It wasn’t until you got home when you remembered the dog. Your mind had been unable to process much after your practice so it had been forgotten. The next morning, you had made Nunji drop you off at the same spot, not that she minded, but you didn’t see the dog anywhere. It had only given you a nice, cold, longer walk to school but you were happy that today was supposed to be warmer.  With no luck, you made it to the school without any sightings of the dog.

You wondered where the dog had gone all the way to your desk. Class started with your mind thinking about it. It wasn’t until English you were called on when your mind focused on something else.

Jimri had pulled you away from your desk as soon as the bell rang for lunch and with a confused look from Taekwoon, you were taken out of class and into the cold.

She procured a volleyball from behind her and she set it to you. With your mind still muddled, you managed to pass it back to her. It was a couple of spikes in when you two removed your jacket when you realized you had forgotten your lunch. At that moment, the door opened and out came Taekwoon and his friends.

“There you are Mikyungie!” N shouted. “We were looking for you. Leo has your lunch.”

You caught the ball at the same time Jimri gasped, “Oh no! I’m sorry. I was too eager to get Mikyungie to myself.” She did look sorry so you forgave her.

Taekwoon walked straight to you but was intercepted by Hongbin. “Let’s go sit at those benches,” he pointed to a couple alongside the building.

“I’m going to go eat my lunch and we’ll continue after,” Jimri whispered to you while slipping her jacket back on before running off without waiting for your reply. You shrugged your jacket on and pulled at your hair.

“She’s fast,” Ravi commentated. He was watching her go. Seeing that, you threw the ball at him but Ken caught it while smiling mischievously at you. That earned him a glare.

He bounced the ball on Ravi’s head. “She’s also older than you.”

“And she’s Mikyung noona’s friend so she’s off limits,” Hyuk added.

“I wasn’t going to do anything!”

“Ravi is just lonely,” Hongbin clarified.

Taekwoon only pulled you over to the benches. You both sat down on one bench and his friends filled out the rest. There was a basketball game going on in the distance on the only outdoor court. Every once in a while you would watch its progress as the boys conversed about one thing or another next to you. You continued to eat and every once in a while one of the boys would eat something from your lunch.

It was as Taekwoon was about to polish off what was last of your lunch when Jimri re-appeared. She beckoned you over and you let out a sigh before following her back to the spot you had occupied. She took the spot that was faced away from the boys and you took the spot that faced them. Without a word, she tossed the ball to you and you bumped it back. After a while, one by one the boys drifted over and Hyuk asked to join. You gave him a critical look before you passed the ball over to him. Your expectations were met when he used too much power and sent the ball way past you. You hid your smile as you tried not to laugh as he started to rub his arms immediately after he had hit the ball. You thought you had hid your amusement but that wasn’t so.

Ravi started to laugh and pointed to the younger boy as N tossed the ball to Jimri, “Mikyung noona is laughing at you.”

Hyuk turned to you and you had your neutral expression back on. You shook your head at him and that made him glare at Ravi. “Liar.”

“She was,” Ravi asserted with a glance at you but your poker expression was in place. You gave Jimri a look and she set the ball for you. You jumped lightly and used more force than you had been using to spike it but aimed it at Ravi.

He quickly dodged it and you gave him a challenging look. He met your eyes evenly and called out for the ball, “Let me see,” he threw the ball up and spiked it but his aiming was off so he missed you. You had been prepared to hit the ball back at Ravi but Taekwoon happened to be standing by you so he was the one who caught it with a glare at the younger boy.

It was his turn to spike and while his form was satisfactory, he used enough force to cover it up and his aiming was decent too. You smiled at him as Ravi once again was forced to dodge the fast ball.

N shook his head, “Oh Ravi.”

“You should know better by now,” Hongbin laughed.

Hyuk came back with the ball, “I want to spike too,” he did a jump spike that was meant for you but it went to Taekwoon again. Taekwoon gave him a hard look and you snatched the ball away from him. You rolled your eyes at him, knowing the maknae wouldn’t purposely try to aim for you with the same intent as Ravi.

You set the ball to Jimri who bumped it back to you and for a while it was just you two hitting the ball. You could feel the boys looked between you two, anticipating something and on the next pass, you bumped it to Hongbin. You watched the way he hit the ball as his surprise crossed his face but he composed himself quickly and lightly spiked it to N. As the ball went around, your eyes followed their movements as they messed up here and there while consistently hitting the ball with the wrong part of their arms and hands. It was amusing to watch them as the ball went by you multiple times but their aiming improved little by little though they kept rubbing their arms after a hit.

When the bell rang, each boy had forearms flushed red and you considered teaching them where to hit the ball but decided not to; you enjoyed having an advantage over their strength and height. Jimri was quiet on the way back to the classroom while the boys chattered behind you as you walked next to her with Taekwoon on your other side. 

You eyed her profile for a second as Taekwoon’s hand bumped against yours and you crossed your arms in response. Taekwoon didn’t show any reaction as he stared straight ahead and you three pulled ahead as his friends separated once you reached the junction of hallway where it split into the first year hallway. You turned your head as the younger boys waved and you gave them a brief smile as Jimri pulled ahead while playing with the volleyball absentmindedly. You didn’t mind since you were heading to the same destination.

Taekwoon continued walking giving little notice to the voices calling out for him from behind so you followed his lead. Jimri rounded the corner down your year’s hallway a couple of paces ahead but she bumped into a chest and stumbled. She most not have paid much attention to where she was going. Eunkwang was the one who appeared first with concern on his face as he asked if she was okay and your mood took a downfall as Minhyuk appeared next.

He looked around to see if anyone noticed the incident and caught your eye. Surprisingly, you caught sight of his cheeks turning pink. He turned away from you and ignored Eunkwang demanding him to apologize to Jimri, passing the ball back to her after retrieving it. By then you and Taekwoon caught up to Jimri who brushed Eunkwang’s concern away.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention” she brushed him off as she rushed by with a red face.

Eunkwang watched her leave with a confused expression while Minhyuk crossed his arms and smiled at you. “Hey Choi Mikyung!” he cheerfully addressed you. “Leo,” he added as an afterthought, “Going to class?”

You uncrossed your arms and let your hands bump into Taekwoon’s, letting your pinky run along his discreetly. You felt it twitch and hook onto yours for a second before you both pulled away. Taekwoon only nodded before he started walking again.

As you were about to follow him, Minhyuk stepped in front of you, “Mikyung-ah?” he peered down at you while you stomped on his foot. He stepped way and started to hop around a look of pain taking over the smug expression. He grunted, “What did you do that for?”

“Um, Mikyung?” Eunkwang smiled awkwardly, “Can you not hurt him too much? Our practice is going to start soon and we need his speed.” You gave him a hard look and his smile took on a sheepish tint, “I’ll still try to reign him in for you. Since you were once my classmate,” he chuckled.

You gave him a nod and his friend a shove to make room for you to get by him. Taekwoon was eyeing the injured boy and you grabbed his hand to pull him along with you as the warning bell went off. You turned your attention up at him and he pulled his hand from yours a few steps down the hallway. He handed you your lunch box and slid open the door. You couldn’t stop the frown from forming as you heard Ken and N greet their friends behind you.

You brushed by him and went directly to your desk. Yoohyuk was there and he scooted his chair in like usual to make room for you. “Math and Korean grammar’s classes are switched so we’ll be starting with Korean first,” he murmured to you. Your eyes drifted down to his Korean textbook already opened on his desk. Taekwoon made his appearance by his desk and scoffed. Your attention went up to him and he shook his head while going to his desk. Your eyes narrowed on him and he shrugged.

Yoohyuk turned back to his textbook and you failed to notice that he was on the wrong chapter he should be studying which Leo picked up on when he saw his classmate quickly open the book when he opened the door. His eyes locked on the back of the other guy’s head and his hands clenched.

You were clueless as you pulled out your textbook too and previewed the upcoming lesson. You sighed when you saw the problems at the end of the chapter that would definitely be your homework tonight. That class ended up not being as bad as you thought it would be thanks to the clean lecture. Math was the same and soon you were down to your last class of the day but before then, it was your afternoon break.

“Mikyung!” Jimri was becoming a daily visitor at your desk. Yoohyuk looked at her for a second before leaving. “Is it okay to meet at the mall at six? My mom excused me from one of my academies so I can go but she is still making me go to the one right after school.”

You nodded and wondered what you could do after school since you had assumed you two would be going right after class ended. Your peripheral vision caught Taekwoon lifting his head up a fraction before it rested on his arms once again.

“How about we meet at the south entrance? If you want,” she looked at Taekwoon’s prone figure and shuffled her feet, “if you’re more comfortable with it, you can bring your boyfriend.”

Your eyes went to said person, still feeling a little awkward hearing him addressed so. You knew you shouldn’t be feeling like that but you couldn’t help it.

“I’m-that’s only if you want though,” she stammered. “Especially since it’s our first time hanging out away from school and I don’t want you to be awkward with it.”

You watched her carefully and noticed Taekwoon propping his chin on his arms so he could look at you. You made a noncommittal sound.

“So six it is,” her grin was waning as she walked away.

Taekwoon was staring at you and you looked right at him, letting him decide if he wanted to go. His eyebrows raised in question and you did the same. He looked over in the general direction N was and