http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLrnC7ydqBQ

Mandy Moore: Only Hope

============================================

As soon as the bell rang for break, Danji shot out of her seat and left the classroom. She had to get some breathing room, or else, she would scream.

“Danji, wait!” Minyoung hurriedly sped after her.

Luhan watched as Danji hastened out of the classroom as if her life depended on it.

“There goes your mate. Running away from you like you’re the yellow fever.” Tao snickered. He locked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Luhan irritably kicked the leg of his chair.

Tao toppled over, and his eyes widened in shock. “Ge! That was rude! Tell him, duizhang.”

“Don’t bring me into your petty argument.” Kris muttered and buried his tired face in his arms. The full moon last night had left them all grouchy.

Cursing in Chinese, Tao put the chair upright and sat back down with a glare towards Luhan. Luhan was too busy thinking about Danji to notice. He had been absentminded a lot lately.

Lay walked over and plunked down in her empty seat. Supportively, he squeezed the prince’s shoulder. “You’re fine, Luhan. These things take time.” Lay encouraged.

Tao wagged his head. “Nuh-uh. Remember when duizhang and Holly met each other? They saw each other’s eyes and BAM-“

BOOM!

Startled, the wolves stared up at their leader who had slammed his rather large hands on the desk. There was a crack in the middle.

Tao gulped in fear. “G-ge…”

Without another word, Kris strode out of the room.

Tao lowered his head in shame. “Damn. Did I do that again?”

“Yep.” Chen replied, not being sympathetic at all.

“Gah! I need to stop mentioning her! Bad Tao! Bad Huang Zitao!” Tao repeatedly hit his head. Chen didn’t bother to stop him. Eventually, Xiumin came to comfort the youngest wolf.

Lay turned back to Luhan. “Anyways…like I was saying,” He smiled amiably, “You’ll be okay. Convincing this girl that she is your mate might be a little trickier because she is a mortal, and we usually mate with other wolves, but in the end, I’m sure you’ll win her heart.”

“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t keep running from you.” Tao guffawed.

Luhan shot up with a killer glare.

“Whoa.” Tao leaned back. Xiumin shook his head. *His mouth will get him in BIG trouble one day.*

Luhan sighed and left the room also. He found Kris standing next to the window. A few girls were spying on him from afar.

As Luhan approached Kris, the girls’ attention shifted to him. They gasped at his porcelain skin and marveled at how handsome he was.

Luhan completely ignored them and spoke to Kris in Chinese.

“Are you upset at Tao?”

After a long time, Kris replied, “No. I’m upset with myself.” *Even after all these years, I still react like it happened yesterday. After all…the memory is still fresh to me as if it did happen yesterday.*

Luhan studied the leader who had always been strong in front of them. “If I lose my mate…will I become lost like you?”

Kris shifted his gaze to Luhan and turned towards him. He studied Luhan’s face carefully. Then Kris smiled a little and squeezed his shoulder in comfort.

“Unlike me, you’ll be able to protect her. That’s why we’re here, aren’t we?”

Luhan smiled meekly in response. *Too bad she’s not responding to me in any way. This is going to be much harder than I thought.*

----------------------------

Danji opened her locker and searched for her science textbook.

“Danji-ah!” Minyoung popped out from nowhere and grabbed her shoulders from behind. She jumped slightly and glanced back. “You’re so lucky to be able to sit next to a hottie!” Minyoung envied and leaned against the lockers with a dreamy look.

“More like creeper.” Danji shut her locker with a look. “He kept staring at me the entire time. It was really weird.”

Minyoung gasped excitedly. “Maybe he likes you!”

“No way. It’s more like he wanted to eat me.” Danji shuddered as she remembered his bold stare. It was definitely creepy status.

“I like the one with the red hair. He’s really cute and scary at the same time.” Minyoung giggled.

“You have strange taste.” Danji shook her head. “Besides, what about Uishik? You’re giving him up?”

“No way! Uishik is and will always be number one to me! I’m his greatest fan!” Minyoung cheered.

“Scratch what I said earlier. You’re the weird one.” Danji laughed. Giggling happily, the girls headed back towards their homeroom. Suddenly, both of them were shoved into the wall.

“Owww…” Minyoung groaned in pain. Danji rubbed her right arm that had collided with the wall. They looked up to see the culprit smirking at them. “Man, make some room for the rest of us, fat .” Jonghoon snapped as he straightened his gray blazer. His friends laughed raucously.

Minyoung looked at the ground in shame. Danji frowned deeply. She hated the way Jonghoon always put her down. “Leave her alone.” Danji snapped.

Jonghoon tilted his head and walked languidly towards her. “What are you going to do if I don’t? Huh? What will a weak girl like you do?” He roughly jabbed her shoulder multiple times.

Suddenly, his hand was grabbed and twisted mercilessly backwards.

“WHAT THE !” Jonghoon yelped in pain. His friends stepped back in alarm. No one had ever dared fought back against Jonghoon…until now. The new boy, Luhan, was glaring stonily at Jonghoon. *No one lays a finger on my mate like that.*

“WHAT THE HELL, YOU PSYCHO! LET ME GO!” Jonghoon yelped in pain. “YAH, DO SOMETHING!”

His friends snapped out of their daze and moved forward. They all stopped when the five other boys approached Luhan.

“What’s going on?” Tao lazily drawled as he massaged his wrist.

Junghoon’s friends gulped and backed away.

Danji gaped at Luhan. He looked so…offended, and she wondered why. Why would he care if anyone bothered her?

“Oh my god…” Minyoung whispered in alarm.

Jonghoon’s pained screams forced Danji to snap out of her shock. “Hey, HEY! Stop it! You’re going to break his wrist!” She shouted.

Luhan wanted badly to indeed break the moron’s wrist but stopped himself. With one last glare, Luhan released Junghoon.

“What the hell was that?!” Junghoon yelled as he squeezed his sore wrist.

“You okay?” His friends asked.

“NO, YOU IDIOTS! DO I LOOK LIKE I AM?!” Junghoon screamed. He glared at Luhan. *Freaking bastard doesn’t realize who he messed with.*

“Come on, Luhan. Let it go.” Lay whispered and pulled him away.

Luhan furrowed his eyebrows. *Touch her like that again, and I’ll make sure you regret it, human boy.* His eyes flickered to Danji, and for a moment, he softened.

Danji stared at Luhan until he was gone.

“He has anger management issues, I think.” Minyoung gulped.

*I swear there’s something odd about that boy. For one, he has silver hair. For two, he won’t quit appearing in front of me. And now three…he cares for me.* Danji thought, astonished.

The bell rang, signaling that class was about to resume. “Come on. Let’s go back.” Minyoung dragged her back to their homeroom. Danji saw Luhan already at his seat and froze. With a sigh, she went to her seat. As expected, his gaze drifted over to her.

Danji tried to ignore him as best as she could. *Pretend there’s a curtain between you and him. Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look.* She gripped her pencil so hard that it snapped in half. “Oh!” Her eyes rounded in surprise.

Luhan blinked, surprised also.

*Darn it.* Stunned, Danji met eyes with Luhan.

He blinked at her. “I-ah-I…” She grew speechless.

Cheeks red, Danji took out another pencil. She realized there was a splinter in her finger and peered at it with a distressed frown. *I hate splinters. Oh, well. I’ll have to take it out later.* Danji sighed and scolded herself mentally for her clumsiness.

*She’s really strange.* Luhan shook his head and smoothly twirled his pencil between his long fingers.

-------------------------------

It was time for the juniors to do physical education. The school was unable to afford gym clothes, so everyone was required to bring in their own (appropriate) gym attire. Danji changed into her pink cross-back tee and black shorts. She tired her PE shoes (pink converses) and