"I like your shirt," Jongin said that morning when they got to school.

"Yeah," Ivy looked at it, then at him, and smiled, "Me too!" 

"Ok, then," Yeeun said, pulling her hoodie tighter over her head. It seemed she had gone to a party yesterday with Siwon and was suffering from an acute hangover that morning. "We'll see you at lunch."

"Bye," Ivy waved cheerily and starting walking down the hall only to be stopped less than halfway down.

"Ivy," Jongin called, "Wait a second."

She turned to see him bent over, panting. What had he done? Gone all the way to his own classroom just to run back up to hers?

"What is it, Jongin?" She asked, tilting her head.

"It's just," He looked at her only to freeze, then blush, then straighten up and start fidgeting. What had happened to the freshman bold enough to yell in the middle of the junior hall? "It's just, um, I was wondering if," He met her eyes briefly, "You knew about the, um, the Autumn Fest-"

"Kai!" A voice came from the direction of the stairwell.

Ivy peeked behind the boy to see another one coming towards them, out of breath. 

"I told you to get to the class early so we could come up with something for our Economics oral presentation," He muttered angrily. Jongin froze, wide eyed, cursing under his breath. "What are you even doing up here?" At that exact moment, he met Ivy's eyes and stopped, taken aback. 

"Hi," She gave him a small wave and a big smile. 

"H-hi," He stuttered, starting to blush, "Um, s-sorry to interrupt."

She shook her head, "Not at all. I see your conversation is much more urgent than ours. Go ahead," She motioned at Jongin, who was staring at his friend accusingly, "He's all yours." After a second, she added, "I like your hair, by the way."

By then his cheeks had gone tomato red, and his smile had made  his eyes become crescent moons. "Thank you," He ran a hand through his platinum blonde locks, then gripped onto Jongin's arm, "We'll be going, then."

"No!" The other boy protested, only to be dragged along, "Sehun!"

"Bye!" Ivy called out, waving, "Have a nice day!" 

Once they were out of sight, she laughed and turned, thinking about how cute that year's freshmen were, just to bump into a warm, solid wall. Of Minho, she realized, looking up to meet his slightly disapproving gaze.

"And here I thought I could be the first one to ask you to the Autumn Fest," He pursed his lips.

She scoffed, "I assure you, you will be the last."

"And why's that?" He raised an eyebrow, amused. 

She pointed at herself, "Current status: Social leper. Nah, just kidding," She said, walking past him, "People here lack the confidence to ask people out... I don't know, only existing couples ask each other to these events. Or platonic couples."

"Are we a platonic couple?" Minho asked, tilting his head and putting on a thinking face.

Ivy slid open the classroom door, "We're not a couple."

She walked towards their desks, leaving Minho pouting at the doorway for a second before following.

"Not yet," He muttered, sitting down. She laughed.

The first classes passed by quickly, and soon it was break.

"You still working on that Math problem?" Ivy asked, amused.

Minho gave her a short glare, "Yes."

"Want me to show you how to solve it, yet?" She held back her laughter.

"No," He whined. 

This tim