In Music Composition, EunMi and ChangMin made sure to sit as far away from each other as possible, and all the students had already heard the stories of their "tearful breakup." When the bell rang for the calss to begin, Ms. Kim skipped to the front of the room and clapped her hands together, announcing,

"Hello, class! Today, we have a new student. You all probably know him already, but let's welcome...Park YooChun!"

The class waved to YooChun, who was sitting beside EunMi. For a second, she wondered how long he had been there because that was the first time she had noticed his presence. Ms. Kim continued,

"I have a meeting to attend this class period, so... Hm, what should I have you do? Oh! Get with a partner and compose a mini-song--without using any instruments. And since there's an odd number of you here, someone can either work by themselves or join another group. Okay, then. Be good, children!"

After Ms. Kim had skipped out of the classroom, the students began grouping up and getting started on their mini-songs, as all of them were serious about this class. ChangMin had chosen to do the assignment by himself--not that anyone was complaining. YooChun looked around the class and turned to EunMi, asking,

"Want to be my partner?"

"Um...sure," EunMi agreed, seeing how it would've been rude to say "no." YooChun held out a hand and introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Park YooChun."

"Yeah. I kind of got that when Ms. Kim introduced you to the class," EunMi thought. She shook his hand and replied, "Nice to meet you. I'm Choi EunMi."

"Well, EunMi-sshi," YooChun began, taking out a composition book lined with staves. "What kind of song should we compose?"

"Mm... I'm not really sure. A duet, maybe?" EunMi suggest. YooChun thought about it for a moment, then nodded his head.

"Sure. Why not?"

After another minute of discussion, they had decided on a four-hand piano duet. As they came up with a tune, EunMi noticed YooChun tapping the table as if it were a piano, and he would lightly hum the notes as well. How he kept the right pitch in this key without an actual piano impressed EunMi, and so she decided to ask him,

"Why did you change your schedule?"

YooChun looked up at EunMi and gave a sheepish laugh, replying, "Well, I just changed from Music Theory to Music Composition. Theory was too easy for me, so..."

EunMi smiled a little, realizing he must really love music to have gone through all that trouble just for one class. Reassured that YooChun wasn't just another rich, pretty boy, EunMi continued making suggestions for their mini-song. Thirty minutes later, Ms. Kim came back to the classroom and asked,

"All right, who wants to go first?"

The students in the classroom just remained silent, as most of them were the shy, modest type of musicians. Shrugging, Ms. Kim said, "Okay, then... I guess I'll just have to choose. Hm... YooChun and EunMi, come on up."

YooChun and EunMi made their way to Ms. Kim's desk, which was a Steingraeber & Söhne  grand piano today, and Ms. Kim sat in an empty chair nearby. After setting the composition book on the stand, EunMi sat on the left side of the piano bench to play the second pair of hands (the lower notes), while YooChun took the right side to play the first pair (the higher notes). YooChun started with a simple, repeating tune, and EunMi played a simple melody as well, going up and down a set of scales.

After a few more measures, the two suddenly quickened the tempo, and YooChun changed the key while EunMi turned the page. Also in the process of the key change, YooChun moved to the right side of the piano bench, sliding down the B flat scale, and EunMi quickly got up and moved to where Yoochun had previously been. They were now playing at 144 bpm, and it seemed like they were having a piano battle, but their parts were in perfect harmony, complimenting each other's styles. Everyone could tell they were having fun, as they smiled while they crossed their arms across the other's on the single piano. The two then started playing a set of staccato notes in unison, three octaves apart. They finalized the piece with EunMi playing middle C while YooChun played the G below middle C, his hand resting atop EunMi's.

"I told you to compose a mini-song, not a sonata. But that's okay!" Ms. Kim laughed and clapped, the students joining in the round of applause. EunMi and YooChun bowed politely and went to sit back in their seats. When they sat down, Ms. Kim asked them,

"What did you title your mini-song?"

"Oh... Well, we didn't nam--" EunMi started, but YooChun cut her off, saying,

"It's called 'A New Friendship.'"

Confused, EunMi looked at YooChun, but when she saw him smiling, she turned back to Ms. Kim, and said,

"Yes. 'A New Friendship.'"

"Well, it suits the piece," Ms. Kim mused, smiling. "Now...who wants to go next?"

Again the class remained silent, not wanting to perform after YooChun and EunMi's "masterpiece." Ms. Kim was about to pick a group herself, but ChangMin raised his hand and said,

"I'll go, Ms. Kim."

"Thank you, ChangMin. Go right ahead," Ms. Kim replied, gesturing to the waiting piano.

ChangMin silently made his way to the piano bench, carefully setting his composition book on the stand. Quietly, he took a deep breath and started playing his composition.

The style of his song was the polar opposite of YooChun and EunMi's, as his tempo was around 60 bpm, but that didn't mean it was any less difficult. He played every note with gentle accuracy, and his careful use of the damper pedal made the notes softly ring in the air. The sound had a subdued energy to it, as if ChangMin were holding something back that yearned to be set free.

As he turned the page, ChangMin looked past the composition book and made eye contact with EunMi, who had been attentively listening. ChangMin looked back to the composition book, making sure he hadn't lost his place and continued playing his song. Every now and then, though, he would sneak glances at EunMi, but he would always immediately look away, because every time he looked at her, she was looking back at him. When he finished the piece, a few girls (Ms. Kim included) said, "Awww..."

Mrs. Kim asked ChangMin, "What is the title of your piece?"

ChangMin nervously looked down at his feet and mumbled,

"It...it doesn't have a title. I don't...know what to call it."

Again, some girls went "Awww..." and put their hands to their cheeks. Ms. Kim smiled gently and said, 

"Well, maybe as time goes by, you'll figure out what it is."

Looking up at his teacher, ChangMin felt like Ms. Kim's word held a deeper meaning, but before he could figure it out, the bell had rung.

"Oh! That's the bell," Ms. Kim sang. "No homework today, you lucky ducks!"

ChangMin went back to his seat, gathering his things, and he was about to close his bag when he felt a presence nearby. Looking beside him, he saw EunMi, who was wearing a shy smile on her face.

"You song was nice," EunMi said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I really liked it."

And with one last smile, she walked away, leaving ChangMin to his thoughts. For reasons unknown to him, ChangMin felt his face getting warm, and his chest hurt for a brief moment.

"What the heck..?" ChangMin mumbled under his breath. He took his schoolbag and left for his next class, trying to figure out what he was feeling at that moment.

I'm sorry this chapter is so short! It's just that there's so much that happens in this chapter that I worried for all my readers' brains. I didn't want to overload your minds with too much content, so... Please forgive me!

I was originally going to make YooChun a conceited, spoiled rich playboy, but I figured that was a little too mean. (Crystalqueen4ev, you better thank me. e__e) I was really going to make him a terrible person. Haha. But then I thought, "Hm... Won't it be too obvious that I don't like him?" Hahaha. And I also figured that I might have readers who like YooChun, so...yeah. You're welcome.

There were a lot of musical terms in this story, and I'm so sorry if you didn't understand them. If you didn't know a four-hand piano duet is where two people play on the same piano... Kind of self-explanatory. Oh, and 144 bpm (beats per minute) is really fast... Just letting you know. So 60 bpm would be pretty slow. Well, not really, but compared to 144 bpm... Hahaha. Oh, and G below middle C isn't that far from middle C, so YooChun and EunMi might as well have been holding hands at the end of their performance.

I have thirty subscribers now! I don't know about you guys, but that makes me so happy. Thank you all so much. It's all thanks to you. So...here are my latest receivers of my home-baked, special, tasty cookies~

Special, tasty cookies to:

nuttybutty1
LeiCuteAko
flowerlikesmiles (I love your userpic. It's from "Paradise Ranch," no? So cute~)

Please look forward to Chapter Twelve~!