You stay back in Korean class to ask the girls a couple of questions about the lesson, and then later ask the teacher for a little extra help. Since you’ve come into the class later into the year, he suggests you get a tutor to help you outside of class. He says he has a few students he would recommend to help you, and he’d be willing to ask if you’re willing to take up the offer. You agree to take him up on his suggestion and he makes a note to himself to ask the student later and sends you off, wishing you a good day. You do the same and bow quickly before leaving the classroom.

The girls have already gone off to their afterschool activities or home, knowing that Lay will be accompanying you back home today. Vicky especially. You quickly make your way down the stairs, out of the building, and down the small hill towards the basketball courts. Sure enough, you see a couple guys gathered around the end of one court. You manage to make out Kris leaning against the pole of the basket with his arm around Lay’s shoulders. Standing around the same area are Tao, Luhan, and the other boy who was on your team during lunch today. You still have yet to remember his name. All you knew what that he seemed a bit reserved, always having a bored look in his eyes unless Luhan was around. He did seem to have a soft spot for the angel-faced boy.

You walk towards them a little more quickly, waving to them when they wave to you. Bowing slightly first to greet them, you say, “Sorry. Were you waiting for me?”

“Of course. You didn’t think I’d leave, did you?” Lay offers with a joking tone, although there isn’t much of a smile on his face. You’ve come to realize he has a bit of an unconscious, dry humor that you can learn to appreciate.

“No, I just hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long.” You say sheepishly, keeping your gaze away from their faces.

“Oh my god, this is weird.” Luhan laughs, “What happened to the totally laid-back girl that wasn’t afraid of kicking our asses during the game?”

“She put her skirt back on, duh.” Tao jokes, picking up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Aw, she’s so respectful. It’s cute.” Luhan smiles as he walks up to you, tilting your chin up with the side of his fingers so you look up to his face, and ruffling your side bangs a bit. You squeeze your eyes shut so that the hair doesn’t come in contact with them as the hair slaps around your face around Luhan’s fingers.

When he removes his hand he leans down to shake your bangs out and run your fingers through them before moving them back to the side and tucking them behind your ear. “Did uhm… all of you guys stay here for me?” You ask slowly, not wanting to sound conceited or anything.

“Yeah, let’s go get ice cream!” Luhan smiles brightly, throwing his arm around you, “For the good game you played today.” Your eyes widen a little at the fact that he’s suddenly so casual with you after a couple of basketball games. You come to realize that as long as you have something in common with others, it’s not hard to befriend them. It doesn’t matter if it’s only your second day in the school.

“Really? You don’t have to. It was fun. I’ll play with you again tomorrow if you want.” You offer jokingly with a laugh.

“That sounds good actually.” Luhan opens his mouth thoughtfully, as if realizing that this was really the first time you guys had bonded and become friends and he didn’t think about what would happen tomorrow. Sometimes you liked that about guys. “Come out to play tomorrow when you’re done with lunch, we’ll put you against the other guys.” He smiles down at you as he leads you down the wide pathway towards the gates.

“Really? You’re not afraid of getting your whooped?” You chuckle as you turn back to check if the others are following you.
 

“Not if we’re on the same team. I think you make a good secret weapon. That is… If it’s really a secret anymore.” He says as you notice Quiet Boy walking silently next to the others with his hands in his pockets, looking extremely bored and somewhat resentful about something as Tao and Kris talk next to him. Lay walks beside him, also a little silent, but only because that’s how he is.

“Uhm… thank you.” You say somewhat detachedly as you continue to glance over your shoulder to the others before facing forward again.

Luhan removes his arm from your shoulders and just continues to walk beside you, “Something wrong?”

“Oh, I was just… What’s that guy’s name again? The guy next to Lay?” You ask quietly.

Luhan takes a glance back and smiles when he spots the boy you’re talking about, “Sehun. Why?”

“I don’t know. He just seems… kind of bored. And kind of upset that I’m… taking up your attention?” You say slowly, wondering about how true the words are after they come out of your mouth. “Plus we’re all speaking in Chinese, so I’m not sure if he’s comfortable with that.”

“Aw, that’s nice of you to worry about him like that.” Luhan comments, “Yeah, he can be like that sometimes. It’s kind of sweet. We’re pretty close. He’s kind of a quiet guy, so he doesn’t open up to people that easily.”

“But you managed to get through to him. How surprising.” You roll your eyes slightly, but smile nonetheless, imagining how effortlessly Luhan can make people open up to him.

“He’s like a little brother. I kind of want to take care of him.” He says as he turns back to smile at Sehun when he finally looks up. He stops for a moment to beckon the boy forward with a gentle smile that attracts just anyone and everyone who comes within its path.

And just like a little puppy, Sehun stands up a little straighter as he picks up his pace to catch up to you and Luhan. Luhan puts his arm around Sehun’s shoulders this time as you guys continue walking out of the gates and down the street. “Sehun, you remember Yun, right?” he asks him as he looks to you, “She was a good teammate today, right?”

“Yeah, you were good today.” He says in his low, somewhat monotonous voice.

“Thank you.” You bow your head to him quickly, suddenly conscious of your Chinese accent, “You played really well today too.”

Luhan attempts to have the two of you make small talk between him, but eventually, Sehun brings something up that involves them talking to each other in more advanced Korean that you have yet to learn. So you slowly and subtly slow down and make your way back towards the other three behind you, letting Sehun enjoy Luhan’s company by himself, undoubtedly the way he likes it.

You make your way back and walk next to Lay, “So uhm… I’m sorry if I’m taking up too much of your time or anything.” You start slowly.

“What?” he says, snapping out of his small daze.

“You know, if I made you wait too long or anything, I’m sorry. And since you have to deal with me a lot, even though it’s only my second day. Thank you for everything, though. I really appreciate it.”

“I know.” He nods, “So it’s okay, you don’t have to keep saying it.” He says gently.

“Sorry.” You apologize as if he had just said it like it was annoying him.

“Aiya… Baiyun, relax a little. You’re so stiff.” Tao laughs from Lay’s other side, “We like you, okay? So you don’t need to keep worrying about you bothering us. We’re hanging out with you because we want to. We’re friends, right?”

“Thank you.” You bow your head quickly, “For being my friends, and everything.”

“You still have so much to learn.” Tao shakes his head with another laugh falling off of his lips.

“Still only my second day,” You shrug in response.

“Oh yeah, huh?” Tao says, turning up to look at Kris as if the thought had just dawned upon him. You can understand how he hangs around people who have similar reactions to him. “By the way, are you going to play with us tomorrow?”

“Well, if you guys want. I always eat first, though.” You shrug again.

“Really? You eat in the cafeteria? But the food’s not that good.” Tao scrunches his face just slightly.

“Do you not eat there?” You ask.

“We all bring out lunch out to eat near the courts. There are some shady trees on the side we eat under.” Kris answers this time, “But whenever it rains or snows, he just shows up to one of our homerooms during the lunch break. He likes bothering us too much.” He jokes. And you can’t help but let out a little laugh at how Tao seems to like sticking around Kris. It kind of reminds you of Luhan and Sehun’s relationship in a way, but Tao is a little more friendly and willing to open up to other people.

“You’re free to join us for lunch if you want.” Tao offers.

“It’s okay, I’m sure you see enough of me during the day already.” You smile in a joking tone, but kind of meaning what you say secretly.

“Yeah, I guess you need your girl time to talk about guys or fashion or whatever.” Tao sighs.

“Uhm… thanks.” You chuckle a little before you follow the guys into a small convenience shop, where Luhan leads all of you towards one of the fridge carts that holds all sorts of ice creams and popsicles.

Sehun and Tao grab for specific bars immediately before anyone else. But Luhan looks to you as he picks up his own ice cream, “Baiyun, pick one, I’ll treat you.”

“What? No, it’s okay, you don’t have to do that.” You shake your hand to turn down his offer.

“It’s fine,” he scoffs, waving you off, “I’m the oldest, I should be treating everyone today. It was my idea anyway.”

You snap your head up from the variety of ice creams in the cart, “You’re the oldest? No way, that can’t be true at all.” You smile.

“It’s true.” Tao pops up beside you, holding his ice cream close to his face, “That’s why he’s always buying us stuff and taking the lead. Responsibilities.”

“You’re not lying to me right now, are you?” You ask, still somewhat incredulous.

“Baiyun, just pick the ice cream. I’ll prove it to you, okay?” Luhan laughs, “I’ll treat everyone today like usual.”

After blinking a couple of times, you reach in and pick a vanilla ice cream popsicle with a chocolate shell coating and Luhan finally closes the sliding cover on the cart. “Now let’s go pay.” Luhan says, leading the rest of you towards the cash register.

“No, seriously,” You whisper to Tao, “I thought Kris was the oldest?”

“He is, right after Luhan. But do you remember one of the guys that sat out today?  He’s just a little older than Luhan. The one with the puffy cheeks that look like buns? We call him Baozi.” He laughs.

“No, I don’t…” You say slowly, trying to recall all the different faces you saw today in the midst of the game when all you wanted to do was escape the unfamiliar faces of the other team. “But what? Baozi?”

“It’s actually kind of cute. He’s pretty cute.” He laughs. “I’ll show you tomorrow or something.”

“I uhm… Okay.” You’re still left wondering about this strange revelation of Luhan’s age. He was only a year above you and Tao, so he must only be a couple months older than Kris. That was acceptable enough. But his boyish face looks like that of a fifteen-year-old. If he weren’t so tall, you could definitely mistake him for a middle schooler.

You all put your ice creams on the counter for the cashier to ring up, and as he states the price to Luhan, who’s standing in front of the register, digging through his wallet for the right bills. You take the chance to pull out your cardholder with your T-card in your jacket pocket and press it against the scanner. When it makes a beeping noise, Luhan looks up and sees you tucking your cardholder back into your pocket before you retrieve your ice cream, avoiding his eyes as you thank the cashier, and turn away to walk out of the store quickly, pulling open the plastic of your ice cream.

Eventually, the others come out to meet you with their ice creams in hand, and Luhan makes a beeline for you, several bills rolled in his hand, ready to push into your pocket.  You quickly back up and hold your hands up to stop him, “Stop!”

“Baiyun, come on, I said I would treat you guys. Just take it.” He holds the bills out as he advances towards you again.

“No! No. It’s okay, it’s for you guys. For uhm… thank you for letting me play with you guys today. I had fun, so I figure I should pay you guys back for showing me a good time.” You say.

Luhan rolls his eyes at you before trying to come at you again, but you quickly dodge him like you would in a basketball game and take refuge behind Sehun. Sehun glances over his shoulder at you to see you pointing your eyes to the ground as you bite into your ice cream. The chocolate shell breaks and melts onto your tongue immediately, mixing with the vanilla ice cream inside.

“Just give it up, Luhan. Don’t act as if you’re surprised that she’s sneaky as hell.” Tao laughs as he bites into his ice cream cone that he’s just pushed out of its plastic covering.

“Ugh,” Luhan scoffs, rolling his eyes again, “Fine, whatever. Everyone thank Yun for the ice cream, please.” He says in Korean for Sehun to understand as well.

Sehun turns around to face you as he choruses a thank you with the others for the ice cream. You feel as if you see a small half-smile cross his face at you for a moment, so you smile back, “You’re welcome.”

“But next time just let me do my job, okay? Ugh, this hurts my pride, you know. I didn’t know that saving money would hurt this much.” Luhan says sarcastically as he holds a hand up to his chest mockingly.

You let your lips curve upwards to reveal the top layer of your teeth before moving over to the side to stand next to Tao, looking down as you smile to yourself for no reason in particular. You just really like the atmosphere around these guys, and you were endlessly grateful that you could befriend them. But you don’t fail to catch Luhan whispering to Lay as he slips something into his pocket from the corner of your eye.

Finally, all of you make your way down the street towards the subway stop, enjoying your ice creams under the bright sun. It hasn’t gotten blazing hot yet, but summer is just around the corner. As you look around the streets to take in more of the city, Tao suddenly asks, “Hey, how come you came out later today anyway? You stayed in the classroom for like, ten minutes or something after he dismissed us.”

“I wanted to ask for help with Korean, since I’m a little more behind than you guys since I came in late. He said that he would find me a tutor to help me outside of class.” You answer.

“Tutor?” Kris asks, pulling his ice cream away from his mouth as he looks at you. “Do you need one?”

“Well, I would think so. Since I’m so late into the game.” You shrug.

“Well, I’d be happy to help you if you like.” He offers, “Sometimes I help Tao with his homework and stuff. I could tutor you if you want.”

“You would?” You ask with a grateful smile, “That means a lot, actually. So thank you. But the teacher already told me that he’d ask one of his other students for me. But thank you for the offer. I’ll be sure to come to you if I have any other questions that can’t be answered.”

“Wait, who’s your teacher? Mr. Han, right?” Kris asks, looking at Tao. When the younger boy confirms his answer, Kris looks to you again with what you somewhat identify as a slightly smug smile, “He was my teacher too. I did pretty okay in his class, and I helped him out a bunch of times. He might actually ask me or maybe Lay or Luhan to tutor you. If not us, then maybe one of the other students in our old class. But I honestly don’t think he trusts the girls in our previous class.”

“Really? Well then… that would be great.” You blink to yourself at the convenience of the possible coincidence. If one of the guys would be willing to tutor you, you’d have more opportunities to hang around these guys. You didn’t have hope that your love of basketball would keep them inviting you out for ice cream.

For some reason, you were kind of hoping that Lay would be the student that the teacher asked to help you. He doesn’t intimidate you as much as Kris does sometimes, and he gives off a serious aura that makes you think that he’d be more focused on teaching you than Luhan, who you imagine to goof off a lot during a lesson. Sure, you weren’t afraid to ask Kris questions, but imagining trying to learn under his strong gaze would make you feel a bit uncomfortable. Luhan is just a little too fun for you. Sometimes you just needed to be calm and focused when you were trying to learn. And where else are those characteristics as prominent as they are in Lay? Plus, he lives close to you, so it’d be another convenience to meet up with him if you needed.

“Yeah, if it’s not one of us, I suppose, if you want, you could ask him to ask one of us. Since you know us already.” Kris says, “That is, if you’re willing to have one of us tutor you.”

“Uhm, yeah. I’d be into that.” You nod as you drop the wooden popsicle stick into your plastic bag that held your ice cream and roll it up and put into your pocket to throw away later. “Thanks for telling me.”

Soon, all of you make your way to the subway station, and after scanning your T-card and seeing the remaining amount of money left, you’re surprised to see that there’s still half of the amount you inserted yesterday when you purchased the card. You had expected that the price of your lunch and all the ice creams would have made you need to add more money immediately.

All six of you wait at the same station together, but the train going in the other direction comes first. So Tao follows Luhan and Sehun into the other train, leaving you to wait with Lay and Kris for your own train. The three of you make small talk as you wait for the train, and you continue to do so when you find seats once you board it. Fifteen minutes later, you and Lay part with Kris as he turns a street to walk towards his own neighborhood.

You and Lay are walking comfortably and silently beside each other again and when you reach your apartment building, you feel as if you just had a wonderful conversation with him even though the two of you barely uttered any words to each other throughout the walk. “So, I’ll pick up tomorrow at the same time?” he says as the two of you stand in front of your apartment building.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Thank you again, Lay. For helping me with everything.”

“It’s not a problem,” he shakes his head. He starts backing away before he stops and beckons you forward with his fingers, saying that he wants to tell you something.

You blink curiously before watching towards him, and he beckons for you to come closer. And you lean your face forward a bit, but suddenly his mouth is near your ear, his light breath sweeping the side of your ear. He puts his hand on your shoulder and you feel yourself stiffen just slightly as your eyes widen, “Thanks for the ice cream.” He says quietly before he pulls away.

You continue to blink as Lay starts making his way backwards before turning around to walk down the street. Just before he turns around, you see a small smile flash across his face. You’re left with your heart beating a little quicker than before and slightly confused, but curious at the look of pure amusement in his smile that you saw just before he left. As if he was about to laugh, almost. It feels as if it’s the first time you’ve seen him smile, the first time you’ve spotted that dimple on his right cheek, and it probably is. It hits you out of nowhere, and you just wonder where the hell it came from. But when you look down and see several rolled up bills in your coat pocket, it doesn’t take long to figure it out where they came from.