Indistinct murmuring filled the room as my head laid against the cold, hard wooden desk as I slowly began to drift off into a light sleep. I felt like passing out.

My parents decided to throw, yet, another party last night in celebration of Sunggyu and I (mostly Sunggyu) placing at the track meet yesterday. In all honesty, the parties they throw are the most irritating things. They spend the entire time showing off Sunggyu to all their stuck-up friends, leaving my insignificant self at the dessert table stuffing my face with cookies (occasionally they’d bring out the karaoke machine if the guests are in the mood). Last night’s lasted until around 3 am; sadly, this is normal for me- getting zero sleep and spending my Monday mornings drooling on my desk.

“There’s the lazy track star!” I heard an aggravating voice yell, interrupting my peaceful slumber. I groaned, feeling someone poking my cheek, knowing exactly who it was.

“Go away Sora!” I bawled, whipping her hand away.

“Geez, way to greet your best friend. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she sing-songed.

Opening one eye, a blurry image of Sora with her arm linked around Myungsoo’s (her boyfriend) came to view. “What do you want?” I asked with a sigh.

“Well, Myungsoo and I decided to get you a little something since you placed this weekend,” she said proudly.  “She just means Myungsoo,” Myungsoo corrected, leaving a dumbfounded look on Sora’s face.

“Excuse me? I picked them out,” Sora defended.

“Yes, but I think you’re forgetting the fact that I was the one who paid for them,” Myungsoo reminded with a glare. Sitting up, I began rubbing my tired, droopy eyes, enjoying their hilarious argument.

“Whatever,” Sora waved off holding out a pink gift bag, “We decided to get you these for winning 1^st.” She elbowed Myungsoo before he could protest, leaving me in a fit of giggles while I tore the tissue paper from the bag.

“No way,” I gasped, pulling out a pair of pink Nike Free Runs, “This must have cost you a fortune!” I admired the light shoes, being that I’ve been obsessed with these for the longest time.

“It did,” I heard Myungsoo mumble with a depressed face. I chuckled, thanking them both.

“Also- yesterday we decided to bake cupcakes and I, being so generous, saved you one,” Sora announced, drawing out a container from her fat purse. My face instantly dropped the second she yanked off the lid, revealing a vanilla cupcake with smeared green icing.

“What beautiful cupcakes you two made,” I said, sarcastically.

“Actually, our cupcakes weren’t that bad. It’s just this one dropped because Myungsoo here decided to sneak a kiss while I was in the middle of icing it,” she explained.

 I narrowed my eyes at both of them, “You two fool around too much.” Sora shot me a childlike smile before dragging Myungsoo to their seats behind me.

Truthfully, I’ve always envied Sora and Myungsoo’s relationship. They get to be together whenever and wherever they wanted to, whereas I am in this tangled mess. Thankfully, she does all she can to help me with Howon, meaning she’d cover for me every time I was out with him. In return, I’d “loan” her some money when she needed it to pay for hers and Myungsoo’s dates. I watched them teasing eachother and sighed, wishing my relationship could be that way.

After stuffing the poorly- decorated cupcake in my mouth, my head soon found my desk top once again, trying to continue where I had left off earlier.

“OPPA OPPA! I YOU PROMISE YOU’LL BE AT MY PERFORMANCE TOMORROW NIGHT?!” a piercing scream filled the room, making me cringe at the sudden intrusion. The interruptions are just pouring in today. My eyes shot open to see Woohyun, Sungjong, and (best of all) Howon enter the room along with a pack of girls behind them. I rolled my eyes as they followed Howon to his seat in the far back corner of the room and seated themselves right on top of his desk. Their skimpy skirts rode up their legs, nearly exposing their flashing Howon a flirty smile.

I tore my eyes away from the scene, trusting Howon not to do anything. I hauled out a pile of textbooks and worksheets from my schoolbag and pretended to be concentrated on homework, still worried, however. My heart was nearly exploding out of my chest, trying best I could to refrain from looking back.

“OPPA! WHY DO YOU KEEP PUSHING ME AWAY?! WHAT IS IT ABOUT ME THAT YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED IN?!” a painful shriek silenced the entire room minutes later. I dropped everything, joining everyone else as all eyes were on Howon and the girl that attempted to throw herself at him. Howon gave the ridiculous girl a blank stare as she continued to huff and puff with her hands on her hips, fuming mad. His lips curved in to a smirk, “I’m only interested older women.”

I bit my lip to restrain from bursting out laughing, thinking back to the countless number of times I’d make fun of Howon for being 2 days younger than me. Yet, he still refuses to call me noona.

“Are you serious?! You’d be a fool to reject me!” the girl scoffed.

“Then so a fool I am,” Howon happily admitted, leaving the girl jaw-dropped.

The teacher casually strolled into the classroom just in time to interject, sending the enraged girl back to her seat. Turning back, my eyes met Howon’s, gazing into them with a soft smile. He blew me a kiss and I playfully shook my head, my face tomato-red. I bit my bottom lip, averting my eyes back to the lesson on the board.

Sprinting down the hallway, I hurried to my final period of the day, which I was now tardy for. I was in for it today, since being tardy to this class was a habit of mine. I made it halfway across the school before stopping to catch my breath. In one swift movement, a cold hand covered my mouth dragging me into a nearby janitor’s closet. My eyes quickly enlarged and my first instinct was to scream but the stranger had my mouth securely covered and pinned me against the door. My eyes softened as Howon’s brown orbs stared into mine almost desperately. I sighed, removing his hand from my mouth.

“Are you crazy?! You had me scared to death!” I scolded.

“I had to think of some way to get us alone together,” he answered.

I rolled my eyes at his petty excuse, “You never thought of to- I don’t know- simply tell me to meet you here instead of practically kidnapping me?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Howon defended, pouting.

 I clicked my tongue, giving him a dirty look. His arms circled my waist; he gave my cheek a couple light pecks, bringing one had to it afterwards. He focused intently on my eyes worriedly. “Did you not get sleep last night?” he asked, “The bags under your eyes are huge.”

I yawned, “My parents had another party last night.”

Howon frowned pulling me closer to him, “It still doesn’t bother you at all that they don’t care much about you?”

I shrugged, shaking my head, “As long as I have you, I really don’t care about anything else.” I cupped his face, bringing his lips to mine in a gentle yet tender kiss.

He pulled away slowly after a while, leaning his forehead onto mine, “And you say I’m cheesy.”

“You are! ‘I’m only interested in older women’ what is that?” I joked.

“Well, am I wrong?”  he questioned, his lips finding mine once again.