He knew how he looked to others. Tall. Lean. Muscular and... Strong. But that was not how he felt. He could feel their eyes on his skin, piercing through his soul, figuring him out. Ok, maybe he was taking this too personal. After all, he was the new kid, people were bound to look at him.

"Huang Zitao, am I right?" An older man was looking at him with warm eyes.

Tao instantly felt better. Yeah, this was his first time at a new school, in a new country, with a language he could barely speak, but he felt somewhat at home. The man was still waiting for an answer, so he nodded quickly. A broad smile appeared on the man's face.

"I am Mr. Kim, the school's Principal. I believe I have spoken with your mother."

Another nod. Maybe he could try to use his Korean. After all, he had studied years of it at school. It couldn't be that bad.

"Yes," he said slowly, trying to deliver one complete sentence correctly "She told me to look for you as soon as I came in, but I got lost".

It wasn't perfect, but it was a fair attempt. Mr. Kim's smile got broader, if that was even possible.

"Alright, please come into my office. We have a lot to discuss".

Ten minutes later, Tao was back in the hallway, even more confused than before.

God, that had been a weird conversation. He had been given a little map of the school and his schedule. He was already really late for his first class, so he slowly began to make his way there.

He had expected some kind of comment related to his talent for wushu, he knew he was fairly well known and that the school was one of the few in the country who had an official team, but... he had just arrived. How could they offer him the position of captain of the team without having even seen him at practice? Oh god, his team mates were going to hate him. That wasn't fair.

He was so deep in thought he failed to realize that he was standing in front of his new classroom. With a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. Tao found himself sitting at the back of a classroom full of kids that were pretty obviously staring at him. He knew he had introduced himself, but as he couldn't quite catch that memory, he hoped at least he hadn't made a fool of himself.

Luckily, he had arrived to class later than he had thought, so less than two minutes later the bell rang, setting them free. 

"Hum. Hello," said the guy sitting next to him. He was little, and doll-like, "My name is Do Kyungsoo, nice to meet you."

Tao took a few seconds to realize he was talking to him. The boy seemed serene and unsure of weather to talk or not. Tao instantly liked him.

"Hi, nice to meet you too," he said, smiling the first time that day.

Kyungsoo seemed to feel this, and smiled in return. As they were about to leave the classroom, two guys approached. One of them clasped Kyungsoo on the shoulder, while smiling brightly and extending his hand to Tao.

"Hi. I'm Kai, and this here is Sehun."

Tao shook his hand firmly, while Sehun gave him a curt nod. Kai started rambling enthusiastically about the day, and life, and his friends, and how cool it was that there was a new guy in the classroom, and everything, of which Tao could understand less than half, until Kyungsoo reminded him that if they were too late to the cafeteria, they wouldn't be able to get a seat. That seemed to shut Kai up, as if he suddenly felt extremely hungry.

They made their way there, and Tao couldn't help to notice all the glances he was getting.

Apparently, he was not the only one, because just as they got their food and sat in the only free seats of the crowded cafeteria, Sehun, speaking for the first time with a strangely amused tone, commented "Wow. We knew we were handsome, but we hadn't received so many looks in years."

Kai roared with laughter, while Kyungsoo smiled.

"Don't worry about it. People just think it's weird for someone to start school a month after the course begun."  

They ate lunch in a comfortable silence, interrupted only by an occasional comment from Kai, who was too hungry to talk much but didn’t seem to be able to be quiet for too long. Once they had finished, Tao took is schedule and map out. That had been his last class of the day. He had arrived the classroom later than he had thought. As soon as Kai saw the map, he jumped from his seat.

"Hey, man, you can't honestly think we're going to let you go without showing you the school, can you?"  

"Yes, Tao, if you want we can give you a little tour. We are done for the day," Kyungsoo added.

Sehun nodded.

Finally, Tao decided to accept. After all, he really did need all the help he could get, and he enjoyed the group's company. It was barely 1.30, so he had plenty of time before his first wushu practice, at 3.30. 

They left the cafeteria, led by an overly enthusiastic Kai, who didn't seem to ever stop talking. Tao took the chance to really look at them. Kai walked like a dancer. That was the first thing he noticed. He had the confidence, the posture and the rhythm. His every movement was graceful. His dark hair almost covered his eyes, and it was obviously a reflex to fix it with his hand. He also had a glorious smile, that seemed to light up his whole face. His eyes were amused and soft.

Sehun, on the other hand, had an intense, intelligent gaze. He rarely smiled, but Tao realized that, as time went by, he got more relaxed around him and smiled more. His chocolate hair look perfectly arranged, and contrasted with his milk pale skin. He was the youngest of the group, but was also almost as tall as Tao, and he could tell he would only keep getting taller.

Kyungsoo's hair was a deep shade of red, short on the sides and longer on the top. It had a certain flow, which made it look soft. He had a shy, small smile, a genuine one, and a roundish, perfect face. His eyes were like onyx, piercing, inquiring. He was shorter than his friends, but that wasn't saying much, seeing as they were all unusually tall for their age.

The school was huge, and Tao found himself remembering his previous school, which was almost as big as this one, but looked and felt crowded and suffocating. He could get used to this much space. Kai kept pointing at classrooms and special facilities. They had already shown him the cafeteria, the library, the labs and the pool, and were now heading to what interested him the most: the gym. He was pretty sure he would only remember that location by the end of the tour.

"So, are you planning on entering any team?" Kai asked, interrupting his train of thoughts, "This school is known for having awesome teams and great players, you know."  

Tao recalled his talk with the Principal early in the morning. He felt his stomach clench with the prospect of leading a team who wouldn't like him.

"Yes," he said slowly, "Actually, I've been offered the position of captain of the wushu team."

"Is it you?" Kyungsoo shouted, startling both Kai and Sehun.

Tao nodded shyly.

"I'm part of the team. We've been waiting for you for weeks! The Principal informed us we would finally have a well prepared leader, but he never said who or when."

Tao felt suddenly dizzy. What was he saying?

"So you guys don't hate me?" he asked before he could stop himself.

Now it was Kyungsoo's turn to look confused.

"Hate you? Why would we?"

Tao felt blurry around the edges. The nervousness that had been following him all day disappeared completely, replaced by utter relief. He felt himself smile widely.

"Are you two on the team too?" he asked, suddenly remembering the other boys, who were looking at the conversation amusedly.

"Nah," Kai replied, waving his hand dismissively, "We got into the basketball team."

 He sounded so proud and smug. Tao could sense something deeper hiding behind the innocence of the statement, but he couldn't wrap his head around it. With the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kyungsoo's eye roll. He would have to ask him about that later. After all, they had finally arrived to the gym. It was huge, at least twice as big as the one his previous school had.

"I'll go get ready in the changing room. Are you coming?" Kyungsoo asked.

Tao nodded enthusiastically and waved goodbye to Kai and Sehun, who had lazily informed him that that was their only free afternoon and they were planning on sleeping for the rest of the day.

As it was his first day, Tao didn't have his school uniform, let alone his wushu one. He sat there patiently between rows of lockers. He had received his key earlier, so he left his stuff there and wondered around.

Everything at this school seemed unnecessary big. The changing room was no exception. Hundreds, even thousands of lockers. Dozens of perfectly clean showers. Kyungsoo chuckled and informed him that technically, the school was focused on sports, so they had the facilities to function with lots of people at both regional and national competitions.

Tao took his chance to ask him about what had happened earlier. Kyungsoo explained, sounding a bit hurt but without losing his smile, that that was just how everyone on the basketball team acted. It was really tough to get into the team, so its members were treated like royals by the rest of the school. They believed they were better than everybody, especially better than them. But Kai and Sehun, among a few other members, were actually really nice, but had that tough "basketball team member" cover. Tao had never heard so much stupid nonsense in such a short time. Come on, they acted like they were in a ing drama. What was wrong with this people? Why couldn't they just do what they liked and move on with their lives?

"It's time. Are you ready to meet your new team mates?" Kyungsoo tried to speak lightly, to break the tension.

Tao nodded. Yeah, he had more important stuff to worry about.

The atmosphere inside the gym was funny enough to make him smile and feel warm inside. Two of the guys sat with their back to the wall, chatting and laughing. One of them kept hitting the other lightly. The other two were mock fighting, mixing wushu techniques with dance moves. They were in fact quite a show. The Principal had seriously underestimated them, Tao thought. He had actually expected a couple of lazy guys who could barely move and didn't know the sport's rules. Needless to say, he was glad he was wrong.

As soon as they approached, the guys sitting stood up, and the ones fighting stopped doing so, although they continues laughing and elbowing each other.

"Hey guys!" Kyungsoo started, "This is..."

"Huang Zitao, our new captain. Yeah, we know," one of the fighting guys interfered, "Hi! I'm Luhan. This one here is Minseok," he said, pointing to the other fighting guy and smiling brightly, "It's good to finally have you here."

 "How the hell did you find out? I did so myself barely ten minutes ago," Kyungsoo asked, seeming confused.

"We have our contacts," the guy named Minseok replied with a playful smile.

"Meaning the Principal came in to tell us a couple of minutes ago," one of the guys at the back replied with a warm smile, "Hello. My name is Joonmyeon. Nice to meet you."

 "And I'm Baekhyun. Hi!" the last guy said, waving quickly. He seemed a bit hyperactive, especially compared to his very calm friend.

They looked very close, despite their different personalities, and they obviously cared about each other. Excited and eager to practice, Tao skipped further introduction.

An hour later, their first practice together was over. They had gone over the basics, and although their level was pretty good, Tao could tell they would need lots of practice if they were to win anything.

"So. This time tomorrow, right?" Tao asked.

They all exchanged guilty looks.

"Actually," Minseok finally said, "we kind of... only practice once a week?"

 "Not that we wouldn't do it more often," Baekhyun added immediately, "It's just the only day when the gym is available."

Tao felt his jaw clench. How could the Principal expect him to do anything if they could only practice when other teams didn't want to?

"Be here tomorrow. At 3.30. I'll deal with the Principal. From now on, we practice every day."

Small smiles appeared on the members' faces. Only Kyungsoo frown made Tao realize it wouldn't be that easy.

The following morning went by in relative calm. His classes were fine, but he had more trouble with his Korean than he had thought he would. The Principal had told him he would have a tutor, but he hadn't met him yet. He spent his few breaks with Kyungsoo, Kai and Sehun, who was now comfortable around him, but still didn´t talk much.

Lunch time came quickly, and they sat with the wushu team. They were greeted enthusiastically. Everyone was laughing and joking around, looking like the happiest table at the cafeteria. They were quite a special group. Funnily enough, the ones in their last year, Minseok and Luhan, were also the most immature. Minseok was relatively calm, but always got carried away when he was with his friend. His nut-brown hair framed his roundish face, making him look much younger, and his frankly adorable smile, although generally shy, gave him an air of peace.

Luhan, on the other side, was the noisiest of the table. The day before he had shown he was very much capable of concentrating when he wanted to, but now was not the case. His eyes shone, especially when he smiled, and he was constantly doing so. His laughter, loud and vibrant, was the most contagious one he had ever heard, and Tao found himself laughing at the most idiotic stuff just because he was. His hair was a mixture of gold and hazel, and seemed to shine with him.

Baekhyun's personality contrasted with his looks. He had perfect hair, a dark shade of brown, almost chocolate, and a delicate face. His personality, on the other side, was quite bizarre. He could act like a cute, innocent puppy one minute, and like a bossy, vain diva the other. Everyone was used to this constant change, but Tao still felt amused every time this happened.

Joonmyeon was the motherly presence of the group. Together with Kyungsoo, they seemed to keep everyone on check and dissolve every possible trivial argument they had. He looked young, his age, but had this aura of wisdom. From the top of his black hair to his sincere smile, he felt trustworthy.

Apparently, Luhan and Minseok were members of almost every other team at school, so they had had to make a few arrangements to their agendas to be free every afternoon at 3, but they said their main team was wushu, so that wasn't a problem. Tao was graceful for that.

They finished lunch, and Kai and Sehun excused themselves. After a few minutes, they decided that, although it was still pretty early, they could head to the locker room. 

Tao might have liked this new school; but what the hell was this for? He had to wear a uniform, like those you find in mangas, that make girls look pretty and boys look handsome. But he couldn't move. Everything felt stiff and he couldn't breathe properly. He had never been so relieved to wear his black wushu uniform. With it, he felt free, and safe, back at home.

He waited for everyone to get ready. While they were talking, Luhan asked him how was this new school, new country, new language thing going. Apparently, he was also Chinese, although he had been in Korea for so long he spoke perfectly. Tao had hoped he would be his tutor, but Luhan innocently crushed it when he said the Principal didn't allow him to be one, because he was afraid that with so many activities his grades would drop.

At 3.30 they started practice. Everything went great for a while, until they heard voices coming from the hall. Kyungsoo sighted, as if that was sadly expected. About ten guys, all almost as tall as Tao, approached them. Tao saw both Kai and Sehun at the back of the crowd, but they were talking and hadn't noticed them.

"So, what do we have here? Oh, it's the ninja club, isn't it?" one of the guys started. Some of his idiotic friends chuckled.

The basketball team. He should have known.

"Hey guys. What are you doing here?" Kai interfered, looking between Tao and Kyungsoo, who just shook his head resignedly.

"Practicing," decided Tao. He knew Kai wasn't able to help them much, so he spoke directly to the first guy, "And we would like to keep going, so if you would please leave..."  

The amusement left the guys face, replace by arrogance, indignation and anger. He took a step closer. At that precise moment, the far door of the gym opened. The guy looked at Tao up and down, smirked, and took a few steps back. Everyone went silent as two guys walked in, talking distractedly. They raised their eyes and finally noticed the commotion. They scanned the group, trying to figure out the problem. 

"Hey! Captain! Look at what we have here!" This guy was getting on Tao's nerves. 

The tallest one, who acted like the leader, approached. He looked directly into Tao's eyes.