Juyeon hauled his duffel from the back of his car and sighed, he had practice later in the afternoon for the game on Friday. And he wasn’t in the mood to deal with his teammates.

He saw Chanhee and Changmin pass by, and he waved at them. He was about to head for the buildings when his eyes went to the gates. Juyeon paused, recognizing the Chucky backpack even from afar.

“She took the bus.” He murmured to himself, and then Ahyoung met his gaze. He saw how her brows rose, and she smiled as she trudged towards him.

Juyeon could sense her foul mood even steps away.

“You took the bus.” He stated.

She shrugged and started rummaging through her backpack, Juyeon grew amused.

“Are you okay?” He softly asked, the girl finally looked up and was holding onto a plastic container.

“I made these last night. They’re not..granola bars.” She murmured, Juyeon smiled and took it from her.

“Why did you take the bus?” He asked as the girl walked with him, Ahyoung grumbled under her breath before hooking arms with him.

“I see.” He mused back, she glared at him.

“We have that reporting today, I need you to be in pleasant spirits.” He nudged her.

“I didn’t want to be in the same..area as my brother. Too bad, we’re schoolmates.”

“Is it because…of what happened at the party?” Juyeon carefully asked, he noticed how the girl scrunched her nose.

“I don’t know.” She murmured back, Juyeon nodded, not pushing her to talk.

“Thank you for the cookies.”

“Do you have practice today?” She asked, noticing his humongous bag. He nodded back as the girl poked at the strap.

“Can I go watch?”

“This afternoon?”

“Yes. And can I get a ride home from you? The bus…was..awful.” She frowned, Juyeon grinned and nodded at her.

“I can drive you home before practice~”

“No, I can wait till you finish. I don’t like being at home anyway.” She shrugged.

“Alright.” Juyeon replied, he looked ahead and spotted Hongjoong making a beeline towards them. Towards her.

“Ahyoung-ah, can we get something to drink before heading to class?” He quickly said, the girl looked up from her phone.

“Okay.” She said, Juyeon gently steered her towards the cafeteria and away from Hongjoong’s path.

He needed Hongjoong to be in one piece for the game by Friday.

“While she’s not really the punctual type, it is unlike her to be late.” Chanhee commented as they stood at the parking lot. Chaerin was standing beside him, all giddy and excited.

“I want her to be informed before we get to class, surely, she’ll~”

“She’ll hate it.” Chanhee shrugged, the latter rolled her eyes at him. Her eyes were on the students arriving, waiting for that familiar car Ahyoung usually rode in.

“But, a new student being in the popularity poll, it’s never happened before. And I really hope she wins.” Chaerin hummed, Chanhee sighed at the girl, he may not have known Ahyoung for a long time, but he knew that the girl was no Miss Congeniality.

“Maybe she’s already inside, did you try~” Chanhee paused, noticing the familiar silver Mercedes Benz sedan arrive. His eyes narrowed on the passenger seat, he tilted his head.

“She’s here.” Chaerin squealed as she boldly hopped towards the car, Chanhee’s brows rose as he slowly followed his friend.

Chaerin leaned down to tap on the window, but the driver’s seat door opened. The girl straightened up and she halted, realizing that the male was alone.

His sister wasn’t in the car.

It was just him.

Ahyoung’s older brother.

Hyunjae was looking at her with an easy smile on his face, the male walked around the car and Chaerin stilled.

Chanhee paused with a grin and watched as his friend slowly inched away.

“Hi, you’re a friend of my sister’s, right? Chaerin~” Hyunjae halted when the girl turned her back to him and started rushing towards the school building. Chanhee grimaced to himself and shook his head.

“That girl’s hopeless. So very hopeless.” Chanhee muttered to himself as he decided to approach the senior instead.

Ahyoung’s older brother slowly blinked to himself and watched the girl.

“Did…I say something?”

“No, sunbae.” Chanhee reached him, the older male nodded back.

“Is Ahyoung not coming to class today?”

“She left the house early, I was..wondering if you’ve seen her?”

“Not yet. But, I’ll check.” Chanhee replied, he saw Hyunjae hesitate for a bit, but he nodded back.

“Thanks.”

Changmin watched as his cousin walked towards the waiting male, well, Ahyoung had a frown on her face while Younghoon was smiling at her.

“Those two are getting lunch together?” Chanhee asked as he joined his friends, Chaerin nodded while chewing.

“Usually, he’s the mediator between them.” Changmin stated as he moved his rice around, Kevin glanced to where Hyunjae was sitting, the senior was eyeing the two from across the cafeteria.

“Mediator?” Chanhee mused, Juyeon sat down across them and paused at the empty seat next to his.

“Ahyoung?” He looked at his friends.

“Younghoon sunbae.” Chaerin jutted her lips at the two, Ahyoung was rolling her eyes as the male pulled her to the doors, they were probably going to eat outside the building. Juyeon slowly nodded back to himself and started digging in.

“Did they fight? Sunbae and Ahyoung?” Chaerin asked.

“You could have asked him that earlier, but you avoid him like a plague.” Chanhee pointed out, the girl glared at him.

“Hmm, it does seem like they did fight.” Kevin nodded along, Changmin was still chewing when he met Juyeon’s gaze.

“Well, I hope she’s in a better mood later. I want to show her the poll.” Chaerin frowned.

“But, why is she in a foul mood? The proctor earlier almost burst into tears.” Kevin murmured, Chanhee grimaced as he recalled what happened two hours ago. Their teacher, Mister Shin was absent and sent in one of the newly hired younger teachers. The lady noticed that Ahyoung wasn’t listening, so she called the girl out and made her recite some math formulas. Ahyoung answered her question with a question, Lee Hyunjae’s younger sister asked her an advanced level problem. The teacher stammered for a few minutes, not knowing how to solve it. And Ahyoung chuckled, and told her that she shouldn’t even bother teaching.

“He knows.” Changmin pointed one chopstick at Juyeon’s direction, the latter slowly looked up and blinked.

“You know?” Kevin asked.

“Of course, he does.” Chanhee smirked, then his eyes went to Younghoon and Ahyoung again.

“Why aren’t you two talking?” Younghoon said as they sat down, Ahyoung rolled her eyes and opened her bag of chips. But the older male pulled it away from her.

“That’s not lunch.”

“Well, this is not an inquisition, right?”

Younghoon sighed at her, the girl snorted and opted to go for her omelet instead.

“He told me to grow up. This is my way of growing up. Deal with it.” She pointed out as she started eating.

“Ahyoung-ah, sweetheart. Please.”

Ahyoung paused as started chewing softly, she set her utensils down.

“He’s taking her side. Again.”

“He isn’t, Hyunjae is just trying to~”

“No.” She said, Younghoon’s brows rose as he looked at her.

“You are not going to reason out for him again. I wont let you.” She said as she slowly stood up, Younghoon frowned at her.

“Ahyoung-ah,”

“I can’t deal with this, oppa. Go be his friend, he needs you more than I do.” She murmured before leaving her seat and walking away from him.

Juyeon was rotating his arm as he stepped out of the gymnasium’s doors. He could hear his teammates chattering behind him as he looked around.

“Who are you looking for?” One of the older boys chuckled at him.

“Is someone waiting for you, Lee Juyeon?”

“I have~”

“Oh, Ahyoung-ah, hello!” Hongjoong blurted out, the rest of the team paused and followed his gaze. Juyeon grimaced and turned, Ahyoung was sitting on one of the empty benches, she was reading a history textbook, which she begrudgingly put down as Hongjoong sat down next to her.

“He…really likes her.”

Juyeon glanced at his teammate, and he slowly shook his head.

“Hongjoong can get a little intense, maybe you should warn her.”

“Actually, sunbae, I think I should warn Hongjoong.” Juyeon mused as he approached the two.

“What are you doing? Were you waiting for somebody?” Hongjoong leaned in, Ahyoung flinched as she chucked her book back in her backpack.

“Or, did you want to~”

“Juyeon-ah,” The girl stood up as she spotted the male, Hongjoong’s brows rose, and she followed her gaze.

“Time to go.” Juyeon said simply as he stretched one hand to her, asking for her bag.

“You driving her? Or, is this a~”

“I asked for a ride home.” Ahyoung intervened before he could continue, there was an edge in her voice that made Juyeon grin.

“Oh, well, if you needed one, you could’ve told me.” Hongjoong grinned at her.

“Why?” Ahyoung replied, as stoic as ever. Juyeon discreetly took her bag from her and slung it over his shoulder.

“I would have offered to drive you home.”

“I would have declined.” Ahyoung replied, Hongjoong paused, surprised at the iciness of her tone.

“Ahyoung-ah, come on.” Juyeon nudged her elbow, steering her away from the male.

“We’ll get going then.” He said to his teammate, Hongjoong shrugged at him before turning away.

“I hate him.” Ahyoung said through gritted teeth as she looped arms with him.

“I noticed.”

“I…It’s just a day, I’m sorry if I’m being annoying.” She murmured, but Juyeon was already shaking his head.

“You didn’t eat anything at lunch.”

“No, I had a~”

“Smoothie. And I wasn’t asking.” Juyeon smiled as they reached the parking lot, it was already dark outside.

“It…was a filling one.”

“Judging by your mood now, it wasn’t.” He teasingly said, Ahyoung pressed her lips together.

“How bad was it?” Juyeon said as they reached his car, and put their bags on the backseat, Ahyoung leaned agains the vehicle and puffed her cheeks.

“Abeoji thinks I was being unreasonable. My brother too. So, it’s not so good.” She shot back, Juyeon nodded back and stood beside her.

“I just…I can’t stand her. And, my father and I made a deal…She shouldn’t be there. We..discussed it, that I did not want his girlfriend there. It’s just so…” She ran her fingers through her hair and looked up.

“Frustrating.” She breathed, Juyeon glanced at her.

“I don’t know what to say.” He stated, Ahyoung turned to him and she broke into a smile.

“Me too.” She agreed, but Juyeon opened the car door and gestured for her to go inside.

“But, you have a right to feel that way. Even if you made one of our teachers cry. You have a right to be angry. Just don’t go around..bullying adults.”

“I did it because I was hungry. And I found her voice annoying.”

“I know.” Juyeon nodded, she frowned at him.

“We’ll get dinner before I drive you to your place. To save you the pain of dining with your brother.” He sighed, the girl smiled again and patted his cheek.

“Still my favorite person. Yes.” She mused as he climbed into the G Class Wagon. Juyeon rolled his eyes at her before gently closing the door.

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