I wandered around the mall with my book bag swinging. ‘I’m a jerk, I’m a real jerk.’ I sighed heavily as I watched the students and people milling around. ‘I hope I don’t get caught by Teacher Oh.’ I continued walking around the mall aimlessly. I turned around to head back to the food court and I blinked as I stared at the mall recognizing nothing. ‘Okay stay calm, you’re not lost you’re just not sure where you are. Okay first step, find a map.’ I scanned the surrounding area and deflated as I saw no signs of a map.

  ‘Okay step two walk until you find a map.’ I started walking forwards looking for any sign of a map. ‘Come on there has to be a map somewhere.’ I continued walking around somehow not finding a map. I was quickly feeling panicked. ‘Okay just go down, maybe downstairs will be easy.’ I turned back and went to an escalator I saw earlier and started heading down. Until I saw Chanyeol going up. ‘Cha-’ I stopped talking and continued going down. Okay, do I risk my pride, hope for a map or running into another group? I landed at the bottom and was considering walking away, until I saw Teacher Oh heading my way.

 I got on the up escalator and started running up it, guess that means I have to go see Chanyeol.  ‘Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol,’ I chanted as I got to the top and scanned for him. My face dropped when I saw no sign of him. I looked back down to see Teacher Oh getting onto the escalator. I looked forwards to see Chanyeol exiting a store and walking ahead again. ‘He’s going to explode if he sees me alone for the second time.’ I bounced on my feet and winced, pride or detention? Pride? I looked back at Chanyeol, he was going to head around the corner. Detention? Teacher Oh was already half way up. I groaned and ran forwards to catch up with Chanyeol. I opened my mouth to yell at him but closed my mouth and stopped when I caught up to him.

 I’ll walk close enough to look like I’m with him but slow enough that he won’t notice me, yeah that’ll work. ‘Jaehwa-shii?’ I froze hearing Chanyeol and I blinked as I slowly turned my head to look at him. And of course what I want to happen is overrun by the universe.

‘Um, h-hi,’ I waved awkwardly and cleared my throat. ‘I’m uh, um, yeah….I’m...’ I my lips and laughed nervously as I ran my hand through my hair. I avoided his gaze when I noticed his lips pull up looking amused. ‘I’m,’ I put my hand into the bag and pulled out Peter Pan. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I bought this as a gift, it’s a classic, a really good book. I really love it, it’s actually quite interesting. I hope you like it,’ I bowed deeply and shoved it into his hands then looked away. ‘So yeah, I’m sorry.’ I started shifting as I looked at the ground panicking when I heard nothing. I bit my lip and looked at him surprised to see him with his hand clapped over his mouth trying not to laugh. ‘H-hey! Y-you know what fine! I’m not sorry, keep the book I already have one. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have even tried!’ I huffed, I turned and started walking away feeling my cheeks start to burn.

‘No wait, Jaehwa-shii! Wait up!’ I ignored him and continued walking away. ‘Geez, Jaehwa! Stop walking!’ I stiffened when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Chanyeol forced me to turn around and he tried to stop smiling. ‘Look I accept your apology that you already took back. And I’m sorry too I acted immaturely I shouldn’t have stormed off like that. I didn’t mean to laugh it was just really….’

‘Funny,’ I muttered as I crossed my arms and huffed.

‘No! Not funny it was…..interesting,’ he offered seeming unsure of his own word choice. ‘Just so you know it was anything but funny.....I bought something for you too.’ I reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone charm. It wasn’t bulky it was more simple looking, though anything but cheap looking. It was silver and had little cherry blossoms hanging off of it. ‘I uh, overheard you and Suho,’ he rubbed the back of his neck as he held it out. I took it from him and looked at it with a smile.

‘It’s cute, I like it,’ I nodded and pulled out my phone to fasten it. ‘Where does it go?’ I asked and I looked at my phone and he stared for a second before he started chuckling. I went red as he took my phone and fastened it easily.

‘There you go,’ he rubbed the back of his neck as we stood there. ‘So, why Peter Pan? Other than it being interesting, a classic, and really good.’ He grinned and I shrugged. ‘Don’t give me that, why do you like it, the non nervous version.’ I sighed and rolled my eyes before smiling softly as we started walking.

‘It’s fantastically written for one. And also it’s surprising. It is so different from the disney version. For one, Peter has short term memory loss he forgets almost everything, Peter took Wendy’s mothers first kiss. He also totally forgot who Tinkerbell was, let alone the fact that Tinkerbell died! Apparently fairies are like flies, they die quickly.’ I gasped as I turned to him, ‘and oh my gosh do you know what Peter does?’

‘What?’ He asked as he smiled glancing at the book. ‘What does Peter do?’

‘Not only does he not forget who Wendy is, though he somehow is oblivious to her aging. He returns to her house to take her children to Neverland and her childrens children to Neverland! He’s like a ert!’ I was waving my hands around as I spoke and he continued listening as I spoke. ‘He’s had a relationship with almost all of the Darling children! I mean we don’t know if he had a thing  for Wendy’s grandmother or not!’ I cleared my throat feeling embarrassed of my rant.

‘So why this specific book?’

‘Honestly?’ I asked and he nodded, I was surprised he was staying this quiet and listening to me go on about my thoughts. He was probably still upset and was just letting me speak so he wouldn’t have to. ‘You remind me of Peter Pan, in a non jerky way that is. You’re vibrant, and have a bit of an ego at times, and you seem to be fun loving.’ I shrugged and he smiled and laughed.

‘I like that, just call me Peter,’ he opened the book and looked at it before looking at the price. ‘Hey!’

‘Hm?’ I blinked and frowned as I looked at him, he was staring at the book as if it had punched him. ‘What?’

‘It was only 5,000 won!’

‘It’s a classic, it’s technically supposed to be free...’ I murmured and I bit my lip. ‘I could buy another book if you want, there is Pride and Prejudice, that’s a really good book too!’

‘It’s okay,’ he shook his head while smiling. ‘I was just joking, relax, you take everything too seriously.’ He shoved his hands in his pockets as we walked up to the food court.

‘Where have you guys been?’ Chen asked as he walked up behind us.

‘Walking around?’ I answered sounding confused as I noticed the frowns they wore. I glanced at Chanyeol who was looking at the ceiling. I shrugged and pulled out my phone. ‘Gege!’ I exclaimed as I ran up to Lay and I showed him my phone charm that Chanyeol had bought. ‘Look, isn’t it pretty?’ Lay nodded and played with one of the cherry blossoms.

‘It’s cute,’ Lay agreed and he ruffled my hair.

‘Seriously? Again? We have to rid you of that habit,’ I fixed my hair as Chanyeol cleared his throat.

‘So, when are we heading out?’ Chanyeol asked and Lay checked his phone.

‘Still about ten more minutes.’ Chen answered and I my lips as I shifted on my feet.

‘What are we doing next?’ I questioned as I fiddled with the blossoms.

‘Heading to the next temple, we’ll be having supper there, then I don’t know,’ Chen shrugged seemingly having most of the information.

‘So,’ I shifted on my feet wondering if it was right to to ask why exactly they were so tense with each other. ‘You guys don’t seem happy with each other, why’s that?’ I asked as the three of them stared at each other.

‘We kind of got into a small argument,’ Chen was the first to answer and I looked over at Chanyeol who waved his hands trying to signal that he hadn’t start it. ‘We saw him walking around without you and got upset.’

‘And we got detention,’ Lay added and I looked at them with wide eyes.

‘What!’

‘You don’t have detention though,’ Lay added. I frowned in response, how could I not have detention? Chanyeol was caught wandering around without me. ‘We were getting in trouble for fighting.’

‘Fighting!’ I exclaimed and I started looking the three of them over. ‘You guys look fine, why would you be fighting!’

‘Annoyed mainly, don’t worry about it,’ Lay answered. ‘It wasn’t because of you that the three of us have been arguing lately and Chen just used it as an excuse to punch Chanyeol.

‘Jongdae!’ I frowned at Chen as he broke out in a nervous smile.

‘Call down, it’s not a big deal, it’s a guy thing. It’s just from some disagreements in music class.’ Lay reassured and he smiled and I frowned back.

‘Do you guys tell her everything,’ Chanyeol asked, he looked rather shocked that Lay had practically told me everything that happened. Lay blinked and he stared at Chanyeol blankly as if he couldn’t understand why he found it upsetting.

‘Yeah,’ Chen nodded seemingly finding nothing wrong with it.

‘But you weren’t involved so why would you have to know?’ Chanyeol questioned causing me to  frown.

‘Well I was worried about you guys so I asked.’

‘Was anything solved by you asking?’ Chanyeol continued and I shook my head. ‘I get it you’re trying to understand so you grill them but you don’t have to know everything.’ He finished, I blinked and nodded.

‘I suppose…..Yixing, does it bother you?’ I asked as I looked at Lay. I hope they weren't bothered by it, they never said anything against it before.

‘Actually no, it doesn’t bother me.’ Lay responded as Chen frowned. Well this certainly isn’t a great impression on Chanyeol and we just made up as well. See this is why I stay away from new people because I end up fighting with them all the time.

‘Alright. I’ll be going to the bus early,’ I waved farewell and started walking. The bus doors were open, the driver was already waiting so I took advantage of that and went to my spot to think. I put my hand to my chest as I felt it tighten. Honestly, I knew Chanyeol was right I do try to know everything and I don’t have to know everything. But it still hurt for someone to point it out, let alone someone I’ve barely known a day. I took my earbuds out and plugged myself in before closing my eyes and letting the music sooth me. I always try and respect other people’s habits and I want them to respect mine, but I get that some things should be fixed. And I hope that people will tell me when they are bothered by something like that. But this is something that’s hard to fix, I like knowing everything it’s comfortable for me. I relaxed as I thought through the situation again. I suppose I should apologise for just walking out like that, it may not have been an argument but I was still immature for just walking out. I could feel the beckoning of sleep as my thoughts slowed down and stopped making sense.

Lay sighed as he watched Jaehwa walk away. ‘Is she that sensitive?’ I asked as I watched her leave the mall.

‘Well you certainly didn’t have to be so harsh,’ Lay snapped as he turned around. I sighed as I looked at the door, I hadn’t meant to offend her. It was just one of my pet peeves when people dig into stuff they don’t even need to know about.

‘Well he was right Lay,’ Chen added his own point as he frowned. ‘We both know she’s working on it so it’s good she heard it from someone else.’

‘Then you should have been talking to her about it before hand if you thought it was still an issue.’ Lay shook his head.

 ‘Maybe I should go and apologise for speaking so harshly...’ I went to go to the bus and Lay held up his hand.

 ‘Don’t, she’s not that upset. Right now she just needs to relax and think a little bit. She might be trying to sleep by now anyways.’

 ‘Sleeping?’ I frowned, ‘how could she be asleep?’

 ‘She likes sleeping,’ Lay shrugged and checked his phone. ‘Besides if she was really upset she wouldn’t have just walked off.’

 ‘I’ve never really seen her upset before,’ Chen mused and Lay raised an eyebrow.

 ‘Really?’

 ‘When did you see her get upset?’ I questioned curious, now that I thought of it, I hadn't really ever saw her upset.

‘I thought you didn’t like it when people ask questions like that.’ Lay shot back, I sighed at his answer. We really had to figure something out, we would just keep getting more stressed if we don't find something to solve the problem.

Chen glanced at his phone before speaking up. ‘We need to get to the bus it’s about time to go back to the next temple.’

‘Chanyeol,’ I looked at Lay as he matched my steps. ‘Don’t worry about Jaehwa, she’s not going to be angry with you, though I would watch your words with her for awhile.’

‘If she’s not upset why would I watch my words with her?’   

 ‘Because I’m not impressed with you right now,’ Lay answered before walking into the bus. Earlier when we had gotten in trouble for fighting, it wasn’t even that serious, we were just venting. The seven of us, EXO-K, Chen and Luhan wanted to join a competition but we couldn’t agree on a song, so through our stress we just ended up yelling at each other. We only have two months to prepare an original song and choreography for the competition. The prize would be 10,380 won, which we could use for university.

 I shook my head as I followed him into the bus, I made my way to the back and watched as Lay sat down beside Chen, then turned around and looked at Jaehwa. He sighed, sending me a final look before he started talking with Chen. I sighed as I sat down beside Jaehwa. She really was asleep, I looked at her and shrugged before pulling out my phone and headphones. Turning on my phone I noticed a text and opened it.

From: Bacon

Hey, where did you go?

To: Bacon

I already got on the bus, we’re leaving soon

From: Bacon

So, how’d the apology go?

To: Bacon

Good, she bought me Peter Pan as an apology

…..now I’m not too sure

From: Bacon