I struggle to recount the next time I saw him, It could've been a week or two later, or maybe a month, either way, it wasn't long until I saw Taehyung again. I'm not usually the relationship type, never having been in one before or really wanting one, but there was something about Taehyung I liked, without sounding too bloody cliché. A short but agonizing while later, I remember being worried that he hadn't contacted me, I then realised it was because I didn't give him my number. He did however give me his, I reached into my blazer a while after our first meeting, I felt and opened a crumpled, dirty piece of white paper, it had his number on it. I can't tell you the speed of which I ran home to ring him up from school, well, I tried to anyway. I was a confident girl usually, however it seemed even I was stumped into silence at the task of ringing and then talking to him. I sat there in my room until the late hours, I probably wrote a damn script. “Hello?” I ended up calling him, after 3 hours of debating with myself I figured I had nothing to lose. “Hi. Who's this?” Great, he probably has a ton of girls he speaks to every day, I'm just another addition, I thought. “It's Dorothy. This is Taehyung, right?” I asked, I had a lump in my throat, so it made it hard for any words to come out, this was weird for me, very weird. “Hey! I thought you would never call.” He said with excitement, I'd never been more relieved to hear those words in my life, this means he hadn't forgotten about me, that's what I told myself anyway. After another conversation of meaningless nothings, the last thing he asked me. “Do you want to meet me next Tuesday? I've got cleaning duty again.” he asked in a solemn tone, I sat on my bed in silence, the answer was obvious but I still questioned myself. “What about band practise?” “Mr Jeon should be gone for another two weeks.” He answered, I felt what we were plotting was somewhat unthinkable, it wasn't breaking the rules by any means however I still felt we were. “Sure, sounds good.” “Great! I guess I’ll see you, same place.” He put the phone down. He was never good at goodbyes. Never.

So I visited him every Tuesday, for the next two weeks, and then the next couple of weeks, then the next. I'll admit, I missed many band practises to meet him, I don't even know how he got that many cleaning duties, he never told me, but every time, his friend was there, Namjoon. Every week, Namjoon got more comfortable around me, as I did with Taehyung. Each time I said bye to him, he always said the same thing “See you next week, young Dorothy.” Something that always erked me as he was only older by a few months. We met regularly though, until one day we didn't. He wasn't there. I searched through the school, in every room we had been into before, Namjoon wasn't there either, something I wasn't as sad about. Surely he would've called me and said he wasn't coming I thought. I was ready to leave in a small bout of anger before I heard laughter, Taehyung had a very distinct laugh. It was loud and annoying, the laugh I could hear was just that. I heard a chorus of voices. “Get off me!” “I didn't touch you!” “Why is your hand on my back, then? Do you love me huh?” “What, I thought that was-.” “SHUT UP!” I heard a booming deep voice tell the choristers. My heart pounded, maybe they were some of the teachers coming back from a drunk night on the town? Maybe I was imagining it. I wasn't.

“Dorothy!” I heard a boy call, I knew instantly it was Taehyung. I turned and it was surely him, he wasn't in his work clothes, that was strange, it was only 5 o clock. “Hey, where were you?” we hugged for a while, yeah, we started doing that, and every time he held me it was overwhelming, he took me by surprise with his unexpected warmth. “I didn't have detention today, but I wanted to meet you so… here I am.” he declared with a grin, he threw his arms up in excitement, I could tell he was in a good mood. I loved it when he was in a good mood. “I thought you'd died or something...Why are you not in your work clothes, did you bunk off?” I laughed, I fixed his collar which was very upturned. He looked a mess from his sticking up hair to his untied shoelaces, but he still pulled it off. I didn't expect him to say 'Yeah sure, I bunked off' or anything then, but looking back now, he most likely was bunking off. Thankfully he didn't answer, he was interrupted by a “Will you give them some privacy? Stop looking.” coming from behind me. I saw an orange blur get pulled behind the door a split second before I fully processed what I was looking at.

“Why? Is that Taehyung's girlfriend, hyung?”

“No way!” A third voice declared.

I turned back to Taehyung. “You brought people?” I asked through a smile, he looked too scared to say anything. I could hear the boys laughing around the corner, I heard Namjoons' voice in particular. Brilliant. “They're just my friends.” Taehyung said innocently, he looked struck with fear. I couldn’t understand why.

“Can we just go in, they're not kissing are they?”

“Okay, you want to go in? Go in then.” I heard and then saw a boy fall to the floor with a bang “Aish!” He yelled, he seemed to have banged his knee on the wooden floor, there was no pain like that. He held onto his knee and clenched his eyes tight. I recall he had black hair, quite floppy, he was well built and had good style for what I could see and his whole ear was covered with piercings, something we shared in common. “You idiot.” I heard someone whisper from the door. “Guys, Just come in.” Taehyung yelled at them. I'll be honest, I expected around 9 small boys to come waltzing past the door, but was pleasantly surprised to find only 5, who more.. flopped through the door. “Annyeong, the name is Jimin” the first one said, he was the orange blur I saw minutes before and seemed the most confident. Compared to his peers, he also wasn't wearing much, a low cut vest and ripped jeans that suited him very well. His hair was the brightest thing displayed in front of me, it was majestic. “These are Yoongi, Hoseok, Namjoon and this one here is Jungkook.” He pointed to Jungkook who was now flailing on the floor. I saw a hand raise from the limp body and wave at me “Hey, get up, you idiot” Yoongi laughed as he lifted Jungkook up by his arm. “These are my... friends.” Taehyung sighed while looking at them all one by one, he seemed disappointed by them. I thought it was hilarious, I wouldn't expect anything less from any of Taehyung's friends. “Hello... I'm Dorothy.” I said with a grin a little too big, my mouth felt as if it was stapled open. “We know.” Hoseok replied quickly. I was confused, did they all know me? “I mean, that's what we heard- Taehyung talks about you a lot.” Hoseok grinned while Namjoon whacked him, his signal to shut up. “Sorry.” Hoseok bowed to display his apology, his daftness was always my favourite thing. Taehyung mouthed something to Hoseok and then looked at me with a smile I read as 'help me, help me now'. “So, are we going to leave? Or are we staying in this ty school.” Yoongi laughed, looking at the others. I agreed the school was definitely ty, but I didn't know if I was even a little comfortable being seen with these boys, what if my mum saw me? Or the girls In my class? “Yeah of course, we should probably go.” Taehyung answered while he put his hands in his pocket. “You okay with that Dorothy? It would be great if you could come.” Taehyung pleaded, the others all watched expectedly.

“Yeah, it would be cool to finally hang out with a member of the opposite .” One of them said, and put their arm around me, I didn't check which one, my focus was on Taehyung. Although there were all the risks, and the excuses I’d have to make to my mum. IT. “Yeah sure, but I’d have to-” I started

“Great, shall we be off?” Namjoon prepared for his grand exit. Taehyung grinned and then unexpectedly took my hand, his was clammy and red. I didn't mind one bit.

So, we left the school, all 7 of us. I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty cool being with them, despite being in my school uniform and probably looking like a hot mess, hopefully it was an alright hot mess. It was fairly easy to tell who in the group was closest with who when I first met them together. For example, Namjoon was by Taehyung's side most of the time, cracking jokes and poking fun at the members of the unsuspecting public. “Look at that man's walk, Tae.” I heard him say as we strolled through town. He pointed out and proceeded to imitate the old man on the other side of the road. Taehyung laughed in reply, I didn't find it remotely funny but forced a hearty chuckle nevertheless. Hoseok and Jimin would walk in front of us a few yards, sometimes if you looked at the right time, Hoseok would shove Jimin into a wall followed by a great “Aish, I take it back, I take it back!” from Jimin, they seemed to have a great friendship. Next to us, Jungkook and Yoongi, they always seemed to walk in perfect unison.

After listening in to Namjoon's fairly elaborate and detailed story of how he escaped from a farm in Greece once, I began not to recognise this part of town, it seemed we were walking for centuries. “Taehyung, where are we going?” I interrupted. He paused. “We're going to our place.” He answered with an excited look. “Our special place.” Jungkook said from beside me. “Just follow me, we're nearly there.” Taehyung reassured me and squeezed my hand. After what seemed like years, we ended up in what looked like a forest. Taehyung let go of my hand and walked through the bramble while the other followed, maybe that was why all their clothes were ripped, because of those branches. They all walked through so effortlessly, I was too scared to go into the void and hesitated for a few minutes while I watched them one by one enter the green mess. “Come on in, it's fine.” Yoongi beckoned me in, he was the last one. I did as he said and entered feet first into an obstacle course of pain. I walked in with my uniform intact, and came out looking like Rambo. I was reunited with Taehyung on the other side and we were confronted by an empty pool, it was dirty, dead leaves and grass were collecting in each of the four corners of it. Despite this, the setting was beautiful, a place you could never forget. The boys helped themselves into the empty pool one by one, jumping down carelessly. I winced every time I heard the sound of their feet hitting the hard, cold concrete.“Here we are.” Taehyung opened his arms wide and span around, he looked so happy. They all did. “Oh.. Wow, this is nice.” I said. I had yet to jump in and join the rest of them, I sat and watched them from the edge of the pool, my legs dangling and my feet hitting the heavy marble behind them. I watched as Jimin ran to a mattress set in the centre of the pool. Again it was dirty and rotting much like the surrounding area. I was confused how they could bear to call a place like this, however pretty it was, their 'special place'. “Come in, the drop isn't that bad Dorothy.” Namjoon called over to me at the other side. I waved at him, signalling that it was all good, I didn't need to break my foot for anybody. I watched them all, Jimin lay on the mattress with Taehyung, his leg propped on his knee, they were laughing together. The others played a game of tag around them in a circle, they looked almost angelic in the glow of the sunlight. A plastic bag blew across the pool's floor, carried in the harsh wind, dodging each of the boys as it went past, it didn't ruin the mesmerizing image in front of me. “1, 2, 3!” I felt two hands take hold of my legs. I had barely enough time to take a look down to see who the owner of the hands were. I was grabbed, pulled and carried by my waist onto the pool floor safely. I looked up to find Jungkook standing in front of me, breath heavy. “There you are, it wasn't that bad was it?” he said softly. I shook my head and looked up at the spot where I once was. I longed to be back up there, where I felt safe. “Thank you.” I turned and smiled, but Jungkook was already back with the rest of his friends on the mattress. Without thinking I too ran over to the mattress, hoping they wouldn't care if I squeezed in between two of them. I did so, between Hoseok and Taehyung. They were all reaching into a bag of chips. I watched as Yoongi whacked Jungkook's hand away as he reached in. “You've had 7 already, you're going to get fat.” He laughed as he fell onto Jungkook's shoulder. I made eye contact with Taehyung, he smiled sweetly. I'd known this boy for less than a few months, how could I have feelings this fast? We lay on the mattress, laughing, talking and screaming for hours, and it got dark quickly. Yoongi produced a flower from his pocket. It was brown, dead and dry. “What's that?” Jimin noticed and asked him. “I- I'm not sure, this is an old jacket, I must have left this in there.” he said, and showed the group the flower. He spoke with a tone of worry in his voice, over what I didn't know, it looked like a normal, dead flower to me. “It looks like the one that Seokjin hyung gave you. Ages ago.” Jungkook said. The mood lowered and the once loud, full of life group had been reduced to silence. Then, I had no idea who Seokjin was, maybe he was an old friend or something I thought. Either way, I thought best not to ask. “It's dead now, you can throw it away.” Namjoon said coldly, he turned and got up from the mattress. “Namjoon Hyung..” Hoseok called after him. “I'll see you guys next week. I've gotta go home now” Namjoon perched himself up and out of the pool, he said goodbye without looking at either of us and walked off into the dark forest. In the heat of them moment, I must've forgotten the time, I checked my watch, Ten to 9!? I had to go. The group stayed quiet as Yoongi handled the flower with care, I guess he didn't want to throw it away. “Taehyung.” I whispered. He faced me, his eyes dark. “i think-, I think I need to go.”

“Alright, do you want us to walk you?” he asked while I staggered up. I shook my head in response “No, it's alright, I'll get the bus.” I smiled weakly. Before I left, I hugged Taehyung, said my goodbye to the others and left through the brambles again. That night I ended up home at 10, way past my curfew. “Dorothy, Where were you?!” My mum hugged me as soon as I walked through the door. “I had extra revision at school, then I missed my bus and all things led to another-”

“Oh baby! You must tell us next time, me and your father almost called the police.” I looked at my dad through the corner of my eye, his eyes were glued to his paper, I loved my dad, but I couldn't help wondering if he always loved me back, like properly. “go upstairs and straight to bed now, you've got school tomorrow.” my mum smiled and patted me upstairs. I turned and waved as I walked up to my room. I lay flat on my bed with a thud. Today was a different day.