No less than three joints pop satisfactorily as Minju laces her fingers together and stretches. Mr Yuk casts her a cursory glance, but his attention is more taken by Dae and another of Jinsang's posse, giggling like little girls over their phones under the table.

"Lee Daehyun," he says sharply, to a chorus of snickers, and Minju snags the chance to put her pen down for a moment and stop pretending like history was her favourite subject.

If it wasn't for Mr Yuk's dictatorial ways and fearsome aim with chalk, Minju was sure half the class would already be asleep, save for Taemin, who had already finished the work. "Tired" wasn't a word in her friend's dictionary; even now, she was rapidly texting her boyfriend, arranging for an after-school date.

In the far corner of the classroom, Jinsang stretches his jaws wide, his canines sharp and white, balancing his phone under the desk. She hadn't meant to, but now Minju was yawning too, blinking away sleepy tears.

Jinsang glances back at her and smiles.

Minju looks away quickly, embarrassed. She'd seen the way some friends had gotten into squabbles and even split up over Jinsang, the boy himself completely unaware of the whole situation. It was second nature now to avoid anything to do with him.

"Okay, class, if you were paying attention, let's move on with the project." Mr Yuk makes his way to the front of the room again, two phones pinched in his fingers. Dae ruffles his hair in rueful frustration, though really, what were you expecting in Mr Yuk's class? "I assigned you all random numbers, do look for the other person with the same number as you and get into pairs."

He raps the projected excel sheet with his knuckles. Minju leans forward, peering down the neat rows of names and numbers until she finds hers.

Number seven. And her partner...

"Oh, shit," she murmurs.

Lee Jinsang rises from his seat, gathering his books.

"Oh shit?" Taemin follows her gaze. "Oh. Shit."

Minju gives Taemin the most despairing look she can muster.

Taemin shrugs and pats her on the arm, getting up from her seat. "Well. Good luck with that."

Minju stares at her friend's retreating back, hoping to burn a hole through her shirt. Talk about being thrown to the lions.

Jinsang gives her another friendly smile as he lowers himself into Taemin's seat, and Minju has to glance away and pretend she hadn't seen it. "Guess we're partners, huh?"

Minju isn't sure what she expected to experience, sitting next to Lee Jinsang of all people. But she's certain teenage boys typically smell unpleasant, not... nice and fuzzy, like fabric softener. And she supposed having to look at a pretty face wasn't all that bad - after all, she could have been paired up with Lee Daehyun, and then she'd have a whole other set of problems.

"I guess so." She pushes some of the papers on her table toward him. "We should get started. You narrow down which time periods you want to do, and we'll see where we overlap."

"Oh, sure." Jinsang takes the papers over without any complaint, scratching away with a pen.

He has good handwriting. Minju can't help but watch him from the corner of her eye, head lowered, a tuft of his golden hair caught in afternoon sunlight that she'd usually find repulsive. Is this what it's like to be good-looking?

Jinsang looks up suddenly. And Minju looks away, a beat too late this time.

"Sorry." Thankfully, the lie comes easy to her. "I saw a speck of dust on your hair."

"Oh, thanks." Jinsang takes a moment to fiddle with his hair. "Gone?"

Minju nods wordlessly.

They work in silence for a few more heartbeats.

"So, um." Jinsang clears his throat, gaze still fixed on the worksheet. "I didn't know you wore glasses."

Minju remains silent for a moment. Lee Jinsang? Making conversation with her?

She decides to go with a casual response. "I just wear them in class," she says. "I guess you've never seen them before."

"I haven't." Another pause. "I think they look nice."

Another startling turn of events. "...Thanks?" she replies. It comes out more as a question than a statement, but Jinsang doesn't seem to notice.

"Make sure you put down a project leader and your contact," Mr Yuk announces, knocking on the whiteboard again with his knuckles. "I don't want any of you running off in the middle of your project."

Jinsang glances at her sideways. "It's probably better that you do it."

"I think I should- oh." The protest dies on Minju's tongue. "Yes. Okay."

He smiles. "We're on the same page. What's your number?"

Minju tells him. He etches it along the top of the paper in neat, careful handwriting, then pushes it towards her. "I already picked out some time periods. Though honestly I just picked the easy ones..."

She pulls it toward her with a finger, marking down where their choices overlapped.

"I was thinking, we could do something related to art, actually, since I do art and all."

Minju nods, listening with half an ear. "I know."

If the people not so subtly waiting outside the studio every Wednesday wasn't an indication, the school never let them forget it. Lee Jinsang winning this or that competition every few months, please go and check out Lee Jinsang's work at this art exhibit...

When the silence pulls on for a little too long, Minju looks up. Jinsang blinks back at her, looking like he's holding a frog in his mouth.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry-"

Mr Yuk decides that now is a good time to swoop in and interrupt the conversation, a heartbeat before the bell also decides to ring for lunch. "Are you both done? Submit the group leader's copy and share the other one."

The classroom erupts into chatter, all pretense of talking about the project dissolved. Minju hands in her copy amidst Mr Yuk yelling at those who he hadn't gotten around to, gathering her things in record time to leave the room.

Taemin does the same from the other end of the classroom, eyeing her meaningfully. "Just text me whenever you're free," Minju tells him, already on her way out.

"Oh." Jinsang turns to watch her as she leaves. "Yeah, sure."

Loose pebbles scatter before Taemin's swinging feet, scuffing the side of Minju's left shoe. The two of them take a leisurely pace, wandering along the edge of the school field with sustenance in hand.

"I can't believe it's only lunch," Taemin complains, sucking in a furious mouthful of cow's blood. "Feels like it's been years."

Minju squints down at the plastic blades of grass just under her feet. Was it just her, or were the vitamins Mum got helping her vision? "It's just one of those days."

"Every day is one of those days," her friend grumbles, sending a particularly sizable chunk skittering into the grass.

Minju begged to differ. These typically weren't complaints Taemin had when she could spend lunch break with her boyfriend - who was being held hostage by his teacher right now for failing his tests one too many times. Privately, Minju thought he deserved it.

A chorus of cheers rises into the cool air. Minju casts an eye over the field, blazing a cheerful verdant green now the sun had risen to its highest. A handful of figures pelted around like particles around an atom, howling their victory - one of the heads was golden, racing to finish a high-five. Lee Jinsang, of course.

She turns the other way, towards the bleachers. As usual, a number of girls had gathered to watch the boys play, twittering gossip and makeup (not that Minju was against either of those things). Probably she could bet that half these people were here to see Jinsang and win.

Suddenly, heads turn in her direction, and Taemin claps a hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her down. "Minju-!"

But it's too late.

The side of her head explodes in pain, and Minju swears she hears something crack.

Dizzily, she finds herself on the ground, ears ringing. A line runs through her vision and for two heart-stopping seconds, Minju thinks her eye's been injured.

"Minju. Min." Taemin crouches before her, gripping onto her shoulders to help her sit up. "Are you okay?"

Minju presses a hand to her temple. There's no blood there, but with her bearings back a bit, she can feel her glasses hanging off her face. Her ankle throbs too, and the heel of her other hand sports dirty scrapes.

"Fine. I'm fine." Minju takes her glasses off her face, curses, then curses again to make her feel more alive. "Mum's going to be so mad."

"Hey. You okay?"

Minju squints at the approaching figure. The voice sounds unfamiliar but concerned enough, sporting black hair and his own sports attire rather than the school's. She doesn't recognise him - though that's no fault of his.

She struggles to her feet, leaning on Taemin for support, though even with her friend's boosted vampire strength, she could feel Taemin struggling to support her as much as she liked. "I'm fine. Kind of."

He stops before her, and even without her glasses, Minju can feel the intense once-over. "Your ankle looks red. Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Minju takes one step, and immediately stumbles. Taemin yelps, flailing to repossess Minju's arm.

The boy steps forward, catching her other arm. "That doesn't seem like 'fine' to me."

Minju scowls into his impassive expression, despite her face aflame with embarrassment. Whoever he was, this boy had a special way of delivering every line like a know-it-all, and she wasn't sure she liked that.

"Don't look so mad. That was my ball, let me take you to the infirmary." When Minju hesitates, he gestures with his chin. "I really don't think your friend can manage on her own."

Minju glances at Taemin and has to relent.

next part out on friday!