I rubbed my bruised and aching wrist, daydreaming as Mr. Shin droned on about derivatives or whatever. Forget feeling like a K-drama protagonist, now I only had sympathy for those poor girls. Like I know Jeongguk wouldn't want to hold my hand because ~cooties~ (boy might have been seventeen, but he sure acted like he was 7), but seriously, the wrist? And I couldn't even wrench it out of his grasp. LIke, I'm lazy-girl-fit, ok. Not idol training seven days a week gotta get swole to impress dem fangirls fit. 

We had burst out onto the roof, and Jeongguk finally (!) dropped my wrist.

"What was that all about!" I yelled at him.

He looked to the side. Back to giving me the side-eye silent treatment, I see. I was used ot it at this point. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm goign to be late for homeroom. Maybe you don't have to care about your grades since you're a famous idol or whatnot, but I do. This is the one shot I got at getting somewhere with my life." 

He glared at me.

"What? Are you expecting a thank you ro something? Yeah, thanks for dragging me away from my lovely morning nap, now can we please get back to class? Or did you have something that was actually useful to say?" I sneered sarcastically at him.

What? I hadn't had my morning coffee. Don't interrupt a sleeping girl, that's all I'm saying. 

"So you'd just let those girls walk all over you like that?" And the jerk speaks!

"Look I don't have much a choice. Keep your head down, get through school. THat's how things work around here. Not all of us have girls swooning over us 24/7. Heck, most people have to deal with life being Not loved by the general population. It's called reality, pop star."

He frowned. "Whatever."

Babycakes couldn't handle life outside the celeb bubble, huh? Although it was fair. When had he ever had the chance to grow up normally? Even Taehyung-oppa and Jimin-oppa, god bless their stupid hearts, weren't abvoe their fame. They were world-class idols, with people falling over themsleves to please the boys. I just wouldn't be one of them. 

Everyone has a dark side, but famous people probably have to hide it more. I didn't envy them that, but sitting in Mr Shin's class, thinking about scholarship I had to apply to to even get a shot at college, I wondered if the price was worth it. 

"And that's all for today, class! Before we go, let me just hand back your most recent quizzes..." The class groaned as one. I shook myself out of my daydreams and perked back up. I'd been planning on asking Mr Shin for a reference letter for college, and if this quiz had maintained my current spot as "more than somewhat adequate math student", it would be an easy cinch. 

A paper floated down in front of me. 98%, daebak! I scanned it over, noting where I had forgotten a negative sign in one of the problems. Aish. 

"Shin-Ae? Jeongguk? Could I speak to you both after calss?" Quizically, I looked up at Mr Shin. I wondered what was going on. I could hear the rumors spiralling out of control behind me again. Great. Yoojung and Hyunmin had been working extraordinarily hard to keep things from this morning on the DL, but I guess that unruly cat was out of the bag. At least Jinsoo wasn't in this class. I really did Not need a repeat of the year before Yoojung's transfer...

Keep your head down? Hah. Easier said than done when just being around idols forces your head straight into the glare of the spotlight. Around me, I could hear people packing up their bags and chattering, as well as a few less-than-flattering murmurs about where I could stick my head. Wasn't the worst I'd heard, so I just shrugged those off. 

Curiously, though, when I looked at Jeongguk, the boy was stricken. Like a deer in headlights. Wonder what crawled up his and died -- you know, aside from the normal roadkill. 

"Shin-Ae, nice job on this week's quiz. I know it was sudden, but you really did an amazing job, especially your creative approach to solving the last problem. Just don't forget the extra negative next time!" Mr Shin said. 

Yes, praise meee I need that reference letter sir. Thank you thank you thank you.

"Thanks, Mr Shin. What did you want to speak with us about?" I beamed. And can I maybe also ask you for a reference letter? 

Jeongguk and I had gathered around Mr Shin's desk, waiting with our hands politely behind our backs. Respect for the almighty teacher and all. 

"Well, Shin-Ae, I know you've been tutoring Kyungri and Chansoo, and both their grades have been improving!"

"All them, I swear. Sometimes I feel like I'm learning more by tutoring anyway" I smiled. Kyungri and Chansoo were super friendly, so that situation was a total win-win. Kyungri was also great for swapping K-drama recommendations, and Chansoo helped me out with the occasional English essay. They were great to hang out with when I wasn't already attached at the hip with Yoojung and Hyunmin. And it was true. I had been doing better at math since I'd begun tutoring them -- something about breaking the problem down and understanding it from their views had given me a better perspective of it myself. 

"That's great to hear. So now, Jeongguk--" Here Mr Shin turned to Jeongguk, who flinched. Mr Shin smiled kindly. "No need to be nervous. I know you might not be used to school, and you might've been unprepared for this quiz."

Jeongguk gave a tentative smile back.

"Still, at our school, we believe that every student should be given an equal chance to excel! That's why, I'm pairing you up with Shin-Ae to be tutored." 

I'm sorry what?  

Excuse Me?

Mr Shin, I take back every nice thing I said about you. 

"What?!" Surprisingly, it was not me that shouted in protest, but Jeongguk. My brain was still trying to comprehend.

"...Sir." Jeongguk mumbled belatedly. 

"Just to help you get adjusted, of course! We want you and the other members of BTS to be as well-acclimated to our school as possible. Throwing you into the deep end of Honors Calc may be a challenge, but here, we want students to thrive from challenges. Shin-Ae is one of my best students, I'm sure she would be more than happy to help you!" Mr Shin looked back and forth between the two of us, waiting.

More than happy. Sure, Mr Shin. Just like I'd be more than happy to venture into the mosh pit of a BTS concert and have screaming fangirls knock out my hearing. 

"Of course..." I smiled weakly, chuckling to hide my absolute terror.

"So it's settled. You two can work out the detail between yourselves, but personally, I think this is great. You both have so much potential, and I really want to see you succeed."

"Thank you," Jeongguk and I murmured. Privately, though, we were both thinking What have we gotten ourselves into? Or at least, that's what I was thinking. One look at Jeongguk and he had this slightly constipated expression, so who really knew with him.

Kind of felt bad though. Kid was probably busy enough with image training and CFs and whatever else famous people did. Maybe he didn't want to be normal anymore.

And for me, maybe it was a sign that Mr Shin trust me enough to do this. 

Still, did I Have to work with Jeongguk? How had the boy ended up in Honors Calc anyway... Yoojung had normal Calc with Jimin and Taehyung, so that meant Jeongguk had voluntarily signed up for the class. 

We exited the classroom, and I turned to Jeongguk. "So, why does Mr Shin think you need my help anyway?"

The boy bristled. "Your help!" Then clamped his mouth shut. I spotted a corner of his quiz paper.

"What did you get on the last quiz?" 

"..." I was starting to get sick of this silent treatment. I snatched the paper out of his hand, ignoring his shout of surprise.

"We have a lot of work to do." 

"I don't want your help!" The boy muttered, snatching his paper back. "I just wasn't prepared for this quiz. It's been a while since I've gone to school, anwyay. This whole project was stupid."

Project, huh? Like Yoojung and I had speculated, the whole going-to-school thing was probably a media ploy by Big Hit Entertainment to make the boys seem more approachable. I know Mi-soo had read some recent blog posts about how BTS were letting the fame go to their heads, especially the maknae line. Still, it wasn't any of my business. I just had to teach Jeongguk some calculus. It didn't matter who he was.

"School is stupid." I retorted, " it up. I don't necessarily want to tutor you either, but I'm going to."

Look, some of us train for years and get the opportunity of a lifetime to stand onstage. Some of us yearn for that. But some of us look at that lifestyle, look at the sacrifice, and say, that's not for me. Some of us stay ordinary, go through school and get jobs and watch people stand onstage. 

I've never wanted to be famous. 

"Why" Jeongguk muttered suspiciously.

"You wanted to be an idol, right?" I tell him, "So you trained and became one. I want to go to college and major in math. If tutoring you is going to help me get there, then I will." 

Jeongguk looked at me for a long second. I looked right back. We didn't like each other any more, but for once, it felt like we could understand each other.

"Okay," he said. 

We decided to meet at my place twice a week to go through what we had learnt in class. It would help me revise as well, and deter any weird rumors from starting since no one knew where Jeongguk lived. Also, if we had studied in the library, there would have been no end to the crazy fangirls and distractions. 

And through it all, we began to fall in lov- 

No. This isn't that sort of story. Although if I had known at the time how our relationship would be changed by those two afternoons a week, I wonder, would I still have said yes? 

---

A/N: author-nim back with another chapter a half year later mianhae but i wonder if i'm the only one reading these? this chapter got more serious~ hope that's alright with you oppas and unnis. next chapter may be different altogether ~~~ author-nim has some new twists and tricks in store

preview:

"Nerd."

"Jerk."

Our hands touched.