“Hey Jackson! What’s up!” The green-haired dude whose name I think was Jonathan shouted as me and my buddies stepped into the school halls. Lots of other guys and girls looked our way and started to flock over. Hey, I can’t help it if I’m popular.

“Nothing much, except for the party tomorrow at my place, 7PM.” I grinned as all the others heard our conversation and tried to join in.

A few girls, looking almost identical with their crazy makeup, tried to push their assets into my face in order to get invited. “Can we come, Jackson? Are we invited?”

I almost laughed. I looked over at Bam and Yug. “Can they? You guys decide.”

Bam pulled out the lollipop in his mouth and pretended to think hard. Yug slapped Bam’s blonde head and said, “Stop faking it, Bam, you know already who you’re gonna pick.”

The shorter of the two stuck out his tongue childishly and sighed. “You could’ve just let me act for five seconds. Five seconds, Kim Yugyeom. Fine, then. Jonathan, you’re definitely invited because you helped me out with that AP Physics project, and Amy, you as well, because you’re cute.” He then pointed his lollipop at the other two girls. “Veronica and Hailey, you two are not invited, because you’re U-G-L-Y.”

The invited girl whose name I’ve forgotten already squealed in delight, Jonathan said a quick thanks, and the other two girls with frightening eyelashes pouted and looked at me, trying to act cute with watery eyes. They looked horrible.

Yugyeom bent down from breathing in his 182cm atmosphere and squinted at the two shameless girls. “Are you two deaf or something? Didn’t you hear BamBam? Jackson doesn’t need U.G.L.Y. girls at his party. Now, scam.”

The girls glared at him, then scrambled away, probably to put on even more makeup. I glanced at the younger two. “Bam, Yug, you guys are way too mean. Chill, okay?”

“It’s not okay” Bam put up his hand in quotation marks and continued, “I’d rather they think we’re mean rather than inviting them and ruining your rep. You do remember that there are gonna be peeps from other schools as well. You don’t want them to see those uglies at your party. It’s absolutely fine if they think you’re a jerk, but you can’t let the party people think that.” He finished in a serious tone and proceeded to chew the white stick of his lollipop.

Yug nodded. “Yeah, Jacks. We can be the bad guys, but you definitely can’t.” He looked at me straight in the eye. “I repeat, Jackson, you don’t have to worry about what people think of us, just think about what they feel about you instead.”

I smiled. I must have saved the world in my earlier life to have such awesome homies. “Thanks, guys. But you can tone it down a bit next time. Did you see how those girls were so bummed out?”

Bam and Yug laughed in unison, which was kind of creepy.

I glanced at the clock with the big red numbers staring down at us. “Ah, we’re gonna be late for class!” I began to pull them into a run towards the classroom, which was four floors above where we were.

“Since when did J-Flawless care about classes? And punctuality even!”

“Since the time the teacher told me I was going to fail, tell my parents about it, not accept our donations, then hold me back a grade. I’ll have to take classes with you two brats. Ew.”

“Hey!” Bam yelled as he tried to whack me on the head. “You’re the mean one now!”

I ducked, letting my famous hyena laugh echo through the hallways. Life was awesome. I’m popular, rich, and kinda hot. I didn’t say this myself. My fan-girls did. One time someone asked me what I ate to become so hot. Rice, I answered, rice is always the key to hotness. Eat more rice.

Anyways, I was going to be late for class. I rushed in at the last second, just as the bell rang. Mr. Kim gave me a warning glance.

“Mr. Wang, you might want to consider eating less pizza to lessen the weight that’s dragging you.”

Everyone got a good laugh out of it. I smiled. Mr. Kim loved me too much to mark me late.

“Okay people, settle down. Today, we have a new student. This might be a little out of place since it’s the second semester, but who knows what the principal is thinking? You guys better treat him well. Come in, Mr. Tuan.”

Tuan? That didn’t seem like a Korean name. There weren’t many foreigners in Korea like me, so a new face was always welcome.

The door slid open, and I swear every single person’s breath stopped. Pale, milky-white skin, soft, blonde hair that framed the handsome face. Correction, handsome was an understatement. High cheekbones, sharp nose, electrifying eyes and full lips so plump I could kiss them all day. And I absolutely approve his fashion statement. A beanie was always a plus, and a hoodie with the words “Puff puff pass”. Witty – I liked it. And his legs. Oh, don’t even mention these legs. They were not too skinny but just right. Damn. I was so mesmerized by this boy that I didn’t realize he was walking in my direction and plopped down right next to me. I got a whiff of a musky scent – smelled like Jo Malone – another plus.

Ah, stop it, Jackson Wang, you can’t let this boy bewitch you. You have to wow him.

I decided to introduce myself in English, as it was the safest. “Hi, I’m Jackson Wang. Glad to know there’s another foreigner here. Finally!” I held out my hand, giving him my best killer smile.

The blonde boy glanced at me, and my breath hitched. He looked away once he made eye-contact though. Oh , what did I do wrong?

“I’m Mark Tuan.” He quickly reached out and shook my waiting hand just as I was about to give up.

Can I just comment on how deep and y his voice is?

There was a light blush on his cheeks as he continued. “You speak English too, thank goodness. Just so you know, my Korean is not exactly the best.” He laughed a bit.

This boy is going to be the death of me.

I glanced at the teacher writing furiously on the board, almost making the piece of white plastic completely black with his formulas and theorems. Guess I’ll have to get notes from someone else later. Talking to this awesome boy was much more important right now.

“Haha, you’ll get used to speaking it when almost all your friends here are Korean. I can help you, you know, if you want.” This was the chance to get closer to him!

Mark shook his head lightly. “Thanks, Jackson, but I have someone teaching me already. I’ll probably ask you stuff for this class, though.”

Dammit. Who was the lucky guy? He did say he was coming to me for help for this class… I’ll have to go to the library more often now.

I had to think of something else. “Do you want to eat lunch me and my friends? You do know that it’s hard to get a decent seat in the cafeteria if you aren’t already in a group or something. You definitely are cute enough to sit anywhere you want though…” I mumbled the last part, hoping he didn’t hear what just spilled out naturally.

The blonde smiled. “Dang, Jackson, thanks. But I’m sitting with my friend. Maybe tomorrow?” His head tilted to the left like a puppy.

Dang you, Mark. The way he said my name. But he’s with another guy? Again? Got to see who was good enough for him to reject this awesome Jackson Wang.

“Alright, but no backing out this, deal? You’ll see where I sit later at lunch.” I smiled at Mark, who nodded.

Before I knew it, Pre-calculus was over. Everyone stood to get up, but I really didn’t want to leave Mark. “Let me see your schedule. We might have other classes together.” I looked at the blue blocks on the paper. “Oh wow, we have English and Phys Ed together too. Guess you’re stuck with me now, and you can’t escape it. But then again, who’s going to complain when they’re stuck with this?” I gestured at my body.

Mark laughed again. Gosh he was too hot for his own good. “Don’t get too cocky, Mandu.” He smirked.

“What? How am I a Mandu? If I’m a freaking Mandu, then you’re a, you’re a Dimsum!” I cringed even at my own lame comeback.

“See you later, Mandu.” Mark packed up and walked out the classroom.

I think I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

A knock on my head brought me back to my senses. “What are you still doing here, Mr. Wang? Get to your next class!”

History was unbearably long. Who cared about what dead people did? I couldn’t wait for lunch to see who Mark was sitting with. I was thankful for JB, this cool dude with piercing eyes who woke me up when class was over.

“Thanks, man. You wanna go to lunch with me, Bam, and Yug?

“Nah, Jinyoung wants me to meet some new guy that transferred here. You know how I can’t ignore anything Jinyoung wants me to do. Maybe tomorrow.”

What was up with everyone rejecting my offer for lunch? “I really don’t get what you see in that JYP the younger. (JYP the older was our principle) Ugh, the guy he brings along must be annoying like him.”

JB laughed. “As if you have better taste in potential lovers than me. Jinyoung is dope. You’re just jealous because he has everything anyone could possibly want, like you, but he has better grades.”

“Who’s jealous of him? You better leave before I kick your !”

The black haired boy laughed again and left.

This was such a hard day. I walked into the cafeteria, overflowing with noise and the smell of pizza.

“Jacks! I got you the last pieces of pizza!” Bam yelled all the way across, flailing his arms. I sighed. The kid really had to control himself.

Upon his noise people greeted me, both dudes and dudettes. “Hey Jackson”, “What’s up, Wang Kong?”, “My Wangster!”, were only some of the greetings I had to go through before I could reach my lovely pizza.

“Thanks, Bam. My treat next time.” I thanked the younger.

He beamed, looking like a child pleased with himself.

“Hey Jackson, did you see the blonde guy sitting with Jinyoung and JB? He’s so cute. I think he’s in your grade.” Yugyeom gazed over my shoulder.

I turned to where the “JJProject” sat, and I couldn’t believe it. Sitting next to Jinyoung was Mark Tuan himself. He was quiet in class, but right now he was the completely opposite. I could only watch in horror as Jinyoung put an arm around Mark’s neck and said something into his ear, making Mark laugh so loudly I could hear him 10 tables away. Upon seeing a new arrival, and a pretty hot one at that, a small group was starting to form around their table. Mark seemed uncomfortable with the crowd, but still smiled as Jinyoung introduced him.

“Jackson, what’s wrong?” Bam asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing much. Why ask?”

“Um, you do notice that you’re not eating your pizza. What happened to your ‘Pizza is love, pizza is life’ motto?”

“Uh… I’m just not feeling the pizza today, you know. Sorry Bam. Yug, do you want mine?”

I barely noticed as Yugyeom finished the slice in 2 bites as I watched Mark and that Jinyoung continue their lovey-dovey actions. JB sat next to Jinyoung, watching them, but he didn’t seem fazed at all. Usually he would tell anyone who was close to Jinyoung to back off, but he did absolutely nothing about Mark and just laughed along with them. Weird.

But nevermind JB. What the hell was Mark doing with that Jinyoung?