Chapter Text
Starting your first day of school will never not be a scary thing, especially for someone like me who's too socially impaired to even order a meal at a restaurant properly.
I wish I could say I had a happy childhood growing up, but I've unfortunately always been a target to kids in the past due to me being gay. No matter how many schools I managed to convince my parents to move to, kids always saw me as an easy target and it's a miracle my parents even had pity on me to move in the first place. But that was because of how bad the bullying had become.
Dad is never home, he's too busy wasting mom's hard earned money from her job as a maid getting drunk with his buddies. And this had somehow become common knowledge in my previous school, thus making me the perfect target.
My lack of confidence and short height had obviously never helped either, but I am determined that this year, this school will be different.
Charter King Prep.
My parents, (mostly my mom), had decided that bringing me to a private school would be the only way to help me not become a target, since the environment is much better there.
They would have taken me to that kind of school all of my life but could never afford it so they saved up some money so I can at least enjoy my last two high school years. My mom even convinced my dad to go sober for an entire six months so the bills won't be as high.
She also told the school about my academic achievements in my last high school so they gave me a scholarship as well to lessen the overwhelming price.
Though we never had the best relationship, my mom and I, the fact that she did this for me made it the kindest thing she's ever done, and I will eternally be forever grateful.
My only other sibling and older sister, Laura, had managed to graduate high school without having to ever transfer to private. Someone like her would never be the target of bullying.
Beautiful, smart, and likable, she is everything I'm not. Everything I wish I was but will never be. Her, my parents, and pretty much all the family members outside of my intermediate family won't let me forget it.
Thank God the bitch moved away for college, prompting me to never see her for a blissfully long period of time. Though the memory of her still stays inside my head by my oh so loving parents.
"I wish Laura was here," my mom had said literally the second she arrived home after dropping her off at the airport. "It's going to be so boring without her."
Boring . I guess that could be the correct word to describe me. But not anymore. I will find friends at this new school and I will be happy for once in my life too.
"Mom, where did you put my uniform I'm gonna be late!" I screamed across my room. Being late on the first day never leaves a good first impression so it's important I'm at least on time.
"It's in my room Jimin," she shouted back, "and don't mess it up it was very expensive!"
"Don't worry I'll be careful mom," I reassured her, "you won't even see a single speck on this I promise."
"I better not," she warned, handing me my uniform, "you of all people should know how scarce money is for us."
"Yeah yeah I know mom." I walked away to change in my room.
Despite being her son, my mom and I looked nothing alike. While she and my sister got gorgeous long blonde hair I was born with plain brown. They were also blessed with beautiful blue eyes whilst I was stuck with plain brown once again all thanks to my dad. The only decent feature I got from her was my big plump lips, but that just made me look like a girl with the addition of my small figure of course.
My dad and I don't really have much of a relationship, he is never home and when he is home I'm most likely going to be ignored by him. But I can't complain, I'm glad I have some sort of relationship with my mom at least.
"I'm ready!" I sprinted out of my room towards the front door, "let's go mom, no time for breakfast. I'm already late!"
"Alright fine let's go but tomorrow I will not let you leave without having breakfast," my mom replied.
On the way I couldn't help but become more and more anxious. I'm glad we all wear the same clothes so no one would be able to make fun of my cheap ones like the kids at my old school did.
Pulling up at the entrance, my mother's Honda stuck out like a sore thumb. Looking out the window I was amazed by the expensive cars driving by and even more amazed by the ginormous school.
"You better not mess this up, I'm giving up an arm and a leg for you, for this ," my mom gestured at the building, "and remember to learn from what happened in the past, avoid any people who remind you of those kids who messed with you, and I know I don't often tell you this but I love you Jimin, be safe."
I sat there shocked. Lately my mom has been kinder to me and her saying these words right now is not something that happens often, it was very heartwarming and different.
"I love you too mom and thank you for everything," I kissed her on the cheek, "I won't be letting you down anymore," I explained, leaving the car and waving goodbye to her.
I knew this school was going to be big and before I came I fortunately was able to print out a map of the inside from their website so I wouldn't be lost. I found the main office in no time so I could get my schedule.
An older woman with a kind smile greeted me at her desk, "Hello dear, how could I help you?"
"Hi, my name is Park Jimin and I was wondering if I could get my schedule from here."
The moment I said my name I knew something was off. I noticed the kind smile this lady was wearing when I first entered soon vanished and she had a worrying look on her face.
"O-oh right I'll get that right away for you hon," she stuttered. Now I was a bit suspicious but I brushed it off thinking she's just a weird woman.
"Here you go," she almost whispered as she handed the paper to me, "and if I were you I'd be careful."
"What do you mean?" I asked, very confused.
Suddenly her expression looked like she said something she shouldn't have and she started looking around to see if anyone was watching.
"Oh nothing dear, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." The look she gave was a look of pity as she said that.
"Umm ok thanks I guess." I said and left the room.
Looking at my schedule with one hand and the map with the other, I tried to find my way to my first class, Honors Algebra 2.
Since I was so distracted, I didn't even realize someone was running in front of me until we both crashed.
Looking up from the floor, I was facing a petite girl with short red hair and hazel eyes muttering a bunch of times, "I'm so sorry," until I eventually stopped her.
"You're ok don't worry, my name's Jimin by the way I'm new here," I said, trying to make small talk and hopefully new friends.
"I'm Rosie," she replied, "once again so sorry for running into you like that, the reason I w-was running was because u-um..."
She seemed to be at a loss for words so I intervened.
"What class are you going to?" I tried to change the subject, noticing how uncomfortable she looked.
"My first hour is Honors Algebra 2," she said with a big smile on her face. As she was picking up my schedule that I dropped she suddenly had an even bigger smile.
"Omg your in my first hour as well," she gushed. "Come on Jimin let's walk in together, I will be your guide here since we're in so many classes."
"Thank you so much!" I explained walking into my first class as we sat next to each other "I'm not used to attending a private school, I'm actually a scholarship stu-"
In an instant Rosie's smile was wiped clean off her face and her hand was on my mouth.
"Do not finish that sentence while speaking so loud like that," she was whispering now and she had a serious look on her face. "Jimin, the kids at this school eat scholarship students like us alive. Trust me I've been through it first hand how evil they could become."
No no no. I felt myself starting to panic. This was supposed to be my freedom from hell. This was supposed to be my fresh start. I couldn't believe what I was fucking hearing, if what she was saying is true, that the kids here enjoy picking on the scholarship students, I was in for a very rude awakening.
"Rosie," I urged, "when you say 'eat us alive' what exactly do you mean?"
"Well they-"
"Oh little Roseeee," I heard a deep voice speak in the hall, "ah there you are, it amazes me how someone so little can run as fast as you." The voice laughed and in came a very handsome young man with big eyes and hazelnut hair.
"T-Taehyung ," she stammered, "you shouldn't be here, please not now."
"Oh yes now Rose," he declared, "running away like that after we were just trying to talk is very rude you know.."
"You weren't just trying to talk!" Rosie was screaming and the whole class by now had entered, excluding the teacher. Everyone is quietly staring at the commotion including me.
"You're lucky none of us are in this class or else it would be a very long hour for you, I'll be seeing you soon little Rose." Then, as suddenly as he came, he left.
"Who was that?" I asked, half curious and half afraid.
"That was Kim Taehyung, one of the many people here you should avoid at all costs, when I ran into you earlier I was actually running away from him and his friends," Rosie explained, "and he's not even the worst of them."
"So there's more people like him," I made a mental note of that, "Rosie, please tell me their names and everything you know about them so I know who to avoid."
Just as she was about to speak the teacher came in to start the class, she then whispered, "At lunch I'll explain everything and it'll be better once you see their faces, and Jimin when you see them don't ever look at them again, they're worse than bad news, they'll ruin your-"
"Miss Rosie Harris, is my lesson getting in the way of your conversion?" The teacher accuses while the whole class starts laughing at her.
I didn't even realize the teacher had been speaking this whole time. The moment Rosie mentioned there were people here who reminded me of my past bullies, I blocked everything out while I silently panicked.
"No Mr. Martin, and I apologize for interrupting you. I promise it won't ever happen again," Rosie smoothly assured.
"Suck up," someone muttered under their breath, and once again the class was laughing at Rosie.
The way they were treating her gave me déjà vu from my last school. Everyone against her, having no friends or companions to lean on, a feeling that's sometimes worse than being publicly insulted, a feeling of complete and utter loneliness.
"Now now everyone quiet down, as I was saying I will be passing out the syllabuses and these will have all the information you will need to know for this class and..."
As he trailed off I couldn't help but think back to that encounter Rosie had with that guy Taehyung. Her saying there were more people like him and even worse than him gave me a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt like at any moment I could be the one to replace Rosie...
The bell suddenly rang interrupting me from those dark thoughts.
Rosie grabbed my schedule to compare it with hers and it turns out we have the same lunch and afternoon classes. My first hour is the only morning class I have with her.
"It might not seem like a lot but we have many classes together Jimin, I'm glad I made a friend who's like me," she whispered the next part, "a scholarship student, and I'll see you at lunch so meet me by the salad bar when you get there."
"Ok Rosie, and I'm so grateful to have met you, we'll get through this together and you won't have to worry about being alone anymore."
"Thank you Jimin, you don't know how much that means to me," her voice cracked as she spoke with her head down grabbing me into a hug, "I'll see you soon."
As we parted ways I was much more cautious than before when I entered my next few classes, and fortunately I didn't run into anyone like Taehyung and I hoped that was the case for the rest of my classes as well.
Soon it was lunchtime and I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of this place. There were many different kinds of stations for food and I quickly spotted the salad bar Rosie was talking about.
"Hey, Rosie!" I called, waving my hand in her direction for her to notice me.
When she turned around to greet me I noticed her eyes were a bit red and puffy, as if she had been crying earlier.
"You alright?" I quickly asked. I didn't even need to question what happened and because I knew what it was, more of those assholes like Taehyung probably picked on her again.
"Hey Jimin, it's nothing you need to worry about just the usual," she frowned. "Anyways you need to try out the salad here it's amazing," she pointed to the area we were in line for.
I wondered why she changed the subject so quickly but I wasn't going to ask because I figured it was a sensitive topic, and it obviously was none of my business too.
"Alright that sounds good," I smiled at her, hopefully making her feel better. "There's so many toppings to choose from, I've never seen anything like this at my old school." And I really haven't. Everything here makes the things at my school look like a Walmart version.
"Yes there is," Rosie agreed, choosing her toppings alongside me. "Now that we are done we need to get into another line to pay."
As we got into that line the total for the salad had been $11.00, making me regret not packing a lunch. Now I know I'll have to for now on if just the salad is going to be this much.
"So the table I sit in is usually over there by the back," she pointed at an empty table near the corner of the large room. "You are the first person after two years to share it with me," She sighed with a sad smile.
"How ridiculous, I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to sit with you."
"Well as I was saying earlier, some of the kids here made it their mission to isolate me once they found out I wasn't actually rich like the rest of them," she explained, "but what prompted them to do this was because of a single group here, the richest kids in the school, the people I was telling you earlier to avoid at all costs."
"Right, you were about to tell me who they were," I said with curiosity, "who exactly are these people and what should I do to not get under their radar?"
"Well the one you saw earlier is Kim Taehyung, his parents own a bunch of real estate and are filthy rich. He's an asshole and he likes picking on me for some reason more than the rest of the gang," she said with distaste shuttering at some memories.
"Next is Kim Namjoon, he's a living genius along with his parents and he's actually the nicest of the group. He's always wearing his glasses though, but he still manages to look good in them."
"Namjoon’s sister however, couldn't be more different than him. Her name is Jennie and despite Namjoon not showing off his money to others, Jennie does it with pride. You can distinguish her with her long bright pink hair. She did that as a statement of course just to spite her parents."
"Jennie's best friend and queen bee of the school is Lalisa Manoban, everyone calls her Lisa for short. She has light brown hair with distinctive bangs. She's very mean and cruel, to the point where she even makes Jennie look nice. She's downright horrible but not as bad as her boyfriend."
"Now he is a completely different story and the one you need to watch out for the most, his name is-"
Right before she was going to continue I noticed the lunchroom had suddenly become much quieter, making Rosie stop what she was about to say.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Rosie who looked like she had seen a ghost.
"They're here," was all she replied.