Half an hour late –Haechan stared at his watch as he ran down the street and ducked under the principal's window, counting the seconds. One more minute and he'd break his record. But it was okay that his little sister flipped the table after he said there was no point riding her new pink bike across the street to school, because the first block on Thursday was just English, and nothing ever happened in English.

Well, that should have been true. So there he was, doubled over in the doorway of the second-floor English class, huffing and sweating and his bag slipping half-way down his shoulder, probably looking like a total idiot – and there, standing at the front of the class, staring at him with these amazing brown eyes, was a cute stranger.

"Uh…" Haechan heard the dumb word roll off his tongue and cringed inwardly. Then, in the distant background behind the boy, he saw Mrs. Park's eyebrows knit together at the center of her face, and remembered to say, "Sorry I'm late."

"You're awfully late, Kim Haechan."

Haechan straightened and ran a hand through his probably hideously windblown brown hair. "That's what I said." He agreed, giving her his sweetest smile, but the woman's lips remained just as thin.

"Sit down." She said sharply.

"Yes, ma'am." Haechan winced at her glare and grinned sheepishly at the class. Half of the girls giggled, the other half kept staring up front. He took a seat in the third row, tapping the black haired girl sitting on the shoulder.

She turned around, brown eyes wide. "You're early."

Haechan leaned forward. "I know, Hana. Who's that?" He nodded his head to the front, where the boy was standing looking tall and hot and awkward in his striped polo T-shirt while the teacher wrote his name up on the board. Lee Mark.

Hana's lips twitched into a small, cute smile. "Isn't he hot? The dark red hair..."

Yeah, but I'm not about to say that out loud, I'm a guy! Instead, Haechan scoffed put his finger on her forehead and gave her a bit of a shove. "Who cares."

"He's from Canada." Hana sighed dreamily, her eyes fluttering. "And he's a year older than us."

Haechan raised an eyebrow. And that's attractive to you? That just makes him sound dumb to me. "Great." He said dryly, instead. "A Canadian boy."

Hana rolled her eyes and opened to reply, but Mrs. Park's shrill voice beat her to it.

"Haechan, pay attention!" She snapped, slamming her dry-erase pen on the whiteboard ledge. "If you want to socialize that much, then why don't you be Mark's buddy and him to his next class!"

"Huh?" Haechan widened his eyes and stared at her incredulously, while Hana's smile disappeared and she turned quickly in her chair. The class quieted, and up front, Mark shifted uncomfortably and looked at the door like he wanted to leave.

"Well, that's settled then." Ms.Park took a deep breath, like she'd just done a lot of work, and gave Mark a pat on the shoulder. "Why don't you take the seat next to Haechan, dear. He'll bring you to your classes and introduce you to people at lunch time." The grooves of her face deepened as she smiled.

"Ah… okay." Mark said in a hesitant, soft voice. There was an audible sigh from Hana, and Haechan sank deeper into his chair, frowning as the boy walked towards him. Mark gave him a crooked, shy sort of smile and slipped into the seat next to his.

There were only five minutes of English left and Haechan kept his eyes on the back of Hana's head, staring at her shiny, straight strands of black hair, ignoring the little glances that Mark kept giving him. When Ms. Park finally stopped talking and announced their dismissal he remained in his seat as Mark came to stand by the corner of his desk.

"Uh… I'm Mark." He began, smiling hesitantly. "Nice to meet you. Haechan, right?"

Haechan nodded curtly, avoiding the boy's eyes as he watched Hana shoot him upsetting looks all the way out the door.

Mark waited quietly for a couple seconds, then laughed and put his hand on the desk. "Sorry, is it your off-block? I can find my way to class myself."

He has big hands. Haechan stared at the boy's long, muscular fingers for a moment, then shook his head and stood up with a heavy sigh, dragging his bag over his shoulder. "Nah, I'm awake." He said, brushing past the boy and heading for the door.

He heard another little laugh and faint footsteps as Mark followed him. What's so funny? He thought irritably. "What class do you have next?"

The footsteps stopped and there was some rustling. Reluctantly, Haechan stopped and turned around to see Mark with a piece of paper held up to his face.

"Chemistry," Mark said finally.

"With Mr. Kim?"