Counting on Stars // NCT Ten

Study- erm, no.

The next few days were pretty uninteresting. Ten was always by Byeol's side and she figured it was probably out of guilt. She tried to remind him multiple times that none of it was his fault, but the words went through one ear and out the other. They still continued to practice for the talent show, but with a few changes to the choreography because Byeol couldn't do any hand-heavy moves. Ten took those instead. And on the days they couldn't practice, he would go over to her house and help out with homework or studying for midterms- since she missed the first month and a half of school, there were a handful of topics she really needed to learn. Midterms were Tuesday through Thursday of the last week of school before break, with the talent show the day after that.

Today was no different. The dance team was at the studio today, so Ten and Byeol met up by the entrance. They started to walk home when they ran into two familiar friends.

"Taeyong! Hendery!" Ten smiled and waved at the two boys.

"Oh, hey," Hendery grinned and bumped Ten playfully and the latter pushed him away.

"Hey, Byeol," Taeyong ignored them and waved to the girl, who smiled and tried her best not to avert her eyes too quickly.

"Where are you guys headed?" Hendery asked curiously.

"Byeol's kinda dumb and needs help with schoolwork," Ten explained, resulting in the girl smacking his arm lightly. Taeyong rolled his eyes with a smile and mumbled, "Don't we all?"

"So," Ten continued, "We're going over to her house to study."

"I was actually just telling Taeyong how bad he was at math," Hendery said.

"I don't understand half the things my teacher says," Taeyong frowned. "Ugh, and midterms are next week!"

"Actually, I was hoping you knew a thing or two about those weird functions we did today," Byeol cut in, looking at Hendery who sat two rows behind her in said class. "I didn't understand those... if you have time later, could you help me out?"

"We can study now," he suggested, then pointed at Taeyong. "I was heading over to his place to tell him how to do those same functions."

"We can go to my place; no one's home." Byeol said, and they all agreed. The four of them quickly headed to Oakville Drive and made it to Byeol's house before someone froze in the December cold. They threw their jackets on the sofa and Byeol, being a culprit of the mess herself, didn't mind. They left their bags by the sofa and Taeyong and Hendery looked around the house as Byeol got some snacks.

"Byeol, is this you?" She looked in the direction of where Hendery and Taeyong were standing and found them examining her baby pictures on the wall- the ones where she's in a bunch of different Disney Princess dresses.

Hendery looked at her and said, "You were so cute when you were little!"

Byeol blushed, saying, "Thank yo-"

"What happened?" Ten asked and the three boys burst into laughter. Byeol shoved him harshly as he clapped his hands together, then pushed Taeyong and Hendery away from the wall.

"Oh my gosh, you guys, stop," She whined as they all sat on the floor of the living room and pulled themselves together. Ten suggested they should sit at the dining table, but the three of them wanted the fuzzy carpet, so majority won.

"Let's play some music!" Taeyong chirped and pulled out his phone. He took some requests and added in his own songs into a playlist, then hit play and set it on the sofa behind them. They started with the math equations and Ten listened in just as a refresher, and then they solved the textbook problems together. Byeol still couldn't write, so she tried to mentally solve the questions. It worked for the most part.