"I think I should just go talk to him," Y/N declared, biting the eraser of her pencil as she sat at her desk, watching a dark haired boy sitting further up the row.

Eunji grimaced. "Talk to him? After he said those things to you? Why should you talk to him? He should be the one on his knees, begging for forgiveness." She pulled the pencil out of Y/N's grip. "And stop chewing on that eraser, Y/N. It's a bad habit."

Y/N tried reaching for the pencil, but it was held out of reach. Her brown eyes narrowed in frustration. "Eunji! He's my boyfriend!"

"Oh really?" Jieun asked from her other side. She tossed her brown hair and frowned. "From what I hear, the two of you are as good as over."

The pencil was all but forgotten. Y/N gaped at her other friend. "Where did you hear that?"

"From Doyoung," she replied, her gaze focusing to where the teacher had finally decided to start the class. "I heard that Ten is really angry." Her gaze landed back on the Y/N. "What was the fight about?"

Y/N made a face. "It wasn't a fight. It was playful banter."

Eunji made a tsking sound from beside her, her short-cropped dark hair framing her brown eyes as she watched her friend. "Not with those words."

"What was it about?" Jieun repeated.

"You don't know him. You don't know."

"Oh, I heard enough to know that he is an . He doesn't deserve you."

"What was it about?" Jieun hissed.

The two turned to her. "Cookies."

***

"Is she looking at me?" Ten asked, glancing at Doyoung.

The orange haired boy glanced back. "She's talking to the two idiots."

"They're her friends. She values their opinions."

Doyoung's eyebrow lifted skeptically.

"Copying seniors isn't going to make you look any cooler," Ten declared, angry. Running a hand through his hair, he made a noise in his throat before standing up.

Instantly, he was pulled back down. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to my girlfriend. What are you doing?"

Doyoung grinned grimly. "I'm stopping you from making a horrible mistake."

"Yeah, man. Why do you always have to apologize to her?" another boy, Yuta, said from his other side.

Ten raised his eyes skyward. "I don't always apologize to her, and it wasn't a fight. We were discussing cookies."

"Then…why aren't you talking to each other now?" Yuta demanded.

"Because her friend misunderstood and dragged her away."

"Yup. She's too much trouble. Just dump her," Doyoung declared.

"You would say that."

"Then test my theory. Wait until she apologizes first," Yuta added.

"This is ridiculous," Ten muttered, sitting back down.

***

"He still hasn't apologized yet," Eunji all but sang.

This time, they were in the cafeteria. Y/N stabbed her straw into her milk carton with unneeded force, sending milk shooting toward the other girl. "I'm aware of that," she practically growled. "If you'd only let me talk to him, then this misunderstanding could be resolved."

Eunji sent her a dirty look, pointedly moving away from the milk on the table. "He's taking you for granted. He thinks that you'll go crawling back to him."

Jieun stared at the untouched food on Y/N's plate. "Are you going to eat any of that?"

Sighing, Y/N pushed the tray away. "No, I've lost my appetite. I'm going to talk to him." She stood, and was instantly pulled back down into her seat. "You two are retarded. Don't you guys have boyfriends, too?"

Eunji dropped her gaze to the table. "Actually, my boyfriend broke up with me."

Y/N gaped at her before turning to attention to a sneering Jieun. "And you?"

"I dropped him like a hot potato. He dared to stand me up at the movie theater? Never mention his name to me ever again!"

"Now I really know that I can't trust your words."

"What?" the two of them demanded.

"Misery loves company, and I'm not giving up Ten so that the two of you will feel a little better."

"If you say so," Eunji said uncertainly. "But why's he talking to Kim Subin?"

Y/N caught her gaze and followed it to…see her boyfriend talking to Subin, the prettiest girl in school. A sharp pain shot through her chest at the thought for a moment. But he was allowed to talk to other girls. Ten was in the same Chemistry class at that girl. She was probably asking him a question about the class.

"I heard…that she thinks Ten is cute. She said in the girls' locker room that she'd totally date him if he wasn't with you. She's like a lion…circling the weak lamb, waiting for it to collapse before attacking."

"I'm going to talk to him!" Y/N declared, her eyes narrowed.

Again, she was held back.

"What?" She practically roared at her friends.

Eunji grinned. "Just fight fire with fire. Isn't Johnny throwing a party tonight?"

Y/N glared at her. "I won't get within a two-foot-radius of that jerk! You know that I can't!"

Jieun grabbed the discarded tray and began eating the contents on it. "He pantsed you in junior high. You can't still be upset about that."

"Can't I? That was the most embarrassing moment of my life!"

"Wasn't that before Ten came to this school?" Eunji asked in a languid voice.

Suspicious, Y/N turned her gaze to her other friend. "Yes, it was. And I'd appreciate it if you don't bring it up to him. He's overly-protective of me. As much as I hate Johnny, I don't want my boyfriend to get suspended from school for starting a fight."

"I heard that he pansted you…because he likes you," Jieun declared.

"Now who told you this? I swear you have eyes and ears in the school!"

"Jisoo was talking to him, and Yumi overheard. She didn't want to say anything to you, though, because you had Ten."

"Have. I have Ten. He's my boyfriend."

"But Johnny's so much better!" Jieun sighed.

Y/N's eyes narrowed in anger. "Then you date him."

"He's so y," Eunji agreed. "And he's much cooler than Ten."

"Ten never pantsed me!" Y/N protested. "Johnny is such a child. He was probably dared to do it. Ten would never humiliate me like that. I'm going to talk to him!"

"Too late," Yumi said, frowning as she sat down next to them. "Subin has her claws on him."

Y/N turned in time to see Subin lead her boyfriend out of the room. She closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them, the determination in her gaze. "Fine, I'll go to the stupid party."

Her friends cheered at her side.

***

She looked as miserable as he felt. While Yuta and Doyoung were grabbing food, Ten made up his mind to go talk to her. She was his girlfriend. He obviously had to rectify this misunderstanding before it got out of hand. Already, he could feel the absurdity of it escalating, spiraling out of control. More than anything, he hated to see her sad.

To think: this had all started because of cookies! He almost laughed at the stupidity of it all.

"Ten?" a voice called just as he had stood to walk toward her.

Irritated, but not willing to cause Y/N any more problems, he rolled his eyes before plastering a smile on his face. "Subin, what can I do for you?"

She was pretty, sure—her hair a pretty platinum color and eyes a dark brown. But, she wasn't Y/N. His heart didn't race at the sight of her, and he felt no instinctive urge to keep her close to him. Not like Y/N. God, he loved that girl! He loved the way her eyes sparkled when she spoke to him. She had a somewhat carefree demeanor about her, but he had a feeling that she was hiding that fact that she was, indeed, as insecure as he was.

If only Eunji hadn't interrupted them at that time…

"I don't understand the homework from Chemistry class. It's next period, and I haven't finished it! My grade is riding on this assignment!" Her voice rose in her alarm.

He repressed the urge to roll his eyes, but he couldn't help the flinch when she grabbed his arm. "Subin, it's naming acids."

"What does "hi" mean?" she demanded. "That's pretty retarded of them to write that. Are they taunting me? Writing "hi" like that! It's like… "Oh, hi, Subin! We're about to ruin your life, but we thought we'd be cheerful about it and write it in capital letters." I hate them."

"Are you kidding me?" Ten couldn't help but ask in awe.

She gaped at him. "W-wha…?"

"It's not "hi,"