Chapter Text
If you ever asked somebody—a teenager to describe school, they’d probably say something among the lines of “educational”, “useful”, or maybe even as exaggerated as “prison” or “hell”.
But if you asked Juhoon, he’d describe it as “a social hierarchy”.
Because yes! School is everything that was named above, but it was just.. strange.
Why does a place that is supposedly only for your own educational good have social titles for the students that go there?
Why are teachers favouriting the ones that are better off in social status rather than treating everybody like an equal?
Why must the kids pay for their lunches if not provided for them by their household or by the school board?
Why is school costly for some families when it should be a free-of-charge service?
And despite his own opinions, he himself is a victim of everything.
He’s born with gold in his veins, perfect attendance, straight As, teacher’s favourite student, titled “popular kid” and “high school sweetheart”. Contradictory, right?
On a lonely night in his dark room, it was one of those nights where he struggled to sleep. He began thinking about his status in school; how his friends and teachers interacted with him compared to everybody else, how everybody always stared at him in envy, how at least two people confessed or dropped love letters in his locker every week.
That’s when he realised and started being uncomfortably aware of everything.
How his best buddies smile wider and laugh harder with him because of his status. How the teachers suck up to him because of his family record. How girls only asked him about his family rather than himself.
But despite all that, he remained the same.
Remained oblivious to everything. Remained all bubbly and happy with his crowd. Remained serious and cold during lessons. Remained the social butterfly everybody knew and loved. (Did they really love him, or did they love the popularity he gave them?)
Even though it hurt him more than he would like to admit.
——
Juhoon walks through the overly tall school entrance, bag slung over one shoulder with that usual effortless confidence he has. Students turn their heads as his shoes clicked every step he took, whispers and squeals as he passes by.
“Yoo, Juhoon!” James, his childhood best friend, raised a hand from his pocket in greeting. Juhoon smiles at the gesture, returning it smoothly with his free hand.
“Locker had a letter in it, as per usual.” One of his other friends said, his voice humorous as he holds it between his two fingers towards Juhoon. He simply grins in response, taking it from the light grasp with practiced movements.
“How did you guys sleep?” Juhoon starts smoothly, hoping to start a conversation before the bell rings. James huffs, his face twisting into one of annoyance.
“Dude, the neighbour kept playing loud ass music,” James raises a hand to rub his nose bridge. “Don’t they know that our walls are thin as fuck?? Like tone it down!”
Juhoon laughs at the angry reaction, listening to their crowd of people joking around with the reasonable outburst and laughing at his responses. Juhoon takes this moment to put his stuff away and prepare for his upcoming class.
“What about you, Jju?” James asks out of the blue, his voice silencing the light teasing from their friend group.
“Hm?”
“How did you sleep last night?” The senior’s tone was concerned, but was impressively concealed with something more casual. Juhoon caught it, of course.
“I slept fine, don’t worry about it.” Juhoon smiles, closing his locker door with a quiet rustle. James hums, obviously unconvinced, but he moves on by pointing out something he saw while walking home yesterday.
The bell eventually screams in the hallway, the ringing echoing through the entire school. Students start scurrying into their classes, sneakers squeaking against the mopped floors as they go. The friend group groans in complaint, already going their separate ways, leaving James and Juhoon alone.
“Go to class, James.”
“Find me after, will ya?” The senior grins, opening his locker to grab a notebook and a pen. “Either that, or I’m embarrassing you in yours.”
Juhoon laughs, shoulders bouncing animatedly as he gripped his own books. “Sure, I’ll find you.”
James smiles fondly, closing his locker and patting his junior on the head before walking off.
——
So this is his new school..
Martin stares up at the building with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the judgemental stares from students walking by.
And the people are judgemental, isn’t that amazing, he thought.
He walks into the school with measured footsteps, making sure to make as little sound as possible as he walks past multiple whispering students, but his tall stature and bright blonde hair makes it impossible to blend in.
“Who’s that?” He heard a kid whisper.
“Is he a foreigner? What is he doing here?”
“He looks like a delinquent.”
Martin ignores all the comments directed to him, determined to get his schedule before starting anything at a new school.
He found it kind of funny that there were already stereotypes of him, though. He’s just walking down a crowded hallway and people were already calling him names.
He reaches the big office after what felt like a humiliation ceremony, opening the doors with a nearly inaudible creak. The secretary looks up from his computer to take a look at the visitor.
“Oh, you’re the new student. Martin, correct?” Martin nods, pulling the falling bag strap up his shoulder. The secretary hums, signalling him to come closer to his desk.
“I’m Hae-so, the principal’s secretary,” Hae-so introduced, a timid smile on his young face. “Mr. Kim is a little busy right now, so I’ll be assigning you your schedule.”
“Your class will be opposite of this office,” Hae-so pulls out a sheet of paper and holds it out to Martin, who takes it politely with a quiet thank you. “I will assign you a student to show you around the school once it’s recess. Will that be okay?”
“Yep, perfectly.” Martin scans through his classes, squinting slightly at some parts of the time table. The secretary briefly smiles, already going back to his busy laptop.
“You can go to class now, I’m sure you’ll make many friends.”
Well.. he doesn’t know about that, since over half of the school already talks shit about him despite him being a new student. But whatever the secretary says, right?
——
“Silence, class!” The teacher’s voice cuts through every student’s noisy conversation, quieting them temporarily as the teacher takes a deep breath.
“Thank you. Good morning, I hope you all slept well tonight,” Ms. Mai said, her voice slightly tired from needing to yell in the morning. The class responds half-heartedly, dragging their words with boredom. The teacher inhales sharply before looking down at her displayed laptop.
“I hope you guys—“ an abrupt knock cuts off the teacher, making every student look over at the sound. Ms. Mai closes her eyes for a second before turning to the entrance with a strained, fake smile.
Martin stood there awkwardly, one of his hands in his pocket while the other held the subject books needed. The teacher seemed to lighten up, her posture straightening as her smile turns genuine in a split second.
“Ah! You must be the transfer student,” she began, gesturing him to come in. “This is your new classmate. I’m Ms. Mai, your psychology professor. If you don’t mind, can you introduce yourself to your fellow students?”
Martin stared at her hesitantly, but eventually turns to the crowded room who only seemed to focus on him with unneeded strictness.
“I’m Martin. Martin Edwards Park.”
“Oh! Are you a foreigner?” Ms. Mai sounded genuinely intrigued, her voice bright with curiosity and humour. Martin nods timidly at her question, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m Canadian-Korean. I stayed in Korea for most of my life, though.”
“Ahh, I see. Welcome to the school, Martin. Please, sit anywhere you want.” The professor excuses him, her hand raised towards the class who was still staring at him—more specifically, his blonde hair—with unwanted criticism.
He takes the empty seat nearest to the window, tucked right in a comfortable corner with clipped curtains. The teacher started talking about the subject they’ll be talking about today, making a sarcastic comment on hoping everybody did their work the day before.
Half the class passed in a blur of writing and doodling. Martin got the excuse of ‘being a new student and not knowing the assignments needed’, so the teacher didn’t care all that much. (He has read the book they were reviewing, he just didn’t say anything.)
“Heyy, new kid. Martin, right?” A confident voice flows into his ears, making him look up from his notebook. A kid with sharp features and doe eyes sat in front of him, his hair slightly covering his vision as he looked at Martin with a friendly smile.
“Mhm.” Martin responds, unsure of the student’s intentions.
“Okay, cool. I’m Keonho, the person sitting in front of you.”
“Yeah.. I can see that.”
Keonho laughs at his response, obviously enjoying the interaction already.
“What’chu doodling?” Keonho peeks over the arm covering the notebook, taking a glimpse of what Martin was drawing. The blonde instinctively moves to cover his work, making Keonho frown.
“None of your business.”
“Ahh, okay. I’m meeting up with my buddies later, you up to join?” Keonho offers, gaze stuck on Martin’s face with a pleading glint in his expression. It’s obvious that he just wanted to be friends with the new kid.
With an empathetic soul, Martin sighs.
“Sure.”
Keonho immediately brightens, the grin growing wider by the passing second at the response. He nods energetically, already looking forward to recess.
“Maybe I can show you around too! Is that okay with you?” Martin nods, a small smile creeping up his face at the excited energy of the kid in front of him.
“Mr. Ahn! Pay attention to the material!”
———
Juhoon slips out of his classroom quietly, luckily getting out before the students started flooding out after. His books stayed clipped to his side, his steps remaining measured as he made his way outside.
He spots James by the stairwell talking to a girl, seemingly a pining classmate who was laughing unnecessarily hard at a joke. Juhoon snorts, walking past quietly to the front entrance.
The hallway was slowly filling with kids sneaking out of their classes, quiet chattering filled in the supposed silence. But on the way, Juhoon overheard somebody’s conversation on a new transfer student in their grade?
“Apparently, he’s a foreigner. Really tall, long blonde hair and all that pizzazz.”
“Really? Do you know his name?”
“Something something Park, I don’t know. Soo-ji told me about it.”
Juhoon scoffs, rolling his eyes at the topic. Why can’t they just mind their own business? It’s not like they don’t know other races exist too. And plus, the tones of their voices sounded unnecessarily critical for the new kid. This Park dude is either gonna be a victim of bullying or—
Juhoon’s train of thought was interrupted from somebody bumping into him, almost making him drop his books. He yelps in surprise, holding his books tighter to his chest.
“Hey, watch—“ Juhoon interrupts himself, suddenly locking eyes with the kid who ran into him.
He’s never seen him before. He had mullet-length blonde hair with possibly the sharpest features he’s seen since he met James. He had silver piercings decorating his ears, catching the light as it wobbled from the movement. And awfully enough, even while slightly bent over, the blonde absolutely towered over Juhoon.
He was..
“—it.” He finishes, breath slightly caught. The kid started scurrying for his notebooks, clumsily gathering them from the floor.
“Sorry, didn’t see you there.” The blonde simply said before quickly walking away. Juhoon’s gaze follows his tall stature, watching how the mysterious student vanished behind a corner.
“Woah, what was that?” A student walking by muttered, a laugh following afterwards. Juhoon ignores it.
Was that the Park kid they were talking about?
——
“Martin! So glad you were able to make it,” Keonho’s welcoming voice beams when he sees Martin hurry over, his arms filled with slightly crumpled papers and his hair tousled.
“Woah, did somebody mess with you on the way?” A kid inquires, a tinge of concern in his voice.
Keonho’s eyes widen a little at the question, taking a second to look at Martin’s slightly messy appearance. “Who was it? Did you see their name tag?”
“No no, I just bumped into somebody,” the blonde quickly reassures, combing his hair with his spare hand. “No one was messing with me.”
Keonho seemed relieved at the answer, his shoulders loosing all of the former tension. He let out a short laugh, running his hand through his hair.
“That’s good to hear, otherwise I would’ve started a fight for you.”
Who would do that for a new kid?
“Anyway! This is Seonghyeon, best friend of mine.” He waves to the student that pointed out his appearance, who offered a kind lopsided smile.
“Welcome to the school, Martin. I hope nobody causes any trouble for you.” Seonghyeon greets warmly, his hand placed on his nape as he looked up at Martin.
“You wanna go look around the school? I think we have enough time.” Martin nods, his posture slowly relaxing under the kind gestures of his classmates. Keonho smiles triumphantly, gesturing to the exit of the cafeteria.
He started by showing him around the classes and floors, showing how each floor separated each grade so it would be more organised—quoted by the principal, Keonho added. Since they were in the 11th grade, they were placed on the second floor. The same rule applies for seniors and juniors.
“Usually, we only stay on our respective floors. Very rarely we’d need to change classrooms, even rarer move to a senior’s or junior’s classroom. But since most kids here are friends with everybody, they would go visit their friends on other floors as well.”
“Teachers don’t usually allow the older students to visit the juniors, though,” Seonghyeon adds, peeking through Martin’s side. “As a precaution rule. Not saying you can’t, but you might get into trouble.”
Keonho nods at the detail, shrugging at the unusual rule of the school with defiance. He continued talking about the architecture and rules of the school, some Martin found weirdly unreasonable and strange, but he figured he shouldn’t pay attention to them.
“Enough of the boring stuff,” Keonho stretched, his steps slowing down as he did. “Now onto the more fun stuff! Because even if this school is lowkey uninteresting, we still have some cool spots.”
Seonghyeon chuckles at how Martin’s expression changes, gesturing him to follow them as they walked faster to the exit of the school.
They reach a seemingly empty green field, a few big trees occupied the otherwise blank landscape. Martin looks at the awfully peaceful view, observing the contrast of the bright blue sky and the different shades of green. Keonho giggles, pulling on his wrist to get his attention.
“This is one of our hangout spots,” the student said, walking towards a tree that was displayed right in the centre of the patch of grass. He plops down on the dirt with a sigh, immediately relaxing into the tree. “If you wanna find us, we’ll most likely be here.”
“That’s if you don’t see us in class, anyway.” Seonghyeon shrugs, dropping down next to Keonho and crossing his arms. Martin awkwardly sits down in front of them, legs crossed with his hands hidden in between the gap.
The three sits under the tree for a few minutes, keeping quiet to enjoy the calming atmosphere of the field. Keonho lets out a content sigh, a small smile on his face as he kept his eyes closed. Meanwhile, Seonghyeon seemed to be fighting sleep, his face relaxed as he struggled to keep his head up. Martin snorts, finding the scene slightly humorous.
“But!” Keonho suddenly shoots up, startling both Seonghyeon and Martin at his gesture. His finger was pointed up in the sky, making it obvious that he wanted to make a statement.
“Sometimes—though rarely—this spot would be taken by other students,” Keonho pushes himself up from the ground with a grunt, reaching down to grab Seonghyeon’s wrist, who whined in protest. “Hence why we have an extra spot in the library.”
“Library?” He didn’t even know there was a library.
..Well, it’s kind of stupid to assume a school lacks a necessity like a library..
Keonho nods, a wide smile on his face as he pulls Seonghyeon up with surprising strength. Martin slowly got up himself, carefully brushing the dirt off his pants.
The trio then makes their way to the top floor, where the library sat intimidatingly in front of a teacher’s office. Martin stares at the tall doors of the place, suddenly realising what kind of school his parents just sent him to.
Maybe the entrance doors should’ve been a sign..
Keonho takes his time knocking on the door, the sharp sound echoing down the hallways and, somehow, could be heard faintly from the inside of the big study. The student makes a small opening from the heavy doors, slipping in with the grace of a feather. Seonghyeon takes hold of Martin’s wrist, grip tight before pulling him through the slim gap.
The library was.. big, to say the least. Like any other library, books diligently filled the shelves to the point where gaps were invisible. There weren’t many students around, a few of them catching up to a novel while one was trying to finish their homework before their next class. Martin noticed that there was also low music playing, acting like calm background noise.
The two leads the blonde to a secluded corner, a decently sized table sat in the middle of four chairs. The seating was placed between the fiction shelf and the non-fiction shelf, usually perfect for studying and calm reading.
“The library isn’t all that popular, surprisingly not many students come to actually read or study.”
“So, we claimed this spot just in case the one outside is taken,” Seonghyeon said, walking towards the non-fiction shelf with lazy steps. He pulls out a random book, seemingly a romance one. “But also because Keonho likes reading corny romance novels and laughing at them.”
“Would you believe that Seonghyeon loves reading those?” Keonho jokes, a fond smile on his face as he watched his best friend skim through a book that he probably already finished. Martin shakes his head, looking at the hardcover with curiosity.
Seonghyeon eventually puts the book back in its spot, filling his pockets with his hands as he plops down on the nearest chair.
“So, that’s it for the tour! What do you think? 5 stars?”
“Sure, 5 stars.” Martin said unconvincingly, making Keonho frown.
“At least say it more enthusiastically—“ Keonho gets cut off by the shrill ring of the bell, startling him from the lack of warning. Seonghyeon snorts, relaxing further into his seat even though they’re supposed to be rushing to class.
——
After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rung across the building, the sound sending a lot of students to start shuffling and leave as it was the final class of the day. Martin, already ready to just walk out, was stopped by a whining Keonho.
“Be sure to review the material, we’ll discuss it on Friday!” The teacher yells, packing his own laptop into his bag before scurrying out like his students. Martin stays in the classroom, defeated as he waited for Keonho to gather his stuff.
“Thanks for waiting, appreciate it.” The student shot him a wink, his signature smile plastered on his face.
“You held me captive here.”
“Yeah, thanks for waiting!” He said happily, ignoring the comment and skipping out of the classroom while dragging the blonde with him.
Seonghyeon was already waiting outside, books still in hand as he watched Keonho energetically drag Martin around. He snorts at the sight, pushing himself off the wall to follow them down the hallway.
“So,” Keonho began, shutting his locker with a loud rustle. “How would you rate your first day? Most importantly, how does it feel to already make two amazing friends?”
Martin closes his locker slowly, a slightly exasperated look on his face as he slowly turned to an awfully joyful Keonho next to him, waiting for his response with excitement. Seonghyeon peaks over his shoulder, only to laugh at the expression his best friend was holding.
“It was okay.”
Keonho gasps dramatically, his hand flying to his chest. “Only okay?? What can we do to make this rating into ‘amazing and fun’?”
“Well first off—“ Martin gets cut off by somebody aggressively bumping into his back, almost making him drop his bag. He glances back at Seonghyeon, whose hands were heavily placed on his back for balance. Keonho’s expression immediately dropped.
“Yo, watch it.” The senior says absentmindedly, hands casually in pockets as his group walks past without a care. Martin quickly turned around to help Seonghyeon up, dropping his stuff by his locker. But before he did, he locked eyes with someone.
The kid he bumped into earlier. He was staring at him with a weird look, like analysing him from head to toe. But before Martin could look away, another student walked in front of him, forcing him to do so anyway.
“Hey, asshole!” Keonho yelled after them, making them turn around with a mocking smile. “Apologise to him, you bumped into him instead of the other way around!”
“Oh yeah? What will you do, twerp?” A different student said, his tone laughing as they continued walking down the hallway, their voices obnoxious and rude.
Keonho watches them go with clenched fists, his face crumpled with anger. But he eventually turns around, expression immediately shifting to concern as he hurried over to Seonghyeon.
“You okay? I swear, I’m gonna put them in their place.”
“It’s fine,” Seonghyeon says, his voice tired and irritated. “Thanks, though.”
“Who were they?” Martin asks, gaze turned to the friend group who disappeared behind the stairwell with loud chatter.
“The popular kids,” Keonho said, running a hand down his face in exasperation. “They’re the bitches of the school.”
“The only reason why they feel like they have authority is because of the principal’s kid,” Seonghyeon added, brushing down his uniform. “Without him, they wouldn’t mess around that much.”
“Who’s the principal’s kid?”
“Kim Juhoon, the slightly shorter kid among everybody else. He’s a total pain in the ass.”
That kid’s the principal’s son??
“If he messes with you, just tell us. We’ll protect you, yeah?” Keonho says, placing a reassuring hand on Martin’s shoulder. The blonde nods, a timid smile on his face.
——
Something’s off.
Juhoon could immediately tell because his brain has been recycling the same thought for the past hour; the familiar blonde hair and American features of the new kid.
He should be dead asleep by now, daydreaming about some random bullshit as he drooled over his pillow or whatever, but he’s wide awake as his mind circles around the same boy he saw and almost told off earlier that day.
If you couldn’t tell, that’s not normal.
Juhoon frowns as he stared at the ceiling, the comforting blanket forgotten at the edge of the bed. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the blurry vision of the kid that he still didn’t know the name of.
Wait, he doesn’t even know his name. What the fuck?
Juhoon groans, raising his hands to press into his eyes harshly. He eventually reaches for his phone on the bedside counter, opening up Instagram to text somebody. Somebody he could trust with this information.
‘Yo, you awake?’
‘’Course, what’s wrong?’
——
The week flies by like a piece of paper in the wind. Martin could hardly recall anything that happened during, but it mostly consists of unusual conversations with Keonho and Seonghyeon.
The two were social butterflies. It was extremely obvious. But when Martin asked them about their MBTI, they were apparently introverts? If they were introverts, then what the fuck was he??
To add, Keonho also dragged him almost everywhere he went; the cafeteria, the field outside, the bathroom—literally everywhere in the school. Seonghyeon also recently started pulling him around places, which meant he had to deal with two annoying (not really) things dragging him up and down everyday.
Not a complaint, by the way.
But. Martin noticed something. Something not necessarily.. positive.
Whenever the two were not by his side, people, usually not batting an eye, would start staring at him like he’s an anomaly in the school. Well, they’re not wrong in a sense, but he’s still a student in the school. Shouldn’t he be treated like one too?
It wasn’t until today, during recess where Seonghyeon was sick and Keonho was not clung to his side, people started doing something.
Most kids were out of the classroom, getting lunch and hanging out with their buddies or studying in the library. Martin stayed behind because he wanted to finish a personal project. He had company, of course, when did he never have company?
“Have you ever considered joining the art club?” Keonho asks, doodling on his side of Martin’s sketchbook as the blonde sketched, paying close to no mind to his friend’s talking.
“Never considered joining any clubs. Why?”
“Dunno, you seem to be good at it. Why not join one?”
“I’m not staying back a second late in this school for some optional club.”
Keonho snorts at the blunt response, his eyes tracing the messy line work of the blonde’s. His hands were absentmindedly moving around the paper, just scribbling around and writing random stuff before he heard a knock on the classroom door.
“Hey, has anybody seen.. Ahn Keonho?” Martin’s ears picked up the otherwise quiet mumbling. “Mr. Han is looking for him.”
He pokes at Keonho’s sleeve, tearing his attention from the sketch. He points to the student asking for him, to which he turns around to look.
“I’m right here.” Keonho said, lowly raising his hand before getting up from his seat.
“I’ll be right back, alright?” He told Martin, a reassuring smile on his face. Martin hums, nodding along as he heard the footsteps of his friend fade away into the hallway.
Nothing really happened the first minute. Still peacefully sketching on his draft, pencil growing more blunt by every stroke. The only difference is that Keonho’s constant voice was gone. (Martin would be lying if he said he didn’t already miss it..)
The following second, his sketchbook was then splayed out hazardously on the floor, the pages most definitely folding and crumbling over each other the longer it stayed like that. Martin stares down at his work, shocked and confused at what just happened.
“So, new kid,” somebody kneels down to grab the book, not even bothering to smooth out the papers before harshly shutting the notebook. “You into arts, huh? Isn’t that, like, a weird kid thing?”
Martin stays quiet, remaining frozen in his seat as his heart dropped to his ass at the folded pages under the covers. His hard work creased, over.. being a weird kid??
“Yah,” a student kicks his chair, a shrill screech echoing through the room. “Answer him, won’t you?”
“You’re so entitled for a new kid, shouldn’t you know your place?”
Ahh, no wonder Keonho and Seonghyeon were stuck to him like glue.
“Do you think just because those gay kids are your friends mean you’re all superior?” A classmate scoffs, pushing Martin’s desk towards him with unnecessary force. Martin yelps, gripping his side from the sudden attack. “They’re not even important to this school. They could die for all everybody could care.”
“Hey,” Martin muttered, looking up from his shoes to the classmate who talked shit about his friends in front of him. “You can talk shit about me all you want, but you don’t talk shit about my friends like I’m not sitting right here.”
“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” The student laughs, his hands confidently in pockets as he looked at Martin like he was trash. He was about to stand up and start a fight before a voice broke through everyone in the room, quickly silencing everybody’s comments.
“Yo,” a slightly deep voice greets, the voice unfamiliar to Martin. When he looked over to the entrance of the classroom, he almost scoffs.
Principal’s kid.
“What’s happening here?”
“New kid’s being disrespectful.” A student said, voice filled with confidence.
Juhoon seemed unconvinced. He walks over to the four students in the corner of the room, observing the scene with a raised eyebrow. He spots the messed up sketchbook in one student’s hand, his expression immediately turning suspicious.
“Whose sketchbook is this?” He asks, pointing to it like it’s vital evidence to a crime. Martin awkwardly raises his hand, eyes locked onto Juhoon with irritation. The brunette looks over to him, then to the students surrounding him, his eyes wordlessly asking them to explain.
When nobody took the chance to speak, Juhoon snatched the book from the student’s hands, his brows furrowed and gaze accusatory as he flipped open the creased pages to smooth them out, then stared at the cover of the book for a second. Martin was about to yell at him for looking at his work, but he handed over the book before he could even open his mouth.
“Correction, you guys are being disrespectful.” Juhoon simply said, his voice cold and expressionless as he stared at the kid in front of his desk. The students didn’t meet any of their eyes, suddenly becoming cowards once confronted. Martin remains confused and angry in the middle of it all, just wanting them to leave him alone.
“Hey, what’s happening here?” Finally, a familiar voice. Keonho walks over with heat coming out of his ears, brows furrowed at the scene of his friend getting crowded by students and Juhoon.
“Leave him alone.” Keonho goes face-to-face with Juhoon, who only stared at him with an empty, tired expression. He eventually turns around and quietly leaves the classroom, the other kids dissipating with him.
Not even a fight or correction?
“You okay? Oh my god, I was gone for a few minutes and you got ganged up on—“ Keonho rambled on and on, sounding extremely apologetic, even though it wasn’t his fault. Martin only looks down at his sketchbook, turning it around to look at the ruined pages.
Juhoon.. smoothed them out. The pages were already creased beyond saving, of course, but he still tried to smooth them out.
Why would he do that?
“I’m never leaving your side after this. Can I do anything for you to forgive me? Like buy you a drink or—“
“Keonho,” Martin cuts him off, putting a hand up to his face. “It’s fine, really. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Well it sure feels like it! Mr. Han didn’t even need anything important, just asked me if he’s seen his damn whiteboard marker.” Keonho whines, dropping onto the ground in front of him in defeat. Martin chuckles, putting the book on his desk.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Martin reassures, laughing when Keonho suddenly started kneeling in apology in front of him.
But despite that, the only thing on his mind was a question.
Why didn’t Juhoon argue back?
——
So his name is Martin.
Juhoon repeated the name over and over in his head. During class, while taking notes, he even accidentally wrote it down as a main point. When he realised, he quickly corrected it with embarrassment.
Even while walking home with James, he remained quiet as he listened to his friend talk about what happened during recess. Usually, he’d comment and laugh at what he says, but he stayed silent, gazed locked on his shoes.
“Okay, so what happened with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You look like you’re sulking. Did someone defy you or something?” James jokes, staring off into the distant neighbourhood on his right.
“Do you know about the new kid?”
“The foreigner? I think he’s kind of weird,” James yelps as he trips on a tile, making Juhoon snort. “But yeah, what about him?”
“He was getting bullied earlier.” Juhoon recalls the situation like it was a nightmare.
“Oh yeah? Did you help him?”
“Obviously.”
“Okay, good to know I’m not friends with a monster.” James adjusts his glasses nonchalantly, ignoring the hit to his arm by the comment.
“But why are you so hung up by the situation? I mean, it’s just a kid getting bullied.”
That’s the thing—he doesn’t know why either.
“I don’t know.” Juhoon admits, watching a pebble jump away from his feet as he kicks.
James hums, analysing his junior with a soft expression. He then sighs, draping an arm over Juhoon’s shoulder and pulling him up to his side.
“Maybe you just wanna be friends with him. Try talking to him tomorrow?”
“..Yeah. Sure.”