When I saw Joon again in chemistry, he seemed to have forgotten all about the water episode. I could tell right away that he wasn’t at all discouraged. I decided that it was all Junhyung’s fault. If Junhyung hadn’t been so hateful to me when we’d first met, I wouldn’t have been forced to sit behind Joon and Joon wouldn’t be bothering me now. In fact, now that I thought about it, every bit of bad luck I’d had since the first day of school could be traced directly back to Junhyung. I was too nice when I threw that book at him, I thought as I walked down the hall toward my locker after class. I should have thrown a brick instead. Maybe next time I will!

I almost laughed out loud at the thought that I was completely unprepared for Joon’s next attack.

He suddenly appeared and fell into step beside me. “Well, Yoseob, how about taking that drive out to the lake with me tomorrow night?”

“Gee, Joon, I-uh-“ I mumbled, trying frantically to think of some excuse.

Joon leaned uncomfortably close to me. “Hey, you wouldn’t turn a person down after emptying a bottle of water onto his lap, would you?”

So he hadn’t forgotten the incident after all. Stalling for time, I began. “You see, it’s just that-that-“

“You’re not dating somebody else, are you?” he asked and suddenly I had the excuse needed.

“Yes! Yes, that’s it. I’m dating somebody else!”

“Who?”

“Who?” I echoed, giggling nervously. “Oh,-uh” I searched widely for a name, any name, that would sound reasonably convincing, but drew a complete blank. I’d met number of people since school began, but I couldn’t remember a single name.

Just then, Junhyung came down the hall.

“Junhyung!” I cried. I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck. If Junhyung was surprised, he didn’t show it. He simply grabbed me in a hug.

“You’re dating Junhyung?” Joon couldn’t have sounded more stunned if I’d said I was dating Godzilla. “I didn’t know you two even knew each other!”

“I-he-we-“ I stammered as Junhyung let go of me.

Junhyung stepped in without missing a beat. “We met over the summer.”

“You mean, You and Junhyung-“ Joon looked thoroughly confused. “But you don’t even speak to each other in chemistry!”

“Oh, we had a little lovers’ quarrel,” Junhyung explained, giving me a wink that Joon couldn’t see. “But we made up, didn’t we, yeobo?”

“That’s not the only thing we made up,” I murmured.

“I’m sorry, Yoseob. Sorry, Junhyung. I-I didn’t know-“ Joon apologized as he backed away from us. Whatever Junhyung had done to him when Joon had come on to Hongki must have been pretty special, because now Joon wilted like a punctured balloon. “Well, I see you around.” He walked away very quickly, shaking his head in bewilderment.

“Yoseob, I’m touched.” Junhyung smirked. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“I don’t.” I said, with as much dignity as I could gather. “ I was desperate, that’s all. Joon kept pressuring me to go out with him and he doesn’t get discouraged easily. Anyway, thanks for playing along,” I added.

Junhyung shrugged. “Hey, even loud mouthed Neanderthals have a few redeeming qualities.”

“I’m not sure it’ll do much good, though.” I worried. “I don’t think he’ll believe us.”

“Oh, he’ll believe us,” Junhyung assured me, taking my arm.

I narrowed my eyes, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m walking you to class.”

“I can find my own way to class without any help from you, thank you very much,” I said, jerking my arm free.

Junhyung looked at his watch and whistled in mock surprise. “I knew summer romances didn’t last long, but two minutes must be a world record.” He said sadly.

“Will you cut that out?” I snapped.

He shrugged again. “Okay. If you’d rather have Joon chasing after you, pawing you, breathing down your neck-“

I dumped my books into Junhyung’s arms. “Shut up and walk me to class!”