“Eomma!” Kelsi yelled as she grabbed the keys off the kitchen isle, “I’m leaving now I gotta go get Cae.”

“Uh, why don’t you wait a second, little bird.” Kelsi’s mom said awkwardly, glancing over her shoulder.

“Kelsi has a da-ate.” Naomi sang.

Kelsi rolled her eyes, “No I’ve had a dated since like Sophomore year when we made this plan.” Naomi giggled and gave her a look like I-know-something-you-don’t-know. Azael hugged Kelsi from behind and sighed.

“My little bird is all grown up.” he fake sobbed dramatically. Kelsi stabbed into his hip with her elbow.

“I’m older than you.” she reminded him, “Mom what am I waiting for again?” She shrugged off her brother and turned to the spot where her mom stood seconds before. Her mom wasn’t there anymore, in her place was Yoongi leaning against the doorframe, “Oppa.”

“Hey Skye bird.” he greeted her quietly.

She walked over and hugged him, “What are you doing here?”

His hands fell on her hips, “I’m your date,” he explained, “I mean that is if you want me to be.”

“You act like this is supposed to be a hard choice for me.” Kelsi giggled, “I’d love for you to-“ Kelsi was interrupted by her siblings yelling at each other in Portuguese from the back of the house. Yoongi’s eyes widened and Kelsi huffed and glared towards the back of the house, “Would you both shut up?!” She yelled back in Portuguese. She turned back to Yoongi and noticed the confused and slightly scared look in his eyes, “We should go.” she giggled.

. . .

A girl latched onto Kelsi’s arm and she pulled back automatically, glaring in disgust at her. Once she looked at the girl she recognized her as Chloe Black, one of the girls who has hated her all her life, "Oh my god Kels," Chloe gushed while glancing at the blonde man in the black suit.

"Don't call me Kels." Kelsi said immediately.

Chloe rolled her eyes, "Whatever. That guy you were talking to, who is he?" she asked. Kelsi blinked, staring blankly at the girl. No. No ing way. She was not letting this popular girl who hated her for no reason try and talk to Yoongi. No. He was hers. Her mentor. Her… Friend. Hers .

"He's off the market." Kelsi said simply, knowing Chloe’s next question would’ve been ‘is he single?’. Chloe began to pout but then let out a squeak. Kelsi felt him next to her before he uttered a greeting.

"Hey." Chloe purred. Yoongi’s eyes swung to Chloe for a second before locking eyes with Kelsi.

"Who's this?" he asked in Korean, sounding bored and unimpressed.

"No one important," Kelsi muttered. Chloe's eyes widened.

"Oh wow I didn't know you speak Japanese well Kelsi, did Cora teach you?" she asked with fake sweetness. Yoongi snorted and Kelsi choked back a laugh.

Yoongi looked back at the brunette, "Well my Kels does speak a bit of Japanese. But that wasn't Japanese. That was Korean. I am from Korea, we both speak it." he said in English slowly.

Chloe's eyes flashed when Yoongi called her 'my kels'. She smiled through the anger in her eyes, "So English isn't your first language? You speak it very well." She twirled her hair around her finger, "So like what's someone like you doing here?"

"This is a dance is it not?" Yoongi questioned, glancing at Kelsi, “I’m here to dance.” Kelsi giggled.

"Well duh I mean you're obviously older and very attractive," Chloe explained.

"I am older," he stated before asking Kelsi in Korean what the hell this girl was trying to do.

"Flirt," Kelsi replied.

Chloe gritted her teeth together, "Kels you should teach me Korean so I can talk to your friend here easier."

"Oh yeah totally lemme just quickly teach you an entire language. Only will take a couple minutes. And don't call me Kels." Kelsi said sarcastically as Yoongi started laughing. Her mentor's gummy smile made her heart flutter as she grinned at him.

"What's funny?" Chloe drawled.

"You called me her friend." he chuckled.

Kelsi pressed her hand against her chest pretending to be hurt-- she didn’t have to act too hurt because she was slightly offended, "Excuse me? We aren’t friends?"

"Did she bribe you to come here? Poor baby, you must be so bored." She pouted at him. He blinked at her, suddenly done toying with her.

"She didn't bribe me, she didn't even know I was in America. I surprised her. And,” he made eye contact with Kelsi, “We're not friends. We're closer than that,” Kelsi let her hand drop from her chest, shocked. Yoongi turned back to Chloe, “And honestly, kid, I don't know what you're taught here but generally if we’ve just met someone and they're older than us we speak to them with respect. Not randomly calling them baby ." Chloe's eyes widened at his serious tone. 

"Yeah, you need to know them better for that. Right, baby?" Kelsi tried to hide her laughter. 

Chloe let out an annoyed sound, "Wait so you two know each other really well?" Yoongi chuckled as his arm hooked around her back and pulled Kelsi closer to him. 

"You could say that."

Cora walked over, Hobi trailing behind her. She looked at Chloe and frowned before turning to Kelsi.

“Why is she here?” she asked.

Kelsi shrugged and rolled her eyes, “ if I know.” Chloe stomped her foot and stormed off. Yoongi shook his head, watching her.

“She seems entitled and annoying.” he mused.

Kelsi giggled and gestured at him, “He talked to her for, what, two minutes? And he can already tell.” Cora laughed and looped her arm through Kelsi’s

"We're gonna go to the bathroom quick. You guys stay together. You'll be okay, right?" Cora looked up at her mentor who nodded. 

"We'll be okay," Hobi stated. 

Not even ten minutes later Cora and Kelsi walked over to the spot where they had left their two mentors before stalling as they realized the two men were no longer there. 

"...Where did they go?" Kelsi asked after a second. Cora spun on her heel, her eyes frantically searching the crowd. 

"Of ing course, we're the ones to lose our dates." Cora sighed. Kelsi stood up on her tiptoes trying to peer over the heads of everyone around her. 

"Hobi’s over there." Kelsi grabbed Cora's hand and dragged her to the corner where Hobi was standing uncomfortably. 

His eyes lit up as he saw the small girls coming his way, "I wasn't okay." he admitted as they stopped in front of him. 

"Where is Yoongi oppa?" Kelsi asked, propping her hands on her hips. 

"...About that.." Hobi scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Kelsi let out a groan and turned to go find her own mentor.

Kelsi ended the call with Cae after deciding it be best for her to stay in her spot and have Hansol point Yoongi in her direction. She felt someone stop next to her and glanced over to find Sam Rodgers. Yet another person with an unknown reason to why they’ve hated her for years. She rolled her eyes and looked away. 

"You seem to be trying to look pretty," Sam said, looking Kelsi over in her long flowing black dress. It was backless and the bust was embroidered. Her light pink hair was curled into soft waves over her shoulders. She glanced at him, not wanted to deal with what he had to say, "I don't know if I should tell you that you're failing or not." She let a laugh bubble out of her. 

"Okay, I look hot as hell and that's a fact. But nice try at insulting me." She flashed him a smile and then looked away. The boy blinked in surprise for a second not expecting her to say something like that. The girl he was used to was the quiet girl who just glared at you and told you to off. Not this… Confident sounding girl. 

"Did you come alone?" he asked, staying in his spot next to her. 

"Nope." Her eyes scanned the crowd still looking for her missing mentor. 

"So your date ditched you?" That made her laugh again. More like he got lost. A large hand rested on her lower back and she glanced over to find Yoongi standing there glaring at Sam. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't lost anymore. 

"No, I didn't," he said, pulling her closer to him. Kelsi looked at the older male in surprise. 

"You're her date?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Among other things." And at that Yoongi led her away from Sam, obviously over it. 

"So what happened to staying together and waiting for us to get back hm?" She cocked her head to the side. 

"I wanted to get you a drink. So I told Hobi I'd be right back and then he wandered off and I realized I don't know where anything is and I don't speak English very well. It was like an oh  moment immediately." Yoongi explained. 

"You do speak English well, oppa." she pointed out. 

Yoongi shrugged, "I don't want to screw up or sound stupid." 

"You talked to Sam fine." At the mention of Sam, he frowned.

“Why have so many people tried to start something with you tonight?” he questioned.

Kelsi sighed, “Well if you haven’t noticed I’m not your typical ‘popular’ girl. I’m not your typical popular anything actually. I’m the opposite of popular.”

Yoongi cocked his head to the side, “But if so many people know you, isn’t that what popular is?”

“Not entirely. Sure, most everyone in this school knows me but that’s because I have colored hair and they all hate me.” Kelsi explained, “Before you ask, yes I know they hate me and no I do not know why. It’s a hobby of theirs. To hate me for no reason.” she shrugged, “Oh well let them have their fun. If that’s what amuses them then okay fine.”

“I don’t understand how anyone could hate you,” Yoongi said quietly.

“I’m used to it. Most everyone does.” Kelsi shrugged again.

Yoongi put two fingers under her chin and lifted it so she was forced to make eye contact with him, “I don’t hate you. I… The opposite of hate you.” Kelsi’s eyes widened. Yoongi cleared his throat and dropped his fingers from her chin. He stepped away from her quickly, as if she would burn him if he was closer, “I’m gonna get you a drink. Successfully this time.” He turned and spotted Hansol who he grabbed by the back of the collar. Hansol jumped as he was pulled from his date, “Teach me how to get drinks.” Yoongi instructed, letting Hansol go and pushing him in front of him. Kelsi wandered over to the now alone Caelyx and smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry, my date stole yours. Wanna dance while they’re gone? We were supposed to come together.” Kelsi pointed out.

Caelyx giggled, pulling Kelsi closer, “Of course I wanna dance, is that even a question?”

The two girls started to dance together, giggling about how they can’t actually dance till Kelsi remembered what happened before Yoongi dragged Hansol away.

“I think that Yoongi lowkey just tried to tell me that he loved me and then bounced?” Kelsi questioned. Caelyx’s eyes widened before she laughed.

“That’s such a Yoongi thing to do. That’s such a you thing to do.”

Kelsi laid her head on Caelyx’s shoulder, “I know! Oh lord, I’m confused. I’m gonna ignore it. He probably didn’t even mean it in the way I’m thinking. I’m overthinking it. It’s all good.”

“Kels, love, you’re rambling.” Caelyx pointed out. Kelsi simply groaned, making the other girl laugh.