chapter two: ii. prey of the predator

Classes were starting today. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be excited or horrified at what might occur. Since the school was fairly small, one subject was taught by one teacher, in one class. One meaning: All grades would be included in my classes. This meant that it was a definite that I'd have some of them in each of my classes. This term, I was taking Math, English, Music, and Phys. Ed. Next term I'd be taking Korean, Science, Geography, and Drama. I'd chosen not to choose Art as my electives, because… I hated art. I couldn't draw. And that was the truth.

I got all my things for my classes, stuffed them into my shoulder bag, and said bye to Amber as I headed off to your first class: Math. Amber had a complete different set of subjects this term, so I didn't have anything with her, this term, at least. I had toured the school the other day, and had a basic idea of where all the classes were. Okay, maybe not basic. Maybe I had kind of forgotten where all of my classes were. It didn't matter. I'd find my classes, somehow.

I hated math. I despised it with all of my soul. I didn't understand how such a terrible and useless subject could even exist. Sure, the basics were necessary in life, but then, after that, what was the point of it all? Algebra? Who needed it? Calculus? Even more stupid. Maybe if I was going to major in Engineering or Architecture or something that required math… but that was never going to happen. I was definitely going to major in either Music or Korean. I loved writing: all kinds of writing. Writing stories, writing music, writing lyrics. Composing was a side hobby that I had had ever since Gr. 6. I wasn't sure if any of my songs were any good, but I still had fun making them.

I had been planning to bring my guitar to the dorms, but my brother had begged me not to take it, as he always played it and couldn't bear parting with it. I reluctantly agreed, hoping that someone would have a guitar. Thankfully, Amber did have one. I also played piano and flute, although I was best at guitar. The reason for that was because I enjoyed playing guitar with all of my soul; I used to play it for hours, getting rough calluses on my fingers but not caring. I swear, when I had broken my left hand, I had cried; I wouldn't be able to play guitar for two months.

Now where was my math class again? There were a few students wandering the halls, but they all looked like they had a purpose and didn't want to talk to me. I chose the closest kid, a boy around my age to ask.

"Um… excuse me… do you know where the math class is?" I asked shyly.

"Oh, I'm going to math right now too! I'll take you there," he said, grinning.

"Thank you so much!" I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe there were nice boys here after all. My mom always bothered me to start dating, as I had only had one previous boyfriend, but that hadn't ended well, with me punching him in the face and ending up with one bruised right hand. It'd been hard to play guitar, and I'd regretted it because of that. I should have slapped him or something.

"My name's Taemin. Lee Taemin," he smiled at me, holding his hand out.

I shook it, smiling back at him. His eyes twinkled, as if we were sharing a secret joke that no one else knew. He led me through the hallways of the school, and we finally reached the math class. I tried taking mental jot notes in my head, but to no avail. I was never really good with maps.

We entered the classroom. I surveyed the classroom, raising my eyebrows in surprise. It didn't look like any classroom that I had been in before. The desks were arranged in a circle, so that all of them were facing each other. Meaning I couldn't hide at the back, away from the teacher as well as the students…

"Jooeun-ah!" someone called.

I closed my eyes, recognizing the voice.

"You had math first period? Why didn't you tell me?"

I opened my eyes and looked straight up into the eyes of the first person I had met on campus: Park Chanyeol.

"It might have slipped my mind," I said, scowling at him before quickly taking a seat-away from him.

He simply smiled and picked up his bag hanging on the back of his chair and took the seat next to mine.

"Is she your pick?" Taemin asked.

"Yeah, she is, so don't bother her!" Chanyeol hissed playfully, putting a protective arm around me.

I shrugged out of it, glaring daggers at him. "Are you friends?"

"Obviously! He's Kai's best friend! And since I'm Kai's best friend, Taemin's my best friend!" Chanyeol beamed at me, as if beaming at me would please me.

It didn't. At all. Okay, well, maybe a little. After all, he had a smile that could melt icebergs. I reflexively smiled back at him, before realizing and turning it into a frown. "Um… Chanyeol sunbae? How does that make sense? How are you Kai's best friend if Kai's best friend is Taemin? And also… are you… the only one of your… gang in this class?"

"Nope!" he grinned at me, as if the news he was delivering was good news. "Kai and Suho are taking it too. Suho's real smart; he'll lend you his notes if you want. And call me oppa, not sunbae. Oh, and Kai's my bae, but Kai's bae is Taemin…" He glared at Taemin playfully, before grinning.

I groaned inwardly. Not just Chanyeol, but the boy who had called me his while smirking seductively at me. And also the leader, who seemed pretty decent and I had no idea why he was part of their group of foolish idiots, and even more so confused on why he was the leader.

"Good morning, Jooeun-ssi!" a cheery voice said.

I turned to see Junmyeon. He smiled at me, waving.

"Good morning, Junmyeon sunbae," I mumbled. I couldn't exactly be rude to such a kind looking person who had greeted me.

"Don't call me Junmyeon sunbae, call me Suho oppa," he smiled at me. "And if you really want to call me Junmyeon, at least call me Junmyeon oppa."

I gave an uncomfortable nod, and then turned to get some lined paper and pencil out for math class.

"Morning," someone whispered into my ear, giving me the shivers.

I knew who it was without even looking. "Morning to you too, Kai-ssi. But you know… we kind of just met…? Personal space?"

He took the seat on my right, as Junmyeon for some reason had not taken it. He smirked. "There's no such thing as personal space for lovers, is there? And why are you being so polite? Just call me Kai, geez."

"But we're not lovers. And there is personal space, even for lovers," I corrected. "And okay then… Kai. Since we're the same age."

Who did he think was? Did he think he owned me or something? Unlike what he said, I was not his. I was not a simple possession of his. I was a person, and I had my own thoughts and opinions and I wasn't going to fall for his tricks.

"Yeah!" Chanyeol chimed in, grinning at me. He then turned to Kai and smiled. "Don't worry Kai, I'm still your number one fan!"

Taemin finally took a seat on the other side of Junmyeon, who was on the opposite side of the room.

Junmyeon winked at me, smiling slightly, and I could feel myself blushing. D*mn it. It seemed that winking was my new weakness.

I averted his gaze, looking at the young woman, presumably the teacher, who had just entered the room.

"Good morning, class! Now that we're back, we're going to jump right into geometry," a young woman said.

"Boa-saem is so hot… but d*mn she can be y sometimes," Chanyeol whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes. Of course all that the guys would think about was whether a teacher was hot or not. The class finally finished, and soon enough, it was time for Music. I brightened up, thinking about what we might do. I travelled quickly to the music room: I definitely knew where it was, I had made sure that I would. Music was my favourite class after all.

I entered the room, and was once again surprised at the strange environment of the classroom. Instead of the normal chairs, there were stools. And the stools were arranged in a circle, presumably to face the middle, as the stands were facing the middle.

"Jooeun-ah!" a cheery voice called.

I sighed. Couldn't I have my favourite class without them?

Jongdae bounded in front of me, Kyungsoo and Lay following shyly from behind. I couldn't help but smile a little, seeing how shy the other two were being. I hoped this group wasn't as bad as the last.

"I'm so glad you're in the same class as me!" he beamed. "And my favourite class too!"

"It's your favourite class? It's my favourite class too!" I grinned at them.

Something we shared in common. How could I be anything but happy when I was talking about music, anyway? Just thinking about music brought a smile to my face.

"Me too," said Kyungsoo quietly, smiling meekly.

"How about you, Lay… oppa? I can call you that, right?" I asked, and he blushed from the attention.

He nodded. "I like it, but it's not my favourite…" he said shyly.

"What's your favourite then?" I smiled at him.

"Dance," he replied, almost inaudibly.

I raised my eyebrows. "You dance? I want to see you dance now!"

"He's really good," Kyungsoo piped in.

"Not as good as me," Jongdae bragged.

I could practically hear Kyungsoo and Lay rolling their eyes at him.

"Lay's one of the best! He's just as good as Kai and Taemin, and that's saying a lot," Kyungsoo said grinning. "Jongdae's not very good. But he's getting better, with practice."

"Yah! You're not much better!" Jongdae scowled.

I couldn't help but chuckle at how childish he was being.

"Kyungsoo is better, though," said Lay, grinning with those adorable dimples that I couldn't help but notice.

I gasped. "You're dimples are so cute!" Dimples? It was one dimple, but you couldn't exactly tell someone that his dimple is cute.

He blushed like crazy, smiling modestly. "Not as cute as you, I think," he retorted.

I couldn't help but gape. Lay, this adorable shy guy, was flirting with me?

"Time to start class!" said the teacher, a young man who was not very tall, but very skinny. "To you noobs, I'm Henry Lau. Call me Henry-saem. Take your seats!"

I took my seat in between Kyungsoo and Lay, Jongdae pouting because he wasn't sitting beside me. He took the seat on the other side of Kyungsoo, obviously upset that he wasn't sitting beside me.

He looked kind of like a mix between a dinosaur and a camel, and I snickered as I thought this.

"Henry-saem is really talented. He's a great singer, dancer, and he can play violin and piano really well," Kyungsoo whispered to me.

I raised my eyebrows. He didn't look that talented.

"How about introducing yourself with an impromptu song or rap?" he suggested. "Let's start with Jongdae, and then go to Kyungsoo and so on. You can use the variety of instruments we have in here."

Jongdae grinned, before nodding to me as if he was saying you better watch me.

"Hey everybody~ my name is Jongdae~ I like to sing~ and that's my lady~" he motioned to me.

My eyes widened. What the hell was he doing? Now everyone in my class was looking at me, and I couldn't even do anything. Although I had to admit, his voice was heavenly.

Who knew such a silly boy could have such a nice voice?

"Next," Henry said, smirking a little at me. It was obvious that he knew all about this get a girl every year thing, and found it amusing. I didn't know what was more mortifying: the fact that Jongdae had sang a song about me in front of the whole class, or that the teacher was enjoying all of this.

Kyungsoo swallowed, obviously nervous. He obviously didn't like big audiences.

"I'm Kyungsoo~ but my friends call me Mama Soo~ sorry Jongdae but you're wrong~ but I'm singing about her in my song~ don't the rest of you even dare~ if you even look at her I'll glare~" Kyungsoo finished before blushing madly.

I inwardly screamed at him, but still couldn't help but melt at his voice. His voice was like honey, it was so smooth… how could there be two amazing singers in one class?

I went over and got a guitar, strumming a few chords nervously. I frowned. The guitar was totally out of tune. I had played the guitar long enough to know the sound of a tuned guitar by heart. I apologized to the teacher before quickly tuning the guitar. Maybe it was a test. Who knew?

I cleared my throat, before starting my song with the guitar. "My name's Jooeun and I'm new here~ These boys over there are giving me quite a fear~ I don't remember signing a contract saying I'm theirs~ I don't really think it's fair~ If you dare to even touch me~ You will die slow and painfully~" I glared at them mockingly, before grinning.

"I'm kidding… until you do something I don't like," I said, sticking my tongue out at them.

I was about to put the guitar away, when Lay took it from me, smiling gently. He took the guitar in his hands and moved to the piano, sitting on the piano bench. What was he planning to do? Play the guitar and the piano?

He finger picked the guitar. I gaped. He was really good. While I had simply played with chords, as I wasn't really that comfortable with composing on the spot with anything other than chords, he was incorporating all different kinds of skills into it; harmonics, hammering, etc.

He started singing. "I'm Yixing but you can call me Lay~ this is a really happy day~ to see such a beautiful girl like her~ she seems like my heart's cure~" he stopped playing the guitar, putting it down and quickly putting his slender fingers onto the piano.

He grinned at me (dimples (dimple?) showing; dimples are officially on my weakness list) before continuing his singing. "I'm a simple transfer student~ and some of you would probably rather I went~ but I can only say sorry~ for I want to stay with Jooeun-ee~" He finished it off with a fancy riff.

I groaned mentally. He was really talented, it was so obvious. Not to mention that he was angelic and totally adorable. Not to mention his nice voice. But why did he have to mention me? These boys were going to be the end of me.

A/N: Second chapter!!! :) Did you like?? Don't forget to subscribe or comment!!

~Jinny Out