“Out, the both of you, out!”

I trotted out the door, textbook in hand. Oh, well. Better sore arms than a full week of detention.

Jonghyun didn’t take it quite as well, though. He stomped out of the classroom like a little 5-year-old being said ‘no’ to. Just another one of his menial traits is being a childish toddler at heart.

I rolled my eyes and spared a glance at him. Jonghyun was sulking, a pout on his face. “Stop being such a child, will you?”

“What was that?! We wouldn’t even be here if you had just –”

“Had just what?!” I retorted, disbelief on my face at the fact that he actually had the nerve to say it’s my fault. “You were the asshat who busted me!”

“Anyone would’ve busted you in a matter of time – and ‘asshat’? Oh, please, I’ve been called worse.”

“I was doing just fine until you and your fat foot shoved in. Being you, I’m sure people call you the worst.”

“You’re a , you know that?”

“Takes one to know one.”               

He glared. “.”

“Oh, please,” I countered, mocking his tone of voice. “You’re basically insulting your own kind.”

That’s how I spent the most of my first two periods, insults being flung back and forth and my arms hanging precariously off my head. Even the teachers who passed us didn’t bother intervening. They probably thought it wasn’t worth it; they have other students that they were paid to pester and bore.  

We didn’t even notice the bell ringing and that Mr Frederickson’s periods had ended. By then we were screaming at each other. I seriously don’t understand why we even bothered to hold our arms up until then.

“DO EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THIS PLANET A FAVOUR AND THROW YOURSELF IN A DITCH, YOU MOTHERER.”

“RIGHT AFTER I DIRTY MY HANDS WITH YOUR BLOOD, .”

We were being really, really, really verbal.

“JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTH– oh, I have suggestion – ON SOME BALLS, WHY DON’T YOU.”

Too verbal.

“Enough, you morons,” somebody quipped from behind me.

I turned and found myself facing Junhong or as he prefers to calls himself, ‘Zelo’ after the god of rivalry. But, in all honesty, the name’s not doing him any justice and he has pink hair. No god with a status like that would have pink hair.

“Oh, Junhong, what’s up?” I said, coolly nodding my head at him as a form of greeting.

“Oh, is Mr Fred out already?” Jonghyun whistled low. “Time sure flies.”

Junhong could only roll his eyes at our behaviour. “What’s up? You have been disturbing the entire student body with your yelling – that’s what’s up – and, yes, that old hawk’s has been gone for, like, fifteen minutes but you guys were too caught up in your own to take notice.”

I blanched at the interpretation of us even dating. Jonghyun from beside me had this appropriately horrified look on his face.

Our reactions wasn’t left unnoticed.

“Oh, stop, not this again, just marry each other, fools,” Junhong said, looking at us pointedly.

I freaking hate this society. If they’re not thinking that I’m in the closet locking lips with Amber, it’s me and Jonghyun hiding our so-called ‘feelings’ for each other through our long-run rivalry. That may be the case for some, but don’t they get the message that I want to wring his neck? Dumb ing society, I tell you.

And Jonghyun’s not even close to my type, anyways. His head is too big and he wears more makeup than me. Excuse me for complaining but I’d like to be the feminine one in the relationship.

I glowered at Junhong. “You’re the fool,” I said. “Don’t you people get it?! Even if I had to choose between dating him and lips with Freddie Cruger – I’d choose the latter.”

“I’m offended.”

“It’s ing s’posed to –”

“Be nice, Haerin,” Junhong, reprimanded me, as if I was a dog barking at the guests.

I was just to oppose with a witty remark when I felt a shadow loom over us.

The three of us simultaneously turned.

Well, e, it was the principal, Mr Hwang Jongguk towering over at a whopping 6’11 from behind us lot. I’m guessing his doing his daily morning rounds. “Ah, having a nice morning, students?” he greeted us, his lips set at a thin line.

I’m not surprised if he heard me and Jonghyun’s bickering – from Junhong’s whining; we did seem pretty loud… and vulgar. If he did though, that’ll only add up in the list of complaints regarding moi.

“Mr Hwang! Good morning,” the three of us chorused together, our backs straightening at reflex.

“Now, children, why are you just standing there outside of your classes? Ms Go, you do know that you are right on that one thin line that borders –”

“Junhong! What is taking you so darn long?! The next teacher will be here soon. Get your bloody –”

It was Amber.

“… h-ere.”

For a moment, all eyes were on Amber. And she just had to cuss, again.

“Oh .”

I smacked her upside the head.

“Ah, Amber Josephine Liu, how are you this morning?” Mr Hwang cheerily asked her, openly grinning.

Don’t get deceived or anything. The guy may seem nonchalant and everything but – oh no – don’t be fooled by that poppy face. He’s probably already thinking up the opening lines to each of the letters that will be sent to our parents.

You do not want your parents to get a letter from this man. He either sends letters regarding the remarkable accomplishments of the student or the trouble he/she has been in lately. And most of the time – since the guy is doubly hard to please – it’s the latter.

“Fine, Mr Hwang, your highness – I mean, captain – I meant; mighty one,” she hit herself in the forehead, “sir, I meant, sir.”

I had to hold in a giggle.

“Just dandy,” he answered, equally cheery as before. “Back to your classes now, you wouldn’t want to be acquainted with having a visit to Room 401, would you?”

Room 401 is where after-school detention was always held.

“No!”

“Good, now cheerio,” Mr Hwang chirped.

The four of us turned our heels and started making our way back into class, in which Jonghyun still managed to put a few rods in. “If it wasn’t for –”

“Sod off, prick-er.”

Amber looked sideways at me. “Okay, seriously, Hae? Lay off the McLennon and Dr Who, m’kay?”

The rest of the morning passed by in a blur, recess was okay; I sat at my usual table with the same-old mix-matched batch of ’09, barely took a bite of the ‘mystery meat,’ aced a biology test, found a cockroach in my backpack, beat up Jonghyun – and so on.

The events of that morning kept randomly popping up here and there – rather incessantly if I must add. Just on my 17^th question during the test and an image of a shirtless Kwangmin popped out of the blue. I’ve never seen him before and I suspect it was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body pasted onto his. But each time it resurfaced, I buried it back under. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful day.

By the time the usual rush following the last school bell died down, I grabbed my pack off the ground and leisurely made my way out the door, not having to worry about the crowded hallways and noisy students milling about. Save for a few teenagers who – like me – preferred the peace and quiet rather than the risk of getting your head bashed in amidst the hubbub of the end of school, the school was mostly empty.

I rounded the corner and found Amber waiting for me at her usual spot, a pocky stick in between her teeth. Amber only had morning lessons with me (apart from Fridays where we have last period P.E together) so we always made it a point to walk back home together.

“Yo,” she greeted me, throwing the box of pocky(s) at me.

I caught it mid-air. It was the white chocolate kind. “You make it look like we’re smoking cigarettes.”

“That’s the point,” she grinned, grabbing and popping one into my mouth. “We’ll pretend smoke together – like the best -ies we are.”

“Ha-ha,” I said dryly, chewing on my pretend cancer stick.

We took a shortcut pass the school field, ending up stopping for a while to chat with the blatant boyfriends, Luhan and Xiumin*. They’re seniors of ours we got to know mainly because of Luhan’s Photography Club’s activities. He had been given a theme to capture things that were similar to your own nature but at the same time the subject was to be a sharp contrast to yourself. Luhan always said that his club president is on crack.

Luhan had dragged Xiumin with him and they had approached us asking if they could take a picture of us together. As in together together. After a brief explanation and us pitying them, we complied, not before straight-out saying that we loved men, though.

The shot was stereotypically taken inside a closet, us posing in dramatic poses. It ended up being featured in the school magazine; they had actually made us look that good. It also was a way of them ‘coming out’ to the public. It was a small price to pay on our part (half the school population thought we were lesbians – and it was hard- work to convince them otherwise) to see Luhan and Xiumin, being the adorable gays they are, freely expressing their feelings for each other in school.

The four of us were on buddy-buddy terms after that.

“They’re nice, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but if Luhan wasn’t in the picture, I would totally try to get into Xiumin’s pants,” Amber said wistfully.

I had no clue if she was serious or not. She jokes around about this kind of stuff a lot. “Either way, he would still be gay.”

“Hey, you’ve never seen this hot piece of in action. For all you know, I can make cooked spaghetti turn raw – yes, I bend the laws of physics, just shows the serious skills I have.”

“I’ve known you for years – I think I’d know when that mediocre of yours is ‘in action’.”

“Well, there aren’t any interesting guys in our school. So.”

“I’ve never seen you showing significant interest in a guy, period,” I deadpanned.

“Well, I thought the same of you,” she started, and during that short dramatic pause of hers, I just knew that I should’ve dropped this topic when I had the chance. “Before you decided to show up today, prancing around in Kwangmin’s jacket – not to mention the fact you came out late, which in its own way would make anyone suspicious.”

Lured and sunk. So this was what the slippery she-devil wanted to talk about, I thought bitterly. I really wasn’t up for it. I just got back from school and I want to get back to my comfy loft and mop around the rest of the day, avoiding homework.

I felt my face getting hot. I never did explain it to her during recess. I was too busy studying for that biology test.

“I–I wasn’t – what –”

“What the hell, dude, are you blushing?” Amber laughed; her eyes in amused little crescents. At least someone was enjoying my misery.

“No!”

“Aw, does widdle Haewin have a cwush?” she mockingly cooed at me.

I wanted to smack her into oblivion. “So he smells nice – heavenly, even – doesn’t mean I have a crush on him,” I said, making quotation marks at the word crush.

“It soooooooooo does,” she retaliated immaturely.

“This is why I never confide about guys to you.”

“You’ve never been interested in boys – you passed through your early teenage years barely sparing a glance at boys. If I didn’t know you better, I’d thought you were in lesbians with me.”

“Well, you do, so can we just drop it?” I clarified, stomping ahead of her.

“Haerin!” Amber called out, jogging slightly to catch up to me. “Wait up!”

“What, Ams? I really am not in the mood for this, okay?”

She fell into silence, a step behind me.

I thought it’d end up like that the whole back to her house; silent and awkward, the tension practically visible in the air. But she spoke up again after some time. “Wanna hang at my place at dance badly to the songs of the early noughties?”

Translation; she was inviting me to her place to play Just Dance on her Xbox.

I’m glad she dropped it. Maybe she’ll bring it back up in the future but for now, I’ll focus on kicking her in an Xbox game.

“Ha! You’ll never beat me and my high score in Raining Men.”

“You’ll see. I’m the one with the Xbox – I actually practice.”

“Well, I was born with talent…”

And our banter went on. 

I know I said that I'd be posting 5 chaps simultaneously. But I keep editing and editing and EDITING. I just have to post this first three before I go insane. I know, I know, a LOT changed, eh? And I am just cursing a whole more than I usually do. (It just shows I'm maturing.)

But I am sort of proud of these three so (hopefully) I won't be re-re-doing this whole series anytime soon. 

It's 3 in the morning here so I'll just conk out.

Comment, like seriously, I want to know what you think. Or was the old storyline better?

EDIT: (forgot there was a note there hehehe sorry) *I was probably overdosed with xiuhan feels when doing this -  and as I am too lazy to make another fic regarding boy love, I made a short one here, pardon me.