***

Jae. 

"Jae?!' 

I grunted when I heard someone call out my name, and winced when I felt pain. "Ow..." I groused, blinking my eyes open and finding myself on the floor, covered in a mess of pillows and a fleece blanket. I squinted at the sunlight that poured into my room from the window. One of my legs was still clinging on the window bench and I laid my head back on the hardwood floor with a thud. 

Out of nowhere, my mother's face appeared before me and I shrieked, causing her to do the same.  

"Oh for goodness' sake, Jae!" she exclaimed, her hand on her chest when I jolted up, disoriented. 

"Huh, what?" I muttered, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, yawning. 

"Look at you. Will you pick yourself from the ground? It's morning," she breathed, still getting over the shock. "Look at this mess. I can't believe you slept on the bench the whole night," she complained, picking up the pillows. 

"I...slept?" I asked, still dazed. Guess I hadn't woken up properly yet. Mom rolled her eyes at me and helped me get to my feet. 

"You fell asleep before dinner last night. Your father came up to check on you and found you sleeping, so he didn't wake you," she ran her hand through my messy hair and shook her head at me. "That first day at school must've completely worn you out, huh?" 

Stretching I vaguely registered what she was saying to me and I nodded. "Guess so. Sorry about that," I yawned again and startled once more when my stomach growled. 

My mother gazed at me in surprise before she chuckled. "Want me to make you some breakfast before you go to school?" she offered whilst folding the blanket and putting it on the bed. I smiled at her. 

"You're always so nice to me in the morning," I teased and she pecked me on the cheek. 

"Get ready for day two then, baby, I'll make you some eggs," she told me. "Oh, and Jae, do both of us a favor and don't sleep on the window bench again, okay? It's not good for you, you've perfectly fine bed right there," she pointed out and I grinned sheepishly at her. I remembered that I was looking at the moon when I dozed off. It was a pleasant way to fall asleep, though. 

"I'll do my best," I answered, a lazy smile playing on my lips. She left the room and I stretched again, looking around. As I rubbed my head, I couldn't help but move back to the window to look outside. Of course the moon had made way for the bright sun and as far as I was concerned, I never left my room last night. That wolf dream was definitely strange though. I didn't usually dream so vividly and that dream had felt very real. 

Still a bit sleep drunk, I saw my new uniform and pointed at it. "Right, let's try this again." 

At first I thought I would dread having to go back to school, but now I was strangely looking forward to it. I got ready in no time, and when I looked at the mirror, I wasn't having a nervous breakdown. Okay, maybe I had a little bit of a breakdown because damn, the skirt was pretty short. Thankfully the perfectly fitting knee-high socks covered most of the exposed skin and I was proud to announce that the white collar shirt and the fitted blazer did wonders for my figure (push-up bra all the way!). If there was anyone out there that still thought I was a dude, will get a slipper in the mouth.

I quickly fixed my hair and let it hang loose, framing my face neatly to make it look just a bit smaller to soften the edges of my jawline, just in case. I applied light eye-makeup and used lipbalm for a little shine on my lips, but that was it. I wasn't a fan of makeup to begin with, so this was more than enough in my book. Checking myself out from top to bottom in the mirror, I decided that this was as good as it was going to get and that suited me fine. I knew I wasn't dropdead gorgeous, but that was okay. As long as people acknowledged me as a girl, I'd be happy. Today was going to be different. Yesterday never happened. 

Nodding to myself, I grabbed my bag and ran downstairs. There was no leniency for new students on day two, which meant that if I came in late, I'd have to pay the consequences. 

The sound of someone wolf whistling at me caught me off guard and I blinked at my grinning mother. "Well, well, well, look at you, Miss Jae," she teased while she put the delicious scrambled eggs and bacon on the table for me. "Looking good, Miss Jae. You sure about not wanting to impress anyone, hm?" 

"Ha ha, Mom, you're so funny," I replied dryly, sitting down. I leaned back when she leaned towards me and lifted an eyebrow. Then her eyes widened in mirth. 

"Oh my- is that a little makeup I see?" she piped up excitedly and I pushed her away. She laughed. "Come on, Dad already left early this morning, there's just the two of us. Who's the lucky guy?" she pulled up a chair next to me, leaning her chin on her hand. 

I groaned. "There is no lucky guy, Mom. This is just for me, okay?" I told her, looking at my plate. The eggs looked delicious, but as soon as I saw the bacon, an image entered my mind that I really wanted to forget. Feeling embarrassed once more, I covered my eyes and pushed the bacon away, taking a piece of toast instead. 

"Oh, I see," Mom mused, seeing my reaction. "Just for you, huh?" she winked. "Okay, I get it. I'll hear when you're ready to tell me," she giggled. 

"Wow, you are so wrong it's honestly humiliating," I said, eating my breakfast. It didn't help that I was blushing and for a moment I felt my stomach tingling at the thought that I was going to have to face those twelve guys at school again. Perhaps not all of them at once (thank goodness for that), but at least two of them. Why did two of them have to be in the same year as me?

Ugh. I'd seen them in their uniforms for most of the day. I catch them barely wearing clothes for about ten minutes and I can't picture them fully clothed anymore. What the hell is wrong with me? When I thought of Suho, glaring in agitation at me because he obviously didn't like me, the blazer was gone, the white collar shirt was hung open, revealing his abs. I cringed and tried to sip casually from my orange juice when the friendly Lay came into my mind's eye, with his defined collarbones and lean physique... How was I able to catch all of that? 

I bit my lip while grimacing. Apparently the ceiling hadn't been fascinating enough. Damn it.

"I'm not assuming anything," Mom suddenly called, leaning in the doorway that lead into the kitchen, "but I just wanted to point out that you're blushing for no reason at all," she smirked, sipping from her coffee. 

"Mooom," I whined, warning her. "Will you stop? There's no one, okay? I'm not interested in stupid boys with their stupid faces and stupid bodies- just, no. And before you make the comment, there is no one interested in me either, so that works out fine," I finished my meal and took the dishes to the kitchen. 

"Hmhm," Mom mused. "I put your rose in a vase in the living room by the way," she commented shrewdly. "But again, I'm not assuming anything," she teased, walking away before I could retaliate. Honestly, I love her, but man, was she tiring!

"When you're done I can take you to school, baby, you don't want to be late for your date, right?" she called and I sighed. 

Moments later, I was sitting in the car, staring at the pretentious school building, feeling again as though this was my first day here. Except this time, it seemed a little worse, seeing all those students around. I huffed out some air, tugging a loose stray of hair behind my ear, and fidgeting with the skirt. 

Again, my mother's hand covered mine and she smiled. "Are we going to go through this again, sweetie?" she asked. "Or is it because a certain someone is outside right now and he's making your heart flutter?" she teased, curiously looking outside. I checked along with her, not to spot cute guys, but to make sure that a certain group of them wasn't there. I didn't recognize any of the students outside, which gave me a bit more confidence. 

"I gotta go," I said more to myself than to my mother. "I'll see you at dinner time. I'm going to check out some of the extracurricular activities and clubs. See if there's anything interesting to sign up for," I told her to which she smiled ever so brightly. 

"That sounds wonderful. You take your time and browse, baby, we'll be waiting at home for you," she winked and I nodded, stepping out of the car with newfound confidence. I waved when she drove away, turning around. The building was less intimidating this time and when I went to adjust my clothes a bit, I took a deep breath and steadily walked towards the school. 

The first thing I noticed was that apparently, for whatever reason, drew attention from the other students. I felt pressured under their stares, but I couldn't be bothered with it right now. I had a goal to achieve today, so I wasn't going to shy away from it. I it in and straightened my posture. Upon seeing the looks of absolute astonishment on some of the students' faces, it dawned on me that it was probably because they were genuinely shocked to see someone they first thought was a guy, dress up in girly clothes. Of course I blushed unwillingly under all the attention, but the sooner I got this over with, the better. 

I quickly visited my locker, thankful to see that none of the majestic twelve were hovering near it and when I closed the door, the bell rang. Showtime. I checked my schedule and walked towards the same class I had yesterday, where I first saw Suho and Lay. Mr. Quinn taught History and he was the first teacher I met. It would only be appropriate that I set things straight there first. 

I mingled in the crowd of students who were all trying to get to their classes and finally managed to wiggle my way through to the class room. Students were still pouring in, but I had my eyes set on the teacher. I walked into the room, feeling less confident now, but I was actually feeling eager to get all of it out of my system. For the sake of my sanity, I ignored Suho and Lay, who were already there and focused on Mr. Quinn instead. 

"Good morning, seonsaeng-nim," I greeted, making the middle-aged man look up at in me in surprise. When I could tell that he didn't recognize me, he sat straight in his chair appraising me. 

"Eh, good morning," he started, looking confused. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that we'd have another new student joining us today," he muttered but I shook my head, flushing a bit. 

"I'm not a new student, Mr. Quinn, well, I technically am, but it's my second day. I'd like to get something off my chest, if that's okay. Do you mind if I set something straight in front of the class?" I asked, straight to the point. 

Mr. Quinn blinked at me and I could literally see the moment that realization smacked him on the face. His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets when he stared at me again and he cleared his throat. 

"Oh- ah! Yes, eh, oh, I see," he stammered, giving me another look of astonishment. "Jae-sshi?" he asked hesitatingly and I smiled. 

"Hi," I greeted as casually as possible. 

"Oohh..." he mused, obviously a little startled. Then, when he saw that all of the students had arrived he blinked again and nodded his head, a little panicked. "Yes, hello, eh- Yes, quite alright. I-," he cleared his throat again and gave a nervous smile. I bit my lip to prevent from laughing. I had never seen someone so thrown off his game before. He got out of his seat to address the class. 

"Everyone, before we start, there's someone here who would like to a-, well, I-," he loosened his tie a bit. "An announcement," he then declared when he ran out of the proper words to say and I knew that I had to do this now, even though I was nervous at seeing all wide eyes staring at me. 

"Hi everyone," I started, wondering how I was going to on from here. "I just wanted to clear something up. I know I should've said something yesterday, but I was too chicken to function because it was a new school and it was my first day and everything, but- yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself. Wait, let me do this again," I stammered and took a deep breath to settle my nerves. "Hi, nice to meet all of you, I'm Jae-In Miyano, but everybody calls me Jae, which- I realize now - is a uni name which probably contributed with everyone getting confused. I just wanted to point out, once and for all, that I am a girl. I've been one for seventeen years and I like it this way. I'm not Jae's twin sister or anything- I am Jae. For whatever reason, everyone seemed to think that I was a guy, which was totally not the impression I wanted anyone to have about me, but yeah- that kind of happened anyway," I blurted all of it out in one go. 

"I wasn't trying to purposely trick you, or anything, it was just that I had arrived on Sunday and with school starting on Monday for me, they only had an oversized uniform for me to wear. It was disasterous, as you could probably tell. The shirt and blazer was too big for me and that skirt that originally came with it, kept sliding from my , so I decided to wear jeans instead. But, as you can see, today I've the proper uniform and I'm very happy with it," I said, meaning every word. "So, yeah, I was kind of hoping we could start this over and pretend that yesterday didn't happen," I rambled, purposely not looking at Suho and Lay when I said this. 

"I still look forward to be your new classmate, and hope you'll forgive the mix-up. I truly did not mean to deceive anyone- actually, I'm still not entirely sure how or why that happened," I confessed, chuckling nervously when I was met by dumbfounded silence and confused and shocked faces. 

Crap. Maybe I should've thought this through just a bit more and also, it would've probably helped if I didn't ramble like an idiot like that. 

"Well," Mr. Quinn finally spoke, breaking the silence. "That was quite the announcement," he chuckled nervously. "I believe I owe you an apology, Jae. I indeed assumed yesterday that you were male," he started, giving a short bow to apologize. "I'm sure that mistake will not be made again," he added and then looked at the class. Mr. Quinn had been surprisingly mellow in the reaction, but whether that was the same case with my classmates, was a different story. 

"Is there anyone who would like to react to Jae?" Mr. Quinn asked and I winced a little, especially when it was still deathly silent in the class room. Were they this shocked?

After a painfully long moment of silence, someone finally raised a hand. 

"Ah, Minho?" Mr. Quinn called and I grimaced at making eye contact with the outgoing boy. 

"Yeah, uh, I'm not sure how to say this but...Wow. This makes so much sense!" he breathed, gesturing with his hands as though he were relieved. "No offense or anything, Jae, but I'd been talking to some guys about Jae and we were all saying what a weird dude he was," he started elaborating. "Seriously, I'm not trying to offend you, but you make one strange dude," his comment elicited some goodnatured laughs from the class room and I couldn't help but smirk out of embarrassment as well. When Minho caught me giggling, the smile on his face widened. 

"Jae makes a weird dude for sure," he started. "But as a girl, Jae's actually pretty cute," he complimented with ease, the answer so unexpected that it made flinch. At this statement, the class erupted in laughter and cat calling to tease Minho, but I couldn't help blushing, either. 

"Uh-o-oh, thanks, I guess," I muttered, embarrassedly. 

"There, there, simmer down, everyone. Minho, if you plan on confessing then do so in your own time, eh?" Mr. Quinn remarked playfully and I didn't really know what to do with myself. 

"Jae, thank you for clarifying. Go take your seat," the teacher winked and I quickly obliged, still feeling a little shy when my classmates were smiling at me. Well, almost all of them. I risked a quick peek at Suho and Lay, but they didn't look back at me. They were probably still just as embarrassed as I was about the whole locker room ordeal. I just hoped that they wouldn't mention it at all. Things were awkward enough as it were. 

After class, I was surrounded by a crowd of people again, this time because they were all eager to talk about the sudden reveal, as though I had purposely hid my gender from them. However, most of them could laugh about the whole situation, and sooner than I thought, I found myself snickering over it as well. At least I was more comfortable now and I was rather proud that I did what I did to point this out to everyone. I was feeling pretty good. 

When it was time for the next class, Suho had suddenly appeared by my side, walking quietly next to me without actually looking at me. For whatever reason, I thought he looked a little rough, tired and still so very agitated. Was he always this way? Or was he only this way towards me? He didn't say anything when he discretely handed me a piece of paper and continued walking ahead of me. Leaving me a little stumped.

Swallowing, I opened the note and that good feeling I'd been having, vanished like snow in the summer. 

We need to talk. Sorry if this is too straightforward, but wait around your locker when lunch starts. It's important. - Suho.