Kyuhyun

Now I remember why I hate parties.

Firstly, there were way too many people in here. I didn’t even know most of them. Secondly, they were too loud, even with the presence of teachers (who did nothing to quiet them down). And lastly, it often left me feeling out of place. Right now, I was away from the large crowd of students, leaning on a far wall.

“Hey, you look like the life of the party.” Raeha appeared beside me. She had changed into a regular shirt and jeans, the first time I had seen her outside of her school uniform. Really, the party was the first time I had seen anyone outside of their uniforms, including Sungmin. I wondered then if she was referring to my bored state or my plain attire.

“Tch. You told me the head of Seoul U was going to be here.”

She wagged her finger. “No, I told you he was invited. I didn’t actually know whether or not he was coming.”

I shook my head. “I’m leaving.”

“Yah, you should at least have the courtesy to stay for the sake of the school administrators. They paid for this whole thing.”

Heaving a sigh, I succumbed. Why does she always have to be right?

Suddenly, Raeha looked up and waved in the direction of the door. “Henry! Seohyun! Ms. Taeyeon! Glad you could make it!” I swiveled my head to see the three of them walking into the small room. Henry raised his hand and waved towards us enthusiastically, while Seohyun did a small wave that did not go above her waist. “Come on,” Raeha grabbed my arm and pulled me towards them, and I reluctantly followed. But before we even got there, Park-ssam beat us to them. By the time we got there, he had dragged Ms. Taeyeon away to meet the other teachers.

“Hey Raeha, Kyuhyun! Thanks for inviting us here.” Henry said, patting me on the back as if we were already good friends.

“The more the merrier, right? Oh, come here, I’ll introduce you to some people.” Raeha motioned over her shoulder, to where the center of all the noise was, and dragged Henry over. Tsk, what is with her and dragging people? Can’t she just ask nicely?

“Why did I even bother coming?” A small voice muttered behind me. Startled, I turned to see Seohyun still standing there.

“Oh, hey,” I gestured with my thumb over my shoulder, “why didn’t you go with Henry-ssi?”

She shrugged. “I’m not a very social person.”

“Ah. Me neither.” I nodded, understanding. An awkward silence ensued, and we both pretended to look around the room.

She was the first to break the silence. “So… good luck at regionals.”

“Oh, t-thanks. Though we probably need more than luck to win it.”

“Then, work hard. Fighting!” she said. She was still awkward, but it was kind of cute.

Not knowing how to reply, I just awkwardly nodded. Ugh, why is it so hard to interact with other human beings?

I took this time to look at her a bit closely. She was wearing a dark blue dress that seemed to fit her quiet personality, helping her blend in. Her long lashes hid her eyes that flitted around, not looking up to meet mine.

“Hey Seohyun! There you are!” Raeha appeared again. I wondered why she was so good at suddenly appeaing out of nowhere.

“Hi. Where’s Henry?” Seohyun asked.

“Over there, looking for you. Come on. Socialize.”

Seohyun shook her head timidly. “No, I think I should go. I have to get home, or else my unnies will be worried about me.”

“You can’t go out alone.” Raeha said concernedly. “Cho, take her home.”

Hastily, Seohyun said, “Oh, no, that won’t be necessary.”

Raeha slapped me on the arm. “What did you do to make her hate you in such a short time?”

I yelled back, “What?? I didn’t do anything!!”

“Really, Raeha-ssi, he didn’t.” Seohyun said, surprised with my sudden outburst. Damn. Only Raeha could make me raise my voice like that. She just makes me mad for the littlest of reasons.

“Fine.” She called over Henry, who gladly took Seohyun away in his car.

“See you soon, Raeha! Tell your parents I said hi!” Henry waved. Raeha waved back with a large smile on her face. I tried to walk away before she had the chance to say something else insulting.

I found Sungmin and Hyeri sitting at one of the tables far away from the door. I plopped down beside them. Sungmin, noticing me, threw his arm around me. “Hey, Kyu! I take it you’re not having fun?”

“How can I possibly have fun at a party?” I said bitterly. Sungmin and Hyeri looked at each other and laughed.

“I saw you talking to a pretty girl over there, though.” Sungmin said, with a raise of his brows and a sly smile. “You were kind of staring at her.”

“What? I was not staring!”

“Suuuure you weren’t, Kyu.”

“Aww but you were kind of cute with her.” Hyeri smiled.

“Cute? What are you—“

Raeha’s voice cut me off midsentence. “Heyyyy, Cho, could you come over here for a sec? I need to tell you something.” Her smile seemed forced but strangely urgent. Confused, I got up from the seat and went towards her. “What is i—“ She grabbed my hand again and dragged me quickly and angrily away from the table.

I harshly twisted my arm away. “YAH! What’s your problem? And why did you have to drag me all the way over here?”  Ignoring my question, she looked over my shoulder towards the table I just left. Annoyed, I tried to get her attention. “Hey! Aren’t you even going to explain—“

“Shut up already!” She said, her voice slightly raised, but continued in a harsh whisper, “You . Do you have any idea about the amount of planning it took to get those two to sit at the same table?”

Raising my brows, I glanced toward the table where the two were shyly talking to each other with smiles on their faces. Tsk. My best friend is abandoning me for a girl.

Without bothering to hear my reply, Raeha plopped down on a nearby empty table. “Hoo, I’m tired.” She closed her eyes and faced the ceiling.

I snorted. “Does socializing take too much energy?”

“As a matter of fact, it does. And I don’t even like big parties like this. I prefer small get-togethers.”

I raised my brows in disbelief. “I thought you were quite the social butterfly. You seem to know everyone.”

She let out a small chuckle. “I know them, but they’re too many for all of them to be my close friends. Besides, knowing a lot of people is kind of hard. You never know who’ll be on your side, and it’s so hard if you belong everywhere; you start to feel like you don’t really belong anywhere.” She grew quiet.

Seeing as I didn’t really have anywhere to go, I reluctantly sat down two seats away from her. She didn’t even look up when the seat sank as I sat down. “I wouldn’t know, I don’t belong anywhere.” I stared straight ahead, not bothering to look at her, even when I saw her look at me from the corner of my eye. She opened to say something, but decided against it.

She leaned back into her seat, closing her eyes again.

“Well, Cho. I guess we’re not all that different.”