Mi-Hyun couldn't help but swear when she saw the post on facebook.

It was Ga-In-of course it was, when did that girl ever think before she did something-and Mi-Hyun felt like breaking something as she read all the comments.

what the hell man, gainnies such a

wtf someone should control her

omo i cant wait to see her parents reaction

Ga-In was in serious trouble. Mi-Hyun had known when she had shown at tear-stained in front of her house, teeth chattering in the rain. As soon as she sat down, she had started wailing about how her boyfriend (twenty years old, in college, smoked, a sleaze) had taken her out one night under the ruse it was a celebration for their one month anniversary. He had then secretly added alcohol to her drink and kept on giving it to her afterwards, filming while she laughed, intoxicated, and all the while suggesting she took her clothes off. Which she did. Since she was drunk. And her boyfriend was a lying, worthless piece of trash.

The next morning, after Ga-In had realised she had been taken advantage of, she broke up with the boy straight away. But the damage had been done. He had posted it all over the internet and successfully humiliated her.

'And the worst thing is,' Ga-In sobbed. 'I think he planned this from the start. I think he was waiting for the opportunity to do this to me. I could feel something was off right from the very beginning.'

Mi-hyun could only nod, rubbing soothing circles on her friend's back and silently swearing to herself that it would never happen to herself. She wouldn't let it.

'You know what my mum says,' Mi-hyun said.

Ga-In sniffled. 'What?'

'Always be friends with a boy for a year before you let him date you. That way, you'll know whether he truly loves you or not.'

~~~

The next day at school was not good.

Ga-In's scandal caused the biggest stir since Baekhyun arrival and for once, it seemed the attention was not entirely on him. He looked curiously behind him as girls swarmed around Ga-In's desk, questioning and judging. Ga-In just stared straight ahead and ignored everyone. The guys were smirking and nudging each other until Hyorin told them that she would break their necks if they didn't shut up.

In the morning, two notifications were handed out.

'Your half yearly exams,' Mr Kim sad sternly over his glasses, 'are worth about 50% of your grade. If I were you, I'd take them seriously.'

Mi-Hyun shoved the notifications at the bottom of her bag. She had the school newspaper to worry about first. The deadline for the first draft was next week and the draft right now was a giant mess.

After recess, the class got two more notifications. A girl passed Ga-In's desk only to whisper, 'You ty .' Hyorin dropped her riceball to hit her. At lunch, Ga-In couldn't take it anymore and ran out crying. Mi-hyun slipped on previously said riceball trying to run after her. The whole class laughed while Hyorin yelled at everybody. Mi-Hyun hurried out of the classroom to find that she'd completely lost Ga-In. Searched for the next fifteen minutes but to no avail.

Oh yeah, you could say that Kim Mi-Hyun was having a very bad day.

Tiredly, she strode along the hallways debating what to do next. She glanced at her watch. There was still half an hour before the end of lunch. Mi-hyun couldn't bear the thought of returning to that classroom. She texted Hyorin.

Where are you? Couldn't find Ga-In.

A reply came ten seconds later.

Same here. Hiding out in the library and talking to cute boys.

Mi-hyun laughed about Hyorins attempt to cheer her up. The cute boys bit was an inside joke between the three. They were all pretty enough to attract guys but it was only Ga-In who pushed forward. Mi-hyun was just never interested and Hyorin went two ways with boys: Ignore them or yell at them. And now that there was finally a boy who Mi-Hyun deemed cute, he was already pre-taken by millions of girls on the internet.

If Hyorin was enjoying herself (reading, not talking to cute boys), why shouldn't Mi-Hyun relax for a little as well? Ga-In was nowhere to be found and they were probably going to be given even more notifications for exams next lesson. She sent a quick little text to Ga-In.

Searched everywhere but understand if you want to be alone. Hyorin's in the library and you know where to find me, xx

~~~

Everybody hated the roof but Mi-Hyun.

If there was a list called Locations-In-This-School-That-Everybody-Knew-But-Hated, Mi-hyun could guarantee that the cold and windy concrete roof would be in the top ten. But surprisingly, Mi-Hyun loved it.

Sure, it was uncomfortable at first but if Mi-Hyun laid a blanket down, it was bearable. If she went on her back, the sky was blue and the sun rays shone on her skin. And the wind always carried her voice away if she wanted to scream a little from stress. It was a place of freedom and Mi-hyun felt like it was the place where things could change and if she went there a little, hopefully everything would change for the better.

She pushed open the door with a shout. Pre-release of stress.

'...and I was saying, 'Stop, stop,' but she wouldn't lis-'

The deep voice cut off and two pairs of wide eyes greeted Mi-hyun's own. She felt a blush steal across her cheeks. There, on the ground in front of her, sat Baekhyun and another guy, their open lunchboxes indicating they had been enjoying their meal before Mi-Hyun disturbed them.

She stepped back and quickly stammered, 'Oh, sorry, I didn't know there was anyone up here, it's just, well, nevermind, I should go.' And with that, she started to turn but was stopped by the other boy's voice.

'No, it's okay,' he assured her, voice surprisingly deep for his baby face. He tentatively smiled. 'We just came up here for the quiet. You're welcome to join us.'

Baekhyun shot a look at this boy that said he clearly did not want Mi-Hyun to join them and the other boy shot back a look that clearly said Baekhyun was being unreasonable. Their staring competition was interrupted by Mi-Hyun's, 'It's alright, really, I can go.'

'No!' The boy said quickly then looked embarrassed. 'No, you don't have to,' he said again more slowly.

'Yeah,' Baekhyun said with a strained smile. 'Come join us.'

'Uh...'

Mi-Hyun had a silent debate with herself. She did find this place first. She had a right to stay, right? And if she ran away now, what if Baekhyun and this other guy decided to stay here for the rest of highschool? Where would she go to shout and scream her sorrows then? Mi-Hyun felt like exploding at the thought of losing this place.

'...Okay.'

The other guy made room for her next to him, clapped and smiled. 'Great!'

Mi-Hyun sat down. There was an awkward silence.

'I'm Chanyeol,' the guy-who-now-had-a-name said, ing his hand forward for a shake. Mi-Hyun took it and he pumped it up and down enthusiastically. 'What's your name?'

'Mi-Hyun. Kim Mi-Hyun.'

'Ahh,' Chanyeol said, shaking his head. 'Nice name.' From there, he seemed to have run out of things to say. Mi-Hyun noticed Baekhyun staring at her from the corner of her eye. Suddenly, he spoke.

'Okay, you can go now  if you want.'

Mi-Hyun looked at him, confused. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, now, you can't spread any rumours about us,' he said in a satisfied way.

'Baekhyun!' Chanyeol said, a little shocked.

'What, hyung, it's true!' Baekhyun said hotly. He turned to Mi-Hyun. 'We've been nice to you, okay? We gave you the choice to stay, we didn't push you out or anything. So don't spread any untrue rumours, okay?'

Mi-Hyun felt her temper flare up. It was her dad. It was her stupid dad's fault. It was his genes that made up a part of Mi-Hyun's personality that she did not particularly wish to have, but something she couldn't ignore either. Why couldn't she have been easy going like Ga-In or uncaring like Hyorin? But no, she had to be feisty and hot-tempered and all of that crap.

'I'm not going to spread rumours about you!' Mi-Hyun snapped.

'How can we know?' Baekhun said, raising an eyebrow. 'We've got a serious reputation to protect.'

Mi-Hyun threw her hands up in the air. 'But I don't even know you!'

'We're EXO,' he replied. 'Everybody knows us.'

Mi-Hyun fumed. Obnoxious, much? she thought. She had not shared a note and a laugh with this infuriating -yet cute- boy to be wrongly accused by him of doing something she had not even thought about. Then it finally struck her. Everybody knew EXO. That was true. These boys had a real career. They had worked so hard to debut at such a young age and was it wrong for them to be a little paranoid about protecting their dreams? Mi-Hyun tried to calm herself down.

'Look,' she said in a low voice. 'I'm not going to spread rumours about you guys. I'm serious. You're students at this school, not idols. And I respect that.'

Judging by the disbelief on Baekhyun and Chanyeol's expressions, Mi-Hyun guessed this was the first time anyone other than the teachers had told them that.

'It's hard fitting in, right?' Ignoring the erratic beating of her heart, Mi-Hyun extended her hand to both of those boys. 'I can be your friend.'

Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked at each other. Mi-Hyun's impulse was quickly fading (yet another trait from her dad) and she so desperately wanted to take her hand back. Baekhyun's face clearly read She's crazy, let's escape but Chanyeol grinned (a site full of teeth that Mi-Hyun was quickly becoming familiar with) and took Mi-Hyun's hand. He shook it even more enthusiastically than the first time.

'Okay, Friend,' he said. 'Shake hands, Baekhyun,' he ordered when he noticed the other boy's sullen silence.

'Fine,' grumbled Baekhyun. He shook Mi-Hyun's hand and smiled weakly.

Mi-Hyun tried to ignore the warm feeling of Baekhyun's hand in hers and chanted He's a friend now, a friend, a friend, a friend in her head. She would not look at these boys as a pieces of attractive meat. She would look at them as humans, as people. She let go of Chanyeol's hand first and held on for a fraction of a second longer to Baekhyun's before also releasing his hand.

The summer air whooshed over their heads, causing the antennae on the roof to turn creakily. It was the typical highschool scene; three friends enjoying the sunshine on the roof, underneath the blue sky. Mi-Hyun didn't know what to say so she said the first thing that came into her mind.

'Are you guys very popular?' she asked curiously.

'Well,' Chanyeol said, glancing at Baekhyun who had his eyes momentarily closed to enjoy the breeze, 'it's weird for us to admit but we kind of are.'

'Like, popular popular?'

'Yeah, like, popular popular.'

'Popular popular popular?'

'Yeah, we're popular, alright?' Baekhyun said.

Mi-Hyun smiled and raised an eyebrow. 'Especially with the girls?'

'Yeah...'Baekhyun looked at her warily.

Mi-Hyun jabbed a finger at him. 'But you're so scrawny!' she laughed.

'What?!' Baekhyun's eyes widened. 'I am not!'

Chanyeol joined Mi-Hyun in her laughter. 'Yeah, you are!' he guffawed.

'Well,' Baekhyun said stubbornly. 'I heard someone say after seeing me that scrawny is the new y.'

This caused an explosive reaction. Mi-Hyun turned her head to the sky while Chanyeol roared. Baekhun gave up and joined them. Mi-Hyun took a mental snapshot of him laughing. Baekhyun wasn't just cute when he laughed, he was beautiful. Mi-Hyun quickly scrubbed the thought away. How could I think this about a stranger? Mi-Hyun reprimanded herself. Well, we are technically friends now, I guess.

'So,' Chanyeol said. 'Tell us your troubles.'

'My troubles?'

'Yeah, you know, why you came up here. Baekhyun and I came to get away from all the fans and everything. How about you?'

Mi-Hyun smiled. 'My reason's pretty much the same as yours. Except I don't have any fans to run away from. It's just the silly normal troubles of a highschooler.'

'Oh?' Baekhyun said, interested. 'Like what?'

'Well...' Mi-Hyun hesitated before launching into the whole Ga-In story. It wasn't exactly a secret anymore. When she finished, the two boys looked scandalised. Mi-Hyun giggled at their expressions.

'That's...that's horrible!' Chanyeol said, huge eyes becoming even larger. 'How could her boyfriend do that?'

'Those kind of people can't be trusted,' Baekhyun said, shaking his head darkly.

'I know, right,' Mi-Hyun said, stretching her legs out. 'So now, all that's left to do is just wait for the whole school to forget about it. Hopefully, it'll all blow over in a couple of months.'

'We hope so, too,' Chanyeol said sweetly.

'Thanks,' Mi-Hyun grinned at him.

'Okay, okay,' Baekhyun said, interrupting them. He stood up, looking faintly irritated. 'It's time to go to class now.'

Chanyeol got up as well, and offered Mi-Hyun his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Baekhyun was watching them carefully. Self-conscious, she tried to let Chanyeol's hand go as soon as she was on her feet and mercifully, Chanyeol complied. Baekhyun turned his head away. They went back down the stairs then paused in front of the door that lead into the hallway.

'You can go first,' Chanyeol offered.

Mi-Hyun knew what he meant. Coming out with those two was sure to spark rumours, the exact sort of thing the boys didn't want to worry about. Mi-Hyun smiled in understanding and nodded. 'Okay,' she said. 'Bye.'

'Bye,' Chanyeol echoed and Mi-Hyun stepped out. She made her way back quickly to the classrooms and took her seat. Hyorin and Ga-In were already there, quietly chatting amongst themselves. When Mi-Hyun sat down, Hyorin whispered, 'Where were you?'

At that exact moment, Baekhyun entered the classroom, as evident of the sudden noise level rise from the female population of the class. When their eyes met, Mi-Hyun smiled encouragingly. He gave her the littlest smile in return, just a twitch of his lips (great lips, Mi-Hyun noted) but the light in his eyes was genuine.

'You know,' Mi-Hyun said to Hyorin. 'just talking to cute boys.'

A/N: Thanks for reading the second chapter...if you got this far, it must mean that you think the story's somewhat decent, right? Hehe, thought, seriously, thanks again. Please subscribe and I hope you enjoy :)