✌ Seven

"Grody skin is, like, so much grodier than hepatitis."

Jessica's words rang loud and clear in my brain as I ogled at the bathroom mirror, eyes probing the giant pores in my forehead that seemed to have doubled in size overnight. Inside, I was screaming. How could my mud mask betray me? Had the cucumber slices, too, been in vain? I could already hear my bestie remarking that I looked like I'd just stepped offset Creature from the Black Legume the second she took look at the puffy bags under my eyes.

I frantically finished dousing my face with concealer as Rosa came bolting upstairs, swinging through the doorway with urgent importance. "Miss Mila, Mister Lamebrain is here," she announced. I nodded, not looking up from the mirror as she scampered away without another word. The quick makeup fix was lackluster, to say the least, but it would have to do. I hurried back to my room, slung my denim coat over one shoulder, and slipped a handful of jelly bracelets onto my wrist as I sauntered downstairs to greet Yixing.

In all my life, I quite possibly never again screamed as loud as I did when I opened the front door and saw Theatre Boy's car waiting in the driveway. To sum it up in five words: gag me with a spoon. I could only guess the station wagon with barfed-out olive-green paint and tacky wood paneling belonged to his mother or something, because what self-respecting teenage boy would willingly drive something so... so... so insultingly heinous?

Yixing glanced up from his roost casually reclined against the ogre car door, cocking an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Uh, where's the fire?" he questioned as he uncrossed his arms and turned to face me.

"I can't show up at school in that monstrosity!" I huffed, frazzled. "Even the help have better rides than that, and they're, like, the help!"

He scoffed. "It's a car. It drives." He mimed steering a wheel in the air. "What more do you want?"

"Like, something that doesn't make my eyes gag?" I groaned as I dug into my backpack, pulling out a key ring. Theatre Boy caught it with ease as I tossed it across the driveway toward him. "Look. Let's just take the super cute convertible Daddy thankfully bought me for my sweet sixteen. Oh, and park your sloppy jalopy in the staff garage or something. If Daddy comes home and sees that in the driveway, he'll probably die of a heart attack and then fire, like, half the staff."

Yixing laughed under his breath, shaking his head as he ducked into the station wagon and cranked the ignition. The engine audibly protested, and I swear on new wave's grave I saw smoke sputter out of the hood as he wheeled it around the side of the house. I followed the trail of polluted exhaust toward the staff garage, just in time to catch Yixing parking the car and sliding out. He popped the rear door open and proceeded to bend into the backseat to grab his book bag, and I unconsciously crooked my head to the side as I was met with an eyeful of double-cheeked bulge in the back of his pants. Like, I wasn't exactly trying to scope his rump out, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't halfway cute—or, at the very least, miles above that Kris boy's and just a couple notches below Zitao's.

I would have bet my entire VHS collection that Kai's was even hunkier—and less worn, if you know what I mean.

Riding to school in my bubblegum-pink convertible was significantly less humiliating than having to bag my face in the passenger side of Yixing's jalopy. Furthermore, my new faux beau was luckily the Michael Jackson of driving prodigies compared to my BFF, which meant we inevitably rolled on campus without acquiring a single scratch or dent in my drop-top's bumper. It was just a shame Theatre Boy spent half the drive loudly screeching along with "Who's That Girl" as it boomed on the radio. That song was, like, such an ear sore already. No need to sully it even more.

The moment we stepped out onto the asphalt, I unplugged my ears and looped an arm through Yixing's, pulling us hip to hip so as to look like I was actually enjoying the physical closeness. I mean, the façade had to be convincing to the max if we were going to make Kai jealous, right? Every student loitering around Exoplanet High's parking lot turned to stare with ultra-prying eyes as we seemingly lovingly meandered toward the school building, and I chanced fleeting glances around the sea of vehicles all the while, hoping to spot Kai lounging against his bike in the faculty section.

No dice.

I was halfway through spelunking my locker in search of another love letter from Kai when Jessica made the grand appearance of the day, sauntering down the hall with a flick of the wrist that sent all the Joanies shrinking back against their lockers as she passed. Even I couldn't help but bask in the sheer air of popularity radiating from my bestie as she promenaded toward us, head held high like she owned the place—which, now that I think about it, Sica's dad did own everything else in town...

"Oh, like, hi, Mila," she peeped as she neared, smirking at the sight of me within a mile radius of Theatre Boy. "Funny, I thought you were ditching today. I mean, I totally dropped by to pick you up, but Rosa said you'd left with some other dude named Mister Lamebrain. You're not seeing an older man, are you?" she teased, head tilted in mock concern.

Eek. Had I totally neglected to ring and let her know I didn't need a ride to school today?

"Oh, no! I'm, like, so sorry, Sica," I apologized, frowning as I linked arms with Theatre Boy again and wrapped my hand around his bicep. "I totally forgot to tell you I was hitching a ride with my new boyfriend. This is Yixing, by the way. He's a total beefcake, right?"

Yixing snorted at the remark, and I quickly elbowed him in the side to silence him. Honestly, it was a good thing she already knew our so-called relationship was bogus; otherwise, he would totally have just blown our cover! He promptly cleared his throat and grabbed Sica's hand, shaking it vigorously without warning.

"It's so nice to meet you," he greeted with a grin as she stared his mitt down for a solid ten seconds. "I've heard, like, so much about you. Mira never stops yapping about Jessica this, popularity that... It's a wonder we find any time to make out under the bleachers these days."

I rolled my eyes, groaning audibly as Jessica burst into a sneer. "Charmed," she tutted, yanking the pink-nailed hand back the moment Yixing loosened his grip. "By the way, I've heard dimples are a muscular deformity, you know? Hey, you should, like, totally get that looked at. Maybe Mila can set you up an appointment with Dr. Kim."

"Oh, yeah, totally," he fired back without missing a beat. "In fact, you might wanna wash that hand. I've heard it's contagious."

The smirk on Jessica's face promptly vanished, and Yixing chuckled as he turned to face me, adding, "Hey, I'm gonna hit up the little boys' room, gotta wash my own hands in case I catch a bad case of Barbie. I'll see you in class."

"Later," I clucked as he disappeared into the crowd of students scurrying down the hall, leaving Jessica balking like he was literally diseased. Part of me wondered if she legitimately thought he was.

"Like, as if. Does that kid, like, not even realize who he's talking to?" she tutted, flicking her dollishly blonde hair indignantly. "So, anyway, I hope this catches Kai's attention sooner rather than later because, like, what a dweeb."

"He's not totally awful. I mean, he is doing me a major favor and all."

Jessica shot me an unimpressed lookover and shrugged. "Like, whatever, Mila. I'm gonna have a smoke. Later."

"Later," I echoed. No sooner had she left, hips swinging with every step, than I turned back to my locker and slammed the door shut, conceding defeat in my quest to find the token of love from Kai. I suppose somewhere deep down in my heart I already knew the love letter had never graced the inside of my locker in the first place. I mean, I had been morbidly beat the day before. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me.

Letting slip a disenchanted sigh, I slapped the combination lock on the door and turned to saunter off to first period—only to jump two feet in the air when I pivoted straight into a faceful of sweet, sweet bare abs. I froze like Bambi in headlights, my eyes slowly tracing the slim body upward until they came into contact with a head of greasy, black hair.

Like.

Oh.

My.

God.

I kid you not: Kai, the hunkiest hunk in all of Genericville, the baddest biking bad boy ever to grace the halls of Exoplanet High, was standing not ten inches in front of me. He coolly reclined with one arm propped against Yixing's locker, gazing me right in the eyes with dark, tormented orbs, his leather jacket ped, his torn jeans hanging so low I could easily discern he wasn't even wearing any—well, I'll leave that up to your imagination.

I gulped hard, feeling every inch of my body instantaneously break into a cold sweat. Kai just smirked and nodded once in greeting. "So, you and the new kid, huh?"

Ten solid seconds of awkward gawking must have passed before I suddenly snapped back to my senses, straightening my posture and clearing my throat. "Oh, yeah, totally," I shot back and mirrored his body with my own, leaning one shoulder against my locker door. "Me and that Yixing kid are, like, totally mad about each other."

Kai chuckled, and the sound of his laughter sent my heart fluttering to Mars. How could a high school boy be so dreamy? Frankly, if there was anything dating at Exoplanet High taught me, it was that boys my age were all immature slobs with no brains to speak of. But Kai was so different, so light-years ahead of the football and wrestling teams. He was in a league of his own.

"So, this one's not gay?" Kai slurred in a murmur smooth like velvet, and my heart must have stopped beating altogether.

He knew who I was. I mean, of course he knew who I was. I was Jessica's BFF, and everyone at EHS knew my name and Daddy's pocketbook. But Kai, the lone rebel without a cause, the baddest bad boy in all the lands, knew me. He knew my face. He knew that every boy I had dated within the past two years was kickin' it with Boy George.

It took all the restraint within me not to squeal out loud. I just couldn't believe this was all happening so fast. I had been going out with Yixing for all of two minutes, and Kai had already honed in on me like I was suddenly the freshest piece of meat at the supermarket.

"Totally not gay," I breathed unnaturally calmly, trying not to let on that I was boiling just beneath the surface. "Totally. The new kid is, like, straight as uncooked spaghetti."

Kai slipped a hand into the inside pocket of his worn leather jacket, fishing a cigarette out of a box that had been tucked away within it. He puckered it between his bee-stung lips as he struck a lighter and set the stick ablaze.

"Oh, yeah?" he puffed after taking a long drag, tobacco-tainted smoke billowing from his mouth. "Well, you know what they say about uncooked spaghetti. If you heat it up..."

"It... gets hot?" I finished, flummoxed. Kai shook his head, chuckling under his breath as I shot rapid-fire blinks back at him.

"Forget it. So, you wanna go out sometime?"

"Duh," I spat out a little too fast, only to bite my lip at my all-too-evident urgency. I must have looked like such a two-timing tramp, but could I really afford to care about that with the hottest of hotties offering me a date? Like, no. I had been waiting for this moment all summer, and if Kai wanted a tart, then I could be his girl.

Kai smirked and flicked his hardly used cigarette down on the linoleum, extinguishing it with the sole of his combat boot. "Friday, after school, meet you at my bike."

I opened my mouth to accept the proposal, but before I had time to utter a single syllable, he had already spun around on his heels and meandered halfway down the hall, offering only a single wave of the arm in parting. I gazed longingly at his beefy backside all the while he wandered in the totally opposite direction of first period and disappeared through the double doors.

Kai's really was so much better than Yixing's.

✌ Author's Note

Please vote if you can? (*^▽^*) I don't usually ask, but 1987 already has a lot of votes, and it'd be super cool to see it featured! Thanks! ❤

Writing this chapter was like pulling teeth. So much bad pacing. So many writing sessions that ended with me pulling half my hair out. But I really wanted to get another chapter out for you guys because I have to start school this week. NOOOOOOOO. I'm jumping off a cliff as we speak. T_T

BUT FINALLY KAI HAS A VOICE

Thanks for voting, Aurora_Borealis, Kannii, ho-aegi, bellamolla, baekyeol-, annaturtles, hae-lay, dexterous, KwonMin-ah, 519ei4, strawberrypie, xoxo4eva, Missgd, minyulsung06, motsaengyeossda, Bad_JuJu, Minnie-me-love, missripley, spring_tempo, -Mask0fMe, anonym0us, iwantyoudead_, ForeverRanbow, L-O-V-E, Thongdae, hobaby123, el_sapo_guapo, KyungsooChibi011293, and mblaq_lover12! (*^▽^*)