Jongdae slid onto their lunch table, immediately greeted by Minseok, who was smiling brightly. 

"Hi Jongdae!" Minseok beamed. She was looking happier than usual, and Jongdae sort of liked that. Minseok was a generally bright and seemingly happy-go-lucky girl, but you can never be too happy. He'd much rather have an overly happy Minseok than a sad one.

"How'd it go?" he asked, picking food from Baekhyun's tray.

"Get away from my food, you little !" Baekhyun snapped, swatting away his hand irritatedly. Jongdae snickered as he popped a fry into his mouth. "And she did very well, thank you very much." 

"Nice," Jongdae gave Minseok a thumbs-up. Her grin grew even wider. 

"Thanks!" she giggled. "Oh, I'm going to buy a drink." Minseok stood from her seat. Baekhyun got up with her. 

"I'll go with you. Just in case any es come and bother you." she added that sickeningly sweet smile that always made Jongdae's stomach churn.

Once they were gone, Jongdae let out a long, tired sigh. He was up studying all night for a chemistry exam and only got in an hour or two of restless sleep. Jongdae rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tiredness when he suddenly remembered he wasn't the only one left at the table.

He looked over at Kyungsoo, who was busying herself with a book. She was a bit of a quiet girl, but she was incredibly smart, if not smarter than Jongdae. He had only talked to her a few times, only because he was involved in a discussion with the other two girls at the table. Other than that, Jongdae never held a proper conversation with her. But what was left on his mind was the other day when Jongdae went home to retrieve his charger.

"Hey Kyung," Jongdae waved, a bit awkwardly. He cleared his throat when the girl looked up from the pages. She blinked several times before responding.

"O-Oh, hi, Jongdae." she greeted him with a gentle smile. 

"How'd you think you did on the test earlier?" Jongdae inquired, trying to start up a conversation before the others got back.

"Fine, I'm pretty sure. You?"

"I think I did well..." Jongdae responded, only to have her nod and hesitantly return to her book after moments of awkward silence. If there was one thing that made Jongdae uncomfortable, it would most likely be awkward silences, probably because he never has to deal with it. Everyone he's around never shuts up. Ever. "I have a question, Kyung." She looked up from her book again, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Hm?"

"Um.. Why were you in Jongin's room the other day? You know, when I came in looking for my charger?"

Kyungsoo looked a bit taken aback by his question, open slightly as she blinked. "O-Oh... um... well..."

"It's fine if you don't wanna talk about it. I was just curious, that's all--"

"No, it's fine! I um... He didn't really want me to tell anyone, but... you're his brother so I think you have the right to know. I'm tutoring him."

"Tutoring?" Jongdae raised a brow.

"Mhm.. In algebra. He's been failing and I had his teacher last year. She asked me to help him with his studying." Kyungsoo nodded.

"And he didn't tell anyone because...?" Jongdae was a bit unimpressed by his own brother. 

"I don't know. He just told me it should be a secret." Kyungsoo shrugged. "So I haven't told anyone."

"Oh."

They, in fact, did run into some es. The two of them were almost at the vending machines when they ran into Zitao and her clique, the one Baekhyun used to lead. Baekhyun always thought it was outrageous how her own followers turned against her just because of one stupid boy. 

Okay, maybe it's against the girl code to "steal" another girl's boyfriend, but seriously? Who the hell cares?

Zitao crossed her arms, raising a brow as she refused to move from her spot. Minseok, who was significantly shorter than the latter, was left to blink up at the towering girl. "E-Excuse me?" she peeped, though she was sure it wasn't going to work. 

"Huh, well isn't it you two. Again." the taller scowled with an irritated groan. 

"Oh shut up, Tao." Baekhyun mocked her. "It's not like we wanted to see you either."

"Who do you think you are talking to me like that?" Zitao narrowed her eyes at her ex-friend. "You're nobody but a boyfriend-stealing, low-life, trashy ." Baekhyun scoffed before rolling her eyes.

"Well maybe I didn't steal your boyfriend. Maybe you just need to keep him on a tighter leash, hm?" Baekhyun forced a smile.