The remainder of the week proceeded similarly to Kyungsoo’s Tuesday.  He didn’t skip any more school, and that first day was the only day he cut out early, deciding to force himself to stay all day instead.

Kyungsoo was trying to live as normally as possible.  This meant that he was still laughing and joking with Jongdae and Baekhyun, doing homework and acing tests, and just overall doing the things he did before the English project began.

Yet, despite Kyungsoo’s concerted efforts to go about life as normally as possible, there were still differences, and though he was outwardly happy, it just wasn’t possible for him to get over it all that quickly.

In moments of quiet between him and his friends, Kyungsoo’s happy mask would slip, if only briefly.  Jongdae and Baekhyun pretended not to see it when it happened, knowing that Kyungsoo didn’t want to talk about it, and that it would be better for his healing if they made believe that everything was okay.

Kai, on the other hand, did his part in trying not to let Kyungsoo move on.  He was always trying to catch Kyungsoo by himself in order to talk to him.  In the hallway, whenever he would see Kyungsoo, Kai would stop whatever he was doing and try to force his way through their fellow students to get to him.  Kyungsoo was always on hyper alert, just waiting for Kai to try to get him alone, so when he would notice this happening, Kyungsoo would turn tail and get as far away from Kai as he physically could.

In English class, it was definitely harder for Kyungsoo to avoid Kai.  They may not actually sit next to each other, but Kai was positioned just behind him, making it more than easy for him to try to get Kyungsoo’s attention.

Kyungsoo did everything in his power to minimize the amount of time Kai had to try to talk to him during this period by rotating between arriving late to class, and arriving early.  As soon as the bell would ring for the end of the period, Kyungsoo would be up and out the door quicker than greased lightning.

The end of the school days were the hardest.  Kai would always be waiting for Kyungsoo beside his locker, hoping that Kyungsoo would just give in and talk to him.  These were the worst times for Kyungsoo as he had no way to get rid of Kai, and he was forced to endure his pleading and apologies as he packed his stuff up as quickly as he could before running out the door to the sanctuary of his home.

Another method that Kai employed to try to get Kyungsoo to talk to him, was by way of note.  He would write countless letters to Kyungsoo, and they all said pretty much the same thing the first one did, though he would try to come up with an original way to say it each time.  These notes that were filled with Kai’s messy handwriting begging Kyungsoo to please just hear me out, I’m so sorry, I really care about you, were handed to Kyungsoo at the beginning of every English class, and stuffed into his locker periodically throughout the day.

Kyungsoo was annoyed by Kai’s unwavering persistence, but he himself was just as stubborn.  Despite the fairly large collection of letters Kyungsoo now had stuffed in a shoebox under his bed, he refused to even look at Kai, let alone acknowledge his presence.

But still, it was hard for Kyungsoo.  Feelings for a person just don’t fade so quickly as all that, no matter how hard one tries.  He would often find himself thinking back to the time before Kai stomped on his heart, and a small smile would be featured on his face before he would realize what he was doing and wipe it off.

He collected the notes Kai wrote to him, and even though he only read each one once, that pile of paper tucked away under his mattress would call the attention of his thoughts at night as he tried to drift off to sleep.

All of his unwanted reminiscing made it so that Kyungsoo was getting very little sleep, and he was now walking around with bags under his eyes.  By the time he came home from school Friday, Kyungsoo was both physically and mentally exhausted.

Laying down in his bed, Kyungsoo tried to watch a movie, but he just couldn’t focus on anything.  His phone rang and he ignored it, knowing that it was Kai by the ringtone.

Kai.  Great, now this thought was present at the forefront of his mind.  Kyungsoo flailed around on his mattress, limbs getting so tangled in the sheets that he was pinned down.  As he took long and deep breaths so that he could calm himself enough to get his extremities untangled, Kyungsoo was struck with sudden inspiration.

The moment he extricated himself from his sheets, Kyungsoo rolled over and grabbed his phone off of his bedside table.

Sehun, he began texting, It’s me, Kyungsoo.  Do you possibly have Kris’s number?  And before he could second guess himself, Kyungsoo shot off the message to Kai’s dance friend.

Hey Kyungsoo! Yeah, I’ve got the number right here.

Another text message quickly followed the first.  Are you going to ask him out? He likes you, you know.  Hasn’t shut up about you since Saturday.

Yeah, Kyungsoo began his response, I wanted to get his number from him then, but situations arose and it became impossible.

About that, just what the hell happened?  You ran out crying, and Kai has been really shifty ever since, but he won’t tell me. L

It’s nothing important, Sehun, no need to worry.

But I want to know! Kyungsoo could practically hear him whining through the phone.

Thanks for the number, Kyungsoo ignored all of the remainder of Sehun’s prodding texts after he sent this final one.

Sitting up straight and fixing his hair as if Kris would somehow be able to see it through the phone, Kyungsoo dialed the number that Sehun had given him.

“Hello?” a confused and very deep voice answered after the fourth or fifth ring.

“Hey Kris, it’s Kyungsoo.  You know, from last week at Luhan’s?”

“Kyungsoo! I was hoping you’d call me! What’s up?”

“Well…” Kyungsoo began, suddenly nervous.  This was his first time asking somebody out and though he thought it seemed like Kris was pretty interested in him last week, it’s possible that interest might have waned by now.  “I was just wondering if you were still up for that movie?”

“I am more than down for that,” Kris intoned enthusiastically.  “When do you want to go out?”

“Um, tonight?” Kyungsoo was worried that it might be too short notice.  Kris seemed popular, he probably already had other plans.  Kyungsoo found himself almost hoping so because if he went out with him tonight, well, that was that, he was officially moving on from Kai.

“Tonight would be great,” Kyungsoo could hear the smile in his voice,
“I’ll pick you up at five? We’ll do an earlier showing so that we can grab dinner together afterwards.”

“That sounds good, Kris, I’ll see you then.” Kyungsoo hung up the phone and suddenly, all the nervousness that he had been holding in during the phone call hit him, and he began shaking slightly as he laid back down on his bed.

After calming down considerably, Kyungsoo began to get ready for his date, as his date would be there soon to pick him up.

For some reason that Kyungsoo was unable and unwilling to admit to himself, getting ready for his date with Kris was not as nerve wracking as getting ready for the party with Kai was.

He donned a pair of black skinny jeans, and in anticipation of the cold of the theater, Kyungsoo put on his favorite sweater, the one that was grey on the torso, but the sleeves were decorated with colorful hamburgers.  As for his hair, he just combed it back out of his face, making sure it wouldn’t flop in front of his glasses and obscure his vision.

When Kris arrived, Kyungsoo opened the front door and stepped out into the hallway to join him.

“Hey, Kris,” he said, too shy to look him in the face.

Kris didn’t seem to hold any such nervousness, leaning forward and squeezing Kyungsoo’s upper arm as he said, “You look so cute, Kyungsoo.  Thanks for asking me out.”

With a radiant smile from the taller boy, and a timid one from the smaller, the two of them walked out of the building to go begin their date.