Park Chanyeol
 

          Chanyeol pulled on a sweatshirt over his head and slid on a ratty pair of sneakers. The sleeping lump on the couch he called his best friend rolled over and blinked blearily at him.

         "Where are you going? Are you getting breakfast?"

         "No Lay, go home. You've been here for 3 days already." Chanyeol combed his fingers through his hair to make it look mildly presentable.

          Lay smiled sleepily,his eyes were half closed. "Yea and? So have you."

         "This is my house, you idiot." Sometimes Chanyeol wondered if Lay was always on a permanent high or if he was just an airhead.

          He patted his pockets, looking for the car keys. He could have sworn he had them earlier.

         "Looking for these?" a keychain jingled from Lay's fingers.

         "What the , man." Chanyeol grabbed at the keys, only to snatch at empty air as Lay jerked away and curled into the sofa.

         "Let's go to IHOP."

          They both wrestled for a minute until Chanyeol finally snatched the keys away. His hair was messed up again, thanks to Lay.

          Lay pouted. "Fine then let's just go to Dennys or something."

         "No" 

         "Dunkin Donuts? I have a giftcard."

         "For the last time, Lay, I'm not getting breakfast."

          Chanyeol took a moment to assess the mess in his living room. According to his calculations, his parents were definitely going to kill him.

         Both his and Lay's guitars were splayed on the living room couches. A pizza box was on the counter, all remnants of their late night jam session. Why cook when you can order out?

         "You're lucky my parents aren't here this weekend" They were visiting his aunt's house, to which Chanyeol gladly declined. Every time he went, he would be bombarded with questions about his future.

         "Yea, I know. Your Mom hates me. Which is weird because parents love me. How could anyone not love this face?" He pointed to the dimples prominent on his cheeks.

          Chanyeol rolled his eyes. Sure, maybe on a different planet.

          Lay got up abruptly, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth. "So where are we going?"

          Chanyeol wished he hadn't been so loud on the phone, then maybe he could have left Lay sleeping at home. But now that Lay was awake, he would have to let him tag along for the time being.

          "I'm picking up my phone... Genesis found it."

          "Who is that again?" Lay yawned and streched upright on the couch.

          "The teacher's pet in our homeroom."

          "Oh...her? Is that why you're getting so dressed up?" 

           It was a rather innocent comment made by his unnassuming friend, but Chanyeol felt very affected by it. He gaped at his friend, and then back down at his clothes.

          "This is dressed up to you?" He had haphazardly thrown on some ripped jeans and a sweatshirt. He was hardly thinking about her when he put them on.

           "Well yea, I've seen you leave the house in your pajamas before. So I would say this is a step up" Lay had a big grin on his face. Chanyeol had the sudden urge to smack that grin off of his face.

           "I have to go to church, that's why, that's where she is right now" Chanyeol struggled to explain. It wasn't exactly the best explanation. It's not like he was actually going to church, he was merely going to stop by in front of it. But he didn't want to tell Lay that.

           "Suuure" Lay began to push Chanyeol out of the door. Chanyeol allowed himself to be pushed and stumbled out of the house.

            As soon as Lay entered the car he snuggled into the passenger seat, lowering the back to get comfortable. Chanyeol shook his head at his practically narcoleptic friend. Lay could probably sleep through a zombie apocalypse.

           "Wake me up when we get there. I want to see who this Genesis is."

           "What do you mean, we've been in the same homeroom since September. She's our class rep."

           "Doesn't ring a bell."

           "Do you ever pay attention to anything?" Chanyeol recieved no response. When he glanced over at Lay, he could see him sleeping soundly in the seat.

            Seriously?

           Chanyeol had never been to the other side of town. Mostly because he never had any reason to go. Everything was unfamiliar. The buildings, the streets...the people. As far as he was concerned anything beyond school was a new country. The sidewalks were cracked, some building had boarded up windows. It was quite different from his own quiet suburban culdesac.

            He glanced up at the street sign that read "State Street". The church was bound ot come into view soon. In the distance he could see Genesis sitting on a small elevated ledge in front of a brown stone building. A white sign with letters spelling out "Redeemer of Grace Baptist Church" was visible next to her. Below it a short quote, "Love Thy Neighbor" was spelled out in small print block letters.

           Impulsively Chanyeol honked his horn causing the startled girl to look up and squint in his direction.

          "Wha-what happened?" Lay jolted awake from the sudden car horn.

          "We're here"

           Lay twisted around in his seat to look out the rear window.

          "Oh, so that's her"

          "Yea" Chanyeol paused waiting for Lay to make an inappropriate comment. Suprisingly Lay remained silent.

           He pulled the car to halt and unbuckled his seatbelt. Lay followed suit after him. As they approached the building, Genesis gave a small wave, standing up to greet them.

            Chanyeol walked up to her, hand outstreched in expectation. He wasn't in the mood for small talk. He just wanted his phone back.

            Genesis placed the phone in his hand with a look of disgust. "Try not to look so angry for once in your life."

            "Try not to answer other people phones." Chanyeol snapped back.

             Lay, sensing the hostility in the air stepped in like a referee. "Excuse my friend, he's a little hormonal sometimes, you know puberty and all. He's still growing if you know what I mean."

             Chanyeol tried to nudge Lay away, but he dodged and continue to speak.

             "I don't think we've properly met, I'm Lay" he outstreched a hand.

 
             "Yea, I know we worked on a project together" Genesis shook his hand anyway.

              Lay paused in confusion. "Oh that's right. Well it's nice to meet you again."

             "Likewise."

              An awkward silence filled the air. The trainwreck of a conversation he was witnessing only made Chanyeol want to leave quicker, but before he could escape the wooden door of the church creaked open. A boy's head peeked out and called out to Genesis.

             "Hey, uh Melanie's asking for you."

             "I'll be right there, thanks" She smiled back at him.

              Chanyeol was confused to see another korean boy his age at the church. A baptist church for that matter. And for some reason he looked very familiar to him.

             "Dude we have to go." Lay whispered harshly after nudging him in the ribs.

             "What? Why?" Chanyeol had wanted to leave earlier, but after seeing that boy, he had so many questions swimming in his head.

              "It was nice meeting you, Genesis, but we really have to go" Lay said as he dragged Chanyeol away. 

              "Ok..." Genesis looked at them both with an eyebrow raised, but returned her attention to the boy in the doorway.

              Chanyeol watched as they talked to each other with an air of familiarity. Why did he seem so familiar and why did Genesis know him?

              When they got back into the car, Lay slouched down in his seat in order to avoid being seen.

             "What's up with you? Who is that? And why are you hiding from him?"

             Lay made frantic gestures for Chanyeol to start the car and drive away. Chanyeol finally pressed the key into ignition and lurched the car forward and away from the church. Once they were safely out of sight, Lay began speaking.

             "That's the kid" He hissed.

             "What kid?" Lay was going to have to be more specific.

             "." Lay cursed under his breath.

            "What?" Chanyeol was beginning to get irritated.

              Lay sighed and sat up in his seat once again. "Remember when I told you I got in a fight the other night?"

              "Yea and? What else is new? You're always getting into trouble. What was it this time, did he cut you in the lunch line?"

              "No. Jongin was trying to pick a fight with me. And you know I never fight just to fight. So I just--"

"Wait..." That name was ringing a bell. "You don't mean...that Jongin?" 

               Lay's brows were furrowed with remorse. He nodded reluctantly.

               "We're talking about Kim Jongin?" Chanyeol wanted to make sure he was hearing this right.

               Lay nodded again.

              "The one who's dad murdered his--dude....that's ed up." Chanyeol grimaced in disgust.

             "I know" Lay ducked his head down.

             "You beat up a ing orphan, Lay"

             "I feel like a piece of now."

             "You are a piece of "

             "Thanks bud, I can always count on you to make me feel better." Lay said sarcastically.
 

            Chanyeol returned his attention to the road, but he couldn't stop thinking about Jongin and Genesis. 

            Genesis watched as Lay dragged Chanyeol away. All of this commotion over picking up a simple phone call, and she wasn't even the one that did it.

             Sure it would cause anyone short term irritation, but only someone with severe anger issues would yell at someone over something as minor as that. What was Chanyeol's damage?

            She shook her head to forget about Chanyeol and instead turned to Jongin, giving him an impressed once over.

           "That was really amazing in there. I've never met anyone who's had perfect pitch before"

            Kai chuckled a bit, bringing his knuckles close to his mouth. His eyes crinkled with delight.

           "What? Was it something I said?" Genesis was officially confused.

            "I'll let you in on a secret" Kai shifted closer cupping his hand lightly over Genesis' ear. "I don't have perfect pitch" he leaned back away from her with a playful smile.

             Genesis' scrunched her face in confusion. "Then how did you know Melanie was playing all those notes?" Melanie had even pressed the sustain pedal, it was practically impossible for the untrained ear to distguish the the sharps from the flats when they were all melded together. "You're not even trained in music, are you?"

           "My Mom taught me when I was little. She was a piano teacher."

            Genesis looked down. "I'm sorry." She didn't mean to bring up the subject of his mother.

            "Don't be." he stammered quickly trying to change the subject. "I knew all the notes because I can see them.

            "You can...see them?" Genesis deadpanned. Genesis was confused before, but now she was beyond confused. What the heck was Jongin talking about?

            "I have synesthesia. I associate sounds with colors. So whenever I hear an "A", I see red. When Melanie played the chord, I could see all of the colors associated with it. Sometimes it's hard to tell, so I just guess."

            Genesis let all of Jongin's words sink in. She would have to take his word for it.

            "Does it work for voices too?"

            "Y-yea, sort of. It's kinda hard to explain. Voices aren't as pronounced to me as music is."

            Genesis was suddenly very curious. "What does my voice look like?"

            "You have a very pretty voice." He smiled leaning away slightly to open the church doors. "Come on, they're waiting for us."

            Genesis nodded, pleased with the sudden compliment. Having Kai around didn't seem too bad after all.