Thursday September 22, 5:50 A.M

      “DONGHO-YAH!” I heard someone shout my name loudly. “DONGHO-YAH! GET UP!”

      I opened my eyes wide and saw Eli as he was shaking me. “I’m up! I’m up!” I yelped. “What time is it?”

      “Class starts in ten minutes!” He replied, “Everyone has already left! Now get up and get going!”

       “WHAT?!” I immediately jumped up from my bed and looked at the clock. It was almost six in the morning. I was going to be late for sure if I didn’t get ready fast enough. Obviously, I fell asleep in my uniform the night before. I was sure that it wasn’t in bad condition, so I wasn’t too worried about that. I brushed my teeth and combed my hair in less than five minutes. Eli didn’t wait up for me of course, so I had to run to the school as fast as my legs could carry me.

      I got to the school building just in time. It was exactly six o’clock by the time I sat down at my seat in class one. Seoyoung was sitting behind me and she tapped my shoulder. I turned around and she waved at me. I waved back and smiled.

      Miss Kwak handed out papers to the rows of seats, “We’re going to start with a warm-up this morning, class. If you don’t know the answer to a question, simply skip the question and go to the next one. We’ll go over it together at the end,” She announced. When she handed my paper to me she noticed my disheveled look. “Dongho ssi,” She said, placing the paper on my desk, not taking her eyes off of me, “What happened to you?”

      I shifted my eyes back and forth from her to my paper, “Oh uh, it’s okay, Miss Kwak. I just woke up late.”

      “Well, okay.” She shook her head and made a worried expression on her face and she handed a paper to Seoyoung.

      Miss Kwak was sure worried about me, for reasons I had yet to figure out. None of my other teachers were like that. I wonder why. Maybe she was just a really nice lady and she was like that with everyone. But whatever the reason, I just shrugged my shoulders and started my schoolwork.

      The class was just about over when Seoyoung tapped me on the shoulder again and finally spoke to me. “Um,” She started to say, “Do you think it would be okay if I walked home with you again today?”

      “Sure, why not.” I replied without hesitation. My heart began to beat really fast. I grew excited at the thought of walking home with Seoyoung again. She was so sweet and really fun to talk to. I wondered why every time I thought of Seoyoung I felt so amazing inside. There could have just been something wrong with me though. I mean, after all, we are just friends aren’t we?

      The bell finally rang and everyone scurried out of the room like a bunch of wild mice. Every student in the school always seemed like they were in a big hurry to walk only a couple of yards. Then again, we all wanted the day to go by fast so that we could go home and relax, just as long as we get our homework done. With that thought in mind, I tried my best to focus enough during the next few classes so that I could look forward to the end of the day.

      Lunch period finally came, as anyone could have expected. I sat at my usual spot at, what people would like to call it, the “U-Kiss Table.” We usually never sat at any other table for as long as we’ve been going to this school. Nobody else ever sat with us either. The weird thing was that when I looked around at all the other tables, there was usually a mixture of guys and girls. But at our table, it was just us seven guys. However today, I noticed a strange absence of one of us. “Where’s Soohyun?” I asked.

      “Lunch detention.” AJ answered quickly.

      I sighed, “What for this time?”

      Kevin put his bag on the floor and said to me, “The strange thing is, we don’t really know. He’ll give us every detail of it tonight at the dorm, though. I’m almost a hundred percent positive.”

      “That’s true,” Hoon agreed, “He always gives us the longest explanation,” Then he notices something behind me that catches his eye. “Dongho-yah, isn’t that your girlfriend over there?” He announces.

      I jerked my head around and saw Seoyoung standing there looking for a place to sit. I turned back around quickly before she noticed me and sank into my seat. “She’s not my girlfriend!” I snapped, my heart beating through my chest.

      “Why don’t you ask her to sit with us?” Eli suggested.

      I shook my head and tried to bury my face in my tray because I was too nervous. Hoon laughed and got up to go talk to her. I looked behind me for a second to see what he was doing. He was talking to Seoyoung, and she was nodding her head, then I saw Hoon point to me. I saw Seoyoung look at me and I turned back around. I noticed the other guys’ faces. They look like they were going to say something to me, but they just kept staring at me awkwardly while they were eating.

      “What are you all looking at?” I asked in my defense.

      They didn’t say anything to me. Just then, Hoon comes back by himself and sits back down. “Well, that was worth a shot.”

      “What happened?” Kevin asked.

      “She said he had to see one of her teachers for something. She wasn’t very specific about it though.” Hoon replied, scratching his forehead and taking out his lunch.

      I sat back up and breathed a sigh of relief. At least Seoyoung was able to talk Hoon out of sitting with us. I didn’t know the reason behind it, but I was afraid of Seoyoung being around my hyungs. I knew that they would say something to her that would either make me feel embarrassed, or make her not want to talk to me anymore. The rest of the lunch period was slightly weird after that incident, but small conversations soon made us forget about it.

      It was finally time for the last class of the day before I knew it. Of course, I was very excited to go to Instrument Study and see Seoyoung. The only downside about it was that Hoon had to be there to possibly sabotage it. Hoon was a really nice guy, but I feel like he enjoyed embarrassing me. By the time we walked into the classroom he was already nudging me and saying things about Seoyoung.

      “Are you gonna ask her out on a date?” Hoon asked me as I sat down by my piano.

      Seoyoung walked into the classroom just then, and Hoon and I turned our heads to see. Then he made a suggestive face toward me. I whispered, “Stop it!” And grunted at him as soon as Seoyoung walked over. Then I quickly smiled when she passed by me.

      “Seoyoung-ah!” Hoon greeted superfluously, “It’s nice to see you today!”

      Her face turned red and she hesitated to say something at first, “Um,” she shifted her eyes back and forth from her piano to Hoon, “Annyeonghaseyo, Hoonmin.” She immediately sat down in her seat without saying one word to me. I wondered what was going on.

      “What was that all about?” I asked Hoon in a slightly harsh tone.

      He shrugged, “I was just trying to be a nice guy. Don’t worry about it. She’s probably going through something personal.”

      I sighed and glanced at her for a second before I began my work. Something weird was going on with Seoyoung, and I really was anxious to find out what the problem was. She didn’t want to sit with me and the hyungs at lunch, and now she doesn’t want to talk to me. Thinking about the situation made it hard for me to focus during the last class. But at least I would have a chance to talk to her about it when we walked home together.

      As soon as the bell rang for the end of the day, I dashed out of the room and went to my locker to quickly put my books away so that I could have time to wait for Seoyoung. I felt someone come up behind me as soon as I shut my locker. “Are you ready to go home yet?” I heard them say. I looked to my left and saw Soohyun. He scared me at first, because before he spoke I figured it would be Seoyoung. He noticed the weird look on my face, “Oh, I get it. You were expecting that girl to be here weren’t you?” He chuckled.

      “That’s none of your business, hyung.” I snapped.

      He raised his eyebrows, “Haha, wow, Donggi. You’ve been getting quite the attitude since the first day of school. Are you finally hitting puberty?”

      I got aggravated and pushed him against the other lockers. “Leave me alone!” I shouted.

      A tall chubby man walked up to us from the depths of the principal’s office just on the other side of the hallway. I assumed he was our new principal. “Is there a problem here?” He asked in a loud voice so everyone could hear. I looked at his nametag; it said “Chung Gyosang.”

     “No, Chung Gyosangnim,” Soohyun replied, “We were just messing around.”

      He coughed loudly and said, “Don’t let it happen again. I expect better behavior from you for the rest of the year, Shin Soohyun ssi.” Then he looked at me for a second and walked away.

      As the principal walked away, Soohyun gave him the finger, but luckily he didn’t see it. “Man, I really hate that guy. Even though I’d hate to admit it, I think Lee Songjae was a better principal than that guy.” I still didn’t say anything, and Soohyun just looked at me weird. “You really need to be careful of what you do around the school, especially around me. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf, but with you trying to get back at me for your own “I’m a big kid now” purposes, it’s a little hard. So please bear with me for at least this year? I really need to prove myself to not only the new principal, but Mr. Lee and you guys as well.”

      I looked at him and smirked, “Okay, hyung. I’m sorry for acting like that. I’ll try my best.” Then I patted his shoulder and he smiled. Just then, I looked at the clock. I’ve wasted five minutes already! I needed to get outside to the front entrance of the school to meet up with Seoyoung. I dashed out of there as quick as I could.

      “Wait!” Soohyun shouted, “Where are you going?!”

      “Sorry, hyung!” I shouted back, “I’m going home!”

      When I finally got to the front entrance of the school, not only did I see Seoyoung there, but AJ, Eli, Kiseop, Hoon, and Kevin were there as well. I thought I was going to die for sure. Seoyoung looked like she was going to die, too. She was just standing there, red-faced and trying to look away from my hyungs. Eli was the first one who saw me when I opened the front doors. “Dongho-yah!” He greeted, “We we’re waiting for you. Have you seen Soohyun?”

     “Uh, no I-“ I began, but then suddenly Soohyun came up from behind me.

      “I’m here! Stop worrying!” Soohyun scoffed.

      Eli laughed and grabbed my arm, “Okay, let’s go home now, Donggi-yah.”

      As he was pulling me, I tried to make him let go, “Wait, hyung! I have to walk with her!”

      He stopped as soon as he heard me, then he looked at Seoyoung standing there alone, “Oh,” he snickered, “You want to walk with your lady-friend. Okay, Donggi. We’ll all walk together.” Then he waved to Seoyoung and made her walk over to us.

      She came over and whispered to me, “Are they friendly?”

     “I hope so,” I said under my breath.

     “Huh?”

     “I mean, yes. Yeah, they’re friendly guys.”

      We all walked in pairs, and I was next to Seoyoung talking with her. Then Hoon came over and started to have a conversation with us. “Did you guys like Instrument Study today?” He asked.

     Seoyoung nodded and I said, “I’m learning a couple of new songs already.”

     “I can’t wait to hear you play them, Dongho-yah!” Hoon responded, then he asked, “What about you, Seoyoung? Have you learned any new songs yet?”

      She put her hand over and looked away from him, “Um, no, not yet.”

     “Oh,” Hoon said, “Well, that’s okay. Sometimes it takes a little bit more time for others. I’m sure you’ll be an excellent piano player soon enough.”

     “Uh,” Seoyoung said quietly, “Thank you.”

     “You’re very welcome,” He said, and then he put his hand on her shoulder, “Always stay confident, Seoyoung-ah.” Then he winked at her and walked back to Kiseop to talk to him.

     I felt a little skeptical about what Hoon just did to Seoyoung. If I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn he was almost flirting with her, which I didn’t agree with at all. I looked to Seoyoung, and she walked closer to me.

      “You don’t have to be afraid of Hoon. He does that to everyone.” I tried to assure her.

      She tilted her head and looked at Hoon from afar, “He’s very handsome, isn’t he?”

      My hair stood on end at her remark, “Oh,” I said trying to hide my feelings, “Sure, I guess so.”

      Before I knew it, we were already home. I said good-bye to Seoyoung, as well as my hyungs, who were saying, “Bye, Seoyoung-ah!” in teasing ways.

      At the very moment Kevin unlocked the door to our dorm, I ran inside and locked myself in my room. After I finished my homework, I lied down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I must have been lying there for hours. I didn’t even bother coming out to eat dinner. Eli knocked on the door a few times and kept shouting for me to come out and eat, because they ordered take-out. I didn’t respond at all. He eventually gave up and didn’t bother talking to me for the rest of the night, nor did anyone else.

      I pulled the covers over me and looked at the clock. It was 9:30 P.M, but I didn’t want to go to sleep yet. I was too angry. I was angry at Hoon. I was angry at the fact that he touched Seoyoung and he winked at her. I was angry because he did it in front of me. I was also angry because my hyungs won’t leave me alone. I wished so hard that they would accept that I wasn’t a little kid anymore. But they keep treating me like I’m a baby who can’t look after himself. Worst of all, they act like I can’t be friends with a girl, and I get teased for it.