"So it seems, everything I've said and done were all in vain, because of you my actions don't match my words, should I just stop now? Should I give up and let you win? How do I know you won't hurt me like the rest of them? Can I really trust your eyes; your innocent eyes are they real?" —Siyeon
❀❀❀❀❀
The bell rang for lunch, so as usual I made my way to the cafeteria to meet with the others.
Joey soon noticed me in the crowd of students and teachers and made her way towards me, taking my hand pulling me along with her. "Siyeon, what do you want for lunch? Tell me, I'll buy it for you." She smiled.
"You don't have to do that, I can pay for it myself." I told her, but she then insisted making a big fuss about it; she was so cute, how could I begin to say no to her further, I ended up letting her do as she wanted. Joey was the one friend I had who was really childish and made you want to look after her, but despite that, really kind and considerate of others; she was definitely the baby of the group and the most fashionable, she enjoyed doing makeup and hated school work the most.
Seol was a bit of a tomboy, she could care less about how she looked, she had her own style which included: hair dye, black hoodies, chokers, sneakers and sweats. She even had a rose tattoo on her right arm; it's a wonder she didn't have any piercings aside from one on both her ears. Seol played the bass guitar and was also really good at photography and video editing, some may have thought that based on her personality she wouldn't be that good at school work; however, she was the opposite —really smart and hard working— she took school seriously.
Sua wasn't that bad of a dresser, she mainly wore oversized shirts with thigh high boots, out of all of us she had the most piercings; five on each ear, a nose and a lip piercing. Sua was an amazing dancer and singer, of all my friends she was the one who was always there to help if you needed it; she wasn't as protective of her friends as Seol was... let me put it this way: if I got into a fist fight with someone Seol would rescue me with her fists, but Sua would try a different approach in order to save me, a much more peaceful one to avoid bloodshed.
We were childhood friends, though we were different, we completed each other.
After a while the others then showed up as I was waiting for Joey to return with our lunch.
"Where's Joey?" Sua asked, scanning the area, not finding her. I simply pointed in the direction of the line and she let's out an 'ohh' and nodded.
As for Seol, the moment she saw me she tackled me with a hug and squeezed me tightly, squishing our faces together. "Missed you."
I knew this was her way of apologizing to me, I would always end up easily forgiving her when she acted like that and she knew it. I rolled my eyes giving her the cold shoulder, pretending to still be mad as I turned my head away from her.
"Oh come on. You know you love me." I didn't respond to her, she then kissed my neck repeatedly and squished my cheeks which she knew I hated.
"Okay! Okay! Stop it! You're forgiven!" I pushed her away.
"Let's hurry, the others might already be there." Seol said with a satisfied smile and almost on queue Joey now returned with both her and my lunch, so we go directly up to the roof.
"Oppa! —meaning older brother—" Joey expressed with a smile as she ran toward Luca —Acting and Music Major— the moment she saw him.
Upon hearing her call, Luca looked up with a smile and embraced his little sister, then ruffled her hair as Seol, Sua and Luca's friends, Kehyun—Acting Major—, Euno —Music Major— and Chan —Dance Major— just stared at the two shaking their heads. Before Euno invited us to take a seat.
It felt nice to sit on the roof and have lunch with them, the roof was like our secret place where we would just hang out, it was great to be away from everyone else, the times we spent together made me happy, since they helped me through a lot.
I suddenly looked around in confusion. "Where's Ben?"—Photography and Art Major.—
"He had some work to finish so he won't be coming today." Luca informed as he took a bite out of a sandwich.
"Oh."
'I guess I'll see him after lunch.' I thought considering the fact he and I had art together.
Ben was a very close friend of ours and he was the only guy Seol could have a conversation with and not end up fighting or arguing. Luca and his friends were fourth years so they would be graduating soon, Ben however; was a second year like the rest of us.
"So, is anyone going to the dance at the end of the month?" Kehyun asked, and we stopped eating and turned our attention to him.
"Who? These girls? Joey, Sua and Siyeon maybe have a chance of being asked, but who would want to ask Seol, with her bad temper, she'll end up going alone." Chan laughed, Seol immediately took her shoes off and started throwing them at him which he effortlessly dodged, still teasing her.
"Oh shut up!" she grumbled, giving him the stink eye still threatening him with the other shoe, he stuck his tongue out at her, making me roll my eyes.
"Hey! If you two keep fighting like that you'll end up married to each other." Sua said.
"HAH! That's never going to happen!" Chan expressed, making everyone laugh.
"I'm not going to the dance." I said taking a bite of sushi with chopsticks in hand, everyone suddenly went silent so I looked up at all of them. "What?"
"Is there a reason why you don't want to go?" Euno asked.
I swallowed my food before answering him, "The dance is for couples, I'm not interested in that stuff, so why go."
"Oh come now, don't be like that, who knows what might happen later on, besides if you don't get asked you can just hang with us." Kehyun suggested, making me smile at his offer.
"He's right, don't put yourself down like that, I'm sure boys will be lining up to ask you." Seol said, cheering me on with her smile, she then took a piece of pork and placed it on top of my rice.
I laughed a bit at her gesture as the others agreed with her, but my smile quickly faded. "Even so, I doubt I'll say yes, but since you guys seem so bent on me coming, I'll think about it, for your sake."
"Yeah, we can have fun on our own!" Joey then added.
We continued eating and talking about other things along with Seol and Chan's never ending bickering, until finally, lunch ended.
"See you guys later." I told them as we all had to part ways once again.
We all waved at each other one last time before I finally went to my Art class, getting settled I took a seat as I waited for class to start, Ben soon came and took a seat beside me. "Ben!"
"Oh, hi Siyeon." he said smiling back, setting up his things as I had.
I then noticed he looked a little distressed. "Are you doing okay?"
"Mhm, I'm fine, I just had a lot of work to do, that's all, so I guess I'm kinda tired." he replied sheepishly.
"Did you eat anything for lunch?"
"No, I wasn't able to." he said, making me sigh with a frown, I then searched through my bag and took out a bag of chips I had gotten from Kehyun and handed it to him.
"Here eat this, it's not much but it should help you until school is over." He hesitated at first but he took them thankfully.
"Thanks." he said giving me his full tooth smile.
"Quickly, before the teacher comes." I instructed and he began to eat quicker.
"Afternoon students." The Art teacher —Miss Lee— said as she entered the classroom and everyone got settled in their seats. "Okay, let's begin class, I remember telling you that you'll be able to have a model today for your portraits, so I advise you to get started." she said as the students now had their live subjects pile in one by one sitting down in front of them.
I then wondered what was keeping Seol, even Ben's model came, she did agree to come, we made up earlier so she didn't have a reason not to show up.
So what on earth was taking so long?
I began to bite my lip impatiently and Ben noticed. "Are you okay? Where's Seol?"
"She definitely said she was coming."
"Maybe she forgot." Ben suggested and I shock my head at his words.
"She isn't the type to forget something like this, she knows it's important to me."
"You can always share with me."
"Thanks, but she'll come."
'I hope.'
***
"Argh!" I groaned in frustration rubbing a hand through my hair, as I wandered around the school compound looking for the art class Seol had instructed me to find, but failing miserably, this was my first time looking for this Art room, I never really ventured outside of the music room that often, so I was quite lost.
After giving it another try I gave up and decided to just go back to Seol and ask for her help, after all money was on the line.
***
"They should be with each other right about now." I smiled to myself, humming a song out of happiness, only to suddenly see Baekhyun appear at my classroom door making my smile quickly fade.
"Seol, I need your help." he begged, approaching me out of breath.
"You?! Yah! You're supposed to be with Siyeon right now, her class probably started already, why aren't you with her?!" I ranted, standing to my feet.
"I know, I just got a little lost so can you please just walk me to her class." he requested, making me fold my arms and stare at him in utter disbelief.
"Unbelievable..." I breathed out in frustration taking a deep breath, calming myself down. "Okay fine, let's hurry."
"There, here you are, she's over there." I said pointing at her when we arrived and he followed my finger.
"Okay."
...
I still sat there waiting impatiently for Seol, when suddenly someone came and sat in front of me, "Excuse me, I think you have the wrong—" he then lifted his head up with a smirk and I recognized his face pointing my finger at him as the realization hit. "You! You're—"
"The guy who spilled your coffee." he finished my sentence still smiling, leaning in closer.
"Right, that jerk, you were a student here?!"
"Jerk?! Hey, I already apologized for that."
"Forget about that, why are you sitting here?"
"Seol sent me here in her place."
"What? Seol sent you?" Ben asked, as he stopped drawing and we both looked at each other.
"I'm not sure I follow." I said, still not understanding the situation.
"She didn't give me a reason alright, I'm just doing what she asked."
"But why? I'm not mad at her anymore so is she avoiding me?" I asked, worrying that I may have hurt her somehow.
"I don't think she'd do that, something probably came up, don't worry." Ben reassured me.
"You're right, I guess I'll have to make do." I took up my pencil, deciding to just roll with it for now since I didn't have many options left, Ben nodded and went back to his drawing. "You, try to stay still and not move a lot, in other words pick a pose and stick to it."
"Can you please stop referring to me as 'you' I have a name ya'know."
"Right, I apologize, what is your name?" I asked starting to draw already.
"I'm Baekhyun."
"Okay Baekhyun, I'm Siyeon and this is Ben." I said, looking up at him, this awkward silence then fell upon us as I stayed focus on my work. I found myself admiring his face and his white skin they were both so perfect; his beautiful eyes that seemed so innocent as he smiled at me; his jawline was clean and sharp, he was indeed handsome and very attractive. So immersed in his features I ended up staring at him longer than I intended.
He noticed and he leaned in, surprising me. "I am handsome, aren't I?"
"Wha... what?" I stammered awaking from my day-dream.
"Don't worry, I mean who could resist staring at me, take your time." He smirked mischievously, turning his head for me to admire.
"I wasn't staring at you! I have to look at you in order to draw, you moron!" I defended avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." he teased and I rolled my eyes and went back to drawing. A couple minutes passed. "Hey, are you sure you can draw me well though?" he suddenly asked, making me look at him strangely.
"Excus me?! What is that supposed to mean?!"
"You don't look like you're as good as the guy next to you, no offense." he said, comparing me to Ben, making him snicker and I gave him a look and he stopped laughing almost instantly.
"I'll have you know, I'm perfectly capable of doing that, I wouldn't be in this class if I couldn't."
He raised his eyebrow. "If you say so, we'll see after you're done."
"Whatever." I said in annoyance, proceeding to add colour to my drawing.
***
I smiled at her sassy response and continued to watch her work, I traced her features and admired them, her face was filled with determination now focused on her task after I provoked her, I have to admit she was really cute and fun to mess with.
Just as Seol said, all it took was for me to provoke her a bit and she would get annoyed, I strangely found her personality attractive.
"Oh look who's staring now." she said suddenly, using my previous words on me.
"I wasn't staring at you."
"Really now?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Uh huh, I was just wondering what was taking you so long, half of your class is finished, I guess you really aren't good huh?" I teased her again causing a grimace to appear on her face and I smiled wickedly in response.
"You— YAH!" she yelled at me in frustration, her classmates suddenly looked at her, including the teacher.
"Is there a problem Miss Siyeon?" Her teacher asked, looking at her surprised.
"No ma'am there isn't, I'm sorry." she said standing and bowing, apologizing for her sudden outburst, then she gave me the stink eye.
"Cute." I whispered underneath my breath, which she heard.
"What did you just say? Are you enjoying this right now?"
"Wouldn't dream of it." I said giving her a smirk, she looked like she desperately wanted to smack me, but closed her eyes, resisting the urge mumbling something to herself as she started drawing again.
***
"It's only for a couple more minutes, it's only for a couple more minutes, it's only for a couple more minutes..." I mumbled over and over calming myself so that I wouldn't slap the hell outta this guy, adding colour and soon the finishing touches to my artwork.
"There all done. Finally." I mumbled the last part, as I showed him the picture.
His eyes opened widely. "Ouuu! Looks like all that staring paid off! Look at my sharp jawline."
I decided to ignore his comment as my class ended, ending school for the day. I didn't ever have to see him again anyway, so why bother wasting my breath on him; I gathered my things and my bag, turned in my finished assignment and hurriedly walked out the classroom door.
...