chapter THREE.

I wake up when I hear my mom calling up the stairs. The first thing I notice is that it's already light out. The second thing I notice that the numbers on my clock are blinking at me.

I curse, kicking my covers off. Stinking power outrage. I hurry into the bathroom, stubbing my toe on the corner of the door. I cuss again, but then regret when I see Minseok poking his head out of his room.

"Mommy!" Minseok calls. "Soo Rin said a bad word!" I shoot him a dirty look and hustle Hyoyeon out of the bathroom and shut the door before I can hear my mother's reponse. The good news is that my hair is clean. The bad news is I slept on it wet and now half of it is plastered to the side of my head and the other half sticking straight out to the side, giving me a weird bird of paradise look. I ignore the knock at the door. I brush my hair, trying to make both sides look even, but all I manage to do is make it all a big mess. There's another knock. I pull a headband out of the drawer and slip it on. A little better. There is another knock.

"Hyoyeon!" I yank the door open. "Can't you see—" It's not Hyoyeon at the door, but my mother. She tilts her head at me.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Super," I say, stepping past her. I clomp into my room but stop as soon as I see the bed. Not only is my bed made, but there's a big stack of folded, clean clothes piled at the end of it. I turn to look at my mother. "Thanks," I say, feeling about an inch tall.

"It's nothing," she says. She turns to tie a ribbon to Hyoyeon's ponytail before shooing her downstairs. It's not nothing and I know it. There's no telling how late my mother stayed up last night doing laundry, and if the smell of bacon wafting up the stairs is real, there's no telling how early she got up to make breakfast.

I grab my uniform, which I note is not only clean, but ironed. My mother is combing Minseok's hair. He stands completely still while she does it, which is a miracle because when I come at him with a brush, he runs screaming away from me. My mother shooses him downstairs and then turn to me. She raises her eyebrows, still holding the brush in her hand. Normally, I wouldn't dream of letting my mother touch my hair, but my guilt and the fact that my hair can't get any worse make me nod. I have to bend to allow her to reach the top of my head. I passed her height-wise about a year ago. Now I have about three inches on her I'm showing no sign of slowing down.

"Thanks," I say when she finishes. She smiles and hands me the brush.

"Hurry, so you can eat before you go." I nod. She pulls my door shut as she leaves. Breakfast. Novel concept. I get dressed fast, frowning at the tiny run in my tights. I peek in mirror before heading downstairs. My mother managed to twist my hair into this complicated-looking knot at the back of my head. It feels like my eyebrows are being pulled up to the top of my head, but I have to admit it looks pretty good.

I know I'm making a pig of myself at breakfst, but it's the first meal I can remember in the last week that didn't a) come from a vending machine, b) come from a delivery person and/or c) have enough chemicals in it to actually change my molecular blueprint. Minseok and Hyoyeon keep interupting each other to talk to my mother. She laughs when Minseok tells her about jumping in the water all over the kitchen floor. Yes, my life is just one big comedy show.

"How about you Soo Rin?" my mother asks. She takes a sip of her coffee and looks at me.

I shrug, trying to think of something interesting to say. "Sulli finally heard from Daehyun last night."

"Poor Sulli," my mother says. I notice she didn't even ask what they talked about. I guess as the leavee instead of the leaver of the two marraiges, my mother just assumed Daehyun broke it off with Sulli.

Mom sighs and pushes away from the table. "I'd better get a shower," she says, standing up. She walks around the table, kissing each of us on the head before heading towards the stairs. "Thank you for taking them to school."

"No problem," I say.

"Once we get through Valentine's Day, things will mellow out." I nod. Even though I sometimes feel put out with all the stuff I have to do around the house, I know my mom's slammed at work and I know she wishes it could be different. "Be good for Soo Rin," she says to Hyoyeon and Minseok. They smile at her like angels. More like angels with their halos stapled to their horns.

I wolf down another piece of bacon before getting up and putting my dishes in the sink. I look from Minseok to Hyoyeon. "Stay put," I say, heading upstairs. Halfway through brushing my teeth, I hear screaming downstairs.

"Soo Rin!"

I grab my backpack and shove my laptop inside. I hear the shower running and my mother singing as I pass the bathroom. Another scream. I hurry down the stairs, bracing myself for whatever is going on down there. I round the corner, my mouth already open, preparing to yell, but both Hyoyeon and Minseok are sitting at the table right where I left them. I quickly look around the room, trying to figure out what happened while I was gone, but then I see the clock.

"Arrggghhhh!" I yell. I'm going to be late. I shove my arms into my coat and twist my scarf around my neck. I hunt for a few moments for my left penny loafer. I finally give up and shove my feet into my flowered rain boots. I shepherd both Hyoyeon and Minseok in front of me and out the door. It isn't until I'm just about to pull the door shut behind me that I see the reason for all the screaming. Swimming in the aquarium with the fish is my missing left shoe.

"Why didn't you call me?" Sulli whispers as I slide into my seat. My boots squeak against the linoleum. I had hoped to enter unnoticed, but Mr. Kwon spotted me as I was coming in, earning me a dirty look and probably a detention.

"I just got your message," I say. After dropping off Minseok and Hyoyeon, I checked my cell. Call me. v.v. urgent!!!S. I look over at Sulli. Her eyes are red and watery. "Are you okay?" I whisper, but she just shakes her head and looks at her desk.

I put my head down on my arms. Despite the fact that I overslept or maybe because of it, I feel exhausted, like even my bones are tired. Mr. Kwon makes the usual announcements. It's one of the high points of the day for many people. We're allowed to write our own announcements.

The bell finally rings and I pick up my book bag, staggering under the weight of three textbooks, two novels, one laptop, assorted pens and highlighters, a calculator, and a slightly bruised apple that I added on the way out of the house. Mr. Kwon is busy with someone else as I pass his desk, allowing me to slip out without a detention—at least for now.

"Tell me," I say to Sulli as she follows me to my locker.

"It's Daehyun," she says. I raise my eyebrows, not sure what to say. "He said he thinks we should have a little space."

She looks at me for a long moment. I take a deep breath. "You did say last semester that you wondered what it would be like to go out with someone else." I realize too late that I've said the exact wrong thing. Sulli's eyes spill over. I offer her a very crumpled napkin from my bag. She takes it and blows her nose. I pull my locker open. I roll my eyes when I see a bottle of purple nail polish sitting in front of my books.

"Is it supposed to rain today?" A voice behind me asks. I turn and see Taeyeon walking towards us and staring pintedly at my galoshes.

"From you?" I ask, holding up the the bottle of nail polish. Taeyeon shrugs. She's always leaving her little "Self-improvement" tools in my locker. Taeyeon looks over at Sulli and raises an eyebrow. "Let me guess," she says. "You heard from Daehyun." Sulli nods, then blows her nose into the paper napkin I gave her. I scrounge in my locker for the pair of flats I was sure I left there last week. I finally give up, resigning myself to a day of sweaty feet. Double awesome.

"I need some sugar and caffeine," I say, thinking maybe a couple of cookies and an Americano might clear the fog covering my brain. I push my locker closed. We start heading towards the cafeteria, weaving in between the clusters of people standing around the halls. The administration has threatened to a bazillion times to get rid of morning break, saying it cuts into learning time, but I'm pretty sure they'd have a minor rebellion on their hands if they actually did. And not just from the students. Right after homeroom all the teachers make a dash for the teacher's lounge. I had to go in there once to pick up a book for my lit class. All the teachers were standing around pounding coffee and stuffing themselves full of donuts. They were like wild animals at the kill. I got out of there as quickly as I could, careful not to turn my back to them. Who knew if they would mistake me as being jelly-filled.

The caff is packed. We get in line behind a cluster of senior girls who look at us like we're offensive, which in my case might actually be true considering how my boots are making me sweat like crazy. And with Sulli sniffling like she's got the plague, it's no wonder they push forward to give us a little more room. When we get up to the counter, I grab a cinnamon roll. One look at Sulli and I grab a second one. If anyone is in need of some raw sugar, it's her. Taeyeon picks up a carton of yogurt and we slide down the line towards the coffee. By all acounts, our school is pretty plush. Not too many high schools have a cappuccino machine and a sushi bar.

We pay and make our way over to one of the tables. I slide into a chair near the window and immediately tuck into the cinnamon roll. Taeyeon is watching me. She seems slightly horrified by me. I often catch her looking at me like I'm something stuck to the bottom of her shoe. I guess because she's very image conscious. Somehow she manages to make even the basic uniform stylish. I'm not into fashion and hair and I never wear makeup.

"Look Sulli," Taeyeon finally says, tearing her eyes from the train wreck that is apparently me. "Prince Charming Daehyun was not." She's about as compassionate as a bulldozer. "You're going to have to get back on the horse." I point out she only just fell off the horse yesterday. Taeyeon nods. "But it's not like we didn't see this coming," she says. Sulli stares at me. I have to nod. Darn truth.

"He said he needs to focus more on himself for a while," Sulli says. I don't know what to say to that. As far as I know Daehyun's always been pretty good at taking care of Daehyun.

"Daehyun's a moron," Taeyeon remarks. Sulli gives her a smile making me feel vaguely like a failure. Here I sit, Sulli's best friend since elementary school, and I have nothing. Taeyeon says four words and she gets a smile. Taeyeon moved in from Japan last fall semester and we sort of adopted her. I'm starting to think maybe it's the other way around.

Taeyeon leans forward. "You will not believe what I saw today."

"What?" I ask. I push the last of my cinnamon roll into my mouth and try to wipe the stickiness off my fingers.

"Take a look for yourself," Taeyeon says, nodding towards something behind me. Sulli looks past me, a half smile forming on her face. I have to turn all the way around in my seat. What I see makes my heart beat too fast. Jung Soojung is standing with her back against one of the pillars. She is talking to her sister Sooyeon, which it itself isn't weird. But she's doing it with her arms draped around some guy. And while I don't really care who the guy is, I do care a whole lot about who the guy isn't.

"Wild huh?" Taeyeon asks. Sulli is looking at me with her eyebrows raised. Luckily the bell for second period rings. Taeyeon is the first to break off, following some guy with a soccer ball under his arm down the main hall. I say good-bye to Sulli at the stairs towards the art wing, giving her a little hug and a fresh stack of napkins I scored from the caff. I have to keep telling myself to calm down as I make my way towards trig. I mean, who Soojung is or isn't dating should have no effect on me at all, but it does. Because if the scene in the caff is any indication, who she's not dating anymore is Kim Jong In. 

author's note. 

So. Kyungsoo and Laynicorn's teaser is out.

I don't think any explanantion is needed.

And especially not this.

Kyungsoo is working that gorgeous eyes really well, it literally eats into your soul. Like, he isn't even my bias and I have to rightfully claim myself to give him an award for best teaser picture. /sobs/.