Wow, thanks for all the love you guys. Here's another long chapter! Consider it a thank you and you're awesome gift. 

It was a little after ten o’clock when you finally arrived at home. You had anticipated staying much longer, but after the unexpected turn of events involving CL and Himchan, you couldn’t wait to get back home. Thankfully, the engagement party was over by now, so you didn’t have to worry about any of the guests seeing you. But there were still a few lights on in the house, so rather than using the door, you climbed back up the vines to your bedroom window.

It was dark in your bedroom, but you didn’t bother to turn on any of the lights. You just wanted to take off your shoes and crawl directly into bed. You didn’t even bother to change out of the dress you were wearing, which you just realized you had technically stolen, but hoped that maybe Bom wouldn’t notice its absence.

Your bed was warm and inviting. It felt so good to rest finally and close your eyes and not have to think about what you were doing or who was watching you. You felt yourself drifting off towards sleep as you curled up against the warm body next to you.

Wait a second.

You quickly sat up and a lamp.

“Jonghyun?” You were surprised to see your brother in your bed, and wearing one of your nightgowns, and still wearing the wig nonetheless. Had he forgotten that he wasn’t you?

He brought his hand over his sensitive eyes and groaned at the sudden awakening.

“What are you doing in my bed?” you asked.

“Mmm,” he grumbled. He yawned then and answered, “Donghae tucked me in.”

“Oh.” Well that explains it, you thought.

“How was the party?” he asked you.

You fell back on your pillow with a huff and looked up at the ceiling. “It ,” you answered.

He looked at you. “What happened?” he asked with brotherly concern.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

He nodded in understanding.

“How was your party?” you asked him.

He inhaled slowly, staring wistfully up at the ceiling. “It was… nice.”

You smiled, glad that things had gone well for your brother. You bade Jonghyun one last goodnight, which he returned, before you turned off the lamp and you both fell asleep.

The next Monday at school, you tried to ignore everything and everyone that reminded you of your humiliation at Bom’s party on Saturday. You could still feel the eyes and hear the whispers that followed you through the halls, but you tuned it out.

The good news was that Himchan’s promise held true and CL wasn’t bothering you. She would glare at you coldly when she thought you weren’t looking, and if you passed in the hallway she would just look straight ahead of her and pretend as if you didn’t even exist. Which was better than anyone else was doing, with all of these rumors going around now about you dating Himchan and knocking CL in her place and changing the status quo. You didn’t want any of those things. Frankly, you just wanted to disappear and stay invisible.

You were also avoiding Himchan like the plague. You spotted him down a hallway and abruptly turned a corner to find a detour to your class. You knew you would have to face him eventually, like in chemistry class, but you didn’t want to talk to him right now. When you turned the corner though, you collided with someone’s chest and looked up to see Donghae, who looked surprised to see you so suddenly but also quite happy.

“Mary Sue,” he said. “I rarely see you while in school. I had forgotten you go here!”

You gulped and smiled back at him nervously, unsure if he had heard the rumors about you and Himchan. If he knew anything about them, he didn’t let on that he did.

“Still lost your voice?” he asked, and you realized you hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. He continued before you could answer. “That’s alright,” he said. “You don’t have to talk. I’m actually glad I ran into you. I was hoping we could make plans for tomorrow. We could go to this museum my uncle owns. It’s quaint and there won’t be anyone around to bother us. We’ll be able to relax and get to know each other without the added pressure of relatives.”

He smiled and his expression was so good-natured that you smiled as well. You nodded. “That would be great,” you said. It would be nice to get back on track with your life instead of getting caught up in all this high school drama.

“Oh, you’re not sick anymore? I’m glad,” he said. “Now I can look forward to having a conversation with you and witnessing your sharp wit at work.”

You smiled and nodded before the two of you bid farewell and parted ways.

At lunch, you tried to keep your eyes averted from Himchan’s table as you passed by it on your way to your usual lunch table. You sat down, feeling slightly more secure around the familiarity of your friends.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Key questioned you.

You paused, holding a breadstick just mere inches away from your gaping mouth. You looked at it self-consciously. Had Key decided to ban you from eating carbs now?

“Uh…” you trailed. “Eating?”

“Here?” He gave you a scolding look.

“Yes…?” You really didn’t know what you were doing wrong here.

“No,” Key ordered firmly. “Go eat with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you objected. You had no intentions of eating with Himchan.

“You two didn’t break up though,” he argued.

“We weren’t ever actually together in the first place,” you countered.

“Oh no,” Key exclaimed. “You are not going to waste all of my hard work.”

“But I’ve fulfilled my debt to Himchan! CL isn’t bothering him anymore. That was the deal.”

“And now you and Himchan have become the hot couple at Mordney High.”

You stared at him, shocked by this statement. “What are you talking about?” you asked.

He let out a laugh that was laced with just a hint of mockery. “Are you completely oblivious to your surroundings?” he asked. “Look around, Mary Sue.”

You did look around. People scattered throughout the cafeteria were stealing glances at you and whispering to their friends as they did so.

“You’ve become the most talked about person in this school,” Key said.

“But why?” you asked.

Key laughed that laugh again. “Because you were the hottest girl at that party, and you put CL in her place.”

You became this popular because of your looks? Were high school students really that shallow? Was the pecking order really based on something so inconsequential?

“Couldn’t it be because of my quick wit and winning charm?” you asked, preferring that explanation.

Key just let out an abrupt, “Ha! Please.” He flicked his hand in your direction. “I made you what you are. Now be a good girl, and go with Himchan.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but suddenly you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you looked up to see none other than Himchan.

“Come sit with me,” he said.

“Why?” you asked. “I’ve fulfilled my obligations. CL isn’t bothering you anymore.”

He leaned down toward your ear. “The agreement was that you pretend to be my girlfriend,” he stated. “If people are going to believe that you are indeed my girlfriend, don’t you think we should go out for more than a week? After all, a week isn’t very serious. And say CL catches on to that, and starts coming after me again. Where will I ever find another custom-made stylish leather jacket?”

You really had no argument for that. So you looked at your friends desperately, wishing they would help you out with this. But Amber and Jonghyun just looked at you helplessly, both at a complete loss of what to do or say, and Key just smiled at you and raised his eyebrows expectantly and flicked his hand at you in a shooing motion.

You sighed. There really was no choice in the matter. So you took hold of your tray and followed Himchan back to his table, trying not to look too disappointed in order to keep up the charade.

Sunny and Sungmin were already sitting there when you got there, so you sat beside Sunny, who smiled widely at you. You looked around at the rest of the table tenants. Everyone at this table was extremely attractive and graceful. There was no way you, a klutz with no self esteem, would be able to fit in here.

As you looked around at everyone and they all stared at you, Sunny took it upon herself to do the introductions.

“Mary Sue,” she said, starting with the person just to the left of Himchan, “this is Nichkhun,” a very cute upperclassman guy tossed you a wink that would melt anyone’s heart, “Minho,” a boy about your age with a long neck and humongous eyes grinned at you, “Krystal,” you recognized the waving girl from one of your morning classes, “her sister Jessica,” the older girl gave a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “AJ,” a guy with catlike features greeted you with a y gaze capable of sending shivers down your spine, “and Fei,” the last girl sitting next to Sungmin had long dark hair and a great figure and she gave you a small wave. Sunny addressed the rest of the group, saying, “Of course you all already know Mary Sue.”

You looked around at everyone, bewildered. How could they already know you? “You do?” you asked no one in particular.

“Of course we do,” AJ answered in a purr. “No one has threatened CL since she claimed her spot at the top of the pecking order.” His eyes glinted and the corner of his mouth was turned up in a half smirk as he said this, as if he took pleasure in CL’s downfall.

“And she’s been sitting comfortably in that spot for five and a half years,” Fei added with a grin.

Jessica didn’t seem as pleased as everyone else, but you wondered if she ever did. She seemed rather cold in general. “You can’t imagine how many people have been waiting to see her downfall,” she remarked. “It’s no wonder you’ve become so well known.”

“Yeah,” Krystal agreed. “You’re changing the status quo, new girl.” Sunny beamed at you.

You were a little overwhelmed by all of this information. There was no way you could have singlehandedly knocked CL from the top of the food chain. But these people all kept insisting you did.

“Well, it certainly helps that she’s so pretty,” Nichkhun remarked to the rest of the group, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at you.

“And that she’s dating Himchan,” Fei added. Himchan’s mouth turned up in a smirk.

You had never had so much attention directed toward you. So this was what popularity felt like.

“It’s a good thing you’re here, Mary Sue,” Sunny said. “We were just talking about our plans to go to the beach all together.”

“Yeah,” Krystal added. “It would be great if you were there too!”

“Our group would be incomplete without the new popular girl,” Jessica remarked.

“You really want me to go?” you asked, stunned and flattered.

“Of course,” Sungmin interjected cheerily. “Besides, this was all Himchan’s idea. It would only make sense that his girlfriend was there too.”

Himchan’s gaze met yours in response to this. You really had no way out of this, you guessed. Well it sounded like fun, anyway.

“Alright,” you agreed. “I’d love to go.”

“Great!” Sunny exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “So tomorrow after school—“

“Wait, tomorrow?” you interrupted. That was when Donghae wanted to take you to his uncle’s museum. “I can’t tomorrow, I have a—“ You stopped. What were you about to say? That you have a date with Donghae? You couldn’t let on about your arranged marriage when as far as any of these people knew, you were dating Himchan. But now all of their eyes were on you as you tried to think of an excuse.

“You can’t go to the beach tomorrow?” Sunny asked, looking slightly upset.

You looked at Himchan, who was staring at you with a slight smirk and one eyebrow raised, waiting for your explanation. He looked a little amused, as always, as he watched you try to come up with something else to say.

“It might be a little chilly tomorrow,” he said.

“Really?” Sungmin said. “I heard it was going to be beautiful. That’s why tomorrow is so perfect for the beach.”

“Regardless,” Himchan replied, his eyes never leaving your face, “I think I’ll need a jacket, just in case.”

You glared at him. There was really no way out of this.

“I can go,” you sighed. “You can count on me being there.”

“Awesome!” Sunny cried, before going into the details of the planning.

That day after school, as you drove home with Jonghyun, you sighed and leaned back into the headrest of your seat.

“Stressful day?” Jonghyun asked.

“Yeah,” you answered.

“What’s up?”

You considered him for a second. “I need you to be me again tomorrow.”

“What?!”