Luhan looked at himself in the mirror, carefully styling his hair to get that touseled look he knew girls liked so much. Not that I have to even think about girls these days...

Just like the next guy, Luhan thoroughly enjoyed messing around with girls from time to time - but nowadays, his mind was far too occupied with sports, his slipping grades, his family and keeping his friends under control. He barely had time to satisfy his teenage, hormonal pleasures, let alone meet a nice girl these days. Luhan knew very well that he could get any girl he wanted, (heck, he even had a fanclub at school) but even if he had the time, he didn't need the distraction. Sure Luhan may have been secretly conscious of his appearance, but girls still threw themselves at him.

"The calm before the storm," he sighed before brushing a hand through his hair one last time, his mind prickled with memories of the year before. He'd spent a long time suppressing the sounds and images of that fateful night - he wasn't about to let them return now, not after such a long summer forgetting about everything. Luhan just hoped everyone had done the same too.

Luhan sighed as he glanced around his room; clad with countless sports trophies, awards and certificates, as well as various language awards, yet not a single thing to count for the other subjects he took. He almost forgot about his worryingly low science grades at school, clearly a warning sign considering the grade requirements for his Soccer scholarship for next year. But all that could wait till later. 

"I'm coming for you college, just you wait."

Taking a just a single step out of his room, however, brought yet another repsonsibility Luhan took up as the eldest child.

"Oppa, can you still give me a ride to school?" Luhan's younger sister, Lami asked (in Korean) with a smile across her face.

Luhan ruffled her hair affectionately, "I'm leaving now, so you'd better hurry kid'," Lami sprinted back into her room as Luhan quickly made his way down to leave. Luhan could never say no to his little sister, no matter how stressful the responsibility got - he would do anything for his little sister.

"You don't want rice porridge?" His mother asked (in Mandarin) from the huge pot of the porridge she'd cooked up, "You're getting awfully thin." Luhan glanced down at himself consciously. 

Maybe I need eat more.

"I'll eat at school Ma Ma, it's fine," He smiled as he waved his wallet at his mother, before kissing her goodbye, (and swiping a protein shake from the fridge for good measure). Luhan been hearing a lot fo crap recently about being so skinny - wasn't he fault he ran a lot, but he was sure not to forget about such comments. He made a note to hit up the gym sometime, maybe force Kris or Sehun along. 

Good luck with that.

Yet for the second time already, Luhan was held back by expectations.

"Don't forget to pick your cousin up on the way to school!"

"What?" Luhan complained as he turned to face his mother, her kind, warm face and eyes making him feel bad for speaking up to her, "Can't her boyfriend give her a ride?"

"Don't complain, Wendy has been kind enough to help you out with your math tutoring!" His mother scolded, pointing the wooden spoon at him authoritatively, with that look in her eyes that just dared Luhan to dissappoint her. The look that any child dreaded receiving.

Luhan sighed. The weight of his cousin's successes was always bearable considering his athletic excellence, but it was Wendy's habits themselves that irritated Luhan. His cousin, Wendy, was the genius of the family, but little did they know she was not the innocent angel they saw. Luhan wished Wendy would feel less embarrassed about being so smart; he knew he'd give anything to have that level of intelligence, so why was she so ashamed? 

Probably the company she chooses to keep... Luhan scoffed to himself as he made his way to his Range Rover SUV, a gift he'd actually won from a 5:1 Soccer Tournament last year. 

He thought about Wendy's boyfriend, Kris; he was friends with the guy, they took Mandarin, Math and Sports classes together, he was good fun to be around with at parties and he smoked a lot of weed - the polar opposite to Wendy. Yet they'd lasted almost a year together. Luhan also knew that Baekhyun was close to him and that they liked to party together - hard. He also knew he was best friends with Amber from Psychology, but she was too rude for her own good - Luhan had already made his mind up about her. But, it was all company that Wendy herself detested - so why would she force herself to be associated with them through her boyfriend?

You don't have to like them, but we're all tied together now... 

Luhan shook his head, forcing away the memories of what happened last year that prickled his mind once more as he the car's ignition.

"Why so serious?"

"Gah!" Luhan screeched from the driver's seat as Chanyeol's head popped up from the boot-seat of the car, his eyes merely red slits. After recovering from his initial shock, Luhan asked, "You're high already?"

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm just fine," Chanyeol held his hands up defensively, "I'm Coached, it's wearing off and I'm fine."

"You do realise I don't speak your Stoner's Language, right?" Luhan smirked, "In my world, Coached means when I train someone in the art of Athletics,"

"And that my friend is why we're perfectly mismatched!" Chanyeol beamed as he threw his hands in the air, before beginning to observe the fine details of the bones in his hands.

Luhan chuckled at his friend's intoxication, thinking it perfectly typical of him, "Whatever, just don't say anything when my sister gets in the car," 

Chanyeol saluted as Lami stepped up into the seats in the middle, "Hey, Chanyeol-Oppa," Lami beamed at Chanyeol who was suddenly interested in the leather chairs, "Uh...Is- is he okay?" She whispered to Luhan in Mandarin, their secret exchange as everyone was used to by now.

"He's fine," Luhan reasoned before his sister got curious, speaking in Korean to make sure Chanyeol knew how to play along with the act, "He hasn't had any caffeine yet, he'll be fine when he gets some coffee into his system." He groaned at his best friend's antics and didn't spare a minute in driving away from his house. The faster they got to Sehun's house, the faster Lami would get away from Crackhead-Chanyeol.

"Why does he smell of- of garbage?" Lami crinkled her nose as she opened the window to get some fresh air. Luhan felt a pit of guilt spread throughout his stomach - Lami was still too innocent and pure for this stuff.

"You get used to the smell." Chanyeol lamented, sounding perfectly philosophical in his intoxication.

Luhan looked into the mirror to see Chanyeol with his face pressed against the back window apparently, interested in the blossoms that lined Luhan's neighbourhood. 

So much for not saying anything...

"Get used to what?" Lami asked curiously. 

Curiosity killed the cat - too bad it runs in our family.

"Lami," Luhan interrupted before Chanyeol could say anything (even more) corruptive, "I've gotta' go pick up Sehunnie first since his house is on the way."

"Sehun-Oppa?"

"Yes Lami - Sehun." Luhan shook his head at his kid sister's crush on his best friend. Sehun was forever struggling to get girls, yet the only one interested was his 14-year-old sister. 

Go figure.

~

"You're not even friends with Hyung!" Sehun complained as he slumped into the middle-seat of the car, vexed at Sunmi beating him to the front seat of the car - but he came to curse his luck even more upon seeing Lami sat next to him. He grew uncomfortable under her star-struck gaze from besides him, so he shied into the corner, face practically against the window.

"Well I called shotgun - you snooze, you lose." Sunmi smirked at her tragic older brother who always ended up losing these things.

"You should learn from your sister Sehun-ah," Chanyeol piped up from the back, making Sehun jump slightly. He didn't realise he was there, but he thought he could smell the stench of pot, "If you approach life with that determined mind-set, your little predicament will be sorted in no time!"

Sehun glared at Chanyeol, holding back the urge to reach over strangle his doped-up friend. Not only was it embarrassing, but crude for ears of mere middle schoolers. Luhan choked back his laughter as the girls' middle-school came into view.

"What predicament?" Lami asked in concern for her beloved Oppa. 

Sehun shied away from his kid-stalker once more, he didn't need anything else for her to coo and coddle him over, "N-nothing."

"Don't lie!" Sunmi ordered her older brother, her eyes mirroring his father's own, determined stare - but her interrogation was cut short when they arrived outside the school. Luhan didn't hesitate in shooing the girls away before they could dig into Sehun any longer.

"We'll finish this later." Sunmi glared at her older brother before stalking off towards the school, whilst Lami gave him one last adoring look before running after her friend.

Sehun slowly turned to give Chanyeol a meaningful glare he knew his father would be proud of, "You gonna' say anything?"

Chanyeol just beamed, "Mr Happy Junior get any action recently?" he teased before Sehun quickly jumped on him to strangle him.

"I could hack your bank account in three minutes!"

"Yah!" Luhan complained as his friends began to wrestle in the back of the car, "Not on the leather!"

The boys began to drive to Wendy's house once Sehun had eventually calmed down from the mention and embarrassment of his -status, and once Chanyeol's high had worn off. Mostly. 

But when they arrived, apparently Wendy had other ideas.

~