3rd POV

“No.”

“Suhan, just do it.” 

“No.”

“It's not that bad.”

“No.”

“Come on. I'll be with you the whole time.”

“No.” 

“Suhan, it'll be fine!!”

“NO.” 

Kai angrily groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “You're so stubborn.” 

“Oh that's hilarious coming from you!” Suhan exclaimed back in an irritated tone. “I'm not ready!”

“You did great though last week with me.” He said to her.

“Yeah, keyword: ‘with me.’ It was just us two and I was comfortable. I'm not ready to do it in front of so many people.” She argued back.

“But these guys aren't just ‘people.’ It's the guys! Your friends!” Kai said as he gestured to the group sitting at one of the back tables in the library. 

“It still gives me anxiety.” She whimpered. Kai sighed and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Then just look at me, okay? If you start to get nervous, take a deep breath and look at me. Think back to how comfortable you felt the first time you presented.” 

Suhan stared at him with so much admiration. How he could make her feel so nervous but calm at the same time, she would never know. 

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Fine.” She said quietly. 

A smile grew on Kai’s face. “Great.” He said happily. The two walked out from the small aisle of books that Suhan had run off into after seeing how many people Kai had tried to make her present in front of. They walked towards the back of the room where Aya and the others were waiting. 

Aya had sweet talked the libraries into letting them use the smartboard in order to make the fake presentation close to the real thing as much as possible. 

“You good?” Aya asked in concern. 

Suhan let out a nervous breath. “We’ll see.” Aya reached for Suhan’s hand and gave her a squeeze of assurance. 

Suhan looked at her audience: Seulgi, Sehun, Taemin, D.O, and Kai. 

Suhan tried to convince herself that it would be fine. 

“Okay go.” Kai said. 

Aya clicked the small remote and the first slide lit up on the smartboard.

“Good morning everyone. I'm Min Ae Yeon and this is Ahn Suhan. Today we will be presenting information about malaria.” Aya said, powerful and confident.

She clicked the button and the next slide came up. The first four was Suhan and the last six were Aya. 

Suhan took a deep breath and cleared . 

“T-to start off, Malaria is said to have originated f-from Africa in ancient times. The first instance of Malaria was found in Algeria,” Suhan could hear her voice shaking and getting dry, “by a- a French surgeon in Nov-November, 1980.” 

“Okay stop.” Kai called out. Suhan’s shoulders fell and she sighed. 

“Sorry.” She said quietly.

But Kai shook his head. “Don't say sorry; just slow down a bit. You're going really fast.” 

Suhan felt her ears burn in embarrassment and she felt even worse. 

“Okay next slide.” He said to Aya.

Aya clicked the remote.

Suhan took a deep breath and glanced over the slide, reminding herself to speak slowly and to stay calm. “Malaria is well-known to be an effect of mosquito bites. It is the female mosquitos that most commonly,” Suhan realized she was speaking too fast again and slowed down, “transmits the disease. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood. The parasites travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce.” 

Suhan looked at everyone and they all smiles, especially Kai. 

“Next slide.” He said to Aya, but his eyes on only Suhan.

The next slide popped up and Suhan began once again. 

“Malaria is a very serious disease and can be life threatening if not treated properly.” She took a deep breath. “Most cases of malaria can be treated with medications prescribed by your doctor. Every case of malaria differs depending on the person’s severity of it so there are different prescriptions.” 

Suhan looked at Kai who nodded in approval.

“Last one.” He said. 

Aya clicked the button. 

“If left untreated, malaria can lead to painful symptoms and even death. Some symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness. These symptoms will usually show up about 10 to 15 days after infected.” 

Everyone began to clap and Aya gave Suhan a congratulatory squeeze on her shoulder.

“Good job, Suhannie.” Aya beamed. 

Suhan let her body relax and she gave them a grateful smile. “Thanks guys.”

“See? Now that wasn't so bad, right?” Kai said.

“No, I guess not.” Suhan sighed. Her phone then began to ring just as everyone was starting to clean up.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Oh Suhan, I'm here.” Her mom's voice sounded on the other line. 

Suhan’s mouth parted. “O- Oh. You're here?” She glanced around at the guys.

“Yeah, I was on my way back from the salon so I didn't see any point in sending the driver. Come out.” She said.

Suhan gulped. “O-Okay…” 

Kai glanced up at her. “Your rides here?” 

Suhan nervously pressed her molars together. “Um, yeah. My mom is outside.” 

“Oh I wanna meet her!” Aya giddily exclaimed.

“Yeah me too!” Seulgi chimed in. 

Suhan’s eyes widened. “You want to meet my mother?? Why?” She asked.

Everyone blinked at Suhan’s strange and panicky tone.

“...Um, yes?” Aya answered unsurely.

“Everything okay?” Kai asked, giving Suhan a strange look.

Suhan cleared and tried to calm herself. “Yeah, everything's fine. Let's just clean up and then you can all come out and meet her.” She gave them a light smile but on the inside, she was about to have a mental breakdown. These were the exact type of kids her mother did not want her to befriend. Just from a first look, the guys didn't look like the type of friends you bring home to meet the parents. 

Aya's skirt was half way up her thighs and her shirt was pretty tight. Seulgi had yellow tips and fierce eyeliner on. Sehun had a lollipop in his mouth and the first three buttons of his dress shirt undone, and Kai of course was just a walking mess: uniform jacket was gone, rolled up sleeves, hiked up collar, tie hanging around his neck, and his shaggy hair all over the place.

The only two that looked presentable were D.O and Taemin. But Suhan’s mother had seen how D.O had tried to cut class that day PSong had shown them around school. 

So her only hope left was Taemin. 

Everyone grabbed their stuff and followed Suhan out to the parking lot. 

She saw her mother standing behind the car on the phone. She glanced up and saw her daughter walking towards and thus ended the call.

“Oh Suhan!” Her mother called out. 

Suhan gave her an awkward smile and led the gang towards her mom.

“Omma, I want you to meet some people.” Suhan said, internally praying that her mother went through some miraculous transformation and became a wholesome, open-minded woman over night. Suhab’s mother smiled in anticipation. “These are my friends: Aya, Seulgi, Kai, D.O, Taemin, and Sehun.” 

Suhan’s mom’s mouth parted in slight surprise at the sight of her innocent daughter’s group of friends and her smile fell right off. “These are your friends?” 

Suhan was about to facepalm herself. 

“Yes, mom. These are my friends.” Suhan said through gritted teeth.

“It's nice to meet you.” Aya kindly smiled.

Suhan’s mom looked each one of them up and down, twice for Kai.

“Well, what a- um, lovely, little group you have here, Suhan.” She said with a crooked smile. 

Kai’s face fell at how fake she sounded. 

Everyone could feel the awkward air but they all kept their smiles on except for Kai. 

“Well, now that you guys have met, I think it's time for us to go.” Suhan quickly said and assured her mom into the car.

“It was nice meeting you!” Seulgi called out.

“Yes, well.” Suhan’s mother said back before she got into the car.

Kai scoffed and shook his head. 

Suhan slammed her mother's door close and walked back the guys.

“Um, well, I'll see you guys tomorrow?” Suhan said as if it was wishful thinking rather than a friendly goodbye. 

The others didn't really know what to say and just have her awkward smiles and some nods. 

Suhan said goodbye and quickly scurried into her car, trying to avoid 

As her mother began driving away, Suhan could see the group in the rearview mirror. She saw how Aya said something which made the others nod. She knew what they were thinking. She knew the impression she know left on them. But what hurt her the most was Kai’s disappointed look. 

Suhan walked heavily to homeroom the next day. With her shoulders hung low, she peaked her homeroom. She saw Aya, Kai, and D.O. in there like always, laughing and goofing off until the teacher would tell them to stop. She gripped her backpack straps and gathered enough courage to walk in. She slowly pulled the door open and walked in with nervous steps.

They didn't notice her; or if they did, they didn't do anything. Suhan bit her lip, trying not to cry and gloomily sat down at her seat of solitude. She could tell how the rest of the school year was going to be: the gang would be nice but they would slowly lose contact with her and before she knew it, they would pass one another in the hallway, not even sparing a smile.

And could she blame them? Her mother acted as if Suhan had brought home the neighborhoods mutts.

Suhan angrily sighed and cursed her mother.

But then, something hit her.

Suhan flinched as something rough hit her head. She looked at the crumpled paper ball on the floor and then in the direction from where it came.

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