August could hardly believe that it was her dancing around like that on the screen. She looked pretty, in all that makeup and clothes that would put the Gods to shame. Really, really pretty. The best part of it, though, was that Minho was leaning over her shoulder watching exactly the same thing she was. The thought caused August to shift her weight nervously, tightening her grip on the back of the director's chair as she did so. It was nice knowing that Minho was seeing her this way, but at the same time it was really nerve-wracking. He was her Adonis, after all, so it was embarrassing having him see her as Aphrodite.

Then again, she might just be being arrogant.

"I can't belive we're really on screen! And we all look so good!" Chung Ae exclaimed, bouncing on her heels as she tried to contain her energy. Smiling, August rested a hand on Chung Ae's shoulder to keep her from flying into the ceiling. "Look at us! It's like we're angels or something!" Chung Ae continued, pointing over the director's shoulder at the laptop screen. "And Minho-ssi and Taemin-ssi look really good, too!"

Ah yes, the second reason August was embarrassed. The concept of the song was a love song, after all, so SM had decided to use SHINee as the boys the song was talking about. It was a dream come true for August, once she had gotten over the initial embarrassment and actually managed to act for the music video. Besides being a chance for August to get closer to Minho, it was a great strategic move for all of Girls Dead Monster. Having a group that is already popular appear in a video would give them credibility, or something. She hadn't really paid attention to the manager's speech after the word SHINee.

As yesterday's footage, only about a fourth of the entire music video, came to an end the director closed the video editing program and turned to face the window. Outside, dark storm clouds had begun to blow in, driven forward by the winds that now whipped through the tree tops. Since the weather was so bad they had been forced to stop filming until further notice. It was a good thing their manager had planned on bad weather possibly happening, otherwise the music video would just stop halfway through. Definitely not a good way to start your debut off.

"Who's thirsty?" Naomi asked as she stepped off the elevator and into the lobby, carrying a tray of steaming mugs in front of her. Chung Ae, always eager, bounced over towards her and accepted one of the mugs before Naomi had even gotten two steps away from the elevator. By the time Naomi reached the table the production crew, and idols, were seated around most of the mugs were gone. After helping clear a spot on the table for the tray, August took her own mug and sipped at the contents.

"It's really good" August said, surprised as a sweet peppermint flavor hit her tongue. Naomi nodded and sat beside her, clasping another mug in her hands.

"I made it myself with a special recipe I learned in France. It's especially good with... oh darn!" Naomi exclaimed, her eyes trailing over the tray. "I forgot the cookies! We can't have tea without cookies!" She pouted, visibly put out by her forgetfullness. It only took her a second to rejuvinate, though, and then she was facing August eagerly.

"I think it's time you repaid me my favor, August! Go down to the store and buy some cookies for us" Naomi instructed, fishing out a wad of bills from her back pocket and pressing them into August's hand.

"Favor? I don't owe you any-" Naomi pointed silently to the clothes August was wearing, all of which belonged to her, and successfully shut August up. "But look outside. Couldn't we just have tea another time and-" Naomi gently removed the mug from August's hands and rested it on the table while she spoke. Shaking her head, Naomi pulled August into a standing position and gently nudged her towards the door.

"You can borrow my coat. Now go on!" Naomi insisted, slipping into English as she draped a large fur coat over August's shoulders. Surprised by the sudden warmth and luxury she was surrounded in, August didn't have tim to protest further before Naomi had shoved her out the doors of the hotel. Startled by the sudden blast of chilly wind, August tried to rush back inside but was stopped by Naomi holding the door shut. Even if she was a skinny super model, that girl was strong. Glaring at Naomi through the glass, August could only watch as the older girl gesture for her to get going.

"Stupid. Do you want me to freeze to death?" August grumbled, turning haughtily away from the door and stalking off down the path. Obviously Naomi was trying to torture her, otherwise she would have asked the manager or someone with a car to go and get the cookies, or at least to give August a ride.

Slipping her arms into the sleeves of the coat, August huddled inside of the protection it offered. The wind bit visciously into her cheeks, causing August to pull the collar of the coat up until you could just barely see her eyes poking out amongst the soft fur. With her ears covered, it took August a second to hear the muffled ring tone of her cell phone as it announced a text message. Risking losing her fingers to frost bite, August swiftly slipped her arm out of the coat's warmth and into her pocket in order to retrieve the communciation device inside.

Don't go that way. Take the first path to your right. It's a short cut. ;)

-Naomi-unni <3

It could be a trick. August was almost positive that was the case, since it seemed Naomi already had it out for her. Still, it could also be a moment of goodwill as Naomi realized the error of her ways. Glancing over her shoulder at the hotel, she noticed Naomi waving at her from the other side of the glass doors. The fact that she was in a tanktop and shorts, proudly broadcasting that the hotel had their heat up to Bahamas level, didn't help August in trusting her any.

Still... it was cold. August didn't like cold. If she could get out of cold faster then she would do whatever it took.

Clenching her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering, August struck off down the path Naomi had suggested, practically running as she tried to beat the wind. Behind her, Naomi smiled and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"SHORT CUT MY EFFING !" August roared as she sprinted through the viscious downpour that had started up. Not only had it taken her the better part of an hour to get down to the store, but then she had to spend twenty minutes finding a single box of cookies, and then before she had even gotten ten minutes into her journey back the sky had decided to empty out a bucket of water on her! Stupid Naomi and her stupid cookies! Stupid Naomi and her stupid shortcut! Stupid Naomi and her stupid... stupid!

Squinting her eyes in an attempt to keep the water out of her eyes, August searched for somewhere to shelter until the storm decided to finally let up. Right now it was impractical, not to mention dangerous, to be walking, let alone running, around like a chicken with its head cut off. The best she could hope for was somewhere dry, but somewhere warm would be amazing.

What she came across was a large pagoda, one of those things that was supposed to look ancient but had obviously been built after the year 2000. Authentic or not, though, it did have a large roof that didn't leak. Sprinting up the steps, August practically threw herself beneath the cover it provided as a large roar of thunder rumbled overhead. In the distance, a flash of lightning split the sky open for a second before dissappearing just as quickly. At least mother nature had sent her one present. August loved lightning.

Shivering, August pulled off the soaking wet coat and spread it out on the wooden floor of the pagoda to try and dry it out. No coat was better than a wet one, even if she was only wearing a sweater, tanktop, and sweats. She hadn't even bothered pulling on her sneakers, either, so she was stuck wearing sandals. With socks. Yup, she was just that fashoniable.

"Well, let's see what survived" August mumbled, digging through her pockets to see if her electronics had managed to turn waterproof. Her cellphone was alive and well, but the batteries had run down to the point where it was unusable. Her Ipod was doing well, though. Sighing, August slid over to the center of the pagoda, escaping the growing puddle around Naomi's coat, and slipped the ear buds into her ears. Flipping through her songs, August almost started playing "Pocketful of Sunshine" just so that she could laugh at herself. The thought wasn't tempting enough, though, so she kept searching.

After finding the right song, she hit the play button and smiled as the guitar started playing. If she really thought hard about it, the rain was almost beating in time with the music. Like Mother Nature was sending her another little present to make up for trying to drown her. Resting her chin on her knees, August wrapped her arms around her legs and stared blankly at the falling rain, her lips moving silently along with the lyrics.

"The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you
Yeah"

"But I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"August sure has been gone a long time, hasn't she?" Naomi asked loudly. Beside her, Minho stiffened up. Smirking, she took another sip of her tea and allowed her words a second to sink in. With perfect timing, a loud clap of thunder resounded over head. "It's pretty nasty out there. A lot of things could have happened to her?" Naomi continued, watching in the corner of her eye as Minho clasped his hands tightly. It was cute how worried he was about her, even though he would never admit to it aloud.

"She could have gotten hurt, lost, mugged, , murdered..." okay, maybe those last few were a bit extreme. "I think she even took some sort of a short cut. Her sense of direction is horrible, though..." leaning back in her seat, Naomi let Minho's imagination do the rest of the work for her. Quietly sipping at her tea, she turned to watch as Minho abruptly stood up. Raising her eyebrows, she gently set down the mug, never taking her eyes off him.

"Is something wrong, Minho-ssi?" She asked innocently, looking up at him.

Without a word, Minho strode across the room and out the lobby doors. Naomi had at least expected him to wear a coat, or maybe bring an umbrella. Sitting back comfortably, Naomi smiled in self-satisfaction. She really did have a way of manipulating people that could be on par with the devil himself. Of course she only used her powers for good. Most of the time. Well, there were those few times when... sighing, Naomi took a trip down memory lane in order to pass the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm quiet, you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know
I'm always on your mind"

"August!"

"Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
You somehow find, you and I collide"

"August, are you here?!"

"Don't stop here
I've lost my place
I'm close behind"

"August!"

August's eyes flickered open to see someone standing in the entrance of the pagoda, rain dripping from their soaked form. Blinking rapdily to unblur her vision, August tried to prepare herself in case this person proved hostile. Which seemed to be a very real possibility as the figure stepped closer to her. Flinching, she jumped to her feet and tried to ball up her fists properly while her Ipod fell to the floor, yanking the ear buds out with it. The figured stopped, confused, and then held its hands up defensively.

"Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find, you and I collide"

The music could still faintly be heard, though the rain drowned out most of it. Frowning, August focused her eyes on the face of the stranger. Who actually wasn't all that much of a stranger.

"Oppa! What on Earth are you doing here?! You should be back at the hotel!" August gasped, rushing towards him. He was soaked through to the bone. Frantically she pulled him over to the center of the pagoda and forced him to sit on the floor while she tried to think of some way to warm him. Even from so far away she could hear his teeth chattering as he tried to talk to her. Glaring down at him a bit more sharply than she had intended, August clappd a hand over his mouth and shook her head.

"Not right now. I need to think" she ordered sternly, her eyes glancing around the pagoda for anything that could be used to warm him. Besides the wet coat, though, nothing was jumping out at her. Of course she still had her sweater... "Take off your shirt" August instructed as she began to remove her sweater. Beside her Minho made a choking noise. Blushing, August ripped the sweater over her head and threw it in his face.

"Stop thinking weird things! ert!" She snapped, spinning around so that her back was facing him. "You can use wear my sweater. It might be a little small, but it's better than a wet t-shirt"

August had to admit that it wasn't entirely out of the goodness of her heart that she was doing this. The second she had seen Minho in a soaking wet white shirt her mind had gone all sorts of places, so this was to preserve both his warmth and her mind. Or at least what was left of it. Shaking her head gently, she forced herself to start thinking straight while behind her Minho started changing his top.

She was pretty sure she had heard somewhere that he had a six-pack.

"Why?! Why do you hate me God?! What did I do to deserve this torture?! Why, of all people, was it Minho who found me?!"  August thought, pleadingly looking up at the heavens. In response, a loud clap of thunder resounded over head, resonating through the pagoda so that she could feel the power of it in her legs. Hopefully this thing wouldn't attract any lightning, otherwise her and Minho might turn into a pair of crispy love-birds. Well, one love-bird, at least.

"August?" Minho said from behind her, petrifying the already nervous girl. "You dropped this"

Glancing over her shoulder, August saw that Minho was handing over her Ipod. Nodding stiffly, she tried to ignore the fact that he was wearing her sweater and accepted her Ipod. Music would definitely help keep her mind off the current situation. As long as she steered clear of any and all romantic songs, which unfortunately made up three-fourths of her music. And nothing by SHINee, either. Unfortunately, that made up the remaining fourth.

Turning away from Minho once more, August cautiously made her way to the railing that surrounded the pagoda outer edge. Resting her arms against it, she popped the ear buds back into her ears and flipped to the first song she came across.

"You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare"

Once more the rain began to drum in time with the beat of the song, creating a percussion that only nature could make. Smiling softly to herself, August blocked out everything but the lyrics to the song as she tapped her foot along to the song. As long as she didn't think about it too much she should be fine. Possibly. Probably not. No way in heck was she going to keep this up longer than a few seconds. Slowly August's smile fell as she stared out at the scenery.

After just a few minutes of standing there in nothing but a tank top goosebumps began to rise on August's arms. Clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering out of her brain, August hunched over and tried to not think about the chill that was digging into her. Already her fingers were beginning to feel stiff from the chill. A sudden shiver shot through August's body, jerking her whole body in a sudden violent spasm. Cursing under her breath, she began to rub her arms and tried to think warm thoughts.

"August, you're going to catch a cold" Minho scolded lightly from behind her. Since when had he come so close?! Startled, August spun around and into Minho's arms. Panic gripped her lungs, keeping her from breathing as he wrapped his sturdy arms around her, pressing her close into his body. Since he was wearing her clothes he smelled like the cucumber melon bodywash she used, with a faint trace of Naomi's perfume, but beneath it all and even fainter was the smell of Minho. He was also really, really warm.

"Come on. We can at least try and stay warm until the rain passes" Minho urged, releasing his grip on her just long enough for him to wrap an arm around August's unresisting shoulders. How could she resist when her brain had just had a meltdown. Nodding weakly, she allowed him to guide her over to the middle of the pagoda, where they both sat. Unfortunately, Minho forced her to sit beside him rather than the few feet August had been planning on.

"I'm not cold" August mumbled, trying to squirm out of his grip. He was a heck of a lot stronger than her, though. It was like a bunny trying to fight a bull. "Seriously. I'm fine. You're the one who went running through the rain to get here" August insisted, giving up on fighting against him and instead trying to use reason. Minho didn't respond for a few minutes, and August was just about convinced he was just going to ignore her until he finally opened his mouth.

"Exactly. I came to you. It's not right for me to make you freeze" Minho said, glancing down at her. August frowned and nodded sullenly, keeping her eyes fixed on the grain of the pagoda's floor. No amount of power would ever make her look at Minho, not when she was positive she was about to die from heart failure.

"Here. It's a pretty good song" She mumbled after a few silent minutes, holding out one of the ear buds to Minho. He hesitated for a second before accepting it and sliding it into his ear. Then they both lapsed back into silence, neither putting forth any effort to relieve the awkward quiet between them. Time crawled by, and the rain drumming against the roof became almost hypnotic. Slowly August began to feel her eyes getting heavier as her head dipped down. Blinking, she snapped it back up before she fell over, though it was already on its way back down before she could fully wake up. A few seconds later she succumbed to the numbing of sleep, her head resting lightly on Minho's shoulder.

Beneath her cheek his muscles tensed up as he prepared to shift away from her, but something kept him fixed to where he was sitting. Instead, he slouched down further to make things more comfortable for August, who had already fallen asleep, and stared fixedly ahead. In his ear the song switched to a softer, more natural one. Gently he reached down and removed the ear bud from August's ear, placing it inside his own ear. Settling into a comfortable position he closed his eyes to listen to the words. Even though he didn't understand all of them, he could get the gist of the song.

"I miss the sound of your voice
And I miss the rush of your skin
And I miss the still of the silence
As you breathe out and I breathe in"

"If I could walk on water, If I could tell you what’s next
Make you believe, make you forget"

"So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire in the swing of your hips
Just throw me down hard
And drown me in love"

Swallowing, Minho looked down at August's face as she slept. For a moment her expression flickered into one of pain, and a shudder ran down her body. Wrapping his arm around her he drew August into him more tightly. Once he had done so she snuggled into his shoulder, causing Minho to blush and turn away from her in silent debate. As the song came to an end he came to a conclusion and leaned down slightly to gently kiss the top of her head. It was only a second long touch before Minho quickly drew back, his face flushed red.

To the right, a flash of light caught his attention. Slowly counting, he waited for the clap of thunder. It wasn't until a second flash of lightning illuminated the world that a clap of thunder came, though. He was pretty sure thunder and lightning didn't usually participate in two for one deals. Confused, he narrowed his eyes in the direction the first flash of light had come from to try and see if he could make anything out in the thick forest. With such thick cloud cover the sun was completely covered, though, and it was too dark to make out any distinct shapes in the thick foliage.

Sighing, Minho gave up on finding the source of light and closed his eyes in order to join August in dream land.

Chapter 9 Note: No Homework = Uber Long Chapter

Songs Used:

Collide - Howie Day ((Really pretty song :D ))

Fireflies - Owl City

Come On, Get Higher - Matt Nathanson