Third person POV

Jongup approached Jisu and Sohee as they ate. Rain fell soundly against the thick glass windows of the cafeteria that sheltered most of the school’s students. Boys and girls bunched together along the long white tables, chattering over the beating of the rain. Jongup placed his tray between Sohee and Jisu. Jisu looked up, about to take another shovelling of rice.

“What?” she said after shovelling a mountain of rice into .

“Isn’t it almost your friend’s birthday?” Jongup reminded her.

Jisu stopped chewing and stared up at Jongup, “you mean Kai?”

Sohee timidly swallowed, wondering if this was a conversation she was allowed to take part in. “Can we go out after school then?” Jisu replied before take a sip out of her orange juice. “Mmh!” Jisu widened her eyes and pointed her beverage at Sohee. “You want to come?”

“Uuh…” Sohee pretended to consider the invitation. “Sure!” she beamed.

Jisu smiled, “Jongup, meet us at the gates after school.”

He looked puzzled. “I’m coming too?” he said picking up his tray, “wouldn’t it be better if just you two went?”

Jisu grinned cunningly up at him as she sipped on her juice, her eyes flickering to Sohee once or twice. Jongup took a step away, a confused look on his face—but not genuinely confused, just pretending to be. He was forced to explain everything that happened the other day to Jisu as they walked to school that day. “We need your money,” Jisu smiled, “didn’t you just get your pay from work?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Okay! We’ll see you after school!” Jisu grinned as she shooed him away. Jongup gave a faint smile and returned to his own friends.

Jisu turned her attention back to Sohee and seeing her friend’s scrunched up curious face she knew she would have to explain. “He works part time at an ahjumma’s convenience store.”

Sohee nodded knowingly, her face slightly brighter than a second ago. Jisu smirked, “You’re interested in him.”

Sohee frowned, “Not in that way—”

“You admitted it!” Jisu snickered. Sohee cringed, giving her friend a disapproving look.  

Meanwhile Zelo was sitting in the centre of every other girl’s attention. Noonas and girls from his year sat around him, trying to chat him up.

“Argh. Those girls don’t know their boundaries,” Eunjung spat in disgust as she eyed the back of Jisu’s head. Sohee was smiling brightly up at Jongup as they conversed. Eunjung sat cross-legged on the table, Zelo by her right thigh where her skirt should have been.

Zelo leaned back in his chair as he plugged in his earphones that were already beaming with rhythmic hip hop music. Eunjung’s top lip twitched as the younger boy turned his head away and ignored her. Another girl reached over and slipped her fingers through Zelo’s blonde hair, smiling seductively at him.

Zelo twitched. “Don’t touch me.” He sneered.

The girl pouted, her face folded into layers of cakey makeup. “As cold as always. It’s that girl again, is it?” She continued playing with the boy’s hair as he watched Jongup leave Sohee’s table.  

Kris put a firm hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Jisu again?” he teased as Kai was caught glimpsing in Jisu’s direction. The pitter pattering of the rain tapping on the windows provided Chanyeol a beat as he drummed his hands on the table.

Kai gave a displeased frown as he shook his empty carton of milk. “What are you on about?” He attempted taking another sip of milk, an empty slurping sound erupted from the carton. Luhan offered his half-finished juice. Kai shook his head and gave up on the milk, putting it down beside his empty bowl of rice.

Luhan sighed as he sipped on the juice himself. He pushed himself up on the table, his feet placed on the seat as he chatted to Kai.

There was an odd silence that had befallen on the table that was usually causing a ruckus in the cafeteria. Chanyeol continued drumming as the others finished their lunch in mild silence.

Luhan slurped on his beverage till it was empty, he shook it gently and put it back down. “Why do you like her?” he blurted as he peered curiously in the direction his friend was looking.

Kai shrugged as he gnawed on the end of his straw. Luhan pouted, disappointed. He squinted as he spied on Jisu; her hair looked a darker burgundy rather than its usual crimson. Luhan placed his cheek in his palm, his fingers interlacing into his hair. He hummed as he gawked at the girl.

Kai scrunched up his face, “Don’t stare!” He punched Luhan in the gut. Luhan squirmed away, brought his feet up, turned and sat down on the opposite side of the table next to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun glimpsed at him, an uninterested look on his face. He peeked up at Kai then back at his lunch. “Isn’t it your birthday soon?”

A grin began to creep up Kai’s face.

“Will you take Jisu on a date?” Kris teased. Kai grinned cunningly in reply but didn’t say a word, he just chuckled to himself.

“Isn’t she already dating Daehyun?” Lay interrupted.

Kris shook his head, “competition?”

“If I were a girl, I’d choose Daehyun.” Lay said after some consideration. Kris nodded his head. Kai’s smirk was wiped off his face as he fidgeted anxiously.

“When’s your birthday again?” Xiumin grinded his teeth lightly as he thought. He tilted his head, “Is it next Friday?”

“January thirteenth?” Luhan interjected.

Chanyeol stopped drumming and looked up at a spot in the ceiling. “Fourteenth,” he corrected. Xiumin and Luhan groaned as Chanyeol gleefully praised himself.

“You think she’ll remember?” Kris asked.

Kai shrugged then stood up and picked up his tray. He pursed his lips and shrugged a second time. “She probably has no clue,” he concluded as they went to put their trays away.

After school…

“I don’t think this is good enough.” Himchan stated as the last B.A.P member entered the practice room.

Zelo kicked his feet on the mat, mud staining the wiry black texture. He glimpsed down at Jongup who was sitting beside the door, his back leant on the wall with his fingers cradling each other and his arms sprawled around his knees. After a pause Zelo walked in, closing the door behind him and locking out the wet breeze and floundering leaves.  

Yongguk was leaning on the far end of the room by the mirrors. The mirrors had fogged up, dust streaming on their surfaces. There were also several marks of evidence that people had been touching them, their oily hand prints hastily rubbed away by a lousy sleeve. Yongguk looked up and down the mirrors, obviously displeased by their lack of maintenance.

“We’ve been slacking off too much,” Daehyun said after a moment of hesitation. Youngjae nodded, following along with Daehyun as he paced lengths of the room.

Yongguk unfolded his arms and pushed himself of the wall. He then refolded them and stared at the members. “We need to concentrate.” He said in a thundering low voice. The leader had merely whispered but the vibe threatened to kill anyone that did not follow.

Youngjae nodded obediently. His eyes whisked around the room. The stench of male’s sweat still weighed down the air, thickening it to a putrid glog. The stench pushed itself into every corner, it was impossible to hide from and impossible for any human being to tolerate. Youngjae nodded in consideration. It didn’t matter to him. The hip hop group were already considered as aliens anyway.

“We should at least clean the mirrors,” he suggested.

Daehyun perked up at the sound of the suggestion and slowly crept away into a darker corner of the room. Jongup’s eyes flickered nervously as he sunk his chin into his chest and his body closer to the ground.

Himchan groaned, “I’ll stay after this meeting and clean up.”

Zelo scratched the back of his head, something troubling him had shown on his face.

“Something wrong?” Himchan asked.

Zelo opened his mouth but shut it again. He did this multiple times and looked like a pale fish on dry land in the process. “Uh. No. Um, I mean. Don’t we have a competition coming up?”

Daehyun flinched, “We do?” His mouth gaped open like it was dislocated as he searched for answers in the other members’ expressions.

Yongguk tilted his head, “It’s too late to drop out. We have already signed up. It’s in a month.” He paused between every sentence a bit more than he did between every word, leaving enough time for each section to sink in.

Jongup bit his lip. His well-sculpted muscles looking like a child’s as he lifted his hand up. “We haven’t even chosen a song yet?”

The members turned to each other, exchanging low groans and worried expressions.

Yongguk unfolded his arms, the tension in his muscles releasing. His eyes trailed the ground as he thought, a fist softly pressing against his bottom lip.

“We don’t have enough time to learn choreography if we just practice at lunchtimes.” Himchan exclaimed through gritted teeth.

“How about we have more after school practices?” Daehyun suggested. “Since we’re all here now, should we start?”

Yongguk grinned, proud at his team member’s initiative. Jongup’s eyes flickered anxiously around the room. With his back still pressed against the wall he got up and slowly inched towards the door, the wooden floor creaking at every movement. Zelo watched him silently.

“Jongup?” Daehyun blinked blankly.

Yongguk turned around, his smile dropping in an instant, disappointed to see Jongup’s hand clenching the door knob. The leader’s smile lines turned into stress-filled wrinkles arching above his frowning lips. “Where do you think you’re going?” 

Jongup lifted his head but didn’t let go of the knob. “I promised to go somewhere with Jisu,” he paused and glanced at Zelo, “and Sohee.” 

 Zelo’s eyes widened, bringing ones eyes’ away from the dark bags that sagged under his. After the surprise he toughened his expression, gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows like a kid.

Youngjae turned to Zelo, the name ‘Sohee’ sounding familiar. “Hey, Junhong isn’t Sohee—”

“No.” Zelo denied immediately. “I don’t know who that is.”

Youngjae stared at him blankly then shrugged it off.

Jongup pursed his lips with a bitter expression –thinking that he might regret this decision later— he twisted the knob. A gush of wind entered, swirling leaves and dust around his feet.

“You think you can just leave?” Himchan frowned.

Jongup swivelled his head around, hesitating to talk back. “I didn’t plan on staying for a practice.” He replied respectfully and walked out. Closing the door behind him, he left the dark dusty shack of a practice room.

“He’s at that age,” Himchan sighed, “the rebellious stage. They grow up so fast—”

“You sound like his mum or something,” Youngjae laughed.

Yongguk frowned and slowly paced the room. He was in deep thought –his eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes dull from being too immersed in his own world—until the creaking of floorboards disrupted him. His eyes flashed as he flipped his head back up. Zelo stood by the door, his head craned. He coughed into a closed fist before lifting his head up to answer the glare of the leader.

“We don’t have practice now, right?” Zelo said arrogantly. Yongguk frowned and was about to answer when the door was opened. When it was closed, there were only four people left inside.

I know... I haven't updated in 2months orz I'm sorry TT TT Been so busy........ it's a triple update to make up for it :P enjoy--