Even if she had lived in Korea for three years, August had always stuck to the big cities. It was where she lived and worked, and since technically she wasn't a tourist she had never seen the point of going out into the countryside. Now there was no doubt in her mind that there were some very big points about leaving the city. Even if it did have a fantastic life style, it didn't come close to the beauty of the country.

Eagerly, August pressed her forehead against the glass of the bus' window, as if that would somehow improve her view of the outside world. It was gorgeous. The sky was a clear deep blue, the plant life was luscious green, and the water was clear as crystal. It was a major improvement from the deserts of the western USA, where she had originally grown up. There everything was brown and lifeless, a total wasteland in comparison to South Korea. Grinning from ear to ear, she could barely register when somebody spoke up from the seat beside her.

"Noona. What does this mean?" Taemin gently tapped August on the shoulder, unsure if he should disturb her obvious enjoyment of the scenery or not. She had offered to help him with English on the drive to the shooting location, since they had missed their previous tutoring session, but it still felt wrong to disturb her. Especially when he saw how reluctantly she pulled herself away from the window. Even with the smile on her face, he could tell that she was a little annoyed about being interrupted.

"Let's see... what... time is... it..." August mumbled, craning her neck to see what Taemin was pointing to. He shifted away from her as she drew closer, taking the book with him, until August was practically lying flat across him in order to try and see what was in the book. Frowning up at him, she pulled away and allowed her reprimanding gaze to do the talking for her. Sheepishly, Taemin straightened up and turned the book so that she could see better.

"Sorry" he aplogized, possibly using English as a way to placate her. Sighing, she waved off his apology and tried to think of a suitable translation. It was hard enough thinking just in Korean. Thinking in Korean and English was near impossible.

"It roughly translates to '그것은 무슨 시간'. You usually use it when you want to know the time, but it can also be used as a conversation starter. I guess..." August explained, trying to sound a lot smarter than she actually was. Taemin nodded and wrote a quick note beside the phrase, adding to the already substantial amount of clutter in the margins of the workbook. Glancing over them, August couldn't make any sense of the scribbled characters, though Taemin seemed to understand them just fine. "Is there anything else you need help with?" August asked after a few seconds of Taemin painstakingly looking through the work book.

"Um, yeah. I was actually wondering about..." 

"They would make a pretty good couple, wouldn't they?" Naomi mused as she watched Taemin and August study in the back seats. Beside her, Chung Ae coughed lightly and nudged her in the ribs. Turning around to face the front, she noticed that it wasn't only her eyes that were fixated on the 'lovey-dovey' pair. Smirking, Naomi leaned forward until she was blocking Minho's view of Taemin and August, which snapped him out of the fuming daze he had been in.

"You wouldn't be jealous, would you?" She giggled, raising her eyebrows questioningly. Minho frowned and averted his eyes from Naomi's all-knowing gaze, instead returning it to the pair in the back. Egged on by his reaciton, Naomi's lips split into a grin as she leaned forward even further to continue provoking him. Across from her Eun Mi, who Naomi had thought was too busy reading to pay any attention to her gossip, snapped her book shut and glared daggers at Naomi.

"Of course he isn't jealous. Not only is August a year younger than him, but she's a foreigner. Besides, we're about to make our debut and Minho-sshi is already a seasoned idol. It wouldn't do anyone any good for him to get in a relationship" Eun Mi scolded, her death gaze shifting to Minho as she spoke. The jaws of Chung Ae, Naomi, and Minho all dropped open, all three obviously shocked by this sudden declaration. It was a well known fact that when angered shy people could be terrifying, but Eun Mi had just taken things to an all new level. She had become a , and Naomi didn't know whether to scold or congratulate her for it.

"We were only joking. You don't have to take things so seriously" Chung Ae hesitated, attempting to placate Eun Mi's sudden temper. This comment drew the attention of the angered one in question, causing Chung Ae to flinch. When Chung Ae flinched, it was always a good idea to stay away from whoever she was trying to get away from. The little girl was capable of taking a lot of crap from people, hence why she had been friends with the hot-tempered August for so long, so for her to visually be scared it had to be quite the big deal.

"You shouldn't joke about that sort of thing" Eun Mi growled icily, clenching her book with a white-knuckled grip. Frowning, Naomi reached across the aisle and rested her hands on the arm rest of Eun Mi's chair. "What? It's the truth" Eun Mi snapped at Naomi, though she seemed to be balking a little when faced with Naomi's fury. Eun Mi could apparently be y, August had a fiery temper, but Naomi could freeze the world with a single word if she so desired. Being on her good side was a privelage, not a right, and Eun Mi was quickly deteriorating that right.

"If you have a problem with my skin color, or where I'm from, speak up now. Because when we get to that shooting site, Girls Dead Monster is going to be one big happy family. Capiche?" Naomi hissed, her icy stare burrowing into Eun Mi. After swallowing hard, Eun Mi nodded carefully and slowly slid further away from Naomi. When she had squished herself against the window as much as was humanly possible, she flipped open her book and continued reading. Only the occasional nervous glance over at Naomi gave any indicator that she hadn't died of fright.

Leaning back in her seat, Naomi rubbed her temples wearily as she let out a long sigh. She had known there might be difficulties, since Koreans could be a bit prejudiced against foreigners, but she had never expected Eun Mi to so outrightly state her opinion. It was either a very good sign that she was beginning to be comfortable with the other girls, or a very bad sign that she was about to make them all suffer for quite a while. Right now, Naomi could only pray that it was the former.

As the tense atmosphere began to dissipate, Chung Ae exchanged nervous glances with Minho before clearing . Across the aisle Eun Mi tensed up noticeably, and Naomi uncovered her eyes long enough to glance over at Chung Ae. With all eyes on her, Chung Ae felt her voice faltering. If she said anything wrong it would only start things up again, even if they hadn't even finished ending yet.

"So, Oppa. Where are the other three SHINee members?" She ventured, her voice overly cheerful. Both Naomi and Eun Mi relaxed and returned to their respective activities, releasing a huge load off Chung Ae's shoulders. Relief flooded over Minho's face as he also noticed the tensions being released, and both he and Chung Ae exchanged nervous, but relieved, smiles.

"They had a television broadcast to attend, so they couldn't make it to the shooting today. They should be able to come up tomorrow, though" Minho explained, resting his chin on the headrest of his seat. Behind them, August said something before hurrying up to the front.

"Tomorrow? So we're staying here for more than one day?" She asked frantically. Apparently the forever prepared August was, for once in her life, not prepared. Nodding slowly, Chung Ae tilted her head to the side curiously.

"You didn't know? Since we don't know how the weather and such will be, manager-oppa scheduled us to be here for the next three days" Chung Ae clarified, much to the horror of August.

"I didn't know we would be here for so long! I didn't pack nearly enough clothes..." August fretted, rubbing the back of her neck nervously as she began to panic. A few seats ahead of the idol group the Girls Dead Monster manager turned to face August, obviously annoyed with her. At least she had the dignity to look sheepish when she was being scolded.

"I called you three times and sent you five texts, all explaining when we would be leaving and for how long. You can't honestly tell me that you didn't pay attention to any of them" he admonished, frowning deeply at August as she grew more and more sheepish. Her eyes kept flickering to Minho, though. She was obviously more embarrassed about looking unprepared and silly in front of him then in front of her manager. It was kind of cute how much she worried about Minho's opinion of her, and Chung Ae couldn't help but smile as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

"I paid attention! I just... forgot for a second. I did come prepared though!" August protested. She was a horrible liar, and any idiot could tell that she hadn't come prepared. The manager wasn't one to argue unless absolutely necessary, though, so he nodded briefly before turning back around in his seat. From her spot squished against the window, Eun Mi scoffed audibly, not caring if August heard her or not. To her credit, August didn't react to Eun Mi. She was too worried about her lack of preperation.

"Naomi, loan me some clothes?" August begged, crouching down beside Naomi's seat with her hands clasped. Naomi sighed heavily, as though she was annoyed with August, but from where Chung Ae was sitting the broad grin on Naomi's face could be seen. She would of course help August, Naomi had evenprobably planned on August being unprepared, but she was going to make August squirm first. "Puhleaaaaase?" August whimpered, doing her best to make puppy dog eyes at Naomi. She was actually kind of cute when she did that, though Chung Ae was positive she could do it a million times better. Practice makes perfect, after all.

Naomi contemplated the thought of helping August for a moment, making quite the show of it. She continuously glanced down at August with a reprimanding stare, each time making August squirm more and more. She might have been confident about getting Naomi's help before, but the longer the older girl drew this out the less sure August became. Eventually August deflated entirely, convinced that she wouldn't be getting any help from Naomi. Standing up, she started to slink back to her seat, dramatically showing her dissapointment.

"I'll loan you some of my things. But you have to do one favor for me in return" Naomi agreed, smiling at August as the girl quickly turned around. Bowing deeply, August eagerly thanked Naomi before gliding back to her seat, ready to continue Taemin's tutoring. Chuckling quietly to herself, Naomi pulled out her phone and started flipping to the weather. Curious, Chung Ae peered over her shoulder to see what Naomi was looking at. Frowning, Naomi turned the phone out of Chung Ae's view.

"It's not polite to look over other's shoulders" she reprimanded gently, taking care of Chung Ae's curiosity. When Naomi showed no signs of stopping her interest in the weather, Chung Ae started chatting with Minho to pass away the time. Glancing over at Chung Ae to make sure she was too busy to notice, Naomi checked the weather for tomorrow and smiled with satisfaction. Hopefully, this time the weather man would be right. After all, rain could set such a romantic mood.

Chapter 8 Note: I feel like I'm writing too much fluff and not progressing the story along fast enough. Meh, oh well. Plus, I'll try and bring in Onew, Jonghyun, and Key for at least one chapter. The poor boys are being ignored :(

Aaaaand one last thing. Should I rewrite the description for this? Somehow the story seems to be different then what the description says. Or is it just me?