“Sehun?!” Haemin shrieks, causing every patron of the cafe to look at her in shock. “Sorry, sorry,” she calls dismissively, and then whirls back around to face me.

    “Your date was Oh Sehun, and you ditched?” she gasps.

    “How do you know about Sehun? You don’t even go to Andong.”

    “Are you kidding me?” Haemin rolls her eyes. “He’s the son of the freaking Prime Minister. Who doesn’t know him? Plus, he’s freaking hot!”

    “What the hell, Haemin?” I snap. "He's not that cute."

    “Uh, seriously? He’s so hot that some girl passed out while watching him play soccer during a match. He’s that hot.”

    “She passed out because she has anemia and forgot to take her iron supplements.”

    “Oh.” Haemin purses her lips. “But still! I bet Sehun was a contributing factor.”

    I am about to reply with something snippish, but suddenly, a customer accidentally knocks into his cup of coffee and it spills all over the floor.

    “You can handle that,” Haemin says, sliding away. “I’ll take care of the other customers.”

    I groan. “Fine.”

    As I am mopping up the hot, foamy liquid from the floor, my mind wanders to the Autumn Ball. It must be proceeding in full force now, replete with elegant girls dressed in chiffon finery, graciously outstretching their hands to their reluctant dates, who were forced to comb their hair and wear ties for the first time in months.

My previous experiences with the Autumn Ball have been rather dull: my freshman year, my date- whose name I have forgotten- met me in front of the Fluck Building (its real name is the Oh Observatory and Center for Research, but the name “fluck” originates from 3 years ago, when someone spray painted a string of obscenities in red spray paint on the walls of the building. This just finalized the school’s decision to replace the old, degraded building, and the Oh family ended up funding the replacement of the structure).

My date and I awkwardly made our way to the School Ballroom in silence. The other girls appraised my polyester dress with cold sneers and my date immediately ditched me to join his friends in the corner of the ballroom. I didn’t drink the punch because I saw Park Chanyeol dump half a bottle of vodka in the bowl, and the only options on the menu were veal and caviar- both of which I despise.

    Last year, my date didn’t even show up.

    So what’s the harm in ditching? The Autumn Ball would be as miserable as it has been in years past. I bet Oh Sehun is grateful for the fact that I didn’t come, anyway. In fact, I don’t think Sehun even knows who I am. Why would a king know a common peasant in the streets?

Well, at least now he is free to canoodle with his playtoy of the month.

And I'm free to make more money, I think as the man who spilled his drink leaves me a $20 in remorse.

Monday comes and I can tell that something is incredibly wrong.

I can feel it in their stares as I walk by; the whispers they utter in each other’s ears. Some of them gape at me with strange, resentful expressions, their eyes boring into my skull. Others throw me subtle smirks, appreciative gleams in their eyes.

At first, I thought I was just being paranoid. Then I turned a corner and ran into a group of girls, who were chattering away in hushed voice- until they saw me.

Something is terribly wrong.

As a scholarship student, I am hanging of the bottom rung of Andong Preparatory social ladder. When I first came here, I tried making friends and talking to people, but once they discovered I was on a scholarship, their behavior was lukewarm at best.

It’s not completely their fault. Befriending them is hard. We do not share the same interests, hobbies, personalities. I cannot understand their excited squealing about the new line of Louis Vuitton purses. They cannot understand my neverending pursuit of perfect grades.

So they ignore me.

But now...

    I would ask someone what is going on.

    If I talked to anyone.

    I am half convinced to ditch the rest of my classes and hide in my dorm instead.

    The looks are killing me. And they’re not just from students- they’re from teachers, too. I can barely concentrate in any of my classes. It’s a little hard to when 20 pairs of eyes are drilling into your skull.

    Lunch rolls around, and instead of spending it in the library, I decide to eat by the lake instead. The crisp, balmy fall is slowly fading, leaving tendrils of azure skies and crunchy red leaves behind. I should enjoy it before winter takes over.

    As I am eating, I become aware of footsteps approaching behind me. I peer behind my shoulder and am greeted by Im Jaebum (or JB, which he insists on being called), Tuan Mark, and Wang Jackson, varsity basketball players and wealthy heirs extraordinaire. They are 3 of the most popular boys in school- only a notch below Sehun and his friends.

    My eyes widen.

    “Hey, where were you Saturday night?” JB asks, a strange smirk on his face.

    I frown. JB has never spoken to me in my life.

    “Work,” I utter monotonously. “Why?”

    His face splits into a wide grin. “She was at work!”

    “So it’s true? You were the one who ditched Sehun at the Autumn Ball!"

So that's what this is all about? Seriously?

The boys notice my bemused expression and exchange smirks. "You do know the whole school is talking about you, right?" Jackson says.

"It's not that big of a deal," I shrug. "I just had to work Saturday night. Does it matter?"

"Sehun was literally the only guy at the Autumn Ball without a date," Mark tells me. "And he was crowned Harvest King."

"I thought only seniors were crowned Harvest King."

Jackson throws me a look. "Juniors and seniors. You've been at this school for 3 years. How do you not know this?"

    “Because this is of such importance to me.”

    “He literally had to go up on the stage in front of the entire school, all alone, because you weren’t there. And then when Headmaster Lee asked him where his date was, he didn’t even have an answer. It was the best moment of my life.”

    I wince. “Oh, . That’s awful.”

    “No, I assure you, it was wonderful.” JB has a smug look on his face. “The fact that you, some scholarship student, ditched him? This is the kind of thing I’ve been waiting for my entire life.”

    “Uh, okay.” I narrow my eyes. “Thanks for telling me what all this has been about. I’m going to go apologize to Sehun.”

    “Don’t!” Mark exclaims. “Act like you did it on purpose!”

    “Wha- why?”

    “Please! You destroyed his pride in one night! Don’t let your work go to waste!”

    “I didn’t mean to ‘destroy his pride’,” I snap. “What’s your deal with Sehun anyway?”

    “What? He’s an . Guy thinks he’s better than us just because his daddy’s the Prime Minister and he owns half the school.”

    I roll my eyes at the irony of Mark’s sentence. “That’s wonderful. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to class.”

    I am standing up, in the process of gathering my things, when Mark shouts, “If you don’t apologize to him, I’ll do anything!”

    I freeze for a moment- and just as quickly snap back to my senses.     

    As tempting as the idea of having a wealthy, influential young socialite owe me a favor, I really don’t know what he could do for me.

    Give me $100,000 so I can live in bliss for 5 years? Adopt me so I become a part of the Tuan family’s legacy?

    Please.

    “If we’re done here, I’m leaving,” I say in a clipped voice, striding away.

    There’s no need for them to take this all so seriously, anyway.

    It was just a dance.