Kim Myungsoo couldn't handle his excitement. Today was the day where his crush would attend the same middle school as him. For the past two years, he had waited for his friend to grow up and hurry into the same middle school as him. Now, he would be able to go home and come to school with her starting from tomorrow.

"Myungsoo!" a high voice called. He felt his heart skip a beat. He quickly checked his reflection from the window and brushed his light-brown bangs to the side. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, then turned around to grin at the younger girl.

"N-Naeun!" he exclaimed, blushing a bit. "Y-You came here pretty fast..."

"Of course I did. It's the first day of school. What do you expect?" Naeun blurted. She sighed and shook her head in disappointment. Myungsoo felt his shoulders sink when she brushed right past him. He pressed his lips, then quietly whispered a word of encouragement to himself. He nodded his head, then turned around to catch up with Naeun.

"Hey, Naeun!" he shouted, running right besides her. "Um, so during lunch, do you want to eat together--"

"Sorry, I can't. I plan to have lunch with my friends," she apologized, forcing a smile. "Maybe next time?"

"O-Oh. Okay, I understand. Then do you want to walk home after school?"

"I won't be able to go home with you for the entire week. I have tutor."

Myungsoo frowned. "Wait, when did you have tutor? I thought you managed to convince your parents that you didn't need one. I mean, you're smart enough."

"I know, but Mom said that since I'm in middle school, I have to get a tutor to help me out and prepare me for high school," Naeun explained, groaning. She heaved a sigh and blew air in her closed mouth, expanding her cheeks. "I don't think that I need a tutor. Do you think that I need one, Myungsoo?"

"Definitely not," Myungsoo agreed. "Anyways, who's the tutor this time?"

"I don't know."

"Ah, I see--Wait, what?" Myungsoo stopped walking and stared at Naeun's back. Naeun slowly turned around, realizing that he wasn't following her. "How could you not know? Isn't he on that tutor site?"

Naeun shrugged her shoulders. "I know that the tutor is a guy who goes to high school. But no, he doesn't have an official site. He does have some flyers taped around the neighborhood."

Myungsoo bit his bottom lip. "D-Do you want me to follow you? You know, like stay with you until your tutor session is over? I mean, we don't even know how he looks or anything. Your parents are gone throughout the day, right? They have work. What if the guy isn't who you think he is?"

She paused, then pressed her finger against her pink lips. "Hm... Okay, sure. I guess so. Meet me here after school, okay? We'll walk home together."

Myungsoo nodded his head. Naeun smiled at him, then looked down at the piece of paper in her hands. She looked up at the school building, waved at Myungsoo after figuring out where her class was, then charged straight into the building. Myungsoo only waved and smiled until her figure disappeared. After confirming that she was gone, Myungsoo grinned like an idiot and pumped his fist in the air.

Yes! he exclaimed. I get to walk home with Naeun after school!

"What? You have work after school? As what? A toilet-cleaner or something?"

"Why do I have the feeling that you're making fun of my job?"

"Just answer the question, Taecyeon," Yoona said, resting her chin against the palm of her hand. "What do you work as?"

"I just started a few weeks ago teaching my cousin about certain subjects. Now, I'm just going around and teaching middle school students about variety of subjects. In short, I'm a tutor," Taecyeon explained. His eyes never left his notes since he was too busy copying his other friend's notes. Yoona frowned.

"You never told me that you tutored! I bet you're a horrible tutor, right?" she asked, smirking at him. Taecyeon looked up from his notes and glared at her.

"Aish..." He raised his hand and flicked her forehead, causing her to scream in pain. "I tutored my cousin, and he did just fine. Today is the first time I'm tutoring some other kid."

"Do you know who the child is?" she questioned him, rubbing her sore forehead.

"Someone named 'Son Naeun.' I looked at her past grades, and I think that she's a genius. I don't know, her parents say that she's struggling with middle school, even though she just started today. I think they just want me to babysit her or something."

Yoona's eyes glowed. "Hey! Maybe I can be a babysitter! We can work together--"

Before she got the chance to finish her sentence, Taecyeon glared at her again and flicked her forehead once more. Yoona yelped in pain and cringed her back as she quickly rubbed the red mark. Suddenly, their friends appeared out of nowhere and came to sit with them.

"Hey Yoona!" Sooyoung, one of Yoona's tallest friend, greeted her. "What's up?"

"Not much. I'm just discussing with Taecyeon about his boring job," Yoona replied, rolling her eyes.

"Really? You got a job Taecyeon? Since when?" Taecyeon's friend, Kyuhyun, asked.

"I'm just starting today. I'm going to tutor middle school students and help them prepare for high school and all that," Taecyeon informed him.

"As I said, it's a pretty boring job," Yoona added.

"You're just jealous because I have job."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am n--"

"Ooh! The lover birds are quarreling!" Kyuhyun teased. Yoona's cheeks turned pink as Taecyeon's ears turned red. Yoona quickly stood up from her seat and cleared . She nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

"I...I'm going to go back to my classroom," she said. "Lunch is almost o-over..."

Taecyeon nodded his head and went back to scribbling down the notes. "Okay, sure. Remember that you have to go home alone after school!"

Yoona rolled her eyes. "I will, I will!"

When Yoona stormed out of the classroom, Sooyoung followed her. Once they were a few feet away from Taecyeon's classroom, Sooyoung grinned and crept besides her. Seeing this, Yoona groaned silently to herself. That look her friend was giving already told her what the next topic was going to be.

"He was totally teasing you," Sooyoung said.

"Who?" Yoona asked, pretending to be dumb. 

"Taecyeon, you idiot! He was totally flirting with you! Did you hear how he emphasized that you had to go home alone? He was definitely trying to change your mind and was asking for you to go to his part-time job with him," Sooyoung exclaimed, grabbing onto her friend's shoulder.

He didn't even emphasize anything, Yoona thought. "Oh, really? I had no idea."

"Are you serious? Yoona, I don't understand you. What is there not to like about Taecyeon? He's amazing!"

"Then why don't you ask him out?"

"You know that I wouldn't ask one of my best friend's guy friends to date me. Definitely no way. Plus, I hardly know him," Sooyoung pointed out. "I'm telling you, one day something small is going to happen, and it's going to drastically shape your life and friendship with him forever. You better ask him out before either one of you gets into some kind of drama."

Yoona laughed. "Sooyoung, please. Nothing is going to change my friendship with Taecyeon. We are best friends. B-E-S-T. Best. If that 'small thing' is going to change my life, then what kind of girl would I be?"

"Human, Yoona," Sooyoung replied, entering their classroom. "You would be a human."

"Dude, she was totally checking you out."

"Kyuhyun, shut up. Here, give this notebook to Changmin once you see him."

The broccoli-haired boy scoffed and grabbed the notes away from Taecyeon. "Did you see the way she was looking at you? Didn't you hear her tone? She didn't want you to work! Are you sure that you two aren't dating or something? Wait, are you working to get money for a present for her? When is her birthday?"

"No, it's nothing like that, Kyuhyun," Taecyeon said, rolling his eyes. He played with his pencil as he closed his notebook. "I'm working because I want to and I want to start saving up for college. My parents have been saving up enough college money for me, but I want to start saving a bit of my own so that I can be independent."

Kyuhyun chuckled to himself, defeated by his friend's reason. He took a seat in front of Taecyeon, then turned around. Taecyeon stared at Kyuhyun with the corner of his eyes, wondering if he was going to say something strange again about Yoona. When he said nothing, Taecyeon sighed.

"What now?" Taecyeon scowled.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just wondering... If you guys aren't dating, isn't it time for you to end this friendship of yours? They say that two childhood friends--one guy and one girl--can't get along in the future if one of them have a one-sided feeling towards the other," Kyuhyun explained cautiously. His explanation was returned with a horrified, digusted expression.

"What? Who said such a thing? That's ridiculous! Two childhood friends--one guy and one girl--can get along perfectly together, even if one of them is in love with the other, and vice-versa," Taecyeon declared.

"So what would you if Yoona likes y--"

"She does not like me! Kyuhyun, I'm tired today, okay? Let's just end this conversation," Taecyeon said, waving his hand. Before Kyuhyun had a chance to say anything else, Taecyeon hid his face in his arms.

Really, why can't I just be friends with her? Nothing is going to ruin our friendship, even if one of us loves the other! We can definitely be childhood friends without letting the friendship we built for the past years be crumbled by a small matter, he believed.

However, on that Monday, five o'clock in the afternoon, four students' lives would change for either the worse, or for the better.