Chipper. I was absolutely chipper Wednesday morning. The whole school was too.

Friday was the pep rally for the first basketball game of the season, after that was the game, and then the weekend. People were excited to be at school for once. Even me. Park Chanyeol’s fangirls were already getting their cameras polished and ready to go for the game. Quite frankly, I thought it was rather creepy how they took pictures of a normal high school student, but whatever.

Already the lockers in the corner were covered in encouraging signs and lipstick stains; even Kim Taehyung had a few on his locker. I grinned at him when he arrived to get his books before class.

“Enjoying the high life?” I asked, looking for my long lost chapstick in my locker.

Taehyung shook his head in amusement. “I’m not there yet,” he said. He played with his bangs in his locker mirror before starting to gather his books.

“Keyword: yet.”

He chuckled. “Are you coming Friday? I need my personal cheerleader,” he teased with his adorable smile.

I scrunched my face up in fake speculation. “I’m no cheerleader . . . but I’ll come.” I smiled brightly before finding my chapstick and putting some on. “Really, what would you do without me, Kim Taehyung?” I asked, smacking my lips and checking myself in the mirror. Just then I caught the reflection of the idiots arriving. Might I add, without Oh Sehun.

Taehyung ruffled my hair before closing his locker. “I just might die,” he said with much sarcasm.

I noticed the slight tremor in his eyes when he noticed one of his teammates standing nearby. Huang Zitao was talking animatedly with Luhan in Chinese while Kai slowly gathered his books for class. “Are they treating you well?” I asked Taehyung quietly. After what I had heard Byun Baekhyun say before, I worried Taehyung was getting bullied still.

Taehyung looked at me and gave me a small smile. “It’s just taking a while for them to accept me is all,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll see you later, yeah?” I nodded and he trotted off after nodding in the idiots’ direction.

Lunch was the same as the day before. I even went to quad to see for myself and sure enough, there sat Oh Sehun. Like the day before, his hair was slicked back into a professional, business-like style. I heard a few girls gushing over it during history class. Once again he wore those sunglasses he had shown up in on Monday and his uniform worn to perfection. I frowned nastily at him, though he didn’t even know I was there. He was acting so normal. But I liked it. He wasn’t even hanging out with his friends that much anymore and when I saw him with them, he looked bored and annoyed. Maybe that’s all he needed to do, get away from those bad people and he could be nice. Though, it always seemed like he was the ring leader. I shrugged and went back inside the school. Whatever he wanted to do was fine with me. He was leaving me be and that was that mattered.

By then, everyone was bored. No one wondered why he showed up on time now, no one questioned why he didn’t drive his own car, no one talked about Seyeon’s (Sehun+Taeyeon) possible split. Nothing. Nada. I heard his fangirls going on here and there, but for the most part, everyone acted like school life was normal. Now the talk was the basketball game and that set very well with me. Oh Sehun was out of the photo, I had Taehyung to support, and it seemed like I was going to get to do that without being bullied and called ugly or fat every five minutes. I was happier than Park Chanyeol’s fangirls when he jogged by us during gym class with sweat on his perfect collarbones. Their words, not mine, please note.

It looked like school life was going to be pleasant for me for once. Maybe I would make a few friends, join a club or two. Who knows. I kind of wanted to join the girls soccer team. I was already writing down a list of things I wanted to do before I graduated during my last class. Most of them were ridiculous things I could get suspended for, but—hey! Dream big! I sniggered to myself at an idea of messing with the principal. I also had more ideas for Oh Sehun. I hadn’t forgotten when he told me he would remind me of my place if needed. Well, I just might need to remind him of his place.

After school ended I decided to visit my grandma. It had been a small while and, as I had told her before, I would deal with my problem; now that I did, I was going to pay her a visit. Also, I needed to finish helping her clean out that nasty room.

“Hey, hey~” I announced my entrance, slipping off my shoes. I could hear the tv going in the living room; it sounded like a drama.

The volume lowered a bit. “Come on in, dear,” grandma said.

I went into the living room to find her knitting, a big giant plate of cookies on the coffee table in front of her. “Whatcha knitting?” I asked, sitting next to h