Chapterone.

"Sup Jong- who's that?"  a boy much taller than Jongin asked, a finger pointed at Sooyoung.  Sooyoung quickly fixed her gaze on the ground. 

"Ah, everyone this is my neighbor, Choi Sooyoung." Jongin coolly introduced, pushing her forward. Sooyoung glared at Jongin but he shrugged it off.

"Hi, I'm Jun Myeon." A hand reached out to her and she carefully shook it. 

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you." Jun Myeon assured, patting her head. Sooyoung frowned.

"Am I really that short?" She crossed her arms on her chest and looked away. Jun Myeon chuckled.

"Yes, you're really that short, or I'm just tall." He said, winking at her. Sooyoung stuck her tongue out at him and made her way back to Jongin who was watching the interaction between Jun Myeon and her with amusement.

"I hate your friends." Sooyoung said. 

"Lighten up. They're friendly people. Hyung! Come meet my friend, Sooyoung!" Jongin gestured towards his friend and another boy who had huge eyes approached them. Sooyoung stared at Jongin's friend with much interest. 

"You have big eyes." She stated.

"I know. You have glasses and no front teeth." He said. Sooyoung giggled.

"This is Kyungsoo. Sooyoung, Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, Sooyoung." Jongin introduced. Kyungsoo smiled and shook Sooyoung's hand before calling over the rest of his friends. One by one, they each introduced themselves. There were 11 of them, excluding Jongin. Jun Myeon, Wu Yi Fan , Baekhyun, Yixing, Sehun, Jongdae, Luhan, Chanyeol, Min Seok, Kyungsoo and Zi Tao. They were all of Jongin's friends and in Sooyoung's eyes, they were boys who were too friendly, way too friendly. Together, the 11 boys and Jongin were called EXO.  No one knew how close the boys and Sooyoung were after that. Whenever Sooyoung was bullied or was in trouble the boys willingly stood up for her and protected her like she was their own sister. It made some parent’s curious as to why Sooyoung was always hanging around boys sometimes but they didn’t say or do much about it.

Over the years, with the help of puberty of course, Sooyoung blossomed into a beautiful young lady that some were jealous of while Jongin, who now preferred to be called Kai, grew up to be great dancer and hot guy that every girl wanted. What about their friendship, you ask? Well, it's still blossoming. 

"Sooyoung! Don't forget to give the cake to Jongin when you see him! Your father and I are leaving for work!" Mrs Choi reminded Sooyoung.

"I get it! Stop reminding me. Bye!" Sooyoung shouted down the stairs before heading back into her room. She turned to look at herself in her full length mirror and smiled widely. She got her braces taken off the night before, a great way for her to start junior high with straight teeth. The doorbell rang and Sooyoung rushed down the stairs to get it. 

"He-" 

"Is this the Choi residence? I heard they have a daughter named Choi Sooyoung who is going to be late for the first day of high school if she doesn't leave the house now!" Kai's voice interrupted her as he stepped into the house. 

"Well hi, thank you for ruining my carpet with your filthy shoes. How may I help you today, Mr Kim Jongin?" Sooyoung rolled her eyes as she picked up her bag from the floor. 

"Hey! I'm being the nice best friend I am to get you to school on time! And don't call me that!" Kai held up his hands to surrender, making Sooyoung laugh. 

"Fine, thank you my dear best friend, this is for you and let's go." Sooyoung said, shoving the cake box to Kai and pushing him out of the house. 

"Ooh, cake! Wait, what flavor is this?" He asked, looking through a gap in the cake box. 

"Would you please watch where you're going and think about your cake later?" Sooyoung said as they arrived at the bus stop. It was already 7.15 and they needed to take a 10 minute bus ride to school and climb up a hill to reach their school.

"Hey, if we're late, we'll be late together! Don't worry!" Kai said, rubbing her back to calm her down. Sooyoung nodded and stared at her watch impatiently.

"This bus service ." Sooyoung mumbled.

"It sure does. Hey, isn't that Suho's car?" Kai asked, looking directly at a black car that had stopped in front of them.

"Seems like the best friends don't have their parent's cars today." Suho said mockingly as he winded down the windows of his car.

"Shut up, are you offering us a ride or not?" Kai asked.

"I'm deciding against it now that you've spoken to me like that." 

"Oh for the love of pie." Sooyoung grunted as she opened the car door and glared at Suho. “Move, please.” He quickly shifted over, leaving space for Kai and her to get in.

"Rude." Suho added in as Kai shut the car door. 

"Hey, I'm the only girl you've made friends with since we were young." Sooyoung stuck her tongue out at Suho and he rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for announcing that to my driver." Sooyoung giggled and turned to Kai who was still staring at his cake intently.

"I still want to know what's the flavor of the cake." Kai mumbled. 

"It's chocalate, your favorite." Sooyoung smiled as she help Kai open the cake box. 

"Hey can I have some?" Suho asked, peering over her shoulder. 

"No, because you called me rude." 

"You-" Sooyoung grinned before smearing icing on Suho's cheek.

"YAH!" Suho yelled at the top of his lungs, causing the car to swerve a little.

"S-sir we're here." Suho's driver announced before he could yell anymore. 

"Thank you for the ride, Suho oppa~" Sooyoung winked at Suho before heading out of the car. Kai laughed as Suho slammed the car door shut and patted him on the back.

"I still can't believe she was so shy in elementary school." 

"Well, people change. Like you, hyung. You became more snappy." Kai joked, poking the elder's cheek.

"Why I ought to-" 

"Guys, let's go to class before we're late!" Sooyoung said excitedly, placing her arms on Suho and Kai's shoulders, grinning cheekily. 

"Hey, if someone bullies you or something, let me know. Some people in Junior High can be such s." Kai said as he pulled Sooyoung's hand back before she could enter class, causing people around her to stare. 

"Don't worry, if someone tries to bully me, I'll kick them in the shin." Sooyoung grinned.

"Alright, text me if anything's up, okay?" Sooyoung nodded before shoo-ing Kai off to his class. Sooyoung shook her head as she watched Kai run towards his class like a 6 year old running to get the last ice cream cone in the store. Sooyoung turned to take her seat when she felt many pairs of eyes on her. 

"um, what?" she asked her new classmates.

"Are you dating him?"

"Isn't he Kim Jongin?"

"Firstly, I'm not dating him. Secondly, yes he's Kim Jongin but he likes to be called Kai." I'm the only one that can call him Jongin. Sooyoung thought to herself as she responded to her curious classmates.

"Please introduce him to me, he's so hot." 

"Me too!"

"Me first! Me first!" Sooyoung held her hands out defensively in front of her class mates as she slowly made her way to an empty seat. 

"I-I'll see what I can do...no promises though!" Sooyoung said sheepishly, hoping they would leave her alone. The girls surrounding her squealed with glee until their new homeroom teacher entered.

Sooyoung barely paid attention during her lessons. All she could think of was how crazy her junior high life would be with girls surrounding her to get Kai's attention and how she was going to survive being his best friend and all. No wonder it came as a shock to her when a note landed on her table. Sooyoung turned to her left and saw her desk mate gesturing for her to open the note. Sooyoung quietly obeyed her desk mates orders and opened the note. Her desk mate noticed how deep in thought she was during the lesson and asked her what was on her mind. Sooyoung, being the socially awkward girl she was, decided to just smile at her desk mate with embarrassment while she attempted to pay attention in class. That is, until the bell rang. Sooyoung took out her bag from her wallet and was about to rush out of the classroom to meet the guys when she was pulled back by someone.

"Hey, wait. You didn't answer my question. Are you okay?" her desk mate asked, gripping onto her hand tightly. 

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks for worrying." Sooyoung curtly answered.

"I'm Chaeri, by the way." her desk mate introduced herself kindly, releasing Sooyoung's hand.

"I'm Sooyoung. I'm sorry if I may seem rude but I need to meet my friend, let's have lunch tomorrow, okay?" Sooyoung told Chaeri as she started to move towards Kai's classroom. 

"woah there young lady, where do you think you're going?" Someone pulled Sooyoung back, causing her to fall.

"Who- What the hell, Jongin?" Sooyoung raised her voice at Kai as he helped her up. 

"Sorry, you seemed to be running away from something, did someone hurt you?" Kai asked, handing Sooyoung her wallet that she dropped on the floor. 

"No, I was just searching for you." 

"Oh? Did you miss me?" Kai playfully asked Sooyoung, a smirk on his face. 

"No, but I do have some girls from my class lined up to be your girlfriend."  Kai chuckled at Sooyoung's words, causing her to stare at him.

"Sorry, it's not like this is the first time, Sooyoung." Kai said, patting Sooyoung on the head. 

"Yo! What's with the little gathering here, huh? Did something happen?" Baekhyun asked, resting his head on Sooyoung's shoulder. Sooyoung frowned and shrugged him off. 

"It's nothing, let's go for lunch." Sooyoung smiled cheerfully before walking towards the cafeteria. 

"Hey, watch it!" A guy snapped at Sooyoung as she pushed past her way through a crowd of people to get into the cafeteria. It was chaotic in there. 

"Yah, yah, yah Sooyoung! Wait up!" Kai called after Sooyoung as he chased after her. 

"omo, it's oppa. OPPA!" A girl screamed across the already noisy cafeteria. Sooyoung cringed.

"Oppa! Omg notice me please! OPPA!" She screamed twice as loud again, but Kai ignored her once more. 

"Op-" 

"Watch it, don't you know how dangerous it is to run while running with your food?" Suho snapped at the girl who had just collided into him, spilling her lunch all over him. 

"Suho oppa, sorry! I didn't-" 

"Don't call me oppa. Guys, let's eat outside, it's evidently too crowded for us to eat here." Suho suggested, glaring at the girl who stood rooted to the ground, stunned. Sooyoung looked at the girl with pity. She really wanted to apologize but it was her fault for running towards them with a tray of hot ramen in her hands.

"Come on, Sooyoung." Kai said, taking hold of Sooyoung's hand before pulling her away. 

"I can't believe all 13 of us have to sit under this stupid tree to have our lunch." Chen said, taking a bite out of his homemade sandwich.

"It's either that or have Suho glare at the girl that spilled her lunch all over him." Chanyeol calmly replied. Sooyoung shook her head as she handed Luhan another piece of wet tissue to wipe off whatever remains of food he had left on his school uniform. 

"Weren't you standing behind me when you arrived in the cafeteria? How come you ended up next to me?" Sooyoung asked Suho who crushed the wet tissues up in his hand. 

"I moved to see if I could get a better view of the cafeteria." He replied flatly. Sooyoung nodded and decided not to pry anymore. 

Suho quickly stole a glance at Sooyoung and smiled before looking away again. 

"What an idiot. She still hasn’t noticed what us guys do to protect her." he mumbled to himself. 

Updated: Hey guys! How's the new poster? kekeke, I didn't change anything in this chapter but do look out for my other changes to the other chapters! It'll be less rushed and the flow of the story will be smoother and easier for you all to understand. Sorry for the inconvenience!