Ice Ice Baby

A yearbook, dusty but intact, sat on the living room table.

I looked into the cover… it displayed the year of my high school graduation in bold print. The motto emblazoned beneath it. God, I haven’t looked at it for four years now. I opened it, and a wave of nostalgia suddenly hit me.

In Jin Young Park High School, five Queens rule the school grounds. All boys go loco over them; girls all wannabe them.

The whole student body calls them ITZY (있지), which means “to have”, because they have everything the others want: beauty, talent, money, power.

Yeji is the Queen Bee; leader of the clique. wherever she goes, the rest follows. Everybody listens to her for guidance, which always leads to successful outcomes. Some say the local Mafia brings her to school in the morning, and picks her up after classes, but those are probably just baseless rumors.

Ryujin is the Tomboy Queen; the groups de facto protector. A black belt judoka, boys like you and me can’t approach the group with ill intentions. She makes sure the rest are untouchable. Though some say the way to get into her good graces is to give her cake, which always makes her grin like the Cheshire cat(which is a bit funny, but also a little creepy).

Chaeryeong is the Nerdy Queen; the smarts of the group. Most days, she just stares into space like she’s looking at an imaginary friend. But don’t let that fool you; she is not shy, no, not her. She’s the school’s overachiever, always participating in almost all extracurriculars, be it academics, dance competitions, or beauty pageants. Gold medals are a common occurrence around her neck.

Yuna is the Social Queen; the group butterfly(or bunny), always peppy and flirtatious. Always wearing a crop top, tight jeans, and a pair of sneakers, she is the campus crush, and the top candidate to be Prom Queen.

And then there’s Lia, the Ice Queen. The clique’s most aloof member. She mostly doesn’t care about anyone except her girls, but when she has you in her tunnel vision, you could feel a stare so icy that you would wonder why there’s snow in June. But I know for a fact that you just need to bypass all that ice, and you could see the sweetest and most precious girl I’ve ever seen in the world, and that’s because…

“Dalla! Dalla! Come back here!” screamed Lia, chasing the young girl around the living room, exhausted, but with a bright smile on her face. Oh, gone were the days of the Ice Queen, melted bit by bit by the burning flame of my love, until she blossomed into this charming lady, full of love and joy.

“Come, babe, you must be tired from all the chasing. Dalla, come sit by Appa’s side.” I called out to my family.

Lia sat down beside me, Dalla, my daughter, on the other side.

“Babe, is that?—-” She asked, breath a bit heavy.

“Yup, it’s our yearbook from high school, my Ice Queen,” I replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh stop it. I’m no longer the Ice Queen, remember?” Lia gushed, cheeks reddening from the memory.

“Oh yeah, the girls are coming to visit later, correct?” I asked, remembering today’s date.

“Yup! You hear that, Dalla? Your ITZY aunties are coming to visit us later!” Lia replied.

“Appa, Eomma, when I grow up, I would like to marry a Prince Charming like Appa!” Dalla said with conviction.

“Not until you’re thirty, missy,” I reply, shaking my head.

“Babe, just let her dream. Girls will be girls,” Lia said. I raise my hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay, whatever you say, ice queen.”

“Babe, I said stop calling me that!”