I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but it IS now after midnight and therefore technically tomorrow, so... here you go.

As you walked through the halls of Mordney High, looking for your locker, thoughts raced through your head. You couldn’t believe that your parents had set you up in an arranged marriage. Marriage is supposed to be for love! You didn’t love this Lee Donghae at all. You had no idea who he was!

Jonghyun highly approved, of course, because he really wanted to get on Donghae’s good side and be his best friend. Why doesn’t HE marry him instead? you thought bitterly.

Of course you saw the fallacy in that. They were both men. Men didn’t marry each other. What an absurd and unheard of notion. But you were just being irrational in your frustrated state.

You rounded a corner and collided with a chiseled and muscular body that was attached to an attractive face with blond hair. All of your books fell to the floor and you groaned as you knelt down to pick them up. The guy you ran into, whose face you would describe as “princely,” also knelt down to help you with them. He had a pleasant and slightly amused expression as he did so.

“Thanks,” you muttered as you straightened up.

“No problem,” he responded. “Are you new here?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“I know almost everyone here, but I’ve never seen you before,” he said, his eyes piercing your soul. You averted your gaze from that intense stare.

“My name is Mary,” you told him. “Mary Sue.”

He smirked. “Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll see more of each other.”

With that, he strode off without even offering his name. You turned away and found and opened your locker, thinking furiously about the encounter.

What a mysterious fellow! You just knew he would be haunting your consciousness and you didn’t even know what to call him. It will nag at your mind forever. Will you ever find relief from this lack of knowledge, this darkness that shrouds your mind and keeps reminding you of your incessant and unquenchable curiosity to have the name of this person who helped you gather your books?!

Your locker slammed shut. “I see you’ve met Himchan,” said the girl who slammed your locker shut. “Here’s a tip: stay away from him. He’s mine.” Her three-person posse all nodded and glared at you menacingly.

“And you are?” you said coolly, unafraid of them.

The leader laughed a laugh that was much like a scoff. “I go by the name of CL of 2NE1,” she snapped. “And you’d best stay out of my way.” Then she strutted off, the other three girls throwing back a few last looks before following.

You let out your breath in a huff. It’s not like you liked Himchan seriously anyway. What did this chick have to threaten you about? Was she actually concerned that you might steal her boyfriend away?

What a thought. Himchan was a prince and apparently quite popular. You were just the new girl. Who ever heard of the new girl changing the status quo? Inconceivable.

You strode to class.

When lunch came around, you managed to safely locate the cafeteria and spot Jonghyun, who was frantically waving you down from a table in the middle of the room. As you sat down, you smiled and nodded shyly to the two people who were also sitting at the table.

“This is Key and Amber,” Jonghyun introduced them. “They’re in my chemistry class. Guys, this is my sister.”

Amber was rather boyish in appearance, and she gave off a masculine vibe to match. “Sup,” she greeted you in an equally masculine way.

When you looked at Key, however, the only word that you could find to describe him was diva. He sent a little half-wave your way, accompanied by a small smile that almost looked more like a grimace.

“Hi,” you said as you sat down with your tray of food. “So you guys have chemistry together?”

“You could say that,” Key answered flippantly. You thought you noticed his eyes flicker towards your brother, but then his eyes just sort of flickered in a bunch of other directions too, so you figured it was nothing.

“So, new girl, your brother didn’t tell us your name,” Amber said.

“Oh,” you mumbled around a mouthful of egg roll. You hastily swallowed what was in your mouth before replying. “I’m Mary Sue.”

“Mary Sue,” she repeated. “That’s a very pretty name. Almost as pretty as your blue eyes.” She flashed you a half-grin before continuing. “So how has Mordney High treated you so far? Do you like it here?”

“Well, so far the only people I’ve met have been complete jerks,” you answered, and then hastily added, “Besides you guys, of course.”

Amber laughed a little, and then said, “Most people here aren’t so bad. You must have just had some bad luck today. What happened?”

You told the three of them about your encounter with Himchan and then CL and her posse called 2NE1.

Key laughed abruptly. “CL is just a . She’s like that to everybody, so don’t take it personally.”

That made you feel a little bit better. “Why are they called 2NE1 anyway?” you wondered out loud.

“Because they’re all twenty-one,” Key and Amber answered in unison.

“What?” You and Jonghyun wondered also in unison.

“Yeah, they’ve all been in high school longer than the rest of us,” Amber explained.

“Which is why they’re so high on the pecking order,” Key added.

“They’re like super seniors.”

“But they’re super-super-super-super seniors.”

You pondered for a moment what it must be like to be a super-super-super-super senior. That would major balls, was the conclusion you came to on the matter. No wonder they’re complete es, you thought. You decided you could excuse CL for her cattiness towards you earlier, but not for her possessiveness over Himchan. He was his own person, and nobody should be able to say otherwise. Wait, why did you care so much? You totally didn’t.

“Hey, speaking of top of the pecking order!”

Your attention was brought back to the conversation by your brother.

“Are you guys, by any chance, friendly with Lee Donghae?” Jongyun asked the other two.

“Lee Donghae?” Amber asked, surprised. “What is he to you?”

“Oh, I was just wondering,” he said. “After all, he is the most popular guy in school, and I was just curious about what a guy like that must be like.” He paused for a moment to take a bite of his carrots. “Also, he’s my future brother-in-law,” he added nonchalantly.

Key and Amber, who both happened to be drinking at that moment, spat their drinks across the table and all over you.

“What?!” Key exclaimed.

“Brother-in-law?!”

“Yeah, pretty cool, I know.” Jonghyun basked in the glory of his connection to godly high school popularity, which was pretty much the most important thing in the world to him.

“He never said anything about getting married!” Amber exclaimed.

“So you are close to him!” Jonghyun said excitedly.

“Yeah,” Amber affirmed. “He’s my brother.”

“What?!”