Date:  November 29                   

I only managed to sleep about two hours yesterday night so I’m dead tired now. I downed a can of red bull this morning so I’d be awake enough for my test and practically crashed several hours later. But then I got my own personal dosage of energy from a source far superior to any coffee or energy drink on the market.

I saw him as we filed into the classroom for our test but we didn’t get any opportunities to speak. He looked awfully tired too, his hair sort of messy with shadows lingering under his eyes. We both gave one another tight lipped smiles and I felt a poke in my side from Kyungsoo. He raised his eyebrows and gave a knowing smirk before I elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

My math test went better than expected. I think I managed to pass despite my complete lack of sleep and inability to focus on anything other than certain someone on my mind. I mentally changed anything possible in the problems to something related to Byun Baekhyun and what do you know? It miraculously worked. I’m pretty sure I’m going insane.

To be honest, it was a bit awkward during the few moments we had between classes. We had small talk and I knew Kyungsoo was itching to ask me. But I told him to hold it until recess or something, so he patiently kept his mouth shut as the three of us exchanged words about the math test. Recess came around and Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun to excuse us before he pulled me outside and onto a bench near the soccer field.

“So…you want to spill now? Did you ask him?” Kyungsoo asked, his eyes owl-like and inquisitive.

“Uhhh yes…”

“And?”

“Yes?” I answered, a grin sheepishly spreading across my face.

“I KNEW IT. How did it go?!” Kyungsoo laughed.

“I was an idiot and spent all evening trying to ask. It was only before we both went home that I finally had the guts to do it. I couldn’t even string my words together so…I ended up grabbing him and kissing him-”

“OH MY GOD!” Kyungsoo jumped up and started roaring with laughter.

“What!”

“You guys kissed! That’s crazy! So are you guys dating now?”

“Hm…I don’t think so exactly. But I managed to ask him afterward for a date and he agreed. So we’re getting there, maybe?”

“I’m so glad for you, really. You look so happy even though you also look like you crawled out of a coffin.”

“Oh come on! I don’t look that bad!”

“Yea you do, but Baekhyun looks like a zombie too, so it’s ok. I almost thought you both spent the night together as the half dead couple-”

“Do Kyungsoo!”

He laughed some more and I stood up, leaning toward him.

“What about you and the booger?”

“What?!”

“Kim Jongin, of course.”

A smile on Kyungsoo’s face faltered then.

“Sorry,” I apologized quickly.

“It’s ok. Let’s go see the others,” Kyungsoo tried to smile again, then yanking me toward the cafeteria.

As I let him lead me, I wondered what was going on between Kyungsoo and Jongin. Obviously stuff had happened between the two and Kyungsoo had chosen not to tell me. I’m admittedly surprised though, because Soo is the type to harbour all his feelings without a word. He did that with the one other person he ever admitted to liking in the past. The issue with this is when he finally explodes and lets it all out, it’s long past due. So when he confessed to Song Yura in year one of high school after having feelings for her for the past two years of middle school, all she could say was “sorry”. It turned out she had liked him at a certain point in middle school as well, but had moved on. Needless to say, Kyungsoo was pretty upset on his missed chance. There’s a Chinese saying that describes the situation perfectly: there will be no boats after leaving Suzhou.* Hopefully he didn’t miss his boat in Jongin’s case, even though I want to punch his face in all the time.

--

“PARK CHANYEOL!”

I was awoken by the sound of a yell and hand slapping onto my desk. I managed to open my eyes and looked up to see the rather angry face of my teacher glaring down at me.

“WHAT exactly do you think you’re doing sleeping in my class? Am I so boring to you that you can’t stay awake?”

I snuck a look to my left to see Baekhyun wincing in an apologetic manner. I redirected my attention to Mr.Cho.

“It’s not because you’re boring sir, I just-”

“If you come to my class I expect you to pay attention and stay awake. If you can’t do that, get out!” He smacked my desk with a ruler, barely missing my arm.

“Sorry sir, it’s because I didn’t get much sleep last night-”

“I don’t care what your reason is. You slept, you leave. And I’m docking five points from your final grade.”

“But sir, I’ll stay awake-”

“I said, get out!”

Jeez, what was his problem? I already apologized and said I wouldn’t do it again. Without another word, I stood up and picked up my books, shoving them into my backpack as I walked out the door. I closed it behind me and slid down onto the wall next to the door, fishing out my cell phone from my pocket as I did so. 15 minutes left until lunch time. I might as well just go to the cafeteria for early lunch but I wanted to wait for Baekhyun. That, and I figured if I didn’t want to lose five marks, I had to go back in there after class to apologize. I wouldn’t have even give a crap three months ago. There would be no way you’d catch me apologizing. But if I want to go to Seoul National, I can’t afford letting my pride get the best of me.

The school bell rang and groups of students came rushing out, glad lunch had arrived. Baekhyun showed up and I quickly grabbed hold of his wrist before he walked off without seeing me.

“Yeol!” He exclaimed as I pulled myself up, “I thought you left.”

“No, I have to go back in and say sorry again, or the jerk will probably fail me or something. He holds grudges. And five points might kill my grade. Wait for me?”

He nodded and I headed back into the class just as Mr. Cho sat back down at his desk. it up Park Chanyeol, stay cool. I had thought.

“Hi sir.”

“You’re still here?” He glared at me and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

“Yes sir. I’d like to apologize again for my behavior during class.”

“Then you shouldn’t have fallen asleep in the first place.”

“Sorry, as I said I didn’t get much sleep because of studying.”

“Because of studying. Really,” he responded in a monotonous tone.

“Yes, sir, I was studying all night for a test this morning,”

“Park Chanyeol, the class clown, who has been scraping barely passes in my classes in the past two years, was studying?” He chuckled.

I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from lashing back, because I knew what he was insinuating. That there was no way I had been studying. I had a not so great track record, true. But it still pissed me off.

“Yes, sir.”

“You sure this studying wasn’t the study of zergs and terrans**?”

What the f-

“He was studying math, sir,” a familiar voice responded from behind me.

I turned around and saw Baek there, standing at the doorway.

“Mr. Byun?”

“I was studying with him last night sir, we both had a math test this morning and didn’t get much sleep,” Baekhyun continued as he walked in and stood next to me.

“But you didn’t fall asleep, did you?”

“Yes I did, but you caught hold of Chanyeol before you spotted me. So sir, if you’re taking five points from him, you should take five points from me too.”

There was a short silence as Mr. Cho sat there, staring at us both. Baekhyun was probably one of his best students. Heck, Baekhyun was probably one of the school’s best students. He’s not first in the year or school, but he’s up there in the top 10.

“Fine. I will not dock points from either of you. BUT. This had better not happen again. I will not be so generous next time. Are we clear on that, Mr. Park?”

“Yes sir!”

Ya. I’m clear on that. I’m clear that you have it against me. But Baekhyun and I hightailed it out of there before he could change his mind.

“Hey. Thanks a lot Baekhyun. You didn’t have to do that,” I smiled gratefully at him as we stood in the empty hallway.

“It’s no problem. He was pretty harsh on you.”

“Ya he doesn’t like me much. I had him the past two years and sometimes fooled around in his class. You almost lost five points though! You didn’t have to lie.”

“I really was falling asleep in his class. I wasn’t lying.”

“You didn’t sleep much either, eh? You look pretty tired,” I ruffled his hair, “But you were pretty ready for the test during our study session. I didn’t sleep much because I couldn’t focus on studying much…”

“I…didn’t sleep well…for other reasons,” a tint of pink spread across his cheeks and he bit his lip.

Oh.

“You and I both. I had a red bull this morning to stay awake during the test but it’s wearing off now so I will probably collapse soon.”

“I had coffee too but I’m still pretty tired,” he admitted.

“Coffee doesn’t quite do the trick for me. Just remember to help drag me to the nurse’s office when I get knocked out. I’ll help drag you if I’m still conscious,” I joked.

“Maybe…maybe this will help…both of us,” he replied quietly.

Before I knew it, he had moved in and lightly brushed his lips onto mine. I felt like a jolt of lightning rushed through my body. It was over as quickl as he had approached me, and now both of us were a fiery shade of red. I was definitely awake now, alright. My mind felt clear and energized.

“Come on. Let’s go for lunch,” he rushed off down the hall.

I followed, trying to keep myself from laughing out loud, a silly grin plastered on my face.

He has become my own personalized caffeine.

* there will be no boats after leaving Suzhou = 蘇州過後無艇搭 = Chinese saying that is descriptive of one missing a boat at a famous tourist location (Suzhou); you miss the boat, then you will have no boat to take. It essentially means once you miss the opportunity, then it has passed and you’ve lost out.

**Zergs and terrans = two species in the game Starcraft.

A/N: Congrats to EXO for the three wins on MuBank, MuCore, and Inki this weekend! I do wish it was for another song on the album which feels a bit more deserving than “Wolf” but we can think of it this way; the wins were for EXO’s hard work as a whole and the entire album. I’m waiting for my copy to arrive~ The scores for SNS on Inki for the boys were crazy though; you know how hard fans worked by seeing the score. Now SM seriously if you don’t release a drama version soon…Anyway, next chapter will be another bonus one about Kyungsoo and Jongin!