“If you pull any weird tricks then you’re out. You understand? You’re lucky I’m such a kind-hearted person that I’m letting you stay.” In reality, I just got tired of chasing him out. I spent a good afternoon of my time trying to swat him out of my place but like any pesky bug he would not give up.

He looks up at me with a twisted expression, his hair still soaking wet and dripping onto the carpet. “Yeah, thanks, I guess.”

I toss him a pillow and a sheet.

“I’ll just head to bed, then.” He waltzes toward my room but not before I step in front of him.

“Uh, no, that’s my room.”

“Fine. I’ll sleep on the couch.” He purses his lips and walks with his pillow to the living room before I wag a finger. Try again.

I tilt my head to the bathroom. “You can sleep in my tub.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” I fold my arms across my chest with a stern, don’t challenge me kind of look.

“If you don’t want to stay in the tub then maybe… out on the balcony.” A loud crack of thunder explodes from outside and Baekhyun clutches his pillow tighter.

He looks at me with a scowl. “What a terrible little human.”

“And put on some pants, okay?”

He smirks a bit as he looks down at his bare legs. “If you wish.” With a snap of his fingers a pair of black skinny jeans suddenly cover his legs. “Better?”

I rear back in shock. “I thought you couldn’t do that magic thing anymore.”

“I told you I lost a lot of magic not that I lost all of it. This kinda thing is child’s play. Don’t even compare me to you magic-less humans-“

I don’t hear the rest of whatever he was trying to say when I slam my door shut and start sliding my dresser in front of it. Just in case. I didn’t realize this guy still had a lot of his weird powers left. It makes the hair on my arms rise.

I don’t sleep much that night, two hours max. Couldn’t when I keep remembering that there might be an actual fairy in my house. So, I felt just wonderful when my alarm blasted, jolting me up for school at 6 AM.

My tired eyes stare at the dresser still propped up against my door. Don’t worry, Ji Ho, there’s still a chance that all this was just one big hallucination. Because there’s obviously no way a magical being is living in my house. Surely, not. What’s more likely, that I have a concussion or that fairies exist? I’m going to just walk in my restroom and there’s going to be no one there because it was all not real.

Of course, that’s just what I keep murmuring to myself as I throw on my uniform, grab my backpack and slip my hair into a ponytail. Then I found myself facing the bathroom door. Whether all that yesterday was just a dream, I guess I’ll find out.

It wasn’t a dream. Not in the slightest. When the door opens there’s Baekhyun slumped in my bathtub comfortably, scrolling through Instagram on his phone. “Uh, you could knock.”

Great. I just have to accept reality at this point.

He looks me up and down, his eyes traveling along my uniform. “Where are you going?”

“Why do you care?” I stuff my toothbrush in my mouth, trying not to look in his direction.

“Elementary school?”

“I’m in high school.”

“So, you’re leaving? I guess I’ll just be here by myself, all alone.” He double taps a picture of himself.

“Just FYI if you do anything weird, I will call the police. And I’m not giving you a key so if you decide to go outside, you won’t be able to get back in until I come home. Got it?”

He waves me off, so I leave it at that. To be honest, I’ve never been more eager to go to school if it means not being around this guy.

For the first time in my life, I’m actually early to class. A few students are seating at their desks, scrolling through their phones and talking to their friends. Sehun is at the blackboard writing down the announcements but pauses to throw me a glare as I walk in. It still amazes me that someone like him is the class representative, but I guess it’s because to everyone else he’s an angel.

Slipping into my seat, I’m about to put my headphones in when something catches my eye. The girl in front of me is flipping through a magazine, and in between her polished nails is a picture of a familiar face. A young man holding a bottle of facewash for an ad beams a smile so bright it was blinding. That… that’s

My mind goes back to the guy laying in my tub. That’s fairy-boy?

I lean over a girl’s shoulder to get a closer look.

It is him. I can recognize that smug smile anywhere.

“Um…” The picture of Baekhyun disappears as the magazine folds close, the girl now looking back over at me with her brows furrowed. “Can I help you?”

“That guy that was in your magazine, is he really famous?” She nods her head while subtly leaning away from me, as if being me is contagious. “He’s the lead in that drama The Lovely Ones. You haven’t seen it?”

“I don’t watch dramas. Waste of time.”

Her lip twitches in anger before turning back around.

But I couldn’t care less because right now my mind is running through thoughts a million miles a second. So, how’s someone that famous been hiding that he’s not human this whole time? And why is he hiding in my restroom right now? And there’s also the question of who he’s running away from…

I snap out my thoughts with the sharp crack of the teacher’s ruler against the podium. “Class, I have an important announcement before I start today’s lesson. It has been brought to my attention that there has been an attack against North Highschool’s reputation. Someone has vandalized the precious bust of our wonderful Principal Oh with vulgar pictures and words that I cannot even bring myself to repeat to you all.”

I roll my eyes at her constant dramatics. Let’s just get on with this okay.

“It’s a horrible act of misconduct that must be punished immediately. I have good reason to suspect a student was behind these misdoings. If one of you knows anything about this incident, then please inform me after school. And if one of you is the vandalizer, just know that you will be exposed soon, so it would be better to turn yourself in.”

The second snap of her ruler interrupts me mid-yawn. Looking around, the other kids seem just as disinterested with one even filing her nails in the back row. The teacher clears and picks up her favorite piece of chalk “Now that that’s out of the way please open your textbooks to page 35.”

With each minute that goes by during class, my face inches closer and closer to my desk, my view of my notebook focusing and blurring with each blink. That stupid fairy. Because of him, I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. If I get in trouble by the teacher for falling asleep in class because of him… I’m just about to faceplant the desk when the shrill bell rings and jolts me to my feet.

Lunchtime, my savior.

I move faster than all the kids out into the hallway, dodging backpacks and elbows. And I almost to the cafeteria doorway but then I hear the singsongy voice of the Devil calling me.

“Moouuseee.” I slowly turn back to face a group of girls – correction - a group of thugs in skirts, leaning against the lockers, twisting headphones between their fingers. The same group that hangs out with Sehun downtown. And the same group that I know way too well.

“Where are you going without me, your best friend?” The girl with the mole swings her arm over my shoulder and moves me back away from the cafeteria. Seems like today isn’t going to be a good day.

That group usually doesn’t talk much to me during school hours, but occasionally when they get moody about something they’ll lash out on me even in school. Seems like she must have had a bad day today because her grip is extra tight. She must have gotten her awful exam scores back.

“I lost something important to me, my favorite lip tint.” She positions me in front of the bathrooms and I feel a little nauseous already.

“Unfortunately, it rolled right out of my hand and into there.” The rest of the girls giggle when she points to the boy’s restroom. I can’t say I didn’t expect something like this. Must have been a really low grade.

My shoes stagger toward the entrance, the sounds of the sink running tell me that there are definitely people in there. I can feel her hand heavy on my shoulder urging me closer. My foot shifts forward reluctantly, but suddenly the door flies open on its own. Sehun strides out, wiping his hands on a paper towel.

He pauses when he sees us and narrows his eyes as the girl with the mole.

“Hey, Sehun. Mouse is just helping me get something I lost.”

He lowers his voice to a whisper. “I told you not to talk to me in school. I have a reputation to uphold. And remember if you mess with her here, make sure not to get caught by teachers. I don’t want to be dragged into any of your messes.” He smirks at me, before tossing his paper towel at my feet and walking away. The fake smiles that he gives the teachers always make me sick, if only they could see this expression. The one with dead cold eyes that stare back at me. That’s the real him.

“Hurry up, Mouse.” Without warning, I’m pushed forward and into the restroom.

I don’t need to look up to understand what kind of situation I’m in. I hear it all.

The gasps. The shouts. The - Are you crazy, you’re in the wrong restroom.

And of course, the laughter.

But I still keep my head down and step forward. All I can see is the boys’ shoes that run out of the restroom.

“That girl’s insane!” Their voices echo in my head but I’m just scanning the floor for the lip-tint tube that I’m not even sure is here.

Luckily, I see it, the shine of a golden tube at the back of the restroom floor. I move forward but one of the boys shoves me backward on his way past. “Get out of my way you .”

My feet slip from under me and I skid toward the grimy tile floor barely catching myself with my elbows. It burns, and I can already tell that I scraped something but at least I found it. Scooping up the lip-tint, I can’t walk fast enough to the exit.

There’s a crowd of students when I walk back outside, most of them are boys with twisted expressions and the girl with the mole stands right in the middle of it all. “Here.” I let it fall into her palm

She pats my head like a dog. “What a good little mouse. You can go get lunch if there’s any left.” 

I ignore the whispers again and head back to the cafeteria with my head low, and cradling my arm that won’t stop throbbing.

But the sound of the lip-tint being thrown into the trash almost makes me stop in my tracks. It’s not worth it Ji Ho. Don’t turn around and just let it go.

And I do.

Lunchtime was nearly over when I got to the cafeteria and I was only lucky that there was one sandwich left. Afterward, no matter how much I hated it, I had to head back to class. There were all their eyes trained on me when I walked into the classroom. Even though I bury my head into my arms, I could still feel it all, their stares.