I sat, leaning against the window of the bus, music blasting through my headphones-- eyes closed. There was no one sitting next to me, though my friends sat in the seats around me: Junsu and Junho sat in the seats in front of me, Wooyoung and Nichkhun sat in the seats behind me, Nicole and Bekah sat across the aisle from me, and Nana sat with Victoria across the aisle from Nichkhun and Wooyoung. I sighed loudly, and kept pretending to be sleeping so that no one would sit next to me.

As you can tell, I'm not really in a good mood. It'll be three days before I get to see Taecyeon again, and I'm going to miss him. The entire Junior class will be going to a campsite where we'll be doing lots of class bonding activities. Great... When I complained to Jay about leaving Taecyeon, he said that it would be good for me to be separated from Taecyeon for a few days, just so that I can stand on my own two feet again... I guess he's right.

I opened one eye to check on the progress of the loading of the bus. We'd be off in about 10 minutes if I had predicted correctly. Suddenly, my phone buzzed.

"Tiffany~~Have fun at your retreat! I'll miss you~"

":) I'll try... but because I'll miss you, I don't think I'll be able to have fun."

"Forget about me for three days then; I want you to bond with your grade!!"

"So you won't be mad if I fooled around with other boys? kekeke."

"Of course I'll be mad! Don't do that!"

"heehee. You told me that I could forget about you"

"But not like that.... :("

"I'm kidding, but I will try to have fun this weekend!"

"Good! See you in three days then, Tiff!!"

"Love you"

"Love you too ♥"

Putting my phone away, I shut my eyes and continued to pretend to sleep with my headphones playing music loudly.

Suddenly, someone plopped themselves down next to me and took my headphones off of my head.

I was about to yell at them until I saw that it was Dongwoon, shuffling his backpack around between his legs, getting comfortable.

"Is anyone sitting here?" He asked with a grin.

"Uh... N-no.." I began, stuttering.

"You weren't really sleeping were you?"

"Actually--"

"Or was that your tactic to make people not want to sit with you?"

"I--"

He chuckled, "I have you all figured out, Tiffany."

I sighed and glared at him, turning around, facing the window.

"Oh come on, don't be mad," He patted my arm. Suddenly, he yawned.

"Oh? Are you tired?" I said.

He nodded sleepily, "I don't know why, I just couldn't sleep last night. Are you?"

"A little."

"Here," He patted an area on his chest near his shoulder, "you can sleep on my shoulder."

"Ah. It's fine, Dongwoon. I have the window. Don't worry about me," but then I saw the look of disappointment on his face, I offered to let him sleep on my shoulder.

At first he turned down my offer, saying that he didn't want me to be uncomfortable, but later, after I fell asleep against the window, he gingerly placed his head on my shoulder, seeping into deep sleep as I had. It was strange that we always woke up at the same times-- every forty five minutes, we'd wake up to check where we were, smile at each other, and pass out again.

When we finally arrived, he shook me lightly to wake me up. As we collected our things from the compartment below the bus, a teacher asked us to gather around the campfire area to listen for instructions. Dongwoon took my duffel bag from me, telling me that it was too heavy for me to be carrying. I sort of hated how he treated me like a frail girly girl, but I liked the fact that he was willing to do so much for me.

At the campfire pit, we were sorted into our cabins; there were sixteen in total: eight for boarders, eight for day students. The boarders were separated by dorm; brother dorms were placed near their sister dorms, so Junho, Junsu, Wooyoung and Nichkhun lived near us. Dongwoon, however, lived a little bit farther away from us since he was in a different dorm.

After putting away our things and settling down, half the girls in our dorm decided to go for a swim in the lake, which left Victoria, Bekah, Nana, Nicole and me in the cabin. At first we lay on my bunk talking about boys and gossiping about the girls in other dorms, but once that got boring, we all went back to our own bunks, texting whomever. Then, suddenly, Nana suggested that we play Truth or Dare.

"But that's not fun unless we play with guys," Bekah said.

"Tiffany, why don't you invite your guy friends?" Nicole suggested

"They're your friends too! Not just mine," I smiled.

"Whatever, just invite them!!" Nicole threw a pillow at me as I stuck my tongue out at her.

I called the four boys from our brother dorm as well as Dongwoon so that we could have an equal number of guys to the number of girls.

Once everyone arrived, we sat around in a circle: Khun, Vic, Wooyoung, Bex, Junho, Nana, Junsu, Nicole, Dongwoon, then me.

"I'll go first!!" Nana said excitedly. "Okay... Junsu!! Truth or dare??"

"Uh..." Junsu awkwardly hesitated. "Dare me."

Nana thought for a while, thinking of a good dare, "I know!" She paused, "I dare you to go and confess your love to the first person you see outside, regardless of whether or not the person is a guy or a girl. Oh! and you can't tell him or her that it's a dare, okay?"

"Challenge accepted," Junsu quickly jumped to his feet, shuffling out the door to find a victim.

We all exchanged surprised looks before following Junsu's lead out the door, just to catch him in the middle of getting on one knee to propose to a boy in our grade. The boy had gone along with the act, agreeing to marry Junsu; however, when he went for a kiss on the hand, the boy quickly pulled his hand away with surprise at how far Junsu was taking it.

When he returned, he asked Nicole, "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare me, and make it good," Nicole said daringly.

"Hmm...." He thought for a while. "I dare you to... prank call Jay."

"What? Why Jay?"

"I don't know... he was the first person I thought of.... plus he'd be fun to mess with in a prank call."

Nicole giggled. "Challenge accepted." She pulled out her phone, dialed *7 and then the number. At first she didn't know what to say and kept giggling with the phone away from her, but then she managed to pretend that she was calling the pizza take out place near our school, even though he kept insisting that she had the wrong number. I was surprised that he was being so nice; he kept telling her that she had the wrong number and when she threw a fit, asking to talk to the manager, he gave her the real number. After much frustration on his part, she finally revealed herself, apologizing to him.

"Alright... That was actually pretty fun," She laughed as she gulped down some water. "Alright, Dongwoon. Your turn, truth or dare?"

"Dare me," Dongwoon said with a smirk.

"I dare you to switch shirts with Tiffany."

Dongwoon laughed, "Only if she wants to."

I shrugged, signaling to them that I really didn't care.

"Alright, Come on then, Tiffany, let's find the bathroom so we can change."

But we couldn't. The bathroom was actually hidden. We wandered around the campsite for a while in search of the bathrooms, but gave up after seven minutes. We ended up walking into the woods to swap clothes, far enough so that people wouldn't see us, but close enough so that we wouldn't get lost.

Without warning, Dongwoon stripped off his shirt and handed it to me. I was so flustered that my face turned bright red, but I didn't turn away. He was somewhat toned, though, he didn't have a six pack like Taecyeon.

"Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to give me your shirt?" He asked, standing before me, shirtless.

"Uh.." I snapped back to reality.

He quickly turned around giving me privacy to change. I swiftly pulled my shirt off, putting his on and then throwing my shirt over his shoulder. I took in a deep breath; his shirt smelled like him, and now I smelled like him. He pulled my shirt over his torso in one quick motion. It was a soft shirt too, I really wanted to keep it.

"Come on, let's get back before they get impatient," He laughed, not caring about his current appearance.

I felt bad since I was wearing the girliest shirt in my entire closet: a tight pink v-neck.

I held onto his arm as he led me out of the woods. When we got back to the cabin, they all commented on how silly Dongwoon looked, but he simple shook it off and turned to me, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," I said without hesitation.

"Oh come on!" Everyone complained.

"It's okay, I have a good question," He smirked. "If you weren't dating Taecyeon, who would you be dating now?"

Victoria gasped, "That is a good question..."

"Hmm.... Either... no... I ..." I couldn't form a proper sentence. "Chansung." I finally said.

"You said "either"... who was the other person you were going to name?" Dongwoon asked curiously.

I laughed, "Sorry, you only get one question."

He groaned. "I'm asking out of curiosity, not for the game."

"I'm not going to tell you~" I teased.

"Please?"

"Maybe later..." I said.

"You'll tell me later, right?" Nicole joined in, teasing Dongwoon as well.

I nodded and winked at her.

Dongwoon pouted, and the game continued.

We played until dinner time, at which point we all migrated outside to the barbecue pit area where we'd be cooking our own dinner in groups.

Dongwoon needed to pick up a sweatshirt from his cabin so he said that he'd meet us there.

As we stood around a pit, I stared at the sky. It was so beautiful-- the shades of pink, purple and gold blended together harmoniously.  A cold wind blew by, making me shiver. I rubbed my hands together to warm myself up. Why was I such an idiot? I should have grabbed a sweatshirt just as I left for dinner. It was sitting right on my bed too!

Suddenly the wind was blocked and a sweatshirt covered my shoulders.

“You look cold,” Junsu said, unaffected by the wind, “Put it on.”

I thanked him and put the sweatshirt on; almost instantly, my torso warmed up. Now I not only smelled like Dongwoon, but also Junsu.

“You’re so silly,” Junsu continued, “Why didn’t you grab a sweatshirt?”

“I’m an idiot like that,” I smiled.

We continued to stand next to each other in silence, waiting for everyone to gather. It wasn’t often that I spoke to Junsu. I never really had interacted with Junsu very much, though he seems to be a nice guy.

“So…” Junsu began, “You know…. Taecyeon asked me to look after you in these few days, as a favor to him.”

“Oh?” I really meant to say ‘Oh God.’

“He told me to keep an eye on Dongwoon—to make sure he doesn’t make moves on you.”

“You’re not doing a very good job, are you?” I joked.

“No. I know I’m not.” He smiled. “Tiffany? Do you want to do me a favor?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Can you help me out with Nicole?”

Oh… so he likes Nicole, huh?  “Sure.” I smiled sweetly at him. “But, I can only do so much, like give you time to talk to her and that sort of thing…”

“Yeah, I know. I have to talk to her myself. But, it wouldn’t hurt to help put in a good word for me, right?”

“I guess.” I shrugged.

“So you will?”

I nodded.

“Thanks, Tiff.”

Just then, someone tripped over my foot as they were walking backwards. I didn’t get to catch a glimpse of who it was, but it didn’t matter. I knelt down to help the person up.

“What the hell?” The girl swore.

“I’m so sorry,” I patted the dirt off her legs. “Are you okay?”

“Let go of me, you nuisance,” It was Ji-Eun. She pushed me onto the ground. She stood up, “All you do is cause trouble, everywhere.”

Someone grabbed me beneath the arms and hoisted me up to my feet. I turned around to see that it was Dongwoon

“Hey, calm down,” Dongwoon began as he stood in front of me. “It’s not exactly her fault that you weren’t looking where you were going. Who the hell walks backwards anyways?”

“Excuse me; last I checked you weren’t a part of this conversation, new kid.”

“And you’re only saying that because you know it’s your fault, I’m guessing?”

She laughed, “What, let me guess… you’re another one of her suitors? God, what is it with you stupid boys that like her? You’re wasting your time—though, seeing how ty she is, you might be able to get somewhere with her this weekend.”

“And you think you’re not? I’m new and I already know about how you’ve been around.”

Ji-Eun was speechless. She stood there glaring at him, then me, then him again, before she stormed off back to her friends.

“You okay?” He turned around.

“My leg sort of stings, but whatever,” I shrugged as I tried to cover the little cut on my leg that I got from falling.

“Let me see,” He knelt down to look at the spot that I fell on. “Move your hand.” When he saw that I was bleeding, he told me to wait a moment as he went to a table to grab a bottle of water, some tissues and a band-aid. When he came back he wiped the cut clean with much care, blew on it to let it dry a little, and then stuck the band-aid on.

“It’s literally the smallest cut I’ve ever gotten,” I tried to defend as he began to scold me for not caring about my own body.

At dinner, we were told to cook ourselves in groups. We were provided tin foil, metal skewers, match sticks and of course the meat that we were meant to cook that had already been marinated as well as a few extra things like corn, sweet potatoes and dessert foods.

Dongwoon was in charge of cooking the meat in our group, whereas I wrapped the sweet potatoes in tin foil to let them cook in the fire. All our friends began calling us “mom” and “dad” since we looked as if we were a couple making dinner for our children.

Once everything was ready, we put our cooked food in platters so that we could eat without the smoke being blown into our eyes at a separate table.

“Ah,” Dongwoon tried to get me to open my mouth so that he could feed me.

“I’m not a little kid, Dongwoon,” I said, “I can feed myself.”

“She lets Taecyeon feed her all the time, though,” Nicole whispered from across the table; she was such an instigator sometimes.

But Dongwoon didn’t care, or at least he looked as if he didn’t. He simply shrugged and ate by himself, occasionally asking for compliments on the way he cooked.

When we finished eating, we gathered around the fire again to roast marshmallows and make s’mores.

Again, he tried to feed me, but this time, I willingly ate.

Breaking off pieces of chocolate and graham crackers, he meticulously created the perfect s’more. He fed me little bite sized pieces, one by one, his own fingers as he fed me the last piece.

“Good?”

I nodded.

He patted my head with his clean hand and stared at my mouth, “You have marshmallow on your lips.”

I wiped the spot with my hand, but it wasn’t coming off.

He chuckled, “Here.” Grabbing a napkin, he wiped it off for me. “You’re so cute.” He smiled.

After dinner we chatted around the fire as a group of friends. Then, as it got later, we, as a dorm, went to the bathroom to get ready for bed in our pajamas. Surprisingly, the temperature went \ up since dinner time and now it was boiling outside—like a summer night. I had no choice but to put on my short sleeping shorts and wear a tank top (the only one that I owned just so happened to be skin-tight).

Upon returning to our cabin, I found Dongwoon waiting for me outside.

“Are you tired?”

“Not the slightest,” I smiled.

“Wanna sit with me for a bit? The lake looks so pretty right now,” He extended his hand.

Nana nudged me and grabbed my toiletries from my hands. “Yeah, I can do that.”

He led me to the lake shore where we sat on a kayak, dipping our feet in the waters. The moonlight cast a silver light upon the water surface, which reflected the light onto our faces.

“You still have my shirt, right?” I asked.

He nodded, “Do you want me to get it to you tomorrow?”

“I don't honestly care.” I laughed. “I think it’s a little too girly for me.” Maybe if I let him keep my shirt, he’ll let me keep his…

“You want to keep my shirt, don’t you?” He read my mind.

“Well…”

“Keep it then,” He said with a smile.

“No, I can’t do that, I still have your jacket,” I tried to refuse.

“Well, Tiffany. I don’t honestly care,” He mimicked me.

“Well… if you insist.”

We sat in silence, listening to the sound the water made when I dragged my foot across the surface.

“Tiffany, I missed you,” He suddenly said.

“I… uh… missed you too.” I was hesitant because I didn’t want to let him think get the wrong idea… not that I really had a clue what the right idea was anymore at this point.

He placed his hand over mine and laced his fingers in the areas between my fingers. My heart jumped.

“If only I had come here earlier,” He said.

“Mm?” I gazed sideways to him.

“I was thinking… If I had entered this school the same year you entered, maybe things would be different… Maybe you’d be dating me instead of Taecyeon.”

“What is up with you two?”

“Me and Taecyeon?” He asked, surprised.

I nodded, “He seems to not like you.”

“I don’t blame him,” he paused, “In our old school, when he was in ninth grade and I was in eighth, we both were presented with the opportunity to join the high school basketball team. Of course, we both accepted. If it weren’t for me he would have been the youngest member to ever join the basketball team. They usually never accepted freshmen. At practice, we’d both compete with one another to be a starter in a game, and most of the time I’d beat him.”

“And that’s why he doesn’t like you?”

He nodded. “I guess it didn’t help that I was also really pompous about it too.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, I was a middle schooler on a high school team! It’d be weird if I wasn’t.”

“Let me guess, you probably rubbed it in his face that you were getting the spots that he wanted?”

Dongwoon looked down, “I guess you could say that…”

I shook my head.

“I feel bad for it now, if that changes anything…”

Our hands grew sweaty, so I momentarily let go.

“Tiffany?” Dongwoon said quietly as I wiped my hand on my shirt

I looked at him, widening my eyes to signal that he had my attention.

“I like you.” He took in a deep breath, “I really… really like you.”

My face grew hot as I looked away.

He swept my hair out of my face and placed it on my ear as he guided my face so that I was looking at him again. Then, he leaned in, closer, closer, closer…

I closed my eyes, but when I realized that I was about to let him kiss me, I opened them immediately.

I guess he realized what he was doing as well as he pulled away from me.

We both cleared our throats.

“Sorry… I just…” He paused, “I know you’re going to laugh at this… but I really just want to hold you and kiss you, but there’s so much stopping me: your boyfriend, in particular.”

I didn’t reply, I just stared at the water.

“And now I’m ruining the mood,” He sighed.

I placed one hand on his shoulder and stood up, extending my other hand to him and in turn an invitation to join me for a swim. Yes, I was wearing clothes, but I didn’t care, it was going to lighten things.

He stood up and walked into the water with me, holding my hand tightly.

At first we stood with the water at knee level, hesitating to submerge our entire bodies in the water, but what the hell, I’ve been dying to swim for the past week.

Hoping he’d follow me lead, I dove into the water.

When I stood up again, I saw that he was still standing, so I swam back to him and tackled him into the water.

He was lying on his back, propping himself up with his elbows, and I was on top of him; our bodies were in the water, but our faces were still above the surface. When I lifted my head from his chest giggling, I realized that my face wasn’t too far away from his.

He smiled and stared into my eyes; then he looked at my lips. With no warning, he leaned forward and kissed me.

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I just realized that I pasted twice.

ack. sorry for the confusion!!