I blink in surprise at Hani's shy look. My homeroom friend has just popped the question of how my weekend was, and , trembling from holding in a grin, tells me that she is referring to Baekhyun. Hani is a reserved-type of person though she reveals her cheeky sides occasionally. My mouth forms into a smile.

"It was a very different weekend for me. Because of our assignment, I was unable to attend work, and it took a while for my boss to understand that." Hani wiggles her eyebrows suggestively when I stop, and I give her a funny look. "I don't know what you're thinking, but nothing much happened."

Then I think twice.

"Well, he did force me to go to a party."

"The one Dongwoo held?" Hani piques with curiousity. 

I am in pure surprise. "You know who held it?" 

"Everyone knew?" She shrank in her seat.

"Oh."

"So... What happened? Did you have to hang around Baekhyun at the party?" 

"Well of course," I reply, not giving away any emotions. "We couldn't help it. I think the teachers went too far for these assignments. Forcing two teenagers of the opposite gender to be close together for three days? Cruel."

Hani nods in agreement. "Mine definitely wasn't as outrageous as yours, but it probably was the most childish. I had to compare hand and feet size with my partner. So pointless, dipping our hands and feet into paint and stamping it, how is that even purposeful to the topic?"

I am staring at her with my eyes widened. "That's all you had to do?" I exclaim. 

Hani blinks repeatedly with her innocent look, before she bursts out in laughter. "Well, compared to yours, my assignment was a breeze, no offense." Then she scowls. "What could have taken five seconds, took two hours because he was just so uncooperative! He was so reluctant to touch the paint, it was so frustrating!" 

I chew on my lip, unconvinced that Hani had a hard time with her project. 

"But apparently, Kang Hyemi is paired up with Jung Daehyun, and she's totally blowing it! They just have to record themselves having a few minutes worth of a conversation about anything really, but everyone's saying she's completely distraught that you were paired up with Baekhyun and not her. She said you two received "one of the best assignments possibly shared with Byun Baekhyun". She's been ignoring Daehyun. They're bound to grab a zero. Poor guy."

I bite my lip. Although it hasn't been a week of school since the Friday we received our assignments, the heat against me is still intense as ever, rumours sprouting in every corner. I just hope everything dies down soon, without anything drastic happening. 

-

"Yo yo everyone what's up!"

Tiffany and I's eyebrows are raised at Kai as he turns his snapback around and flings his sunglasses onto one of the couches. He faces Tiffany's TV screen and holds a bottle of water below his mouth, as if it were a microphone.

"After a whole weekend spent with the school's playboy Byun Baekhyun, the time has come to learn what Kim Taeyeon has stirred herself with in the mentioned days. This is Kai, and I bring you the exclusive news, unseen from everyone's curious eyes." As Hyoyeon lets out a whoop, he makes a big show of whipping around and hovering the bottle in front of me. "Kim Taeyeon, how are you today?"

"Um," I hesitate, still trying to grasp the abrupt situation, "fine?"

He places the bottle's cap on his chin. "Fine, she says, Kim Taeyeon is fine after the weekend spent at Baekhyun's house. What does this mean? Please enlighten us."

The bottle returns to me. "Uh, nothing great happened?"

Nothing ever gets away with Kai, for he picks up something I had no idea I had hinted. "Nothing great, you say, so something disastrous must have happened!"

It leaves me at a loss. "No, I didn't mean it like that! If you want details, Mr. Interviewer, then I'll have you know I missed over twelve calls from Mum."

Kai whistles. "Oof, not a pretty sight. This just shows the cons of spending the weekend with Byun Baekhyun. Miss Kim, would you mind letting everyone know of the pros when in Baekhyun's presence intimately? Say, for example, lying next to the man himself, together in bed?"

I hit the bottle away. "Inappropriate, Kai!"

Hyoyeon is cackling, while Tiffany and Sehun are sharing smirks.

"You guys!"

"Alright, alright, we'll squeeze the details out of you later." Kai brushes his hand in my direction before diving onto the sofa Hyoyeon is resting on. "So, what shall we do today?"

Sehun yawns, his arm around Tiffany's shoulders. "Let's not do something too active. Soccer training's been a little harsh since we've got the tournament closing in on us."

Hyoyeon flips herself upside down so that her hair falls off the couch, and her legs are perched on the backseat. She swings her legs. "I'll be going caving next weekend."

"Seriously?" I ask. "Are you legitimately not worried about your half yearlies at all?"

She sniffs as a response. "We've still got a few more weeks to prepare."

Kai snorts, shoving a lamington in his mouth. "I'm not helping you this time round," he scoffs, words muffled from his bite. Hyoyeon pretends to not hear this as she suggests we watch a movie.

"Like what?" Tiffany pipes in, glancing at her nails.

"Any of you seen Kingsman?" Sehun asks.

"All these action movies are getting too cliche," Kai groans.

But we end up watching it anyway.

-

"Oh, Dad, you're home early."

My father, in his white collared shirt and black trousers, walks into the dining room as I am wiping down the table, with Mum cleaning up in the kitchen.

"We didn't have any more due appointments, so I was dismissed earlier than usual."

"There's some rib-eye leftover," my mother calls from the kitchen. 

Dad nods tiredly. "Yes, I'll have some of that."

After a warm meal is placed in front of him, I excuse myself and head to my room. I lay down on my bed straight away, rubbing my eyes fretfully. All the attention I've been getting at school... it's quite mood-draining. I've always been neutrally friendly with everyone, sharing small talks and helping out here and there.

"Taeyeon, what's the Newton Law for gravity?"

"Taeyeon, would my thesis be solid enough for the essay?"

"Taeyeon, can you quickly scan my portfolio and see if it's decent enough?"

I've barely refused any requests asked from me, except the occasional times where I'm busy myself. I've never had a problem with the girls in my year, but ever since news got around of PDH assignment, I've gotten less questions, more stares, smaller conversations and a heap of false gossip. Baekhyun's popularity has seemed to spiral higher, and those who I've called friendly classmates, I can't seem to comfortably share smiles with them anymore.

Practically bribed into tutoring him, plus this Health assignment demanding publicity from us, this is all a bit too much. High school has been quite undramatic for me, as I've managed to stay in the low and not entangle myself with conflict, but in a blink of an eye, I'm currently the hottest topic to whisper in the hallways about. 'Taeyeon, the smart friendly girl' is now 'Taeyeon, that girl who did the assignment with Baekhyun'.

With the school on my back, what's affected me the most is that not even my friends would spare me a break. I was hoping that earlier, we would just go about in our usual relaxed meet-ups, but clearly things didn't go the way I wanted to. 

My phone chimes repeatedly and I lift my head to get a look over my drawer. I grab my phone: "Unknown Caller". Hesitating, I slide the arrow across. "Hello?"

"We need to talk."

It's a male's voice, quite familiar but I can't put my finger on it.

"Excuse me?"

"What? I said we need to talk."

Blunt much... "Uh, who's this?"

"What do you mean who's this? Is this a joke?"

"Is this a joke?" I find myself snapping back, then stopping for a short second to congratulate myself on this comeback, before realising I came off just as rude as him.

I hear a sigh from the other end, then a quick pause, before "It's Baekhyun."