"You may go," the principal dismissed Kris.  

Kris bowed and closed the door behind him.

"How am I gonna tell the others?" Kris thought out loud while scratching his head.

Luhan is walking home by himself today. Chen and Lay had afterschool clubs, so they go home a bit later. Xiumin is probably... who knows what he's up to? Kris was pulled out from class earlier and hadn't returned. And Tao was nowhere to be seen. In conclusion, Luhan had no one to go home with. He could have asked Sehun, but it's been a while since Luhan had given Sehun some alone time, since they're always together.

"I'm back!" Luhan shouted while he entered the house.

"Hey, how was school?" Luhan's father asked from the living room.

"It's uhm... good. I'm taking a nap," Luhan quickly said and ran up to his room, not wanting to talk to his father.

"Okay!" He heard his father answer before he closed the door.  

Luhan dropped his bag on the bed. He fished out a ringed sketchbook and grabbed a pencil then crawled on the bed and sat down with his back against the backboard. He reminded himself to buy a new sketchbook after turning to the last, black page.

Once he got started, his hand moved by themselves and his mind went off thinking about the earlier events. What stood up the most was when Sehun rejected his hug-- Sehun never reject his hugs!     

'There's must be something wrong with Sehun. He said people were watching so he pushed me away, but when did he care start caring if people were watching? I thought Sehun likes skinship, maybe not with me?'

Luhan continued to have an internal war with himself whether Sehun hated him or not. But after awhile, he remembered his drawing on his lap and what he saw surprised him. It was a simple portrait of Sehun, every one of the boy's facial features were very well-drawn. His eyes seemed to look dazed, his nose were an exact copy and his lips... indescribable. Only someone who had been watching him for a long time could copy them perfectly and it looked so realistic that Luhan started talking to it, pretending that it was the real Sehun.

"Sehun?" Luhan tilts his head cutely, he knew Sehun goes crazy when he does that, "What's wrong? I want to talk to you, but I'm scared that you'll ignore me, I hate it when you ignore me. Tell me what's wrong so we can fix it, okay?" Luhan hugged his sketchbook and yawned. Before long, he had fallen asleep, thinking of Sehun even in his dreams.

Xiumin wandered around the school, peeking at the clubs and activities going on. He'd seen Lay during his visit at the math club, laughing (or flirting) with Suho. He also passed by the gym, easily spotting Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun and some other sweaty guys in the middle of an intense basketball practice. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, who looked like he was forced to stay there, were chatting with a group of people that surrounded them in the bleachers.

Xiumin made no attempt to approach them, he was simply observing the clubs and activities, trying to find an interesting one to maybe participate in. But none of them piqued his interest, it worried him that all his efforts were going to be for nothing. He could have had a great time eating by now!

The last place he hadn't seen is the theatre. The councelor mentioned to him that he should stop by and take a look.

So he quietly tip-toed to the door and he was about to open it, but a voice made him freeze.

"Xiumin hyung?" A familiar voice asked from behind. Xiumin slowly turned around to find Chen with a confused look on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Um... just happened to pass by?"

"Is that so? Well, have you seen Luhan? We're starting soon, and we can't find him."

"I saw him go home earlier."

"Oh yeah! I forgot to tell him we got practice today, my bad. Well, Minseok hyung, can you do me a favor then?"

"It's Xiumin," Xiumin corrected, "and it depends."

"You just have to substitute for Luhan. It's pretty easy!" Chen said as he smiled a cheeky grin.

"And what does Luhan do?"

"He sings, like me, on the stage. It's just a rehearsal."

"Can't you do a rehearsal without Luhan?"

"Well... no, we need Luhan. So can you do it?"

"You're not gonna let me leave until I say yes, huh?"

"Nope! I'll drag you in even if I have to."

"Well, no need. I'll do it... whatever it is."

"Thank you, Xiumin." Chen quickly grabbed the elder's wrist and led him inside the theatre.

There wasn't a lot of people inside, just a few, doing vocal excercises on the stage. Chen continued to lead him and soon they were also on the stage. Xiumin gave Chen a questioned look, but he just returned him an unknown smile. A mike stand was placed in front of them and Chen checked if they were working.

"Okay! It's ready!" Chen shouted and the people behind them got down from the stage and sat at the front row seats. "Xiumin hyung, are you ready?" 

"Wait, I'm singing too?"

"Absolutely, remember? You're Luhan's replacement for today."

"But I can't sing!"

"Come on, I can tell you can sing just by looking at you, right guys?"

The audience all nodded their heads and gave a 'fighting' sign.

"See! Come on, I bet you'll know this song." Then Chen signalled to start the music.

Xiumin started panicking on the spot. He'd never tried singing and even more, he'd never sung in front of other people. He knew the younger was a singer, but he never expected for him to be dragged on stage next to him. 'I have to sing next to Chen?! I'm not a singer, what if he thinks I'm terrible?! Ugh! That'll be so embarrassing!' Xiumin palms were not sweating of nervousness and the stares are not helping at all.

Chen looked the the elder next to him and he's felt bad for dragging him into this. He heard that Xiumin needed a club to join so he asked the councelor, to tell Xiumin, that the theatre is open for people to come visit. And just his luck, Xiumin was about to enter when he came back from a break. Luhan's absence was just an excuse to convince Xiumin to come try for a little audition. The director of the club was sitting on the front row seats with the other performers. Chen pleaded the director, before the practice, to listen to someone for the vacant spot in the club.

And now Chen was starting to regret his decision seeing Xiumin frozen on the spot. The director stopped the music and stood up, he headed to the pianist and whispered something in his ear. The music changed from a classic song to a familiar new song, Baby Don't Cry by Exo, a popular rookie group. Chen looked at Xiumin to see a sudden change of expression, he seemed to know this song.

The intro of the song dragged on until a voice joined the melody. Chen quickly turned his head to Xiumin who was now singing with his eyes closed. The song was a duet, Chen remembered trying out the song with Luhan before and it was time for the next person to take over.

Xiumin loves this song! He could have continued but he remembered that it was a duet and just in time, Chen took over. Xiumin was mesmerized by Chen, not just by how he looked but by his voice. Chen turned to Xiumin and that's when he felt his face heat up. Chen looked at him tenderly while singing. Xiumin couldn't look away even when he joined Chen by the chorus and the two was locked in their own world. The song went on and by the end the two finally realized that they were not alone. The audience madly cheered when the song ended.

"That was great you guys. Can you tell me your name?" The director asked Xiumin.

"My name is Min-"

"Xiumin, sir. It's Xiumin." Chen corrected the elder. Xiumin gave him a smile but blushed and looked away.

"Well, Xiumin, we have an empty spot here in the theatre club. How about you fill in that spot?"

"Really?! ME?" Xiumin squealed.

"Yes, you."

"Asdfghjkl! Chenchen! Ohmygosh!"

"You're hurting my ear. And Chenchen? Really?" Chen laughed at Xiumin who was now jumping in complete happiness.

"Gahhh! Chenchen!" Xiumin stopped and hugged Chen by the neck. Chen was caught off guard but he managed to stay up.

"Congratulations, Xiumin hyung," Chen purred next to Xiumin's ear and s his arms around the elder's waist. His hands traveled lower making the Baozi turn into a tomato.

Dribble throw miss

Dribble throw miss

Dribble throw.... MISS!

'Ugh! Why do I keep missing the basket?' Jongin threw the last ball in frustration.

Just then, the door to the gymnasium opened loudly and Kris peeked inside.

"Hey wassup, Jongin," Kris said as he picked up the ball that rolled to his feet.

"Kris!" Jongin said as he ran over to the tall blonde.

"Why are you here alone? Where's Chanyeol and Sehun?" Kris asked.

"They ditched me, they said they were too tired. By the way, How'd the principal visit go?"

Kris didn't answer. He just dribbled the ball he was holding and aimed for the basket across the gym.

"Ha! You can't make it from here," Jongin said with a smirk.

Kris ignored Jongin and threw the ball and... score!

"Show off," Jongin mumbled but Kris still heard.

"Why? You jealous?" Kris said with a chuckle.

"No, I could do better than that." Then Jongin picked up the closest ball and positioned himself. He aimed for the farthest basket across the gym and threw it. 'Score! Finally!'

"Hey Jongin?" Kris said, his voice suddenly taking a serious turn. He knew he had to tell Jongin at some point, why not now? 

The younger one was doing a victory dance, but stopped and looked at Kris. "What?"

"You've gotten better."

"Well, yeah, I've been practicing a lot. I even stayed longer today."

"And that's why you're perfect to be captain."

Jongin looked at Kris to look for any sign that he was joking or anything. But Kris was dead serious.

"What are you talking about? You're not quitting are you?"

"No, well, kind of. I guess you could say I'm taking a break?" Kris tried to explain.

"Wait, was this because of the fight earlier?" Jongin tried to think as to why Kris was suddenly acting like this. "What did the principal say?"

"Well," Kris sighed, "he said that fighting in school was wrong and my punishment should be severe because I almost beat up the guy to a pulp." Then Kris thought back to the feeling he felt earlier. "Ha! That bastard deserved it. He dared to bully my Tao where I can see him perfectly?! In the presence of the Wu Yifan?!"

"Woah, Kris calm down!" Jongin tried to calm Kris before he goes crazy and he knows Kris is very dangerous when he's mad, especially when it involves his Zitao. "I think we have superiority complex."

Kris scoffed and ignored Kai's comment. "Anyway, he said that he'll let me off the hook since I'm not a bad student and this is the first time I fought in school."

"Yeah, okay so what about the "taking a break" thing?" Jongin said while air quoting the last part.

"I should have been kicked out of school, BUT he decided that suspension for two weeks would be good enough."

"Oh okay, at least your not totally gone."

"No. Think about it. This week, is there anything happening this week?"

"Yeah, we're playing against JYP High four days from now, on Friday." Jongin's eyes widened as it finally dawned on him. "No! No no no no! Don't tell me you're not going. You're not gonna play?!"

"That's not it. I CAN'T go. I'll still be in suspension. That's why I'm handing my spot to you. You're the new captain."

Kris took a step towards Jongin, but Jongin backed away and feverishly shook his head. "I can't do that. C-can't you still go? It's an important game!"

"No, suspension is suspension, even for the Wu Yifan."

"Wait a minute, have you told coach? I bet he's not okay with this."

"Actually, he agreed with me letting you be the new captain and replacing me."

"But-"

"Jongin, I know you can do it and I know that you're good enough to lead the boys to victory."

"Kris." Jongin was almost close to tears.

"Okay!" Kris said, his decision was final and he knows that Jongin won't be able to say anything else. "Now let's play a last game before my parents lock me in the house for two weeks."

"How about the others? Are you going to tell them? How about Tao?"

"I'll... leave that up to you. Now let's play! I won't go easy on you." Kris said as he ruffled Jongin's hair.

"Ya! If I win at least YOU tell Tao. I'm not dealing with that kung fu panda." Jongin mumbled the last part but Kris really do have good hearing and laughed.

"Deal!"

author's note:

It's been so long! So Sehun is rejecting Luhan, Chanyeol has some kind of problem with Baekhyun, Kris got suspended for violence, Jongin lost so he's gonna have to deal with Tao or maybe not..., Sulay is flirting with each other, and Chen is a ert hahaha everyone has issues... -_- 

Anyways I hope this chapter was okay. I'm sorry for taking so long, school is just so... yeah... My family thinks I'm stressed because I keep having breakouts lol! Their so funny, I think its just the weather yeah... thats it... Ok! so Luhan's birthday! Yay~ He's 23 I think He got so many presents I wish i have that much presents on my bday its on the 28th Just letting you guys know... hahahahaha no? okay...

Thank You guys for reading and you guys don't know how happy I am even with the lack of comments lol jk THANK YOU again!!! <3 /hugs/ bye~  :D