D-1  08:00 Seoul

"Okay 12A, settle down, find your seats and get comfortable cause we're in for a long bus ride to Busan. We'll be departing in about ten minutes so while waiting for the other class I want to see everybody seated, you hear me?" The buzzing students completely disregard the teacher as he adjusts his glasses to examine the attendance list. You lug your bag up the bus, last one of your class to board. 

"Oh great, the back rows are all filled. How are we gonna sit together?" Jinee scratched her head as she turned towards you and Mina behind her.

Mina shrugged "Should we just squeeze into a two-seater together?" 

You huff as you throw your bag into a random overhead compartment. "You guys go and sit together, I'll be here. I need space for a nap anyway, it's still too early to be in a good mood."

You push Mina to sit with Jinee despite their constant bickering about you sitting alone. You casually slide into a double seater and pull out some snacks and a pair of earphones from your sling bag. You  plug an earpiece in and can't help but move your shoulders to the jazzy beat, memorising the dance steps to the song.

A few minutes later, a group of rowdy boys board the bus and start making a ruckus out of absolutely nothing. Your eyes snap up and instantly recognise the cute guy with a crisp bronze tan from 12B, who's happens to be in your dance class. He glances in your direction and recognises you instantly.

"Hi Hana," he smiles as he occupies the double seater in the next row, along with another familiar face. 

"Hana?" The boy with milky white skin next to him leans forward to take a peek at you and you wave dumbly. "Hey Kai, Sehun."

"Man, I can't wait to play by the beach. I heard 12A and 12B are up against each other for almost every game.  By the way, friendly warning; we're really competitive." The tanner chuckles as he rubs his hands together. You slip a small smile as you point towards your class guys occupying the last row, "So are they."

Sehun runs a hand through his hair as he grins, "Well we look forward to the challenge."

Just then, a boy with bangs strides through the aisle and stands in the way of you and Kai, shoving the latter around. "Yah, move over. I want to sit with Sehunnie." 

"Who says I want to sit with you?" The fair boy sticks a tongue out, clasping Kai's arm tightly refusing to let him go. The chestnut-haired boy literally whines at the pair and it makes him sound like a puppy. An actual puppy. You only see his back, but you can already imagine a pout plastered onto the boy's face. "Sehun-ah~"

 Sehun firmly shakes his head. "I want to sit with Jongin, go sit over there with Chanyeol."

"But his ing long legs take up both seats." He continues to whine, and you feel uncomfortable seeing a grown boy expressing himself with so much aegyo. So you look away.

"Then sit here," Kai pushes the boy straight into the seat beside you and you startle when his back knocks into your left shoulder. He turns around immediately and your eyes meet. You notice a look of shock etched onto his angular face, eyes rounded and mouth gaping. "S-sorry!" He starts but Kai interjects before the former can apologise fully.

"It's cool if Baekhyun sits here right, Hana? His whiny wants to be near Sehun."

You didn't like inconveniencing people nor making a scene so you relent. Besides, it was just for the bus trip, it wasn't like he was rooming with you or anything. You purse your lips but nod anyway, seeing Baekhyun's shiny eyes staring up into your own pleadingly. He breaks out into a grin immediately, bowing slightly and extending a hand out. "I'm Baekhyun! Nice to meet you-- Hana, was it?" You smile tightly, gingerly holding onto his fingertips to accept the handshake and nod slowly. "Yeah, Hana. Same to you." 

"Alright students, since both 12A and 12 B are all here, we'll be getting a move on." The teacher announces and everybody on the bus cheers excitedly. Baekhyun quickly resumes pestering the pair in the next row, playing with their hair and fiddling with their caps as you absently stare out the window.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Baekhyun gets bored of teasing the two boys who seem to have dozed off and are comfortably leaning against each others' shoulders. So he sinks back into his chair, dejected by the fact that there was nobody to entertain him. He leans over to look at you and realises that you are busy admiring the passing scenery. His eyes snap down and notices a bag of crisps in your hands.

His stomach growls.

Your sensitive ears catches onto the small, pathetic sound and you glance at Baekhyun from the corner of your eye. He rubs his tummy with a pout on his face and you immediately feel bad. Not that you have any reason to, you barely know the boy, but from the rumours you've heard in school you know that he's someone who's usually full of bubbly laughter and vivacity. So before you even think, your arm extends to offer the bag of crisps to the hopeless boy.

He peers up curiously and you prompt him to take it, shaking the bag once. "You can have some if you're hungry." Baekhyun's pale face literally lights up as he accepts the bag. 

He ends up his fingers clean.

He smiles in thanks but you don't say anything so he decides to take your kind gesture as a sign to start making small talk. 

"What's your major?" he begins and you reply curtly, mostly because it's barely nine in the morning "Practical dance." You don't need to say any more to keep the conversation going, because Baekhyun's already on it.

"Oh mine's practical music! But I'm really not sure why they put me in 12B. Not that I'm complaining, on the contrary I'm super grateful to have met the people in my class--" he rambles but stops when he sees your disinterested face. " I didn't know you were in the same course as these two idiots." he pointed over to his two sleeping classmates and you raise a brow. 

"You're lucky to have them in your class. They're great dancers." He puffs his chest out and points to himself. "Hey, I'm a great singer too. They should be the ones to feel lucky!" you let out a small scoff and Baekhyun goes all desperate trying to prove himself, at one point he even starts singing and you laugh in incredulity. He changes topics like a pro when he gets bored, and that happens a lot. You note that his attention span is as short as that of a Beagle. And the boy never sits still, his gestures are wild, just like the look in his eyes when you bring up the topic of food.

"I love samgyupsal. I once ate only samgyupsal and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks in a row."

"What happened after that?"

"My mom told me I looked like an obese poodle" You choke on your spit and almost die laughing as Baekhyun grumbles.

B