Infinite's Girl (A FanFic)

Chapter 9: An Ugly Rumor Begins

A chime sounds throughout the campus, signalling lunch break. I quickly shove my things in my bag and leave the classroom. I make my way out of the building and towards the park in the center of the university's campus and wait for Kathy. A few minutes later, I see Kathy coming out from her building and jogging towards me. I wave at her, and she waves back. When I am within earshot, Kathy squeals, "Girl, you so have to spill!" Oh, crap. I knew it would turn out this way. I give her an innocent look, "Spill what?" Kathy pouts and puts her hands on her hips,"Girl, you know exactly what I mean." I sigh. This girl just won't take no for an answer. I lower my voice, "Ok, so this is what happened. I got driven out of my dorm and got sent to their apartment unit." Kathy's eyes went wide, and she begins to bounce from what foot to another. "And? And? And? Did you see anything?" Kathy probes, her eyebrows wiggling, giving me a you-know-what-I-mean-look. I feel blood rise to my cheeks. "O-O-Of course not! I'm a very decent person, you know!" I exclaim. "Decent?" I hear a voice, and I turn around to the source of it, There I see a group of girls crowded behind me. Kathy's eyes widen. "Uh... Sunbae! W-What brings you here?" Did Kathy just stutter? That almost never happens. The girl at the front and center of the group scoffs. "So she's the girl you hang out with, Kathy? That is so low," she drawls. Low? What on earth did I do that makes me low? Kathy gives a soft whimper, and I feel my hands clench ino tight fists. I open my mouth to say something but get cut off by another voice from behind me. "Oh! There you are, Lauren! I bought you lunch!" I turn around and see Hoya walking over to me with a large plastic bag. Damn it. Can't the boy read the situation? He looks at the crowd behind me and beams at them. "Wow, Laurie. I didn't know you were popular in this school." I mentally roll my eyes. "H-H-Hoya-oppa!" A number of girls from the crowd squeal. Hoya waves at them with his free hand. "Hi there! Are you Laurie's friends?" The girls in the crowd look at each other nervously, and the girl who had just called me low says with a bright smile, "Oh yeah! We were just asking her if she wants to have lunch with us again today!" What did she just say? I don't even know this woman's name! By this time, Hoya is standing beside me, "Oh yeah? Well, is it alright if I steal her for lunch today?" The girls in the crowd eagerly nod, goofy smiles plastered on their faces. Hoya beams at them, "Thanks!" He grabs my wrist and jogs away, pulling me along. I turn around to look at Kathy, and she is smiling, beaming even. She gives me a wink and turns away, facing the group of scowling girls. I gotta love Kathy.

Hoya brings me to the rooftop of a building, and I see Myungsoo, Sungyeol, Sungkyu, and Dongwoo sitting on the rooftop's floor with lunchboxes laid in front of them. Hoya lets go of my wrist and laughs nervously. "Sorry about that. I didn't exactly know what to do or say when I saw you being ganged up by them" I give him a grateful smile. "It's fine. Thanks for the back-up anyway." So he knew what was happening. Sungkyu clears his throat, and we all turn to him. He jerks his chin towards an empty space on the floor and I sit there. Hoya takes out two lunch boxes and gives one to me. I mouth a "thanks" as I open the lunch box. Sungkyu takes out his phone from his phone, pushes a few things on the phone, then shows us the screen of the phone. The screen shows the same picture Kathy sent me this morning. I feel a lump forming in my throat, and I swallow it. Sungkyu returns his phone in his pocket. "Myungsoo told me." Sungkyu says. He shifts to a more confortable sitting position and begins the mini-meeting, "So. How do you want us to deal with this, Lauren?"

"Please help me clean up this rumor."

"Why do you want us to do that?"

"I don't want to be known as the girl who hangs around the boy band Infinite."

Sungkyu begins to reply, but Hoya butts in, "I saw a bunch of girls ganging up on her a while ago. I think we should clear this up before the situation gets worse." I nod in total agreement with Hoya. Myungsoo speaks up, "Hyung, we have an interview on Thursday, right?" Sungkyu looks up for a moment, as if trying to remember something, then looks back at Myungsoo. "Yeah, we do. Why?"

"We can clear this situation up then."

"Won't that look a little unprofessional?"

"Before the cameras start rolling, we can ask the interviewer to bring the topic up."

Sungkyu nods, showing his consideration for Myungsoo's idea. "What are we going to tell the interviewers then?" Myungsoo looks down on the ground, his eyes narrowing. He looks like he's deep in thought. Dongwoo snaps his fingers, "We can say Laurie's Woohyun's sister!"

"Our family members are posted along with our profiles."

"Oh," Dongwoo says, looking disappointed. Suddenly, his expression changes into a smiling one, and he snaps his fingers again. "I know! We can say Laurie's Sungjong's cousin who lives with us!" Sungkyu looks up, looking deep in thought. A few moments later, he nods, "Alright. We can go with that one. I'll bring this up later tonight with the other members."

"What about the manager-hyungs and the CEO?" Hoya says. Sungkyu nods and brings out his phone. He flicks through something on his phone then presses something, then he brings the phone up to his ear. A few moments later, Sungkyu talks to the person on the phone, "Hello, JungYeop-nim? It's Sungkyu. Hyung, did you check the social network recently?" Sungkyu nervously laughs,"Well, hyung, Sungjong's mom kinda asked us to do it." Sungkyu winces,"Hyung, w-w-we can fix this. We really can. Hyung, hear me out. We thought of a plan already..." Sungkyu continues as he relays to the person on the phone the plan we had just talked about. I notice that his speech turned into a formal tone while he speaks on the phone. I turn to Hoya and ask, "Who's Sungkyu talking to?" 

"The CEO of our company, Lee Jung Yeop."

Sungkyu finishes telling the plan and a silence follows. Sungkyu's mouth slowly curls up into a smile. "Ok, hyung! Don't worry! We'll clean this rumor up! Thank you, hyung. Ok, good bye. Please tell the managers as well. Thank you!" Sungkyu hangs up smiling, his eyes disappearing into tiny slits on his face. "The CEO gave us the ok signal. We'll proceed with what we had talked about." Dongwoo gives a sigh of relief. I give everyone a grateful smile, "Thank you, everyone!"

I hope they do well in the interview on Thursday.