Wrote the first couple paragraphs when I was being an insomniac, so I hope things still kinda make sense. Oh, and thanks for my 20 subscribers. Means a lot :D -エルエン6 (Eruen6)
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Nicole's eyes slammed open. It was about midnight, according to her digital clock which stood on her bedside table. Nicole hadn't been able to sleep, even though she had finished her homework and her studies over an hour ago. This usually happened when she was stressed, which she was about throwing a party she hadn't even planned for. She opened up her phone and wrote a new text quickly that read "Anyone awake?". Nicole addressed it to T.O.P, Sohee, CL, Minhyun, and Kris. Not Baekhyun, seeing as she didn't particularly want to talk to him at the moment, or any of the popular girls. Nicole's eyes were pressed to the screen, waiting for someone to text back, watching time pass. She started to hum songs and do the dances in her head, and fantasized performing in front of a crowd as a singer. At the end of the year, talent scouts came to their school. It was many months away, but Nicole had been preparing since second grade. It was her dream to be asked to be in a girl group or even go solo.

Two minutes went by, which honestly seemed like two hours to her. She sat the phone down to the left side of her and closed her eyes again, not really caring anymore whether or not someone texted back. Nicole was almost asleep when the phone lit up with a new message from...Kris. "Yeah, I am. Can't fall asleep, about to go and take a walk. Feel like coming? I don't wanna be alone." Nicole read Kris's response out loud. Her heart fluttered a little bit, a reaction that she was unused to. She quickly typed a response back on her phone, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to know more about her new friend. Nicole went downstairs, seeing her father still awake and reading. "I'm going to take a walk. Be back soon!" She waved to her father, and he waved back. She then walked out of the house, going down towards the street corner Kris had mentioned after her response to his first text.

"Hey." Nicole jumped, seeing him leaned against a tree so placidly, she could tell he had been there for awhile. He seemed to float over to her wearing a y smile on his face. She could barely see the all-black wardrobe he had chosen, but recognized him by the adventerous glint in his eyes. "You don't mind if we walk for a while, do you?" Nicole shook her head and followed Kris down a path that went through a wooded area behind a couple houses. It was completely dark, but she could follow him pretty well until they reached a clearing covered in snow five minutes later. Kris sat down on a rock after pushing all of the snow off of it so she could sit down next to him. 

They spent the next couple seconds in silence. Nicole stole a few glances at Kris as they looked around at the trees, and she hoped he had been stealing glances at her as well. "So, Kris...tell me about yourself," Nicole spoke. She quickly became flustered. "I-I'm not trying to hit on you or anything I'm just wondering!!" Kris laughed at her cuteness. He was still facing the trees when he spoke.

"Well, my real name's Jiafeng Li. I was born in China. My sister's name is Feifei, but she goes by Fei. You saw her today at lunch. She's my best friend, you could say. Because we're from China, it's hard to communicate properly. I'm trying to translate everything in my head into Chinese, it's very difficult to keep up with everyone. I find it hard to talk to you right now, actually. Korean is very difficult for me. Fei is better at it, definitely. It's hard for me to make friends as well with the language barrier, and so I'm very grateful I met T.O.P. And you, of course," Kris stopped his monologue to look over at Nicole and smile wholeheartedly. "Fei and I plan to stay here as long as we can, even though we both miss our friends back in China. It was pretty funny, Fei's now-ex-boyfriend practically begged her to stay, but I got her out of it. I've never had a girlfriend, but I'm sure she feels very bad for leaving him behind. I watch out for Fei, even though she is older than me by three minutes. I don't regret coming here, not one bit, but it is just very hard for me." Nicole could feel the trouble Kris had to go through. He told her about his parents and his life in China and how he was bullied when he was younger, pushing him more and more to leave. Kris had convinced his parents to let him and Fei go on exchange here, which was made easier by their distant relative that lived here. He encouraged Nicole to tell him about herself.

"Hm...well, I was born in California, in the United States. I transfered here as well, so I feel for you. Especially because of the language barrier. I had spoken Korean and English at home with my parents, but it was very hard for me to find any people to speak English with me at school and stuff. I miss everything about America, but I'm so glad I'm here. This friend group that I'm with...they really are all amazing people. They make me feel like I can be myself," Nicole was facing Kris while talking to him, and he was still looking at the trees. A gentle breeze made her shudder slightly, but she continued speaking. "Tell me...if you need anything. I'll help you out. Friends look out for eachother, don't they?"

Kris nodded gratefully and turned to look at Nicole. The two of them were very close, their faces inches apart. For the most wonderful two seconds of Nicole's life, she was staring right into Kris's eyes at a distance close enough for her to practically hear his heartbeat in the silence. Kris smiled, looking down at Nicole's lips and back up to her face. She became flustered and darted her head to a different direction, making him chuckle. Nicole was blushing more than she would like to admit, and was glad for the cover of darkness. Kris then decided to get up as if to start to go back, but Nicole grabbed his hand and made him sit back down, not wanting to be alone. The two sat in silence for a little while longer.

"Thanks, Nicole." Kris said, suddenly becoming more sincere. "I really mean it..." He nudged her playfully and smirked. Nicole knew Kris really did mean what he was saying, and trusted him immensely in that moment. It was truly their moment, and she was more than happy to share such a beautiful winter night with him. She then rose to leave, and he picked himself up too. The two traveled again through the woods back to the original tree where she had seen Kris at. Nicole kept on walking, and was suddenly aware of Kris walking right beside her.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't walk you home?" Kris laughed and winked at Nicole. She was thankful for the walk, honestly, but was glad to get home and crash down on her bed. Her parents weren't awake anymore, and she was more than ready to enjoy the six hours of sleep she would get to look forward to as she trudged up the stairs to her room. Nicole still hadn't even begun to plan the party...

And she was getting herself stressed out again. So Nicole plopped down on her bed and was asleep just like that.

Kris had not been so fortunate, thinking about Nicole for the next hour until sleep deprivation finally took over his body and he fell into deep sleep. 

CL woke up at seven thirty that same morning, and was more than ready to start the day. She went to her phone, and had recevied two texts from Nicole. One asked if she was still awake, sent at midnight, and CL was most certainly not awake that late. The other was asking if she would attend a party for Baekhyun and Jessica that night, which she responded to with a resounding yes. CL was very happy for Baekhyun. Not happy that he had sat at the popular table, but happy that he was happy with Jessica. She then slapped on some makeup and clothes and went downstairs, toasted a bagel, and was at the kitchen table munching quite loudly until it was time for her to go. This was a day she was looking quite forward to.

Sohee was at school at the right time, looking as perfect as she could. She was also attending Nicole's party and had agreed to help set up for it with her, and was excited for the day to be over. The sudden announcement of the party had sounded quite...odd to her, but she was elated nonetheless. Sohee would have to question Nicole about it later, but she was now face to face with Kris as he treaded through the hall, looking quite tired.

"Morning, sunshine. What happened to you?" Sohee asked, laughing. Kris tried to laugh with her, but his voice was clearly tired as well, so it didn't sound as wholehearted as his normal laugh. Kris sighed.

"I was with Nicole. We went for a walk together and I couldn't stop thinking about her after I got home. It wasn't too good," Kris said. Sohee got a strange glint in her eye that made Kris suddenly worried. "No no no, I didn't mean to...I don't like her...!" All it took was a single raise of Sohee's eyebrow to get him to crack. "...Who am I kidding. I like Nicole." Kris smiled, looking over down the hall where Minhyun and CL were coming towards them. Kris waved and ran over, eager to talk to his new friends.

It was then that Sohee remembered.

.

Minhyun...Minhyun likes Nicole.

It didn't take Sohee too long to realize this equation- if Minhyun and Kris both like Nicole, then this was just a problem waiting to happen. Sohee decided to ignore the entire situation and push it to the back of her mind until the party. Nicole had informed them right before class that day that she had invited Hyuna and GD, who both insisted on bringing Fei along as well, which Kris agreed to. They were all very excited to go to the party, and could hardly last the day without thinking about it. Baekhyun sat with the populars at lunch again that day, but Kris was plenty company enough to keep them all happy for the moment. Nicole could almost swear she caught T.O.P looking at Fei multiple times...but she would ask him about it later. She really liked spending time with Baekhyun, and was quite elated to know him. Nicole thought it was the sweetest thing that he had texted her to take a midnight walk with him.

Nicole started to get the feeling on butterflies in her stomach thinking of the night. He had looked perfect...Kris was perfect. His eyes, his face, his hair, his personality, his caring tone...And they had almost kissed. Why the hell did Nicole try to stop that? It wasn't like she didn't want it to happen. She wanted to date Kris very badly, but didn't know how to get him. She was thinking about it all throughout the day, even until her mom picked her up early to start putting together the party.

And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she did really, really like Kris. He was sweet and romantic, serious but funny, friendly and the perfect guy in all. Nicole was suddenly determined to ask Kris out at her party if she got the chance, making it the ultimate couples party. She would then set up Sohee and Minhyun and CL and T.O.P, then all of them would have dates! And it would be perfect. The perfect friend group, with no problems at all. Even though Baekhyun hadn't sat with them at lunch that day either, she knew that all of them being happy was the perfect thing to fix the group right up. Then Gyuri would be unpopular, Hyuna and GD would gladly join their group, and then they would take over as the new populars.

They would rule the school.

Nicole could practically taste the power.

It tasted very nice.