When Monday passed, I felt the stress from within build up. Tuesday went by and I felt like a jungle is locked in the deepest part of my belly. Wednesday breezed through but there was already whole new dimension inside my body. By Thursday morning, I went to school with socks that did not match and – for the first time ever – with my hair dripping-wet. The school festival was happening this weekend and in no way was I mentally ready to go on stage as Snow White.

“OH MY GOD!” someone shrieked as soon as I entered the classroom.

My surprised self froze in my steps as a lanky Lee Jong Suk flitted to my side and fussed over me.

“You look like you just walked through a thunderstorm! Your hair is wet, your socks don’t match, your skirt is short on your left side, your eye bags are showing and your backpack is wide open!” Jong Suk immediately zipped up my bag before worriedly staring me in the face, “Any worse and you’ll be sick by Saturday, Sun-ah!”

Despite the fatigue (and stress) that I was feeling, I smiled as I wrung out the ends of my wet hair. “I’ll be fine, Jong Sukkie. No need to worry about me, ‘kay?”

Just then, somebody threw a towel over my head and started to roughly dry out my hair.

I struggled – mainly because I did not appreciate getting man-handled and not knowing who was doing it! – but it appeared that the person was stronger and more hell-bent on forcing the towel-drying services on me. “H-Hey! Mmf–!”

“You should at least let your boyfriend worry about you, you know?” Jong Hyun’s voice resounded from behind me.

Of course. I then gave up on struggling and just let him dry my hair. Sure, that invited more gushes, catcalls and whispers within the classroom, but I played along. Fake girlfriend mode; ON.

As soon as the towel was lifted, it was easy enough for me to narrow my eyes at him and for Jong Hyun to playfully poke his tongue at me. As I sat down in my seat and he went to his, there was a loud thud that sounded at the back entrance of the classroom.

A few girls were shrilling.

“Omona! Omona!”

“Are you okay?”

“Ouchy, that must hurt!”

“Woo Bin-shii, kwenchana?”

True enough, there was the giant Kim Woo Bin about two inches outside the backdoor and on the floor – with one hand clutching at his forehead – as he flinched at the pain. There were about half a dozen kids surrounding him, and about a dozen of girls standing up from their seats and huddling close. Thankfully, Jong Sukkie and – the newly arrived – Soo Hyuk were by his side as they assisted him to stand up.

“Yah, how did you manage to hit the door?” Jong Sukkie was scolding him, albeit with the same worried look he threw at me earlier.

Even the usually aloof Soo Hyuk was frowning as he grabbed hold of Woo Bin’s backpack. “He was spacing out. He didn’t even notice when I called out to him in the hallway.”

I frowned, and when I turned to Jong Hyun who had already gotten out of his seat, he was frowning too. Something’s wrong with our Woo Bin.

I just watched as the other two lanky friends of mine helped Woo Bin to his seat. I sat back down, but only because I wanted to study him more. That was when I noticed it. His hair was disheveled, his eye bags were prominent and the sleeves of his uniform – the ones he loved to keep clean as a rule of being a cook – were dirty and crumpled.

I heard Jong Hyun mutter, “Someone’s nervous for the weekend too.”

I automatically turned my head to Jong Hyun, confusion on my face. “Nervous?” I asked.

My fake boyfriend shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious he’s in the same boat as you are. Just in a slightly worse shape.” He crinkled his nose as he eyed Woo Bin, who looked sluggish as he literally slumped his face onto his desk.

I groaned as I face-palmed, “Of course he would be in worse shape than me. At least I’m used to performing in public. He’s scared to even be onstage.”

Both of us let out a low sigh, with Jong Hyun completely facing me and me letting my cheek fall on my desk. Jong Hyun then reached his hand out to brush some strands of my hair away from my face. It felt nice. “You two worry too much. You’ll do fine. Trust me on this.”

I chuckled as my eyes found his calm hazel ones. “I should trust you on this because…?”

Slightly rolling his eyes at me – oh gosh, that sass! – Jong Hyun said, “Because I am not a person to lie about this. I rely on facts and truths. Even believing in a hypothesis will take plenty of tests and experiments before making it a valid data.”

“Whoa…” I then sat straighter as I leaned one side of my face into my palm. “Then what was the fact about us that convinced you we would be doing fine for the play this weekend, hmm?”

Jong Hyun then leaned in close till our faces were within a five-inches distance. “I know it from the fact that…”

He paused for more than a minute, which prompted me to ask, “The fact that…?”

He grinned and dragged it on. “The fact thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatt…”

Though I was starting to get annoyed, I leaned in even closer to listen to his answer.

He then dramatically took a deep breath. “The fact that I know you two is the reason I know you will do fine this weekend. That’s all.” He then smirked victoriously.

I made a face at the display of his childishness. “You know, sometimes I can’t believe the girls say you’re the ‘cool genius’ or the ‘quiet Einstein’ when you’re just like a typical boy with us.”

He then gave a slight shrug. “Not really, though. It’s just with you, actually.”

That made me even more confused. “Ehhh?” I was pretty sure he also behaved childishly with the boys too.

“I notice that I have this tendency to… want to be childish when you’re around. I’m still trying to understand the factors, so it’s nothing really.” Jong Hyun was saying, with that nonchalant face of his.

I felt my face getting warmer. Why do I suddenly feel self-conscious when he says he’s only childish with me? Why do I feel like… there’s a bunch of butterflies in my tummy when he was saying that? I had to put my hand over my stomach, willing it to calm down and stop fluttering. Kim Sun, stop overanalyzing these stuff! “Y-yeah, sure. Won’t sweat over it.” I shrugged it off.

When classes started, I fell into this pattern that I was used to doing with the boys for the week. If the classes were boring for me, I would either start poking Jong Hyun’s back (in which he would get the signal and set his seat closer to my desk so we could talk), or make hushed talks, which usually ended up in giggles, with Young Kwangie (since he had grown cheekier than ever since last weekend), or even the classic squabble with my neighbour Jae Hyun (who still actively participated in making the small things in my life a misery).

For some reason, I had grown more distant with the other four boys. Jong Sukkie was because he himself was busy with his beautician club and he along with other noted club members were also taking part in the play as make-up artists. Hence, I could fathom how we had been talking less this whole week. Soo Hyuk was just being his distant self, though I could somehow feel he was also worried about the play this weekend. Of course he would worry, he has to play Happy the dwarf, for goodness’ sake! And as for Sung Joonie, I haven’t talked to him since the last time we kissed on my rooftop. He made it easier by not choosing to speak to me – except for the times we practiced for the play – and I could not help but notice that he was also keeping his distance with Young Kwang too.

I sighed as I felt something heavy settle in my head. What happened that night was not something I was supposed to brush off the way I could to an everyday squabble with Jae Hyun. We kissed more than once, and to make things more complicated, I enjoyed them as much as he did. When flashes of those memories came to me, I would blush like hell every time. Who would have thought kissing could feel like that, huh?

There was something else that Sung Joonie said that was odd. Something about how he needed to constantly kiss me... But if two people kiss each other all the time, they can’t be just friends, can they?! Especially with kisses that involved a lot of embracing and tongues–

“What are you thinking that’s making you so flushed, my girlfriend?” Jong Hyun pointedly asked me, one hand slightly pinching me in my cheek.

Flustered, I brushed away his hand and felt my face go redder. “N-N-Nothing!”

One of his eyebrows shot up. “That, I believe, was a valid stammer.”

I scowled. “I did not stammer, Jjong-ah!”

He then grinned. “Seeing you so riled is proof of my hypothesis. But I’ll let this be.” He held both hands up, as a motion for his surrender. He then leaned in for a whisper, “The other boys are gone for lunch except for Woo Bin over there.” He pointed with his forefinger to someone behind me. “Why don’t you talk to him while I join the others, hmm? Maybe you can calm his nerves a bit.”

I frowned. “But I’m nervous for Saturday too…”

Jong Hyun smiled indulgently, his sharp eyes appearing warmer for a while as he stood up from his seat. “That makes you the perfect friend to talk to him about it, then. Fighting~!” he whispered to me before going off.

I was frantically shaking my head at him but that smartass did not even look back. I tried not to let my sigh to be too obvious as my eyes fell onto the large-boned figure slouched i