Saejin was glad that Luhan was showing her where the class was because it was a bit more complicated to find her chemistry class than she thought.

But as Luhan walked a step ahead of her she couldn’t help but wonder if Luhan even cared about Sehun. I know I don’t really know either of them well but really. It’s such a horrible feeling to cut off communication with good friends… so why would Luhan do that by choice?

She sighed as she tried sorting out her thoughts, the words that Chanyeol poured out cycling throughout her mind.

Luhan heard the heavy sigh and turned to make sure that Jaejin was following him, oddly curious when he saw Jaejin’s eyes trailing along the floor.

“Yah,” Luhan called and Saejin’s head snapped up. “Watch where you’re going,” He warned, “you might walk into a pole.”

Luhan didn’t understand the point of the words he said but he felt a bit edgy, wondering what Chanyeol was so serious about. He chewed on his bottom lip, his lips curving up a bit as memory after memory flooded into his vision of all the silly times he spent with the eleven other guys.

“What are you smiling about?”

Luhan looked up and dropped his smile immediately, a frown painting his face. “Nothing.” He blinked, trying to rid his thoughts of the past that was no longer present.

Ms. Pai, a sweet elderly Chinese woman was standing at the door of the chemistry classroom welcomed Saejin warmly. She gave Saejin a syllabus and a few workbooks along with a textbook and gave her permission to sit anywhere in the large, well lit room.

The moment Luhan’s hit the chair he always occupied, he shut his eyes and opened them slowly, his head idly sitting on the palm of his hand. His gaze travelled sleepily around the classroom, watching bulks of students pour their way in as the bell rang. Jaejin was talking to Ms. Pai and once he received all his handouts, Jaejin turned to look at all the empty seats left. Not many people were inside yet but there were some seats taken, not including the one next to Luhan. Luhan sighed when he saw Jaejin coming down his aisle but his lips twitched when Jaejin sat at the table in front of his. I don’t really want to sit next to him. I feel kind of unsettled around him. Something about Jaejin is off… it’s like he knows something that I don’t. I hope Chanyeol didn’t say anything. I mean, it wouldn’t really affect me but it would be awkward, if Jaejin found out… anything so quickly.

Luhan’s stomach flipped when he recognized the soft brown hair that the familiar hand would self-consciously ruffle every thirty seconds sit down in the seat next to Jaejin.

Why’s Sehun sitting with Jaejin? Are they friends?

As if just to answer that question, Sehun laughed in response to something Jaejin said. Luhan felt empty because of that, sad to see someone make his ex-best friend laugh, someone that wasn’t him.

“Hey Luhan.”

Luhan looked up and greeted his friend Lay with a nod of his head. Lay took the seat next to him and fished out his binder, pulling out a piece of paper. “Hey, for this problem, there were only three significant figures since the numbers before this digit don’t count right? But if there’s a decimal, then…”

Luhan wasn’t paying any attention to Lay.

 “Yah, you okay?”

Luhan blinked and looked at Lay, who was studying his face curiously. “You look agitated,” Lay observed. “Your new roommate sleep on your bed or something?” Lay chuckled at his own joke.

Luhan waved his hand dismissively. “Nothing. The answer’s three.” He added, pointing at the problem. Lay thanked him and focused on the sheet of paper while Luhan returned his attention to the two guys sitting one table ahead of him.

How does Jaejin know them? Luhan thought, frustrated.

--

Saejin’s strong point had always been science and her eagerness for chem escalated as the class flew by. Sehun was slow at it, something that came as surprising to Saejin due to Sehun’s appearance as a smart student.

“It takes me a while to learn things,” Sehun whispered, eyebrows furrowed as he frowned at the blank worksheet in front of him. Saejin eyed it, solving the questions easily in her head.

Sehun chuckled. “Kyungsoo hyung and Chanyeol hyung always tutor me, because I have a few classes with them. You seem smart. I’ll be borrowing your brain sometimes.”

Saejin laughed but agreed, not being modest when it came to her chem knowledge. She aced all her past science classes and ranked in the top five for the science department in the region.

A hearty wave to Sehun and Saejin walked out of the class, consulting her map for where her English class was.

English was another of Saejin’s favorites. English is one of the hardest languages to master and Saejin always thought this was the understatement of the century, but having taken years of English gave her an advanced knowledge of the language, despite the innumerable grammar mistakes she frequently made.

“Yah, watch out!”

Saejin’s head popped up and her eyes widened at the pole just a few inches from her face. She sighed and stepped back, eyeing Luhan as he came up behind her.

“Watch where you’re going,” He mumbled, frowning. “I told you I’d show you where your English is.” Luhan stalked off before Saejin could make a note of anything, and she scurried behind as he silently lead her to the language building.

A small gesture with his hand was all Saejin got and he was off, disappearing to who knows where. Saejin huffed and entered the class, confused as to why her roommate was so odd.

Saejin was happy to find that not only Chanyeol but Suho as well were both in her class, boldly greeting her with a loud “WELCOME!” from across the room. She rolled her eyes, checked in with the teacher and sat behind Chanyeol, Suho sitting next to him.

A few students entered just as the final bell was blared and Chanyeol turned halfway in his desk, tapping Saejin’s to get her attention.

“That’s Kris,” he whispered, nodding to the seat a few back and a row over. Saejin turned and her eyes widened at the sculpted example of perfection that sat calmly in his chair, an aura of irritating confidence with a hint of dictatorship casting a shadow of conceitedness over the entire class. He flicked his glinting eyes at her and her eyes flew up to the clock on the wall, trying to subtly show that she wasn’t looking at him.

Saejin frowned when she faced forward again. Kris didn’t seem to be someone that Chanyeol would be friends with… of course, like Chanyeol said, Kris had changed when they spread apart. Opposites attract, I guess.

Class droned on much too slowly, her attention diverted by Chanyeol’s occasional dorky comment in a failed attempt at English every once in a while. Suho was okay with English, his accent pretty decent but there was plenty of Engrish to throw Saejin off. They got up once the bell rang and headed out, lines of students heading to get lunch from the cafeteria.

“What’re your next classes?” Suho asked.

Saejin consulted her schedule, skimming the room numbers and teachers. “Math, then history.”

Chanyeol pouted, scratching his head. “I have astronomy and then math… damn it. Only one class together.”

Saejin shrugged, pocketing her schedule. “Well, at least we have one class together.”

“We only have English together,” Suho sighed, looking down.

Saejin jutted out her bottom lip. “Well…there’s always lunch, and soccer, and all the passing periods and Chanyeol, all the times we can wave through windows at each other… so it adds up!”

He chuckled and ruffled her hair, earning a shriek of irritance from Saejin.

After picking up random pieces of food and piling their plates high, they made their way over to the lunch table that was already occupied by Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. Saejin raised an eyebrow when she heard both of them speaking in husky, deep voices, immediately recognizing the voice from a few movies.

“Isn’t that… Oh Kwangrok?” Saejin asked Chanyeol, who nodded while rolling his eyes.

“It’s their only form of communication,” Chanyeol replied, scrunching his nose.

Lunch passed easily with recollections of old stories, memories brought about by Saejin’s curious questions about them. She specified her questions to each person individually, avoiding any topics about the friends that they had split from.

“But seriously,” Baekhyun spluttered, everyone laughing at the story he was telling, “Sehun and I walked into the bathroom, and I just saw Chanyeol trying to stand in the sink, and he didn’t have his shirt on-“

“Yah!” Chanyeol blushed, fuming, “There was a spider and I was about to take a shower-“

“And his foot got caught and he fell off the counter and landed on Sehun.”

Saejin coughed up a bit, laughing her head off as she imagined Chanyeol squishing Sehun.

Kyungsoo and Saejin walked to math together and sat at the desks in the front, both of them, although not the best at math, more interested in it than the average student. Saejin liked the feeling of writing out correct equations, of understanding a question about a topic that didn’t come too easily for her.

Saejin had history class with Baekhyun but huffed when she noticed the seat next to him taken. She plopped down at a table near the back that the teacher directed her to, head resting on her palm and fingers idly tapping at the table. Just one more class, Saejin, you got this. Then you can go potate on a couch and do nothing until soccer practice.

She looked up when a figure next to her sat down and her eyes widened a bit. Kris, I think. Chanyeol’s fri- er, ex-friend?

Kris nodded at Saejin, an awkward but polite smile on his lips. “I’m Kris. You’re new, right? On the soccer team?”

Saejin nodded. “Yeah, Jaejin.”

Any response that Kris may have had was cut off by the teacher calling their attention and Saejin sighed, prepared for a long lesson of boring dates and events that would never come in handy in the future.

Just as the bell rang Saejin hopped up, hurrying out of the room to get away from the horribly boring lecture. Her mind was swirling with too much unneeded information and she shut her eyes tight, fingers rubbing at temples to calm her irritated mind.

“Hey, Jaejin,” A voice called and Saejin turned around, confused as to why Kris was calling her over.

He jogged up to her and ran a hand through his perfectly tousled hair. “I was going to tell you yesterday, but you’re a hell of a defender,” He said and Saejin smiled. That’s exactly what Kai told me.

He checked his watch and bit his lips. “Wanna go to the café with me?” He asked and Saejin thought about it, shrugging after a bit. “Sure. I could use some energy after that deathly lecture.”