The next Monday I walked into Government with Alexy and Armin on either side of me. Alexy was describing the latest fashion show that had been put on and Armin was simultaneously telling me about how he achieved his latest high score in Guitar Hero 2. I was trying my best to listen to both of them and nearly ran smack into Nathaniel's chest. I gasped in surprise and stepped back, looking up into Nathaniel's startled face.

"I'm so sorry," I said, quickly taking a step back as Nathaniel's golden eyes focused in on mine.

"Opal! What happened on Friday? You didn't come to AP Bio."

Alexy and Armin flanked my sides and gave me curious stares.

"You skipped out?" Armin asked in shock and I tried not to blush.

"Something came up and I had to go. I'm sorry I worried you," I apologized while looking up at Nathaniel. He frowned and I bit my lip. If I told him what really happened I just knew he would get mad and I didn't want that. "Auntie called and excused me," I said and Nathaniel visibly relaxed.

"Well, that's good then. I'm glad you weren't sick."

"Nope! I'm completely fine," I said with a grin and Nathaniel laughed, shaking his head.

"I'm glad. I forgot my textbook in my locker, so I'll be right back."

"Okay," I said and he waved slightly as he left the room.

"Rrrrrrrr," Alexy purred, giving me a teasing look, and both Armin and I rolled our eyes.

"Not jealous are you, Alexy?" Armin asked and Alexy scoffed.

"What, of that stuffy bookworm? Hardly. Doesn't he know there isn't a dress code here?" Alexy asked and I made a mock offended face.

"Why Alexy, how rude. He's probably going to be the President someday and then you'll wish you hadn't made fun of him."

"Pfft, unless he becomes the president of a fashion industry I don't care," he remarked saucily.

"I think it's cute that he always wears a tie to school," I commented with a small smile.

Alexy gave me a look that let me know precisely what he was thinking and I couldn't keep from bursting out laughing. My laughter was abruptly cut off when something hit my head lightly. Turning around I found myself staring into a familiar smirk.

"Castiel!" I said happily. "You came?"

Castiel had texted me Saturday morning to let me know his fever was gone but he still didn't feel well. Auntie and I had made him some more Okayu and gone over to drop it off for him. He had thanked us both but I hadn't heard from him since then so I hadn't been sure if he would be up to coming to school today.

"Of course. Now you should move out of the way."

I chuckled and shook my head. Yup, he's back to normal, I thought with an inward grin.

We all took our seats and soon Nathaniel was back, followed by Lysander. I wished for the hundredth time that Castiel and Nathaniel could get along as our innocent conversation about animal preference turned into a war of dog versus cat. Looking back at Lysander I frowned and he smiled quietly as if telling me to bear with it.

My days slid into a regular pattern of school, homework, and lessons with Shin Woo. Alexy and Armin would come over almost every Saturday evening too. Armin would bring his Xbox and try to teach me how to play Super Smash Bros while Auntie and Alexy poured over the latest fashions and worked on a portfolio that he could turn in to Auntie's stylist friend. I reveled in the normalcy and I enjoyed spending time with all of my friends. Before I knew it, three weeks had gone by and it was the week of midterms.

"Morning, boys!" I called and Alexy and Armin waved as I jogged up to them.

"You're usually the one waiting for us," Alexy said and Armin frowned.

"Can we go? Being outside sucks," Armin said with a grumble. I laughed as a cool breeze swirled around me.

It was the middle of September and the mornings had begun to grow a little crisp, which Armin seemed to think was even worse than it being sunny. We walked at our usual quick speed towards the school while Alexy regaled us with his latest fashion inspiration.

"Just stick with me here I'm seeing... Pink! Did you know that pink used to be considered a manly color? It was because it's just faded red and red is a super strong..."

"Saattooooooo!!!!!" I whirled around and took a step back as Troy practically threw himself at my feet.

"Wow, when did you get famous, Opal?" Alexy asked teasingly.

"Troy, is something wrong?" I asked in bewilderment. Troy suddenly looked up and clasped my hands in his.

"If I fail my math midterm then I'm not allowed to play on the basketball team!" Troy wailed desperately and I blinked in shock.

"Why would you fail? I thought you were doing good in your math class."

Troy looked close to tears as he grasped my hands and looked down at the ground. "I failed my last two tests and I'm pulling C's and B's in most of my other classes, so if I fail Math then I won't have the 2.5 GPA I need to play on the team," Troy admitted miserably just as Dajan and Brandon caught up and stood behind Troy and me.

"I told him he should have asked you for help a while ago," Dajan said but patted Troy on the head kindly.

Troy looked up at him with a guilty face and an empathetic sadness went through me. Troy idolized Dajan so I knew how horrible he must feel to be in this situation.

"It's not like you can magically get good at math, idiot," Brandon said sharply.

My mouth turned down in a hard frown as I looked up at Brandon, but he looked away, not meeting my eyes. I turned my attention back to the crestfallen boy in front of me and squeezed his hands.

"Troy, don't worry. We still have this week to study. Your midterm is on Friday, right?" Troy nodded miserably and I smiled down at him. "Hey. I'm not going to let you fail." His eyes shone with unshed tears as he gave me the biggest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen in my life.

"Thanks, Sato," he sniffled and I nodded, pulling my hands out of his.

"But you are going to have to spend every afternoon in the library with me. I'm going to pound those formulas into your head until they stick," I said with mock cruelty and Troy nodded his head emphatically then saluted me.

"Yes, ma'am!" I laughed and Troy finally got up.

He and Dajan walked with the boys and me to school while Brandon lagged behind. Every once in a while I felt a shiver go down my spine, but I refused to look to see if Brandon was watching me or not. When we reached the hallway I waved goodbye to the basketball boys as we went our separate ways.

"So, you're a tutor?" Alexy asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Last year the basketball boys helped me out when someone tried to bully me, so I helped them with any of their homework troubles. I held so many cram sessions for their finals it was ridiculous," I said with a grin and Alexy raised an eyebrow.

"And... that's a good thing?" he asked and I nodded.

"It was really fun. All of the boys are wonderful," I said then Brandon flashed through my head and my smile quickly faded.

Iris still hadn't told him her feelings, and I was starting to wonder if she should. Brandon hadn't sat by me at lunch or asked for homework help since I had told him I couldn't be his partner in the orienteering race, but I would catch him watching me every once in a while. It made me extremely uncomfortable. Maybe if he started dating Iris I would stop feeling awkward around him, but...

"Sounds like too much work for me," Alexy huffed, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What's too much work?" I looked over to see Nathaniel standing next to me. "Good morning, Opal."

"Morning, Nathaniel," I said happily. "We were talking about how I sometimes tutor the basketball boys."

"Ah, that's right. I forgot you did that."

I waved to Alexy and Armin who went to take their seats in the back of the class and I took my seat next to Nathaniel. Slowly more and more students trickled in and finally the bell rang. Mr. Schiess walked up to the front of the classroom to begin the lesson when a ping sounded out from the PA speaker above the door. I turned with the rest of the class to look at the speaker as the principal's voice rang out.

"Good morning, students! Before we start our classes I have a few announcements to make. First of all, it is midterm week so I hope everyone is studying hard!"

I heard a small snigger from behind me and sighed. Castiel had already given me his opinion on studying and we had agreed to disagree on our approaches.

"Second of all, and this is the big one, I'm sure you have all been wondering what the funds we got from the Orienteering Race are going to be used for."

I heard a few mumbles at that, but they quieted as the principal continued.

"Well, I am happy to announce that Sweet Amoris High is going to be hosting our first-ever Talent Show!" The mumbles from before now exploded into excited chatter. "Yes. Yes, I know it's exciting! We will be holding auditions for the Talent Show after fall break for a week in the auditorium. All APPROPRIATE talents are welcome, so prepare for your audition to make this a memorable show. But don't forget about your midterms!"

Another ping from the PA and the principal was gone. I immediately turned and looked at Lysander and Castiel.

"You guys are going to enter, right?" I asked excitedly and Lysander shrugged.

"Possibly. Would you want us to?"

"Yes! I would love to hear one of your songs. But I understand if you don't want to," I said quickly, although I wasn't able to keep my shoulders from drooping a little in disappointment at the thought of not being able to listen to Lysander sing again.

Lysander opened his mouth as if to reply when it snapped close and he froze as his eyes widened slightly and he stared intently at me. I blinked and fidgeted under his intense gaze before looking back at him. Once our eyes had connected again he slowly smiled and turned to Castiel.

"We do have the new song I wrote," he said.

"Whatever," he shrugged, "We haven't worked on it much, though."

They began talking technique and such so I turned to look at Nathaniel who was looking at me with a strange expression.

"Will you participate, Nathaniel?" I asked and Nathaniel shook his head.

"The principal has asked me to be the stage manager," he explained and I smiled.

"Oh, that's perfect! I'm sure you'll make the show amazing," I encouraged and he smiled.

"What about..."

"Alright class enough visiting, please. We still need to get through this chapter for the midterm," Mr. Schiess reminded us and slowly the conversations died and our focus turned to the lesson.

All throughout the day, people were talking about the talent show and what they might do for an audition. I was reading my government textbook in the library after school when there was a sudden increase in noise. Looking up, I saw Troy, Dajan, Sterling, Jason, and Mark all walking toward me. As they passed the librarian's desk a sharp "Shhh" caused them to quiet down, but they continued whispering excitedly as they walked toward me.

"Hey guys. I thought I was only helping Troy today," I commented with a smile. Jason and Mark both looked sheepish.

"Actually, we thought it would be a good idea to sit in. We don't have practice this week and our math grades aren't exactly perfect either. Better than his though," Jason said while giving Troy a shove.

"I just don't get math," he pouted and I smiled.

"What were you all talking about?"

"Sato, it's going to be epic!" Troy declared excitedly, taking a seat next to me and putting his math book down. "We were talking about the talent show and we decided that we're going to do a basketball routine!"

"Basketball routine?" I asked in confusion and all the boys nodded eagerly.

"Yah! We're going to dribble to some sick music and pass the balls to make shapes in the air and a couple of us know how to do backflips and stuff," Mark interjected.

"Once the girls see my mad skills I'm going to get myself a fan club," Sterling bragged arrogantly and I laughed.

Sterling always made comments like that, but I knew that several girls had asked to be his girlfriend and he had politely turned them down. I wondered who had captured the would be playboy's heart.

"Well, that definitely sounds amazing. I'll look forward to watching it. Did you bring the tests that you failed?" I asked Troy, switching into tutor mode easily. He nodded with a sigh, handing me two small packets.

"Try not to die from the excitement of the quadratic equation while we're gone you guys," Sterling said and I raised one eyebrow at him with a smile.

"It'll be hard, but I'll do my best," I replied, surprising a laugh out of him.

"You're okay, Sato. Let's go, Dajan."

Sterling and Dajan waved and left the three younger boys with me. As I went through all of the questions Troy had gotten wrong, I realized that Dajan had stopped coming to my study groups a while ago. I mulled it over and realized that when Brandon had stopped asking for my help Dajan had also stopped coming.

I wrapped up my study session by five and sent the boys off with a formula sheet, telling them to work on memorizing all of them. They left promising to work on them and I smiled encouragingly before jogging home. I only had half an hour before I needed to leave for Feel da Beat.

Recently I had been going to lessons earlier so that I could record parts of the song I had chosen before doing my dance practice. Shin Woo and I had finally settled on a translation that worked well for us and he started recording me singing the background oo's and ahh's and layering them over the music so that when I sang it for real I would have my own voice as my backup singers.

I quickly made a sandwich, filled my water bottle, and changed into my dancing clothes before running down to the bus station. The bus ride took almost half an hour through the heavy city traffic, but I walked into Feel da Beat happily. Shin Woo was waiting for me in his recording room and he set me immediately to my task.

"Nicely done, Opal-chan. Your voice really suits this music," Shin Woo complimented as I stepped out of the recording booth.

"Thanks, Shin Woo. I really love this song; I can't wait to sing the lyrics and not just the background."

"Soon," Shin Woo said with a grin. "How are things with your friend Kentin?" A small pang of sadness went through me but I smiled reassuringly for him.

"Things got resolved well. We don't have any classes together, but he always waves at me in the hallway and he'll come to eat lunch with me and my friends once in a while. It's definitely different, but I'm glad that he is making new friends and better memories than before," I said and Shin Woo nodded.

"It's hard seeing a friend change and drift away from you, but I'm glad you're still on friendly terms." Shin Woo remarked before relaxing back in his chair. "Anything else exciting happening?"

I moved my lips to the side in thought until something suddenly popped into my mind. "Well, the principal just announced we're going to have a talent show sometime after fall break. I'm really excited to hear my friends..."

Shin Woo rocketed out of his spinning chair and grasped my shoulders, effectively cutting me off while grinning wider than I had ever seen before.

"And you're going to enter?" he asked excitedly and I blinked in shock.

"What? No, of course not," I exclaimed in open shock. Shin Woo frowned, folding his arms and staring at me.

"Why not?" he asked pointedlt.

"W-why not? Well, why would I? I don't..." I stuttered as I tried to come up with a good excuse.

"Don't you dare say you don't have a talent; I would take that as a personal offense," Shin Woo said seriously and I closed my mouth, swallowing.

"But... I don't need to enter a talent show! I just like to dance; no one needs to see me," I said awkwardly.

Shin Woo shook his head then looked at me with gleaming eyes and I was suddenly reminded of Auntie.

"You are going to perform this song at your talent show," he announced and I nearly choked.

"Shin Woo! I..."

He whipped out a cellphone seemingly from thin air and pushed a button, bringing it to his ear. I watched in utter confusion as he waited the person on the other line to pick up.

"Yuki-chan? Ah-ha, gomen. I didn't mean to interrupt your work, but this is important."

Frantically I waved my hands and mouthed, 'Don't do it!' but Shin Woo just gave me a triumphant grin and nodded.

"Yes, I promise it's important this time. I've got Opal-chan here... No, she's not hurt. Just listen. Opal-chan just told me that her school is holding a talent show and she doesn't want to participate."

Shin Woo held the phone at arms-length and I heard Auntie scream through the phone, "WHAT?!"

Shin Woo placed it back to his ear with a silly grin on his face. "She's apologizing to her co-workers," he explained to me.

I watched his silly grin spread wider and his eyes dance with what looked like adoration. I knew that Shin Woo had feelings for my auntie but he never really talked about it so I found his expressions extremely interesting.

Is this what boys looked like when they are in love? I wondered, intrigued.

"Yuki-chan you should know better than to disrupt your subordinates like that," Shin Woo said teasingly.

He listened for a moment then laughed delightedly and I wondered what Auntie had said as a retort. Suddenly he thrust the phone towards me while grinned triumphantly. Groaning, I took the cellphone and slowly brought it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I mumbled timidly.

"What's this about you not participating in the talent show?" I winced at the incredulous tone in Auntie's voice.

"But I've never performed...."

"Which is exactly why this would be good for you! Oh! I could design you a costume for your dance! And Alexy could help me! Oh, Opal, say you'll do it. Please? For me?"

I threw every excuse I could think of at her but after two minutes of her begging, I couldn't resist any longer.

"Okay, okay. I'll do it."

"Yes! You won't regret it, Opal. This is going to be wonderful! Now I just have to finish something up here at the office and I'll be right over to Feel da Beat."

"What? Why?" I asked and heard her tsk.

"Come now, Opal. I can't design an outfit for you without seeing the dance! I'll be there soon, sweetheart! Can I talk to Shin Woo for a second?"

"Sure thing. Love you, Auntie"

"I love you too, sweetheart," she said with so much affection in her voice that I felt like my whole body was lighter.

I handed the phone back to Shin Woo. He talked for a few seconds and his whole face seemed to glow as he listened to Auntie. He hung up and let out a huge, happy sigh.

"Ah, she's amazing that Yuki-chan."

"Why don't you ask her out?" I asked and Shin Woo chuckled.

"After ten years of being rejected I think I can take a hint," he said flippantly.

My mouth nearly dropped open in shock but I quickly schooled it into a small frown. Why would Auntie say no to someone as kind and fun as Shin Woo? I thought in confusion. She seemed so bent on me dating others, I wondered why she wouldn't give herself the same chance.

"Come on; let's get your stretching done before Yuki-chan comes to see."

A/N I adore Shin Woo's personality ^_^ I hope you are all excited for the talent show!!!