A shocked silence engulfed the room once the teacher was done with his explanation. Neither group was too fond of the idea of working with the other. However, the teacher paid no attention to the looks of distress on the students faces as he called out the groups, eventually reaching the last two, bringing about another silence from the class.

 

“Group four is Joonmyun, Sehun, Jongin, Luhan Minseok, and Yixing. And group five is Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Yifan, and Zitao. Oh, Kyung Mi-ssi will also need a group.”

 

“She can be in our group!”

 

A voice called frantically, breaking the silence that had taken over the room. After receiving confirmation from the teacher he let a satisfied grin take over his face, looking smugly at the boy seated behind him.

 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, Kyung Mi was not there so she didn’t know about the project yet. When the bell rang Suho and his friends approached Kris and the others before they could escape the room.

 

“Our groups should have a meeting today to at least decide on the topic. We want to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

 

Kris looked at Suho for a few seconds before a scowl began to take over his face. He opened his mouth to reply, but a beeping noise from his phone stopped him. As he looked at it he released a sigh, the scowl fading but his displeasure at the situation is still clear.

 

“Fine, but we’re meeting at my place.”

 

Their eyes widened in horror at the idea and they opened their mouths to protest, but Kris cut them off.

 

“There’s no way we’re going to your place, rich people make us uncomfortable, you could say. Besides, Kyung Mi knows where I live, not you.”

 

“Fine. Lead the way.”

 

Suho’s response gained him betrayed looks from the boys beside him, still horrified at the idea of seeing where they lived and spending any amount of time there.

 

Kris grinned in victory, the others following suit, before turning and heading out the door. The thirty-minute walk was spent in silence, the groups walked separately from each other, until Baekhyun broke it by hissing at Suho.

 

“What do you think you’re doing? What made you think this was a good plan?”

 

“I just want this to be over as soon as possible, don’t you? If I had disagreed or refused to meet at their house then who knows how long this project would take.”

 

The others were still unhappy, but decided to let him off the hook.

 

When they finally reached the building, that same old, rundown place at which the six poor boys had received the news of their temporary displacement, looks of shock crossed the other group’s faces.

 

“Th-This i-is where you live?”

 

Kris turned to the boys who had asked the question, trying to come up with a name but failing.

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“N-Nothing.”

 

He had responded quickly, afraid of offending the much taller man.

 

“Calm down, Baekhyun, I’m sure everything will be fine.”

 

Baekhyun turned towards the person who had tried to comfort him, Kyungsoo, and gave a weak smile before turning back towards the building and taking a hesitant step forward.

 

Once they had all climbed the three flights of stairs and maneuvered their way through the hallway to the fifth room on the right side of the hallway Kris began searching for his key. Meanwhile Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Kai were glancing around cautiously, starting to question the decision once again. Kris quickly located his key in his left pocket and unlocked the door. It’s opening was accompanied by a high-pitched squeak and they all made their way into the apartment. It didn’t take them long to explore the place with their eyes, after all it was not that large. They all sat down in the living room, some needed more convincing than others, before beginning to discuss the project.

 

“Oh! Wait, before we start I’ll call Kyung Mi so that she won’t be confused.”

 

They all looked towards Tao as he said this, interrupting their previous discussions. They all nodded, deciding that it was a reasonable thing to do, besides, those from Agnitio High School would feel more comfortable with her there.

 

Gaining the approval of the others, Tao pulled out his phone and, after pressing a few buttons, put it to his ear.

 

“Hi Kyung Mi! Yeah, this is Tao. Hmm? Oh, no nothing serious happened. We have a group project though, so can you come over? No, it’s not just us so we can’t just work on it later. Oh, really?  Well you should skip that and come here. Please? Yeah, we’re at Kris’ place. Ok, see you in a bit!”

 

He pressed a few more buttons on his phone after taking it away from his ear and then, without even looking up, said.

 

“She’s on her way, it’ll probably be about seven minutes.”

 

As they waited for her to show up the two groups separated, despite the fact that they were supposed to be getting to know each other they were still avoiding conversation with each other.

 

After several minutes had passed the door slammed open, that same high-pitched shriek alerting them to the occurrence. The group from Agnitio High School turned their heads to observe the person joining them while the others just continued their conversation.

 

The girl walked into the room, slightly out of breath. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt that is slightly too big on her, hanging loosely around her body, with denim shorts that extended to her upper thigh, and a pair of gray converse shoes. There was a black bag hanging lazily from her shoulders and her brown hair was tied up in a slightly messy bun on the back of her head, the kind that was disheveled in an attractive way. The boys who were looking at her widened their eyes in surprise, this was their first time seeing her outside of school, and therefore out of her uniform.

 

When the girl met their eyes she offered them a smile, before moving farther into the room.

 

“Hey guys, I’m here. What’s this about a group project?”

 

“YOU'RE HERE!!”

 

The extreme reaction from the boy that always seemed so stoic surprised them.

 

“Yeah, I’m here Tao. I told you I would be.”

 

Taking control of the situation Luhan spoke up.

 

“We’re doing a group project about anything we want. The teachers feel like it will bring the students closer together, so each group is made up of half Agnitio students and half Abdicio students.”

 

“Ah, so whose group am I in? There’s no way they’re doing groups of thirteen.”

 

This time it was Xiumin who answers.

 

“You’re in our group! I made sure of it.”

 

She chuckled before responding, seeing the grumpy face of some of the others in the room.

 

“I can see you doing something like that. But who exactly is in ‘our group’?”

 

“Oh, right I forgot that you weren’t there to hear the groups. Luhan, Lay, and I are in your group and then…”

 

He paused here, his face contorting in a look of confusion.

 

“Sorry, I don’t really know your names, which of you are in our group again?”

 

He directed the second part of his phrase towards those from Agnitio, who had been observing the interaction with curiosity. They jolted out of their stupor as they realized the question was directed towards them and Chanyeol took the initiative to answer the question despite being in the other group.

 

“Suho, Sehun, and Kai are in your group. I’m Chanyeol, this is Baekhyun, and he’s Kyungsoo. We’re in the other group.”

 

As he introduced the group, he made sure to point out who was who in order to help them match faces to names. Before continuing, trying to get to know them better.

“You’re Kyung Mi, right?”