Oh Sehun found himself frowning upon receiving his graded essay from his teacher. It was the first time he’d worked on wholeheartedly and he’d been proud of what he’d accomplished in less than a week. He’d chosen a subject he knew absolutely nothing of – for this time was the first their teacher given them freedom to actually choose – and studied it, learned it completely and then written an A+ analysis of what he’d read, listened and watched.

However, written in the corner of his 4 paper stack, was a huge C- in red marked. A C-. The last time Sehun’d received a C or less was in ground school because him, and the other boys in his class, had been just as interested in school related things as a professor in mathematics with fashion. But while Sehun had grown up, gotten his together and pulled B’s and A’s. Learning came easy for him.

So, staring at the C- hurt his pride in the most painful ways. Unlike his classmates who seemed to be cheering and throwing fits of happiness, he wanted nothing but to tear the essay to pieces and storm out – but, he was Oh Sehun. And Oh Sehun took things easy, no matter how much his blood boiled inside.

The bell rung, signaling break time, and the students rushed outside to grab a snack and chat with their respective friends. Oh Sehun remained in his seat for a second or two longer, hesitating whether he should discuss his grade with the teacher or not.

Gathering all of his courage, he arose from his seat and made his way up to his female teacher.

The woman looked up at him right away and offered a friendly smile. “Oh Sehun. What can I do for you?”.
“Just…”, Sehun gulped and moved a hand to the back of his head, pulling on a couple of strands. “I worked really hard on this essay… and y-you, teacher, g-gave me a C-“.

She blinked and took the papers from Sehun’s hand and found the angrily marked grade in the corner. “But Sehun-ssi, this essay was only for you to learn how to write. Hence, the top grade for this piece was E, D and C”, she explained softly and returned his papers. “For practice only”.

Those words made Sehun’s world collapse. Because that meant he had given his everything for nothing. When no-one couldn’t even fail it.

With a thinly lined smile, Sehun bowed his head and left the classroom. It was times like these he sincerely wished he could just be bold and throw a fit. Scream at the teacher for not telling him earlier. Like Jongin. He very seldom did any homework – or more accurately, he never did them. He was too busy dancing or hooking up with girls.

Sehun stomped over to the vending machine and inserted a coin. He abused the button that would have a chocolate bar fall down and tapped his fingers against the class as he impatiently waited for the bar to fall.
He could hear girls cheer and knew immediately that his friend, or friends, were coming. Not that they were the only popular guys on campus, but they just had the looks that had girls swoon over them. And Luhan was a sweetheart and gentleman to everyone – because girls were and should be highly respected and adored and all that bunch of bull. And then Jongin, the cold Seoul namja that had appeal. It was funny, because in Sehun’s case, the two had sides that one would love. If he was a girl, he’d want them both. A loving boyfriend and a y –

“Yo”, Jongin said as he laid an arm around the boy. “What’s up, what’s up?”.
“I’m upset”, Sehun said monotonously and pried his arm off. “I feel like going home. And hide under my blanket. And cry. Then buy ice cream and watch tv-shows for the rest of the year”.

Jongin blinked in surprise and gaped in shock. He wasn’t familiar with such a life style, and in his ears, it sounded more like hell than something one would do when depressed.

“Y-yah”, Luhan piped up and wrapped his arms around Sehun from behind. “It’s better if you talk about it”.
“Or like… fill yourself up with choco bubble tea”, Jongin suggested and looked over at Luhan who looked more like a clingy girlfriend than a friend.
“Guys…”, Sehun murmured and took out the bar from the machine. “Don’t you have class?”.
“Nope, we’re going to bother you, Oh”, Jongin grinned and snatched the bar away from him. “Thanks for this. – Lu, let’s leave grumpy alone”.

Sehun rolled his eyes and watched his friends leave – with his only source of chocolaty happiness. He glanced down at his Swatch and tugged on his lower lip lightly before rushing out of the school, running down the street and around the corner until he reached his haven.

He haltered and bended over to inhale not one or two, but ten sharp and long breaths. Like his unexisting abs and muscles, Sehun had no good condition at all. The only class he’d actually failed in high school was PE. So, whenever Jongin asked whether he’d like to join him in the gym, the answer was always no. Just like his body wouldn’t allow any exercise, his mind wouldn’t either.

He pushed the door open and to his biggest surprise, and relief, it was empty. Then again, it was only 9:30 am – people were either working or in school.

Sehun walked up to the counter, and found it eerily empty… and silent. He looked around, his heart beating hard inside his chest from the sudden running. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before coughing – this could’ve been a “notice me please, I want my damn bubble tea es” but the coughing was actually his lungs way of reminding him to never run. Ever again.

A girl suddenly appeared before him and offered him the sweetest smile. She was wearing a white shirt, sleeves rolled up, a black apron tied around her tightly. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail, in which revealed her beautifully soft features even more. Milky-white skin, faintly pink, full lips… big, doe-eyes with gentle golden-brown orbs – not the huge fake lenses that all girls seemed to obsess over – a small, cutely shaped nose. Her cheeks were lightly chubby with baby fat, in which gave her a more youthful look –

“May I take your order?”.

Sehun’s eyelids fluttered nervously as he was shaken back to reality. He didn’t know where to look, it felt… wrong looking at such a perfect creature, so he looked down.

“Choco bubble tea”, he said shakily and gulped down hard.

A faint giggle reached his ears and he glanced up to lock eyes with the girl. Hers smiled beautifully back at his in which made a blush wash over his face and reached his ears.

“Coming right up!”, she said with a friendly tone.

It hit him that her voice wasn’t like girls’ usually were. Instead of being high-pitch and filled with aegyo and annoying abnormal sounds, hers was low. Almost manly. But that was nothing but charming to Sehun as he unconsciously grinned where he stood.

The moment ended far too soon as the female rounded up his tea and placed it on the counter. She smiled ever so sweetly at him and typed on the machine.

Sehun cleared his throat and shakily held out an open palm with a dozen of coins of different worth. He noticed the small wrinkle that formed closed to her lip as she accepted the money and dropped them.

“Thank you”, she said and Sehun couldn’t help but flush another pink as he quickly his heels and stomped out of the shop, a beat faster than usual. And that being not because of the fear of attending late to his class.

Before he rushed outside, he debated whether it was worth it or not. To attend class, that is. If he ran, he’d be tardy. If he stayed… then Luhan or Jongin would help him out with some sort of lie. Looking over his shoulder, he gulped hard and sat down in the closest chair and sipped his bubble tea, every now and then stealing a glance at the bubbly, pretty girl.