A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this is later than expected! These past few weeks have been busy!! I'm starting school again next week meaning unpredictable updates. Hopefully, I'll be able to update one more time before monday! Enjoy this chapter :)

The first day back at school seemed like hell.

All of the girls had at least one test or assignment due that day and by lunch time, they were all tuckered out. They all ate in silence while leaning on each other, all except for Seohyun and Yuri.

By the end of the day, the girls had regained their energy and they all met around Taeyeon’s locker. Each girl was part of the talent show, so there was no missing each other with the rehearsals after school every day.

“I can’t stay too long, but you guys are coming to the dress rehearsal today right?” Taeyeon asked as she held Tiffany’s hand and checked her watch. She had to go check on her choir with Seohyun before heading to the auditorium to start setting up the rehearsals with the teachers in charge.

“It’s at 4 right? We’re having a quick group rehearsal before heading over, right girls and Sungmin?” Hyoyeon said excitedly as she gave her fellow dance crew members a thumbs up.

With that, the group split up to their respective after school programs and decided to meet up during rehearsals to preview everyone’s show.

While most girls wanted their performance to be a complete secret, rehearsals were needed to make sure that sound and lights were perfect for the performance. Sooyoung and Taeyeon agreed however, to only have them show about less than a minute of their performance since they were just testing the stage anyway.

Part of the partners’ job as well was to see how prepared they were for the show, for if they weren’t, they’d have to be kicked out. But they knew that their friends would have no such problem, seeing as they all have been practicing their butts off.

---

Hyoyeon made her group warm up and go through the routine twice. She felt an extreme sense of pride as she watched them dance in almost perfect unison. Surely, they would be ready for Friday night. This year she started choreographing the talent show performance two weeks earlier than usual, for she wanted her final performance to be absolutely flawless.

Sunny’s heart throbbed as she changed in the boy’s changing room after their quick little practice. There were only so few boys in the changing room as well, but they quickly got the job done and left. Even though she had done this many times before, she couldn’t help but feel on the edge every time.

Sunny was in her stall, removing her binding material and sitting down on the little bench. It was tough dancing so rigorously in the damn thing. After keeping it on for too long it would hurt a little, so she was thankful that for now they were just going to watch tidbits of other groups’ performances. She made a note that once she got home, she’d feign sickness and stay there without her binder on for the rest of the night.

She took her towel off and wiped her body of the sweat. She wanted to shower, but Hyoyeon said there was no time and that they could do it when they got home. She guessed that it was okay, seeing that Sooyoung hadn’t showered either. She smiled at the memory of Sooyoung yelling at her not to hug her for apparently she smelled like dead cows. But Sunny didn’t care, even if Sooyoung smelled like rotting bodies and expired milk she’d hug her without hesitation.

Ah yes, Sooyoung. Sunny’s heart ached even more as she sensed the special day approaching. One more week until the talent show, then one more week until graduation.

The fruits of her hard secretive work will show its pay off and Sunny will get to see the priceless faces of her friends realizing who she really was. She imagined Hyoyeon and Yuri being speechless for hours and Tiffany even fainting. It was a pity that she got caught by so many of them already, but at least some of them were kept in the dark.

And then there was Sooyoung. Oh how she went over her possible reactions over and over again in her head. Sunny shook her head however, now wasn’t the time to think about it.

Then there was a knock on her stall door.

“Yo, oppa, you can go ahead and shower,” Hyoyeon called out, shamelessly from within the boy’s changing room.

“I don’t mean to disrespect you captain but,” Sungmin began, face red and suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable, “What the hell are you doing in the guys’ changing room?”

Hyoyeon just giggled, and Sunny could swear that she heard another person’s giggling.

“Yuri?” Sungmin squeaked, half distressed and half thankful that it wasn’t Sooyoung.

“Yeah,” Yuri responded, continuing to giggle childishly with Hyoyeon, “Sooyoungie was too shy to come in here with us.”

“Can you please get out?” Sungmin pleaded, not wanting the girls to find out her secret. That and she didn’t want them to see her in general.

“Fine, fine,” Hyoyeon sighed, shaking her head, “You’re no fun, oppa. We were hoping you could show off your abs so we could make Sooyoung jealous.”

“Is that all you really want?” Sungmin asked exasperated, those two were such erts.

Then Yuri and Hyoyeon squealed, “Does that mean you’re going to show us??”

“No, now get out of here!”

Hyoyeon and Yuri ran out of the changing room and laughed at each other as they caught their breath.

“I’m telling Sica that you wanted to see Sungmin ,” Hyoyeon teased, jabbing Yuri in the stomach.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Hyoyeon’s laughter only increased in volume as she detected the pure distress on Yuri’s face. The look was priceless! She wished that she had a camera to capture the moment, Yuri was always good at making strange faces.

Upon realizing that the shower had and the two were still only outside of the changing room, Hyoyeon had an idea.

She waggled her eyebrows at Yuri who was still pouting over Hyoyeon’s previous joke. But as Hyoyeon tilted her head towards the door, Yuri began to understand exactly what was going on.

“He might kill us later,” Yuri whispered as the two snuck back inside the room.

Hyoyeon waved her hand dismissively, “Naw, Sooyoung will protect us from her boyfriend’s wrath. Besides, Sungmin’s a good sport, he’ll just laugh.”

Yuri nodded, “I hope so.”

The two looked both ways in unison and were relieved to continue to hear the sound of the shower head. If they recalled correctly, Sungmin took long showers after practice for they’d find Sooyoung outside waiting for him even after they were done changing. The three figured that he took very good care of himself, not that it was a problem or anything.

What seemed to be the problem however, was the strange, unknown, sweaty object Yuri and Hyoyeon found amongst Sungmin’s clothes in his stall.

“What the heck is this?” Yuri asked Hyoyeon, stretching the binder. The two had never seen such an item before.

“Do you think he uses it to make him look thinner?” Yuri speculated, wrapping the thing around her waist. “Oh my God he totally does!”

Hyoyeon shook her head, “No, of course not! I’ve seen his tummy pop up every once in a while during practice. He doesn’t cover it at all and he doesn’t need to. He has what we girls call, chocolate abs.”

Yuri gasped, “I’m telling Min!” She began laughing right after, earning a loud smack from Hyoyeon out of embarrassment and fear of getting caught.

Except, the smack was exactly what Sungmin heard.

“Hello?” he called out.

Sunny had never felt so nervous in her life. There was the day she had to tell the news of her departure, and there was her first day in her American school. There was also the day she returned from America and the many times she went out with Sooyoung. However, nothing so far could compete with the furious beating in her chest.

Who was out there? Was it still Yuri and Hyoyeon? Was Sooyoung with them this time? What was going on?

There wasn’t a response, so Sunny turned off the shower and listened closer.

“, we got caught!” she heard Hyoyeon whisper rather loudly. She peeked over the shower curtains to see two figures near her stall.

Two.

That meant Sooyoung wasn’t there.

Holding her towel tightly towards her, Sunny approached the two with surpreme caution. The ringing in her head wouldn’t stop and the sound of her footsteps felt louder than usual. It wasn’t until now that she truly felt the uneasiness of the fateful day approaching.

“You guys are erts, you know?” she said reverting back to her guy voice. She told herself to stay calm, keep her cool and not give anymore hints away. She hated her ample chest at the moment as well, for any slight slip of the towel, she’d be given away in seconds.

“We just wanted to play an innocent prank,” Yuri replied, rubbing her neck. “We knew you took long showers so…”

Hyoyeon elbowed Yuri, holding the mysterious item behind her back. She glanced at Yuri, giving her a look that told her to shut up. Yuri nodded, forming a tight line as she stifled her laughter.

“What do you have there?” Sungmin asked. Sunny made sure there was absolutely no stuttering, no shaking and no heavy breathing to reveal any weakness, but she was certain that the two had her binder.

And so, why weren’t they accusing her of anything? Why aren’t they interrogating her? Asking her questions or standing there shocked?

“We just have a question for you, oppa.”

Here it comes.

Sunny closed her eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling again. Here we go. She thanked the heavens that it wasn’t Sooyoung though, she thought she would have died if Sooyoung was here.

“What the hell is this?” Hyoyeon’s unexpected question came. Sunny wanted to flinch, fall back, stretch her eyes in disbelief, but she just stood there frozen. “We know you don’t use it on your waist so…is it for your ? Because I know we’ve made fun of it before, but it doesn’t mean you have to supress it. Sooyoungie actually really likes your .”

Sunny couldn’t believe it. Apparently they’ve never seen a binder before. She snorted and shook her head with a smile. Quick Sunny, think of an excuse now. She was always quick on her feet and Hyoyeon and Yuri’s ignorance gave her a chance to live another day free.

“It’s for my thigh,” Sunny said off the top of her head. Oh how she wanted to take it back. What a dumb excuse!

Hyoyeon and Yuri looked at each other then back at Sunny incredulously.

“Really?” Yuri asked, glancing at her own thighs, then Hyoyeon’s, then Sungmin’s.

“Don’t tell Sooyoung, but I kind of have a complex about my thighs,” Sunny continued to lie through her teeth. They were buying it so far, and she was thankful for the fresh shower giving her a damp look because she was beginning to sweat.

Hyoyeon and Yuri simply burst into laughter.

“That’s ridiculous!” Hyoyeon said as she held her stomach, dropping the binder. “Of all things, you’re worried about your thighs? Come on, Sungmin they can’t be that bad.”

Through her relief, Sunny didn’t notice that Yuri was crouched down and touching her leg. When she felt a hand on her thigh she shrieked, so surprised that she couldn’t keep her masculine tone on. And so surprised that she dropped her towel.

In a rush, Sunny picked up the towel and covered herself, her entire body turning red in embarrassment. Yuri and Hyoyeon however, stayed still, not reacting and their mouths hanging open.

“Sunny?” Hyoyeon managed to say after minutes of silence.

Sunny’s head was lowered down in shame. She could only nod as she wrapped the towel and her hands around her body.

“Wait, Sunny?” Yuri repeated confused, “Sunny? As in Sunny Lee? As in our Sunny?”

She looked over at Sunny, then Hyoyeon, then Sunny again.

“I just thought oppa was a girl, how do you know it’s Sunny?” she asked Hyoyeon, her eyes now roaming all over Sunny’s covered body.

“She has a mole on her left ,” Hyoyeon said with a nod, “And come on, after I made the connection how can you not see Sunny’s face?”

Hyoyeon walked up to the ashamed girl and lifted her chin, forcing her to turn to her. She looked deep into her eyes, wanting her to say something, anything.

“Just tell us it’s really you,” Hyoyeon demanded, her eyes refusing to remove themselves from Sunny’s face.

The shorter girl could only nod.

After the reveal, Hyoyeon and Yuri let Sunny changed back. She put on her binder, put on her clothes and her eyeliner and gelled her hair, her whole persona turning into Sungmin, the boy they thought she was.

Hyoyeon wasn’t sure what to make of it and Yuri wanted to ask so many questions. But most of all, the girls couldn’t believe that they’d been fooled this whole time.

“You’re good,” Hyoyeon said as she put an arm around Sunny. “We had absolutely no idea.”

Sunny knew that the girls had much more to ask, much more to say, so she decided to answer them on her own.

“It was supposed to be a prank, I was going to unveil my identity at grad.”

Yuri nodded, “You sure fooled us.” It was an elaborate joke, and Yuri was still processing the fact that Sungmin was Sunny.

“Why?” Hyoyeon then asked, the three now standing together in the middle of the changing room.

“I thought it would be a funny way to come back,” Sunny said with an unenthusiastic shrug. “But what started as a joke turned into…this.”

Hyoyeon and Yuri surely would’ve laughed, but they knew exactly what Sunny was talking about. There was only one thing, one person that came into mind.

“Sooyoung?” Hyoyeon said what everyone was thinking out loud.

Sunny could only nod.

Yuri smiled however, trying to cheer up the small girl. “Forget about that for now, we’re glad to have you back.”

Sunny smiled back, relieved for Yuri’s thoughtfulness. Yes, now wasn’t the time to brood over drama, or think about possibilities, now was the time to celebrate, be happy that Sunny’s back.

Hyoyeon nodded, patting Sunny’s back once more, “We missed you shorty.”

And with that, the two hugged Sunny, making a silent vow to talk about the ordeal another time.

---

Sooyoung was waiting outside for Sungmin and was surprised to see Hyoyeon and Yuri come out. Her eyes widened and she suddenly felt very jealous.

“What’s going on here?” she asked, glaring at the two before looking at her boyfriend.

“These erts were trying to peek at the goods,” Sungmin responded, running to his girlfriend dramatically. “You should really control your friends Sooyoung.”

Sunny had regained her composure quickly, something that both Hyoyeon and Yuri didn’t fail to take notice. They admired that about her and made sure to play their own part. Surely they both wanted to talk about it with her, and made note of who else knew.

Yuri decided that she’d talk about it with Jessica and Hyoyeon decided that it was her job to help Sunny keep it a secret until the allotted time. She wasn’t sure what would happen then, but she knew for sure that something bad would happen if caught before hand. She also made Sunny promise to talk to her about it sometime soon over dinner or lunch. She wanted every single last detail.

And of course, the question that brimmed from every one of their mind’s.

Do you really love her?

Sunny’s answer to that only made Hyoyeon and Yuri more uneasy. They weren’t sure at that point if it was good that they figured out her secret so close to the deadline.

“Let’s hurry to the rehearsal guys, I need to see Taeyeon and start being bossy,” Sooyoung said as she dragged Sungmin by the hand to the auditorium. He could only look back at Hyoyeon and Yuri with an apologetic smile and a thankful nod for continuing to keep his secret.