Let it be known that I hate summer.

As in hate. No, not simply dislike or aversion, hate. As in the personal passionate loathing and hostile action motivated by severe dislike and aversion. Hate.

I hate the sun, the heat, the humidity, and most of all I hate the summer outings to the beach that I am always forced to attend. Being who I am, I have a constant stream of invites, none of which I really want to say yes to, but being who I am, I had no real choice in the matter.

I rolled around in my bed a little more not really wanting to get out. The air-conditioning was perfect and I was wrapped up in my best sheets- there was nothing in the world that could make me leave.

“Why are you still in bed?”

I take that back. I groaned as loudly as I could when I felt the bed shift as Ian dropped down next to me. I poked my head out of my comforter and glared at him. “Because I want to.”

He sighed dramatically and pulled the covers. “I believe your class has a beach meeting...right about now. Why are you still here?”

“Oh yes. Obviously I’m so excited to go meet them over the summer as if we haven’t been in each other’s faces enough.”

“You are such a ray of sunshine in the morning, did you know that?”

“Thanks.”

Ian was laughing, and while I did not appreciate being poked fun at, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Thinking that was sick, and weird, and all sorts of crazy, but I’ve never been normal. Normal was boring.

“Get up, I’ll drive you there. I’m meeting up with Renn and the others. I’m giving you twenty minutes to get ready, and I’m counting off now.”

I groaned again. What’s her face was going to be there? He was meeting with her too, and that was just not right at all. “Do you have to go? Can’t we just stay here?” I whined as much as I could. I threw my legs over his and draped an arm over his chest. I did not want to leave bed at all.

“No, you need a life, and so do I. I haven’t had one break since I started teaching, you don’t know how happy I am to not have any summer units. Now go get ready.” He was really serious about it, and as much as I wanted to challenge the stern...ness of his voice, he was already looking at me expecting me to move.

I dragged myself out of bed and into my bathroom. I was out in twenty minutes and ready to go.

The car ride was silent...as much as it could go on without Ian talking. I kind of dreaded it. I knew what he was dying to talk about.

“So you and Junho, what’s that about?”

I rolled my eyes, “Thanks for not failing us. And I’m only answering that question if you tell me what you and Junho were talking about back at the lodge.”

“Why won’t you let that go?”

“Why are you hiding it from me?”

He was silenced by that, and I was not, in any way at all, going to hide my cry of success at at that feat. I couldn’t bring my eyes to just follow the scenery as it passed by me. I was intent on finding out. “Tell me,” I stressed. “Tell me, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

He laughed. “What I want to know? I was just asking if you like him. Better than Jay.”

I rolled my eyes again. “Not this again, why do you hate Jay? And don’t change the subject.”

He shrugged. “I don’t hate him, I just think he’s bad for you.”

“And Junho is good? Is that it?”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, you should be careful.” Ian spoke slowly, deliberately choosing his words. There was something going on, and he wasn’t going to tell me. I knew I needed to figure this out on my own.

We drove into the coast line, and a distance away from the beach, Ian stopped the car. “So, I will see you tonight. Don’t worry about curfews, I’ll handle your parents. If they come home tonight.”

He looked extra special with the way he smiled and the way he was angled towards me. I didn’t want to leave the car just yet. I just wanted that moment to last forever. “Alright. I’ll call you, I guess.”

Reluctantly, I stepped out and made my way to the beach hut where I knew Class B was.

The beach resort was actually owned by none other than Sohee’s family. It was one of the perks of being a B, though the rest of the year was also given passes to the exclusive resort. With the imported white sand and the first class service, you’d think it was some island paradise.

It didn’t take long for me to spot the others. They were scattered out in the sand playing a game of beach volleyball. You’d think they’d learn from the Sports Meet.

Taec and Jay were sitting together under a palm tree watching the girls (minus me and Minji) play. I was about to look for the other girl, but she showed up with a three fruit shakes in her hand.

“Hey,” Minji greeted. Was it just me, or did she actually sound...happy?

“Hi?” I took a seat next to Jay. “What’s up with you?”

“Jay’s giving Taec a make-over so he can finally seduce Yoona into dating him.” Minji replied, passing out the shakes to the two guys.

A...make-over? I glanced at Taec’s blue and yellow striped shirt and floral board shorts. He needed one, but from Jay?

“What? You don’t think I can?” Taec sounded very convincing.

“Well, not that I don’t think you can, but Yoona?”

“Apparently the love of his life.” Jay commented.

I had a very bad feeling about this. They continued to talk about styles and swag, and I couldn’t imagine Taecyeon looking anything like Jay. The big dork was adorable the way he was. Did he really want to change?

It felt like a bad rendition of Grease.

And there goes my secret desires to wanting my life be just like a Big Musical Broadway Production.

I just knew there was going to be some catastrophe waiting to happen. With Jay and Taec deep in conversation, Minji made a swift exit as soon as Junsu walked into the beach. My eyes were franticaly searching out Seulong, and when I found him, I flew over to him immediately.

“What’s going on?!” I asked, taking the seat across him.

He laid his elbows over the wooden picnic table, “No idea! But they’ve gotten really close over the Music test, and Fei is furious!” he whispered.

Jinwoon took the seat next to me. “Glad to have you on board. Changmin has some fantastic photos. I’ll upload them on the website tonight.”

The two of them went on in their rapidfire conversations, and when I couldn’t keep up, my eyes wandered around the beach front. One realization stood out above the rest.

There was no Junho and Wooyoung present.

“Where’s Junho and Wooyoung?” I asked, I couldn’t help it, I had to know.

Both guys shrugged at me, and I weighed the option of actually calling Junho to ask where he was. It was a valid reason to call him. After all, it was a class outing or sorts. Right?

Right. I rummaged through my bag- that Ian had prepared, stuffing everything in like he always does. When I found my phone nervousness suddenly gripped at me. It was okay, right? To just call him and ask him why he wasn’t here. It wasn’t going to be weird or anything, just ask him, and he’d answer, and everything would be normal.

“What’s up with you?” I heard Seulong asked.

I lifted my eyes at him, and he was grinning like some idiot. “What?” I snapped.

“You look like...I don’t know, you’re all flushed.”

I shook my head, “It’s the sun. I burn.”

Jinwoon was laughing too cutely next to me, and I nudged him with my elbow. “Shut up,” I muttered.

“Oh right, there’s something that’s been circulating around.”

That got my attention, and I stared hard at Jinwoon. “What?”

He dropped his voice to almost a whisper, and Seulong moved to sit behind me. “Well, there’s a rumor that we’re going to lose another classmate next sem. Scholarship issues. The sponsor’s going to back out or something.”

“We have a scholarship student?” Seulong’s whisper was harsh next to my ear, and I elbowed his ribs.

“Well, who is it?” I asked. I was very curious.

“That’s just it,” Jinwoon answered. “I don’t know who it is.”

That was interesting to know. One, I never even knew we had a scholarship student, and two now that I did know, it was just another thing to add on my ‘to-figure-out’ list.

I stared at my phone and stashed it back into my bag. “We need to plan our attack.”

…

Late lunch was a party. A literal one. With almost all of the class present, it was almost as if we actually were having class...except with no teachers- not really. Ian may have been at the resort next to ours, but there was still that delineation ribbon in between. But still! If you look hard enough you could actually see them from across the picket fence.

Taec and Jay were still inseparable, and Seulong was now “investigating” the Fei/Junsu issue. Ong Seulong was completely immersed chatting with Fei and Suzy. I had to remind him that while he was at it, he might as well try to weasel out what Suzy and Sohee argued about back in first year.

Jinwoon was hanging around Minji and Junsu trying to get the other side of the split. And myself? Well, I was with Changmin as he snapped pictures of everybody.

“So, I heard you have pretty incriminating evidence on our lovely class.” I said.

He laughed as he pulled out a black notebook from his bag. “Have at it.” he said.

When he returned to taking more pictures, I found myself a corner pocket inside the lunch room and turned the page. In front, and in Kwon’s girly handwriting, was an official class picture of 3B taken at the start of last semester with the class stats written under it. In our winter uniforms, we looked almost well-behaved. Almost.

It was as if I was looking at a completely different set of people.

The pages were filled of early bloopers from here and there. Some random candid photos, and a lot more from the Lodge Trip. I wasn’t interested in those. I quickly turned to the most recent pages, and my jaw literally dropped.

Aside from the Jay/Jessica pictures, there were more Jay/random girls on random dates. I did not know what I wanted to think. Maybe Ian was actually right about Jay.

There were a few photos of Nichkhun’s not-yet-girlfriend. Something I still needed to work on, but since Nichkhun hasn’t given me the details to our next operation, I skipped it.

The Junsu/Minji pictures looked normal, but maybe I wasn’t seeing it from their perspective.

I thought that would be the last of it, but the next page had me speechless.

Junho and Hyoyeon. They lived in the same building, but when he’s giving her a piggy back ride, then that was cause for suspicion, right?

Right.

It looked like summer wasn’t going to be boring after all.