Kim Mingyu is a terrible student, despite his on-the-top athletic abilities and beyond the average level of attractiveness. It’s not that he’s a pea brain, his mind is just occupied with balls. Basketball, boys’ volleyball, baseball, soccer, football, name it. Mingyu is purely a sports maniac, always out in the sun playing games like it is his life line. This is also the reason why he has a skin with a good shade of tan, adding to his charms.

But Mingyu doesn’t want to be the epitome of “handsome but stupid.” Just imagine how much embarrassment he will get.

Mingyu treads towards the faculty office, because he’s been called this morning. Of course, he’s aware that he failed in a subject, and dreads if he has to repeat a year. He can’t repeat a year. Never.

Mingyu arrived at the office, slowly opening the door. The section adviser, Mr. Lee, saw him and gestured for him to come in.

“Mingyu, I guess you already know why you’re here.”

Mingyu nodded, not having the strength to speak.

“Well, Mingyu, you barely passed in Math. You should be thankful that your periodical test—”

“I didn’t fail in Math?! Oh god, thank you.” The tan boy screamed in relief, internally doing happy dances. He can’t believe that he overcame his mortal enemy, Mathematics.

Contrary to Mingyu, Mr. Lee scoffs. “Don’t rejoice yet, Kim Mingyu. I said that you didn’t fail in Math. But you did, in English.”

The younger’s eyes widened in disbelief. He failed in English, of all subjects? That’s ridiculous, he can’t even imagine failing on a subject which only involves words, writing, reading and essays. He can even bat an eye while making a 10-paragraph report. English is easy.

“You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not, Mingyu.”

“Then why?”

“Ms. Han is not happy with your essays and reports. She said that you are not writing with your heart. Honestly, I didn’t get the most of what she said, but the main idea is that you’re being too relaxed in her subject by putting those half-assed words in your paper that don’t have any context at all. I read your work Mingyu, when Ms. Han asked me to, and I can’t understand how did you survive your past school years with those rubbish.”

Ouch. Mr. Lee can be too harsh sometimes.

Mingyu can’t argue because he’s too guilty to do so. He admits that he’s not writing seriously. He’s fully convinced that Ms. Han doesn’t check their essays word-by-word, so he just compiles nonsensical statements that can make up his written report. What he didn’t expect is that his fool-proof plan will fail.

Mr. Lee continued talking, oblivious to Mingyu’s crestfallen state. “You can still save your grades. Ms. Han told me that you have to take the elective drama class and actively participate in the play that they will hold. Well, only if you’re interested in passing.”

Mingyu perked up to this. Mr. Lee handed him an application form. “Fill this with the required information, go to Ms. Han and submit this to her. The drama class will start this afternoon so you better do this right now. Go!”

Mingyu has no other choice but to obey his teacher. He can’t afford to repeat a year and stain his reputation. He thinks that failing in English is better than failing in Math, because he doesn’t think that he can endure another hour of numbers and calculators.

“This is not that bad.” He tries to convince himself. Well, how bad can some acting go?

...

“Hyung!”

Mingyu whines to Seungcheol who is uninterested about the younger’s situation. The latter just shrugged, pre-occupied with the grand-sized pizza in front of him. It is currently their lunch break, and the two of them are seated at their usual area in the cafeteria.

“It’s your fault, Mingyu. You don’t do anything besides sports.”

Mingyu rolled his eyes. “I do study!”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Seungcheol said and continued munching his pizza.

Choi Seungcheol is the captain of the soccer team and also the student body president. He is popular, just like Mingyu, because of his amazing leadership skills and of course, his handsome face. Mingyu became friends with him during the first day of high school, when the older boy recruits Mingyu to the soccer team. They are good friends for quite a while.

Mingyu sulks fashionably, in a way that his fangirls think it’s adorable, but Seungcheol isn’t having it. He is irritated of Mingyu’s antics.

“Look, Mingyu,” Seungcheol says, near to losing his patience. “Going to that drama class or whatever is not too terrible. You can just it up and recite a few lines. Or you can use the play to boost your popularity. Then, voila, you can graduate.”

The tanned boy’s face lit up at his friend’s suggestion. “That’s right! You’re a genius, Hyung, thanks!”

Seungcheol internally facepalmed his self. “Attention , simple-minded, volatile. How am I friends with you?”

“Because you love me.” Mingyu winked at him, and the latter grimaces. The tall boy’s fangirls squealed at the sight.

The bell rang, and Mingyu stumbles out of the cafeteria, before going back to Seungcheol.

“By the way, where’s Seungkwan? He owes me food.”

“Practice.” The older answered without looking up from his lunch.

...

Mingyu entered the classroom. He notices that Ms. Han is not there yet, so he tries to find an empty seat.

That's when he saw him. Jeon Wonwoo.

Wonwoo is seating by the window at the back part of the room, as if concealing his presence. He has earphones to block any unwanted noise while he's reading intently. The book is worn out, spine broken, and the pages are golden brown, as if it was read many times since a long while.

Mingyu curses in his mind. He never thought that this class includes Wonwoo.

The tall boy sighed and soon found a seat. He can already feel the tension in the room just because the fox-eyed guy is there. Honestly speaking, he never wanted to share a class with Wonwoo. It's not that he's holding prejudice against homouals. He just wanted to breathe in a room and enjoy his supposed-to-be acting life. But Wonwoo makes it hard for him to do so.

Ms. Han arrives, snapping Mingyu out of his thoughts. Her voice enthusiastic voice echoed in the room.

"Okay kids! I have a meeting after 10 so I'll make it quick. This is an elective class for drama, obviously. And each one of you have different reasons to be here." The English teacher eyes Mingyu. "For example, there are students who need to cope with my subject."

Mingyu chokes.

"Anyway, I know that you guys are aware that we have a very huge project, which is the play. The piece is Dante's Inferno, and I already chose some students who will fit in the story. Of course, those who will be left will take care of those things that do not involve acting."

Ms. Han started to call names, assigning tasks to everyone. Everything is going well but not that long.

"Wonwoo, you are going to be Dante. You know the character more than I already do, so you'll do well." Wonwoo looks perplexed, but still nods to Ms. Han. Mingyu took note of the worry evident on his face. "So, I haven't decided who will be Virgil. He does need to have some kind of chemistry with Dante so it's crucial." She ponders for a little. "Well, let’s assign a random person for now, just to fill in the gap. We'll talk about this more during the next session. By the way, rehearsals will start next week."

Ms. Han picked a random guy and bid her quick goodbye. When she's out already, hell kind of broke loose.

"I'M NOT ACTING WITH A !" The guy who has the role of Virgil exclaimed angrily and stomped out of the room. Everyone was silent.

Wonwoo looks like he already expected this to happen, but he can't help to feel hurt. The students also exited the room, not forgetting to throw a disgusted or a disappointed glance to Wonwoo.

Mingyu is the last to stand up. He looked at Wonwoo with no evident emotion on his face. They met each other's eyes and Wonwoo gave Mingyu a small smile.

Until the day ends, Mingyu kept wondering about how can the boy smile despite all those negatives. Also, he cannot seem to erase Wonwoo's smile from his memory.