“I know this isn't really the way girls would often imagine it, you know being uncreative and all, but will you go to prom with me?”

Choyoung's lungs denied her air as her brain tried to register what he had just told her. Soonyoung's eyes were hopeful, biting the inside of his bottom lip. She had no idea whether or not he was being serious or if he was just playing around with her. Opening to respond, Soonyoung's eyes widened awaiting her answer but forgot what she was about to say when she heard giggling from behind the door. The two raised their eyebrows at the familiar noise of Mrs. Kwon on the other side of the door eavesdropping on them. Choyoung felt Soonyoung's grip tighten on her hands. Bringing her eyes upwards, she saw his face gradating various shades of red and pink as he looked at the door in disbelief.

She felt bad for him, having a nosy mother and whatnot. But actually, she thought that it was really sweet of his mom. This was the first time Choyoung had ever seen Soonyoung so helpless, so confused. It was actually quite...cute. Reaching up on her toes, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, taking him by surprise. A muffled squeal came from the other side once more followed by a few sounds of crashing furniture. Soonyoung nervously laughed, his braces coming into view. Those braces made him look a lot more innocent, she had to admit. It was amusing to see catch him tongue-tied and flustered. At the tips of her fingertips, she could feel his heart racing through the layers of his uniform. That's how hard it was pulsating. Giggling, she took in his completely speechless front, “Yes, I'll be happy to go with you,”

“Really?” he literally breathed out, eyes doubling in size. Soonyoung was just about ready to jump up and down knowing that he had just escaped the evil hands of rejection. What made him twice as happy was that she was nice about it! Pulling her into a tight hug, he lifted her up off her feet and spun her around, “Choyoung thank you so much! I promise that it'll be the best prom night you'll ever experience!”

“Thanks for asking me to go with you,” Choyoung patted his back, adjusting her head so that it sat comfortably against his shoulder. She remembered him apologizing about how uncreative his invitation was, but if anything, it couldn't have been any more perfect. If it had been carefully planned out, there would be more distractions to take away from the true essence of the invitation: his personal feelings. Being the oblivious bloke that she was, she thought that he asked her to go with him because they were close friends. Knowing Soonyoung, he wouldn't know what to do on the actual night of prom if he had asked a random girl instead.

Moments later, the door opened from beside them with a completely destroyed Mrs. Kwon. Her hair was all over the place from all the tugging she did as she rolled around the couch. She swatted at the strands of hair in her face. Soonyoung set Choyoung down, peeking inside to see what his mom had thrown over but was shocked to see the room was clean. Mrs. Kwon decided to keep the details of that to herself, and invited the two inside, keeping a hawk's eye on the two of them. With a wide grin plastered on her face, she asked, “So, how was school today?”

“Your mom is hilarious,” Choyoung leaned up, whispering to Soonyoung who in turn just laughed it off. He loved his mom, but sometimes she was there in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like what happened minutes earlier. Then again, if she hadn't been there, who knows what excuse Choyoung would have given him if she wasn't being her nosy self. Placing the shopping bags on the couch, Soonyoung and Choyoung headed upstairs to avoid any further interrogation.

“Jihoon oppa! Jihoon oppa!”

Stopping in his tracks, Jihoon realized who that voice belonged to and started bolting away. Yelling at the first years in the hallway, he told them to move and get out of his way. Literally flying, he turned the corner and ran inside the first open classroom door he saw, not even caring if anyone was in there. It was after school hours anyway so even if there was someone there, they couldn't reprimand him that bad. Jumping onto the table, he slid underneath the desk to hide. Stopping to catch his breath, he could hear Bee's footsteps approaching the room but to his relief, running past it.

“Oh Jihoon hyung!” someone called out from behind him. Looking up, he saw Hansol and Minji sitting at the desk directly behind him working on homework. Jihoon waved, flashing an eye smile, “Hey Hansol, Minji,”

“Um, what are you doing here?” Minji asked, wondering why Jihoon was in a first year homeroom. Nervously laughing, he stuck at thumb towards the door, “I'm hiding from your friend, Bee,”

The two younger teens' eyes widened at the mention of their classmate's nickname, “Stay as long as you like,”

Thanking them, he got up and said that he had to get going now. Walking out of the classroom, Jihoon pulled his jacket on hoping that Bee wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately for him, she came running around the corner, yelling his name. She had seen him through the window, and chased after him again. Jihoon broke into a run; he did not want to talk to Moon Bi. Not now, not ever. He wove through the classroom hallways, tie flying behind him over his shoulder. Curse his short legs. It wasn't long before Bee caught up with him, forcefully dragging him down onto the floor when her fingers grabbed hold of his backpack strap, “Jihoon oppa, will you just wait a minute?”

“No, I'm not going to ask you to come with me to prom!” He yelped, believing that this was why she was running after him. Everyone was staring at them now at all the commotion they were making. Bee rolled her eyes, and lifted him up to his feet. Still holding onto his backpack strap, she dragged him outside to the courtyard and made it so that Jihoon was facing her, “I'm not asking you to take me to prom, although if you insist, I'd gladly take up the offer...but anyway, that's not my point!”

“So why did you go all Jackie Chan on me just now?”

Bee darted her eyes in every direction, making sure that no one was listening. When she figured that the coast was clear, she pulled him down to her level and whispered, “I think Soonyoung asked Choyoung to go to prom,”

“What? Soonyoung? My Soonyoung? Kwon Soonyoung?” Jihoon laughed, patting Bee's shoulder, “Nah, man. He and I are going to go stag together! Bros for life!”

“How can you be so sure about that?” Bee countered, “Has Soonyoung not been acting weird lately?”

Jihoon's laughter stopped short. Great. Now he had to think. He hated thinking but he guessed it was worth a shot. He started at the very beginning of the day. Having slept in late, he didn't get to school earlier than Soonyoung like he always did. When he got there, Soonyoung was doing what he always did in the mornings. Study. That, or he was bothering Choyoung before homeroom in the courtyard. But this time, he went straight to homeroom. Jihoon did think it was weird but he figured it was because he wasn't there to accompany Soonyoung outside.

Soonyoung was also the kind of student who liked to participate in class; the one who would raise their hand for every question and always get the answer right. But today, he was pretty quiet. In fact, now that Jihoon thought about it some more, Soonyoung was staring out the window all day with this goofy smile plastered on his face. The kind of smile that guys in Korean dramas had when they were in love or some cheesy thing like that. How did he never notice that before?! Bee crossed her arms once she saw the enlightened look on Jihoon's face, “See? Now you know what I'm talking about!”

“Well, how do you know that he was thinking about prom?” Jihoon challenged, still not wanting to believe his best friend of years betrayed him, “What if he was thinking about Choyoung in general? You know, she's all he ever talks about nowadays,”

Bee shrugged, starting to walk towards one of the courtyard's concrete benches, “I guess, but during class, Choyoung was looking at gowns and dresses on her tablet. I saw her screen because I sit behind her and well, the girl never turns her brightness settings down. That's why she never uses her tablet after school. She's drained out all her battery because of all the games she has running and the brightness is in your face like the second coming of Jesus,”

“So, you're concluding that Soonyoung asked her?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying,” Bee was holding herself back so that she wouldn't murder him. He was seriously slow on the intake. Shrugging his shoulders, Jihoon sat down next to her, “Well, it's not like we can do anything about it. I mean, if anything, I'm happy for them. Soonyoung especially. My hyung is growing up!”

“What should we do though?” Bee asked, “I mean, it took them literally more than half of the year to actually get this far! I'm sure nothing will happen on prom night between the two if no one gives them a push in the right direction! You know what I'm talking about right?”

A sly smile formed on Jihoon's face as he began piecing things together in his head, “I know exactly what you're talking about,”

“So? What'll it be?”

“Lee Moon Bi, I'm taking you to prom,”

“No, you need more emotion! You have to feel as if you're in terrible pain!” Director Jang yelled into her megaphone, “Let's do this again, from the top!”

Choyoung sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. This was Seunggwan and her tenth time practicing for the same scene and Seunggwan just couldn't get himself to look like he was hurt. An hour of practice had passed and they were getting nowhere. For the past ten times, all he did was make awkward faces, unsure how to really act in pain. Official roles had come out last week and to her surprise, Choyoung got the lead. Jihoon, to his relief, got Gaston with Chan as Lefou. When Soonyoung found out what role his friends had, he was really disappointed. He got a part, yeah. As the understudy. That meant his chances of even being in the play were little to none! The worst part was that he was the understudy for Seunggwan. Of all people, he had to be the understudy for - Seunggwan! The younger boy pulled his arm away from Choyoung and stood up, whining to the director, “But Director Jang, I've never gotten hurt before!”

“I'd be glad to hurt you,” Soonyoung mumbled into his hand as he watched from the audience seating. Even though he wasn't even guaranteed a secure part in the play, he still had to attend practice. How ridiculous. Jihoon snickered next to him, knowing that his senior's jealousy was acting up again. Soonyoung never failed to amuse. Leaning over in his seat, Jihoon whispered, “I'll punch him square in the face on play night so you can replace him last minute,”

“As much as I'd love that, Choyoung would hate us so much,” Soonyoung whispered back, “She's completely head over heels for this dude,”

Practice went on for another hour, switching scenes every once in a while so everyone would get to practice their scene. Soonyoung rarely even got to talk to Choyoung because she was on stage more than half of the time. Jihoon was gone half the time as well since he had a major role as well. He couldn't help but laugh at how Jihoon was pulling off Gaston. Pretty much everyone in the play was taller than him, excluding some girls, and it was entertaining because Gaston was supposedly the biggest, strongest, guy in town. Jihoon clearly was not this. Soonyoung would never admit it out loud but he was even jealous of Chan when Chan got to sing the song 'Gaston.' Knowing that Chan had a better, more important part than him in the play was infuriating.

His face lit up when Choyoung slipped into the seat next to him once her scene was done. They were now practicing the scene with Maurice, or Samuel, a middle school boy. He was the soon of one of the casting crew and they saw him fit, and short enough to play Maurice. All the high school boys that auditioned were either too tall or too deep voiced. Chan and Jihoon, the two shortest of the cast members, were already given other parts. Maurice had run back to town to tell everyone that a monster has captured his beloved daughter. Of course, Gaston made him look like a fool to the villagers. Choyoung saw the unamused look on Soonyoung's face as he watched the scene being practiced. She laid her head on his shoulder, and laced her arm through his, “Hey, it's okay. You know, an understudy is more important than you think,”

“Oh yeah? So why am I sitting here and not up there with you?”

Choyoung shifted in her seat into a more comfortable position, “Think about it this way. If something were to happen to Seunggwan, then you could come in and be the hero! Everyone will love you for what you did because really, the whole play would be in your hands if something went wrong,”

“But nothing will go wrong because Seunggwan's got a fear of getting hurt,”

“Fine, if you really want,” Choyoung looked up at him, “I give you permission to punch Seunggwan in the face on opening night,”

Soonyoung's ear perked up, “Wait, really?”

“I was joking!”