Chapter Text
Seungcheol tapped his feet on the ground impatiently as he stared down at his watch, mentally counting the seconds until the gates closed for the day.
Just five more seconds and he can finally give his legs the rest he's been craving for the past half hour. He’s been standing there under the scorching sun, checking the student mass for any defaulters, while all they gave in return were groans of varying degrees.
His rosy lips pulled up into a smile as the gates closed. He didn’t have to worry about any more duties until an hour or so before he came back to check on the latecomers.
The second hand of his watch completed a rotation, just as the school bell rang, signalling the closing of the gates. He let out a sigh of relief, as he realised the devil wasn't showing up to school. Sure, there was a pang of disappointment that he was skipping school on the first day, but he quickly pushed it to the side as he bid goodbye to the security guards.
Just as he turned on his heel, a voice yelled out. “Stop!” Speak of the fucking devil. Of course, he knew who that voice belonged to. Another sigh left his lips as he kept walking towards his class, slightly relieved that the little gremlin did not end up sabotaging his attendance from the very first day. “Oi prez! I’ve got a gift for you.” his singsong voice entered his ears.
He ignores him, telling himself he'll deal with him later, and continues walking away, only halting when he hears the security guard yell out, “Student! What do you think you’re doing?”
Seungcheol felt his breath hitch when he turned. Nothing would’ve ever prepared Seungcheol for the sight he was about to witness. There was Yoon Jeonghan, the school's “trouble-maker” leaning against the gate’s railing, his hair a bright blonde colour paired with an ear piercing.
He shakes his head as he walks back to the gate. The sight might have been hot if not for the smug expression on the shorter's face. It does nothing but irritate him.
Seungcheol scoffs as he pulls out his little notebook and rips out a slip. He reaches out through the railing and stuffs the piece of paper into the other’s hands. “Better not lose that, Yoon. I’ll be checking on you soon.”
“I’ll be waiting for you, Prez.” Seungcheol ignores the other’s voice as he speed walks through the school grounds, hurrying over to his class.
He enters the school and clicks his tongue at the number of students still lingering in the hallways. A slam echoes through the hallway as his hand makes contact with the nearby window. “Everyone, back to your classes! It’s time for the first hour!” Multiple groans and profanities were thrown at him, but he honestly couldn’t care more. He’ll gladly be sworn at if that means he’ll receive extra credit.
Slowly, one by one, all the students enter their classrooms, leaving the hallways empty. Seungcheol does a final bathroom check to make sure no one is bunking the prayer hour and goes back to his classroom.
The chatter dies down as soon as he enters the classroom, all eyes on him as he ignores them and makes his way to his assigned seat in the first row. He sat down on his chair and started taking out the necessary material required for the day.
Soon, the class went back to their usual chatter and Seungcheol finally let out the breath he had been holding in. He hated being the bum of the party but it was his duty. He had no other choice. Seungcheol turned to his side and was met with the smiles of his friends.
Yeah, he has friends. Shocker.
“It’s only 8 AM and you’re already so tired, prez .” Soonyoung mocked, adding emphasis on the word ‘prez’, knowing very well how much Seungcheol hated that title.
“It’s not my fault that Yoon kid is acting up again. It’s only the first day and he’s already being a bitch.” Seungcheol grumbled, head falling onto the desk. “I don’t want to listen to his stupid ass yap on and on about him being so cool.”
“I mean, you can always ask Chan to deal with the latecomers. He’s the vice president for a reason, Seungcheol.” Wonwoo adds in.
“Oh right, he exists.”
The trio starts laughing, “I think Chan might be just what Jeonghan needs. He’s very harsh.”
The others hum along in agreement, only stopping when the teachers come in. Seungcheol walks up to the front of the classroom and begins the prayers. Soon, the speakers come to life and the school song starts playing. He stared at the wall at the end of the class and tried his best to ignore Soonyoung’s voice screaming out the lyrics of the song.
Sad thoughts, Seungcheol. Sad thoughts.
The song plays out for two more minutes before the speakers finally die down, ending his torture. "Everyone, greet the teacher." Seungcheol and the students greet their teacher before they head over to the cafeteria for their breakfast.
“Guys, you go on without me. I’ll head over to the juniors' floor.” Seungcheol heads off in the other direction as the others nod at him in approval. He runs up the stairs and dashes over to class 11C. He peeks inside and finds Chan gathering the material he needs for the day.
“Hey, Chan.” He calls out catching the other's attention.
“Oh, hyung. What do you want?” Ah, right. Always straight to the point.
“I need a small favour.” Chan shoots him a look and then sighs. “Is it that Yoon dude again?”
“Yeah, do you think you can give him his late slip for today?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Only his late slip Chan, nothing else,” Seungcheol adds. He knows how Chan gets when he’s given disciplinary duty.
“Fine, fine. I’ll head over now.”
—-----
Jeonghan’s head hurts because of how long he’s been standing in the sun. He really shouldn’t be doing this first day of school. His grades and records are at risk but if it means he’ll get to see the hot president again, it’s all worth it.
He bounces on his feet at the thought, earning irritated looks from the other latecomers.
His face lights up when he sees a figure stride out of the school building. He clings onto the gate once again, planning to yell for attention again, but stops when he sees the face of his junior. Not only did that mean not seeing the president until the next day, but it also meant he was gonna suffer under Chan’s punishment.
He audibly gulped as he watched the younger boy hand out late slips to the latecomers. He also noted down their names to mark them tardy on the records, just in case a few of them decided to lie.
However, when it was Jeonghan’s turn to get the slip, Chan paused, his mouth parted as he took in his hair. Seeing as the boy said nothing, Jeonghan was about to walk away, almost sighing in relief, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Oh, dammit.
“Three laps around the school ground.” He looks at the security guard for approval before letting him complete his punishment.
Jeonghan drops his bag onto the ground and starts his jog around the ground. It was humiliating to be the only one running when the whole school was busy having their food. But maybe it was better to be running when no one was watching.
He tried to distract himself by the president’s annoyed face he saw in the morning. He notices the way Chan’s face turns from confusion to disgust. It was definitely weird to see someone smile while being punished, but the other did not have to know the reason for his smile.
Before he knew it, all three laps were done. Panting, he grabs his backpack and heads over to the main gate. He enters the building and heads towards the cafeteria, only to be stopped by a girl from his grade.
“Hey Jeongha- Oh” He smiles sheepishly at the way the girl gets flustered at his sweaty state. The first two buttons of his shirt were undone and his tie was a bit loose to help him breathe better due to all the running he did earlier.
“Hey, Yuri. What’s up?” He asks as he leans against the door frame. Just as the girl was about to answer, a hand appeared between them. The pair scrambles away as Seungcheol squeezes between the two, successfully separating them.
“I don’t know if the two of you are aware, but public display of affection is against the school rules,” Seungcheol informed the pair. Jeonghan just stared at him with his mouth slightly parted as he tried to make sense of his words, while Yuri just grew redder. “Yuri, I'll let you off the hook for now as it’s your first offence, but I can’t say the same about you, Jeonghan. Present yourself properly, unless you want another slip. Three slips on the same day is not a nice thing.” With that, he walks away, ignoring Jeonghan's attempts to deny what has been implied.
Jeonghan gives up and looks back at the girl, whose face looks annoyed at the interruption. Offended by her behaviour, Jeonghan sports a similar look, scoffing at her reaction. But, the girl assumes he is annoyed at the president and continues, “Anyway, Jeonghan?”
He braced himself for what was coming. He knew what the girl was getting at but no matter how many times he did this, it didn’t get easier every time.
“I just wanted to tell you that I really really like you?” He rolls his eyes at the intonation at the end. If she was gonna confess, she could at least be confident about it. “I was wondering if maybe we could go out on a date sometime.” The girl adds with her eyes cast down, focused on her shoes.
Sure, he hated the girl, but that doesn't mean he got to be rude to her. If he was going to break her heart, he'd rather do it politely. “I’m really sorry Yuri, but I’m not interested in you that way.” He sighed as the girl's face fell. “You’re really cute though," Jeonghan wasn’t lying about that. The way the girl adorned her hair with little bow clips and cute accessories was really adorable, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't like her.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way. You deserve someone better than me.” He tries to end it on a good note and leave the conversation as soon as possible but of course, the girl yells out, catching the attention of the entire cafeteria.
“Why not you, Jeonghan? Why can’t it be you?” He turns back to the girl, wanting to calm her down, but his stomach growls at that exact moment. He really needed food in his stomach, not some drama. Hey, he had priorities.
“Just because.” He replies instead and walks away, grabbing a tray from the pile and taking some food for himself. Jeonghan really wanted to give her a good response, but the breakfast hour was going to end soon.
He can feel the entire cafeteria’s eyes trained on him as he makes it over to his friends and seats himself down, ignoring the girl's sobs. Of course, they always catch him at that moment. No one looks at him when he’s being nice. But now that he’s a little rude, everyone looks.
“Damn, dude. Another one bites the dust- Ow!” Mingyu hisses in pain as Jihoon elbows him from the side.
“That’s an old ass joke dude.” Jisoo adds in an uninterested tone, before turning to face Jeonghan. “But seriously, you know that does nothing to help your reputation as the school’s ‘heartbreaker’, right?”
Of course, he knew that. But there was no way that girl was going to leave him alone. Guess he’ll just have to apologise to her in person later.
He just sighs and continues eating in response to Jisoo’s question. He had other problems to worry about, the biggest one being getting Seungcheol’s attention. A smirk slowly pulls on his face as his face lights up.
Jeonghan might have a plan.