“Hello...are you my study buddy?” Kibum practised in front of the toilet mirror. He checked his watch.

2.50pm.

“Hello, I’m Kim Kibum. Are you my study buddy?” Kibum tried again, cursing himself for being so awkward. How long has it been since he spoken to someone his age?

“Hi. Here for study buddy programme?” Kibum asked his reflection, raising his eyebrow a little to show that he was asking a question.

“Yes.” A voice said over the flushing sound of the toilet bowl, and a male exited the washroom. “You too?”

Kibum blinked. He hadn’t thought he would hear an answer.

“Yeah...you are?” Kibum started cautiously, sizing up the man.

“Shin Soohyun.” The man smiled, sweat trickling down the side of his face. “Came from dance practice so I’m a little sweaty.”

“Oh. I’m Kim Kibum.” Kibum smiled a little to be polite, although he hadn’t remember how to smile properly.

“What are you going to teach me today?” Soohyun asked as he splashed water on his face.

“I thought you were going to teach me...” Kibum’s words trailed off, and they ended up staring at each other.

“Oh.”

-

Kevin walked around the library with five books on one arm, the other still picking out books. He checked the clock on the wall which read 2.55pm. The two should be here any time soon.

“Oh, Kim Kibum! I finally remembered why your name sounded so familiar. You’re that pretty boy the whole school speaks of. The one that doesn’t talk to people.” Soohyun nodded and then frowned. “But you talked to me. And I like you, we click.”

Kibum bit his lower lip, at first a little disappointed that Soohyun heard his name before, until he heard the last few words. Kibum smiled. “I think so too. I don’t really like the whole school population. Some of them are really shallow.”

Soohyun agreed. “There’s always people like that.”

“Boys, this is the library. If you want to speak, lower your volume.” The librarian gave a disapproving glance before going back to her job of returning the books to their right places.

Soohyun immediately put his finger over his lips and looked around now that they reached the second floor. There was a table with many books opened and a chair pulled out, showing that someone had been there. Soohyun pointed at it, and Kibum nodded, both walking towards the spot.

“It’s three.” Kibum noted, before looking around to find their teacher, still unsure who it might be. “You think it’s a male?”

“Yeah, my team is betting that it’s Kevin Woo.” Soohyun chuckled softly, gesturing for Kibum to take a seat in front of him. “That smartie pants that skipped a grade, you know?”

“No.” Kibum shook his head and shrugged, although yes, he heard of that rumour that is now confirmed. “My school life pretty much consists of only me.”

“Hm, am I your first friend?” Soohyun grinned, holding out a hand as they were both comfortably seated.

Kibum smiled and shook the hand. “Yeah.”

“Hello, Kim Kibum-ssi and Shin Soohyun-ssi.” Kevin greeted as he dropped seven books on the table, looking at both his study buddies to memorise their features. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kevin Woo, your study buddy.”

Soohyun tried to hide his smile, which caused Kevin to frown.

“Is there something very hilarious that you would like to share?”

“No.” Soohyun cleared his throat and sat up straight. There was something about Kevin that made him intimidating.

“Good, because we have no time for jokes.” Kevin took his seat beside Kibum and patted the seat on his other side. “Soohyun-ssi, you sit here.”

“Why?” Soohyun frowned, tired to move.

“I say so. Now get your over here or I’ll throw you a hundred questions to be completed by Thursday.” Kevin threatened, immediately getting Soohyun to run over.

“Okay, actually, I have something to say.” Soohyun started. “I don’t want to do this thing. I have dance practices on Tuesdays and soccer practices on Thurdays, no time for you.”

“Sports is a waste of time.” Kevin rolled his eyes before faking a smile. “No, you cannot skip any sessions or I shall report you directly to the principal.”

Soohyun cursed and immediately got a whack on his head. “What the heck? I’m older than you-”

“No swearing. Also, in this environment, I’m your teacher, I have a higher position than you. Shut up and read chapter one. We’re going to build your basics.” Kevin jabbed the first chapter of Biology, asking him to read aloud so he was really registering something.

“This is the library.” Soohyun smirked.

Kevin laughed loudly, the librarian only walked by and smiled brightly at the nerd.

Soohyun blinked.

“Read it out. Now.” Kevin glared at Soohyun, the scene thoroughly amusing Kibum who was a little neglected. “I have special privileges, so speak up and I’ll test you that ten minutes later.”

Soohyun pouted but started reading the book aloud, Kibum heard something like “the science of life” and “the mechanisms of a nerd’s brain”. He chuckled.

“Now, you.” Kevin turned to Kibum and waited for any reaction. Kibum only kept quiet and looked at Kevin. “Good, you know what’s good for you.”

Kibum watched as Kevin placed two books in front of him. “You can choose between English and Chemistry, whichever you have more confidence in and we’ll start a mini quiz.”

Kibum looked scandalised, deciding to pick Chemistry.

“What is the pH of an acid? Give me the range.” Kevin questioned.

“Erm...what’s pH?” Kibum asked. “I know acid and bases but I don’t know what it is exactly. Lest you think I’m an idiot.”

Kevin blinked. “I think I get your question. It’s not in the syllabus, though, but since you’re interested, pH is the potential of hydrogen, the symbol for the logarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen ion concentration in gram atoms per litre. It is used to express the acidity or the basicity of a certain substance. For example, the pH of water is 7. That, you should know.”

“That I get, yes. But why is 7 neutral? Why can’t it be 10?” Kibum asked.

Kevin scratched his head and scrunched up his face. “Ions are just atoms that have an electric charge on them, so H+ is a hydrogen atom with charge of 1. Even in pure water, ions tend to form due to random processes, producing some H+ and OH- ions. The amount of H+ that is made in pure water is about equal to a pH of 7. That's why 7 is neutral.”

“Erm, that doesn’t answer anything. Why is it 7?”

Kevin sighed. “pH is equals to -log10[H+], where [H+] is the concentration of H+ , expressed in moles/litre. In pure water near room temperature, the concentration of H+ is about 10-7 moles/litre, which gives a pH of 7. Does that answer your question?”

Soohyun looked at Kevin in shock. Kevin frowned and turned to him, glaring at him to read on. He gulped, quickly complying to the unspoken order.

“Why is it acids and bases? Why can’t it be acids and non-acids?”

Kevin breathed in and out, trying to calm his nerves. “You don’t question why. It’s called bases and not non-acids. You accept what people throw you. We’ve done this for a million years...I think...”

Damn it. Kibum officially made him feel stupid. This was the first time he had no clue to the question why.

“You think?” Kibum raised an eyebrow. “Okay.”

Kevin clenched his fists. Why was he the one feeling foolish when Kibum was the one who was asking dumb questions? Whoever questioned who made the dictionary? This guy was going to pay.

Kevin whipped out a piece of paper and started setting qualitative analysis questions, even if Kibum couldn’t do them (the better). “Do these.”

Kibum returned Kevin the paper after 20 minutes, which Kevin used to summarise the chapter Soohyun had been doing and asked him a few simple questions (which he answered correctly, thank goodness). Kevin jabbed the next chapter and told Soohyun to read it out.

Kevin then scanned the paper and picked up a red pen, marking it. Kibum only had two...out of eight questions right.

Kevin smirked. Revenge is sweet and...acidic? Since glucose is C6H12O6...and CO2 is an acidic oxide and it’s in glucose and so... Argh, Kevin should stop arguing with his inner self.

Kibum stared at his paper.

“No. Why am I wrong? Copper is reddish-brown. Why will it turn blue?”

Kevin facepalmed himself. This study buddy thing was going to be hard.

-