He Started It by Hitting on Me

Smile

I kept my blank stare on the several artificial smiles plastered on everyone's faces. With that extended stretch of their lips, I'm sure their muscles are sore. I exhaled deeply when I saw my friends doing the same, putting up peace signs or smiling oh so unnaturally. These things were always never my cup of tea. Not to mention the fact that the weather was melting my insides profusely, and the cap on my head was just itching to fall down any moment. God, if I could only just strip down to my underwear.
"Hey, look at this one. Don't we look nice?" Key asked, showing me the image of him and Minho beaming at the camera.
I shrugged halfheartedly. "You guys look fine," I agreed.
"Take one with us," he said, tugging on my gown's sleeve. I pulled away from him, shaking my head for the third time today. Key's shoulders dropped as he gave out a sigh. "Come on, just one. Nothing will happen."
"You know I don't like taking pictures," I reminded him.
"Yeah, but you're not that hideous, so why not take a picture?"
A wry smile hung on my lips. "I'd just rather stay in the corner."
Key rolled his eyes, displeased with what I said. "I don't even know how I got to be friends with you. You're nothing what I would want in a friend," he insulted.
"You thought I was some kind of goddess in elementary school," I responded. The blonde cocked an eyebrow and scoffed, blinking after.
"You're such a narcissist. I thought you were some demonic beast that descended from hell."
"I thought I wasn't that ugly. Why are you contradicting yourself?"
Key groaned, throwing his head back to face the sky. "Take a goddamn picture with us already."
"Why do you keep staying by my side when there are several other kids who would want to take pictures with you? Go to them," I suggested, gesturing to the eager, self-absorbed teenagers roaming around us. Key glared at me, not amused by anything I said. He suddenly called out behind him, bringing in one of the boys from our group of friends.
Onew jogged over to us with his tassel dangling at the side of his head. "What's up?"
"This idiot doesn't want to take a picture," Key notified him, shooting me a nasty dagger. I made a face at him in return.
"Take a picture with us, Mi Young," Onew said, following Key's hint. I shook my head, refusing.
Key exhaled sharply, adjusting the camera in his hands. "To hell with you," he muttered, walking away from us. He went to pester someone else for a change, so I guess I was a bit too uncompromising for him. Onew folded his arms, looking back at the loud blonde.
"He seems like he really wanted to take a picture with you," Onew said.
I gave a small shrug. "He's like this all the time. The complains too much," I mumbled. I dug my foot on the concrete ground, feeling the rough texture.
"When a kid doesn't get what he wants, he screams and becomes all stubborn," Onew informed me.
"Yeah. The thing is, I'm stubborn too. But anyway, where's that dinosaur?" I looked around for a short reptile in the crowd of humans. It was pretty pointless trying to search for him in this sea of people. Where would he go anyway? He was always with us.
"Found him," Onew told me, tapping on my shoulder. He pointed behind me, my eyes following, traveling to the direction Jonghyun was supposedly at. Indeed, there he was, showing that artificial smile to a camera along with an unfamiliar girl.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"I think some girl from one of his classes. They're probably friends," Onew answered.
I hoisted an eyebrow. "He has other friends?" I asked flatly. The girl and Jonghyun used their fingers for the well-known peace sign, their eyes forming crescents. They took a few more pictures, doing other poses and putting a hand on each other. I hope she disintegrates when he touches her.
With a couple of more clicks, they were done. Jonghyun bid farewell to the girl and turned away, coming towards my direction. I looked away and about-faced, and Onew mimicked me. "Hey, guys," Jonghyun greeted us. Onew replied back with a simple hi and I murmured mine. Jonghyun put his ear near my cheek. "What?"
I moved away from the close contact and responded, "I said hi." He wrinkled his brow, but didn't bother opening his mouth. Onew's eyes traveled from me to Jonghyun again and again, as if expecting something incredulous to happen. Before the utterly bewildered guy could speak up, a bubbly blonde ran his way over towards our direction and gave a lung-tightening hug to the three of us.
"I haven't seen you guys in so long!" Taemin exclaimed, squeezing our necks with force he withheld for some time, or so it seemed. "I missed you guys so, so much. Noona, you were really good up there on stage. You were a really good valedictorian!"
Pushing him away, I readjusted the cap on my head, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "Thanks, Taemin. I thought you had school today...?"
Taemin nodded. "I do, but I didn't go because I wanted to come to see you guys."
"How did you get the ticket to get a seat inside?" Onew asked, which was my runner up question.
The younger blinked without an answer, smiled and shrugged. He gestured to a girl beside him. "This is my friend, Taebek. She begged to come so I took her," he introduced, earning a flick on the side of his forehead. He stumbled a step back, rubbing the spot she hit. "You know I have a sensitive head!" he barked.
The girl exhaled, rolling her eyes. "I didn't actually beg. He made me come. I'm sorry for making a bad impression on you guys," she apologized, giving us an embarrassed smile. She swept her bangs to the side and bowed down.
"You and Taemin are just friends?" Jonghyun asked her, raising an eyebrow, though a smirk tugged at his lips. A blush crept over both their faces without any words being distributed to his teasing question. Jonghyun laughed after, assuring them he was just joking. We got to know Taebek a little better since Taemin only had constant stories of her being "annoying". It turned out Taemin was exaggerating and the girl was far nicer than what he described. When Key came over, he got suspicious of the new girl and kept his distance, but eventually let his barriers down.
"Can we take a picture now? I haven't taken a group one," Key pouted, shaking the camera in the air.
"Yeah, let's take one," Minho agreed. Everyone gathered over in one place, their parents coming out from the crowd one by one. Key gave his mother the camera and gave her countless instructions on what to do, on what angle she should take it at, and if the sun was perfectly directed on their hair. He gave me a blank look before carrying out his duties as the honcho. Jonghyun nudged me on the elbow.
"Why don't you take one with us?" he asked.
"It's okay, I'll just wait until you guys are over," I replied, signaling with my hand for him to scoot. He didn't budge. "I really don't want to take one. I'm fine here by myself."
"I never took a picture with you, though." Jonghyun gave out a breath, shoulders drooping. Unfazed by his attempt at being persuasive, I shooed him away. The corners of his lips formed into a frown. "You're not going to listen to me, right?" I nodded. He nodded as well, looking up at the sky with a contemplative expression written out on his face. "Minho, help me carry her."
Before I could have ran away, Minho caught a hold of my legs while Jonghyun secured my upper body. Short yells of protest tried to prevent them from doing anything else, but to no avail. They carried me towards the group and had a tight grasp on both sides of my body. Every time the camera clicked away, my face remained expressionless. If they were forcing me to take a picture, I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of my artificial smile, no matter what the reason. It seemed to be hours of countless photos, and I had the desire to hit either Minho or Jonghyun, who were still holding onto me.
At last, the photos were done being taken and the guys hesitantly put me down. Minho hurriedly walked over to Yanna before I could have done anything, and Jonghyun, being curious, stayed in one place while calmly staring at me. From another's point of view, I would be the predator while he would be the prey, and yet, I felt the roles were switched at this moment. "What? Aren't you going to run?" I snapped at him.
"Are you going to hit me?" he asked. My hand struck his head with a silent thump, hard. He rubbed the sore spot wearily. "I should have run."
"Should have ran to that idiot girl," I muttered.
Jonghyun's ears perked up. I immediately regretted for bothering to reply. "Idiot girl? What idiot girl?" he asked in an interested tone.
"I didn't say anything. Are we done taking pictures?" I tried to change the topic, not wanting to hear any nonsense from the bigger idiot's mouth.
"Is it okay if I take one?" My eyes traveled to a petite woman's face, stopping when realizing who had spoken a moment earlier. She still wore her work clothes, yet the tight bun she always wore unraveled into long curls over her shoulders. She held a camera in her hands, waiting for my response. I, however, cannot emit a sound from my mouth.
"Can I take one?" she repeated, gesturing to the camera.
"Don't you have work today?" I finally spoke out.
"I got off early," was her simple reply. "Is it okay...to take a picture?"
I nodded slightly, as if my head were afraid to move and break after one muscle was used. My mother brought up the camera up front as she adjusted the settings. She looked up and slowly pushed out her chin to point at something. "You can join in the picture if you want, Jonghyun," she said. Being stunned and having no words to say, Jonghyun silently walked beside me and let our arms brush. After everything was set, my mother cleared her throat and got into the position of taking a picture.
"Smile," she softly whispered. A burst of warmth suddenly rose inside, making everything at that moment tolerable. My eyes were on the ground the entire time, but a small smile broke out on my face nevertheless. I looked right into the camera and the smile widened. My smile was unable to hold back, due to many reasons, as they piled up in my head one by one.
"Guys, there's a smile on her face! Quick, let's take a picture before it goes away!" The rest of my friends came barging in and gathered around, smiling back at the camera. This only caused me to laugh.
The flash of the camera came and went. We took a couple here and there with the smile on my face never bothering to leave. Oddly enough, I was fine with it. My mother took a few photos with me, with Key being the photographer. Even then I smiled. I had a definite reason to.
My mother went to go speak with the other parents, and during that time, Onew brought up the topic of a party after the graduation ceremony. All the seniors were going, and it would be best if we went as well. I was the first to deny coming to any party, and I refused to come to this one.
"Honestly, MI Young. Can't you come for once? It's a party for all the seniors! Taemin, you can't come," Key mentioned.
"Why not? I'll be a senior next year. That still counts for something!" Taemin argued. Taebek rolled her eyes.
"No, it's fine. If she doesn't want to go, don't make her. Besides, we have something else to do," Jonghyun added.
I furrowed my brow, not sure at what he was implying. "We do?" I asked. He nodded.
"We don't have a winner for our game yet." A smirk spread on his lips. "Though I know I'm going to win."
Quickly registering what he was referring to, a smile played on my expression also. "I wouldn't really count on that," I warned him. "I win at almost every game."
"That may be true, but I've had my experience on this kind of game. You won't know what you're up against," he informed me.
"There are other people here, if you haven't noticed. Take your dirty talk somewhere else, you s," Key muttered.
Taemin frowned. "I thought they were talking about games...." I told them to notify my mother that I would be with Jonghyun for the rest of the day. We exited out of the area, taking our caps off as we walked. The day was still as scorching as before, and the sweat behind my bangs was inevitable.
"Don't worry, I'll turn on the AC when we get home," Jonghyun assured me. He enveloped my hand with his and intertwined our fingers. "So, who's the idiot girl?"