Sehun winced as he passed a long mirror on his way out of the locker room for swim practice after school. His neck was covered with splotches of blue-black. And his arm, where Eunhyuk had grabbed him, had an impressive dark brown bruise over the bicep.

'Christ!' Kai mumbled when Sehun headed out to the pool.

'I second that,' Chen said from his seat in the bleachers. He took a pull on his PowerAde.

Sehun thought it was going to take Chen more than a little carb boost to be in top form for swimming because he looked awful. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was waxy and pale.

Chen must have found something more entertaining than the X-box at the party, Sehun thought. He'd had at least a day and a half to recover. That should have been plenty of time to recoup from most forms of fun. But the guy still looked exhausted, just like Luna had this morning.

Tao, one of the divers, dropped down next to Chen. He was clearly in a similar state. his skin was ashy instead of its usual light brown, and he kept yawning. Sehun thought the guy was half of one of the couples he had seen rolling around on Luhan's sofa. 'Can I have a drink?' Tao asked, nodding towards Chen's PowerAde.

'Sorry, man. I need it more,' Chen replied and drained the bottle.

Tao rubbed his jet black hair with his fingers. 'I can't wake up today. And I slept half of yesterday!'

'I think I'm going to have to start kicking off my parties on Friday afternoons,' Luhan called as he headed over to the group. 'You ladies clearly need a little more convalescence time.'

'Ha ha,' Chen muttered. Tao yawned again.

'You probably need some convalescencing yourself after that...' Sehun let his words trail off. He'd expected to see at least a few bruises on Luhan from the fight. Eunhyuk had gotten in some solid hits before Luhan subdued him. But Luhan looked more like a swimmer on one of those WB shows Luna watched than like an actual human being. There wasn't a bruise or a scratch on him. He stood in front of the bleachers, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Clearly he didn't need PowerAde.

'What are you guys waiting for, an invite?' the coach yelled as he strode out of the locker room. 'Pool. Laps. You don't need me to be telling you this.'

Sehun was in the pool three seconds later. The coolness and buoyancy of the water soothed his body aches. Thank God Monday practice was mostly just laps of all the different - he didn't feel up to much hardcore relay action today. And, judging how slow Chen's laps were, neither did he.

But with each different , Sehun loosened up different muscles, and by the time Coach Middleton brought them over to do a couple of relays, he felt at least marginally human again. he got himself in position opposite Luhan. The coach had kept him in the Luhan, Chen, Kai line up.

Luhan hurled himself away from the block with his usual blast of speed. If he was feeling any pain, Sehun couldn't see it in the smooth motions of his arms and legs. Sehun, on the other hand, still felt his muscles protest a little with every movement. But he refused to let the fact that he'd had a little fight slow him down. One punch-up shouldn't make me this sore, he thought, forcing himself to scull swiftly through the water. He punched the sensor in the wall hard when he reached it and saw that he'd managed a fairly decent time.

He could tell from the splash he heard as he swung himself out of the pool that Chen had made a sloppy start. He turned to watch Kai and saw every muscle in his body tensed as he waited for Chen to reach him. 'Come on!' he shouted, agitated.

But it was as if Chen's limbs were weighted with lead. He was trying, but the guy was just too tired to swim as fast as usual. Sehun's eyes moved to the huge clock mounted on the far wall and watched the seconds tick away. Their time was going to be crap. When Chen punched the sensor, Kai threw up his hands in annoyance. 'what's the point of me even getting in the pool?' he yelled at Chen. 'We're past our slowest time, and I haven't even gotten my wet!'

'Sorry, man, I'm just beat,' Chen replied.

'Dude, he's got after-party. Cut him some slack,' Luhan put in, keeping his voice low. Sehun figured Luhan didn't want the coach to hear.

'Well, maybe we should think about exactly who gets invited to our parties,' Kai shot back. He glared at Luhan as if it were all his fault.

'Look, I'll get to sleep early tonight and-' Chen began.

'I don't want to hear it.' Kai grabbed a towel wrapped it around his shoulders, and stalked back to the locker room.

'Come on. Let's call it a day,' Luhan said. 'We're out of here.'

Sehun glanced at the coach; they still had a few minutes of practice left. But Coach Middleton gave them a nod.

'You had a fish taco from Eddie's yet?' Luhan asked Sehun as they headed for the locker room.

'I don't even know where Eddie's is,' Sehun answered.

He wasn't entirely sure what a fish taco was, either. It seemed pretty self-explanatory, but they definitely didn't put fish in tacos in Michigan. It sounded like something to see, if not to actually eat, but he knew that Chanyeol was hanging around so he and Sehun could hit Blockbuster after practice. 'Besides, I've got plans today.'

'The sister? Bring her,' Luhan said as he dialed the combination into his lock.

'No, Chanyeol Park's decided I'm too film-challenged to be allowed to live this close to Hollywood. We're hitting the video store,' Sehun explained as he toweled off. 'he might be up to the taco thing instead, though.'

Luhan shook his head. 'Nah. I should probably just head home,' he said. 'My mom did not have on a happy face all weekend - and it wasn't just the Botox. She heard about the puke in the hot tub. it wouldn't hurt to put in some good son time.'

Sehun nodded. But he had the feeling that if he hadn't mentioned Chanyeol, Luhan's good son time would have waited. Clearly Chanyeol wasn't in the same social circle as the DeVere Heights crowd. Although, for some reason, Sehun himself seemed to be perfectly acceptable. Guess that's the beauty of living behind the gates of DeVere Heights, he thought.

'Let's hit Eddie's after the next practice. It'll be better after we've had an actual workout. We'll need the fuel for muscle repair,' Luhan said as he tied his sneakers.

'Sounds like a plan,' Sehun answered. They headed out of the locker room and into the bright blue and yellow of a Malibu afternoon. Sehun still thought it felt unnatural for the weather to be so predictable in a perfect-beach-day way, he figured he could definitely get used to it.

'What's he doing?' Luhan asked, coming to an abrupt stop.

Sehun followed his gaze across the quad. Chanyeol had his video camera pointed at the giant football player, Changmin, from the party. Even at this distance, Sehun could see that Changmin's lip was puffy, and his black eye could probably be seen from space - more of Eunhyuk's handiwork. 'Chanyeol's shooting something for his work of genius, I guess,' he said.

'But why that guy?' Luhan asked, sounding annoyed.

Sehun shrugged. 'I haven't quite figured out exactly what Chanyeol's movie is about. I'm not even sure he knows.'

Luhan's eyes narrowed as he continued to study Chanyeol and Changmin. 'You know what? My mom might still be too pissed to stand the sight of me. I think I'll hang with you guys after all.' He raised his voice. 'Hey, Chanyeol! Mind if I join you?'

Chanyeol shut off the camera and slapped hands with Changmin. He grabbed his bag and headed over to them. 'Sure. You can help me educate Sehun here.'

'You take care of the film stuff. I'm working on his knowledge of fish tacos,' Luhan replied. Chanyeol laughed.

Luhan flashed him a big grin. 'Besides, I don't know what you're talking about half the time with the movie lingo. You'll have to educate me along with Michigan boy.'

'Always a pleasure to help the film-challenged,' Chanyeol told him happily.

'Let's take my car.' Luhan clapped Chanyeol on the back and led him toward a Mercedes convertible. 'You want to drive?'

'Are you kidding me?' Chanyeol asked. 'My vehicle is a used Vespa. Of course I want to drive the Merc.'

Sehun followed them, confused. Luhan hadn't seemed eager to hang with Chanyeol at all, but now he was acting like they were old friends. What was the deal?

*Note - Luhan has no bruises at all while athletic Sehun and big football player Changmin are all battered and bruised. Strange...
And Chanyeol is such a cutie. I think he really lives in a unique world in his head. Hmmm~ I wonder what is with Luhan's change of heart...