He wasn’t one to skip school and tag his friends along, but when the text came in with an address and nothing more; it was what he had been practicing for and prepared for. So there he was, waiting for Sehun to come down as Taemin shook his leg up and down in the driver’s seat. It seemed that it was taking much more out of Taemin to leave school than him. He was a straight A student with now the perfect attendance record ruined by him. Kai felt kind of bad. But Taemin didn’t have to come and he had let him know. When he looked to the side to see why Sehun was taking so long, his eyes bulged. His dearest cousin was with him. Automatically he looked to Taemin who was looking at the steering wheel, spacing out, before jumping out of the car, running past Sehun and dragging Sulli inside with him.

Sulli yelped but followed him regardless until she was inside the house, Kai looked to Sehun and signaled him forward yelling; “Tell Taemin I need to pee.”

Sehun shrugged, slugging his bag on his shoulder and walked to the car. That was when he turned to look at Sulli who blanched at the mention of Taemin. She peeked through the window to see if he really was there. “Taemin’s here?”

It was barely a whisper. “Yeah, why do you think I’m saving your . What are you doing here Ssul? I know you and Sehun started dating but spending the night?”

“I didn’t spend the night here!” Sulli shoved him away and paced in front of him, every few seconds peeking out the door. “We were doing homework the night before and I forgot mine here. I called him this morning to see if he could give it to me before class and that’s when I found out that your whole dance thing is happening today, in an hour in some unknown location. You’re making Taemin ditch?”

Kai rolled his eyes and laughed. “I’m not making him do anything. He agreed on his own. I let him know he didn’t have to come. I understand what it means to be in perfect standing with the school, you both are top of our class. Which is the main reason I’m so surprised the straight A’s students were the ones that were also the must ually active, with each other.”

Sulli stopped pacing and glared at him. Something was different about her. It had been about just two days since she and Sehun had started to officially date. She no longer blushed at his teasing of her and Taemin. It was like … That was when it hit him. Kai glanced out quickly and watched as Sehun sat in the back seat, playing on his phone while Taemin was still jittering with his fingers on the steering wheel, looking down. He looked back to Sulli who was biting her nail and looking outside. She only looked to him after a few more seconds of feeling his stare.

“What?”

“You love him.”

“What? I just started dating him. Just so you know, I’m not one to be a hopeless romantic and just fall for the first guy to tell me I’m beautiful and worthwhile. It’s taking a lot and I think I deserve a relationship that is more than pinning for something or going behind people’s back.”

Kai shook his head. “I don’t mean Sehun. Though technically you are a hopeless romantic because Tae was the first to say you were beautiful and loved you. You finally realized you love Tae—”

Sulli jumped forward and clamped his mouth shut with her hand. “You’re spewing nonsense.”

Removing her hand, he smirked. “If that’s the case, why are you acting so defensive and not letting me finish? Is it because you don’t want to face it?”

She stepped back and looked down, shaking her head. “No. I just don’t want them to hear.” As she looked at the floor she started playing with the straps of her backpack, a nervous twitch she would get. “I’m not stringing Sehun along. I really do care for him, or want to care more for him. Besides Taemin has Naeun and I’m not going to try and ruin something. Sure, when he had called me a I wanted to prove him right but that wouldn’t do me any good. Minho talked some sense into me on how stupid that was.”

As much as he didn’t like Minho around his cousin, the older male hadn’t made a move. He was also the solid rock that Sulli could lean on during the first few weeks of the cold war she and Krystal were having. Now she had Sehun to lean on and help her forget what she felt for Taemin. Kai wanted to yell at the two of them and just shove them in a room together while profusely apologizing to Sehun. The two idiots were practically dating each other for two years, both with the same feelings towards one another. Only one didn’t say them and the other didn’t recognize them. He always knew Sulli had more than just friendly feelings for Taemin no matter how much she said she didn’t. When Taemin fell from a tree they were climbing and was rushed to the hospital, she was the only one still crying even with the knowledge that he was fine except for a sprained wrist.

“You’re both idiots you know that?”

She didn’t answer but pouted, looking forward to where her boyfriend was but he knew she was staring at Taemin. “Is he happy?” she paused, “No. Don’t answer that. I’m going with Krystal this afternoon to shop for a dress to the engagement party tomorrow. Sooyoung is taking us, do you want us to pick out a tux for you as well? I think I know your measurements, if not I’ll just call your mom.”

“Yeah, pick whatever goes with what you’re wearing.”

Kai smiled at the change of topic. The mere fact that he was going with her as her date instead of Minho made him laugh. But apparently, Minho was going solo and Taemin was taking Krystal. It was something that Naeun was not happy about, which made him happy to hear. Thinking he was taking too long and not wanting for Taemin to get suspicious he pulled Sulli in for a quick hug and placed a kiss on the top of her head before bidding her bye. She would sneak out after they left.

It wasn’t something he dwelled on much but he was grateful for Sulli in his live. It was like having a little sister. When he first moved into the neighborhood and was presented to the friends, Taemin inquired of him if he ever thought of the possibility of falling for Sulli. They weren’t related by blood but by marriage. Though it would be weird, it wasn’t illegal. He thought about it and thought about it some more until the day she tripped, fell and scrapped her knee. At her tears, he rolled his eyes and crouched down to give her a piggyback ride back to her house. It was the day he ran to Taemin’s house with the answer. It was a no, because Sulli was like the sister he never had and nothing more. It was the same day he figured Taemin had feelings for his cousin because of the relieved look on his face.

Getting to the car, he apologized for taking long. Sehun only nodded in acknowledgement and put his headphones in as Taemin started the car. Taemin glanced back to Sehun, knowing he wasn’t listening before glancing at him and pulled out. Something was up.

“How's Jinri?”

Kai wanted to fake not knowing what he meant but the side look Taemin gave him let him know that he couldn’t lie. “She was here picking up her homework from last night. Worried about your perfect record being ruined.” He watched as his friend tried to fight the smile from forming on his face. “How did you know? I thought I was fast enough to her so you wouldn’t see.”

“I appreciate you wanting to spare my feelings, though I don’t deserve it after what I said about her and how much torture you already put me through, but I knew she was there from the moment we pulled up. I recognized her car out in the front.”

He hadn’t thought about that and groaned. Taemin was too smart for his own good. Smart in some things and an idiot in others. But he was correct, he had made him suffer but after he apologized and told him about how weary he was of Naeun lately he figured it was better to not throw salt to wound anymore. He was all for Naeun being dumped and yet he didn’t know how. Sehun wouldn’t open up about anything regarding his old childhood friend but he figured it was for the same reasons as to why he didn’t want her around his own life. She was two faced. Had he paid more attention he could have stopped Taemin ever meeting her but he was too busy thinking of ways to get Krystal to look his way and avoiding Suzy.

“Hey Tae,”

“Yeah,”

“You should’ve confessed sooner.”

That was all he said, Taemin’s answer came with a curt “I know” and then the radio to drown out the empty noise filled in the car.

***

When Amber had agreed to help Minho, he didn’t expect for him to show up at his door in the morning to pick him up and then driving over to Amber’s place to pick her up. That, he wasn’t annoyed by because it was great to see the look of surprise on her face as she opened the door and saw him behind it. Her surprise look turned into a smile as she ran back inside to get her backpack and yell bye to everyone in the house. As soon as the door closed she hugged him, making him loose his balance as he took a step down from the porch. She was leaning in but he stopped her by looking to Minho who was waiting in the car and smirking at them. She blushed and stepped back.

“He showed up at my door.”

“I didn’t question you being here or how you got here because I was just so happy to see you. I guess Jonghyun wouldn’t let you borrow his car today, would he?”

“No. But maybe. He didn’t drive either. He kind of made up with his friend Onew a few days back. It was weird to walk into. Jessica Jung was there and then Onew who I hear is Taemin’s older cousin. I’m guessing drama just follows the Jung’s around?”

“You have no idea.”

Kibum opened the door for Amber before going back into the passenger seat. He heard as Amber said hi to Minho and the latter did likewise. Minho sent him a smirk before driving off. Kibum only rolled his eyes. It was like Minho enjoyed annoying him and the main thing he would about was his relationship with Amber. Other than that, they had built this odd sort of friendship. He and Minho. It was a comfortable one where they both knew where they stood. Him as the new kid, finally having that title starting to leave him and Minho, who still held the title as the king of the school though he could care less and wasn’t dating anyone.

He knew why he wasn’t dating someone. It happened randomly. He had yet to set up his appointments with Irene and had nothing to do after school. So Kibum walked around and ended up on the bleachers once again as he waited for Amber and Min to finish with the newspaper for the upcoming week. The principle still cut funds up but at least they kept the paper as a weekly thing and the daily news went up on the web page, which was really more of a blog where everyone in school updated with their own gossip hoping to make it into the weekly one on the paper. That was what really took so long to read through and decipher on what was good enough. As he waited, Minho came out from the locker room.

It turned out that it was a habit of Minho’s to be the last out. The girls weeded out themselves because they hated waiting for so long. So he was spotted by Minho. It wasn’t like he could run because he was the only person there and he didn’t want to run. It was the first time he had seen Minho be so serious with him, besides the time when he asked for help. He wanted to help Taemin because though he didn’t look it, he cared for his friends. He cared for Taemin and more importantly he cared for Sulli who stuck with him when everyone else went with Krystal. Kibum didn’t expect Minho to play detective enough to had also been there in the library when he was there for the confrontation of Sehun by Naeun. Minho opened up to him, more than he would have personally liked and through that he knew Minho was not over Krystal and that was what stopped him from even thinking about going further with Sulli when he had the chance.

“Why are you picking us up Minho?”

Amber spoke and it took him out of his reverie. He faced the male who was asked the question, also wanting to know. He didn’t even really second guess Minho picking him up. Not after their weird heart to heart, or more like Minho having a heart to heart to his listening ears.

“Ah, well I did more searching. It was more like I did some asking. I maned up a little and approached Kai. It was hard really, knowing how much closer he is getting to Krystal and just knowing that ship is too far in the horizon. Anyway, I had him ask Sehun about his old school and neighborhood. The one where he and Naeun grew up in. Sehun luckily didn’t think much of it and just answered. I figured today after school we could go check it out an