Bzzttt. Bzzzzztt. BZZZTT.

I roll over in my bed to check the time. 'eerrggghhh,' I mumble. It's only 7:00 AM????? Who the hell gets up and texts people this early?!?!? With my hair tangled and mouth dry from drooling on my pillow, I groggily sit up in bed. I glare at my phone and see a flashing light indicating a new message.

I reach for my phone sitting on the night stand next to my bed. Damn it, why did I put that thing so far away?

As I struggle to reach my phone, I suddenly get a pinching cramp in my side. Just as I finally get to touch my phone, it falls on the floor. "AARRRRGGHHH." I mumble in a cave-woman-like manner. Jesus Christ, why is this morning so difficult?

"Need a hand?" Nicole sweetly calls out from the first floor.

"eggghhhhhh." I mumble again. 

"I take that as a yes."

She makes her way up the stairs and helps me pick up my phone. "Are you okay?" She asks in a concerned voice.

No. I'm not okay. In order to be with Chansung, I'll need Taecyeon's help. The only way for that to happen is to help Taecyeon out with Jessica. That requires BEING FRIENDS with Jessica. Well.. I mean... I haven't spoken to her yet. I don't think she'll be that bad of a person.... plus there's no way of knowing unless I actually try to get to know her first... ughh. but I can't help but to feel a little bit reluctant to get into this whole making friends with more people thing.

"Go and shower first, maybe you'll feel better?" She asks.

"Mmmmm....."

I crawl out of bed and grab my towel. Let's come up with a plan as we shower, eh?

As I stood in the hot water contemplating tactics to befriend Jessica and introduce the idea of dating Taecyeon, I realized that I didn't even read my text. I quickly finished off showering and ran back to my room to check my phone.

"Breakfast?" It was Chansung. I smiled to myself.

"Why the smile suddenly?" I guess Nicole couldn't help but to notice my sudden change in mood.

"errrr..."

"Still not forming real sentences?"

"No, it's not that... Chansung asked me to have breakfast with him," I grinned.

"Oh...."

I gave her a puzzled look.

"No, it's just that you might want to be careful. Jessica was talking about how she likes him last night."

"hmm.. I had a feeling that was the case."

"How?"

"Well, it's just that she's always looking for him and butting in when I hang out with him."

She chuckled, "Well, I guess you'd best get going to the dining hall. I'll keep her busy."

"Thanks a bunch, roomie" I smiled whilst getting dressed.

When I showed up to the dining hall I found Chansung sitting at a table by himself with a sullen expression painted on his face. I ran over to him with the hopes of cheering him up. 

"Hey, are you okay? You look sort of down."

"Hmm?" He looked dazed.

"Chansung?"

"Mmm?" He replied, still looking down at the table. "Oh, you came" He managed to smile a little

"Is something wrong?"

"Go get some food first, and I'll tell you. I don't want you to starve."

"Oh, please, I can hold out for another two hours without food. What's wrong?"

"Do you ever feel like a fish out of water?"

"Always."

He chuckled. "I feel like no one in my dorm likes me. They're always picking on me and making me feel terrible. And they're starting to spread false rumors about me, too."

"Well.. didn't you get to spend time with Jessica last night?"

"Yeah.. but for some reason.. I just kept thinking to myself how much I can't relate to her-- that all she looks for in a person is whether or not they're good looking or popular. I can't help but to feel like she's going to just dump me on my when she finds out that no one likes me."

"Chansung-ah..."

"Mmm?"

"I don't know how to say this without it sounding awkward... but there are girls that would like you for who you are... And there are plenty of guys here who would accept you in your dorm. I think you've just been hanging out with the wrong ones. You should try hanging out with Junho and Taecyeon and those guys."

"Which girls?"

Me.

"Errr.... I don't know. You're really nice and funny. A lot of girls go for guys like that." I smiled at him, hoping he wouldn't catch my drift.

"Are you talking about yourself?"

"Ummm... No." My voice cracked. 

He smiled and looked away. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he looked back at me. "Go get some food."

I awkwardly got up without saying a word and made my way over to the waffle machine. God, I'm an idiot. Kill me now.

Suddenly I feel a hand grab my shoulder.... I turned around and saw Taecyeon standing next to me.

"So I see my talk with Chansung worked..."

"Wait.. this breakfast date with Chansung was your doing??"

"Yeah.. you wanted to hang out with him more, I picked on him a little bit more in the dorm last night and Junho told him that Jessica only likes guys for their visual appearance."

I glared at him. 

"What? I'm doing you a favor!"

Without thinking, I suddenly punched him in the arm. 

"What? Do you want me to tell him to not hang out with you ever again??"

"No. But I didn't want you to stage this whole thing. I thought he actually wanted to hang out with me..."

"Oh, but he does. We never told him explicitly to hang out with you..."

I thought about it for a second. "Good point.."

BEEP BEEP BEEP. The waffle machine indicated that my waffle was ready to be taken out.

"Gumowo."

"No problem. It's your turn now."

After sprinkling a few chocolate chips on my waffle, I strolled back to Chansung grinning like an idiot.

"What's with the sudden joyous mood?" He questioned

"Oh.. nothing." I nervously chuckled.

Chansung looked behind me and saw Taecyeon standing by the waffle machines.

"Do you like him or something?"

Err... what? "Are you kidding?"

"No? You just seemed really happy after seeing him. Be careful, Tiffany. He's such a jerk. Listen, his nickname in the dorm last year was "I Hate You, Die". You can sort of get a sense of how the entire world feels towards him.."

"He's really not that bad. But I still don't like him like that. He's like a big brother to me. That's just weird."

"Okay."

"Chansung~!"

Oh God. Is that Jessica I hear? Yup. It is.

"Hey Tiffany!"

I look in the other direction to see the group of boys I just met last night waving at me as they entered the dining hall from the side door. All of them. Including Jay.. *sigh* Jayyy.

Taecyeon takes a seat next to me and starts digging into his massive plate of food.

"Jesus, are you trying to die of a heart attack?"

"No. I'm really hungry. You should worry about yourself..."

"Was that a fat girl joke directed at me?" I rolled my eyes. "Jerk."

Chansung looked at me with an "I told you so" look. I couldn't help but to smile a little.

"Chansung!" She giggles

God, is that the only word this girl knows how to say??"

As soon as she sat down I get up to get a cup of tea, but before I could take a step forward, Taecyeon grabs my wrist.

"Are you leaving?"

"No, babo. I'm getting some tea, I'll be right back."

"Oh... okay." 

It's so obvious he's nervous.

I returned quickly with two mugs full of steaming chamomile.

"Here, drink this, it'll calm you down," I whispered to Taecyeon.

He nervously smiled back at me.

Not too long after I returned, NichKhun, WooYoung, Junho and Jay join our table.

"How did you all sleep last night?" Jay asked trying to break the awkward silence.

"Not bad," I replied. "Though I had a tough time getting up this morning. I'm not really a morning person."

"Sorry." Chansung mouthed to me.

I smiled at him to reassure that he did nothing wrong.

"So, Chansung and I were walking around campus last night and we found the greatest spot to watch stars. It was so cold though, but I'm glad Chansung wore so many layers of clothing that he could spare a jacket."

I gave Taecyeon a sarcastic look even though I could see Chansung blatantly looking at me.

"We had a lot of fun. Good thing he's taken Astrology, or else I wouldn't have known what we were looking at."

Junsu finally joined. "Hey guys," he quietly spoke.

"So what sports do you all play?" I asked to cut off Jessica's incessant blabber.

"Basketball," Jay immediately replied. "I'm a recruit."

"Me too," said Junsu.

"I think we all play basketball, here," Taecyeon replied.

"I don't do sports," replied Jessica.

"What about you? I can't believe I haven't asked you this yet." Chansung asked.

"I swim. So you guys won't really be able to see much of me in the Winter Season. I'll be way too busy at practices and at meets."

"So that's why your shoulders are so manly," joked Taecyeon.

"Why do you keep insulting her?" Chansung defended.

Everyone stopped eating and looked at Chansung. 

"Chan, I think he's kidding." I quietly whispered to him.

He simply looked at me.

"Chill, dude. She's a tough girl. I wouldn't joke around with her like that if I didn't know that she could handle it."

I looked at Jessica. She looked so miserable trying to draw attention to herself.. especially from Chansung.

"I'm full and I've already got some work to do. I'm going to go back to the dorm now. I'll see you all later?" I looked at Chansung specifically.

"I think I'm going to leave too," Jessica followed.

"Tiff, I'll text you," Taecyeon yelled out as we left through the main entrance. And I waved back at him to indicate that I'd be waiting for his text.

I hope they don't kill each other when I'm not there to mediate...

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