It was early October and the halls were bristling with excitement. The school’s homecoming festival was only days away and everyone was busily preparing. The homecoming festival was a way to welcome the new students, welcome back the returning ones and have everyone come together, make new friends and build up school spirit.

At the festival students could enjoy food, carnival games, entertainment provided by the students themselves and even a haunted house (it being October and all). Hyoyeon, Sooyoung and Sunny had decided to volunteer to be on the committee to plan and build the haunted house. They wanted to make it extra scary in hopes of dragging Jessica inside and hearing her world famous dolphin scream. Kai, wanting to be closer to Hyoyeon, also signed up. Unfortunately, to Hyoyeon’s dismay, Eunhyuk and his girlfriend also volunteered. It wasn’t intentional but unpleasant all the same.

“Yuck, what are the odds that Eunhyuk and his little girl toy would have signed up for this too?” Sooyoung scowled and stuck her lollipop back into . She was cutting strips of fabric for a mummy costume.

“Look I don’t want to spend the entire time focusing on them. It’s better to just ignore them and have fun ok?” Hyoyeon smiled.

The four were in a spare classroom. All around them other students were making props and costumes for the haunted house.

“We definitely need like a crazed maniac with a chainsaw or something!” Sunny exclaimed.

“Ha! And where are gonna get a chainsaw huh?” Kai laughed. “Who’s gonna let a bunch of high school kids get away with that?”

Sunny pouted. “Fine…maybe a fake axe or something.”

Hyoyeon patted the silly bunny on her head and grabbed a paper bag full of supplies. “I’m gonna start putting up some of these spider webs and bats up at the site, I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“I’ll come too!” Kai leapt up and took the bag from her. Hyoyeon nodded and they both left the room.

Sooyoung paused and watched them leave. She then looked at Sunny who had also stopped to watch them exit. Their eyes finally met and they smiled at each other.

“So…what do you think of that huh?”

“It’s pretty clear to anyone else watching, but Hyo being the oblivious blonde that she is won’t figure it out for a while. Plus seeing Eunhyuk everywhere with that girl is kind of distracting her from thinking about anyone else.” Sunny sighed.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sooyoung tapped the lollipop to her lips, thought for a moment, and then a big smile spread across her face. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t help things along.”

Sunny got the hint and nodded in agreement. The two friends high-fived each other and got back to work. Meanwhile Hyoyeon and Kai were at the music/theater building, where over the course of the past week the students had been turning the theater and band rooms and hallways into a spooky haunted house. Hyoyeon and Kai entered the theater room which had been set up to look like a haunted bedroom. Creepy looking portraits were hung on the walls, fake blood was smeared all over the sheets on the bed.

“Wow this place looks great so far! I can’t wait until it’s all done! Help me put these up?” Hyoyeon beamed.

Hyoyeon took the bag of cobwebs and walked over to the corner. Kai followed her with a ladder and held it in place as she climbed up. She began stringing the cobwebs over the portraits and stapled some in the corners of the ceiling. As Kai held the ladder in place he couldn’t help but notice her legs. They were toned, but appeared very soft and smooth. Whenever she reached up her shirt would lift and he could see glimpses of her back. And was her uniform skirt always that short? Kai swallowed hard.

Hyoyeon leaned back slightly to see if everything looked ok and as she did so she began to lose her balance. Without thinking Kai’s hand shot up and he pushed her forward again, his hand on the back of her thigh. Hyoyeon’s face immediately became red. No one had ever touched her like that before. Kai was also blushing profusely. He certainly had never touched a girl like that before. Hyoyeon slowly looked down at Kai and their eyes met. She was about to speak, but Eunhyuk got to it first.

“Am I interrupting something?” He stood in the doorway holding candlesticks for the room. Once again he looked extremely irritated.

“No! I was just…we were just…I almost fell and he was trying to help me that’s all!” Hyoyeon climbed down visibly embarrassed.

“Of course you were.” He shot Kai a dirty look as he passed him and put the candlesticks down on the table with a loud thud.

Just then another girl appeared in the doorway. Her arms were full of spray paint cans. She was very petite and very pretty and this was the first time Hyoyeon had seen her this closely before.

“Oh here you are Hyukkie, I’m ready to start painting those tombstones now!” She sensed there was uneasiness in the room. She smiled walked toward Hyoyeon, held her hand out. “I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Ji-eun.”

Hyoyeon hesitated. She looked at the girl, then at Eunhyuk who looked away. She took a deep breath and held her hand out, only smiling slightly. “Hello…I’m Hyoyeon.”

“Nice to meet you!” Ji-eun looked passed Hyoyeon at the dark haired boy standing behind her. “Oh is this your boyfriend?”

“No!” Eunhyuk burst out suddenly. All three turned to look at him.

“Do you know her Hyukjae?”

“Uh…I’ve just had some classes with her in the past that’s all…” He trailed off.

Hyoyeon winced. It was bad enough having her feelings rejected by him, but to now have him act like she was just some classmate? That they hadn’t been friends for years?

“Well it was nice meeting you Ji-eun, but if you’ll excuse me I need to get some more decorations.” She quickly exited the room and as soon as she turned the corner she bolted into a full sprint and ran from the building.

Kai bowed to Ji-eun and excused himself as well. He casually walked from the room so as not to cause any alarm, but then took off running after Hyoyeon. When he finally caught up to her she was on a hill standing near a tree. She had her hand out, propping herself up against the tree trunk. She was bent over breathing heavily and choking back her tears. Kai didn’t know if he should hug her or leave her be.

“I know why he had to do it.” She wept, her tears trickling down onto her sneakers. “If he told her we were good friends she would want to know why he never introduced us, or spoke about me, but…but I…” She could no longer speak and just cried.

At that moment Kai could no longer just stand there watching her in pain. He held her by the shoulders and straightened her up. She tried to look down and hide her tears. Kai took a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped her face.

“Don’t cry over him. He doesn’t deserve it.” He spoke calmly and continued to clean her face. He was trying to hide how angry he actually was. He didn’t like what Eunhyuk had done to her. He wanted to her forget about him.

Hyoyeon looked up at him. She stopped crying, but her eyes were still glistening and she was sniffling. Then she did something she had never done before. She allowed someone to truly comfort her. Without words she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself into him, and laid her head against his shoulder. Kai felt his heart skip and then beat faster. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. It smelled sweet. Once again he wanted to tell her how beautiful she was. Once again it was not the right time.

“I bet you think less of me know, right?” She whispered.

“I could never think less of you Kim Hyoyeon.”