The Academy of Gentlemen (TFboys and EXO fanfiction)

Chapter XIII - The Balance

After that mind-blowing production 11A pulled off, Karry refused to speak with Roy, Jackson and Lienne for a few days, no matter how hard they tried to interact with him, he was throwing a mini — no, a big tantrum and giving them the silent treatment — but Lienne thought that being Cinderella wasn't such a big deal, but when she mentioned this to Jackson, he absolutely disapproved,

"He's a guy, Lienne, he wanted to play a guy part." Jackson said,

"But Roy seemed perfectly fine with playing an elderly woman." Lienne pointed out,

"Well..." Jackson frowned, "Roy is..." He trailed off and looked at Roy who was singing and dancing to Girl's Generation's I Got A Boy, "Roy isn't exactly a normal boy, he's..." Then Jackson grinned, "special."

Lienne laughed at that, Roy was indeed very special.

And at that moment, Roy coincidentally sneezed, "Someone's talking crap about me.." He muttered.

Jackson and Lienne sidestepped away, whistling innocently.

But Karry's sulking hours were finally over and he was gradually getting better — only... there was a rule, you absolutely could not mention the words 'Cinderella' ever again.

The matter between Baekhyun and Chanyeol never seemed to heal and visits from Taeyeon dropped until she was no longer coming,

When they asked Baekhyun why, he simply shrugged and said, "Chanyeol doesn't want to." And he didn't say anymore.

But unlike Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Roy and Karry have gotten even more closer than before — until it came to the stage that they were inseparable.

But even though Roy and Karry were inseparable, they still paid unconditional attention to Lienne — maybe even more.

It came to a point where Lienne's heart would skip a few beats when they smiled at her.

It's stupid, really. Lienne chastised herself, over and over. I mean, I am kinda like a sister to them.

Those thoughts were the only things keeping her sane from all the heartache.

Lienne was spending her day at the Academy again — lately, she had been going there a lot and it turned into a meeting place. The boys were more than happy to welcome her, so it was okay.

Jackson leaned on a desk, idly staring out the window that was behind Lienne, "It's Spring Break in a week," He said, absentmindedly,

At that being said, Roy jumped up from his chair, "Uwah~ I almost forgot." He brought the palm of his hand to his forehead, "That means we'll have more time together, right?"

"Yeah," Karry said, then glancing over to Lienne and smiling warmly to her, "Maybe we can invite the Seniors too."

Lienne's heart fluttered and she looked at the ground instinctively, forcing back the blush was coming to her cheeks, "That sounds great, we could have mini trips outside." She mumbled.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Karry flash her a confused look — he had no idea why she looked away from him, "Yeah..." He said slowly, not looking away from Lienne.

That didn't calm Lienne down at all, she had to excuse herself to the bathroom, as she was walking down the hallway, she chastised herself over and over, What're you thinking, Lienne? Get a hold of yourself,

Then her journey abruptly stopped when she bumped into a hard figure, she was about to stumble backwards but then a hand grabbed her by the waist, "Whoa there, I'm sorry." A familiar voice rang,

She looked up, "Y-Yeol?"

"Hey there," He grinned, then he pulled her up straight and awkwardly took his hand away, he looked at her with a frown, "Are you okay? You look flustered,"

Lienne reddened even more and she once more glared at the floor with intense eyes, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little hot." She managed to squeak out,

Chanyeol's frown immediately deepened with worry, "Are you sick? Do you have a fever?" He brought his cool hand to her forehead and once again her heartbeats went wild,

"No!" She cried out, knocking his hand away, "I-I mean.. I have to go..." She rushed to the toilet, leaving Chanyeol, hurt.

When she reached the girls' toilet (A/N; No idea why they put a girls' toilet in an all-boys Academy,) she splashed her face with chilling water,

What was that, Lienne? She mentally screamed in her head, that was so lame... and rude...

She looked at herself in the mirror for a moment — she looked terrible, her hair was everywhere and her face was red. She washed her face again with an ugh.

And then an abrupt memory flashed in her brain,

"See, Lienne. You're pretty." Karry said with a smile,

She shook the memory away and blushed deeply again, for some reason she was panting hard, like her heart was about to burst,

It's just the hormones, Lienne. It's just the hormones... She repeated over and over to herself.

She tried to recollect her thoughts and calm down her breathing, it took ten minutes until her face was no longer red, but her hair was still everywhere. She desperately tried to comb her hair by raking her hair with her fingers, What am I even doing? Lienne Zhou, when were you ever concerned about your image?

She gave up on her hair and was more emotionally confused than she ever was in her life,

All her life she had only seen the boys as her big brothers — her heroes, but now she couldn't even look at them in the face, it was confusing, why would this even happen? Even with Chanyeol.

Please, God... wherever you are, make things the way they were like before. She pleaded,

But there was no response,

She collected herself with a huge intake of breath and she went outside.

As she walked back inside the classroom, she saw four worried faces looking at her,

"What's wrong, Lienne? You've been acting strangely today." Jackson asked,

Roy breezed over to her and took her hand into his, "You know you can tell us anything."

Lienne looked into his huge, brown eyes and held back a blush, hope my hands isn't sweaty... wait what?!

"I swear, nothing's wrong." She said, not believable at all.

"But-" Karry was about to protest but Chanyeol cut him off,

"If she doesn't want to say, then leave it. Didn't you learn that in Gentleman Education?" Chanyeol snapped,

They all silenced,

Lienne's heart eased only a little bit, but the butterflies in her stomach didn't fly away.

I'm supposed to be friends with them, it's friends-friends not friends-admirer.

She sighed,

The Balance has been tipped.

Of what exactly?

Teenage hormones.