Xiumin woke up on Friday morning to the beeping of his alarm clock. Turning off the alarm and turning on some music, Xiumin stood up from his bed and made his way down the hall to wake up the rest of his family.

“Good morning you guys” Xiumin says as he flicks on the lights in his parents’ room after waking up his sisters.

“Five more minutes” his dad mumbled as he rolled deeper into the covers.

“See you guys downstairs” he said in a sing song voice as he started to back out of their room.

“Xiumin deer did you sleep okay last night” his mother questioned before he had made it out of hearing distance.

“Yeah, why” he asks making his way back into their room to look at his mom in question.

“Well, your eyes look terrible I was just wondering if you had a hard time sleeping” she said as she stood up from here bed, “You must have just slept weird” she says with a shrug.

“Oh, okay” Xiumin says, gingerly tapping his skin around his eyes as he walks toward his bathroom. Terrible, he questions internally, I wonder what happened. Oh my goodness what if it’s a spider bite, he thinks worriedly. Stopping in front of the mirror in his bathroom he looks at his own reflection. “Ohh” he says aloud seeing the slightly pink puffy skin on the edge of his lower eyelid. It’s all that crying I did last night in Chen’s arms, he thinks splashing water on his face.

After toweling his face dry he walks back to his bedroom and pulls on a pair of jeans with a shirt. Zipping up his sweater he makes his way down the stairs and towards his stove. Setting a pot over the flame to boil, he thinks about the events of the previous night. Why were his parents so nice and excepting of me, he wonders. I want to be with him, but I don’t want me being with him to be something that brings him down, he confesses to himself for the first time. Oh my goodness I’m no better than the rest of them, those so called social elite, he realizes with a panic as the water in his pot begins to overflow because he put too much into it.

Pouring some of the water out into the sink before setting it back over the flame, Xiumin starts a timer for the oats as he pours them into the awaiting water. How can I be such a hypocrite, he wonders as he pulls bowls down out of the cupboard for his family and another for the fresh fruit.

Opening the fridge Xiumin pulls out a tray of strawberries and another tray filled with blueberries. Picking out a handful of blueberries he rinses them off under the sink faucet. Too bad there isn’t a way for me to use what I know against them to increase my own happiness, he thinks as he releases the blueberries into their designated bowl before grabbing a couple of strawberries to rinse. Isn’t what you are doing to them now making you happy though, he wonders to himself, as he slices the tops off of the rinsed off strawberries. Maybe it’s not the same kind of happiness Chen could bring me, he confesses to himself as he turns off the flame on the stove and spoons even portions of oatmeal into each bowl for his family.

As he took his own bowl over to the table, after spooning some brown sugar and a couple pieces of fruit into it, the rest of his family slowly made their way downstairs. “Do you guys all want to come with me to a dance recital at school tomorrow”, Xiumin asks when everyone is sitting at the table, a rare occurrence on a weekday morning.

“What do you mean dear” Xiumin’s mother asks, looking up from a pile of papers she was in the process of grading.

“Well I have to go take pictures for the website and newspaper and I thought it might be fun if we all went” Xiumin says with a shrug of his shoulders, “you know get out of the house and all” he adds before returning to his meal.

“What time”, his mother asks.

“Umm it starts at six”, Xiumin picturing his calendar in his mind.

“Well that won’t work will it” Xiumin’s father says. “Remember we are meeting your grandparents for dinner tomorrow night”, he adds with a raised eyebrow.

“I can still go right” Xiumin asks. I need to go, D.O. will probably be there for Kai and I need dirt on him, Xiumin panics.

“I’m afraid not, you’ll have to find someone to cover for you” his mother says.

“But…” Xiumin starts.

“No buts, end of the conversation young man” she says sternly.

“Fine” Xiumin says finishing his oatmeal and leaving his dish in the sink. I can’t believe this, he thinks angrily brushing his teeth. The only reason I agreed to take these photos was to get dirt to use against them. Are they going to do the same thing when I need to go to a Wushu event, preventing me from getting anything on Tao, he wonders internally.

The ride to school is quiet, the only sound coming from the radio. Suddenly Xiumin’s phone vibrates when he opens up the text, making his heart flutters.

I hope you are feeling better this morning. :) We are going to kick this presentation in the with you slideshow. You did great!!!  –Chen

Fighting with himself over what to say in reply to Chen his phone vibrates again.

I’ll be saving your second seat again. See you soon. -Chen

He can’t help but laugh at the picture Chen sent along with his text as he stares at Chen’s mock solute. Such a goof, he thinks shaking his head.

“Have a good day Xiumin”, his sister says as he exits the car with a small wave.

The morning passes by much to the normal schedule. Waiting for a clear path to his locker before moving as swiftly as h