"Can you feel the love, that summertime

We're in love, then it feels right

Oh now I, I can’t wait for the summer

Time stops as we move closer

The sun drops into the water

Now I, I'm falling into summer love..."

                Summer was in the air. It draped over Seoul like a thick blanket, wrapping every tree, flower, building, and person in humidity. Summer was in the sky. It shone down brightly, cascading through the leafy green treetops and baking the sidewalk pavement. Summer was in the water. Waves sparkled in the sunlight as wealthy yacht owners lounged starboard, squinting in the sun on the Han River. How lucky they were to be outside enjoying themselves on this perfect July day instead of being stuck at school.

                Summer was on everybody’s mind at Seoul Science High School, too. Kids sat on the benches on the school’s campus and fanned themselves off with their homework. Some of them even had those little portable fans that hang around your neck like a necklace. Professors always made kids take them off and put them away; even fans violated the dress code. Outside during lunch, though, they were perfectly acceptable. They were practically necessary for survival.

                Kim Kyusoon gathered her long, dark hair in a ponytail with her hands, wishing there was a breeze to cool her off. “Can we go back inside? It’s way too hot out here.”

                “No!” Jang Minah protested with a pout. “We have about fifteen minutes left before we’re stuck inside for four more hours. Enjoy it while you can.”

                I smiled and nodded in agreement. “Come on, Kyu, it’s almost summer. Don’t you want hot weather?”

                “Not while we’re still in school,” Kyusoon replied. She sighed. “One more week, and we’re out of here.”

                “Thank God,” Park Hyerin sighed.

                “Agreed!” I nodded. I gazed out at the courtyard below us. We were standing on one of the balconies that extended the whole length of the backside of the main science building. Seoul Science High School was made up of a few different buildings, some of them brand new. Most of our classes were in the newer concrete buildings, as opposed to the older brick ones. Kids below us were seated on benches, their textbooks open in their laps. Some were walking and talking with their select group of friends, planning out how they were going to spend the two sunny, upcoming months we had off from school.

                I watched as two girls who were walking on the sidewalk below looked up at us. Excited smiles broke out on their faces as they quickly looked back at each other, suddenly giggling and squealing. They looked back at me every few seconds, then they’d turn right back around and giggle elatedly some more. Hyerin elbowed me lightly, raising an eyebrow.

                This had become the norm for the two of us. Girls would whisper to each other as Hyerin and I walked by, their eyes glued to us as if we were aliens from a parallel universe, not two girls they had biology class with. In the beginning, the newfound attention was a bit startling. But after the first two weeks, it stopped fazing us; this is what we got for having the boyfriends we had.

                Last year, my father got a new job. He started working for T.O.P Media, which was owned by his brother, my Uncle Sunho. Most people know him as Andy, Shinwah’s maknae rapper. Every record company needs a band to support, so that’s where Bang Minsoo, Lee Chanhee, Lee Byunghun, Ahn Daniel, Yoo Changhyun, and Choi Jonghyun came in. Most people, however, know them as Teen Top, a six-member boy band consisting of two strong singers, two strong dancers, and two strong rappers. Over the past year, I’d grown to be extremely close to those six boys. One in particular: Lee Byunghun. Most people know him as L.Joe. And now, most people know that L.Joe has a girlfriend.

                Me.

                Everything changed when L.Joe admitted he had a non-idol girlfriend on national television. No doubt the media and fans alike were shocked. All I could think about was how the fans would react. Would a scandal break loose? Would Teen Top lose fans? Was L.Joe’s confession too risky? Teen Top’s fanbase was still so young; I didn’t want to be the cause of a fanwar. I worried endlessly. Much to our surprise, however, Angels vowed to support L.Joe one-hundred-and-ten percent. Some fans thought it was adorable and were proud of L.Joe for being so confident and daring. They saw a different side of L.Joe that I thought only I was blessed enough to see. His sweet side.

                L.Joe wasn’t the only one with a girlfriend, though. Thanks to me, leader C.A.P and maknae Changjo had been introduced to two of my closest friends, sisters Park Hyerin and Park Min Neul. Hyerin and C.A.P had a previous history together; Min Neul and Changjo were a story in the making. I guess L.Joe’s confession was tempting for C.A.P and Changjo, who still had the burden of sneaking around behind the media’s back with their girlfriends. They saw how supportive fans were of L.Joe, and decided maybe it was time to drop the bomb once again. Not even a week later, C.A.P and Changjo recorded a video and posted it online, confessing that they too had girlfriends. They humorously promised that this was the last surprise, and the other three members of Teen Top were single. Like L.Joe, they promised that their hearts forever belonged to their loyal fans and they hoped this wouldn’t stunt Teen Top’s growing popularity. Once again, Angels lived up to their name, and despite being a little disappointed they vowed to support the leader and maknae one-hundred-and-ten percent.

                Over the past few months, I’ve been thought a lot. I brought a separated couple back together, played matchmaker, experienced the worst break up of my entire life, boarded an emotional roller coaster, radically changed my image, and then won back the boy of my dreams. Now that summer was quickly approaching, I was determined to keep floating on Cloud Nine.

                Kyusoon, Hyerin, Minah, Min Neul and I already had big plans for this summer. We planned on getting summer jobs together to earn a little extra spending money. With the money we’d earn, we were going on a getaway to Jeju Island. Of course, the time not spent with my girls would be spent with my boy. I promised a big chunk of my summer would be dedicated to him, considering we spend three miserable months apart. No doubt about it we’d team up with the other couples and plan our own summer fun. We could go wherever we wanted and do whatever we wanted. Now that the news was out and about, none of us had anything to hide. Our lips weren’t sealed anymore.

                “They’re staring at you,” Kyusoon said in a sing-song voice, bringing me back to reality.

                Minah slowly shook her head. “I swear, you two are the envy of the entire campus.”

                Hyerin rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Teen Top’s not the new Super Junior.”

                I giggled. “C.A.P’s abs versus Siwon’s abs? That’d be an interesting debate.”

                “C.A.P’s,” Hyerin answered defiantly. “Hands down.”

                “More like hands on,” Kyusoon snickered. She received a playful punch from Hyerin shortly after.

                “Don’t be jealous!” Hyerin giggled. “You can touch his abs any time you want…in your dreams.”

                “Okay, now you’re just being cruel,” Kyusoon pouted.

                “Excuse me,” a voice behind us said timidly. We all turned around to find two girls standing there with smiles on their faces. I didn’t know the girls by name, but I knew they were a year behind us in school.

                “You’re in grade eleven, right?” the girl with a Hello Kitty sack asked.

                “Yes,” Hyerin answered.

                Hello Kitty turned to her friend, who had long black braids. “She looks just like the girl in the pictures online with C.A.P from Teen Top!”

                Kyusoon, Minah and I chuckled. Hyerin’s jaw dropped slightly. “What pictures?”

                “The pictures of C.A.P at an ice cream shop with an unidentified girl,” Hello Kitty explained. “There’s even one of them holding hands. It must have been his girlfriend.”

                Braids nodded enthusiastically. “So are the rumors true?”

                “Um, what rumors, exactly?” Hyerin tilted her head to the side, a smile spreading across her lips.

                “That you’re the girl C.A.P is dating,” Braids ran her fingers nervously up and down one of her braids.

                “Is that what people are saying?” Hyerin shot a sly glance at me.

                Hello Kitty nodded. “You look just like her, and a few kids were saying you really are her.”

                “Well, what do you think?” Hyerin asked happily. She placed her hands on her hips.

                Braids smiled. “Oh my God, you are her!”

                “I told you!” Hello Kitty cried.

                “Yeah, but I thought it was too good to be true!” Braids exclaimed. She turned to Hyerin. “You’re so lucky!”

                “So lucky,” Hello Kitty repeated.

                Hyerin chuckled. “Thanks. I’ll tell him you said that.”

                Braid’s jaw dropped, speechless that her words would actually reach the ears of C.A.P.

                Hello Kitty laid her eyes on me. “And you!” she exclaimed. “You’re the one dating L.Joe, right?!”

                Kyusoon threw her hands up in the air. “That’s it, I’m dating Niel next.”

                I smiled, nodding shyly. A few days after L.Joe and I had officially gotten back together, he uploaded a selca of us to prove that the statement about him having a girlfriend wasn’t for publicity, it was real. We were standing in front of the Han River, and I had my hood up over my head. Apparently, classmates who saw it could still tell it was me, and the day after it was released I was stared down like an alien all day. Dozens of girls came running up to me, asking if I was dating L.Joe. At first I didn’t give them a straight answer, and I tried to avoid them as much as possible. Eventually I gave in; just in time for Hyerin to be placed under the spotlight as well.

                Hello Kitty and Braid’s eyes grew ten times their size. “You two are both so lucky,” Hello Kitty sighed.

                Hyerin shrugged modestly. “It’s no big deal, really.”

                “Uh, yes it is,” Braids insisted, tossing a braid over her thin shoulder. “You two are dating idols. That’s amazing! It gives us fangirls some hope, you know?”

                A smile broke out on my face. I glanced at Hyerin, and she smiled back at me. “I guess you’re right,” I said slowly. “I never thought of it that way.”

                Hello Kitty giggled, shrugged. “You’re going to be legends!”

                “Yeah,” Braids agreed with smiling eyes. “You know, you’re two have become the It Girls on the campus. I’d be pretty excited if I were you.” They turned to scurry away, giggling to each other in amazement. We watched as they disappeared down the stairs.

                “It Girls?” I repeated once they were out of earshot. I laughed. “Really? We’re nothing special. We’re not even ulzzangs!”

                “I don’t know,” Kyusoon said in a sing-song voice. “A lot of people have seen those paparazzi pictures, you know!”

                 “I’m in paparazzi pictures!” Hyerin exclaimed, her hands flying to her chest. “ME! In paparazzi pictures!”

                “Haven’t you seen them?” Kyusoon asked.

                Hyerin shook her head. “I remember when I went to get ice cream with C.A.P. I didn’t know the paparazzi stalked us.”

                Minah slowly shook her head as well. “Unbelievable.”

                “Know what else is unbelievable?” Another voice was heard. We turned back around to find Hyerin’s younger sister, Park Min Neul, standing with her arms folded over her chest. “Do you have any idea how many people have asked me if you’re dating C.A.P? But not one of them asked if I was dating Changjo!”

                “You haven’t been spotted out with him yet, Min Neul,” Hyerin said flatly.

                Min Neul scoffed. “So? Don’t they have brains? Naturally, my older sibling is dating the oldest member. Shouldn’t they assume her younger sister is dating the maknae, then?”

                I chuckled and shook my head. “Wait until people discover you’re his girlfriend. You’ll get more attention than you want.”

                “I want the attention,” Min Neul protested. “I’m dating Choi-ing-Jonghyun. I want the world to know.”

                Hyerin rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just go run out in the middle of that field over there and shout it to the world, then?”

                Min Neul put her hands on her hips and squinted. “Very funny, Unni.”

                “Anyway, what took you so long to get here? Lunch started over twenty minutes ago,” Hyerin asked.

                Min Neul rolled her eyes. “I had to talk to Mrs. Cho about my English grade, remember?” She scoffed, an indication that she thought the meeting was unnecessary.

                “Oh, right,” Hyerin nodded. “Well, maybe if you spent less time talking on the phone with Changjo, then you could actually study.”

                “Hey! I do study!” Min Neul barked. “God. It was one grade. Mom needs to cool it.”

                “She just wants you to do your best,” Kyusoon offered.

                Min Neul dropped her gaze. “My best is never good enough for her.”

                I gazed at the pretty, dark haired girl with sympathy. Education in Korea is highly competitive, especially to parents. Most children are expected to be at the top of their classes, studying and preparing endlessly. Ask any student in South Korea; school was a major stressor. Parents placed too much pressure their kids all the time; Hyerin and Min Neul’s mother in particular. I knew Min Neul very well, enough to know she was truly very intelligent. If she got so much as an A-minus, she’d be in full panic-mode about how her mother will react. This wasn’t the first time one of the Park sisters had complained about their strict mother.

                “I can tutor you in English,” I offered.

                “I don’t need a tutor,” Min Neul protested.

                “Mom thinks you do,” Hyerin shrugged.

                “I don’t!” Min Neul defended.

                “Okay, okay,” I giggled. “But if your mom makes you get one, I’m totally up for it.”

                “Thanks,” Min Neul replied, her hard look softening.

                “That class must be so easy for you,” Minah said dreamily.

                “Everything is easy for you,” Kyusoon said in agreement. “You don’t have to worry about English class, you’re dating an idol…”

                 “Kyu, come on,” I whined. “Stop mentioning that.”

                “Oh, you know it’s true,” Kyusoon sang.

                “Know what’s true?” I exclaimed.

                Kyusoon sighed and rolled her eyes; not in an annoyed way, in a playfully skeptical kind of way.

                I felt my face turn pink. “Will you stop bringing up L.Joe? He’s just a boy.”

                “Whatever you say,” Kyusoon said in a sing-song voice.

                Suddenly the bell rang, signaling lunch block was over. The five of us picked our bags up off the ground and slung them over our shoulders. We strolled to our classroom together, like we always do. We passed three girls who glanced at Hyerin and me out of the corners of their eyes before turning to each other to whisper. “Those are the girls I was telling you about!”

                Minah chuckled. “’Just a boy,’ huh?”

                Kyusoon burst out laughing. I elbowed Minah in the ribs just as we turned into the classroom. We took our usual seats in the center of the room. I sat next to Hyerin, and behind us were Kyusoon and Minah. Students came flooding into the classroom, the sleeves of their light blue collared shirts pushed to their elbows. Boys rolled down the pant legs of their khaki slacks and girls tucked away their necklace fans. I slid into my desk and pulled out a beat-up red folder and two pens from my bag, absentmindedly thinking about what color I should paint my toenails next.

                Choi Miyoung daintily sat herself down in the seat next to me. Miyoung was a slender, light skinned girl with long, glamorous looking legs and a body comparable to SNSD’s Sooyoung’s. She had super long, pin straight black hair and an enviable V-line face. Her wide, innocent-looking eyes always seemed to reflect every speck of light. I couldn’t think of a single boy who hadn’t crushed on her at least once. I wasn’t the best of friends with her, but I guess you could say we were acquaintances. She’s sat next to me in this chemistry class for the entire year, so we had grown accustom to smiling at each other before class started and didn’t hesitant to ask one another for extra pen when needed. I’d take the effort to become better friends with her if she wasn’t so full of herself. She was the kind of girl who knew she was beautiful and made an effort to flaunt it. Perhaps the only thing I really liked about her was the fact that she was a total Teen Top fan.

                Miyoung smiled her pretty smile, tiny dimples appearing on her flawless skin. Silky black hair cascaded over her shoulder as she set her bag down beside her feet. “So, enlighten me,” she began. She leaned in close until I could smell her lavender scented perfume. “What’s this I hear about you dating L.Joe?”

                No matter how many times I was asked this question, I couldn’t help but blush. “That seems to be the question of the day,” I answered.

                Miyoung tilted her head to the side. “What’s the answer of the day, then?”

                I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I am.”

                Miyoung raised a manicured eyebrow. “Uh-huh…”

                I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, really.”

                “Not a big deal,” Miyoung repeated. She scoffed. “You’re practically the envy of the entire campus.”

                “So I’ve heard,” I said quietly.

                Miyoung chuckled. “Look. I think it’s really cute what you’re doing.”

                “Admitting I’m dating L.Joe?” I asked, slightly confused.

                Miyoung shrugged. “More like making people think you are.”

                I scrunched my eyebrows together. “Excuse me?”

                “You may be fooling everyone else, but you’re not fooling me,” she said simply, coolly sitting back in her seat.

                I was taken aback. She thought I was lying? “Look, it’s plenty hard for me to believe—”

                “Hard to believe?” Miyoung chuckled. “More like impossible to believe. Don’t get me wrong, Kirin, you’re a pretty girl…but that’s just it, you know? You’re just pretty. But there are lots of pretty girls in the world just like you who would love to be L.Joe’s girlfriend.” She looked me straight in the eyes. “I just didn’t expect you, of all people, to claim to be her.”

                Anger boiled inside me, but I kept calm. I could sit here and defend myself to the end, using all the proof I possible had to force her to believe her—that, however, would make me look desperate. I wasn’t out to show-off my idol boyfriend to the entire world. I was here to truthfully answer the questions I was asked. I didn’t want to brag and I didn’t want to use L.Joe to win myself some popularity. Miyoung didn’t want to believe me? Fine. There always has to be one disbeliever.

                “You can believe whatever you want to believe—but I’m not lying. I’m dating L.Joe. Don’t want to believe that’s me? Then fine. Don’t.” I shrugged.

                Miyoung eyed me for a minute, trying to read into me. I assumed she was searching for a sign of weakness, a sign that I was lying.  When she couldn’t detect one, she lifted her stealthy stare off of me. “Whatever you say,” she said simply, pulling out her notebook. Before I turned my attention to the professor, I managed to catch sight of her notebook. Covering the front were dozens of neatly taped photographs of a familiar-looking petite boy with eyes the shape of rainbows and hair the color of an orangey summer sunset. 

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Hi everyone! What did you think of the first chapter? ;D There are plenty more to come!