Junhoe sighed as he closed his locker; he really didn't want to go to school today – after all, it was his birthday and there was a lot of other stuff he'd rather be doing but unfortunately for him, his parents didn't see it that way. It really didn't help that he was close to failing a few of his subjects. Scowling at the floor, he drowned out the conversation his friends were having. They were making plans of what to do after school but there really wasn't much you could do on a Tuesday. Jinhwan was determined to do something while Yunhyeong, Donghyuk and Hanbin just wanted to go to someone's house.

If he was being completely honest, he kind of wanted to spend the day with Minjae but she was currently nowhere to be seen. For some reason, she hadn't replied to any of his texts that morning – even though it was his birthday. She usually got to school right before the first bell rang as she relied on Bobby for a ride and he wasn't the most punctual person. Even still, Junhoe found himself scanning the people coming through in hopes of spotting her.

Surprisingly, he managed to spot Bobby waltzing down the hall; it was much earlier than usual for his arrival and he was alone. Junhoe scowled, wondering where Minjae was. It was his birthday; shouldn't she have been searching him out?

Bobby reached them quickly, opening his mouth to say something – his usual lazy grin on his face. Before he could though, Junhoe blurted, "Where's Minjae?"

Everyone halted their actions, turning to look at him in surprise and confusion. Junhoe was never so upfront about this kind of thing but it was his birthday and he could care less whether they thought he was whipped or a sap. At least, he'd thought that but with the way they were looking at him, he decided that he did slightly care.

"It's nice to see you too," Bobby rolled his eyes, grinning the whole while. Junhoe didn't reply, choosing to just scowl in response to hide his embarrassment. "She said that she had to go find Hayi for something, don't ask me what, I don't know the details," he told them.

Trying to appear apathetic, Junhoe simply nodded, deciding to change the subject, "So, what did you get me for my birthday?"

Bobby laughed, shaking his head, "My love and presence of course."

They all laughed, rolling their eyes at Bobby. Junhoe wasn't sure if he was kidding or not – it was hard to tell with him – but he hoped that he at least got him something small. He would be lying if he said that he didn't want any presents from anyone but at the same time, he was glad that none of his friends were making a big deal out of it.

I wonder what Minjae's needs Hayi for, a random thought popped into his head. He scowled, dismissing it. It's no big deal that Minjae hasn't come to find me yet, she still has time, he thought, right as the bell rang. Huffing in annoyance, he readjusted his backpack on his back before trailing off to his first lesson, frustrated. Later, I'll see her later.

~

Lucky for Junhoe he did see her later, during break. He was at Donghyuk's locker with Donghyuk, leaning against the one next to them and watching people walk past. Minjae was book smart and Junhoe liked to think that he was street smart – but street smart didn't amount anything in grades – so they weren't in any of the same lessons together. She also still hadn't replied to any of his texts so he was really confused. Donghyuk – being the genius he was – was in a lot of her lessons though, so Junhoe wondered if he'd seen or talked to her.

"Hey, have you talked to Minjae at all today?" Junhoe asked as nonchalantly as he could.

Donghyuk paused for a moment before nodding, "Yeah."

Rolling his eyes, Junhoe frowned, "And?"

"And?" Donghyuk replied, eyebrows raised.

Junhoe resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. Was Donghyuk really going to force him to say it? Asking him about her was already annoying enough so the least Donghyuk could do was not drag it out. He just didn't get why she didn't reply to his text. She'd read it. It was his birthday. He just found it beyond confusing. "Did she mention anything about me?"

Donghyuk didn't look like he wanted to answer the question as he said,"…no."

Junhoe sighed, "Really? Not even once? Did she seem distracted at all? Anything?"

Donghyuk shrugged, "Not really, she just seemed like how she is all the time."

"What the hell?" Junhoe scowled, glaring at anything and everything.

"Has she not spoken to you?"

Junhoe didn't want to admit that she seemed to be ignoring him. So instead, he chose to just continue glaring at everything, jaw clenched in annoyance. Maybe I should send another text? He considered it but decided not to, feeling too prideful to do that. Glancing around, he wondered what he could have done to upset her.

As he did so, he noticed a golden brown head that he recognised as Hayi. Standing straight, he tried to see if he could catch sight of Minjae with her and sure enough, there she was. Junhoe tried to see if she looked upset in anyway but she was laughing and seemed happy enough. They stopped at Hayi's locker, not seeming to notice him at all.

Glaring at them, he kept considering why she hadn't replied. Maybe her phone broke, he thought, only to be disappointed when she pulled her phone out.

"Junhoe," Donghyuk called, trying to get his attention, "Junhoe."

He looked away from Minjae briefly, to mumble, "Huh?"

"You didn't hear a word I just said, did you?"

Watching her let out another laugh, Junhoe gave Donghyuk a barely there nod and slight wave of his hand before heading towards Minjae and Hayi. As he made his way there, he could have sworn he had brief eye contact with Minjae. It was so short though that he wasn't sure if he'd imagined it or not because pretty soon after it, she said something to Hayi before speeding down the hallway – in the opposite direction of where Junhoe was coming from.

Did she see me? He thought as he reached Hayi, huffing in irritation to gain her attention.

"Oh, hey Junhoe," she smiled up at him, "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," he mumbled, "So… do you know why Minjae is avoiding me?"

Hayi's eyes widened, as she stuck her head deeper into her locker, "She's avoiding you?"

"Please tell me she's got some secret birthday thing planned," he sighed.

Eyebrows furrowed, Hayi shook her head, "I don't know, Junhoe. I didn't even know she was avoiding you up until now." Seeing that her answer did nothing to help, Hayi patted his arm comfortingly, smiling, "Next time I see her, I'll talk to her and find out what's going on. See you around and enjoy your birthday." With that, she gave him a final smile, closing her locker and walking away.

Junhoe narrowed his eyes at her retreating figure suspiciously. He couldn't tell whether this was all some big act and Hayi was in on what Minjae was planning or if Minjae really was avoiding him. It couldn't be the latter; he hadn't done anything to upset her – at least he thought he hadn't. Why was he even thinking about this so much?

Sure he thought about Minjae a lot – he did really like her after all – but this was getting ridiculous. He had to let it go; she was probably just trying to surprise him.

~

"Okay, so if x is 7 then what does y equal?" Junhoe's teacher asked. It was final period maths and Junhoe hadn’t managed to get a hold of Minjae just yet.

Junhoe chose not to answer – partly because he didn't know the answer and also partly because he'd gotten his unapproachable, don't bother me look down and he didn't want to disrupt that. The day seemed to be dragging; looking up at the clock, he saw that break had ended less than half an hour ago. He did his best not to groan in annoyance as he stared out the window, mind wandering.

It wasn't until he was pretty close to falling asleep when he noticed something. His maths class was on the ground floor, near the field on which they did PE. From his seat, he could look out and see the tracks and the people running around. He felt sorry for the people doing PE but that didn't really stand out to him as they did PE every Tuesday at that time.

It was Suhyun that he noticed that made him frown in puzzlement. She was dressed in her PE kit as she was probably a part of the group doing PE and not running. Instead, she was stood close to his window, waving her arms to get his attention. Sitting up, he tried to make it obvious that he'd seen her to her but not to his teacher.

Glancing at the front, he saw that his teacher was going through the answer, completely oblivious. Suhyun, on the other hand, seemed to be miming something to him. He watched in utter confusion, shaking his head to try and convey that he was at a loss. She just kept clutching her stomach and pretending to be sick.

After a couple minutes of watching, he was distracted by a piece of paper that went flying to his desk. He frowned at it, looking around to see who sent it. His eyes met with the person behind him, Jung Chanwoo