“Say, have you heard? Apparently there’ll be newbies coming in today,” Sungmin said, slinging an arm over my shoulder as we walked through the halls to our first class. “Kyu told me about it.”

“Really? That’s going to be fun. We haven’t had any new students for a while. I wonder if they are nice,” I commented, munching on my breakfast apple. “Did you say they were guys or girls?”

“I don’t know, Kyu never told me. Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” my best friend answered as we reached the classroom just in time for the bell to go off. Although it probably wouldn’t matter even if we were late for a couple of minutes; after all I was pretty much every teacher’s favourite student. They were all very forgiving as long as I gave them my best apologetic smile and trust me, I do use that to my advantage a lot.

Sungmin and I found our seats near the back and sat down, waiting patiently for the lecturer to start. She shuffled through a stack of papers on her desk before addressing us in her high, squeaky voice. I often dub her Miss Squeaks. “Alright people, we’ve got a new guy this semester. Don’t too much, okay?”

I nudged Sungmin next to me as a handsome figure breezed in through the doors. My best friend nudged me back. “He’s not bad looking,” Sungmin whispered, resting his head on his hands. “But whatever, I’ve already got Kyu anyway. And he’s not here, so I’m just going to sleep. Wake me up when Squeaks is done with her lesson.”

“Okay,” I answered, not really paying him much attention. He could sleep through all the lessons and still score straight A’s like his boyfriend anyway, unlike me who had to earn every single A by myself. I shifted my attention back to the front of the classroom where the newbie was in the middle of introducing himself and I just managed to catch his name.

“Hi guys, I’m Lee Eunhyuk, and it’s very nice to meet you all. Please take care of me,” he introduced with a flashing gummy smile, one that left a fluttery feeling in the pits of my stomach. He quickly covered it up though, as if he was ashamed of his gummy smile. He flicked his gaze around the class, and I might have been paranoid or something, but I swear his eyes stayed on my face for just a nanosecond longer than the others. I could actually feel my heartbeat quicken. If I didn’t know better, I’d probably think there was something wrong with my apple this morning. Sungmin once told me how he felt when he met Kyu for the first time months ago, and I think his detailed description is pretty similar too how I’m feeling right now.

Hmm, I think I might just have developed a crush on the new guy.

Before starting her boring lecture on Korean history, Squeaks placed Eunhyuk in the middle of the class where all the girls started ogling over him and calling him ‘oppa’ after finding out he was almost older than all the girls in class. Almost. But I guess he loved the attention since he was politely answering most of his fangirls’ questions whenever Squeaks turned around to write on the board.

Class ended sooner than expected, and while everyone else was rushing out of the classroom to get food, I took my own sweet time packing my stuff into my bag. Eunhyuk was long gone, whisked away by the girls, with promises of homemade lunchboxes everyday starting tomorrow. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, remembering the time when I was the newbie in class and received the same empty promises too. The lunchboxes stopped after only a month.

“Hey, Min, time to wake up. You slept for the entire hour,” I chided, kicking against his chair leg.

“Five more minutes.”

From the corner of my eye I could see Kyu walking towards our class, and I decided to just leave him be. Let him wake up to his own boyfriend’s kisses or something – I don’t know what they really do behind closed doors, but I’ve got a pretty vague idea after seeing them so touchy-feely with each other in public, even in school, and I guess I don’t want to taint my poor innocent eyes just yet.

I quickly escaped the classroom before Sungmin woke up and bumped into someone standing just behind the classroom door. “Oh sorry,” I quickly apologized, before realizing who it was. “Eunhyuk?” I asked in surprise. “What are you doing standing behind the door? Did your fans lose you?”

He smiled at me sheepishly. “Yeah, their welcome was a little bit too overwhelming for me. I didn’t know I was going to be this popular when I signed up for this,” he chuckled, showing his gummy smile again. He quickly covered his mouth but I protested. “Hey, don’t cover it up. I like your laugh,” I said, tugging his hand away and nodding in approval. “There, much better.”

I think it was a surprised look that was displayed on his face. “You like my laugh? Wow that’s a first,” he asked in slight shock. “My brother always tells me to cover it up; he has the same gummy as I do too. Umm I hate to ask, but what’s your name?”

Whoops. I forgot to introduce myself. “Donghae,” I told him. “Lee Donghae.”

“That’s a really nice name. Donghae…”

“Yeah, well you have a nice name too,” I laughed, then cringed when I heard some weird noises from the classroom behind me. “Um, do you want to get some food? Or perhaps I could show you around the school if you want.” I was eager to get out of here before I heard something I didn’t want to hear. Damn, Sungmin was already normally loud around me all the time and I wasn’t ready to find out exactly how paper-thin our school walls are. Please say yes, please say yes…

“That would be nice,” Eunhyuk said, and I sighed in relief before pulling him out of the school building. I didn’t stop until we reached the sc