21 August 2013

Eunhyuk groaned, rolling over in bed. Fumbling around, he blindly grabbed for his phone to stop the annoying ringtone. Tapping the answer button, he grunted into the receiver.

“Have you started classes yet?” Kyuhyun asked, sounding hurried.

“What’s it to you?” Eunhyuk mumbled, opening one blurry eye to check the time. 10:40 A.M. Irritation filled his body. His first class wasn’t until noon. Knowing his friend, the conversation was either going to be incredibly long or harsh and short. Hopefully it was the latter.

“I started classes yesterday and they’re all lectures except for my voice lessons. People are pretty friendly, I guess, but it’s hard to talk to people,” he blurted.

“You haven’t made any friends yet, have you?” he guessed.

“No.”

Eunhyuk laughed humorlessly. “Okay, go make some friends and then call me back.” He hung up, slumping back over the bed with a heavy sigh. Just as he sank back into the folds, his bedroom door flew open. Groaning loudly, Eunhyuk turned away, almost wanting to laugh from the sheer annoyance.

A body slammed down on him. “Why are you still in bed?” Lee Donghae cried, pulling at the blankets. “Didn’t you hear about the guest lecturer this morning?”

“Is today important or something?” he growled, squeezing his eyes shut for a long second before asking, “Who’s talking? I haven’t heard anything.”

“I have no idea how you haven’t heard anything,” he scoffed, “it’s seriously all over the place. Are you using that dingy basement dance studio again?”

“It’s a perfectly fine studio,” Eunhyuk snapped, pushing out from under the sheets to glare at Donghae. The latter yelped and sat back on his heels. He stared down at the bedraggled person who was looking extremely pissed. “So just get on with it, and tell me what is so important about this lecturer.”

Donghae huffed. “His name is Kwon Jiyoung, but most people know him as—”

Eunhyuk was flying out of bed, cursing and grabbing for his pants and hat. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” he demanded, practically hopping out the door half-dressed.

“Yeah, okay, I’m at fault,” he muttered, scrambling to his feet to chase after his friend.

They raced across the small campus, following the sounds of cheering and clapping. There was no way people wouldn’t be excited to see the biggest name in the Korean Pop industry. He was a song-writer, producer, composer, dancer, rapper, and fashion icon. That name was plastered across every billboard and advertisement when he made a comeback.

Eunhyuk was panting heavily as he caught the door frame to the building hosting the lecturer. It was filled to the max, no way to get inside the actual lecture hall. Cursing and panting, he turned to see Donghae in an equal state of flurry. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he hissed.

“Please stop blaming me,” Donghae deadpanned, “it’s really unsightly.” Pushing up, he turned toward the flat screen television mounted to the wall outside of the lecture hall. There were hoards of people filling the screen, but they cleared to show G-Dragon climbing onto the platform. “Look, you can see him here.”

“That’s not the same,” he whined, nearly stomping his foot in anger.

“Well if you weren’t sleeping…”

“Oh shut up.”

Donghae sighed. “Look, he’s gonna start talking really soon.”

“What’s the lecture about?” Eunhyuk reluctantly turned toward the television, shoving his hands into pockets grumpily.

“You need to stop spending all your time in the basement,” his friend remarked, throwing him a pointed look. “Anyway, the lecture is about GD’s life. He’s talking about his career until now and I heard that he’s also going to be sitting in on the senior music composition class. Apparently GD attended St. Angela’s when he was younger. It was still a specialty school for musical prodigies back like…seven years ago.”

“This school just got so much cooler,” Eunhyuk awed. He watched his favorite idol on the screen, knowing very well that just behind him, said idol was physically in the building. The fanboy inside of him was daring to let itself loose at the thought, but he gulped and restrained it.

G-Dragon bowed slightly to the crowd, sunglasses set over his eyes and a grey cap pulled backwards over his platinum blonde hair. He wore one of those indescribable suits that were ill-fitting but somehow still perfectly awesome on him. That’s just the sort of person he was. No one else could pull that off and Eunhyuk knew it. After all, how many of his fellow dancers had tried to attain that level of swag? He didn’t even want to think about the numerous blonde heads that popped up after G-Dragon released Heartbreaker a while back.

“Hello, I’m G-Dragon,” he greeted over the stereo system, pushing his sunglasses up smoothly. His voice was softer and subdued as he began speaking.

***

“Nervous?” Kibum asked softly as they were getting ready for the day. The sky was pale blue, sun just beginning to rise. He pulled a t-shirt over his head and gave Ryeowook a worried look.

His fingers shook slightly as he buttoned his shirt. “No, I’m fine,” he sighed, tugging at his short sleeves and squirming in the dress shirt. Ryeowook chewed on his bottom lip. “I mean, it’s okay to be a little anxious on the first day right?” He laughed awkwardly and grabbed a maroon cardigan from his closet. The morning chill was particularly bad where they lived.

Jongwoon popped his head into the room, looking put-together already. A black v-neck followed every muscle and line of his body, dark jeans hugging his hips and a plain leather bracelet circling his wrist. The pink locks were messy as usual, falling across his forehead. “Do you two wanna catch breakfast before class?” Jongwoon’s gaze flitted to Ryeowook. “And then you and I can walk to class together if you’d like. I’m a TA for your music appreciation class, after all.”

 He forced the blush down. “Yeah, that’s great!” he nodded quickly, ignoring the faint trace of a grin on Kibum’s lips, “Ah, that’s my first class, isn’t it?”

“It should be,” Jongwoon affirmed mildly. “I’ll meet you two in the lounge then.” He smiled briefly at them and then slipped back through the bathroom.

Kibum gave his roommate a look, earning a glare in return. Laughing, the handsome young man shook his head. “You’re into him, aren’t you?”

“No, not really,” Ryeowook mumbled, tugging his sandals on. “I just admire him. I’m not going to do anything about it though. Besides, I don’t think RAs are allowed to get with their residents, are they?”

“I’m sure that’s not an official rule,” Kibum snorted, shrugging his backpack on.

Locking the door behind him, Ryeowook followed his roommate slowly down the hall to the lounge where Jongwoon was leaning against the back of a couch. His eyes were lowered over his phone, reading over something that seemed to absorb all of his attention. A slight twitch of his lips, a faint narrowing of his eyes, and then the tightening of his fingers around the phone – all of it was a little off-putting.

“Ready to go, hyung?” Kibum interrupted naturally. He smiled brightly.

Jongwoon snapped out of it, returning the smile while putting the device away. “Yeah, totally ready. Let’s head out.” He paused to look down the opposing hall. There were two people coming toward them. “I invited some of the others along as well,” he explained, waving at the newcomers.

A twinge of disappointment rocked through Ryeowook, but he shook it off, knowing full well how silly that was of him. Making new friends was part of the college experience, or so he was told. He hadn’t really thought it through. Putting on a smile, he waited for the people to come closer. One of them was tall and slim, features sharp everywhere you looked.

“I’m Zhoumi,” he said, his Korean broken. Despite that, he was still smiling, offering his hand and inclining his head, “Very nice to meet you.”

“He’s from China,” Jongwoon explained, “an international student in his sophomore year.”

“I’m Siwon,” the other one stated, dimples appearing as he flashed a grin. His black hair was neatly fixed and his blue button down shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, the hem tucked into his khakis. There was something so clean and mature about the man, as if he was supposed to be somewhere far better. “I’m the RA of the other hallway, same school year at Jongwoon too.” He glanced at the pink haired male.

The freshmen nodded slowly, taking in what they could. There were introductions being made all over the place and it was hard to get yourself interested in every single one. However, the people around them now seemed very much worth listening to and remembering.

“I’m Kibum,” he pointed to himself before indicating Ryeowook, “I’m his roommate.”

“I’m Ryeowook,” he bowed rather clumsily.

Jongwoon smiled gently, eyes affectionate. “Cute, right?” he remarked to Siwon, chuckling as he ruffled Ryeowook’s hair.

“Very,” he returned, amused. Nodding toward the stairwell, he said, “Maybe we should head out already. I wouldn’t want to be late for class.”

“Oh, are you part of that class?” Jongwoon’s eyes fluttered wide.

“Yes,” Siwon sighed, rubbing his head as he walked down the steps, “I’m taking it because it’s a major requirement. I doubt I’m even good enough to be in it.”

“Don’t say that,” Jongwoon nudged him, “you’re fine. Most people in that class aren’t great anyway. We had all summer to work on just one song, but I’ve heard a few peoples’ compositions and they’re nothing to brag about. My song is mediocre at best too.”

Ryeowook glanced at Kibum, but he shrugged. Zhoumi didn’t seem to be following everything being spoken in fast and low Korean. However, he made an attempt. “They’re talking about the special speaker,” Zhoumi began slowly, working out each word, “G-Dragon. You’ve heard of him?”

The freshmen immediately nodded – excitement in their eyes. Zhoumi grinned with relief. Continuing, the international student said, “He’s…uhm, part of the class. Sitting in?”

“He’s sitting in on the class?” Ryeowook repeated.

“Yes, yes!” he clapped, laughing.

Jongwoon glanced back at the boys. “Have you two missed the flyers everywhere?” he teased.

Ryeowook flushed. “I guess so.”

“Well it’s okay. Anyway, Siwon and I are in the class G-Dragon is sitting in on,” Jongwoon shook his head tiredly, “all of us are pretty nervous. There are rumors that he’s actually going to be giving pointers and evaluating us.”

“Is there any reason why? He’s sort of a big name, so why is he here?” Kibum prompted.

“He has connections with this college,” Jongwoon shrugged, “and I heard that he’s actually recruiting for his company right now. Because of that, G-Dragon is touring the schools and academies known for producing talented musicians. The people in the senior music composition class have been working all summer long to produce something great.”

Siwon pushed the door of the dining hall open. “Although it’s supposed to be a seniors’ only class, some juniors like us were dumb enough to sign up for it.”

Jongwoon laughed. “I didn’t think that he would be coming to evaluate!”

The other RA smirked. “Yeah, right.”

Kibum, Ryeowook, and Zhoumi exchanged looks. For some reason, their upperclassmen seemed to be cooler all of a sudden. Ryeowook idly wondered if that’s what they would look like in just a few years. He had thought ending high school meant he was a big boy now and perfectly capable of dealing with anyone and anything that came his way. But then, as he stared at the two elders’ backsides, he started to realize just how small he still was.

Breakfast went by in a flash, each person getting up to leave separately as their meals ended and their watches told them it was time to go. Kibum waved goodbye to the remaining pair who were sitting across from each other at the four person table.

“We should head out too,” Jongwoon stood.

“Okay,” Ryeowook nodded somewhat stiffly, gathering his things and dropping his plate off at the conveyor belt.

They walked in silence for part of the road. There were other students wandering about, sitting at benches, enjoying the warm weather, or rushing off to their next class. Loud cheers echoed out from the building they were quickly nearing. Ryeowook’s brow furrowed before he recalled their conversation earlier about G-Dragon.

“Is he already here?”

Jongwoon nodded faintly. “He’s a guest lecturer and after that lecture, he’s going to my class.” Shuddering, he laughed. “It really is more nerve-wracking the closer you get to him.”

The younger of the two said nothing, gulping down his anxiety. Then again, what was he nervous for? It wasn’t like he was going to be seeing this genius music-maker. Meeting G-Dragon was a dream come true though. If he ever had the chance, he would definitely treasure it.