Alright. Can I just say how sorry I am? I forgot to save my chapter, so it was super annoying to rewrite. And also since I'm so busy this summer, I'll try to update as much as I can, but I can't do it every day  ; - ; ごめんなさい~! I'm sorry~! Please enjoy this chapter!!
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Boredom. Who knew winter break was going to be so boring and lonely? CL certainly didn't know. It wasn't too much after the party, maybe a few days. Winter Break, only lasting from Monday to the next Monday, seemed like the end was a million years away. She couldn't wait to get back to school, especially when she heard through Jessica that the transfers were coming then. Their high school always got a few new students in it after the holidays, and CL and her friends were just waiting for that to happen. It was more often than not that the newcomers would join a wallflower group, Nicole being an exception. But it was still fun to make bets on who would turn out in what group. But as far as CL was concered, with Minhyun gone and Sohee acting weirdly, her friends weren't going to be getting together much over the last few days of Winter Break. She wanted to text all her friends and ask to have a huge sleepover, even with the guys, and then ask everyone who they liked. Maybe even invite Jessica and Hyuna. Then they would all be a lot closer. Then she would know who T.O.P liked, and maybe it would even be her.

But CL had a strange feeling about T.O.P and who he potentially liked. She knew now that he didn't like Nicole and had given up her grudge about the Separation Period. What she didn't know is why he hadn't asked her out already. What had CL done wrong? Nothing as of late. No mistakes about anything concerning him, at least. And she was positive Sohee liked Minhyun and Nicole didn't like anybody, so why was it so hard for T.O.P to ask her out? It shouldn't be hard, it's just a simple question.

Maybe he does like someone else... CL pondered while flipping through a magazine half-heartedly. She stopped at a page, realizing something. What if T.O.P likes Sohee...?

What if T.O.P likes Sohee?

What if T.O.P likes Sohee?!

Haha...Good one, CL. He wouldn't...he couldn't...well, he could...Nope! No chance!

She continued to flip through the magazine, but the thought kept nagging her. T.O.P didn't ask Sohee to dance. But he hadn't asked CL, either. Hyuna, for some reason, had been the lucky girl. CL continued to ponder probably the worst possibility of T.O.P liking her best friend.

Nicole hadn't been worrying that much about boyfriends. She had never really been that concered about it, especially because everyone in her friend group was virtually unattainable. As of a couple nights before, she was sure that Baekhyun had kissed Jessica, which ruled him out on her list of possible boyfriends. T.O.P was no different, Nicole knew that being his girlfriend guarenteed the hatred of CL. And because the whole Separation Period was caused by T.O.P and herself, she just thought it better to stay out of his way as much as possible in the girlfriend respect. They still watched movies on the weekends, but it was more on the down-low now and a lot less frequent. She didn't want to ruin any friendships this time. She had never even liked T.O.P anyway. CL had just made everything up in her head. And then there was Minhyun.

Nicole liked Minhyun. At least, as a friend. She had never really thought of him as any more than that, but she stopped her dance practice to think about it. Nicole sat down on the hardwood floor and gulped down some sort of energy drink. She opened up her phone and hovered over Minhyun's contact, remembering how he was on vacation in some place she wasn't familiar with. Nicole pondered liking Minhyun, until she remembered about Sohee.

Damn. There goes all the guys in my group, Nicole thought.

Sohee wasn't having the similar problem her two girl friends shared. She knew she had to just tell them about how the entire thing was a misunderstanding, and how she didn't like Minhyun and that she liked T.O.P. But Sohee had no idea how. She didn't want to disappoint her friends, and she felt that was exactly what she was going to do. And she certainly couldn't talk to them or any of the boys about it. But then the idea struck her.

Just ask Jessica or Hyuna! Duh! Sohee thought, smiling. It would be hard being so open with them, but Sohee and her friends had agreed that they wanted the two populars to be their friends and save them from Gyuri. Maybe this was the perfect bonding moment. Sohee brought her phone out of her bag, whose contents were strewn across her bed. She adressed the text to Hyuna, thinking she would understand boy problems. She started typing out the entire story, starting at the beginning.

T.O.P was at an audition, actually. He had been waiting for weeks, practicing his y face in the mirror for a towel commercial. Because he already had experience modeling, he knew he was set to get the part, but as T.O.P looked around at the other high schoolers auditioning, he couldn't help but feel a little bit worried.

"Hey." Came a voice next to T.O.P. He didn't look over his shoulder. "I'm Kris. Are you trying out, too?" T.O.P now turned to the boy behind him. Kris was pretty tall, and had a flawless face with hair that fell naturally over his face in a way that made him look like some sort of angel. T.O.P smiled at him awkwardly, realizing the immediate threat Kris posed to him getting the role in the commercial.

"Yes, I am. My name is T.O.P." He decided to respond as curt as he could, but Kris kept on talking to him.

"Oh, do you think maybe we could audition together? I don't know anyone here, and the commercial is for two people," Kris took T.O.P's nodding as a yes, and continued to ramble on about something T.O.P didn't care about.

Man, this Kris kid is annoying...

"Wait a second....You were in that phone commercial! Oh my gosh, that is so cool!" Kris finally realized that T.O.P actually did have other experience, and Kris asked for an autograph. T.O.P happily obliged. "Any tips for a rookie like me?" T.O.P was suddenly filled with pride at Kris's words.

"Well, you just need to be confident. Like me." He laughed, and Kris laughed as well, putting a hand on T.O.P's shoulder. They both looked over their lines while waiting to be called. 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was texting Jessica. He had been doing that a lot since the party, where he managed to sneak a quick kiss in on her before she had to go. As far as he knew, only Nicole had witnessed it, and he was really hoping she wasn't going to do anything about it. Baekhyun had been laying down on his bed for the past couple hours, the only sounds from the clicking on the keyboard of his phone or the occasional laughs at Jessica's hilarity. It was almost time for him to go to bed, it being almost midnight. The two had been texting silently for over seven hours. Baekhyun thought about T.O.P, and wished him luck in his audition. He also hoped that Minhyun was having a good time in the skii resort with Gyuri.

He thought about Sohee, and wished her luck with boys. She seemed to him like she needed that. He could see the way she looked at T.O.P and even Minhyun occasionally, and knew she needed all the luck she could get. Baekhyun also wished Nicole luck with bringing Jessica and Hyuna into their friend group, she recently had made it her main project. He knew that if he asked Jessica out like he desperately wished too, she would be able to hang out with all of them without Gyuri getting too angry, but he was too shy and instead wanted Nicole to have the strength that he didn't. Baekhyun wished that CL would stop being so jealous of Nicole and even of Sohee occasionally, and for her to realize that she was perfect and didn't need to change herself so often to get attention. He paused for a second, thinking of his friend group as a whole, and as he did, he realized how dysfunctional it was at its core and how much he wanted to change that.

And maybe he could. Maybe if he could bring Jessica into the picture...maybe that would fix everything. Maybe having one couple in the group would make the happiness rub off onto everyone else.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. He had been staring at the same text message Jessica had sent him the entire time he was thinking about his friends. But he knew that if he was going to ask Jessica out, now would be the time. 

He dialed her number and pulled the phone up to his ear, shaking slightly. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. He felt a sense of relief when the call went to voicemail.

Three seconds later, she was calling him, signifying that she was, in fact, still awake.

Baekhyun pressed the call button on his phone and heard Jessica's voice through the other line. "Sorry, I was asleep when you called. What's up? It's almost one in the morning, so it better be important." She laughed, completely unexpecting of what was about to happen.

"...Well...I wanted to ask you this in person, but I can't wait. I hope you'll forgive me that I'm doing this over the phone." She stopped laughing at Baekhyun's words. He took another deep breath. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

There was a deafening silence that followed. "...Sure. I've gotta go and sleep now, text you later." Jessica laughed once more, a laugh that made Baekhyun beam with pride. He had done it. She said goodbye and hung up. He just sat on his bed with his phone still pressed against his ear, smiling very widely.

He addressed his next text to five people: CL, Nicole, Sohee, T.O.P, and Minhyun. "I asked her out and she said yes." Was all he typed and sent to his best friends. He rested his head on his pillow, confident in himself, and excited to go back to school on Monday. It was officially two days until he could see Jessica.

Baekhyun closed his eyes, ready to sleep, wanting school to finally start up again.