Taemin was tempted to stuff his hands in his front pockets, front pockets he didn’t have. It was force of habit, but really? Why didn’t skirts have them?

The school bell had rung, signaling the end of classes as its students filed out to head home. Taemin walked right past Soomin’s locker on his way out. He never really needed it anyway since he had a habit of carrying everything in his bag, plus the fact that he had to bring all his handouts home, even those that didn’t need to be handed in. He and his sister had to exchange notes to keep up in their respective classes for when they switched back, as honestly, he hoped it would be soon. Had he even given his twin a time limit?

“Soomin!”

Taemin blinked, remembering that it was his name for the time being as he turned to find that he had just walked by Chohee’s locker.

“Hey, wait up.” Chohee hastily stuffed her textbook on the top shelf and slammed her locker shut. “Heading home?” she asked as she joined him.

“Yeah.”

“Oh,” she suddenly spoke up, “I didn’t get to ask you before. How was your weekend?”

Taemin turned his head slightly as he replied, “Good. How was yours?”

“Boring. I didn’t do anything. You didn’t even call,” she teased. “Did you go anywhere?”

“Not really. I went over to my— My brother came over,” Taemin said, cutting himself off.

“Oh, your little brother? I still think he should transfer here. You guys are siblings, and yet you’ve never once been in the same school. It’s weird isn’t it?”

Taemin shrugged. “Not really, I don’t really care.”

“That’s not what you said last time.”

Taemin looked over, but Chohee’s gaze was focused elsewhere. He turned his attention back to the hallway as they walked past the wall of lockers.

His sister had never mentioned anything about them going to the same school, but now that he thought about it, she did seem disappointed when he told her that their father had enrolled him into another all-boys school. He hadn’t noticed then because she quickly went back to her usual self, lecturing him on how to make friends since he was going to a new school, not that Taemin really paid attention to it all.

Great twin you are, he thought with an inward sigh.

There was a brief pause in Chohee’s step and Taemin glanced over at her.

“Soo. Oh, hey Chohee.”

Taemin turned to see Key, realizing that he was the reason for Chohee’s hesitation.

“Uh, hi Key,” she replied, her eyes already back to the floor.

Key put on a smile, but Taemin could tell the other boy still disapproved of Chohee’s lack in confidence.

“Hey guys!”

The three of them turned to the new voice, and the same boy with brown hair and glasses approached with a grin.

“Hey Onew,” Key said, greeting the newcomer.

Onew. Not that he had done it on purpose, but Taemin hadn’t exactly bothered to pay attention during roll call, so this was the first time he could pin a name to the reoccurring face. Taemin smiled and from the corner of his eye, he was sure Chohee had inched a step behind him.

“Have you guys started on the assignment?”

“What assignment?” Taemin automatically asked. He saw Key raise his eyebrows at him but Taemin ignored the older boy. He was genuinely surprised, and he partially hoped that he had written down said assignment so that his sister knew to work on it; he wasn’t going to, that’s for sure.

“The English assignment due next week. It’s still a while away, I was just wondering,” Onew quickly replied as he briefly waved his hands in front of him.

“We can talk about it if you like,” Key replied simply as they headed towards the exit. “We all go in the same direction anyway.” Key paused at the door as he looked over. “But why are you asking? Isn’t English your best subject?”

Onew looked down out of embarrassment as Key pushed open the door. “There are a few questions I was confused about,” he replied.

They stepped out into the sunlight, the light breeze swaying hair and clothes alike. Faint sounds of chatter were still present as the remaining students made their way off school grounds.

“Soomin, did you start yet?”

Taemin looked over at Onew and did a quick head shake. “Not yet.”

“How bout you, Chohee?”

Chohee looked up and shook her head furiously, causing her short black hair to fall in front of her face.

“Oh...” Onew trailed off in defeat, turning his attention to the ground.

Taemin raised an eyebrow at Onew’s behavior as he looked over at Key who merely shrugged and put his hands in his pant pockets.

“I only looked over it briefly,” Key spoke up, “it’s good that you reminded us though, seems like everyone forgot. Ask us tomorrow if you still can’t figure it out?”

“Yeah…” Onew replied absently with a small nod. “Hey Soomin, looks like you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s great.”

Taemin almost missed the hopeful tone in Onew’s comment right as he hummed a neutral response.  Silence fell in the group as Taemin chanced a glance over at Onew, the latter’s lips pressed in a thin line and his eyes on the ground. Taemin’s attention moved over to see Key eying him, and Taemin shot him a confused look. What was he supposed to do? Small talk was never his forte, he wasn’t his sister after all.

Taemin almost paused in his step as he closed his eyes and inwardly groaned. He was supposed to be his sister, and that was taking too much effort than he’d like.

“Uh—” He coughed softly to cut himself off; he had accidentally let his normal voice slip out. Lightening his voice and trying again, he asked, “Have you guys played Black Ops?”

“Huh?”

Taemin turned to see Onew and Key shooting him odd looks and he stared back in confusion. “What?”

“You play Black Ops, Soomin? That’s kinda awesome,” Onew commented in awe.

From behind Onew’s back, Taemin noticed Key stifle a snort with a hand and it slowly dawned on him. Right, like Soomin would be playing video games.

“My… brother?”

Key had to turn away and from the way his hand stayed lifted by his face, Taemin knew Key was trying his hardest not to laugh out loud.

“That’s still pretty cool Soo.”

Taemin pulled a wry smile as they walked across the sidewalk. He really needed to pay more attention, being his sister was becoming a lot more difficult then he had previously thought. He glanced to his other side where Chohee walked, her gaze directed in front of her.

Chohee was still a mystery to him. Seeing as she treated him as a girl and had no reason to hold back when they were together, he figured he could use that to his advantage: it was about time he figured out why she had such a drastic change in front of the opposite .