A/N: bold is English

chapter three: iii. food

I got into line for the food. I was starving. The first half of my day had gone by so fast, and I knew I had to restore my energy for the rest of my day. Lay advised me on what I should choose to eat, and what I should definitely never eat.

"Just tell Lunch Ladies Kyuhyun and Jaejoong what you want and she'll give it to you."

Jongdae dragged me to their table. I followed him wearily; holding my food tray with one hand, and other hand currently being pulled along by Jongdae.

"Sit next to me!" Tao whined from the table.

I surveyed the table and where I should sit. Someone patted me on the back. I turned around to see Kyungsoo.

"If you don't want to sit with them, you can always just sit with me," he said shyly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

I nodded at him. "Okay!"

Tao scowled at Kyungsoo as I went to sit on his right: away from the rest of the members. They all moved their seats so that they could be surrounding me, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"I didn't know that the three of you would be so talented in music!" I said to Kyungsoo with wide eyes. "You have such an amazing voice!"

He blushed. "No I don't. You have a much better one."

I shook my head. "What are you talking about? You're freaking talented! Your voice is so nice!"

"By the way, I heard you're calling everyone ‘sunbae' or ‘ssi' and stuff? Don't. Just call us oppa and in the case of Tao, Sehun, and Kai, because they're the same age as you, just use informal language with them. We want you to be as comfortable with us as possible," said Luhan, smiling kindly at me.

I sighed, and nodded. Technically, I had already been calling Jongdae, Lay, and Kyungsoo oppa… because they seemed decent.

"Anyway, did you guys know that Jooeun-ee plays the guitar really well?" Jongdae piped up, grinning at me.

"I play guitar too!" Chanyeol beamed at me.

"I'm not that good… I didn't learn from anyone… I just learned by myself and practiced really hard," I said modestly.

"You didn't learn from anyone? Then how are you so talented?" Lay asked, clearly surprised.

"Lay hyung, you didn't learn piano from anyone, and you're good at it," Kai pointed out.

"You didn't learn piano from anyone?!" I exclaimed. "But you're like… good enough to be a pro!"

He blushed. "I could say the same about you with guitar… Why didn't you learn guitar from anyone, though?"

"Well… I bought a guitar for myself because I wanted to learn it, but umma only let me learn flute and piano from a teacher because… guitar is not really a feminine instrument…" I trailed off bitterly, thinking back to the days when my brother was taught guitar on the guitar that I had saved up for and bought, my guitar, and I wasn't able to learn.

"That's terrible!" Baekhyun burst out.

"It is…" Junmyeon said sadly.

"It's okay though. I learned perfectly well by myself, don't you think?" I grinned at them.

They nodded vigorously.

"She's good enough that she can tune it by ear," Kyungsoo spoke up, grinning bashfully at me.

Phys. Ed class. Not the worst, I supposed. I enjoyed it, as long as it wasn't something dreadful like running or yoga. I dreaded those two strands. Why would someone willingly run? Or stretch into those impossible poses of yoga? Although those meditation periods where you could just sleep were quite nice.

I quickly changed into my gym clothes, and went out into the gym. It wasn't really a gym. It was more of a training room; a room with mirrors on all four sides.

"JOOEUN-AH!"

I turned to see someone launching their body at me. My eyes widened and I winced, waiting for the contact.

It didn't come.

"Tao! You can't just throw yourself at everybody!"

I opened my eyes. Minseok was holding Tao in his arms, standing protectively in front of me. It seemed that Minseok had blocked me from the impact. I smiled before I could help myself.

"Thanks, Minseok oppa."

"You already know my name?" he asked, turning to me, surprised.

I smiled. "Er… I have photographic memory, with names and faces, at least."

"That's so cool!" Tao beamed at me, getting up from Minseok's arms. "How about me?"

"Hm… I don't know. Are you… Sehun?" I pretended to consider it.

"I thought you had a photographic memory!" he looked like he was going to burst into tears at any second.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I'm kidding, Tao. How could I not remember you?" Plus, Minseok just called you by your name.

He beamed at me. He looked huge compared to Minseok, as Tao was quite tall compared to Minseok being quite short.

Not that I should talk: I was even shorter.

"Is it only the two of you who have this class with me?" I asked, surprised.

"No, there's me too!" a voice said from behind me.

Before I could turn to see who it was, or more like to face them, as I already knew who it was, their cold slender hands covered my eyes.

"Hi Luhan oppa," I said.

He lifted his hands, and I turned around, to see his smiling face. He looked like an angel. I swallowed. How was I going to resist these angelic looking boys?

"How did you know?" he asked, surprised.

"She has a photographic memory for names and faces, and presumably voices as well?" Minseok asked, turning to me in question.

I nodded.

Someone's arm slung around my shoulder, and I looked to my side-no, more like above me-to see Tao. He was beaming at me so happily that I couldn't even push him away.

"What do we do in gym?" I asked.

"We dance!" Luhan said, grinning.

"So that's why there was no ‘dance' on my schedule, and why we're in this place!" I exclaimed.

"Well, Siwon-saem figured that dance got us enough physical activity, and definitely enough knowledge," Luhan grinned.

"But I at dancing!" I winced, imagining myself failing terribly. I hadn't been called the Dance Terrorist Kim Jooeun for nothing…

"I bet you're actually quite good! It's kind of hard at the beginning, but once you actually start learning properly, it gets easier. Besides, if Jongdae can do it, I'm sure you can," Minseok said reassuringly, grinning at me.

"Minseok hyung doesn't usually talk this much," Tao whispered into my ear.

I turned to him to see that he was staring at Minseok like he was weird.

"Minseok hyung barely talks at all. But now that you're here, he's been talking a lot," Tao said, still eyeing Minseok weirdly.

"Class, let's ease right into choreography! Seeing as there are a few new faces, and you guys haven't done it in a while, we'll go easy at first!" the teacher called. "I'm Shindong seonsaengnim, by the way."

He went over to the music, and we all spread out. I felt uneasy; I had never done something like this before. He played the music, before showing us step by step what to do, before counting us in, "5, 6, 7, 8!"

I awkwardly tried to follow his steps; Luhan and Minseok were doing it with ease, Tao doing almost as good. Don't pay attention to them, concentrate! We went over it a few times, and I found that I was getting better at it. Slowly, but still! I was getting better. The class flew by and I collapsed onto the ground.

Minseok walked over with a water bottle in his hand. He handed it to me, and I gulped it down in no time. "Thank you," I said gratefully.

"No problem. The first class is always the hardest. It'll get easier. But it was fun, right?" Minseok grinned at me.

I nodded. "Surprisingly. I thought it would be torture, but I actually had fun doing it!"

"You're pretty good, seeing as it's your first class with Shindong-saem! He's really tough!" Luhan complimented.

"Thanks," I couldn't help but blush.

"You were jjang!" Tao put his arms around me, hugging me.

"Ew, Tao, I'm sweating, and you are too!" I pushed him away, smiling playfully at his hurt expression.

"Joo Joo!"

I closed my eyes wearily. Please tell me that wasn't a nickname for me. Judging by the voice, it was.

Baekhyun linked his arm with mine, taking the seat on my left. "Joo Joo! Do you like my nickname for you?"

I unhooked my arm from his. "Baekhyun oppa, please refrain from calling me that. That's the worst nickname someone could possibly make for me. Besides, only Jungkook oppa can call me that!"

His eyes widened. "Who's this Jungkook you speak of? Is he your boyfriend?"

"No, he's my best friend," I explained. "From Canada."

"Canada? Kris hyung is from Canada! Kris hyung, her best friend is from Canada!" Baekhyun called.

Someone jumped into the seat on my right, and I flinched in surprise.

"Got here before Kris hyung could!" Sehun grinned at me.

Kris took the seat in front of me, before turning in his chair so that he was facing me, legs straddling the back of the chair. "Did you live in Canada?"

"Yes, I went there as a baby and then came to Korea for high school. So my Korean is a little weaker than most people, while on the other hand I'm very good at English," I explained.

"I lived in Canada too, and I came here for high school as well. But I'm Chinese, so I can speak four languages; Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and Korean, all fluently," Kris said offhandedly.

"That's impressive," I said approvingly. "I can speak basic French, enough to get by, but not perfectly."

"I know a little French," Kris said. "But I never really cared for it."

"Anyway, her best friend from Canada's name is Jungkook, but I think he's her boyfriend!" Baekhyun interrupted.

"Boyfriend?" Sehun gasped. "You had a boyfriend? Why didn't you tell us?"

"He's not my boyfriend! He's my best friend! There's a difference! Besides, he has a… boyfriend," I said, trailing off.

"But you liked him," Kris said. "Right? And wait, did you say that he has a boyfriend? You like a gay guy?"

"First of all, it's I liked him. First love, and all? And second of all… so? So what? I can't really help who I fall in love with, right? I'm here now, and he's still in Canada. We still contact, but there's a lot of land that's distancing us. Why do you guys even care?" I sighed.

"I'm fine with the fact that he's gay, I have friends like that. And why wouldn't we care? We want to know you better," Kris grinned at me.

"And also possible scope out possible boyfriends other than us so that we can hunt them down," Baekhyun said sneakily, winking at me.

My jaw dropped. "If you even dare to touch Jungkook oppa, I swear-"

"Don't worry, he's just joking," Sehun reassured me, smiling.

"Does he have an English name? What's his last name?" Kris bombarded me with questions.

Kris seemed like a quiet guy, so seeing him bombard me with questions was a bit unnerving.

"I'm not telling you! You're going to stalk him and do something to him or something!" I exclaimed, scowling at them.

"We promise we won't!" Baekhyun responded, eyes wide with innocence.

Kris and Sehun nodded.

"Not telling you!" I made the motion of zipping my lips up.

Baekhyun pouted. "Please?"

How could pouting also be my weakness? I had just met these guys, and I had three new weaknesses. I groaned internally.

"I call him Cee! Okay? Is that good enough? Now if you ask me one more question about him, I will literally never talk to any of you again!" I said.

Kris glared at Baekhyun. My message had obviously gotten across. Sehun hooked his arm with mine, and before I could protest, he smiled sweetly and I sighed, unable to say no to that sweet face. He beamed.

I had just met these boys, and they were making me so vulnerable. At this rate, I might even end up falling for one of them. No. Even if I did, I wouldn't show it. After all, this was all a game for them. They didn't actually like me; they were just acting like they did.

"Hello class! My name is Jessica, and I am your English teacher," a young woman at the front of the class said. (a/n: bold is English)

Why were all the teachers here so young? They all looked like they had barely graduated.

"To practice our English listening and speaking, from now on, whenever you enter the classroom, you will only speak English. We will also practice writing and reading English stories."

I mentally cheered. I could easily pass this class. I was fluent in English, and reading and writing English stories was something I knew I was really going to enjoy.

"Let's introduce ourselves, one by one. Let's start with Kris."

"Hey everyone its Kris in the club! This is my last year here, and the reason I can speak English so well is because I lived in Canada for a while."

Everyone in the class introduced themselves, and then it was Sehun's turn. He fumbled with his English, and I couldn't help but snicker at him. He glared at me, but that eased into a smile when he realized that I had been teasing him.

Then it was my turn.

"Um… hi, I'm Kim Jooeun. I'm new here, this is my first year. The reason I can speak English this well is because I lived in Canada ever since I was little, and only moved to Korea to attend high school, which is here, I guess. So… I think I need more improvement on my Korean rather than my English." I glanced awkwardly at Kris, who nodded at me, smiling.

The class flew by, and suddenly, the day was over.

I collapsed onto my bed, tired.

"Tough first day?" Amber called.

I nodded, too tired to respond.

"It's okay; the first day is always the worst. But hey, it wasn't too bad, was it?"

"It was pretty fun, actually. I actually really enjoyed Dance, despite the fact that I'm really terrible at it."

Amber laughed. "You should have seen me when I first started dancing. It was terrible. Don't you even dare mention it to Kris, or he'll be on my case again and start teasing me all over again."

"You were in Dance class together?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we were. It was really fun, later, when we both got better at it. Luhan oppa says that Kris was just as bad as me at first, probably even worse, but he had two more years of experience than me, so he was way better at the time. Not anymore, though. I can beat him easily now," Amber explained, grinning.

"Oh, I have a question. Does the school just let the boys come into the girl dorms and the girls go into the boy dorms?" I asked. This was one thing that had been nagging me; normal schools didn't even let you go into the rooms.

"Oh, yeah. The school's totally cool about it. It's their trust system, I guess. But here's the thing, once you do something and you get caught, like even just drinking or something, then you're done. It's like, you can do it, as long as they don't find out. So you can go into each other's dorms and its fine if they see you, as long as you're not doing anything naughty. They know it happens, of course, but you know, trust. But once you're caught, you're immediately expelled."

"Whoa… that's pretty severe!" My jaw was hanging open. "Expelled? Even if it's a minor thing?"

"That's right. Expelled. It doesn't happen that often though. We the students tend to respect their trust for us. Plus, all the staff is totally cool."

"AMBER LIKES HENRY!"

I lifted my head wearily to see Chanyeol and the others trickling into the room. I sighed.

"Kris you little sh*t you want to die?" Amber threatened, going over to Kris and smacking him on the arm.

"It's true, though," Chanyeol whispered to me, plopping down on the opposite end of my bed, giving me some space.

I sat up, tugging my knees to myself, leaning against the wall. I was so tired. This day had really worn me out. Luhan and Kai sat down on opposite sides of me, sandwiching me. Sometimes it was the quiet ones that were bolder than the louder ones.

"There's totally a thing between Amber and Henry-saem," Kai whispered into my ear, but loud enough for the others to hear.

Luhan nodded in agreement. He turned to say something to me, but his eyes softened when he saw my drooping eyelids. "You're tired, right?"

I nodded wearily. He pulled me towards him so that my head was on his shoulder. I was too tired to protest. I yawned, and unconsciously snuggled closer to him. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

A/N: The reason Amber calls Kris Kris without oppa is because they talk to each other in English, so it’d be weird calling him oppa anyway. On the other hand, she has to talk to Luhan in Korean and therefore calls him oppa. On the other hand, Jooeun started talking to Kris in Korean first, so all of a sudden not calling him oppa would be weird.)

Also, try to guess why Jooeun calls Jungkook Cee!

~Jinny out