School actually became the least of my problems here, when I had my constant struggles with training and the language barrier. I had always excelled at school, so I had no problem catching up when the teacher pulled out advanced calculus or organic chemistry.

"Hey, did you hear about EXO's upcoming fan meeting?!" A skinny finger poked me sharply on the shoulder insistently.

"Wha--" I turned around to see the fan girl behind me on the bus again, her round eyes lit up excitedly despite being so early in the morning.

"They're having a fan meeting! It'll be so much fun!" She blew up a giant bubble with her gum, and popped it loudly. "Anyway, you said that your bias is Chen, right? I actually run a Chen fan-site, like one of the best ones, so you should really go check it out!"

"That's cool," I replied, totally unable to catch up with this speed at which she was jumping from topic to topic. "Um, what kinds of things do you post on the site? Is it like a blog?"

"Oh silly, it's not like that." She popped her bubble gum again, the sound echoing through the nearly empty bus. "I take high quality photos of Chen at his every event, and then the site is where I upload the previews and some of the HD shots when I finish editing them."

"I see..." I said simply, unsure of what else to say.

"Here, I'll show you some of my photos. I have some of them saved on my phone." She tapped the screen of her unusually large phone a few times, then turned it around to show me. On the screen was an extremely high definition photo of Chen on stage performing, his smile just as dazzling as it was in real life. "It's so clear, isn't it?

"Wow, you took that?"

"Yeah, of course, see how there's no logo anywhere? Fan-site masters always put a logo, but you know, since I'm not posting this, there's no need to put a logo." She rolled her eyes then took back her giant phone which barely fit in her hand. "Oh yeah, do you have any EXO merchandise?"

"Uh no," Although I had no idea what she was talking about most of the time, I didn't want to admit that I wasn't exactly an EXO fan, for fear of her dramatic reactions. It was hard enough to make a friend around here. "I'm pretty broke."

"Oh, actually me too, I've spent way too much money for their tour earlier this year." She heaved a sigh and looked out the window longingly. "Oh, but I do have some cool stuff! I just got this one of a kind bracelet recently. See this?" She lifted the sleeve of her school uniform and revealed a gold bracelet with the word "EXO" engraved on the small gold bar in the middle. "It's a bracelet that I got from my friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s cousin, who's a friend of one of EXO's managers. It's the only one in the world and it's very special since all of the members have worn it at some point."

"Wow, that's really pretty." I commented, nodding to act like I was pretty enthusiastic about this too, even though the whole time I was wondering how credible her information was.

"I know, isn't it?" She placed her hands under her chin, forming a V pose like I'd seen many girls do. "By the way, tell me if you ever find any good Chen fan fiction. There's such a shortage of those in the world." The fan girl sighed dramatically, one hand twisting around strands of hair absentmindedly.

"Fan fiction...?"

"Oh my gosh, don't tell me you actually don't know what those are?" Her voice rose higher at the end of her sentence, as if turning her statement into a question, as her wide eyes gazed at me intensely.

"Umm," I stared back at her blankly, blinking a couple of times.

She gave me an exasperated look then collapsed back onto her seat, covering her face with a hand. Then she suddenly leaned onto the back of my seat again, squinting her eyes in a suspicious manner. "Are you like really new to k-pop?"

"Yes...?" What was she trying to say?

"Oh," she nodded to herself. "That makes more sense. Anyway, so I guess you'll find out about all this stuff soon enough. Fan fiction is basically just stories that people in the fandom write, about the idols, and post online. And as I was saying, there aren't very many good stories about Chen out there."

"And why's that?"

"Well," she paused, tapping one finger against her chin, "see that's what I don't understand either, like he's such a talented and sweet person, but is so underrated in EXO."

"So he's one of the less popular members then, is that what you're saying?"

She laughed, a high pitched sound flowing from her. "Wow, I love how blunt you are. But yeah, that's pretty much on point."

We soon reached the school and got off the bus, but I couldn't help but think about her words. How did she know so much about EXO anyway?

At lunch break, I asked the music teacher if I could borrow the practice room for a while so that I could practice for my next vocal lesson. She agreed, and I was left alone in the little room. It was around the same size as the ones in the company building, but there was a strange stringy material that covered the walls, and I assumed it was the soundproofing material that was just left uncovered by more dry wall.

I pulled out my folder from my bag, the many sheets of music and lyrics already filling it up. I warmed up my voice, starting with the usual scales and triads first, then gradually working on the runs that I was so bad at. Although the area outside the practice room was empty, I couldn't help but feel paranoid that someone might hear my awful singing...and that would certainly mean the end of my non-existent social status at this new school.

Although the Korean words got easier to pronounce with every run-through of the song, I found it very difficult to match each syllable to the different notes, especially during the complex rifts. Why was I put in the highest level anyway? I was already failing at everything.

Reaching the vocal range exercises, I tried to relax my throat and not hold back like I had the tendency to do. My own voice sounded way too loud, filling the emptiness of the small room for just a second before the sound seemed to be absorbed by the walls. How was Chen able to sing so well? Maybe I'd ask him for some singing tips the next time I saw him.

Seeing as how lunch break was almost over, I quickly packed up my stuff and put everything back in my bag before heading out. I was opening the music room door when suddenly, a girl fell in front of me, as she seemed to have been leaning against the door previously.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I asked, offering a hand to help her up.

When she slowly lifted her head though, I immediately recognized her round forehead and wide eyes. It was the fan girl from the bus!

"Oh hey--" I started, but she took one look at me before picking herself up and running off in the opposite direction.

What if she had heard my terrible singing? Oh man, that's not what scared her off, is it? She's not going to...tell anyone, is she? I felt a prick of anxiety as I realized that with the dead silence of the music room and the questionable soundproofing, she had probably heard everything.

I also realized that I still didn't know her name, after all this time. 

New chapter :P oh man the amount of crack in this one though LOL well um it was kind of a spontaneous write (there was another chapter planned instead, but I thought it was too soon LOL) but don't worry, more ChenChen next chapter~
Anyway, thanks for the support, guise <3 

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RACHEL <3 I HOPE YOU LIKE MY GIFT THAT TOOK ME TWO YEARS (and counting) TO WRITE omg