It was lunch time. The cafeteria was filled with students yearning to grab something to eat. Classrooms were full and desks were rearranged for friends to sit together. Although Yoseob could eat with his other friends, he still had to meet up with his club buddies at the club room. He heaved a sigh and stared at the staircase.

Why is our club room so high up? he wondered, shaking his head. Oh yeah, because that was the only room available, and stupid Baekhyun had to say 'yes.'

"Oh, Yoseob." Yoseob turned around, and found Baekhyun staring at him with a curious look. "What's up?"

"Ah... nothing," he responded, faking a smile. Baekhyun studied him for a bit, but was oblivious of the fake smile. Instead of nodding his head, Baekhyun grinned back and nudged his friend's arm with his elbow.

"Come on, let's go. Everyone is waiting for us," Baekhyun said.

"How do you know? It's not like you have psycic power," Yoseob retorted, snorted. Baekhyun wiggled his eyebrow and pulled out his phone. His fingers brushed against a few buttons on the screen, and popped open an application. He typed in the password, and handed it to Yoseob as he climbed up the stairs. Yoseob stared at Baekhyun's phone, and found what looked like a live video recording in the club room.

"Where the heck are those two?" Myungsoo's voice croaked, surprising Yoseob. "Seriously, if they aren't here in five seconds, I will choke them with my bare hands!"

"H-Hey, Baekhyun! Wait for me!" Yoseob stuttered, rushing up the stairs. 

"We have five seconds to go up three flight of stairs," Baekhyun said. "According to my iPad, it seems that at the earliest, we'll make it there in three minutes. Therefore, I will explain this to Myungsoo and he will reluctantly agree with me after I explain this complicated matter for around ten minutes. That leaves thirty minutes of lunch, since we have wasted ten minutes doing our personal tasks earlier. For five minutes, we will set up the equipment, and for twenty minutes, we will start rehearsing for our bad. Then, we'll have five minutes of clean up, and the ten minute warning bell will ring. Afterwards, we go to cl--"

"Okay, okay. I got it. Gosh, you're giving me a headache. You're like a human computer!" Yoseob exclaimed, shaking his head. Baekhyun smirked, and swiped his iPad.

"Oh, and I see you're struggling with math. I can get the test answers for you tonight if you want. You can study off of it and be ready for that pop quiz the teacher has in mind in two days," Baekhyun said, skimming through his electronic device. Yoseob's eyes popped wide open when they reached the fifth floor.

"What? I got a pop quiz in two days? Shoot, give me those test answer ke--"

"Not again!" someone cried. "It's been five times since the beginning of the month!"

Yoseob and Baekhyun both looked up and saw Myungsoo scratch his head in an irritated manner. Jieun stood next to him, motionless like a frozen ghost. Daehyun came out of the room, then kept quiet once he saw their door. The door was stained with red lipsticks, which seemed to represent the blood of whoever had written it. The two late boys scurried over to them, and read what was on the door.

"'Stay away from Yoseob or else, Jieun,'" Yoseob read, biting his bottom lips. "Shoot... Is this suppose to be my responsibility?"

"Baekhyun, Yoseob, did you see anyone come down the stairs?" Daehyun asked. The two shook their heads.

"No. As far as we know it, the stairs were clear. Everyone is at the first floor to get lunch, and some students are at the second and third floor to eat their lunch with their friends," Baekhyun reported.

"So that means that the culprit is still up here!" Myungsoo shouted. He turned to Jieun, then patted her head gently. "Don't worry, Jieun. I'll get them for you."

"But you'll get in trouble," Jieun said in a small voice.

"Dude, the teachers don't know my name. How can I get in trouble when no one knows me?" he asked, smirking. "It's okay, Jieun. I'll be like a ninja or something. Yoseob will be there to pound those crazy stalkers down like raw meat!"

"I will?" Yoseob questioned him, widening his eyes. Baekhyun rolled his eyes and elbowed his stomach, causing Yoseob to gasp. "I-I mean... I will! Like raw meat... Yuck..."

"Yep. Like bloody raw meat, no one would even want to touch it--"

"Okay, okay. Enough. You guys are making me feel sick!" Daehyun yelled, turning a bit green. Myungsoo grinned and held his nose high in the air. He walked towards Yoseob and Baekhyun, staring at them deep in their eyes.

"Alright, here's the plan. Yoseob and I will go and pound those girls. Baekhyun, you stay in the music room with Jieun to set things up. Daehyun, stand guard at the stairs to see who goes down. No one is to come up. Is that clear?" Myungsoo demanded. Yoseob raised his hand weakly, which caused Myungsoo to raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, Yoseob? What's up?"

"Can't I just clean the door? I hate getting into fights," Yoseob said. "Or maybe we can just head straight to practice? It would help us waste less time."

"Yoseob's right. We can't just form a search party when we should practice. Remember, we still have to work hard in order for our parents to approve of us," Jieun said, glancing at Daehyun. "Especially you, Daehyun. We put you as the main vocals for a reason."

Daehyun gulped, then nodded his head. "Got it. Myungsoo, Yoseob! Go clean the door. Baekhyun, you're coming with me and Jieun."

"Tch. Sure, let the little kid boss us around and not me. I understand," Myungsoo muttered, rolling his eyes. Yoseob chuckled, then patted the second year's back. 

"Looks like we're on clean up duty! Here's your best friend," Yoseob said, handing him a bucket and a sponge. Myungsoo scowled, and dragged his feet to the bathroom. Baekhyun and Jieun walked inside the room, preparing the equipment. Just when Yoseob was about to leave, Daehyun grabbed his wrist. He turned around, and blinked his eyes at the blushing youngster.

"U-Um... Do you think that I-I can do... that one day?" Daehyun stammered. Yoseob blinked his eyes in a clueless manner. Daehyun cleared his throat, then pointed at his head. "Y-You know... Pat Jieun's head? Myungsoo did it so freely... It looked nice. No, they looked nice together."

Yoseob broke into a bright smile. "Well, what do you expect? You know how much Myungsoo cares for Jieun. To him, she's the only girl in his eyes!" He paused, then bit his bottom lips. "I-I mean, I didn't mean it like that. I-It's just that... Jieun is the only girl who Myungsoo gets along with. To him, she's someone special! No, wait! Never mind. Er... Look, let's talk later, okay? A lot happened, and I don't want to give you any weird thoughts or anything. Just... Just remember that we are all aware of your feelings towards Jieun, no matter how much you deny it."

Daehyun stared down at his shoes, then looked up with gleaming eyes. "Thanks, Yoseob. You're the best!"

Yoseob faked a grin. "No problem, buddy."

But in reality, I'm never the best.

A sick feeling crawled deep inside Jieun's stomach. She stared at her her desk and blinked her eyes. White chalk was scribbled all over her precious table. The table was covered in cruel words, conflicting with the pure white powder of the letters. She looked up and stared at her classmates, who kept quiet and only gave her either sympathetic or mocking glances.

"Who did this?" Jieun whirled around and widened her eyes when she saw Yoseob stare at the nasty words. "'Die,' 'Be gone,' and 'Yoseob doesn't like you.' What the heck? Who did this?"

Jieun slightly pushed him away. "It's okay... Really, it's fine--"

"It's not fine!" Yoseob exclaimed. "If this doesn't bother you, I don't know what will."

"It's okay, Yoseob. If I stopped coming to school because of a few jealous girls wrote on my desk, what kind of student would I be? It's perfectly fine. I just need to wash it off. If it was permanent, then that would be a problem," she explained, taking out a handkerchief from her pocket. "Anyways, why are you here?"

Yoseob frowned for a moment, then his expression brightened. "Oh yeah! Baekhyun said that we're having a club meeting after school today again."

"Again?" Jieun groaned. "But I just canceled my cram school last week. Sorry, but I can't afford to cancel this week."

"What? Then that means Daehyun can't go! You guys both go to the same cram school and both have strict parents! Come on, we need someone to sing the song. Can't you be there for a few minutes with Daehyun? We'll let you out early," Yoseob pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't go. Myungsoo probably can't go, either. He has to study for an upcoming exam."

"But he's making some room for the club meeting."

"Can't we just meet on a Saturday? I'm free all Saturday," she said, wiping the last word on her desk. Yoseob pouted, then scowled. He finally agreed with her decision and took out his phone.

"Gosh, now I have to contact Baekhyun to rearrange everyone's schedule," Yoseob muttered. "So annoying."

"He's outside doing P.E with Myungsoo's class. Look," Jieun said, gesturing towards the window. "You should go tell them face to face."

"But... But it's too far," Yoseob said, waving his hand at the window pane. Jieun rolled her eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me. Don't you have to go outside, too? You're supposed to be at the building across from this one. You're going to have to encounter them when you go outside," Jieun pointed out. 

Yoseob pouted and was about to protest until Daehyun entered the scene. The younger boy looked at the two with curiosity, wondering why they abruptly stopped their conversation once he came in.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Daehyun asked.

"Are you available on Saturday?" Jieun asked. Immediately, Daehyun's cheeks turned red. He looked away shyly and shifted his weight to one side in order to look cooler.

"I-Is this a date or something?" he stuttered, failing to keep calm.

Jieun gave him a dumbfounded expression. "Wha... A date? Daehyun, why would I go on a date with you? I have no time for dating. We have school, duh! School will always be my first love."

"Says the girl who has to wash her desk everyday because of some messed-up fan girls of mine," Yoseob mumbled.

"Huh?" Daehyun watched Jieun punch Yoseob's arm. Yoseob flinched and rubbed his sore arm, regretting the words that slipped out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and turned to the blond boy.

"Anyways, are you free or not?" Yoseob asked. Hearing this from Yoseob, Daehyun automatically knew that Jieun wasn't asking about going on a date with her, but for the club. His whole face turned bright red as he looked down.

"S-Sorry! I'm not free on Saturday." A pause. "My dad wants to take me on a little tour. I'm going to visit his hospital, then Yonghwa's pharmacy, and after that I have to see Nicole's dentist office. Sorry."

Yoseob groaned. "Seriously, Daehyun? You're letting your father run all over you! Have you talked about becoming a singer with him yet? Or are you still thinking about your future?"

"Yonghwa and Nicole are your older siblings, right?" Jieun asked. Her cheeks went a little red. "H-How's Yonghwa?"

Daehyun felt a sharp pain through his chest. "What? You still like my older brother?"

She laughed. "No, silly. I'm just wondering how he's doing. Besides, our relationship lasted for only five minutes until he fell in love with another girl. That jerk. To think that he would be married some day!"

"Jieun, back then you were in first grade. That was the year where all the girls wanted to kiss a random guy and brag about it. You just happened to like older guys," Yoseob said. He paused, then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't understand why you didn't fall in love with me. I was twice as--"

"Shut up!" Jieun exclaimed, shoving Yoseob away. "Don't you have to go to class?"

"Oh shoot! I almost forgot that I was at school. Later!" Yoseob exclaimed. He took off, leaving Jieun and Daehyun alone. Daehyun stared back at the quiet girl, who took her seat. 

"Jieun, can I tell you something?" he asked quietly.

"Sure, but can you tell me later? The teacher is coming," Jieun said, pointing at the door. Daehyun took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly. He nodded his head, and went to his seat, which was two rows away from hers. Although knowing that Jieun was just a few seats behind him caused his heart to shake, what caused himself to tremble the most was the thought of being rejected in the family; the thought that his family might not be able to accept him for who he was.

I'm such a loser, he thought, taking out his textbook.