One had to be blind not to notice the change in atmosphere the moment we all got back to class the following Monday. Of course, after two weeks, the same animosities that were still present resurfaced but there was definitely a lighter air. More pleasant even. Admittedly, the summer air was leaving us lackadaisical, and we all wanted nothing more but for this semester to end. Summer was right around the corner for us. We literally could taste it in the air.

Warm air suffused through the windows, even with the fans all switched on, we were all sweating and even more disinterested in learning. The air conditioning system was broken- which we all reasoned made the classroom not very conducive for lectures. The teachers must have felt the same way- or they were serious about winning something at the Inter-school Summer Sports Festival-slash-Meet. Although how they even expected us to win anything at all was beyond me.

In the end they all sent us out. Our learning modules were all done anyway- except for Korean, but I couldn't even remember a time when we were ever on schedule for that subject. Moving on.

Here we all were now, out in the field in our PE uniforms just...waiting for Chansung to finish speaking with Mr. Seugeun and Mr. Hodong. Together with Eunhyuk and Doojoon from the other classes, they made up the whole of the Sports executive community.

Taec and I sat on the bleachers. Minji was laying down on the row behind us, sleeping as usual. Junho was on the same row as her, legs crossed and reading as always. Wooyoung was lying down a few rows below us, lazily bobbing his feet up and down, arms crossed behind his head as he looked up at the clouds. The Wonder Girls were speaking among themselves- minus Yeeun who was at a council meeting, and Yoobin who was somewhere else. Miss A was probably the only group who was actually doing something. They were practicing a dance routine on the grass- I didn’t know where AM was since we were practically given the whole day off, and the rest of PM? Well. Junsu was arguing with Khun and Jay about something, and I strained my ears to hear.

“You’re serious about adding Jay to your line up?

Funny how Junsu says ‘your’ as if he wasn’t now in PM. Some time ago, Junsu always pressed the fact that he was AM material. As in, more of the soul and ballad type of singer. No one ever doubted his singing, we all knew he was a great vocalist. It was just the fact that he did not fit in as perfectly with them. Hence a very funny story on Junsu’s sudden addition to PM. Which reminds me, are they calling themselves 3PM now that we’re seniors? I’d have to ask.

“What? He’s great, he can do the rap in our performances.” Khun reasoned out. It was a valid argument. Jay was- okay. I wasn’t going to think about that.

“I guess he could, but you’re giving him a whole verse? You gave me an ad lib when I joined!”

Khun rolled his eyes at Junsu. “That’s because the song and choreography was already done when you joined.”

Good point. Junsu seemed to have seen it too and pretty much gave up. Were they planning another round of performances? The one they did at the lodge was pretty cool. Didn’t expect them to have prepared something like that at all. Then again, they were always full of surprises.

Taec yawned next to me, and I yawned right after. “Well, this is boring.”

I nodded in full agreement, “Where’s A and C? Thought they’d be here with us.”

He shrugged, “Well, it’s not like we have a lot to talk about. Just line up guys to pretend to know how to play a sport and we’re good. It’s not like we don’t embarrass ourselves on a yearly basis.”

“I cannot wait for summer break. Just this week, and the performance exam week next week, and we’re finally free.”

“Going to be the best six weeks of my life, I’m telling you.”

“Why do they even pile activities up at the end of the semester anyway?”

“To make life a living hell for us. At least the general academic units don’t account for as much, and exams are all done for those. It’s the performance classes I’m going to flunk.”

“Oh please, you’re top student. You’re going to be fine.”

“Only if you add the grades from the G.As. Take those out, Wooyoung’s top student. Better than Junho, which is weird.”

I half expected Junho to whack Taec with his book, but he didn’t even react to Taec’s statement. That was one irony about Wooyoung. He had the best performance grades, average academic grades, but he didn’t act like it at all. Almost as if it was effortless for him. That warranted admiration from me, and more curiosity for sure. Minji mentioned something about tuition, so his almost not making it to the trip was definitely not grade related.

Junho’s conversation with Ian did not leave my mind either. If I asked Junho, would he tell? That was another thing I needed to work on. Junho hardly spoke, and I doubted he would tell if I simply asked him.

I needed Seulong’s help.

Of course beseeching Seulong’s invaluable assistance always came at a price-

Pssst!

Seriously? Was I hearing things? I glanced behind me, and who else do I see, but one Jung Byunghee.

This was not happening to me.

Let me take a moment to tell you about Jung Byunghee. Aside from the fact that we’ve been writing-mates since first year, is the fact that his father was good friends with mine. That meant that at every function our fathers were invited to, we were many a time seated together. It was just how it was, and so you could consider us good acquaintances if you will.

Taec was busy staring off into nowhere, and so I easily slipped away from him and towards G.O, as I liked to call him, behind the bleachers. “What?” I hissed.

“I need your help, you’re the only one I can go to.”

“Do you not have friends?”

“Hey, it’s not like I can ask the girls this kind of favor. Please, I’m desperate!”

Oh please no. Give me the strength to say no.

“There’s this girl I like from St. Pledis...”

I dropped my head into my hands. “G.O, you’re not serious...”

“Come on, when did I ever ask you for a favor! Look, St. Pledis is visiting later today to talk about the Meet preparations, so...I was wondering you can go talk to her. You’re good with people, the juniors and the freshmen all like you, so just...please? Please!”

See, contrary to the way G.O looked, he was actually a real softie. Like now, he was using his cute face on me. Not that it was of any effect on me, I’ve known him long enough to be immune to it. He started looking left and right, and I knew he didn’t want to be seen by his classmates most of all. As you can see, reputation is everything. The 3C boys were bad, and therefore cannot be seen pouting and asking for help.

“Fine,” I sighed. “What’s her name?”

“Really?! I swear I’ll make it up to you. Her name’s Lee Jooyeon. I’ll text you, okay?”

And with that he ran off back to wherever 3C was hiding out this hot day. What exactly did I fall into this time? Sighing, I made my way back to Taec who only nodded acknowledging my reappearance.

“Where’d you go?”

“Trash bin,” I lied. “What are we even doing?”

“Waiting for this week to end.”

“I am dreading the dance exam.”

“Music for me. Any idea what we’ll be doing?”

“None, it will probably be announced later today.”

…

Later came, and that meant the final judgment for our Music exams. Ian was revealing what he would be grading us this semester for, and Taec and I waited in bated breath. We weren’t required to get back into our stuffy uniforms anymore- none of us wore it with the blazer anyway and even when most of the guys were already using the short-sleeved version of their dress shirts, most of them still left it ed. It was that hot- not them...okay, some of them were, but that’s not the point.

Most of the teachers came in a lot more casually as well. Ian for one, was in a simple white shirt and jeans, and Yoobin was having the time of her life.

“So I finally decided on what our music test is going to be. Remember all the work we did these past few weeks, well, I’ll need you to apply that.”

Groans scattered all over the room was our reply to that. Music was fun, yes, but tests not so much.

Ian pulled out a small cardboard box from behind him and called out the boys, “Take one, but don’t open them yet until I say so.”

When all the guys already had a folded sheet of paper in their hands, Ian went back up front. The smile on his face was way too amused, and that usually spelled disaster when it came to tests. It was very sinister, and we all shrunk back as we were given the go signal to unfold the pieces of paper in our hands. Mine had a name, and so I was guessing everyone else had one too. We all looked up at Ian.

“What’s a music class if I’m not going to make you sing?”

We all stared at him wide-eyed. Was he serious? Someone asked about the name on the sheet, and Ian’s smile grew.

“Duets.”

I clenched my fists to stop them from trembling. Duets? As in we were going to perform? In class?

I heard Kwon ask a question from his side of the room, “Sir, can we switch?!”

Ian laughed, “Fine, trade partners, auction them out if you want, just make sure I have a girl/boy pair for the duet.”

He hid back behind his table as the whole class rose from their seats trying to look for a better partner to work with. I saw Junsu smiling smugly from his chair, and he turned to his seatmate Minji. I guess they were partners?

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jay stand up from his seat. He wore a serious expression on his face, and I watched him more directly now. He took a few steps towards me, and I found myself slowly inching back. It couldn’t have been, could it? I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding when he took a sharp turn and sat next to Min. They were in discussion immediately.

Of course not everyone seemed to be satisfied with their partners. Chansung most of all. He sat sulking in his chair as Sohee danced around him much too happy than appropriate. I felt sorry for Chansung. We were all depending on him to at least bring some form of victory for the Sports Meet, and here we were- well, there the guys were unwilling to trade. Who’s to blame them though.

The chaos finally settled down, and it was only when we were dismissed that I realized I didn’t know who my partner was supposed to be.

I lingered back a bit, waiting. Great, did no one want me? Was that it? Was that what the trade-off was all about? Fantastic. I let out a loud shaky breath and gathered my belongings. The best day ever.

I stepped out of the room, but not before Junho blocked the door. He lifted a piece of paper, and I didn’t know what to make of his stoic expression.

Junho was my duet partner.

…

I tried not to think about it too much when I went out to stalk Lee Jooyeon. It was pretty much what G.O asked me to do. It would have been weird to just introduce myself when I wasn’t even part of any committee for the Sports Meet. I had to run into her circle first, at least be seen where she liked to hang out.

That involved trailing her. By the end of the day, I waited for St. Pledis to walk out of campus. Or, drive out of campus. Whatever form of transportation they took. St. Pledis was just a few blocks away, and I wasn’t sure if they were going straight home from here or if they were going back to their school first. That thought was momentarily distracted when I saw Nichkhun walking out the gates. He did not walk to school. Nichkhun was one of those cool guys who could drive. He had this white sports car the guys loved taking advantage of, but here Khun was walking.

Sorry G.O, but Bs come first.

I followed him out, keeping my distance. Khun walked at a normal pace, though what bothered me was the fact that his house was the other way. Victoria didn’t live in this direction either, neither did any other girl I knew. I had to stop walking with the way I instantly assumed Khun was going to go see a girl. Then again, my instincts are seldom wrong.

He turned the corner, and I had to make sure I was seeing things correctly. At the end of this road was the science high school. Why was Khun there?

He waited by the front gate, hands in his pocket, leaning against the gate’s walls. The girls who passed by him all turned to look, I’m sure they were asking the same question I was. Why was an IDOL student waiting by Science?

The answer came in the form of three girls walking out, two of which stopped to greet Khun. The one in the middle, with the long wavy hair in a ponytail stood still, not even looking at him. Interesting.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped hearing Junho’s voice behind me, “What are you doing here?”

He pointed towards the last street intersecting the school, “I live over there, why are you stalking Khun?”

“I’m not stalking Khun, I was waiting for you so we could work on the duet.” I lied.

He didn’t believe me one bit. “Right. I’ve never actually heard you sing.”

That last part he didn’t really need to add. I was sure he did that just to spite be because I denied his allegations of stalking Nichkhun. From the corner of my eye, I saw Khun talking to the long-haired girl, her two friends walking behind them taking pictures.

“I don’t get it. Why didn’t Khun take his car?” I opened my mouth before thinking.

Junho smirked, “Because he wants to impress her in a different way, now stop stalking.”

He pulled me away by the sleeve of my blouse, and into this juice shop a few blocks away and in between most of the schools in the district. Someone out there must love me, because Lee Jooyeon was here too. Hopefully, Junho did not witness G.O’s little plead for assistance earlier today. I doubted he would have heard even if he did see.

“So, what you want?” I asked as innocently as I could. Jooyeon was waiting for her drink, and I needed to at least go home with some form of information. Where did G.O even meet her?

“Why, your treat?”

I sent him a sideways glance but acquiesced anyway. “Fine,” if only to get on his good side. “Hey,”

He looked at me funny.

“I think this is the first time we ever went out.”

He laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. What do you want? My treat.”

I frowned, “No, I’ll treat. It’s celebration time. The first time I saw Lee Junho outside the school setting.” I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of him first before stepping into the frame and posing with a peace sign as I took the picture.

“What happened to your old phone?” he asked, transferring the pictures from my phone to his.

“Oh...my dad got me a new one. Said the old was...well...old.” I don’t know why I felt embarrassed saying that. I just did. All I knew was I didn’t want Junho to think I was superficial with changing phones every now and then because of trends.

He hummed in reply and passed me back my phone. We still haven’t decided on what to order, and I had a feeling this was what it was going to be like when we tried to choose a song for the duet too.

Eventually we got two strawberry shakes and found a booth near the window. I stared at our picture together, and I laughed. Why? I don’t know for sure. Just that seeing Junho looking so surprised to see a camera in his face, tickled me so much. The heat crept up my face, and I just knew I was already the same shade as our drinks.

“What’s so funny?”

I showed him the picture, “What is that?!”

“That’s my cute face.”

I dropped my head into my hands and laughed so much more that I was coughing trying to catch my breath. He patted my back to somewhat calm me, but it didn’t do much. Not really.

An hour later, Junho decided it was time for me to go back home. Even without a final decision, he made me call my driver and pick me up at the shop. It was only when I was safe inside my car, that I actually rechecked my phone. My stomach sunk to the floor as I shuffled through several messages.

I forgot about Lee Jooyeon.

I also forgot that I promised Jay that since I couldn’t meet him two Tuesdays ago, I’d make some time for him today.

I was so dead.