Raeha

"Great!" seonsaengnim clapped his hands together. "So, we'll start training for the contest tomorrow, after school."

I gave an audible moan. Training meant looong hours of staying back after school, time which I usually used for club activities or hanging out with my friends.

"Oh, come on, Raeha. It's not like you haven't done this before." seonsaengnim said, smiling at me. I looked over at Kyuhyun, who obviously had all the time after school to train. And sure, I was used to training for school contests, but with Cho? I had  nothing against the guy, but… he seems to dislike me for some reason. What did I ever do to him?

"What will the contest be about?" he asked. Always serious, this guy.

"Glad you're taking this seriously, Kyuhyun!" If it were possible, Park-ssam's grin grew wider and his dimples deepened. Duh. Kyuhyun takes everything seriously. He continued, "Well, the topics include world history, current events, math, science. You know, the usual." The both of us nodded. We'd both had our share of contests.

"Okay, you two are dismissed."

Once we were both out of the office, I waved to Kyuhyun and smiled. "See ya later, Cho!" I walked away, ignoring the scowl on his face. What was his problem? But, oh well, I suppose it's none of my business. And just because he dislikes me doesn't mean I have to dislike him, right? Personally, he's a bit annoying, but he's a nice guy. I think.

I walked to the gate to find my best friend, Hyeri, waiting for me.

"Hey, I didn't see you at band practice! Where were you?" she jogged up to meet me.

"I had to go to Park-ssam's office. I'm in some contest again." I said nonchalantly.

"Oh. What is it this time? Math? Science?"

"Everything."

"Sounds tough."

"At least it's a team thing, so I won't be alone."

Hyeri's ears perked up. "Eh? Who are your teammates?" she asled curiously.

"Cho Kyuhyun."

She raised her brows, urging me to continue. "Aaaand?"

I shrugged. "That's it."

"That's not a team. That's a partnership." she smirked and nudged my shoulder. "Eh? So what? Are you implying something?"

"Tch. For a genius, you're pretty dense."

I raise my brows. "I'm a genius?"

"What else do I call you? You don't study, you get first. I can only get as far as third."

"But that's because you don't study. You're a lazy bum." I .

"I admit, it's true. I'm so unmotivated." we laugh together as we walk home.

……………………………………………………………………………

"Okay, so welcome to the first training session, you two!"

We were back in seonsaengnim's office the next day, sitting across him on his desk again. It looked the same as it did yesterday, except now there was a lorge stack of reference books and papers on his table.

"So, training will be intense since the contest will be next week." He said.

"WAIT, WHAT? Did you really expect us to be prepared in such a short amount of time?" Kyuhyun exploded in surprise.

I was surprised as well, but tried to calm him down. "Relax, Cho. I'm sure we can pull this off--"

"Could you take something seriously just once in your life, Jung?" He raised his voice at me, shocking me.

"Could you just loosen up a bit? Stressing over this won't help at all, we can't do anything about it." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, looking into his eyes. He was panicking a bit, and it was a bit scary. Seriously, does he really hate me?

"Raeha's right, Kyuhyun." we both turned towards our teacher. "Don't raise your voice. Save your energy for training." the smile that was usually on his face was gone, but his expression was not one of rage. More like one of discipline. Kyuhyun sighed, resigned, and leaned back into his chair.

Seonsaengnim's smile returned slowly, and then he opened a book. "Alright, today we'll start with Math."

The whole time, I was just answering back automatically. Half of my brain would calculate the answer to his questions and spit them out robotically. One time, I even said some long equation so fast, that seonseangnim asked me to repeat it, and I replied honestly, "I have no idea what I just said." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyuhyun facepalm himself.

Meanwhile, the other half of my brain was trying to figure Kyuhyun out. I was thinking back to see if I had done anything offensive to him. Was this really about grades? Did they really matter all that much to him, so much so that it became a reason to hate someone? It wasn't my fault, I honestly didn't get good grades on purpose! I kept glancing beside me, unconsciously staring at his side profile. I don't think he noticed.

"Raeha."

I looked up from my daydream. "Huh?"

"We're done. You're dismissed now." Park-ssam said. I looked at my wristwatch. Two hours had passed already? I glanced at the chair beside me, seeing that Kyuhyun had left and I had been buried so deep into my daydream that I hadn't even noticed.

I quickly got up and said goodbye to seonsaengnim, closing the door behind me while hoisting my bag higher onto my shoulder. I turned the corner, planning to meet with Hyeri at the gate.

Just as I reached the hall, I stopped in my tracks, surprised to se Kyuhyun leaning casually against the wall, staring at the block of lockers opposite him.

Curious, I asked, "Hey, Cho. Whatcha doin? Trying to see which horrible shade of green the lockers are?"

He snickered. "No, actually, as much as I hate it, I was waiting for you."

I reflexively stepped back, surprised. I pointed at my chest, "Me? You were waiting for me?? The almighty Cho Kyuhyun was waiting for me?"

He scowled his familiar scowl, forming deep lines on the edges of his lips. "Don't get the wrong idea, Jung. I need to ask a favor from you."

"Oh my gosh. You're actually asking a favor from me! Somebody take a picture of this memorable occasion!" I fake-fanned myself.

"Tsk. Just shut up and listen. You're wasting my study time."

I put on a serious face and listened intently. He turned his head sideways to glance at me, then pushed himself off the wall. "You're friends with that Choi Hyeri, right? Rank 3^rd?"

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. I walked a step forward. "Who want to know?" I was a bit protective of my friends.

"My best friend, Sungmin." he sighed. "He said his test results weren't good enough and he's looking for a tutor, but you and I are both busy, so he asked me if I could ask you to ask her if she was willing to tutor him."

"Hyeri?" I laughed. "Her study habits are about as good as mine."

Kyuhyun raised his brow. "You study?"

"Exactly."

He rolled his eyes. "Just ask her to talk to Sungmin, okay?"

"Hmm… I'll think about it. What's he like?"

"Athletic, friendly, into extracurricular activities…"

I interuppted him. "So basically he's the opposite of you? Good enough for me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Whatever. I'll just tell her when I see her."

"Fine. See ya, Jung." he said in his usal cold tone and left me in the hallway.

……………………

Kyuhyun

Sungmin so owes me.

"Pleeaaaase, Kyu?" he had begged me earlier this afternoon.

"No." I walked down the hall towards Park-ssam's office.

"Why nooot?"

"Don't wanna."

"Come oooon! I'll owe you one." he tried to catch up with me.

"You owe me more than one, already."

"But I just need you to ask her one question--"

"Questions lead to conversations." I said coldly. No matter how much he begged, I was not going to ask a favor from Jung Raeha.

"Pleeeaaaase~" he tried to do some aegyo.

"Ugh, stop. You're disgusting." I shielded my eyes. "What do you want me to ask her?" I asked.

"YES!" he raised his arms. "Okay, so you see, I'm looking for a tutor,"

"Okay, wait. One, why do you need her to be your tutor? You have me. Two, we're both in a contest, so we're both busy. And three, trust me, you do not want to copy her study habits."

"What? No, not Raeha! You see, she's best friends with rank 3, Choi Hyeri--"

"Choi Hyeri as in the girl you've had a 'little' crush on since the beginning of high school?" I see where this is going. It doesn't look good.

Sungmin turned pink. "Um… y-yeah…" he wrung his hands. I knew that Hyeri was the reason Sungmin turned down several confessions, and the reasons he tried to raise his grades, to get into the highest ranked class. She was the reason I met him, and he became my best friend.

"Tch… really…" I sighed. "You owe me big time for this."

"Thanks a looot Kyuhyun-ah!!"

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