When lunchtime came, Kyungmi grabbed all the textbooks she had in her locker (she had quite a few of her own just for reference) and staggered her way to the library. To her surprise, L was already there, looking a bit awkward just leaning against the wall on his own.

When he noticed her, he jumped. "W-whoa! What's with all those books?"

"Oh, just in c-case!" Kyungmi huffed, staggering and almost dropping them. L could only just see the tips of her nerdy glasses peeking out from the top book.

"Jesus, you're going to crash into somewhere if you carry all of those." L grabbed about half. "Don't we only need, like, four textbooks at a time?"

"I have my own books as well," Kyungmi admitted, feeling a little embarrassed. She was quite certain normal people don't have stacks of books in their lockers. "I like to read them when I'm bored in class."

L stared at her, and she immediately felt self-conscious. To her relief, all he said was, "Wow, I wish I could enjoy school as much as you. Come on."

They found a spot in the hallway right next to the library and sat down. Kyungmi pulled out her lunch bag, and L was amused to see it was one of the cute ones people would have in grade 7. He noticed black marker on the surface and realized she scribbled in complicated formulas on almost every square inch of space.

"What are these?" He demanded curiously.

Kyungmi flushed red. "I-I wrote some down so I won't forget. I do that sometimes."

L knew it was kind of weird, but he was honestly fascinated by this girl. She was so completely different from the people he's known, almost every little thing she did was unique and funny and interesting. Even the lunches.

She pulled out a big lump of soggy stuff, and L made a face. "Okay, what is that?"

"Halmeoni likes to have a certain pattern with my lunches," Kyungmi explained, looking even more embarrassed than possible. "Today is an S Day."

"S Day?"

"Sandwiches that are stuffed with sauerkraut, salami, sausages, spinach, sour cream, shrimp, and sun chips. And, uh, I have a strawberry smoothie too."

"That sounds disgusting."

"You get used to it after a while." Kyungmi bit into the lumpy, soggy meal. L grimaced and looked away. Out of curiosity, he dug through her lunch bag and pulled out packages of sour straws and skittles.

This was extremely amusing.

"Don't you have anything to eat?" Kyungmi asked in-between large mouthfuls of food. L marveled at how she managed to shovel everything in. It was a nice change from Nara and her friends, who ate extremely tiny bites of everything.

"I don't eat lunch. I don't get that hungry."

Kyungmi's eyes widened in horror. "You can't! Lunch provides the energy needed to sustain students throughout the rest of the afternoon without pulling on the body's reserves! Lunch helps keep our blood sugar level, and if we skip lunch, the blood sugar level drops and we become irritable, sluggish, and prone to losing concentration, thus resulting in bad grades and poor study habits!"

"Alright, alright," L said, before she could say anything more. He looked through her bag and found a Snickers bar, and he decided to steal that. For a few minutes, the two sat in silence eating their meals.

"So, the plan," L stated as he finished the Snickers bar and tossed the wrapper into a nearby garbage can. "Have you thought about when you want Oh Saeryun to get his handed to him?"

"Oh, um ..." Kyungmi paused to think about it. "You know that big game near the end of the school year, right? The one where you can get scouted by colleges specializing in athletics and stuff? Well, you know how the jocks always have a massive party the weekend before, right?"

"Yeah, I know." It was tradition for all the sports players and the popular kids to meet up at someone's party for a wild celebration in honour of the basketball team's upcoming big game. L was invited in his first year at Woollim, but declined. He heard the party could get really crazy, and one year it was rumoured the police came to bust them for drugs.

"Well, I think that should be the time. If you thrash him good, maybe break a leg, he would be forced to skip the game and miss his chance to get scouted. It's his last year at Woollim, which means his chance to get a scholarship to a sports college is as good as over."

L stared at her. "Holy crap, that is evil. I never pegged you as one to really think through your revenge."

Kyungmi looked at the floor, her cheeks pink. "W-well, if you think it's too cruel, we could always --"

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" L said hurriedly. "When I said evil, I meant it was a great idea! That bastard's spent too long bullying kids, he deserves it. I never would have thought about that. You really are smart, aren't you?"

L wondered if he said something good, because Kyungmi blushed again, except this time with pleasure, and a smile was creeping up her face. He supposed not many people called her 'smart'. Maybe 'nerd' or 'loser', or 'that girl with the high grades', but he suspected only a few people ever actually told her she was intelligent.

But that's stupid, he thought to himself. She's a freaking genius, she should be recognized for her talents. Just because she's a little weird doesn't mean ...

Then he remembered that, before talking to this girl, he too labelled her as a weirdo and a socially-awkward nerd he should just avoid. Suddenly feeling ashamed of himself, he stole her Skittles and busied himself dividing the package's contents into colours.

"Well, that will take a while," Kyungmi said shyly, continuing to finish off her massive sandwich. "We've just finished winter break, and it'll take us a few months to prepare the details and wait for the day to come. So, if ... if you'd like, we could work on your plan to break up with S-Son N-N-Nar-r-ra." 

"If it's too hard to say the name, you could just call her 'That Chick', you know," L pointed out. Kyungmi shook her head furiously. 

"No, that wouldn't work, because I'd still KNOW who I'm referring to, and that wouldn't make me feel better at all! Anyway, just ... that person! Do you have any ideas?"

L shrugged and popped a red skittle into his mouth. "Er, to be honest, I haven't the faintest idea. What about you? You made a great strategy for beating the out of Oh Saeryun, what about now?"

Kyungmi rolled her eyes, in the one few sarcastic responses L ever got from her. "Do I look like a girl with great knowledge of the world of romance?"

L decided not to answer. "Well, at some point, you must've ..."

"No, I haven't, okay?" Kyungmi's cheeks were pink again, and her voice was snappy. "I've never had a boyfriend. In case you haven't noticed, I don't even have friends. The only friend I have is currently bedridden with grave injuries, so excuse me if I can't think up a decent plan to help you with your oh-so-big-problem!" She viciously took a bite out of her sandwich.

L wondered if maybe her social life was a sore topic, and decided to avoid it for an indefinite amount of time in the future.

"Okay, that's, uh, that's fine. Really. We have lots of time. Um, maybe you could pretend to be my girlfriend?"

That was a bad decision. Kyungmi almost choked. "You think she'd actually believe that?"

"Okay, so no." L felt his face go rather warm. Why did he even say that?

Luckily for him, Kyungmi wasn't too obsessed with overanalyzing things people say and misunderstandings, and she had already forgotten that little embarrassing conversation. She had sour cream smeared on her lip, and she quickly wiped it off. "I'm not really sure what you can do, maybe --"

"OI! KIM MYUNGSOO!"

L looked down the hall and groaned. "F my life."

"Huh?" Kyungmi was confused. She looked up and nearly shrieked when a boy came flying down the hall, tackling L to the side.

"Get off, you idiot! What are you guys doing here?" Several more boys appeared, and L looked even more grumpy. Kyungmi began to slide down the length of the wall in an effort to distance herself from them. I can't handle this many boys at once!

"Man, where have YOU been? You didn't meet up with us for lunch! We've been looking everywhere for you!" The boy speaking looked a bit scary in Kyungmi's eyes, but his voice was kind and cheerful. He slapped L on the back, and L swatted his hand away, looking annoyed. "Leave me alone, Dongwoo. I told Sungyeol I'm eating somewhere else! Sungyeol, why didn't you tell them?"

Another boy just shrugged, grinning. He looked around, met eyes with Kyungmi, and instantly looked away and clammed up.

"There he goes again. Sungyeol, you need to deal with your shyness issues, man. So, Myungsoo, you're eating with ...?" The intimidating-but-friendly boy, Dongwoo, looked at Kyungmi. "Oh, you! You're uh ... No Kyungmi, right? The girl with the highest grades in the school?"

The pride Kyungmi felt was ridiculously childish, but she felt pleased anyway. She nodded. "Uh, yes, that's me ..."

"L, are you trying to bring your grades up or what?" Another boy said. He was very handsome and gave Kyungmi a charming smile. She instantly felt terrified and squeaked.

"Oi, Woohyun, back off," L ordered. "Actually, how about all of you go the hell away. Kyungmi doesn't handle large crowds of people very well."

"So defensive over her, Myungsoo," the boy called Woohyun teased. "Anything we should know?"

"Drop dead!"

One familiar-looking one smiled kindly at the mortified Kyungmi. "I'm sorry if Woohyun scared you, he's always like that. He doesn't really mean it."

Finally, Kyungmi realized who this person was. "Prince-on-a-horse!" She blurted out in shock. It was the cute boy who gave her the book back last week!

L stared at her and decided to ignore Kyungmi's weird response. "Sunggyu, how do you know Kyungmi?" He demanded.

"How do you know her?" Sunggyu shot back, giving Kyungmi a friendly smile. Something about his polite attitude and softness made Kyungmi endear to him immediately, unlike the loud, hyperactive personalities of the others. 

L grumbled a little to himself, looking sullen. "We made a deal, okay?"

"A deal for what?" Dongwoo asked stubbornly, sitting on the floor near them. "Dude, I ain't leaving until you tell us what's going on!"

"Yeah, bro," Woohyun snickered, settling himself down comfortably too. "Why all the secrecy? When have you become buddies with No Kyungmi?"

"We're not --" L started to say, before he realized the total dickishness of his words and shut his mouth. "I mean, she came to me for help, and I'm asking her for help in return. There. Done. Can you leave now?"

"Guys, maybe we should just let Myungsoo do his business," Sungyeol said quietly, eyeing Kyungmi nervously. Kyungmi has never seen someone as shy as her before. But from what she heard from their weird, confusing conversations, Sungyeol only acted that way around strangers.

Or maybe Kyungmi completely misread their words and was being a social outcast as usual.

"Stop being a wimp, Sungyeol," L complained. "Hey, speaking of which, where's Hoya?"

"Band practice."

"Oh."

"Stop changing the subject, Myungsoo! What's this deal?"

"Er ..."

"Is that From Calculus to Cohomology?" Sunggyu suddenly interrupted. Kyungmi (who had previously been contemplating a quick way of escape from L's bright and too-hyper friends) jolted. "H-Huh?" She eyed one of her topmost stack of books to a very complicated textbook. "You know it?"

"Of course!" Sunggyu grinned, reaching for it and flipping through the pages. "I saw it on Amazon and really wanted to buy it. I've been dying to see what it says about the vector bundles and Chern and Euler classes!"

L, Sungyeol, Dongwoo, and Woohyun all stared at each other.

To L's surprise, a delighted smile broke across Kyungmi's face. She suddenly looked much younger, happier, livelier, and (dare he say it) cuter. Even L's compliment about her being smart didn't match up to her delight now. She was practically bouncing in place and clapping her hands together like a goddamn child.

"Y-you know about those! I thought only Sungjong knew about this book! It's one of the greatest in mathematics ever! You don't even need to know about algebraic topology or cohomology previously to study this!"

Sunggyu opened to one of the chapters, looking completely absorbed in the information. "That's good, I'm just curious on the topic and I never really looked into it that much. I want to be a mathematics professor when I grow up, you know."

"Really?" Kyungmi's voice nearly squealed with uncensored delight, and L noted her cheeks were flushing a soft pink from her joy. "It also tells you about the Thom isomorphism, you know!"

"Are you serious?" Sunggyu smiled. "And the Gauss-Bonnet theorem?"

"Generally speaking. It can serve as an introduction course to algebraic topogoly too! You ... um ..." She suddenly looked down and fiddled with the hem of her shirt, shy. "You can borrow it, if you'd like."

"Really? Are you serious?" Sunggyu smiled at her, and L suddenly felt irritated that his friend could look so much like a cute little hamster when he did that and made all the girls giggle and blush. "Thank you so much, No Kyungmi-ssi. It's very kind of you."

"N-no, it's no problem at all!" Kyungmi was definitely pink now, and she had this big goofy smile on her face. "I'm just glad I met someone who likes mathematics as much as I do! T-that's all!"

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, and Sunggyu offered to help carry her books to her locker. Kyungmi accepted.

"See you guys after school," Sunggyu called out, carrying roughly half the stack. L could see him smiling and talking to Kyungmi as they walked away.

"Dude, why are you just sitting here and letting Sunggyu steal your girlfriend?" Dongwoo asked.

"W-what?" L jolted back into reality. "Ew, gross, man! She's not my girlfriend! That's Son Nara, remember?"

"And don't you hate her guts?" Dongwoo pointed out sensibly. "Well, I don't know much about No Kyungmi to approve or anything, but if she can pull up your grades, hell, I'm all for it! But that's not the point. Are you just going to stand there and let Sunggyu grab her under your nose?"

L rolled his eyes and stood up. "I told you, she's not my girlfriend. In fact, I barely even know her. I've only met her, like, on Friday. And Sunggyu is, what, the third smartest student in the school? He has plenty in common with her to talk about than boring us with it. If he wants to hang out with her, he can. It's not my business."

"Defens~iiiiive." Sungyeol sang under his breath. He and Woohyun snickered and high-fived.

"Oh, shut up!" L couldn't believe he was friends with these dorks. "Forget it, I'm hanging out with Hoya next time!"

"Speaking of which, you never told us about that deal!" Woohyun demanded. "Come on, Myungsoo, out with it! What's this nefarious scheme you're cooking up with No Kyungmi?"

"We won't let you leave for class if you don't say!" Sungyeol warned, grabbing his arms and preventing him from escaping. 

L growled under his breath, "I wish you stayed all shy and quiet and crap all the damn time, Sungyeol! Fine, whatever, our deal was --"

*♦* 

"-- that I would tutor L in math and science and help him break up with his girlfriend," Kyungmi explained as she walked down the halls with Sunggyu. She didn't know if L wanted her to tell or not, but Sunggyu was a man of mathematics! Why shouldn't Kyungmi tell him anything? He knew about the goddamn Gauss-Bonnet theorem, for goodness sakes!

"He asked you to do that? Are you serious?" Sunggyu shook his head with an exaggerated sigh. "Myungsoo, that kid, honestly. He can't even man up to tell a girl his true feelings? Someday that will come back to bite him in the ."

Kyungmi giggled. "Y-yes, well, his girlfriend IS very s-s-scary."

"Sounds like you've faced her off before."

"In e-elementary school." Kyungmi quickly pushed Son Nara out of her head. She was walking down a hallway with a cute boy interested in math, and she won't have a child tormentor in her head frighten this opportunity away! Just wait till she told Sungjong and Halmeoni about this. "And if I do that, he'll help me beat up Oh Saeryun."

"Oh Saeryun?" Sunggyu frowned. He knew that boy, of course, and also knew he was (to say the least) not very nice and deserved a good punching. "Why him? And why Myungsoo?"

"Er, well, he hurt my best friend very badly. And I was recommended L's expertise by Punkie and T-shirt Girl."

"By who?"

"Oh, um ..." Kyungmi blushed. Darn it, she was sounding like an idiot again! "They were these people I met at study hall. I don't know their real names, b-but ..."

To her relief, Sunggyu just laughed. "That's smart, making up nicknames for people you don't know. Better than me. I can remember faces, but I at names. Maybe I should make up nicknames like you do to help me keep track."

"A-alright." Yes! She helped him with something! That was a good impression, right? Maybe Kyungmi should say something else, something funny and witty, to make him laugh. No, Kyungmi, don't do it! Don't ruin the good impression you've just built up! Don't ruin it now!

All too soon, they reached her locker. Sunggyu (very gentlemanly and prince-like) helped restack her books. "You have so much there, you should probably only take out a few at a time. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"T-thank you." 

Sunggyu smiled at her one last time. "Take care of yourself now, No Kyungmi-ssi. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kyungmi stared at him as he walked away.

Then promptly fell against her locker.

A successful interaction with a cute boy! Wait until Halmeoni hears about this!

Then she reconsidered it. Halmeoni might try and kidnap Sunggyu and force him to marry her.

Er, never mind.

Then she remembered why she brought those books. She was hoping to teach L some mathematics after they made plans. Guess she forgot about that little detail.

But that's alright. She met someone who enjoyed the mysterious and fantastical world of numbers and statistics and data and figures. What a beautiful moment in her life.

Then she realized exactly how lame she sounded and felt depressed again.

She really needed to get her together, or she's going to end up embarrassing herself exponentially in front of the only boy she's met (besides her bestie) who actually appreciated her nerd-talk.

*♦*

Oh, man. "A successful interaction with a cute boy". This was stolen from one of my favourite comedians ever:

#Gotta love Tina Fey