SM High School of Performing Arts: Talent is a material to be crafted by knowledge. That was their slogan. It was something some old guy had said once, which was apparently worthy of defining the most prestigious school in South Korea. Sulli had always thought it was cheesy. It seemed slightly comical how the founders had attempted to pass off the school as a faculty of knowledge as opposed to music and drama.

In her first year, Sulli had been amazed that she had been accepted into the elite school. She had met all the SM trainees and future members of groups such as Girls' Generation, SHINee, EXO, Super Junior, TVXQ and f(x) - her group. The dancing, rapping, singing and acting talent present in the school was incredible. Unfortunately, Sulli soon learned that, even in SM High, there are still many cliques. The senior cheerleaders: Krystal, Yoona, Yuri and Seohyun were the "it" girls of the school. The soccer players also stuck together (Minho, Jonghyun, Donghae, and Kangin). The dancers, Lay, Kai, Taemin, Victoria, Hyoyeon, and Yunho, formed their own group. Luckily for Sulli, there were also cliques of shyer, goofier, sweeter people, or, in other words, people more like her. They were more like outcasts. She was close friends with Onew, Sunny, Luna, Kyuhyun and Key.

Today was Monday. She had gotten up at her usual 6:30 am and dragged her to school. It wasn’t that she didn’t like school. It was fun: she was able to spend the day doing things she loved. That said, it seemed that in a school full of beautiful and talented teenagers, drama was plentiful. Sulli entered her locker combination, using her thumb to spin the dial. Her lock clicked open, freeing the steel door from its locker. She tucked her long curly hair behind her ears as she slipped her textbook between a binder and a notebook. She obviously didn't put the book away properly, because it fell back of the shelf, hitting the hall floor with a thud.

"Aish," she muttered, bending down to pick it up.

However, someone had beat her to it.

Taemin, a slender boy with hair the colour of cinnamon, straightened into a standing position. He placed Sulli's book in her hand. He grinned at her with his sweet smile.

"Tsk tsk babe," he teased, "you should be more careful."

Sulli melted at the sound of him calling her "babe". Taemin was a wonderful boyfriend. He was thoughtful, caring, cute and talented. He always looked out for Sulli and gave her a strong shoulder to cry on. They had been going out for 2 ½ months, since the beginning of their third and final year at SM High.

"I know," she replied while trying to jam her textbook into her locker with her other things. "It's just hard to fit everything ... *Push* ... Into this... *Push*... Tiny locker." Finally she managed to fit her textbook onto the shelf.

Taemin was watching her, chuckling silently. "I have to go to drama class," he said, composing himself. "See you." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving for his next class.

Sulli subconsciously brought her fingers to the place where his lips had touched her cheek. Taemin made her happy. His sweetness was what she wanted, what she deserved. It had sort of crept up on her. She hadn’t expected to fall for Taemin but she had. Hard. It hadn’t always been Taemin. Throughout the first 2 years of her schooling at SM High, she had had a hopeless crush on a different member of SHINee: Taemin’s competitive friend Minho. He was tall, dark and handsome, with something softer, sweeter hidden in the subtleties of his personality. Sulli had been so infatuated with him. However, in the spring of last school year, Minho had started dating Krystal. Krystal was a friend and a member of her group, forcing any romantic feelings for Minho to be buried in Sulli’s mind. If any feelings remained, she was now dating his best friend, meaning her crush could never resurface. Ever.

                                                                                                   *****

Sulli was sitting at the back of the auditorium with Key, their feet propped up on the seats in front of them. Key was one of her closest friends. He had an incredible knack for getting her to confess all of her secrets. Perhaps that was why he knew all the school gossip.

On the stage, a group of trainees were performing a scene. Kai was bending down on his knees, proposing to Yoona with a plastic engagement ring. The other actors were cooing and gasping convincingly.

“How romantic,” Key remarked sarcastically. “I think I’m going to cry.”

Sulli rolled her eyes. “That could have been you.”

“I’d rather profess my newfound love to Krystal,” he said. Seeing Sulli’s quizzical expression, he added, “You know, since she’s single now.”

It hit Sulli like a brick wall. If Krystal was single… Minho was…

Oh God Minho.