The students flooding the corridor seemed to sense that Wendy was on a mission, parting before the short girl as if they were the Red Sea. She could hear a few “hey’s” and “what’s up’s” tossed in her direction, but dismissed them with either a nod or a half-hearted grin, not slowing down on the way to the cafeteria, where she knew that she would find her friends.

 

Not to say that Xiumin was wrong - there was an outline of a fat, gay plan forming in Wendy’s head, currently lacking any details, but making its presence known anyway. It would have to wait, though. She had to deal with the traitors first. 

 

She found them sprawled around their usual table in the far-left corner of the school’s cafeteria. Kyungsoo, looking as unaffected as always, cheered on Baekhyun, who was throwing pieces of a bread roll in the air and catching them with his mouth, as if it were popcorn. From the looks of it, the boy wasn’t very successful, little pieces of bread scattered all over the floor and table.

 

“You losers.” Wendy plopped herself down next to Kyungsoo, putting on her most angry face.

 

“Well, um, hello to you too?” Stammered Baekhyun, a little taken aback by the usually easy-going girl’s expression.

 

“How could you not tell me you recruited comma hair guy to be our drummer?” At that, B almost choked on the bread roll, which he resorted to eating in a normal fashion. Kyungsoo had to pat him on his back, and the boy turned a dangerous shade of red. 

 

“That’s not true! And you could’ve killed me!” He exclaimed, ruffling his slightly curled brown hair to regain composure. 

 

“But Xiumin told me like, 20 minutes ago that you told him!” Wendy pointed at Kyungsoo, who in turn raised his hands, as if distancing himself from the situation.

 

“Baek told me like 3 days ago, and he said that he told you, too.”

 

“Well, just let me explain.” Started the other boy, gesturing for Wendy’s attention. “I saw him on Friday carrying drumsticks, so I thought, why not? Came up to him and asked if he would like to play with us sometime. And I think he fancies me, he stuttered like a fool.” He added with a cocky smirk.

 

“You think everyone’s into you, don’t you?” Sighed Kyungsoo.

 

“What?” Shrugged Baekhyun. “It’s true.”

 

Wendy and Kyungsoo shared an exasperated look.

 

“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me about it, though.” Protested the girl.

 

“But I did.” Baekhyun raised his eyebrows. “Friday night, right before you went on an angry rant about that Iranian movie. Remember?”

 

Wendy grumbled, the images suddenly coming back to her. She didn’t feel like going out on Friday, and instead stayed in the dorm, enjoying the evening even more that her roommate wasn’t there to ramble endlessly about hot men, and she had stumbled upon a movie about two girls falling in love in modern day Iran, which had shaken her to the core, as Wendy’s previous knowledge about that part of the world was equal to zero. After seeing the movie, she could not help herself, and began researching every single piece of information about LGBTQ people in Iran, immediately deciding to share the news with Baek. However, always a sore loser, she decided to scroll up the messages back to Friday in search of solid proof. It turned out to have been just like the bassist said.

 

bun bacon, 20:43

 

aye, i think i found a drum guy

 

he seems cool

 

his name’s park chanyeol

 

@love_pcyyyy on ig

 

wan and only, 21:37

 

  DUDE I JUST WATCHED THE BEST AND WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME

 

      DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS A REVOLUTION IN IRAN

 

        AND THIS GIRL SHE WENT TO DUBAI AAAAAAAAA THEY WERE IN LOVE 

 

bun bacon, 21:38

 

wait what??

 

Eyeing her friend and begrudgingly admitting defeat, she typed the guy’s username into instagram search. Chanyeol’s profile picture was his smiling face photoshopped into the place of the Gerber baby. Wendy couldn’t help but chuckle. This was going to be funny, at least there’s that. Kyungsoo took a peek over her shoulder.

 

“Hey, let me join in on the stalking.” 

 

The instagram account confirmed three things: one, that Park Chanyeol was definitely a drummer, and not just a guy that Baekhyun wanted to mess with, thanks to countless pics of the guy sitting beside his drumset, two, that he had a good music taste (that is, if the CD collection he posted was his), and that he was a baby in a grown man’ body, thanks to the huge grin he sported in every photo where his face could be seen. What caught Wendy’s interest, though, was a slightly blurry selfie from what seemed like a concert, with Chanyeol and his usual happy face standing in between a smirking Irene and another guy, with a slightly emo fringe and seemingly perfect facial features. She clicked on it, once, careful not to like it by accident. The usernames appeared: hztttao and baerene. Wendy smirked, making a mental note to remember it. The caption said: “SWMRS are the best don’t even @ me”. So he did, in fact, have a good music taste. 

 

“Alright, that’s enough.” Announced Baekhyun, waving his hand in front of Wendy’s face, making her blink in confusion. “I’ve been texting with him. Kind of.”

 

“And?” Asked Kyungsoo.

 

“I told him that we would meet today. You know, as a band.” 

 

“Dude!” Kyungsoo protested. “A little warning, maybe?”

 

“Yeah, I could have used it.” Wendy agreed, pursing her lips.

 

“Well, I’m warning you now.” The boy propped himself up on his elbows, unfazed. “He said that he was finishing at 4 PM, today. I told him we would meet behind the bleachers at around 4:30 and then go to practice.” 

 

“Good to know there’s practice today, Baek.” If looks could kill, Baekhyun would have already been lying dead at Kyungsoo’s feet.

 

“It’s not like you have anything better to do.” The boy shot back, grinning. “Come on, Wendy, at least you have to be optimistic.”

 

“You know we’ll both be there.” She said. “I’ll text Xiumin to come, too. He knows Chanyeol.”

 

“Yeah, but you know, we actually can’t scare him? He seems cool and I’m pretty sure we’ve already gone through every drummer in this godforsaken city.” Groaned Kyungsoo, taking a bite out of Baekhyun’s breadroll. 

 

“Why are you saying it like that, looking at me?” Wendy feigned taking offense at her friend’s words. 

 

“Because you’re hopeless.” 

 

“And I take pride in it.”

 

Kyungsoo just chuckled, a smile finally gracing his face. 

 

“Tell your new boy that if he can’t play any Avril Lavigne, then he better learn for today.” Wendy winked at the boy sitting in front of her.

 

“Will do.” Baekhyun threw the backpack over his shoulder, ignoring the girl’s teasing. “I’m going. Time to die at maths. Cheers.”

 

“What you got now, Wen?” Asked Kyungsoo, preparing to go, too.

 

“Um…” She clicked her tongue. “Lit, I think. You too?”

 

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

 

***

The day was dull and, apart from the meeting with Xiumin and the boys in the morning, unmemorable. Wendy managed to get away with sleeping through most of the literature lesson, not interested in Macbeth’s murderous schemes. They had already talked about the only character that Wendy deemed worthy of attention, Lady Macbeth, the rest simply fading in comparison. 

 

After a quick lunch, she came back to the dorms, the excitement of meeting their new drummer making itself present in her jittery legs and stupid grin, immediately noticed by the kid that was her annoying roommate, Yeri.

 

How she ended up being paired as roommates with a 15 year old was beyond Wendy. Something must have either gone to in the systems that took care of student housing, or the universe was pulling a prank on her. The girl was only interested in older men she considered hot, although when one day Wendy just snapped and told Yeri that she was gay, the younger went on to ask endless questions about her love life. Kids. 

 

“Aah, Wendy, did something happen? What are you grinning like that for, you’re always pissed!” The older student was met by Yeri’s voice at the door. She rolled her eyes. The girl annoyed her, true, but she would have been surprised if Yeri hadn’t greeted her. Maybe she was going soft. “You know, Joy told me that a guy from your class fancies me. I don’t remember which one, though, hm.”

 

“Good for you, then.” Wendy nodded, absentmindedly. She flung herself on the bed on the right side of the room. She still had an hour before she would have to go out again. Her eyes, wandering without any specific cause or target, stopped at the poster of Hayley Williams, showing her during a concert, hung on the wall above the bedpost. Wendy smirked. She always slept well with Paramore’s lead singer drenched in sweat above her. 

 

“So are you gonna tell me what happened?” Yeri kept pushing. “Did you find a girlfriend?!”

 

Wendy couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh cackle. She sat up, raising her eyebrows at the girl.

 

“Oh, come on. No, young one, girlfriendless I remain.” She folded her arms, making the best impression of Yoda that she could bring herself to.

 

Yeri looked at her in disbelief. 

 

“You know I’m not, like, 8 years old or something? And you’re a nerd.”

 

“And I’m proud of it!” Exclaimed Wendy, the grin not leaving her face. “We found a drummer.”

 

“For the next best band of the world?” Yeri shot her a smile.

 

“So you do listen to what I say…”

 

“You’re sure there’s no girlfriend?” The younger girl was not giving up.

 

“No, but there is my wife on the wall. And my other wife, too.” Wendy said, pointing at the posters of Hayley Williams and Joan Jett. Yeri scrunched her nose at the other girl’s dreamy expression, and went back to being immersed in whatever she had going on on her phone. Wendy fished her own from the back pocket of her jeans and went straight to instagram. 

 

She was quick to almost search for baerene, but decided against it last minute, not wanting to leave any trace of stalking, and went to the older girl’s account through Chanyeol’s. Seeing him as the Gerber kid made her chuckle, again, but Wendy’s face quickly turned sour, seeing that Irene’s account was private. Oh, what a shame. She sighed and went back to the main page, videos of cute cats and instant cooking her in. 

***

 

“, !” Wendy cursed under her breath, seeing how it was already 4:17 and she was nowhere near prepared to go out. 

 

“Yeri, give me that bag...No, not that, the one that has “ the system” written on it...I need to look cool…” She huffed, struggling with putting on her doc Martens. “Thanks.”

 

Wendy hurriedly took the bag and threw her keys, a bottle of water and wallet in. She noticed Yeri’s mischievous smile, but decided she had no time to ask.

 

“And, by any chance, I didn’t think of that before,I don’t know how, is the drummer a girl!?” 

 

Wendy sighed, opening the doors and shaking her head, not having any of the girl’s antics.

 

“No, he’s not. I’ll be late, cover for me. I’ll buy you a beer or something.” And she closed the door behind her, not waiting for Yeri’s reply.

 

Wendy made her way down the stairs, jumping two or three at once. It took some 10 minutes to get to the bleachers, and she did not have this much. It was now 4:26.

 

The air that she was hit by when exiting the building was surprisingly chilly for a September afternoon, and Wendy had to tighten the leather jacket she had wrapped around her shoulders. She sped through the massive school grounds, passing by the main building and heading straight to the football field. 

 

As soon as she arrived, she spotted Kyungsoo, the only one that was not completely hidden behind the bleachers, talking to whom could only be Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chanyeol, if the latter had actually shown up. 

 

“Heeey.” She greeted Kyungsoo, hugging the short boy briefly. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets, though, as she saw who else was with him. Of course, Baekhyun was there, leaning against the bleachers and puffing out the smoke from his cigarette, eyeing Chanyeol with a mysterious smirk. And there, next to Chanyeol, stood Irene. 

 

Wendy shot a quick glance at the other girl, taking the sight in. Xiumin was not bluffing, she really was wearing a Paramore t-shirt, which went well with black skinny jeans and simple, red sneakers. Her expression was as nonchalant as always, making her seemingly perfect face and seemingly perfect, black hair look like a statue made of stone. No, something more refined, like marble, Wendy thought to herself.

 

She was quick to introduce herself to Chanyeol, who wrapped her in a hug first thing, and smiled, his gesture infectious, as Wendy found herself stupidly grinning back. 

 

“Um, and also I hope you don’t mind, but I brought my friend, is it alright?” He asked, raising his brows. He reminded Wendy of a kid that couldn’t wait to go to the playground, but was afraid of asking his parents if they’d let him play.

 

Wendy shook her head, reassuring the tall drummer. “No, no problem. At all. Hey.” She shot, in Irene’s direction, trying to appear as cool as humanly possible, hands in her jacket’s pockets. 

 

“Hey.” Replied Irene, not sparing her a second glance. She was looking anywhere but at any of them. Wendy could swear that she mentally scoffed at not receiving the deserved attention.

 

“Are we ready to go?” Asked Kyungsoo, looking at his phone. “Xiumin texted me, he will be waiting there.”

 

“Hell yeah, let’s go.” Exclaimed Chanyeol, clapping his hands. The unusual group headed for the bus stop, and got on the bus to the city center, where they rented the cheapest practice room.

 

Baekhyun swiftly moved to take a seat next to Chanyeol, who turned into a stuttering mess every time the younger boy seemed to as much as breathe into his general direction. Wendy had to admit, it was kind of cute. Kind of. Irene seemed to not mind the fact that her friend did not say a word to her since they got on the bus, leaning against the window and scrolling through her phone.

 

“They seem to be getting on well, don’t they?” Whispered Kyungsoo, conspiraciously motioning to the two boys.

 

“I bet they are.” Wendy snickered. 

 

“Hey, guys, come here!” They heard Baekhyun call over for them. Neither him nor Chanyeol moved from their seats, Baekhyun’s bass comfortably laid out on both of their laps, forcing the other three to gather around them. Irene stayed in almost the same position, only this time directing her heavy-lidded stare at Baekhyun and not at her phone. Wendy stood next to her and she wanted to kick herself for noticing that the older girl smelled of cinnamon and enjoying it. She shook her head.

 

“We were talking about what we should play. You know, there.” Started Chanyeol. “So I suggested some early Brand New, maybe some All Time Low?”

 

Baekhyun leaned back into his seat. 

 

“Well, we definitely should play some Brand New. And Avril Lavigne, for Wendy.” 

 

“Oh, yes.” Wendy grinned. “And I bet you know some Clash stuff, drummer.” 

 

Chanyeol nodded. “Of course I do. Do you wanna play some Franz Ferdinand?” 

 

Wendy looked at Kyungsoo, and then at Baekhyun, who all seemed to share the same dumbfounded expression. Baekhyun pursed his lips.

 

“You don’t know Franz Ferdinand?” It was Irene who broke the silence. She was observing Wendy intently, for the first time looking at the younger girl.

 

“Uh, no.” Wendy let out, mentally scolding herself. “Uh, no”?! “Should I?

 

“Um, yes.” Pointedly replied Irene, her face not reflecting the annoyance seeping through her voice. “They are geniuses, absolute canon of the newer wave of indie.”

 

“Well, I don’t really listen to indie. That much.” Admitted Wendy, shrugging, ready to go back to their previous conversation.

 

“So you limit yourself to pop punk only?” The brunette raised her eyebrows, as if challenging the singer.

 

“No, I don’t, I listen to plenty of other stuff!” Wendy protested, suddenly annoyed by the girl standing next to her. Who was she to insult her superb taste in music, anyway? “I bet you don’t know even, like, half of it.”

 

“Then try me.” Spat out Irene, amused by how offended she made Wendy look.

 

“Marina and the Diamonds?”

 

“Please, anyone who’s ever had a tumblr account knows her.”

 

“Audioslave?”

 

“Soundgarden is better.”

 

“Placebo?”

 

“They’re legends. Told you, you can’t…” Started Irene, the corners of her perfect, red lips twitching, and Wendy is not sure what she is supposed to feel in that moment, frustrated by the older girl’s arrogance and, most importantly, frustrated by that part of her that enjoyed losing, just because she got to finally see an emotion on the brunette’s face, but just like that, the moment is lost when she hears Kyungsoo cough and mutter: 

 

“Um, guys, we are here.” 

 

Later, when they’d gotten off the bus and things went back to normal, with Baekhyun and Chanyeol chatting at the front, Irene wandering somewhere behind them and Wendy next to Kyungsoo, he whispers to her, “Hey, what was that?” 

 

Wendy rolled her eyes at the mere mention. “Don’t ask me. She’s pretty but she’s pissing me off.”

 

“Can’t believe someone obliterated you in knowledge about bands.”

 

“Oh, please. She didn’t obliterate me.” Upon seeing her friend laugh, she shoved him playfully, making him step off the pavement for a second. “She didn’t!”

 

At the entrance to the practice building, they met with Xiumin, greeting them with his gummy smile. 

 

“Hey, guys.” He high-fived each one of them, even Chanyeol, who was a bit surprised to see Xiumin there, but welcomed him warmly nonetheless. Last, the red-head nodded in Irene’s direction, shooting her a quick “hey”, a bit surprised by her presence, to which she replied in the exact same manner. 

 

In the practice room, when Kyungsoo and Baek were both tuning their guitars, Chanyeol called for their attention.

 

“So, um, guys, I know that I’m not in the band yet and all, but I brought some beer as, you know, I don’t know, a courtesy, or something…” And he set eight beer bottles on the minuscule table next to the drumset. “I don’t know why I bough an eight-pack, but go, more for some, I guess…” 

 

“Oooh, a bribe, I love it…” Hummed Wendy, not wasting any time and opening bottle after bottle, handing them to the others. She took a swig herself, cringing a bit at the bitter taste, but enjoying it nonetheless. She could see Xiumin taking his usual place at the horrible, green couch in the corner of the room and chatting up Irene, who seemed not that annoyed by it, holding her bottle and nodding. 

 

“Yeah, that’s not fair, now we can’t help but like you.” Commented Baekhyun, looking up at the tall drummer, whose neck was beginning to turn a shade of red. 

 

“Alright, guys, what are we playing first?” Asked Kyungsoo, who finished tuning his precious blue Fender, sending all of them back to Earth. Chanyeol coughed, sitting beside the drum set. 

 

“Just the Way I’m Not, All Time Low?” Shot Wendy, taking the mic into her hand, and looking expectantly at Chanyeol. She knew that the other guys knew the song well, but couldn’t be sure about the drummer. He nodded and spun a drumstick between his fingers. “1, 2, 3!”

 

The sounds of Kyungsoo’s guitar and Chanyeol’s drums filled the room with the song’s familiar beat, soon followed by Baekhyun’s bass line. And in a moment, joined by Wendy’s voice. She sung not holding back, putting her everything into it. She looked over at Xiumin and Irene, both staring intently at their friends playing. Wendy felt her gaze being met by Irene’s, the girl’s dark eyes suddenly drilling into her soul. She smirked, averting her eyes, exchanging looks with happy Chanyeol instead.

 

“Whoa, never seem to please you, no-o, don’t you ever let me go-o” She sang, hearing Kyungsoo and Baekhyun join her during the chorus. 

 

“And don’t you kno-ow! Nothing’s gonna change us, o-oh, all because I like you just the way you aren’t” She took in Xiumin’s smile, and Irene’s disinterested stare and, taking it as a challenge, pushed herself to hit every note perfectly. Not that she already wasn’t, but any motivation is nice, of course. “All because I like you just the way you aren’t! And you like me, just the way I’m not…!” 

 

When the song finished, glances, supposed to be sneaky, were exchanged between Kyungsoo, Wendy and Baekhyun. It was going well. No, not well. It was going great. They took large gulps of beer and went on to the next song. And the next. And another one, until Wendy’s throat hurt so good and the boys’ hands were about ready to fall off, when they’ve covered pretty much everything that they could think of, from Brand New to Marina and The Diamonds to Queen, did Kyungsoo announce, his face red from exhaustion but so, so happy, grinning from ear to ear:

 

“Park Chanyeol, welcome to the best band in the universe!”