Jisu planned this. I do not know how, but he planned this and I am going to shove chopsticks in his ears.  Wait, no, bad idea Hye would kill me if I shoved chopsticks in his ears. Okay fine I will just shove rice up his nose. Wait, no she will probably still try to kill me. All right then just completely ignore this Dongrim boy and I will be just fine. There is no way he will want to talk to me anyway he probably has a girlfriend, she is probably super pretty and wonderful, and why do I want to hit her?  Damn it Celine focus you need to focus on what the teacher is saying.  Looking up I saw he was writing a math equation on the board.  Great, math first thing in the morning someone kill me now.  Suddenly he decided to poke my shoulder and without looking over I hissed, “What?”

He chuckled and leaned closer, I did not have to look to know I could feel him move closer and when he was just a hairs breath away from my ear he whispered, “Grinding your teeth like that isn’t good.” I was grinding my teeth?  Relaxing my jaw, I realized he was right.  “And you can call me Youngwon.”  But that would mean I would be on familiar terms with him and I would have to make casual conversation, which would make me crazy. No way could I let that happen.

Looking at him out of the corner of my eye as he moved back to his spot I smiled a little and whispered, “I don’t think I know you well enough for that.”

He looked completely unfazed and smiled.  “We’ll see about that.”  He flashed one more smile before turning his attention to the front just as the teacher looked around for wherever the whispering was coming from.  Snapping my head back to the front, I flashed a smile to the teacher and he huffed a little as he turned back to the board.  

Surviving math was not too hard, Dongrim, Youngwon, or whatever, was relatively quiet probably because he needed to concentrate.  But the second we switched subjects to history he would not shut up, mostly asking me ridiculous questions that he, as a third year student, should know.  It took every ounce of self-restraint I had to not hit him.  However, I think what annoyed me the most was every time the teacher called on him he got the answer right.  So why in hell was he bothering me?  Ripping a piece of paper out of my book, I scribbled a note and slid it to him.

Do you have a death wish new boy?

I don’t think the teacher can kill me if I answer all the questions correctly.

I meant me.

Oh, well how else am I supposed to make conversation with you Ms. Grouchy?

Grouchy?!  I am very nice thank you.

If this is you nice I don’t want to see, you mean.  Aren’t you supposed to welcome new students warmly?

You-

Before I could furiously scribble back that he was an idiot, the teacher, who I just realized I don’t know his name, called on me.  “Ms. Fournier,” at least he got my name right, “would you please tell us how to ask for directions in Chinese?”  What?  I do not even remember how to say thank you.  I scoured the board for some help but there was nothing but the date up there.  Damn you teachers’ who name I do not remember.  “We’re waiting Ms. Fournier.”

“Um,” right then Dongrim coughed and slid a piece of paper to me with what I assumed to be the answer on it.  Looking back at the teacher, I quickly said what it was despite my better judgment to not trust the boy.  When he went red in the face, I knew that I had said the right answer.  Okay when I get home I am studying Chinese.  I’ll get my grandmother to help me she’s amazing when it comes to languages.  If she’s even awake though she’ll probably be sleeping when I get home.

You owe me Ms. Grouchy.

Once again, I wanted to smack him but at the same time, I was grateful.  Cute and brains not a bad combination.  Wait no I cannot like him I have to be annoyed with him he talks too much and he does not call me by my name.  

My name is not Ms. Grouchy its Celine get it right.

I’ll call you that when you call me Youngwon.

What is with that name anyway? 

Why does it matter?

I just do not understand how you go from Dongrim to Youngwon.

My friends gave it to me and I like it. 

And you don’t like your given name?

That is not the point. 

You don’t make any sense.

Maybe you’re just not willing to understand?

Okay, was not expecting that.  Crumbling up the piece of paper, I shoved it in my backpack and shot him a glare before paying attention to the lesson. And we’re talking about weather?  I can barely remember how to count to one hundred.  I hate Chinese.  Why didn’t I take the class with French?  I would not even have to pay attention. 

Thankfully Youngwon no, no his name is Dongrim didn’t bother me for the rest of Chinese and he was pretty quiet during economics as well only talking to himself every now and then.  Finally, the bell for lunch rang and I don’t think I’ve ever darted out of a class faster. 

As always, I waited for Jisu, Hye, Hyun and Daniel at the entrance of the cafeteria.  Daniel, as expected, was the first to arrive, with Hyun not far behind, and shot me a sly grin.  “Saw you getting chummy with the new kid how’s that going?”

He just had to bring that up didn’t he?  “Don’t even get me started.  He’s annoying and way to talkative which completely takes away from how attractive and smart he is.”  Did I just say that?  Oh god someone shoot me. 

Daniel laughed and patted my shoulder, “Oh yeah I’m sure it does.”

Huffing, I swatted at him halfheartedly, “Like you’re fairing any better.”

Instantly the smile fell off his face and he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.  “Don’t rub it in; at least you only have one person next to you who didn’t have a crush on you last semester.  I’m too nice to be mean to her.”

That was probably Daniel’s downfall.  He could be just about anything but when it came to being a bad boy or rude he didn’t have a mean bone in his body unless you really, really piss him off.  Then there’s me, who wants to bite everyone’s head off.  “Which is why she is still flirting with you.”  He knew my perspective on it, be a little mean and she’ll move on but the sweet boy just didn’t have it in him.  At least he’s better than Jisu I don’t think Jisu can even yell at someone outside of a play fight. 

“Who’s flirting with who?” Speak of the devil. 

Putting on a smile, Daniel and I turned to where Jisu stood, fingers locked with Hye, and a brow raised.  “That girl Sohee that had a crush on Daniel last semester but it’s alright Daniel boy was on his best behavior.” I slung my arm around Daniel’s shoulder and grinned. 

Jisu nodded in approval and jutted his thumb towards the line.  “Yeah Hye told me now come on let’s get food before all the best stuff is gone.” He started walking and Daniel, Hyun and I followed. “She also told me you were talking a lot with some new kid.”

I nearly choked on air. “What? Dongrim? Yeah he’s annoying and stupid.”

Hyun smirked and shook his head, “He saved your during Chinese though.”

“Shut up Hyun.”  I grumbled and moved away from him and Daniel who nodded in agreement. 

Of course, Daniel would have to add something in.  Chuckling he poked my cheek, “It was kind of funny the teacher didn’t notice.” 

I turned and bit at his finger with a scowl and mumbled, “Like your Chinese is any better than mine.”

Jisu laughed and shook his head, amused, “Children, please, can we not argue its lunch time.”

“You’re barely older!”  Daniel and I barked at the same time and looked over at each other in surprise.  It had been a while since we had done that. 

Hyun laughed and put his arm around both our shoulders, giving us side hugs, “Oh look half a day of not arguing and it’s almost like first year all over again.”

Daniel and I glanced at each other and mumbled, at the same time again, “Shut it Hyun.”  But the Japanese boy just grinned happily and refused to let either one of us go until we got our trays.  One of the best things about going to international schools the food changes quite a bit and the second I spotted baguettes, I nearly had a fit.  The last time they served French food was our first year and it always made me happy to see my country’s food anywhere in Korea. 

With a ham and pickle baguette, lettuce and radish salad and some fruit I was nearly jumping with joy on the way to our usual table.  Hye and Hyun were not big fans of French food, which was half the reason they opted to go to Japan with their mother instead of the trip to France with the rest of us. That and going to Japan for them was cheaper. Just as I sat down with Hye across from me, Jisu to her left and Hyun her right and Daniel on my right, an already familiar voice nearly made me drop my sandwich. 

“Can I sit with you guys?” 

Before I could say no, Jisu nodded and gave his signature smile.  “Sure, you’re new right?”

Dongrim smiled back and took the free seat on my left.  I knew I should have sat on the end seat.  “Yeah I just moved here from Busan a couple of weeks ago so you four,” he pointed to me, Daniel, Hyun and Hye, “are the only familiar and semi-friendly faces,” that smirk didn’t go unnoticed mister, “that I know.” 

Before Daniel and Jisu could turn on their new friend charms I spoke up, “And you’re not going to be social and sit with others to know more people?”

It seemed like he was expecting this sort of response out of me since he smirked a little and I wiggled in my seat a little, irked.  “Too much work for the first day of school.”  Does he have a response for everything? 

When Jisu nudged my foot, I glanced over and he mouthed ‘be nice’ of course he would.  Scrunching up my nose at him, I turned my attention back to my food trying to ignore Dongrim now.  Jisu sighed loudly and nudged my foot again, “Ignore her she’s grumpy when her stomach is empty.”

“She must not have eaten breakfast this morning then.”

I did not even bother with a smart remark with that one and took a large bite of my sandwich.  “Ha, she usually doesn’t, the only things she likes for breakfast are bagels and they run out of those too fast at her house.”  With Daniel’s remark, a light laugh spread through the table.  Thank you Daniel, some friend you are. 

Dongrim laughed and played with his salad a little.  “Bagels got it.” 

It would figure that everyone else would get along with him perfectly.  It would figure he would have them all calling him Youngwon instantly.  And it would figure that my baguette would be dry and not as tasty as I hoped.  I was not sure if I should be happy over potential dating prospects or annoyed.  When his napkin flew out of his hand it landed right in front of me and just as I grabbed it his hand fell over mine.  My head snapped up to look at him and he smiled a little, his eyes gleaming mischievously.  “Thank you Celine.”  With that, he took the napkin from his grasp and went back to eating while I heard the others snicker.  Definitely annoyance. 

After a little while they attempted to pull me back into conversation, unsuccessfully, I could not make myself pay attention long enough to contribute. And when the bell rang for class I couldn’t even say that I was happy since I would have to sit next to him again.

But he didn’t talk to me.  In fact, he barely looked over at me for the next two lessons and while I hate to admit it, I really do, it bothered me to no end. By the time that our class was heading to the field for gym class I was about ready to bust.  He was walking in the back and I was towards the middle so I slowed my pace down until I was right beside him. We walked in silence for a second before I blurted, “I’m sorry!”

He looked over at me with a raised brow. “For what?”

“For, well, before, I’m usually nicer but today is well…a bad day.”  Suddenly I felt like an idiot.  Why was I even apologizing?  He did not ask for one and I should be happy he was not talking to me then I could resist temptation.  But then again it should not be that hard Jisu’s right I should not be dating so much anyway.  It was then I noticed that he was talking. 

“So you’ll be nicer tomorrow?”

I do not know what it was, maybe that smile or the look in his eye but almost instantly my annoyance came back.  “I’ll think about it.”

~~~~~~

After I told Jisu what happened right before gym he nearly doubled over in laughter. If the street weren’t so crowded I would have attempted to stomp away. Instead, I punched his shoulder and smirked in victory when he nearly fell over. Just before we reached a coffee shop that marked the halfway mark to our apartment building he calmed down.  “So are you calling off our deal then?”

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest. “And not go to France? Hell no. He’s not even that great I probably just like him because I can’t have him he’s not even my type.” I didn’t realize I was rambling until after I mentioned my type and I quickly shut my mouth, turned my head forward and refused to say anything else. 

Jisu laughed and patted my shoulder lightly.  “Come on you don’t even know him besides the fact that his friends call him Youngwon and he’s new. You should give him a chance.”

Again I snorted and shrugged his hand off already deciding that he was not coming to my apartment for ice cream despite tradition.  “Says the boy who doesn’t want me to flirt at all for a month,”

Jisu pouted and poked my side lightly.  “As a friend give him a chance.  You need to learn to be single.”

Automatically I snapped, “I don’t need to learn anything.”

Grinning, he ruffled my hair a bit.  “And that right there means you do.”

“You are not getting any ice cream now.”

Jisu laughed, unimpressed, “Yes I am you love me too much.”

Shaking my head, I turned down the final street towards our apartment building. Once inside I could easily avoid him. “Nope I’m just going to wait for Daniel to get back from football practice and we’re going to eat all the ice cream and you’re not getting a thing.”

He whined and pouted the best that he could. He knew I could not resist his pout, stupid adorable best friend. “Why do you hate me best friend?”

“I don’t hate you you’re just evil.”  I didn’t expect for Jisu to move behind me and wrap his arms around my waist and no matter how I tried to wiggle away he held on.  “What are you doing crazy boy?”

He walked forward so, I was awkwardly pushed along as our building finally came into view.  “You won’t let me in your house so I’m going to hug you until you do.  On the other hand, I could just come in any way I do know the keypad number after all.”

Not going to lie, I completely forgot about that.  Which is sad since he’s invaded my house, along with Daniel on more occasions than I can count.  “So get off of me you’re embarrassing.”

Jisu still didn’t let me go even when we entered the apartment building lobby and the security guard looked at us like we were out of our minds.  “Says the one who ran through the mall screaming about ice cream.”

I flushed in embarrassment remembering that.  Not my fault that the shop had a flavor that I liked and Daniel got me hyped up on energy drinks and left me alone for half an hour.  I repeat it is not my fault.  Sighing I tried to shrug him off me again.  “You will never let me live that down will you?”

Jisu nudged his forehead against the back of my head and chuckled.  “Never.  Now you will give me ice cream or I will never leave you alone and tell Youngwon all the embarrassing stuff you’ve ever done.”

Chortling I grumbled, “You never leave me alone now.”  I have to admit I’m kind of proud I evaded the second part of his threat. 

That didn’t deter Jisu though and he started to tickle my sides effectively stopping me from pushing the elevator button.  “But I’ll be around you even more now.”

Squealing and trying to twist away, I gave into his demands, “Alright fine, fine I’ll give you ice cream.”  He laughed in victory and detached himself from me, reaching forward to press the elevator button.  There was no way I was going to tell him that the thought of him telling Youngwon all my embarrassing stuff was terrifying. Though I’m pretty sure he knew.