"School," Hyoyeon snorts as we walk into the cateferia, the stuffy atmosphere hitting us instantly. "Who likes it anyway?"

"Taeyeon does," Kai smirks at me. "After all, she's the little genius."

"I am not little." I throw a punch at his arm which as always, has no effect on him. "I even grew a little during the two week break."

Kai squinted down at my head before pressing his hand on my crown. "Nope," he grins. "Your hair just got puffy." He laughs as I punch him again.

After grabbing our food, we slide down into the same small table we have been occupying for the last three years. Hyoyeon takes one bite of her burger before immediately spitting it out. "Ew," she coughs out remnants as we all lean back with disgusted looks on our faces. "They should really fire the cafeteria ladies. The food gets worse and worse every term."

"Gross Hyoyeon." Tiffany scrunches up her nose. "You don't just spit out food like that."

"My tastebuds are suffocating and you expect me to act all lady-like about it?" Hyoyeon stares at Tiffany incredulously who in return gives her a blank look. "Please tell me she's crazy." Hyoyeon turns to Kai and I, pointing her thumb at Tiffany.

"Totes," grins Kai as he stabs harshly at his pork, ignoring Tiffany's pointed look. "Want some of my food? It tastes better than it smells."

"Like I would trust you." Hyoyeon rolls her eyes as I smile in amusement. Kai loves to pull tricks on people, even on his girlfriend.

"Aww come on baby," Kai teases as he moves his chopsticks closer to Hyoyeon's retracting figure. "We can be those sweet couples who feed each other." Hyoyeon makes a face and shoves his arm back. Kai loses control of his chopsticks and I quickly shift to the side as the pork flies past me.

"Watch it Kai," I hiss, glaring at the bemused male.

"What?" He bugs his eyes at me as Hyoyeon laughs. "It wasn't my fault."

"Stop trying to force feed your girlfriend," I shoot back and turn back to my not-so-bad meal.

"Why, do you want me to feed you too?" A piece of pork pops into my view and my hand rushes up to my nose.

"Oh my god, what is that smell?" My voice distorts as I squeeze my nose harder. "Far out Kai, why do you pick the stinkiest food? Ugh and to think that it was just morning breath."

"What?" Kai stops laughing and glares at me. "I do not have bad breath."

"Can you guys stop arguing for just a minute?" Tiffany groans as she twirls her salad. "I've already got a headache and it's only the first day of the term." Kai and I continue glaring at each other. Sometimes I do wonder what Hyoyeon sees in this tanned idiot.

The cafeteria door opens and the atmosphere suddenly shifts. I look up to see the most popular boy in the school walk in lazily with his hands in his pockets, brown hair styled messily - which for some reason girls seem to find attractive -, tie hanging loosely at his neck and the top button of his shirt undone. The heart-breaking playboy Byun Baekhyun. The usual flock of girls throw greetings to Baekhyun in their flirtatious manner from their tables and it has become a daily routine where Hyoyeon, Kai and I would roll our eyes and stare back at our awful lunches.

Tiffany is the only one who keeps her eyes in that direction because soon after, the second most popular guy walks in. His attire is the exact same as Baekhyun's, his blonde hair with black streaks combed forward with the edge of his hair neatly styled up, displaying his handsome forehead. Sehun turns his head to us, waves and flashes an attractive smile. The girls around him swoon and completely ignore the fact that his gestures aren't directed to them at all. I make sure he can see me roll my eyes, whereas Tiffany grins excitedly and waves back energetically. Sehun winks at Tiffany before joining Baekhyun at their 'cool' table.

There is an official-unofficial kind of rule where if you aren't invited to a table, you aren't allowed to sit there and so the girls giggle at the boys' backs and start their chit-chat amongst each other with pink cheeks. Don't ask me how this rule developed, it is just there.

Usually, couples would sit together because that's the whole point of dating, right? To spend time with your soulmate. But Sehun is in the popular group and we are just viewed as an ordinary group. Of course Sehun could just come over and join us - that would most definitely raise our group's reputation - but Hyoyeon, Kai and I are adamant about popularity. We just didn't want that. Tiffany doesn't really mind and she wants to stick with us instead of treading onto popular strings, so the couple sit apart. At first, when Sehun announced that he is dating Tiffany, his fangirls were devastated and many hated on her but as Tiffany decided to stick with our group, the girls, seeing that they can still swoon over Sehun during school hours, backed off from Tiffany and let her be. Sehun usually comes to chill with us after school and on weekends so no one is too affected.

After Sehun has given Tiffany one last wink and turns back to his group, the girlfriend herself giggles and sighes dreamily. "Sehun looks so handsome with his new haircut."

"Eugh," the rest of us groans in unison.

"Keep it to yourself," Kai scrunches up his face, "we don't want to listen to your lovey dovey talks." Tiffany rolls her eyes and returns back to her dreamy state.

Kai and Hyoyeon are an odd couple. They're dating but they might as well not be. Hyoyeon is always on family trips that contain some sort of dare devilish activities. Kai has a hobby of teasing people and making their life miserable, and has adapted onto me. If people didn't know that Hyoyeon and Kai are dating, they would have thought Kai and I had something. But that's just ridiculous. Me, and Kai?! No, just no. I mean, I've seen him shirtless, I don't even know how he manages to maintain that body - I always see him stuffing his face with food. That boy has a never-ending appetite.

In terms of intimateness, I've only seen Hyoyeon lean against Kai's chest once when we were watching a movie. Since she hates being all mushy like Tiffany, I've never seen her and Kai hold hands, hug nor kiss. When Kai had asked Hyoyeon out in front of us, he had said it in his usual care free tone and at first, Tiffany, Sehun and I thought he was joking. Hyoyeon had stared at Kai, shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Why not?" and went to lay her head on his lap. The three of us were left shocked and couldn't tell if Hyoyeon and Kai were acting or not.

But as I observe Kai, I am pretty certain he genuinely likes Hyoyeon. He immediately brightens up when she comes in the room but masks it well. You have to straight out stare at him to notice his little gestures that give him away. As for Hyoyeon, she's physically close with Kai but doesn't show any other sign as evidence to whether she has an infatuation for him. Hyoyeon usually acts crazy all the time so I can't tell if she's taking Kai for real.

Relationships are confusing. And that is why I stay away from most boys. Many call me pretty and some boys have even tried to get close to me but I always politely distance myself from them. Sehun had said the fact that I am the smartest girl in school throw boys off because the popular group isn't very smart. Whatever the popular boys do, it's the latest trend. And I honestly don't care. Looks won't grab you money or find you a job. In most cases, anyway.

-

"Taeyeon," a gruff voice sounds as soon as I shut the door. That unmistakeably belongs to my father, but I can't think of a valid reason as to why he would be home so early. He usually works until ten at night. Immediately knowing a serious issue has popped up, I carefully place my school bag next to the front door of my house and walk towards the living room. My parents are seated on one couch, both clothed casually and unhappy expressions on their faces.

"Sit," my dad says in stern voice. Uh oh. It must be something I did. I frown, my mind searching possibilities for what I could have done as I sit on the plump lounge opposite my parents.

A week ago, I had gone on a full shopping spree with Tiffany and Hyoyeon as most of the stores we usually visit held a huge sale for promotion. I didn't have that much left on my credit card, only about eight hundred thousand won. I really needed to save up more for these amazing opportunities. The clothes and shoes were just too tempting and Tiffany even lent me a few thousand wons to satisfy my shopping desires. Being the generous friend she is, she offered to buy me more clothes, however, I rejected. I already felt guilty using her money. At that time, I knew I was going to get into trouble for bringing the value of my credit card to the limit.

When I turned sixteen, I asked for a raise in pocket money. My parents obliged but on one condition - that I was to save at least two hundred thousand won in case of emergencies. And if you ask me, those clothes were practically screaming save me!

But my parents couldn't have known that I killed all my money. I made sure not to overuse the amount on my credit card; I simply paid the remaining amount with Tiffany's money. There must be something else that my parents are upset about.

"This," my mum unfolded a piece of paper from her pocket and held it up in the air with two fingers as if she despised to touch it, "is a letter sent to us informing that the user Kim Taeyeon attempted to purchase a product online, paying with her credit card that had no money in it at all. What does this exactly mean?" My mum professionally fakes a confused expression and waits for my reply.

Online? When did I try to buy something online? I bite my lip as I replay the last few days. And then I remember. I had finished reading the second book of a sequel and badly wanted the next one. I knew that a lot of people had reserved for that third book in my local library and thinking that buying the book would be the faster option, I had gone on "BooksOnline" to purchase it, completely forgetting I had wasted all my money a few days before that. I curse at myself. I don't usually slip up like this.

Realising that my parents are still staring at me expectantly, I clear my throat. "Umm. . ." Well I have nothing to say. It is my self control that got out of hand, my choice to spend all the money in one go, and my mistake on forgetting that I had no credit left. It is useless to think up of an excuse.

"I'm sorry," I start. "I just couldn't resist the sales so I spent all my money and a few days after that, I wanted to get a book and tried to pay with my credit card, forgetting that I had no money left. . ."

The two adults blink at me. "I thought you were better than this, Taeyeon." My dad shakes his head, clearly disappointed before turning his eyes back on me. "Well, your mum and I are both glad that you are still honest with us. . . but you're grounded." 

My eyes widen. What? Grounded?

"You will come straight home after school, you're not allowed to stay over or go out with your friends and you may only leave this house for work," my mum says in her strict tone that I know for a fact she hates to use. She loves being the fun mum.

"We've taken away your laptop and you may ask for it only for homework or assignment purposes," my dad continues. "We will be taking care of your phone and you will not be receiving your weekly pocket money from us until your punishment ends."

My jaw drops. Everything that builds up my life: gone, extinct, stripped. Books alone wouldn't keep me alive.

"How-" I stutter, trying to recover from my shocked state, "how long am I grounded for?"

"Two months," my parents echo in unison.

"Two months?!" I can't help but burst out.

"I thought you've learnt to listen to us by now, Taeyeon." My dad shakes his head again. "Seventeen years and you still can't discipline yourself. You have to consider yourself lucky, some teenagers are working hard for their wages everyday and here you are, attending only six hours on Sundays and trying to overspend your limit."

And some people snap their fingers to which money materialise before their eyes.

I don't say this out loud. I know my parents aren't wealthy like the people around me. Sometimes, I really do envy most of my schoolmates, not having to work at all for their sky-high budgets. But two months, without a phone or a laptop, plus I can't see my friends outside of school; can someone just shoot me right now?

Ten years back I would have screamed and kicked at my parents, demanding that I shouldn't be grounded. But that was a long time ago. Being the mature girl I have made myself today, I simply look at the floor and nod my head. "I am sorry for attempting to overuse my credit card. I will be more careful in the future."

My parents nod back, satisfied. "Make sure you learn from this, Taeyeon." My mum's voice softens. "One small mistake can cause you bigger problems once you're an adult."

"On the upside," my dad says in his cheery voice, "we get to spend more time with our daughter! Some family quality time; haven't had that in a while."

I force a smile and mutter, "Yeah."

 "Alright," my father gets up and stretches before trodding towards the kitchen, "I'll cook dinner tonight. Where's that scrappy recipe I stuffed back in the cupboard a year ago?"

My mum snorts and shakes her head, pushing herself up from the couch. "I'd better make sure he doesnt burn his hand off." She looks at me and gives a sympathetic smile. "You'll survive, Taeyeon."

I watch as she walks off in the direction of my father before groaning and throwing my legs onto the couch in an ungraceful manner. "Two months," I growl. "Two god damn months." I pinch my nose and lay my head on the couch's armrest. "Someone please tell me this is a dream."