with love, flora

nine.

"I just wanted to talk to him and then Alex said that not everybody's on my timetable. So now I'm just wondering about Professor Lee and—"

Q cut Kitty off, suggesting, "How about, instead of fixating on this Alex drama, we concentrate on what you're gonna wear to Minho's Madness party?"

"I agree." Nodding, I recited my next words of wisdom, "Quoting grandma from yesterday, "Instead of upending everyone's lives over a possibility, or fretting over the fool who foolishly fooled her, Kitty should use her time for better things". You should try to shift your focus onto something else."

"I'll do that when I'm too chicken to tell a boy that I like him," she said with a suggestion in her tone.

"Yeah, what's the status update on that?" Q looked at me inquisitively. "You were all confident when you said you were going to tell him, but I see no progress," he pointed out.

"I meant to talk to him after coming back from grandma's, but Minho's been very busy planning his party," I gave my reason. "I didn't want to burden him with my feelings to think about when he was already rushing around so much."

It was slightly an excuse, because while on the outside I sounded as calm as always, on the inside I got a little jittery every time I thought about telling Minho how I felt. I guess I wasn't as courageous as I thought.

I wasn't too proud to admit it either, but I didn't want to add to Kitty's burdens. Q also had his plate full with trying to reach a stable ground with Florian, and Madison and Marius seemed to be in the same boat with each other.

Cupid was not being kind to the students of KISS at all.

"Speaking of the party of the year, I'd like to get back to what you guys are wearing?" Q inquired, and I slid over my phone to show him the picture I already had pulled up. "Bold. That's not your usual color palette."

I nodded. "I don't own a lot of dark clothing, but I thought I'd wear this tonight since the venue's a club."

"You know," Q said as he gave me a look of appraisal, "although I do find your sticking to the basics a bit routine, you've still got your personal style all figured out."

"My basics may look boring, but they make me feel very classy and put together. Besides, Kitty's my statement fun accessory," I explained with a smile toward my best friend.

"I'm not going," she said, bringing both me and Q visibly down.

"Why?" he questioned. "It's the event of the year."

Her shoulders slumped. "Because Dae and Yuri will probably be there."

"Yuri will be there. She's DJing," our curly haired friend informed, "but Dae never goes to these things so you don't have to worry."

"I'm not worried," Kitty denied, when in fact she looked extremely bothered. "I don't care to spend time with somebody who can't even acknowledge a meaningful gesture. He didn't even say thank you for the necklace. Not even an emoji," she emphasized. "That necklace was my mom's. I gave it to Dae when his mom died."

"Q said he won't be there." I laid a hand on hers. "Even if he is, the party will be huge from what we've heard. It'll be a big place with hundreds of people. It's possible you won't even come across him."

Q leaned forward to be closer to Kitty. "Can we literally talk about anything else? This whole week I've been hearing Dae, Yuri, necklace, Alex, Dae, necklace, Yuri. This girl," he wound an arm around my shoulders, "is practically in love with my man, and I've yet to hear a peek out of her."

"I'm not in love just yet," I said, feeling myself blush.

"Just yet, huh?" Kitty elbowed me cheekily and I burrowed more into Q's chest.