This chapter moves the plot! :D

“How can I be cheating on you if we’re not even dating?” you demanded.

“But everyone thinks we are!” he snapped. You had never seen him look so flustered. “You’re part of this drama, remember? It’s damaging to both of our reputations if there are eye witness accounts circulating all over the school that you were at a museum yesterday with Lee Donghae.”

“Lee Donghae?” you repeated, stunned. Had he found out about your engagement? You didn’t even think about the possibility of Jonghyun being seen and people assuming it was you. “But…I was with you at the beach yesterday. You know that.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he looked into your eyes calculatingly. It seemed he hadn’t yet figured out how you could be in two places at once. You tried to conceal your relief.

“They’re just rumors,” you pressed. “They’ll go away when people realize they’re not true.”

He seemed to be convinced. Then his playful smirk was back on his face. “See you at lunch,” he said. You were about to say it back when he surprised you into silence with a peck on the cheek before walking away. Everyone around saw. Now nobody would think the two of you were broken up. Well played, Himchan, you thought.

In third period, Krystal tried to talk to you about the rumors.

“They’re just jealous of you,” she said. “They’re trying to stir things up because you’re dating Himchan, and what better way to ruin your relationship than to say you’re cheating on him with Lee Donghae?”

You blew air from your cheeks in a sigh and put your head in your arms.

“I mean, it is a little believable,” she continued. “You’re like the most popular girl in school right now, and Donghae has always been the most popular guy. He has girls falling down at his feet constantly. You could totally get a guy like him if you wanted!”

You weren’t totally comforted by this assessment that you were the type of girl to just jump boyfriends because one was more popular than the other.

“Have you talked to that person you like yet?” you asked her, desperate to change the subject.

“Oh,” she faltered. “It’s my next class.” She looked really nervous.

“Are you going to strike up a conversation?”

She bit her lip with apprehension. “What would I say?”

You shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Talk about the class. Say you need help with the homework or something and want to study together. It’s easy.”

She fidgeted under her desk. “My grade is kinda low in that class,” she muttered.

“Great!” you exclaimed, before turning your head on your arms to face the other direction and trying to fall asleep.

You were sitting between Krystal and Himchan at lunch, frustrated and stressed and about to take a massive bite out of your corndog, when you were stopped by someone shoving a phone in front of your face. The picture on the display very clearly showed you and Donghae sitting down in an expansive room surrounded by priceless art and girls holding up cell phones. You were also holding hands.

For a second you felt disoriented, because you had no recollection of this event. Then you realized that was because it wasn’t you in the picture; it was Jonghyun.

“You are so busted,” said a voice that made hatred and a twinge of fear bubble up within you. CL had invaded your lunch table and was holding up the evidence of your cheating relationship for all to see. “This is the proof that Himchan’s beloved popular new girlfriend is two-timing him with Lee Donghae! This was taken yesterday at the Lee Soo Man Museum of Fine Art.” She looked at you with condescending glee. “Getting pretty cozy, aren’t you Mary Sue?”

You glared at her. You couldn’t deny the intimacy of the two people in the picture, but there was no way for you to reveal that it wasn’t you.

Before you could react though, the cell phone was knocked out of CL’s hands. Himchan stood up in a cold fury as the device skidded across the floor and the entire cafeteria fell silent in shock.

“Something wrong, Himchan?” CL said coldly, a devious smile dancing on her lips.

“The picture is fake,” he declared. “I know for a fact that Mary Sue was not with Lee Donghae yesterday.”

CL’s eyebrows rose high into her hair. “What makes you say that?”

This time Himchan was smiling. Well, smirking. He never really did smile. “Because Mary Sue was with me all day yesterday.”

You groaned inwardly. That’ll improve my reputation, you thought bitterly and sarcastically. Did he have to make it sound so greasy?

CL just laughed cattily. “Well, even if she was somehow in two places at once,” she said with indignation, “there’s still the fact that she’s going to Homecoming with Donghae. Everyone who was there heard it.”

Himchan’s gaze turned to you, as did everyone else’s. They were all waiting for you to deny it or confirm it or something. You just sat there, speechless, your mouth opening and closing like a fish. You hadn’t even thought about Homecoming. Wasn’t it just a couple weeks away? You never even considered it until just now.

“No she’s not,” Himchan said eventually. “She’s my girlfriend. She’s going to Homecoming with me.”

CL pursed her lips. “We’ll see about that,” she simply said before retrieving her phone and strutting out of the cafeteria. After she left, Himchan sat back down and the chatter slowly picked back up as everyone settled down.

You awkwardly returned to your lunch, aware of the eyes on you, still unsure of your plans for Homecoming. You realized everyone was thinking the same thing CL had said. They’ll just have to wait until Homecoming to find out where your loyalties lie. You would also have to come up with a plan.

You were hanging out with Amber, Key, and your brother at Key’s house after school, trying to devise just such a plan. It was much more difficult than simply having Jonghyun cross dress and go with Donghae while you go with Himchan, because rather than just having to be in two places at once, you had to figure out how to be in one place at once with two different people without anybody noticing! How on earth were you going to pull this one off?

“Maybe you could just go between both of your dates this time,” Key suggested, laying on his bed and looking through a fashion magazine. “That way, Jonghyun can attend Homecoming as himself.”

“Not if both of them are planning on picking her up before the dance,” Amber argued.

Key huffed and rolled his eyes and continued flipping through the pages absentmindedly.

“It’s okay,” Jonghyun said, spinning halfway around in a desk chair. “I’ll go with Donghae. I don’t mind.” He picked up a pen and started balancing it between his nose and his puckered lips. You wished he would take this more seriously.

“But what if I run into Donghae, or Jonghyun runs into Himchan.” You voiced your concern. “Or if Jonghyun and I run into each other, and people see us?! What then?!”

“Calm your , !” Key shouted at you.

“Key’s right,” Amber said. “We won’t get anywhere with you freaking out like that.”

You immediately quieted yourself so as not to invoke any more shouting from Key.

“Now, don’t forget, Key and I will be there at Homecoming,” Amber continued. “So we can help make sure that you guys stay separated.”

“Yippie,” Key deadpanned, turning another page.

“Just do what you’ve been doing, and I promise, everything will be okay,” Amber said. “Alright?” She placed a comforting hand on your arm.

You nodded, just relieved at knowing that your friends were there for you. “Okay.”

“Good,” Key said. He sat up on his bed. “Now we can get to something important.”

The three of you looked questioningly up at Key. “Which is?” you asked.

“What are you going to wear?” he asked.

You and Jonghyun glanced at each other, the pen falling from Jonghyun’s lips. You honestly hadn’t even thought of that yet. But Homecoming was less than two weeks away. Golly, you were just always unprepared, weren’t you?

“We need to go dress shopping, don’t we?” Key asked.

You and Jonghyun nodded sheepishly.

“Fine,” Key said. “This Friday—“

“I can’t on Friday,” Jonghyun said. “I have a date with Donghae.”

The rest of you stared at Jonghyun.

“You mean Mary Sue has a date with Donghae,” Key corrected.

Jonghyun just laughed. “I think I know Donghae a little better than Mary Sue does, thank you very much. At this point, he would be suspicious if I didn’t go out with him.”

“Right,” Key sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “Dressing in drag is the least suspicious thing you could be doing.”

“I can’t do Friday either,” Amber said. “I’m helping a friend with homework.”

“Saturday, then,” you decided. “Does that work?”

Everybody else nodded, and it was decided.

The four of you sat in a short silence as you mulled over your plans.

“…How do you think Donghae feels about plunging necklines?”

The three of you stared at Jonghyun.

“What?!”