Chapter 1

                Onew didn’t want a lot of attention. He just wanted to get through school in a breeze with no problems. He did his work like he was told. What else did they want? The boys at his school always competed against each other to be at the top. The teachers always did their best to get their students to have higher test scores. The girls always wanted to pick out the prettiest boy for each grade. Over the summer break Onew matured physically and mentally. He guessed it’s the outcome of spending the summer with his parents instead of staying at the boarding school like most of his friends. That started the whole problem. First day of school girls noticed the difference in his appearance and automatically started secretly taking pictures, sending them to friends, posting them on twitter, anything you could think of to get Onew to be noticed with his change. The boys noticed as well and started asking him to join sport teams. Teachers noticed how he had advanced academically and pleaded with him to join academic clubs. Onew didn’t mind it, but it was annoying time to time; especially the awkward photos that got taken of him by the girls.

                “Are they still following us?” another student asks in a whisper. Onew shakes his head before turning to look at his friend.

                He sighs and pats Onew’s back. “It’s not their fault you got handsome over the summer.” He smirks and waves bye, walking off.
                Onew smiles weakly stepping into his first class of the day. All the girls whirl their heads to the door, spotting him and squeal to themselves. Onew keeps his head down and takes his seat, trying to ignore the whispering and gossiping of the girls. Even some of the boys were joining in the gossip. Who wouldn’t? The small Junior seed sprouted out of the dirt making a beautiful flower boy Senior. Literally.
                There was one boy who was sitting against the window watching Onew walk in. He had to do a double take to recognize him. “ONEW HYUNG!?” the boy screamed, standing up out of his chair.
                Onew let out a heavy sigh, recognizing the voice. “Yes, Jonghyun, what is it?” He stands up, walking to the smaller male.

                The smaller male smiles big looking Onew up and down. “You got taller! And you have muscles now!” He reaches out to feel Onew’s arm but gets stopped by Onew.
                Onew shook his head with his eyes closed. “Please, don’t touch me Jonghyun. Being photographed at the orientation was enough. I’m not surprised that the girls hadn’t set up cameras in my room.” He smiles sadly at Jonghyun, trying to make a joke.
                Jonghyun flashes a crooked smile at Onew. “Hey, I feel your pain. I was the runner up for the flower boy in my grade. I have a small fan club myself.” Seeing the teacher walk in, Jonghyun sits down quickly. Onew goes back to his seat.
                The teacher clears his throat getting the students attention. “Listen! Please! I know it’s your first Friday of the week, but just calm down! We have a new student who is younger than most of you, but be respectful to him. Please, welcome Choi Minho.”
                Onew looked at the door, expecting a small student to come in, thinking he’ll be shy and aware he’s surrounded by older kids. A taller male walks into the classroom, obviously taller than the teacher, and bows to the class. “Anneyonghaseyo, I’m Choi Minho your new classmate. I am in grade 10.”
                All the girls’ jaws dropped. They never saw a sophomore so tall before. Onew blinks, not showing the shock that’s inside him. Minho walked into the sea of desks, ignoring all the girls gawking at him, and took an empty seat close to Jonghyun. Jonghyun smiled and waved at Minho, wanting him to smile back.
              Minho looked at Jonghyun, gave a quick glance over Jonghyun’s body, and looked back at the teacher.
                Onew didn’t want to look at Minho. He knew if he looked at him it might distract him from the lesson. He kept his head forward all class period paying close attention like usual. Once the bell rang he gathers his books before leaving the room. Feeling a small tap on his shoulder, he turned around and saw Jonghyun. “What is it?” He asked.

                Jonghyun groaned and fixed his bag on his shoulder. “That new kid gave me the cold shoulder in class.” He looked at Onew with a sad face. “I smiled and all he did was just look me over.”
                Onew smirked to himself walking down the hallway with Jonghyun. “Maybe he was looking you over to see if you qualify for his taste.”
                Jonghyun cringed at the idea. “Um, how about no? I don’t want someone younger and taller than me.”
                “So Kim Kibum is out of the question then,” Onew asked playfully.
                Jonghyun blushes dark red, hitting Onew’s shoulder and storms off.

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                Smiling big at Jonghyun, Onew walks into his next class finding all the girls flocked around…Minho. Onew didn’t realize how popular the boy was.                             Shrugging his shoulders, Onew sat down at his desk pulling his books out.
                Minho easily looks over the group of girls due to his height. He tries to pick out the boys in the class and spots Onew again. ‘Oh, it’s him again.’ He thought to himself. Pushing the girls out of the way carefully, he looks around the room and finds every seat taken except for the one next to Onew. Minho sighs, plopping down in the seat next to Onew.
                Onew jumps slightly, not expecting him to sit down. “E-Excuse me,” Onew stuttered.
                Minho looks over, looking him up and down before smiling gently. “Hi, I think I was in your last class.”
              Onew quickly closes his mouth, swallowing spit down his dry throat, smiling softly back at Minho. “Yeah…I guess so.” Averting his eyes away from Minho, Onew quickly opens his books having a small blush across his cheeks. ‘Why am I getting so nervous!?’ he thought, breathing slowly to calm himself down. He looks up at the teacher and feels something brush his side causing him to jump in his seat.
                Minho quickly pulls back his pencil, whispering to Onew. “I’m sorry!” He puts his pencil down and grabs his books, being careful to not graze them against Onew’s side like the pencil.
                “It’s okay…it’s my fault for jumping like that.” Onew whispers back, covering his mouth and cheeks with his hand, trying to hide the obvious blush. ‘What the is wrong with me!? I don’t like boys!’ Onew couldn’t get the thought out of his head all through class, pondering over the fact of being gay or not. Of course he wasn’t gay...right? He couldn’t be. Once again, the bell rings to dismiss the classes. Onew shot up out of his seat and walks out of the classroom quickly. Being in a complete rush, he doesn’t even notice the smaller kid he runs into. He yelps and falls on top of the small student. “I’m so sorry!” He quickly starts to pick up the books and pencils.
                The student groans and rubs his arm. “It’s alright, I’m not hurt.” He looks up at Onew. “Y-You’re Lee Jinki.” The student goes speechless, not being able to believe that he ran into the Senior Flower Boy.
                Onew smiles down at the boy and helps him up. “I hope I am.” He hands the boy his books. “Sorry if they are out of order.”
                “Oh no!” the boy piped back. “It’s okay!” He quickly bows to Onew. “I’m Lee Taemin, grade 10.”
                Onew smiles and bows slightly back to Taemin. “It’s quite alright, you don’t have to bow. I’m the one who ran into you.”
                Taemin quickly fixes his bag over his shoulder and sees girls whispering. “Well, it’s proper for the younger to bow to the elder…”
                “Ah, just call me hyung and it’ll be fine with me.” Onew didn’t want Taemin to worry. “You look really young to be in grade 10. Did you skip a grade?”
                Taemin smiles and nods. “Yes I did actually. It’s only my third day here and the school board moved me up to some higher classes.”
                Onew smiles at him, happy that Taemin is excelling. “That sounds fun.” He looks up at the clock on the wall and curses under his breath. “I’ll see you later, bye.” He smiles and waves at Taemin, going to his next class.
                Taemin waves back at Onew with a smile. “He was nice,” he said to himself.

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                Onew goes through third and fourth period smoothly, and gets upset when he doesn’t see Minho and Taemin at lunch. Sitting down at his regular spot at a secluded table, he puts his food down in front of him. He pulls out a book he got from library and starts studying while eating.
                “Onew hyung!” someone shouted, making Onew turn around. He sighs and smiles weakly at the boy who was screaming. “Hi Kibum,” he mumbled, seeing the boy walk over with Jonghyun.
                Kibum pulls Jonghyun along and sits down happily next to Onew. “Hyung, guess what.”
                Onew sighs and closes his book, knowing that he won’t be able to study now. “What?” He gives his best ecstatic tone.
                Kibum glares and looks away. “Never mind hyung. It’s obvious that you don’t want to hear about that new boy.” He coughs mumbling a name after the cough.
                “Who, Key? You don’t usually gossip about anybody.” Onew says back.
                Kibum pouts, knowing Onew only calls him Key outside of school hours, or when he his spreading rumors. “Hey, it’s not that bad. It’s about that real tall kid~ Choi Minho~.”
                Onew goes stiff and gets his books together quickly. “I don’t want to talk about him!” Throwing his food away, Onew storms out of the lunchroom.
                Jonghyun sighs and pulls Key back from running after Onew. “Let him go. He’s just throwing a tantrum.”             
                Key pushes Jonghyun back into his seat. “He looked really mad Jjong! I’m going after him.” He picks up his bag quickly leaving Jonghyun behind in the lunchroom.
                Onew walks quickly outside of the school, sitting down against the side of the building. “Damn it,” he said under his breath. Looking up he sees someone towering over him. He can’t see who it is because of the sun.
                The person bends down and holds a hand out to him. Onew gets stiff as a board not knowing what to say. “It’s alright,” Minho said, smiling gently at Onew. Onew quickly stood up trying to walk away. Minho quickly grabs his arm pulling him back. “Please don’t leave. I want to apologize about what happened in class earlier.”
                Onew didn’t dare to look at him. “You don’t need to apologize!” he said sternly, wanting him to leave.
                Minho backs away slightly, but still has a firm grip on Onew’s arm. “Please let me…” Onew didn’t respond, not knowing what to say to the younger student. Should he let him apologize or should he push him away?
                Onew takes in a deep breath and looks back at Minho, noticing how desperate he looked to apologize. “…Alright, you can apologize. But it wasn’t even that big of a deal.”
                Minho shakes his head. “It was a big deal. I made you uncomfortable.”

                Onew rips his hand out of Minho’s grip walking away quickly. ‘Why won’t he leave me alone!?’ he thinks to himself, going back into the school. Walking back to his classroom, Onew sits down at his desk and tries to pay attention to the lesson. Onew can’t stop thinking about Minho. Nonstop, thinking about the tall student from grade 10. He goes through the rest of the day trying to pay attention, and ends up writing random gibberish down in his notebook.

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                It’s now after supper. All the students start flocking to the dorm houses. Teacher start yelling at the kids to go to their dorm rooms and to get some sleep.

                Onew walked through the crowd of underclassmen to his dorm. He was glad that he had a dorm room all to himself since his first roommate left the school. It was nice to have a big space to himself after a long day. He took his keycard out and pushed it into the card reader. The door beeped, and unlocked for Onew. He stepped inside and sighs deep, throwing his body onto the couch.
                “Long day?” a person asks from the kitchen.
                Onew nods, groaning into the pillow. “Yes.” He lyed on the couch for another minute before shooting up to see who spoke. “Who said that!?” he asked, scared.

                “Me, Minho.” The person said. Onew gulps and walks around into the kitchen and sees Choi Minho, sitting on the counter, as if he had no worries. “What’s wrong?”
                “What’s wrong!?” Onew said furious. “What’s wrong is that you’re in my room!”
                Minho jumps down from the counter furrowing his brows. “Hey, it’s my room now too.” He digs in his pocket, pulling out his keycard that matches Onew’s. “See~?”
                Onew groans, leaning against a chair by the table. “Of all the people that I end up with,” he mumbles, rubbing his face. Minho frowns deeper walking away to his bedroom shutting the door in an irritated way. Onew watches him glaring. “I can’t believe it.” Walking over to the small refrigerator, Onew rips the freezer door open and grabs a tub of ice cream. “This year is going to be long.”