I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep at all last night. I kept having dreams about kissing Jieun. Sometimes I'd like it-and then I'd have to un-come out to my mom. Other times I'd open my eyes and it wasn't Jieun at all, but Kyungsoo. Wearing lip gloss.

Oh god..

          "So now that you have a date..," Kyungsoo says, sliding into the seat next to me at our end of the cafetaria table. He has a plaid button-down over a white tee, the sleeves of the former rolled up. "Suit or a tux?"

          "Tux," I say, closing the file with my English paper on my computer. "And a real tie. Not a clip-on."

          Kyungsoo laughs.

He gestures at my computer and I give it to him. He opens a browser window and types prom looks for guys in the search box. A picture of a really cute guy in a well-fitting white shirt appears onscreen.

A shock of attraction jolts me. My fingers itch to reach over and cover the screen so no one else can see it-and see right through me. Not that looking at a cute guy constitutes inappropriate computer use on school property, a suspension-worthy offense, but he is H. O. T.

          Kyungsoo glances at me, a teasing smile tugging at his lips. "Buy a tux?" he asks the screen after reading the copy. "What planet are they from?" He clicks an arrow, paging through a slideshow of prom dos and don'ts.

          "What do you want?" He jerks his chin at the lunch line.

          "Pizza. And a Heath Bar," I say, standing up again.

          "No, I'll get it," Kyungsoo says.

          I hand him my caf card.

          He takes it, his fingers brushing mine.

          I watch him walk away, his jeans slung low on his hips and the pockets hugging his backside just right. My mind curves into the gutter, and I imagine sliding my fingers into one of those pockets.

No. No. No.

This has got to stop.

I shouldn't be crushing on him. Friend crushes always end in with a broken heart, if not a broken friendship. I should totally be crushing on someone else.

Anyone but Kyungsoo.

When I walk into art, I see Jieun sitting on a desk talking to Seulgi and a cluster of art-geek girls, one of whom is coloring her fingernails with a black Sharpie.

          "Jongin asked me to prom!" Jieun announces. "And we went on a date yesterday too."

          "But he's-" Seulgi begins, then drops her voice to a whisper as she continues her sentence.

I can't hear what she's saying, but my mind fills in the blank. And my lungs fill with dread. No, I think, as if telepathy is a viable option. I'm not out at school.

The girls' heads bend together and bobble as they whisper. Sharpie girl's smile widens with each juicy bit of gossip.

          After a minute Jieun says, "Kyungsoo? Really? But he's going with NamJoo."
The dread spreads outward from my lungs, and my arms go cold. 

          "They should go to prom togeth-" Sharpie girl says.

Um. No.

          "Ssh-zip!" Seulgi interrupts, zipping her lips and motioning toward me.

Forget cold. My face flames as anger chruns to life in my gut. WTF? I feel like shouting at her. Kyungsoo and I are not going to prom together. It's not true-it's all in that marker-sniffing head of yours! I clench my jaw shut and march past them, not looking in their direction. I put my things down next to Taemin and slide into a chair.

          "Hey," Taemin says, as if noticing that I'