The day only got worse as it went on. 

Chizuru had been expecting it, but things had definitely changed during her absence.  The teachers would give her sympathetic looks whenever they called her name, and they would even allow her to zone out in class.  She already knew the material so it was somewhat understandable, but she still didn't like the pity.  What she couldn’t take were the rumors being spread about her. 

A scowl crept onto her face when she heard someone talk behind her back while walking to the cafeteria.

“That’s the girl who killed her parents.”

Chizuru looked over her shoulder to glare at the girl, likely an underclassman who didn't know any better than to feed into the rumor mill, effectively shutting her up. 

How dare they say something like that when they didn’t know a thing about what happened?  What possessed them to think that she would ever be able to harm, let alone kill her own parents!

Letting out a small growl she turned forward, just in time to bump into the hard chest of someone much taller than her.

“Ow,” she mumbled, rubbing her nose. 

“Watch where you’re going first-year,” a deep voice growled.

Looking up, Chizuru saw that she had bumped into a young man with sharp features and a cold glare pasted onto his handsome face. 

Chizuru also noted that she had caused him to spill his drink when they had collided.

“Sorry,” she said, scrunching her nose a little at his tone. “It’s not like I meant to," she paused, "And I am not a first-year."  

“Excuse me? I wasn’t the one zoning out,” he snapped, ignoring the last part of her comment.

Chizuru was a bit surprised that he had heard everything that she had said -- considering how she mumbled most of it -- but she quickly realized they were wolves, which explained the keen hearing.

Chizuru would have said something back, but she was too tired to care at this point.  She really just wanted to get some food and see her friends.  So instead, she just settled with giving the tall man a cold glare.

“Kris, knock it off.”

A shorter man with dark hair and soft looking cheeks stepped forward, tugging on his friend, Kris’, arm and breaking the building tension.

“She already apologized,” another man stepped forward, “besides you weren’t exactly paying attention either.”

“Stay out of this Lay,” Kris warned.

The man, Lay,  just ignored Kris and turned to face Chizuru.

“I apologize for my friend’s behavior,” Lay said, flashing her a cute dimpled smile, "He isn't exactly the most mannered person."

Chizuru couldn’t stop the blush that rose to her cheeks.

“It’s fine,” she muttered, “Please excuse me.”

She quickly walked past the group of boys, dropping her gaze to avoid the looks she was getting from the crowd, which had gathered to watch out of curiousity.

Once she was in the cafeteria, she quickly grabbed her lunch and looked around for a place to sit.  While she was still looking, she was practically tackled by a smaller body, one that was currently squeezing the life out of her in a crushing hug.

“Chizuruuu!! You’re finally back! God I’ve missed you!”

“Iori,” Chizuru gasped, “Let go…you’re hurting me.”

The smiling blonde giggled and rolled her eyes, letting go of her friend.

“Geez Iori, I’m happy to see you too but a little restraint would’ve been nice, you almost dropped my food!” Chizuru pouted, playfully throwing one of the fries from the cheeseburger meal she had gotten at her friend.

Zhang Iori, a powerful and skilled fighter, was one of Chizuru’s best and closest friends.  They had known each other since they were little, practically growing up together, and acted more like sisters than friends sometimes. 

Iori looked up to Chizuru, and Chizuru, in turn, always made sure to look after the younger girl.

“Come on.”  Iori grabbed Chizuru’s hand and started to pull her along.

“Where are we going?” Chizuru asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Iori turned to her with a sunny smile. 

“To our table, duh.”

                                                   v   v   v

Chen looked on at the scene that unfolded with interest and curiosity.  He recognized the taller girl as being from their class.  She was the one the whole school was talking about. 

He furrowed his eyebrows.  Looking at the girl, he found it was hard to believe the rumors that were circulating about her.  He couldn’t imagine someone who was capable of smiling so genuinely with someone else, killing their parents in cold blood. 

She seems too sweet for that, he paused in thought, although, appearances can be deceiving.

Chen watched as she playfully threw food at her friend, Zhang Iori, another well known face in the Academy.  A small smile crept onto his lips as he watched the two girls laugh together before Iori started to tug on Chizuru’s arm, making her follow.  Chen saw the two girls walk over to a full table where he could clearly make out another girl, Mizuhana Rei, known for being an ice queen, and Infinite sitting.  He saw the group sitting look up at the girls’ arrival, wide smiles forming on their faces as they sprung up and surrounded a very surprised looking Chizuru in a massive group hug. 

Chen frowned slightly at the overly familiar actions of the Infinite boys as two of them, L and Sungyeol, casually slung their arms over Chizuru’s shoulders guiding her to an empty seat at the table.  He knew it wasn't any of his business since he didn't really know any of them, but he was sure he had never seen Infinite act so friendly towards a girl before.  Sure, Chizuru was beautiful – with dark hair, round eyes, fair skin, and a nice figure – but so were Rei and Iori, yet they never acted that friendly with them.

“Hyung?”

“Hmm?” Chen turned his attention back to his friends, broken out of his thoughts.

They gave him strange looks, but decided not to call him out on not having been paying attention.

“Hyung, we were asking how classes were going,” their maknae, Sehun, said.

“Oh, they’re fine, nothing really special,” Chen paused, “I think we’re getting more glares than usual from the guys, though."

D.O, who was sitting next to him, nodded in agreement.  “I think it has to do with the Assignment announcements that are coming up.”

“Hmm, probably,” Luhan said when he, Xiumin, Kris, and Lay showed up and joined them at their table.

“What happened to you?” Kai asked, noticing a wet spot on their alpha's shirt.

Kris shot the younger boy an icy glare.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Apparently, he bumped into that Min Chizuru girl and spilled his drink on himself,” Luhan chuckled.

“She bumped into me!”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“Hyung,” D.O looked over at Luhan, “How do you know who Min Chizuru is?”

“Are you kidding?  Everyone knows who she is at this point, the whole Academy is talking about her coming back to school,” Xiumin cut in, speaking as if he was stating the obvious.  “Why do you ask?”

“Because she’s in our class,” Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Chen responded at the same time.

They looked at each other before returning their attention to their food.

“She’s a noona?” Tao asked, sounding rather surprised.

“No,” Chen said, “I think she skipped a grade, I’m pretty sure she’s around Sehun's age.”

Suho looked over at Chen.  “And how'd you find that out?"

Chen shrugged.  “Just overheard some people talking.”

Suho tried to keep a small smile from forming on his lips, forcing his expression to remain neutral.  It was odd for his pack to take interest in other people, and the fact that so many of s had actually bothered to remember things being said about this one girl definitely caught his attention.

This might actually be an interesting year.

                                                              v   v   v

All the anger and stress from earlier had faded when Chizuru saw all her friends’ smiling faces again. 

She was currently sitting in between L and Sungyeol, trying to contain her laughter as she watched Sunggyu and Sungjong bicker back and forth as they tried to fill her in on what she missed during her leave of absence. 

“The point is,” Sunggyu said, shooting a glare at Infinite’s maknae, “We’ve missed you and it’s been boring without you here.”

“Yah!” Rei snapped, “What do you mean ‘boring’?”

“I’m insulted,” Iori added in with a small huff.

“You guys know what I mean,” Sunggyu whined.

Chizuru chuckled softly, giving everyone a warm smile, enjoying the friendly atmosphere.  “Thank you guys, really.”

“Of course,” Dongwoo said, returning her smile.

“It really hasn’t been the same without you,” Woohyun added, sending her a greasy wink and smile combo.

“Ughhh,” everyone groaned.

Chizuru just rolled her eyes and laughed.  She really had missed them.  It was only now that she was here, surrounded by their voices and laughter, that she realized just how much she had.

“What are you going to do though?”

“What?” Chizuru asked, being pulled back into the conversation.

“About the Assignment, what are you going to do about it?” L asked again.

Chizuru let her chin rest on her hand in thought.  “It’s not like I really have a choice, frankly I’m hoping I get assigned to you guys, especially since..." she paused, lowering her voice, "since everyone else seems to have come to the decision that I killed my parents.”

There was silence after her statement.  Looking around she noticed how everyone, especially the boys, had tensed.

“Chizuru,” Sungjong spoke her name softly.

“Who did you hear that from?” L growled.

Chizuru sighed.  “I’m not deaf guys, I can hear what people say."

"But everyone thinks you're a killer because of those stupid rumors!" Sungyeol half-yelled.

Chizuru shrugged her shoulders.  "I don't give a what other people think about me," and as an afterthought, "and don't yell you idiot."

“So, you’re not going to say or do anything about it?” Iori asked in a sharp and angry tone.

Looking at her friend she noticed that Iori’s eyes were shining dangerously.  And she wasn’t the only one either, everyone at the table seemed to barely be controlling themselves.

“They don’t even know you,” Rei hissed.

“Look, I didn’t bring it up for you guys to do anything stupid, especially not you guys,” Chizuru snapped, staring pointedly at the Infinite boys. “No Keeper is going to want wolves who go around picking fights.”

“Fine,” they all mumbled as the bell announcing the end of lunch break sounded.

“Come on,” Chizuru sighed after taking in the downcast expressions on her friends faces. “The board with all the assignments should be up, aren't you guys curious about who you got?”

                                                            v   v   v

All the EXO boys winced slightly at the sound of the lunch bell, their ears sensitive to the obnoxious noise. 

“Well,” Suho started.

“Time to go see who our Keeper is,” Kris finished.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Chapter two finally edited.

College is so stressful, why did i think this art school was a good idea -_-