A girl with long straight black hair strode quickly, ignoring the beautiful view of blossoming spring flowers. Her obsidian eyes looked straightly to the pavement in front of her. Once in a while, she would tighten her light brown jacket against her petite body to defend herself in the cold weather. Even though it was May, the wind was still somewhat chilling her to her bones.

"Min Ra-ah! Min Ra!"

The girl stop abruptly and timidly looked right and left as she heard her name was called. She was a startled when a pair of hands tapped her back unexpectedly.

"Yo! Why are you in such a hurry?" A boyish girl grinned at her from her side, one of her hand hanging loosely on the Min Ra shoulder. The new girl had her black hair cut in a boyish cut, a pair of small black earrings were hung on to her proportionally small ears. Her skin was a bit tan, an opposite to Min Ra’s pale complexion. "Amber," Min Ra whispered weakly, "I'm not in a hurry." A bit of pink color rose to her pale porcelain-like cheeks.

"Then why are you ignoring the beautiful view in front of you? It's spring!" Amber, the boyish girl, exclaimed as she was making a gesture toward their surroundings.

"It has been spring for a couple weeks now, Amber." Min Ra defended herself with a barely audible voice. The girl had always been a soft spoken person since she was a child.

"What? I can't hear you." Amber said jokingly, earning shy giggles from Min Ra.

"Why are you so excited?" Min Ra asked, as they both started to slowly walk side by side toward their school. As they passed, they could see and hear residents of the houses at the sides of the road began their morning activities.

"Today is the exhibition day! We will be able to sign up for club activities! Why are you not excited?" Amber pushed Min Ra's shoulder lightly, making the other girl shyly put out her tongue. Min Ra was never the social butterfly type of girl, so club activity didn’t excite her too much. It had only been almost two months since the two of them entered high school. Being a timid and shy girl Min Ra was, adapting to a new environment was quite a challenge for her. Luckily for her, in the first day of high school she met cheerful yet mischievous Amber—who managed to drag her into things that she always wanted to do but never have the courage to. Thanks to her newly acquired friend, Min Ra found her early high school days pretty much enjoyable, unlike her junior high days.

"Have you thought of joining any club?" Amber asked Min Ra while they entered the school gate.

Min Ra nodded. Despite her lack of interest in socializing, she did find a club that matched her passion.

"What is it?" Amber asked, curious to know what could pique her somewhat socially inept friend.

Before Min Ra had the chance to answer it, they were interrupted by their classmates, greeting the pair with good mornings. More like greeting Amber. I am just greeted because I am with her, Min Ra thought gloomily. Amber was quite popular among their classmates due to her cheerful and friendly personalities. On the other hand, Min Ra was always lacking in confidence when it came to talking with other people that they ended up seeing her as a difficult person to communicate with.

However, I should be grateful that they are all being nice to me, Min Ra added to herself as she bashfully smiling while nodding to everyone that greeted.

The school was beautifully decorated with various colorful ornaments for the Exhibition Day. It was the day when all the clubs were showing off their best in order to get the most applicants. Every clubs built their respective booths in the most attractive way to impress the new students. A stage was set at the center of the exhibition area.

Min Ra was writing her application on the Computer Club stand when Amber suddenly hugged her from behind.

"Yo! You're applying to this?"

Min Ra was startled and accidentally drew a line on her application form.

"Ouch! Sorry!" Amber clapped her hands in front of her face and bowed apologetically. "I didn't mean to surprise you. Well, I did, but, you know. "Amber gave up on explaining herself.

Min Ra just giggled and nodded. "It's okay. It's still readable, I think."

Min Ra looked up to the sunbae—senior—who watched her filled her paper. Her eyes sent a questioning look to him, wondering if her form was still acceptable. He nodded. Min Ra then continued to add her sign to the form and gave it to him. He read her application form for a while and nodded a couple times, showing his approval to the content of her application. "The first meeting is this Friday at 5 in the Computer Club room, please be on time." He said while putting her application form along with the others. "Yes, I will. Thank you. "Min Ra squeaked and bowed to him before leaving the stand with Amber.

"Hey," Amber whispered to Min Ra as soon as they are out of the sunbae’s hearing range, "You know that Suho-sunbaenim is already taken right?"

Min Ra looked at Amber confusedly. "Who is what?" She asked back.

"Suho sunbaenim—he was the one in the booth." Amber answered, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.

Min Ra recalled the time when he was introducing himself to her and her brows were knitted. "Isn't he Joonmyeon-sunbaenim?"

"It's the same person. Joonmyeon-sunbaenim was called Suho—the Guardian—because he was the leader of the school band, whose main responsibility is to guard the band." Amber explained.

Min Ra nodded in comprehension. However, she remembered Amber's question about knowing his currently not-single status. "Why did you ask if I know that he was taken?" Min Ra still couldn't get Amber's intention for giving her such an absurd question.

"Well, he is good looking, right? I heard there are many girls who were going to apply to computer club because of him. But seeing you like this, it seems that you want to join it truly for the sake of being in a club that deals with computers." Amber explained as they walked pass several booths. The tomboy was always honest about what she thinks, although sometimes she was a bit too blunt. Even though Amber honesty was one of the traits that she adored from Amber, Min Ra couldn't help but feel a bit offended at Amber’s accusation. "My father is a programmer, so I have learnt a lot from him since I was young." She added.

"Wow, that’s cool. It will suit you well, then." Amber grinned in agreement. It appeared that the tomboy didn’t realize the effect of her former question.

"So... what club are you going to join?" Min Ra asked her back casually.

"I am thinking of joining the school band. Speaking of which," Amber looked at her black-bracelet-like wrist watch, "it is almost time for their performance. Come on!" Amber dragged Min Ra along as she marched toward the stage.

When they arrived near the stage, it was already a bit crowded. On the stage, a group of people who seemed to be the band were preparing their instruments. The first member who caught Min Ra's attention was a pretty guy with dyed brown hair. He wore leather pants and sparkly jacket, his skin was fair, and he used thick eyeliners. Next to him, a pretty petite girl with long wavy black hair tied to her side was strumming a white guitar. Another long haired girl but in a blue mini dress was testing the keyboard elegantly with one ear covered by a headphone.  She was considerably taller than the former girl. On the back, two tall guys stood: one of them was a half foreigner who had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin; the other one had frizzy black hair and creepy big eyes. Suho, however, was nowhere to be seen. It was only after 5 minutes or so he showed up on stage; many girly voices cheered for him as he climbed up the stairs. He had changed his clothes into a different outfit to match the rest of the band.

"Annyeonghaseyo, everyone! Thank you for coming to our performance today. We will be doing a couple songs for you all, please enjoy it well." Suho greeted the audience before signaling to the group to start. They were hitting it off with an English song, Maroon 5's This Love. The guy with the dyed brown hair turned out to be the vocalist, and Min Ra had to admit that beside of having powerful voice, he also had a charismatic stage presence.

"So, you're going to join them?" Min Ra asked Amber who stood next to her.

"Yeah, I'm gonna apply for it. You know, since Kris-sunbaenim, Seohyun-sunbaenim, and Suho-sunbaenim are currently in their 3rd year, they will be leaving their spots empty soon. Therefore, the band is going to make an audition to fill them."

As she saw Min Ra was looking like a lost kid after her explanation, Amber chose to tell her the basic information about the band. She shook her head in disbelief before starting her mini lecture.

"The vocalist is Byun Baekhyun-sunbaenim, from the 2nd year." She pointed at him.

"Is it legal?" Min Ra asked her curiously.

"What is?" Amber raised one of her brows.

"His hair. Isn't hair dying prohibited?"

Amber laughed. "Yes, it is. But since he is our school Judo ace, everyone seemed to let him has his ways."

"Judo ace?" Min Ra eyes widened. He looked pretty and delicate; it was unlikely that he could be good at martial arts.

"Yeah, he is. I didn't believe it too at first, but it turn out that he is more than just a decent athlete. He is our school best."

Amber looked at Min Ra judgingly. "It seems that you pay a lot of attention to him. Do you like him?"

Min Ra cheeks reddened at the question, but she shook her head vigorously. "Who is that?" Min Ra pointed at the petite girl who was skillfully plucking the guitar strings. Amber smiled teasingly before answering her question.

"That is Kim Taeyeon-sunbaenim, another 2^nd year student. She is the guitarist of the group. Lovely, isn't she?"

Min Ra nodded in agreement. Taeyeon was a petite and fair skinned girl with huge twinkling eyes that made her looked cute and squeezable.

"That one," she pointed at the other girl with blue dress, "is Suho-sunbaenim's girlfriend, Seohyun-sunbaenim, the keyboardist. She is a third year like him. She had it all: beauty, poise, brain, money, fame; no one can doubt that she is the suitable match for our school prince: Suho-sunbaenim. Rumor has it, that she even had fan boys in other schools." Min Ra gaped in awe, before nodding in agreement. The idea that a girl could be so beautiful that even students from other schools could fancy her amazed Min Ra. It was unbelievable for her since it sounded similar to the stories that she could only find in mangas. However, the tall and slim lady on the stage was indeed breathtakingly stunning that she ended up accepting the absurd fact.

"You know the other guitarist--Suho-sunbaenim, so we'll skip him. The drummer, "Amber pointed to the blond guy," is Kris-sunbaenim. He is a third year. He is half Chinese and half American, but his fanclub prefer to say that he is half alien and half vampire. A bit of Edward-Cullen-look alike, they said."

Min Ra chuckled softly at the interesting way Amber used in defining him.

"And lastly, he is the bassist; everyone favorite guy, Park Chanyeol-sunbaenim from the second year." She pointed at the guy with frizzy hair, playing the red bass.

"Why is he a favorite?" Min Ra asked her.

"Well, he is kind, funny, and very friendly, and together with Baekhyun-sunbaenim they make a crazy jokester pair."

"You seemed to be very knowledgeable about the band." Min Ra inquired. From the explanation she received, it seemed that the band was a quite an interesting bunch.

"It is a club that I want to join, of course I know a lot about it." She answered matter-of-factly.

"Besides," Amber pondered for a while," it was actually a basic knowledge in here. You're the one who is left behind."

Min Ra put out her tongue out again while smiling shyly; acknowledging Amber’s statement about her.

It was late afternoon; Min Ra was standing near the gate, waiting for Amber to finish packing her stuff from the locker before going home together, when a tall guy with frizzy hair greeted her. It’s Chanyeol-sunbaenim, Min Ra remembered him. Min Ra bowed respectfully before greeting back.

“I'm Park Chanyeol from the school band." He introduced himself.

Min Ra nodded, "Yes, I saw sunbaenim on stage today. It was a great performance." Min Ra was stating the truth; she was quite impressed with the band’s passionate spectacle.

"Thank you," he grinned sheepishly at the compliment; showing his huge white teeth. He seemed to be tall at the stage, but he was even taller up close that Min Ra felt his height was intimidating her. Even if she was standing on her tiptoes, she would only be able to reach his shoulder.

An awkward silence blanketed the two of them.

 It was always like this when I talk with new people, Min Ra thought nervously, Ottoke...What should I say?

However, Chanyeol chose to break the unnerving silence between them. "I saw you, in the entrance ceremony," he said, pausing a while before continuing, "I think you're pretty good with keyboard."

Min Ra remembered that she played accompaniment for the new students choir in the entrance ceremony. Her high school had the tradition to make the new students formed a choir and sang at the entrance ceremony. Min Ra was never interested to be in the spotlight; it was by a miraculous chance that she managed to volunteer to play the keyboard at the ceremony. A miracle named Amber, to be exact. Not so long after introducing herself to Amber, Min Ra accidentally told Amber that she used to play piano. Therefore, when the teacher asked the new students if any of them could play for their choir, Amber called out Min Ra’s name.

"Thank you for your compliment," she said softly—almost like a whisper—and bowed at him gratefully.

"What is your name, by the way?" He asked her casually, his hands were in his pants pocket.

"It is Park Min Ra, Sunbaenim." She answered politely.

"Park Min Ra-ssi, have you ever thought of auditioning for the school band? Seohyun-noona wil be graduating soon and it will be nice to have a decent new keyboardist." He nonchalantly offered her.

Min Ra bit her lower lip nervously. "I... don't know if I should," Min Ra fidgeted on her place," I have never been in a band before." She squeaked her reason. She had a musical background so the band did pique her interest as it was the only club that involved music at the school, but she felt she wasn’t qualified for it.

"Maybe you should. Playing in a band is of course different from simple accompaniment, "Chanyeol nodded in agreement, "but it's not bad to try something new, right?" He ended his question with a smile. But since his eyes were really big, it turned out to be a pretty creepy smile.

Min Ra scratched her not-itching-neck nervously. She just smiled, not really knowing what to say. It would be very impolite for her to refuse since it was a sunbae from the band itself who asked her; but honestly she really didn’t want to play any musical instrument at the moment. She had stopped playing piano for sometimes and she didn’t plan to resume it anytime soon. Her performance in entrance ceremony was simply an unplanned accident.

Thank goodness, Taeyeon came to the rescue. She smacked her bandmate on the arm, and scolded him, "You shouldn't be scaring a hoobae like this! Idiot!" Chanyeol responded with a loud, "OUCH!" and rubbed his aching arm.

Taeyeon turned at Min Ra and bowed, "I'm sorry, please forgive him."

 Min Ra bowed back hurriedly. "It's okay, I'm fine."

 However, it seemed that Taeyeon remembered her performance as well since she exclaimed excitedly, "Ah! You're the one in the entrance ceremony! With the keyboard!" Her eyes went wide as recognition hit her.

Min Ra nodded.

"You played well, you should really audition for us," Taeyeon talked at her animatedly, her eyes were sparkling and her hands were gesturing, making the beautiful petite girl looked even cuter.

"Ah, thank you," Min Ra bowed in embarrassment; her cheeks were tinged with pink color.

"You know, I was only asking if she could audition for us too." Chanyeol said at her, annoyed. His hand was still on his previously smacked arm; rubbing it since it still ached.

And with that, Taeyeon hit his other arm with a loud smack.

 Chanyeol shouted, "WHAT THE HELL?!" and Min Ra was startled.

Taeyeon bowed at Min Ra again, "I'm sorry, he could be very persistent. I hope he doesn't make you lose interest with our band."

Min Ra bowed back, "I'm okay; It's alright, sunbaenim." She didn’t get why Taeyeon thought of him as being persistent since he didn’t push her to do anything anyway.

"She never said that she is interested in the band." Chanyeol told her, a winning smirk was plastered on his face. He was a bit smarter this time—he was out of the petite girl reach so that she wouldn’t be able to beat him again.

"Well, but you might make her lost her upcoming interest." Taeyeon spat, unwilling to lost face.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But if you ever think of joining us," he looked at Min Ra—his creepy grin was on his face again, "You can just drop your application in the audition day and we will let you show us what you have there. See you later."

Min Ra nodded again. "See you later," Taeyeon said cheerily, before walking with her band mate. Min Ra could hear the two of them bantering and yelling to each other as they walked out of the gate.

She sighed deeply while leaning back to the gate, resuming her wait for Amber. She remembered that Amber wanted to join the school band.

It will be nice if the two of us are in the same club, she thought while at her chain-shape wrist watch, wondering what took Amber so long.

But I don’t want to play keyboard anymore, right? She reminded herself.

Do I?

It seemed that tonight, Min Ra would have a lot to think about.

TBC

A/N: I'm redoing chapter 1 :)