This is just a brief note for people who don't live in the US or have a different system of school grades. 

Freshman = First year of highschool, Grade 9

Sophomore = Second year of highschool, Grade 10

Junior = Third year of highschool, Grade 11

Senior = Fourth and Last year of highschool, Grade 12 

Hope that helped. Enjoy part one! 

~~~~~

It wasn't the first time Jjong had chosen Jinki as a partner for the sake of getting a passing grade, but it was the first time he suggested they work somewhere other than the library. Jinki never really considered his home to be something special. Just a simple two story house painted beige with a small lawn at the front, same as teh rest of the other houses down the block of his suburban home.

Hidden in the back, however, was the yard where you could find his mother's patch of flowers and the solid oak tree that gave refreshing shade during the warmer seasons; attached to it was the tree house Jinki begged his father to build when he was younger.

Nowadays Jinki spent most of his time in his bedroom which also wasn't too impressive. The walls were white, bare. There was a single bed with a simple comforter and a laptop resting upon a glass table. Beside it were bookshelves completely filled and a shiny black filing cabinet containing every piece of inspiration he had ever written. The room was plain with no real attractive factors to bring in attention but it was Jinki’s most personal place and he honestly couldn’t fathom the idea of having someone he barely knew in a place so intimate, and yet, that day it happened.

Removing his bag and placing it on the bed, he watched as Jjong continued to slowly pace around the room, observing every object from underneath his blonde fringe with such vague fascination. Jinki had heard that Jjong came from a family that had money. It made him wonder if the other was impressed or if he was just comparing his home to the oh so lavish lifestyle he was accustomed to.

"How do you read so many books?" Jjong asked, turning to look at the owner of the room. "Don't you have better things to do?"

"Such as?"

"I don’t know ... hang with friends? Meet some girls? You can take them out to movies, ya know. They’re like books you can see. You should try watching them sometime." If this was said by anyone else, it could be taken as an insult or some form of being talked down to. But with Jjong’s carefree grin, it was easy to let it slide.

Jinki shrugged. "I’m not really a fan of movies. I prefer reading."

"But doesn't that give you a headache?" the blonde asked with genuine curiosity.

"I’m used to it so... no not really."

Jjong chuckled with sad amusement. "I don’t know how you do it. I'd be dead by now." He stopped pacing, looking in Jinki’s general direction but not directly at him. "Maybe that's why I'm barely passing while you get straight A’s."

"It's no big deal.” Jinki assured. “I said I'd help you pass so I will."

Jjong nodded slightly, taking a seat on the edge of the bed but maintaining some distance. Silently he watched the other pull out their textbooks and worksheets, reading over the instructions carefully. Jinki fit very well with the atmosphere of the room; simple and not much to look at yet full of content that was too much for people like Jjong to even try to read into. His voice was soft as he commented "You're really a nice kid...” He paused. "What's your name again?"

"Onew.” Jinki plainly replied while shuffling through pages in his binder without looking up at the other. “And I’m older than you," he added.

"Right Sorry," Jjong apologized, bowing slightly and gently taking the paper that was being handed over to him.

The silence that went on for a while made Jinki wonder if he had hurt the other’s feelings by not accepting the compliment or if the other’s mind was currently on another planet. Was there much he could be thinking of? Were all the rumors about the boy doing nothing but fantasize about good-looking boys and girls true? Or is it possible that there was more going on inside that mind that people couldn’t even imagine?

"Jjong?" The blonde looked up at the other’s face: the messy brown hair and gentle eyes were actually quite charming if you took the time to look carefully. "Thanks." His face lit up and a bright smile appeared.

~~~~~

Since the time Jinki was able to speak his first words, maybe even before that, he had begun to form incoherent sounds into tunes and as he grew older, so did his love for singing. At first, it wasn’t something he liked to share with the whole world; no one besides his parents really knew that the boy had an act for singing and when he became more aware of what he was actually doing, Jinki would only sing to himself.

Never the social butterfly, he had always been a bit shy when it came to talking to people: much more when it came to singing. But as the years flew by he became less and less timid about exposing his talents. Singing in the shower turned to singing at family reunions which lead to attending vocal lessons to performing at festivals. He didn’t do well with socializing, but singing gave him a comfort of expressing himself and being heard.

It never really bothered Jinki to sing in front of complete strangers for the very reason that he knew he would never see them again. Therefore he would never have to face their critiques or praises up close. (Family was a different case. Yes he’d have to face their reactions on a personal level but it was always encouragement since, well, that’s just how family is.) But when it came to singing in front of his school peers…that was definitely out of the question.

Once Jinki began his first year at high school as a freshman, his vocal instructor encouraged him to participate in more school functioned activities, anything to add onto his college applications that would impress any worthy applicant so he decided to try out for the school musical. It goes to show that along with his hard work, luck must have been on his side at that time since he ended up scoring a pretty important part: the lead male role. It was a great achievement really, being the first freshman in the school’s history to ever receive such a great role on the first try.

Jinki’s best friend at the time, Kibum, who was still in middle school, found this very inspiring and vowed to also create such an impact as soon as he entered high school. True to his word, such friend stuck to his goal and as soon as he began freshman year he became a hit showcasing his abstract paintings at the ever popular annual Art Appreciation Fair. Kibum had always been a social and outgoing person and Jinki was used to him having other friends than just himself but eventually his friend just became way too popular thus resulting in their drifting apart.

Jinki gained his own reputation though. He became known as “the singing kid” and stuck with it all through freshman and sophomore year. Needless to say, he acquired a pretty impressive list of activities to blow away any musical university of his choice.

Junior year Jinki decided it was time to focus more on raising his GPA (but never did he cease singing lessons) and at that rate he could have graduated in the top five (maybe even first in the entire school) but unfortunately unexpected events occur, feelings get in the way and here he was going through senior year all over again.

“The singing kid” never really came out unless it was in the shower.

~~~~~

Jinki watched as the students entered the classroom. With an arm wrapped around a girl’s shoulders and a confident smile, Jjong was a one of a kind student whom also had a talent for music. The boy was a very powerful vocalist and had the ability to accompany his self-written lyrics with a guitar. Of course this talent was only used to serenade the hearts of his fans which was fine by them if they were getting any speck of attention from their 'lovely Jjongie'.

Simply put, Jjong was just that good looking guy with such an attractive aura that drove girls insane with just the sound of his footsteps down the hall and the faint sound of his dorky laughter (which was marked “charming” by his admirers).

The blonde had been quite a popular student for as long as Jinki remembered, -there were many times he heard the name brought up by surrounding classmates even before the blonde was in high school- but the number of fans increased due to Jjong’s debut performance at the end of the school year talent show back when he was a freshman. Jinki had never really paid much attention to Jjong until that very performance and he had a sense of admiration at the other’s impressive talent. But he had also noticed that Jjong was just the type of guy who liked to joke around with his friends and never took things seriously. Jinki was too self-conscious to ever be that carefree.

“Work with me.” Jinki jumped up a bit in surprise, now noticing the presence of another’s hands pressed firmly on his desk. He looked up and saw a very expectant Jjong and a determined stare.

“What?” Jinki asked, bewildered.

“The Annual Talent Scouting contest. Let’s enter together.”

“But…what?” he repeated.

“It’s a contest that’s given every year in Seoul. There are all these talent scouts from a bunch of different agencies looking for potential artists to sign and train with them,” Jjong clarified.

Jinki’s eyes widened a bit from the shock that such a contest actually existed. “It sounds …intriguing.”

“It is. So let’s work together.”

“But…why with me?” Jinki continued to question. “You’re already really good as a solo.”

“Yeah well I guess I’m not good enough since I’ve already entered twice and still nothing,” the blonde muttered bitterly.

“And …you think entering with me would really make a difference?” the brunette asked unbelieved. “I don’t…”

“Listen.” Jjong cut in. “I’ve heard from people that you’re a pretty good singer and you’re always writing so you’re bound to have some material we can work with. Besides, we already work together with English projects so that shows we have potential for good teamwork. I seriously think we could win if we team up.” He leaned in closer to gain eye contact with the other. “So what do you say? “

Jinki took a deep breath as he thought in over briefly in his head. Well that and the lack of space between the two was making him more nervous than he should be. “I …I guess it's worth a try,” he decided.

“Good, good,” said the blonde enthusiastically as he reached into his bag and placed a piece of paper on Jinki’s desk. “Here’s the flyer if you want all the little details and what not. I’ll look for you tomorrow at lunch or something, alright?”

~~~~~

“Having fun with the popular kids?” asked the young golden blonde haired girl as she sat across from Jinki at their usual courtyard table with a teasing smirk.

“It’s not like I’m doing anything social. It’s more tutoring.”

“Still. You’ve cancelled our plans twice this week,” she reprimanded pointing her chopsticks at the boy for extra effect. “Me and Minnie were starting to wonder if we should even invite you to watch our dance recital this weekend. We weren’t sure if you’d ditch again and decide to go to some big shot high school party instead.”

“Oh come on Luna, that’s not fair. It was just tutoring! You know I would never…”

“Oh shut up!” Luna laughed. “You know I’m just messing with you. We would never stop loving you, LeeOnewww.”

“Yeah whatever,” he muttered softy. “Where is Taemin anyway?” He asked at noticing the absence of their friend. “Usually by now he's choking from overstuffing his face with food.”

“He had a dentist appointment,” Luna explained as she chewed on her lunch. “The brat wants us to come over his place after school though to ‘console him in his time of need’ or something like that. You gonna come or do you have other commitments already?” she joked.

“That’s not even funny anymore,” the boy pouted causing the younger girl to laugh some more. “Of course I’m going.”

“Good or else I’ll never hear the end of it from the kid. But enough about that. Let’s discuss more important matters.”

“What -?”

“So tell me,” Luna started as she leaned forward with interest. “What’s the guy like? This person you claim to tutor. Is he really just an airhead ladies’ man?”

Jinki blinked stupidly at the question until he realized that the ‘he’ was being referred to Jjong. “Since when do you care about people like him?”

“I don’t!” Luna defended. “But if he’s taking up so much of your time lately then he must really be something interesting. So spill.”

“Well...” Jinki thought over. “I don’t know much but I can say he’s not as bad as they say. He’s just…distracted most of the time.”

“Yeah, by anything that wears a skirt,” Luna added in.

Jinki looked down, picking at his food; the hunger he felt during his last class slowly starting to dissipate. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not like we’re gonna become friends or anything.”

“What makes you so sure about that?” the girl asks curiously.

“He has all the friends he needs already. I’m not about to be a leftover again.”

Luna’s expressions immediately softened at her friend’s comment. “Are you saying that because of what happened with Kibum?”

“There hasn’t been a Kibum in a long time,” the brunette snapped. “He’s Key now and he has his own better friends same as Jjong. I’m just that kid they take into consideration when it’s convenient for them.”

“But I thought you said you weren’t mad about Kibum anymore?”

Jinki sighed looking down at his food that was growing more and more unappetizing. “I’m not mad. It just…it still hurts.”

“But it’s not like he has stopped caring completely,” Luna tried to comfort. “He visited you at the hospital plenty of times and he says hi to you whenever he sees you in the hallway, right?”

“More like he waves at me from far away when we just happen to make eye contact, “he mumbled under his breath.

“But…”

“Can we just not talk about this?”

~~~~~

There’s that guy that everyone seems to love having in their presence and crave for his attention due to the confident atmosphere that was present whenever he stepped into a room and the blunt personality he had that was somehow extremely likeable.

His unique style made him stand out from a crowd of similar faces all wearing the same school uniform. His popularity rose when the art club showcased his abstract paintings his freshman year drawing even more attention to his edgy character. The fact that he was also a fashion addict helped him gain an even higher position on the social ladder.

What a shame he didn’t know how to hold on to people that truly loved him.

That is how Jinki lost Kibum. (Or was it really vice versa?)

~~~~~

Jinki stood at the bottom of the stairway at the main entrance of the school to wait for Luna so they’d walk together to Taemin’s house like they originally planned. However, Luna had mentioned that she might have to stay after class a few extra minutes for last period to finish up a test and he cursed the fact that today of all days he forgot his iPod at home. At looking at students pouring out and retreating to their appointed group of friends, Jinki suddenly felt awkward standing there all alone. It wasn’t like he didn’t have friends; maybe not as many as the class president or the school heart-throb but his few companions were there through thick and thin. It’s better to have four quarters over one hundred pennies…right?

Don’t both have the same value?

“Onew!”

The familiar voice made him snap out of his thoughts and turn to the sound of footsteps that seemed to get louder the closer they came. The sound made his heart beat just past the point of paranoia that someone could actually hear it but not to the point of going under cardiac arrest. “It’s good to see you hyung! It’s been a while huh?”

He gave a shy smile. “Hey Key.” The boy had his hair bleached and the lightness of it against his pale skin made him look almost angelic, at least in Jinki’s eyes. His clothes were always nicely coordinated and he carried himself with such confidence; up close it was even more empowering, even a bit intimidating.

“There’s someone I’ve wanted to introduce you to,” the bleach blonde explained as he pulled forward a tall, dark haired boy with big black eyes. “This is my boyfriend Minho. Minho, this is my old friend Onew that I told you about.”

“Nice to meet you,” said the boy introduced as Minho in a deep voice and slight bow. It couldn’t be denied that the boy was handsome; a perfect match for a personality like Key. Jinki couldn’t find his voice so he responded in another timid smile and bowed back.

“We really need to catch up, Onew. We’ll do that soon, got it?” The brunette nodded again. The response made the blonde smile in satisfaction. “Good. Until then, we’ll see you around. Homework is such a pain.”

Jinki stood alone as he watched one of his quarters roil away. But if Key was lost so easily, then was he actually penny? Either way, the loneliness Jinki felt at the moment made him feel like he wasn’t worth anything at all.

~~~~~

There’s that guy that always sits in the back of the classroom writing away in his notebook that should have been filled with notes. But inside was really the outcome of when his mind drifted into his own little world which he solely created to keep himself entertained during his many days of being alone. He was the guy who tripped when a pretty girl walked his way only to realize she was heading towards the guy behind him. The guy who had his nose stuck in a book as he sat underneath a tree by himself during lunchtime letting his mind drift into a world greater than his own. The guy who let his friends converse while he remained silent and listened.

In other words, he was the invisible guy that no one seemed to care or even know about.

This was the type of guy Jinki believed he was and there was nothing that could break this stereotype.