I snap awake to the buzzing of my alarm. I quickly get out of bed and turn it off. I hate waking up in a startle.

                I turn around and look at Luhan who’s just starting to get up. His hair is messy, sticking up in unnatural angles. He stares off for a moment and then turns to me. “Good morning.” He says, rubbing his eyes.

                “Morning.” I say smiling. “You can take a shower if you want. It’s right on the left when you walk out of my room. Use whichever shampoo you want.” I say, beginning to get ready.

                “Oh ok, thanks. Uh… are your parents home?” He asks, sounding a little uncomfortable. Luhan must not be comfortable around adults.

                “Nope.” I say, starting to brush my hair. Luhan walks out and I take the opportunity to change into my uniform. When I’m finished, I head downstairs to make breakfast; scrambled eggs and toast. I turn on the coffee machineand flip through the TV channels, looking for something interesting to watch while I wait for Luhan. I settle on the news channel, listening to today’s forecast. I prepare my bookbag and set it near the front door for when we leave. With a few more minutes to spare, I run back upstairs and pack for tonight. I throw in a clean pair of clothes and my toothbrush. I’ve only slept over Baekhyun’s house a few times, and this is usually all I need.

                When Luhan gets out of the shower we eat, exchanging a few words between bites. He seems pretty excited to have me over later, and I’m actually looking forward to it. Luhan somehow reminds me of a little kid, maybe it’s the way he gets excited over such silly things. It’s a good quality. It makes him easy to like.

                After about an hour we head out. The sun is hidden behind gray clouds and there’s a slight breeze in the air. There are several other students making their way down the street, all heading in the same direction. I listen to Luhan talk about his old school and his old friends. I glance to my left and spot Suho walking by himself a few feet ahead. He has his regular, peaceful expression plastered to his face and he has earphones in, slightly shaking his head back and forth to music. After a moment ,a shorter, brown haired boy runs up behind him and wraps his arms around Suho’s waist, embracing him in a back hug. I can’t help but smile at how they laugh at one another. Lay takes Suho’s bag off of his shoulder and swings it around his own, readjusting his other arm around Suho's waist.

                “They’re cute.” Luhan’s words bring me back to reality and I turn to him and realize he’s also staring at the couple. I turn back to watch as the two of them run up to Kai and Kyungsoo. Kai has his arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder’s and begins to jump up and down excitedly, causing the later to almost trip. “So are they.” Luhan says, laughing a little. I nod in agreement. I wish I could have a cute relationship like that, but there aren’t many girls in our school that I'm interested in.

                “Hey, Luhan." I ask.

                “Yes, Tao.”

                “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” I ask, curious. I turn to look at him and he smiles bashfully.

                “No, I uh… I’m not interested in girls…” He says, looking at me, a slight streak of worry in his eyes.

                “You mean, you’re interested in guys?” I ask, slightly shocked.

                “Yeah… does that bother you?” He asks, quickly. I  shake my head.

                “No.” I say, and Luhan’s face lights up.

                “Thank you, Tao.” He says, happily.

                We arrive at school and head to our lockers. I get all my books and notebooks together and then lean back to wait for Luhan. I watch him close his lock and spin the dial a few times before running over to me. “I have to go talk to the history teacher, I’ll see you at lunch.” He says and runs down the hall, turning around once to wave goodbye. I suddenly remember I stuffed my math homework in my science binder by accident. Letting out a sigh, I readjust my books into one arm and start to reopen my locker.

                 I’m able to find my homework but as I go to close my locker, someone shoves into my shoulder, causing me to drop all my books and notebooks onto the floor. A gasp escapes my lips and I can feel my cheeks begin to burn. I frantically pick everything up off the ground. When I stand back up, I turn to see Kris turning around to glare at me as he walks down the crowded hallway. I swear I can see a smirk forming its way across his lips. I lean back against my locker and take a moment to recompose myself. What is his problem!? That was so humiliating. What have I done to offend him? Oh, well… The whole gym thing was an accident. I blush even brighter remembering it. But that’s not something he could get that mad about… right? I cover my face with my hand in humiliation.

                “Are you alright?” I look up into Sehun’s worried face.

                “Y-yeah…” I guess a lot of people saw…

                “Do you want me to talk to him?” He asks, raising his eyebrows in irritation.

                “No, it’s fine. really.” I say, panicking slightly. I think confronting Kris would only irritate him more.

                “You shouldn’t let him bully you.” He says. The bell rings and we walk down the hall together.

                “H-he’s not. It was just an accident.” I blurt out, but Sehun gives me a look, telling me he knows I’m not telling the truth. After a few moments of silence, I say, “Do you want to get ice cream with me and Luhan after school? Baekhyun’s is going with Chanyeol and I invited Luhan. He really wants to meet you.” I say, raising an eyebrow. Sehun’s face brightens.

                “He does?” He asks, sounding interested.

                “Yeah, he also said you're cool.” I say, grinning.

                “Well, I am.” Sehun says, jokingly. “See you later,”

                All throughout the day I can’t stop worrying about Kris. He seems to really hate me, but I don’t know why! If he wasn’t such a jerk, I would probably want to be his friend. He seems really cool… but scary. And I’m not the type of person who actually goes out of their way to be social.

                At lunch I sit with Luhan, Chen, and Xui Min. I introduce Luhan to the others who seem very excited to be introduced. Chen and Xui Min pick from eat others lunches, stuffing spoons of rice and vegetables into their mouths before the other can stop them. It’s rather entertaining to watch, but my attention drifts off to the table across the room, where Chanyeol and his clique are eating. Chanyeol is loud and constantly smiling. He just seems like a fun person to be around (I can see why Baekhyun thinks so highly of him). But why is he Kris’s friend? Why are any of them? He doesn’t exactly seem to fit into the group.

                 I turn away and stand up, walking over to the soda machine. As I stuff in a few coins and punch the button for an ice tea I take notice of the boy next to me. It happens to be Suho. He’s holding onto Lay’s arm, who is talking to another student. “Hi, Tao.” He says, with a slight smile.

                “Hi,” Lay turns his attention to me.

                “Lay, this is Tao.” He says, tugging on the latter’s arm. Lay smiles kindly.

                “It’s nice to meet you.” he says.

                “Who are you sitting with.” Suho asks.

                “Uh, my friends Chen and Xui Min, and the new student, Luhan.”

                “Luhan seems sweet.” 

                “He is." I say with a smile. “See you later.” I walk back to our table, carrying my bottle of ice tea. I wonder how Suho knows Luhan. This morning Luhan didn’t mention being acquainted. I guess I’ll have to ask him later.

                When school finally ends, I find Sehun at his locker. I told Luhan we would meet him at the ice cream parlor. The weather has improved since this morning and the sun is high in the sky with no clouds in sight. We head downtown and arrive half an hour later. I tell Sehun to go inside and find us a seat while I wait to find Luhan. I could almost sense that my friend was nervous. A moment later, Luhan appears at the end of the street and I watch as he makes his way over. He greets me with a smile.  “Sehun’s waiting for us inside.” I say, pulling him inside by his hand.

                For the first half hour or so, neither Luhan nor Sehun talk. I forced them to sit together on the one side of the booth across from me. Sehun stares down at the table while Luhan looks out the window, blushing slightly. I’m forced to be the ice breaker and make several weak attempts at conversation. We all order vanilla ice cream cups with sprinkles. “Hi, hyung!” Baekhyun darts through the doors and runs over to our table, followed by Chanyeol.

                “Hi.” I say and smile. Baekhyun’s eyes automatically scan over Luhan and Sehun; they both look up and smile, not saying a word.

                “Why are you guys so quiet? This seems to be a crappy first date. And you even have Tao being the third wheel.” I can’t help but let out a small laugh, seeing as how both Sehun and Luhan’s eyes widen in embarrassment. Both their faces turn deep red. Chanyeol finally comes up behind Baekhyun, handing him an ice cream cone. “We’re sitting outside. Do you guys want to come join us?” I look outside to see the rest of Chanyeol’s friends sprawled out at one large table outside. I’m about to say yes when I spot Kris sitting next to Kai and Lay, drinking from a soda cup with his usual face expression.

                “N-no thanks, we’re good here.” I blurt out before anyone else can say anything. I force a smile, trying to reassure Baekhyun.

                “Alright then, see you in a bit.” Baekhyun walks out with Chanyeol. I can’t believe Kris has to be here. I’m just going to hope he doesn’t notice me…

                After about an hour, Sehun actually begins to talk to Luhan, and they engage in a conversation. Soon enough I’m forgotten, and I realize I have indeed become the third wheel, even though they were both staring at me like I was their life line a few minutes ago. I eat my ice cream, feeling rather lonely and left out. I glance outside and watch the others. Baekhyun seems to be in his glory, but every time Chanyeol’s attention turns to someone else my best friend's smile dissapears. Maybe if he wasn’t so obsessed… I roll my eyes.

                “I’ll be right back.” Luhan says, even though it’s obvious he’s directing all of his attention to Sehun. He walks off in the direction of the bathroom. Sehun watches Luhan until he's gone, smiling faintly. He turns back to me with a huge grin.

                “He’s awesome.”

                “I know.” I say, quickly. I’m getting bored.

                “I’m going to get a soda, want anything?” He asks and I shake my head. Sehun walks to the other side of the parlor to the soda machine, leaving me by myself. Why do I always end up alone? Gosh. I turn my attention back to my ice cream. I decide that when Sehun gets back I’m going to flick a spoon of ice cream at him. I start to practice, tilting the edge of the spoon down, ready to aim.

                Suddenly, Kris walks into the parlor with Kai right behind him. My entire body tenses up and I quickly become extremely nervous. I hope he doesn’t see me. He walks up to the counter, waiting for one of the workers to come back. Please don’t turn around, please don’t turn around.

                Kai starts to laugh at something , but Kris just shakes his head. I wonder if he’s smiling. I doubt it; evil people don’t take pleasure in smiling.

                And then I make the worst mistake of my life. I accidentally let go of the tip of my spoon, flinging a spoonful of vanilla ice cream right at Kris. My heart stops. Everything seems to happen in slow motion. And then: SPLAT!

                Kai jumps and then starts to laugh hysterically when he realizes what has happened. Kris touches the back of his neck where the ice cream splattered against his skin. He slowly turns around and his eyes instantly find me. His eyebrows furrow together and I can tell he’s angry. Kai is still laughing, and has to hold on to the counter to keep himself from falling to the ground. “I-I’m really sorry.” I blurt out, even though I know death is unavoidable for me now.

                Luhan skips back to the table, not even noticing Kris. He sits down beside me and starts talking. Kris waits a moment before walking back outside, glaring at me until he passes through the door. Luhan just saved my life. I throw my arms around him and say, “I love you.” Luhan laughs a little.

                “What did I do?”

                “More than you’ll ever know.” I say, taking a deep breath. I realize that I was holding my breath until Kris walked out of sight. I can’t wait to leave. Sehun comes back and we finish our ice cream cups before heading out. We say our good byes to Sehun and, surprisingly, Luhan hugs him. And it wasn’t just a quick, one-armed hug; it was a nice, long hug. A little too long to be a normal hug between friends, but I don’t question it. We wave good bye as we walk down the street, towards the bus stop. I sigh when we are far enough from the ice cream parlor for me to actually feel safe. I don’t think we could’ve left quick enough. I literally bolted down the road, not even bothering to bid Baekhyun and Chanyeol farewell.

                I can’t wait till we get to Luhan’s house, where I’ll finally feel safe and away from Kris.

***

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 A/N- I had already posted this chapter a little while ago, but since it got deleted during the problems with the Asianfanfic's server, i decided to just repost it. I will work on getting the next chapter up shortly! :)  I'm a little sad about losing a few of the newest subscribers i had gotten... oh well :/ Hopefully i'll get them back! Sorry this isn't a real upate! Love you guys.