Chapterseven.

Sooyoung picked up her tray of food and was about to carefully make her way to the table where her friends were sitting when someone blocked her way.

"Sorry, could you please let me pass?" She asked nicely, staring at her soup that was about to flow out of the bowl.

"Sorry to interrupt but you must be the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Want to, you know?" Sooyoung looked up and a guy, not much taller than her with a baseball jacket on smirked at her. 

"What? I know what?" She questioned.

"I said-" 

"Gosh, Minhwan. She doesn't even understand what you're doing to her." A girl snapped at the guy. Everyone turned to look at the three of them, with Sooyoung still clueless.

"Do you want to be his slave?" 

"No?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. The girl nodded and turned to face the boy.

"Well, you heard her, Minhwan. She's not interested. So scram." She growled. The guy rolled his eyes and laughter was heard all around. Sooyoung didn't seem to find whatever just happened funny. She thought it was stupid. She glanced at Kai and he gave her a sweet smile. 

"Hey, wait." The girl called after Sooyoung. Sooyoung turned around and looked at her with a blank expression. She was really hungry. And I mean really hungry.

"Why haven't I seen you before?" the girl asked, extending out a hand for her to reach. Sooyoung looked at the tray in her hands then at the hand. The girl giggled and pulled her hand back.

"I don't know, I'm not really new. It's the second day of school so maybe you just didn't notice me?" Sooyoung mumbled out facts, making the girl watch her with amusement. 

"I'm Maera." The girl introduced, giving her a wide smile. Maera...Maera?! 

Sooyoung put on a smile and nodded.

"I'm Sooyoung." She tried to sound as calm as possible but with EXO and Chaeri's gaze on her, she couldn't help but break into cold sweat. 

"You're really pretty and funny, how come I didn't see you before?" Maera asked herself, tapping her chin with her finger. Sooyoung stared at her oddly. 

"Come sit with us." Maera smiled as she took hold of Sooyoung's wrist.

What? WHAT NO. NO. Sooyoung started to panic in her mind as she looked at Chaeri and In Hye- who were watching with wide eyes- for help.

"So, what class are you from?" Maera asked, seeing as how stunned Sooyoung was after being pulled down to sit with Maera and her friends.

"Um, 3-2." She mumbled as she stared at her soup. It was no longer cold and Sooyoung felt as if she could faint any second without food.

"Boo, you're not in our class. We're in 3-3." Maera said, indicating 'we' meant her and her friends. It wasn't a coincidence that Maera and her friends were in the same class. Maera's parents funded most of the school activities that's why she was treated like a princess. She had the looks- well sort of- and she had the money. She had the principal transfer her friends over to her class and the principal just went along with her request, afraid her parents would stop donating to the school if he didn't do what he was told. 

"Sorry, these are my friends- Eunji and Hana." Maera's friends gave her an almost too friendly smile. Wanting to be polite, she just smiled back. 

"Maera, she's popular material, don't you think?" There was a hint of sneakiness in Eunji's tone of voice as she spoke but Sooyoung was too nervous to notice. 

"Yes, tell us, Sooyoung. Who did you go out for lunch with yesterday?" Maera asked, propping her chin up with her hand.

"Chae-" Before she could even finish her sentence, Maera's eyes widened and she stopped Sooyoung from speaking. 

"Chaeri? You mean those girls over there?" Maera asked, pointing at the table where Chaeri and her friends were silently eating their food, but also discreetly watching Maera's table. Sooyoung gulped as she nodded.

"Oh please, stop hanging out with those girls. Hang out with us, Sooyoung. We'll be your friends. Besides, those girls aren't nice." Maera urged and Sooyoung bit her lip. 

"Maera, her food's cold." 

"Take mine, I'm on a diet." Sooyoung looked at Maera's smiling face and then at her figure. Maera was as thin as a stick why on earth would she be on a diet?! Sooyoung hesitantly took Maera's untouched food and slowly used her fork to pick up the macaroni. She put it in and she put on a smile as her new 'friends' smiled at her eating her food. The atmosphere was way to awkward and uncomfortable for her. The bell rang and Sooyoung hurriedly stood up only to be stopped by a cold hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at Hana. 

"See you later after school, Sooyoung." She smiled and quietly walked behind her friends as they talked about getting their hair done. Sooyoung turned to look at her other friends who were waiting for her, eager to know how the close encounter with Maera was.

"How was it?" In Hye asked coolly, picking up her bag from the floor. 

"Terrifying. She told me to hang out with them, instead of you guys." 

"well, it's not unexpected, really. You're model material." Sooyoung groaned at the sound of that word. 'Model material'. Sooyoung didn't feel like a model. She felt gross and icky from sweating so much when she was sitting at the popular table.

"We have to go to class, tell us more later." Hayoung winked at her before Miyoung dragged her away. She let out a sigh and held her boooks close to her chest.

"They asked me to hang out with them after school too." She explained to Chaeri as they walked to class, side by side. By now, people noticed how friendly Maera was to Sooyoung and it surprised them when they saw her walking with Chaeri- the average school girl. It's amazing how Sooyoung's popularity went from a nobody, to average to popular. She didn't like it one bit. The looks of jealousy and adoration in some of her classmates eyes freaked her out a bit. 

"Then go." Chaeri whispered. 

"What?" 

"We were talking during lunch and we actually want you to be friends with her." 

"Eh?" 

"We're sorry if this seems harsh, but we want to take revenge on Maera." Chaeri whispered with such determination and anger that it actually scared Sooyoung for a moment.

"There's more to the story of Maera 'just changing', right?" Sooyoung asked. Chaeri avoided her question and scribbled something on a piece of scrap paper before sliding it over to Sooyoung.

I'll call you and fill you in tonight.

Sooyoung nodded and quickly turned to pay attention.

"Did you see Sooyoung sitting with Maera? It could only mean one thing, Sooyoung it totally popular." A girl gossipped with her friends as they sat on their tables, facing each other. Normally Kai wouldn't pay attention to mindless gossip about schoolmates but this was Sooyoung they were talking about. He sat up and listened on.

"But, isn't she hanging out with Chaeri and her friends?"

"I saw them talking just now!" another exclaimed. A smile formed on Kai's lips as he heard their debate. It was amusing, honestly. Kai leaned back on his chair and looked out the window and closed his eyes after those girls were done with their gossip about Sooyoung. There were murmurs, silence and then the sound of heels coming in contact with the tiled floor. He opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of Maera at her seat, talking to her two friends. She must've felt him staring at her because before Kai could even take in a deep breath, Maera was smiling at him from her seat. He raised an eyebrow at her before turning to look out of the window again. 

Sehun walked into the classroom through the back door and saw his uninterested friend staring out the window. Thinking it would be funny to scare him, he stealthily moved over to Kai's desk. Sehun bent forward and put his face close to Kai's hoping he would sense his presence. Sure enough, Kai turned and stared straight into Sehun's eyes before shoving him away. Sehun stumbled backwards and chuckled before taking his seat next to his friend.

"What the hell were you doing?" Kai asked, scrunching up his nose.

"I wanted to see if you would react." Sehun answered back blatantly, putting his feet up on his desk.

"Oh Sehun, legs down. Kim Jongin, look to the front, Maera and friends please take your seats and everyone else, please take out your books and flip to chapter 2." Their history demanded as she entered the classroom. Everyone groaned but did what they were told. Kai was barely interested in the rise of hitler and he was exhausted for no apparent reason. 

Kai may seem uninterested in his studies but he actually cared a lot about them. Mr and Mrs Kim were delighted that their son was born talented, but they were afraid that if they were to let their son focus solely on dancing and actually pursue it as a career, what would happen to him if he failed? Which is why his parents always emphasized the importance of having an education since he was young. Kai understood that his parents were concerned about his future, so he decided not to rebel and just follow their advice. It didn't hurt to have some knowledge, anyway. 

Soon, the bell rang and it was the end of classes for the day. Kai and Sehun packed up their bags and were ready to leave the class together when Maera approached him. He eyed her from top to bottom before squinting at her.

"What?" he asked bluntly. Maera didn't even flinch at his tone of voice and just smiled. 

"Hello, I'm Maera." Sehun watched in amusement as his friend acted coldly towards the school's most popular girl. 

"Kai." He muttered back, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Sehun took no interest in introducing himself, seeing that Maera's attention was solely on Kai. 

"So, Sooyoung's your friend?" Maera batted her eyelashes at him and Kai simply nodded. 

"Oh! That's cool, she's really nice and-" 

"I have to go now, bye." Kai interrupted and turned to leave. Maera frowned at his attitude and stormed out of the classroom and headed to the girl's bathroom.

"You didn't have to be that mean to her." Sehun chuckled as he walked alongside with Kai out of school. The latter shrugged. 

"I wasn't being mean." He stumbled on his words as he spoke. 

"Wait a minute, do you secretly have a crush on her? You don't act like a jerk unless..." Sehun trailed off as he gave Kai a michievious smile. Kai rolled his eyes and looked away. He had to admit, Maera was pretty and he did act like a jerk only to girls he was attracted to so that they would want him more. It was him playing hard to get without being obvious.

"Shut up." Kai snapped and walked ahead of him, making Sehun grin stupidly. Let's see how this turns out. He thought to himself as he ran after his friend.

Oh my gosh guys, I'm so sorry if this was a crappy chapter. School just started and I've been going home late and it's just so frustrating and it's also the reason why I'm taking so long to update. This chapter took me 3 days to write?! I'm really sorry if this wasn't what you guys expected but with only a limited amount of time I can spend on the computer, it's really tough T^T not to mention, my exams are in 3 weeks, then final exams in a few months or so. And next year is a very important year for me so studying is really my priority now and gah so much stress. Sorry if I'm babbling on too much, I just need to vent my frustrations. Anyway, remember to comment, subscribe and upvote (maybe?)! xoxo