“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m Lee Kyung Mi and I hope that we can do well on this project together! I know that they can get irritating and be a little irresponsible, but please don’t think too badly of them.”

 

“Yah! What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“That your irritating and irresponsible? I thought I made that clear.”

 

“Why are you so mean to us?!”

 

“Because it’s fun!”

 

She stuck her tongue out at them as they sat there pretending to be mad, Tao getting into it the most. Meanwhile the other group sat there with widened eyes, surprised at the sudden change that accompanied the girl’s appearance. It was like they had trapped themselves in the stereotype associated with their school and she helped them escape from it and act the way they would without the pressure of society.

 

After taking off her shoes and throwing her bag carelessly to the other side of the room she took a seat in between Lay and Sehun.

 

“Did I miss anything else today Xing?”

 

“Nothing that you won’t be able to figure out when you return.”

 

An amiable smile accompanied his response. Sehun’s face showed his confusion and, being the curious kid he is, he decided to ask about it.

 

“Xing? Why do you call him that?”

 

“Hmm? Oh umm…”

 

She glanced cautiously at Lay. He gave her a slight nod and she turned back to Sehun to finish her answer.

 

“It’s part of his real name, Yixing. Lay is just a nickname. It was easier to pronounce when we were younger. He doesn’t really let people call him that anymore though, so just keep calling him Lay.”

 

“How long have you guys known each other?”

 

This time it was Kai who asked the question.

 

“Hmm?”

 

They noticed that she had a habit of humming slightly before she answered each question.

 

“Well I’ve known Xing for pretty much forever.”

 

She solidified her statement by dramatically raising her eyebrows and placing her hand on her chest.

 

“We both met the others gradually throughout the years usually through school but sometimes through – err – other things.”

 

She had hesitated towards the end of her explanation, seemingly avoiding something.

 

“Anyways, shouldn’t we start working on our projects?”

 

As much as the others wanted to continue their interrogation, they knew that they couldn’t. Not right now.

 

The two groups split up slightly, one moving to one side of the room and the other making themselves comfortable on the opposite side however, because the room wasn’t all that large to begin with there wasn’t really that much space between the two.

 

“You know I normally don’t like the restrictions put on topics for projects, but having absolutely no guidelines is also frustrating. I mean we can literally choose anything! I don’t even know where to start in order to come up with a topic.”

 

The others all silently agreed, with such a broad range of things to choose from it was difficult to select one thing to write about, especially when the members of the group were all so different. After sitting around in silence for almost fifteen minutes Sehun voiced a suggestion.

 

“Well, do we have anything in common? I mean, shouldn’t that be a decent place to start? We might as well choose a topic that we are all interested in, right?”

 

“Okay, sounds good.”

 

They all agreed that that was probably the best course of action. However, after that they fell into another bout of silence.

 

“So, what are you guys interested in?”

 

Once again it was a student from Agnitio who broke the silence, urging somebody to start off the discussion.

 

"What about mythology?"

 

Lay had taken it upon himself to step up and offer a suggestion.

 

"Why mythology?"

 

Sehun scrunched up his nose in displeasure, he thought the topic sounded kind of boring.

 

"Don't you think it's interesting? You know, gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures. It's fascinating."

 

"I guess so."

 

Suho conceded.

 

"It's certainly better than nothing."

 

"Okay, you guys have your topic, but what about us?"

 

Kyungsoo asked, bringing about another round of silence. This time it was Chanyeol that broke it.

 

"What about fairy tales?"

 

Tao scoffed at the idea.

 

"Fairy tales? What are we, five?"

 

Baekhyun glared at him, prepared to defend his friend.

 

"There's more than one kind of fairytale, he probably meant the original fairy tales. Like the ones by Hans Christian Anderson."

 

Seeing the look of confusion on the boys' faces, he continued.

 

"I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that you don't know about it though."

 

"And just what do you mean by that?"

 

Luhan questioned, the agitation clear in his voice. The truce that had been unconsciously created for the sake of the project was quickly crumbling away. A distinctly uncomfortable look took over Kyung Mi's face. She felt as if she was trapped in between a predator and it's prey, although it was unclear which group was which.

 

"Umm, guys?"

 

Her soft voice was lost amongst the aggression of the boys.

 

"It means that I shouldn't have expected someone from Abdicio to know about anything that requires more than ten brain cells to understand."

 

"Look who's talking, you may know everything there is to know about things like fairy tales, but you know nothing about the real world. You're all kept safe from the terrible things that happen by the little bubble that you're money provides you. Have you ever thought about what your life would be like without money, what you would be like without money?"

 

"Just because you're not rich doesn't mean you can't be intellectuals."

 

"Well I'd like to see you find the time to learn all that stuff when you have to-"

 

"That's enough."

 

She wasn't shouting, but the firmness of her voice caused the boys to stop.

 

"Stop fighting like little children."

 

She turned to the boys from Abdicio.

 

"They can't help the fact that their families have money."

 

Now she was facing the other group.

 

"And we can't help the fact that we don't. You have to understand that with money you have more opportunities to learn, while we don't always have that luxury. However, that being said, we have not taken full advantage of whatever opportunities we have had. So no matter how many times you all argue, nothing is going to change, neither one of you will ever win."

 

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

 

"So please, just drop it."

 

A silence took over the room, looks of regret on some of the faces from both sides.

 

"Sorry Kyung Mi."

 

Tao said, scooting a little closer to her whilst a pout settled itself on his face.

 

"You're not mad at us, are you?"

 

Xiumin questioned after a moment of silence, immediately shattering the tough image they had constructed since entering the school.

 

She giggled and shook her head, allowing the boys from Abdicio to breathe a sigh of relief. The boys from Agnitio, however, still fidgeted uncomfortably in their spots.

 

Until Sehun spoke up, being his usual, childish self.

 

"What about us? Are you mad at us? Please don't be! I promise I'll do better from now on!"

 

There was a slight whining tone to his words that suited the facial expression he was using. Both she and the other boys looked at him in surprise.

 

"Err, no, I'm not mad at you Sehun."

 

This brought a grin to his face, pleased with her assurances.

 

"So mythology and fairytales?"

 

Kyungsoo asked unsurely, searching for some kind of confirmation of the topics but not wanting to start another disagreement. They all looked at each other, each person making eye contact with another before Kris finally offered a curt nod, after a not so subtle nudge from the girl.

With the topics finally decided for each group they split up once again on order to decide what exactly they wanted to do for the project.

---

 

Sorry for the wait and all the mistakes! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, thank you for taking the time to read it!

Also, lilangel21, you really are an angel!