As we began working on the assignment, Ms Seo left the classroom. There was a short silence before some chatter aroused. 

  "Hey, Hyoyoung, Jiyoung, did you hear about why Taemin left Chungdam High?" Minzy said rather loudly.

  Uh-oh. I knew what Minzy was trying to do.

  "I heard he left because he was too busy as an idol," whispered Jiyoung.

  Suddenly, everyone in the class perked up their ears, especially the two school journalists in the class, Sohee and Sohyun. Everyone at this school was a gossip hound.

  Minzy did the exact same thing when we first came to Hallyu Arts High. It got really bad until Amber unnie stepped in and gave Minzy a piece of her mind and almost her fist.

  "I heard he couldn't keep up his grades!" giggled Hyoyoung.

  Despite all this, which was clearly audible to Taemin, Taemin simply kept his head down and pretended to be concentrating on the assignment.

  "The truth is, he was bullied!" Minzy burst into shrieks of laughter. She was soon joined by the entire class with the exception of Luna, Krystal, Minho, Key, Taemin, Suxy, since she was just shy; the guy working with Minho and me.

  "What a wimp!" Minzy shouted between bouts of laughter.

  I looked at Luna. She mouthed to me, "Do something!"

  When the laughter died down a little, I asked Taemin, gently but loud enough for the class to hear, "Taemin, what was the real reason you transferred from Chungdam High?"

  "Um..." Taemin seemed unsure of what to say, but eventually replied, "Actually... Jiyoung is right. I had to keep skipping school to keep to my schedule when I attended Chungdam High."

  With that, everyone shut up.