoes, it was mostly up to him, but he wanted to have brown shoes since it was a neutral color. So the costuming department decided brown moccasins or ankle boots would work.

For Captain Hook, it was spiked black boots, red muscle shirt with dark red vest, and black jeans. Matthew would wear a regular pirate hat with it with a puffy white feather. Complete with hook hand. He said that he’d try to grow his hair out to make it more realistic.They sort of wanted him to dance in a suit, but he was strongly against that.

Tinkerbell Jiwoo would be wearing a green dress not much different from the original style, but more tulle. She’d also have wings and ballet flats to complete the look. They said that she’d be wearing a sparkly pair if they could find some food ones. Also, she got to get a drawstring purse full of silver and gold glitter for fairy dust.

J Seph was John, so he just got to wear a white pajama set while Hui was in a pink onesie if it was safe enough. If not, then he’d just be wearing the same sort of pajama set. It was your second to last practice before the holidays began, and everyone was excited.

E’dawn threw his coat on before asking you, “Hey, did you wanna get something to eat before heading home? Just something quick before we go home and do assignments.”

“Sure! Let’s get something warm.”

“You guys going to eat?” Matthew piped up.

“Yeah. Not sure where yet. Why don’t you come along?” You asked like the oblivious darling you were.

Matthew agreed and so then all the Spotlight Dancers plus Lisa and Rosé came along for the meal. Most of the finals were done by this point of the year, but there were things still going on around campus and around the city that caused a lot of students to stay until the campus closed.

You guys ended up at a place famous for Korean BBQ and noodles. A lot of celebrities visited apparently, since their were signatures on the walls and pictures with the manager of that time. Dang, this place was old, but it felt strangely like home. After ordering food, everyone talked about how excited they were.

“I can’t believe we’re almost to competition season!” Jiwoo said.

Lisa agreed, “I know. I’m so glad we don’t have to perform at freezing cold football games anymore. Like, why don’t we have sweat pants like the cheerleaders?”

“Oh my god, right?” Rosé chirpped.

“Holy shit, I agree with that 100%!” You added.

J Seph laughed, “What was that saying? No pain no gain?”

Matthew gave his two cents, “Exactly. What’s a little hypothermia for the price of looking fabulous during half time and in the stands when no one is really paying attention to you?”

Somin hit his arm and you kicked his shin. He cursed in English and Korean for that. The rest of the table laughed.

E’dawn handed you the drink you ordered since he was sitting next to you as well as a straw as you were speaking.

“At least--oh thanks, oppa--at least we got to wear leggings when performing with the co-ed team, under the pants.”

Momo pouted and put her head in her hands, “Maybe I should join the co-ed team so that I can wear leggings.Then at least I’d be a little warmer. Didn’t you get jackets, too?”

They nodded. Momo was there before the co-ed dancers arrived but decided to join since you all basically knew each other from S.H.E. When the food arrived, everyone dug in and tried all sorts of things. Your noodles were the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. Apparently, a bit too good since everyone was staring at you.

“E’dawn, you gotta step up your game if she’s moaning like that for some cheap noodles.” Hui joked, making your oppa blush.

“I don’t even do things like that with her. We’re friends.” He mumbled.

You held up some noodles to Hui’s face, “You try them and not have a foodgasm.”

The silver-haired man ate them and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, “Ok, I take it back. Even if you tried, you couldn’t make her moan like these noodles could.”

“I’m sure he could.” You say and then put more food in your mouth, slurping it up and giving him a ‘come at me’ look.

“Geez, (Y/N), how did we ever have fun without you? You’re so cool.” He said and the other agreed.

You smiled happily and continued eating. E’Dawn brushed your bottom lip with his thumb and then put it in his mouth. You looked up at him, kind of shocked at the seemingly sudden action.

“Yeah. It’s really good.” He said simply.

What the fuck? You didn’t know that he couldn’t stop staring at your lips as you ate and enjoyed the food. You also didn’t know that he had gotten a bit jealous when you fed his friend some food and not him, so when he saw a drop of broth on your lips, he took a chance. However, he had no clue had your heart was pounding out of your chest or that your panties suddenly got wet.

And neither would ever find out because you both looked away embarrassed with all eyes on you as E’dawn excused himself to outside the restaurant.

What the fuck was he thinking? What kind of k-drama move was that? E’dawn paced in front of the store. The cold would clear his head. Yes. That would work. You probably weren’t even that into him, he thought. Why did he get jealous of his friend?

Speaking of, Hui came out to check on him.

“Why can’t I words?” E’dawn asked. “I just wanted to ask if  I could try some of her noodles too, but instead I act like some delinquent from a drama hitting on a girl!”

Hui chuckled, “Well, you’re two out of the three, but a gentle delinquent.”

He pouted, “I really like her, Hui. What do I do?”

“Telling her would be a good start.”

“Pssshhhh. BUT HOWWWW?” He whined.

“Come back inside. I’ve got an idea.”

You stared at your friends and they stared back. They all just saw that. Your cheeks were still on fire! There were things you wanted to say, but none of them were made of actual words.

Rosé cracked a smile, “Giiiiiiirrrrrllll. Please tell me that you know he likes you now.”

“It was just. He’s not. We’re--”

Jennie chuckled, “That’s not something friends do. Boy got jealous of you feeding his friend.”

The others nodded, but you kept denying it. There was just no way he was into you like that. “I’m his dude. We’re just buds. Dude buds.”

“I’m a dude. He’s a dude. Dude’s don’t just do that to other dudes.” Matthew replied. “I would’ve gotten a napkin or something probably just have pointed it out so that you could get it yourself. But that was like skin ta skin. He wants you, (Y/N), and it’s clear as day you feel the same.”

Momo whispered, “He’s coming back, and I swear to God if you don’t actually flirt with him. You’re wearing matching antlers!”

And everyone acted normal as they ate in sync. The table was silent for a good moment which made everything sort of really awkward until Hui spoke up.

“So, (Y/N), are you going home for the holidays? Like back to America?”

“I might for like a week, but tickets are really expensive. Not sure whether to go before or after Christmas.”

Jisoo spoke up, “Do you celebrate, uh, what’s it called? Something-zah!”

“Kwanzaa!”

“Yeah, Kwanzaa. Do you celebrate that? If so, you should go after Christmas to celebrate it and the solar New Year with family.”

“But you have to be back in time for Lunar New Year.” J. Seph added. “You’re really pretty and I really want to see you in a hanbok. I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

Everyone at the table gushed at how cute you’d look in their traditional clothing, suggesting colors that they think would look best. The girls said that they’d probably go a bit more modern and do pastel hanboks this year.

Hui steered the conversation back to the way he wanted as everyone started to pay for their food, “Well, I wanted to invite you guys all to a Christmas party at my aunt’s resort. It’s always good and lots of food. Good drinks, too.”

“Sure! Sounds good. I’ll come along. Is it formal?”

“Not really, just Christmas colors. However, girls usually wear that ‘sexy Santa’ costume as a tradition, so you might want to get one of your own.”

E’dawn gave his friend a look that went unnoticed by you. Hui was lying his ass off, but he wasn’t about to stop him. Girls usually did wear it, but it wasn’t tradition. Either way, you guys decided to go hanbok shopping and have a lot of fun before you left back home. You couldn’t wait for some down time, either.