The whole weekend, you were bothered by the fact that L. Joe was being so mean to you. You hated him; that you’re sure of, but is that the truth? You would punch a pillow and scream into it. And once Jiyong came to your room, asking what was wrong, but you didn’t say anything. He shrugged it off and left you alone, heading to work.

  By Monday, you were tired out of your mind. In fact, you didn’t get enough sleep while you were thinking how much you hated L. Joe, but in the back of your mind, something screamed something else. That something else you ignored completely.

  While you were heading to school, you heard your cell phone ring. Without checking the caller ID, you answered it, “Hello?” Your voice was very hoarse and tired.

  “Uhm… Belle?” The voice replied, unsure if he got the right number. He wasn’t sure if it was you since the voice sounded nothing like you.

  “Who’s this?”

  *Who the hell is this?!* He thought in his head. *This does not sound anything like Belle!* “This is L.”

  “Oh, L!” Your voice came back.

  He let out a puff of air. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m heading to school,” you replied and asked, “What about you? Are you going to the mall?”

  *The mall? Out of all places, she asked if I’m going to the mall?! It’s a school day!* “I-I’m heading to school, too.” *Take a deep breath L. Don’t forget she can be a bit of an airhead sometimes. Just stay calm and play it cool.* “I called to ask you if you want to meet somewhere after school.”

  “But I have school.” You didn’t hear the after school part.

  “I said after-”

  “But I have school.” You repeated, still not hearing his words.

  *Aish!* “When are you available?” He asked through gritted teeth. It was really hard to stay calm when you never listen to what he has to say. He still remembered the first meeting. This was the first time he experienced speaking to a girl like you.

  “I’m available after school.”

  *Isn’t that what I just said?!* “Okay. So we’ll meet after school at your school.”

  “You school? But I don’t know where that is?” You still mixed up his words as you saw a butterfly fly by you. “Oo! Pretty!” You exclaimed trying to touch it, but it flew by before you could.

  *Pretty? What the hell? And she still didn’t listen to me!* “Uhm… I’ll meet you by your school.”

  “What?” You were still distracted by the butterfly.

  *This girl is hopeless!* “Where do you want to meet?” He asked, still trying to calm himself down. “Crap!” He exclaimed as he tripped on a crack. Being too busy by your idioticness caused him to be oblivious of his surroundings.

  “You could meet at my school since you know where that is, right?”

  “Yeah.” He faked a smile as he thought about his plan. *Hopefully everything will fall into plan unlike on Saturday. This time, I need everything to be in place and not anything else. Wait, what about Belle? She’s so unpredictable!* “I’ll see you after school, okay?” He said slowly, making sure she understood. “After school at your school. Remember that.”

  “I will!”

  “Okay, I’ll see you later. Bye, Belle.” He said coolly.

  “Bye!” You said cheerfully and skipped to school.

  Once at school, you met Hana with Changjo beside her. You could see them talking while Hana’s cheeks were flushed red. You weren’t sure what they were saying since you were far behind them, but you knew it was something good. You watched as Hana’s head whipped towards Changjo, eyes wide.

  Changjo smiled and said something you couldn’t understand, causing Hana’s cheeks to redden even more. She turned her head away as he took her into a hug.

  You wanted to scream and hug both of them, but someone grabbed your arm. You spun around and found Niel with Ricky and C.A.P. “Oh, no you don’t! You’re not going to ruin their moment just yet!”

  “What?”

  “Nothing…”

  You all watched as the two released each other and held hands.

  “Alright! Time to go!” Niel shouted and pounced on the two.

  They jumped. Hana screeched while Changjo froze.

  The rest of the group plus you came up to them, smiling like idiots. Ricky wrapped an arm around Changjo while laughing like crazy. This was the first time Changjo confessed to a girl, but it wasn’t the first time liking one.

  “So what are you two love birds talking about?” Niel asked teasingly.

  They blushed.

  You grabbed Hana’s arm and screamed in delight. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH! You two are finally together?!” You jumped up and down and hugged her tight. “AH! I’m so happy for you!”

  Hana couldn’t stop blushing at the moment and was lost for words. She tried getting out of your grasp, but tripped on the process.

  Changjo helped her up and couldn’t let her hand go.

  “Aw! Look at these two!” Ricky teased, nudging C.A.P on the shoulder.

  C.A.P didn’t say anything. He really had nothing to say at this moment. It was young love and he thought it was cute, but what was there to say.

  “What is all this noise?!” L. Joe suddenly appeared.

  They all turned to him and found him with a different colored hair. Their jaws dropped as they found him with purple hair this time.

  You looked away from him and muttered. “Some day, you’re going to turn bald.”

  “What did you say?” He sneered and glared at you. *I still don’t understand why you want to hang out with L so much, Belle. I’m way better than him.* “At least, I have a brain.”

  You pouted.

  “Hey, that was mean, L. Joe.” Niel stated and held you close to him. He patted your head and comforted you. “It’s okay Belle. He doesn’t mean it. He’s just mad that you were hanging out with L on Saturday and not with him.” Niel snickered even though he knew he would receive a glare from L. Joe.

  “Shut up.” L. Joe muttered under his breath.

  “It’s not nice to say that.” You stated, sticking your tongue out.

  “Ah! Whatever, I’m leaving this area.” L. Joe flung his arms around and walked pass them while grumbling nonsense to himself.

  “He’s jealous.” Ricky stated.

  “Very jealous,” Niel agreed.

  Changjo and Hana sighed. “I knew this would happen,” they said in sync causing them to look at each other and laugh.

  C.A.P remained silent.

  You on the other hand, you were in your own world, not hearing a word they said. You crossed your arms across your chest and puffed air. *Hmph! That meanie L. Joe! He’s definitely going to go bald and no one will ever like him when that happens!* Without saying a word, you stomped your way towards the school as everyone watched you go.

  They all sighed at the same time.

  “I wonder what we’ll do with these two.” Ricky scratched the back of his head in frustration. “They sure like to argue a lot.”

  Niel snapped his fingers. “I got an idea!” He turned to the group. “The dance is coming soon, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for them to answer and said, “And L. Joe has her as a date! We should try to bring them together there!”

  They all blinked at Niel and said, “No.”

  “I think we should just let them figure it out themselves. After all, they’re both airheads.” Ricky said.

  The rest agreed.

  “I don’t want to force Belle into doing something she doesn’t want,” Hana explained.

  “And I agree with Hana!” Changjo exclaimed.

  They turned to C.A.P who had no words whatsoever. “Just let them settle this by themselves.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

  You were frustrated the whole day. Every time you saw L. Joe, you just couldn’t help but insult him and he was doing the same. You two had a battle which neither of you won. It went on like that for the whole day.

  You were heading out the gates, mad with L. Joe to where you didn’t pay attention to your surroundings.

  L was leaning on the wall, waiting for you to come. He had his pencil in his hand since he dashed out of his school to head to T.O.P High. There were a few girls staring admiringly at him but he wasn’t paying attention to them; he was looking for you. When he spotted you he smirked and stuck the pencil in his pocket. As you came near, he said, “Hey, Belle.”

  You walked right passed him without a glance. *Stupid Pink. No, now he’s Purple. Stupid Purple Dinosaur. He’s ruining my life! I should have never spoken to him in the first place!* You grumbled to yourself and continued walking, still not hearing L.

  “Belle? Belle?! Hello? Are you there?” L was walking beside you, trying to grab your attention. He sigh and stood right in front of you. “Belle!”

  You jumped and stopped in your tracks. “AH!” You screamed and swung your bag at him.

  It hit him square on the face. “Ouch!” He rubbed his nose. “What was that for?!”

  “Oh! L! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were there. Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

  *Me? Sneaking up on you? I wasn’t sneaking up on you? I was talking to you but you wouldn’t listen to me! What is wrong with you?!* Instead of saying those words, he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would get scared and smack me with that bag of yours.” He continued rubbing his sore nose. *And I’m the face of Infinite!*

  “What do you want?”

  *Didn’t I tell her I wanted to meet with her?* “I came here so we can hang out a bit. I mean we didn’t really finish our date on Saturday.”

  “Oh, right!” You smiled.

  He smiled and his eyes went behind you. L spotted L. Joe coming out of school and saw you two immediately.

  L. Joe’s eyes widened for a moment before they were filled with anger. He sneered and stomped his way towards you two.

  *He’s still pretty far.* L stood next to you and wrapped an arm around your shoulder. “Where would you like to go? I’ll only take you to one place today since we still have school tomorrow.” He asked while dragging you down the sidewalk.

  You didn’t think too much about his arm around your shoulder and smiled. “I want some ice cream! I’ve been wanting ice cream for a while now!” You jumped like a little kid and squealed.

  “Okay, I can buy some.”

  “Why are you here?” L. Joe’s voice came from behind them.

  L smirked and turned around, taking you with him. “I came here to pick up Belle. Is there something wrong with that?”

  “This is our territory.” He said through gritted teeth. “You’re only allowed to be here if there is an event or if someone invited you.”

  “Well Belle invited me, right Belle?” *Please say the truth.*

  “I did!” You replied, sneering at him. “And this isn’t your territory! This is a public school so anyone can come here! You’re not the boss or principal!”

  L. Joe turned his head. “But why are you with him? He’s the enemy!”

  “I don’t see how he’s the enemy!” You grabbed his arm causing L. Joe to dart his eyes at you.

  L smirked. *This is better than I planned.*

  L. Joe opened his mouth to say more, but he closed them. He took a deep breath and shouted, “Fine! Go be with him and enjoy your ice cream together! I don’t care! Just do whatever you like! I don’t care!”

  “Fine! I will! Let’s go, L!” You jerk him around and pulled him away from L. Joe.

  *Whoa! This girl is stronger than I thought!* L turned his head and found L. Joe looking at the ground while frowning. *Yeah, that girl really did have a huge affect on you, L. Joe. Now how are you going to handle this situation? You better hurry or else she’s gone for good.*

  When you were gone, L. Joe kicked a pole. “! Why am I feeling this way? I don’t care about her! I don’t care what she does! She could even kiss him if she wanted to! I don’t care!” He shouted and kicked the pole again. *I’m going crazy…*