Kevin Woo stared up at the impressive arches that lined the doors of Seoul High School. Even though it was a public institution, it was still touted as one of the best on the Korean peninsula. From that moment forward, this was where he would be attending school. Not only that, he had decided, but he was going to take the school by storm. He was really going to make something of himself this time. 

         But first, he had to start by making an impression. He glanced down at the slip of paper in his hand, reading the words over once more even though he already had them memorized. The high school had plenty of social clubs. He’d been told all about them when he was taking the tour and speaking to the school counselor. This club had been the only one that caught his interest: UKISS, the school’s own dedicated rap and interpretive dance team.

         He didn’t know much about them, only that they traveled around to compete at rival schools and work on their art. They were supposed to be the coolest of the cool, according to some of the teachers. That was enough to tell him that UKISS was where he belonged. And, just then, he knew that destiny was almost upon him. In twenty short minutes, he would be on stage and giving his audition to the group’s leader.

         Shoving his nervousness aside, Kevin pulled the door of the school open and strode inside, glancing back and forth down the halls Though he had toured the school beforehand, everything still seemed like a maze. The white floors of the halls seemed as blank and nondescript as Kevin’s thoughts as he tried to puzzle out which direction he had gone in when he had been shown around.

         Deciding that any direction was better than none at all, he took a step forward. And ran into a brick wall.

          “OW!” the wall shouted.

          Kevin tumbled backwards, hitting his backside on the floor. The brick wall fell over with him, tumbling forward and pinning him down on the ground. Blinking his eyes to figure out what happened, Kevin looked up and found himself face-to-face with the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

          “Ohmigosh!” Kevin sputtered, realizing what had happened. “I’m so sorry! I totally didn’t mean to run into you!”

          The dark raven above him smiled and laughed, ebony eyes crinkling as he smiled. Slowly, the guy climbed off of him and ran broad hands down his shirt, dusting himself off.

          “Don’t worry about it,” the stranger chuckled. “Didn’t even see you coming, so it’s kinda my fault, too. Or did you fall out of heaven? ‘Cause you look like an angel to me.”

          Kevin blinked at him.

          Scratching his head awkwardly, the stranger held out a hand. “I guess we should just get you back to your feet, huh?”

          Reaching out, Kevin took the offered hand. He stood up, rubbing his backside to try and ease the pain of the fall. He was blushing so brightly that his cheeks looked like Christmas. If he wanted to make an impression at the school, that was definitely the wrong way to go about doing so.

          “Are you okay?” he asked, looking at the other boy sheepishly. 

          Finally getting a good look at him, Kevin felt his heart beat a little faster in his chest. Short, dark and handsome, the other guy had a head of dark hair that would have made fashion models swoon. His sharp features and charming smile were downright captivating. Kevin blinked away when he realized he was staring, chiding himself for having a reaction like that to some guy.

          “I’m fine,” the hottie replied. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new?”

          Kevin nodded slowly, his blush darkening. That earned him another smile.

          Beaming at him, the stranger offered his hand again, this time for a handshake. “In that case, welcome to SHS. My name’s Kim Kyoungjae, but you can call me Eli. It’s short for Ellison.”

          “Ellison?”

          “Yeah, Ellison.”

          “My name’s Woo Sunghyun, but I prefer Kevin.” Kevin took his hand, shaking it. “Nice to meet you.”

          Kevin looked into the depths of Eli’s dark eyes, trying to ignore the way that they seemed to pull him in. Quickly, he turned his head. He needed to look somewhere else while he could still tear his gaze away. 

          Glancing downwards, he spotted something that he probably should have noticed earlier. When he’d crashed into Eli, he had knocked the bag out of the other man’s hand. The top of the bag had come undone, spilling Eli’s things all over the ground.

          “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Kevin said quickly. “Let me help you pick up your stuff.”

          He leaned down, taking hold of a brightly patterned piece of cloth. Huh? he thought in confusion as he realized what it was. A dress. He looked at the rest of the clothes strewn on the ground. Were they all dresses?

          “It’s okay!” Eli said, hurriedly stooping down to help Kevin clean up the mess. He shoved the clothes roughly in the bag, stopping short of tearing the dress that Kevin was holding out of his grasp.

          Kevin looked up at him in confusion, handing it to him.

          “Oh, these are, uh... for my sister,” Eli told him, clearing his throat.

          Maybe Kevin was mistaken, but it looked like Eli was blushing. Weird. And kind of cute. Kevin could feel his own cheeks starting to warm up. He needed a distraction before Eli noticed. 

          “So,” he started, straightening up, “I was looking for the auditorium, but I think I’m a bit lost. Could you point me in the right direction?”
          “Sure!” Eli replied, readily latching onto the new subject. “I can show you the way, if you’d like.”

          “That would be great.”

          “Follow me.”

          Eli took off down the hallway, turning back briefly to make sure that Kevin was following him. As Eli lead the way, Kevin couldn’t help but notice the broad, strongly built shoulders and the way his t-shirt seemed to cling to his manly arms. He couldn’t believe he was staring at another guy. Not wanting to blush further, he forced himself to look down at the backs of Eli’s shoes instead.

          Suddenly, Eli came to a stop and Kevin nearly plowed into him again. He halted, teetering a little on the balls of his feet. He peered over Eli’s shoulder, trying to figure out where they were.

          He mentally facepalmed as he took in the doors of the auditorium, fifteen feet from where he had run into Eli. How could he have forgotten about his audition even for a single second? He was really losing it with this guy. 

          “Thanks,” he said, flushing when Eli shot him another award-winning grin. 

          “Anytime,” came the reply. “Here’s hoping you run into me again.”

          With that, Eli turned and walked down a nearby hall, leaving Kevin to face the wooden doors in front of him all alone.

          Pushing the doors open, he looked in at the auditorium nervously. Spread out in front of him, at least three hundred seats were arranged in fan formation. At the front, a remarkably professional looking stage was lit up by a dozen or so bright lights that shone down from the towering ceiling. In front of the stage, a small group of people were seated in the front couple of rows of the center section, all of them behind a single man that was seated at a card table.

          Making a beeline for the table, Kevin tried to gather his courage. Then, he approached the man and bowed slightly. “I’m Woo Sunghyun. Call me Kevin. I would like to audition, please.”

          The man at the table looked up in surprise, his roguish face brightening with a wide grin. “Somebody actually showed up!”

          “Uh, yes?” Kevin suddenly felt the nerves he had shoved away earlier return with a vengeance. “This is where I’m supposed to be, right? Auditions for--”

          “UKISS! We’re all about rhythm, good looks and dancing,” the guy told him. “Can you rap?”

          “Well, no. Not really. But I want to.”

          “Do you dance?”

          Kevin sort of wiggled his hips, running through a few seconds of Gee. He had learned the dance on a dare, but it was better than nothing. The smile the other guy gave him in response was encouraging, if slightly creeptastic.

          “I can do more,” Kevin promised. “All I want is a chance. Just tell me what to do.”

          “Promises, promises. You’re really cute, you know.”

          “Uh...” How was he supposed to respond to that? “Thanks?”

          The guy laughed. “So, you said your name’s Kevin?”

          “Yes?”

          There was a painful moment of silence where the other man looked him up and down, taking his time in forming an appraisal. Then, he said, “Great. You’re in. My name’s Soohyun. I’m the leader of UKISS. I rap, dance, sing and occasionally wait tables. Can you make it to practice tomorrow after classes?”

          Kevin stared at him, completely shell-shocked. Really? He was in? He couldn’t believe it. He had spent most of the day agonizing over how his rehearsed raps would sound on stage. To help himself out, he had even come up with special poses to make him look more impressive. He was so determined to get in that he had even worn the shorts that he hated, the ones that hung off his hips and showed the waistband of his . And here he hadn’t even needed to. He was completely flabbergasted.

          Suddenly filled with the most unbelievable happiness, he let out a small cheer. Soohyun joined him, laughing and clapping. “Congratulations. Well, can you make it?”

          “Of course,” Kevin replied, grinning “Right about four o’clock, right? Where do we meet?”

          “Out front, in the courtyard,” Soohyun told him. He winked. “Though, if you want, you can come back to my house for a little extra practice, if you know what I mean.”

          Oh, goodness. That Soohyun guy was kind of creepy. Kevin was so happy that he really didn’t care. Smiling so brightly that the sun outside was intimidated, he nodded. “See you tomorrow, then!”

           Kevin dashed out of the room, practically skipping through the halls. He slowed as he neared the doors, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. He needed to share the good news with his girlfriend. Choi Mi Song was the beginning and end to every day for him. Of course he wanted her to be the very first to know.

          He flipped the pigeon charm on his phone out of the way and dialed her number. He hummed a catchy tune by his favorite band as he waited for her to answer, listening to the phone ring through on the other end.

          “Annyeong!” her cheerful voice came through the earpiece. That beautiful sound made his heart sing. She was so perfect.

          “Hi, babe. How are you?” Kevin said, wiggling in anticipation.

          “Good. What’s up?”

           “Guess!”

          “Aniya, Kebiiiiin,” she whined. “You know I hate guessing games!”

          Kevin sighed, but even her party pooperness couldn’t dampen his high spirits. “Please? C’mon, Mi Song! Just guess.”

          “Um, you finally got a new camera? Your Mom finally showed you how to heat up a Pop Tart without catching the microwave on fire?”

          “Nope!” Kevin was far too happy to scold Mi Song for bringing up that incident again. “Not even close.”

          There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “What is it, then?”

          “I’m a rapper!”

          “What?”

          “I went to the audition for the rap team, and I got in!”

          “Oh, daebak! I’m so proud of you sweetie!”

          Kevin bounced up and down happily, quickly catching himself as he remembered that he was out in the open. He shuffled to the side of the steps, sitting down on the bottom one.

          “Our first practice is tomorrow after school. Oh, I need to go home and brush up on my skills, baby!”

          “You’ll do great,” Mi Song assured him. “I’m rooting for you!”

          Kevin grinned again. “Well, I need to get home. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

          “Okay. Saranghae.”

          “Not as much as I love you,” Kevin answered sweetly, purring into the phone.

          “Bye bye!”

          Feeling elated with the day’s events, Kevin let out a euphoric sigh and slid the button on his phone to end the call. Everything about the day was absolutely flawless, just like Mi Song. 

 

          Collapsing on his bed, Kevin let his bag slip out of his hand and onto the floor. He couldn’t remember the last time his day had been so utterly satisfying and filling. There was so much going on that his thoughts felt as though they were stuck in a cloudy fish bowl. And the fish was hungry.

          Starting at a new school was always rough. This was his sixth school in the past two years. Having a parent that moved around a lot was really tough, especially when you were at that delicate age where you had hormones and awkward body hair to deal with.

          It was impossible to tell right away, of course, but he felt like he might fit in at Seoul High School. The people seemed nice. That Soohyun guy at the auditions had been friendly enough, even if he put Kevin on edge. And then there was the hot guy. Kevin blushed, embarrassed that he used that particular term to describe another boy. It wasn’t like he was gay or anything. He didn’t like guys. He just thought that Eli had been really good looking. That was totally normal, right?

          Still, he kept thinking about the way that their hands brushed together as they had wrestled with that dress and tried to get it back in the bag. It was unnerving how he had felt like they had met somewhere before or something. Eli just seemed so familiar. Warm, even. There was just something about him.

          Rolling onto his side, Kevin hugged his pillow to his chest. He smiled into the fabric, whispering that name under his breath. Despite himself, he wondered whether or not he might get another chance to see him again. He was really looking forward to his first day at Seoul High School.