School

Most students wished for weekends to last for eternity; dreading the day they had to step back into the hellhole-school. The society that they lived in wanted to prepare them for the factory-like world they lived in; following orders in hopes to be the ones giving the orders; a certain schedule to be followed at all costs and if not followed, a certain punishment that would be assigned. It expected for the students to act like adults, all the while treating them as if they were children. Perhaps they were a bit of both; the transition of youth from childhood to adulthood was a rough one. Searching for one’s identity, unsure of anything when security was the one thing they needed…

It was now Monday, the beginning of the five day cycle that Minseok would have to go through once more. The bit of enjoyment he found in school was in soccer, music class, and when he was with his friends. He had already become accustomed to the orderly organized day system: which classes he had to take notes in; which classes he could fool around in and still get an easy 90; which classes he could sleep in where the teacher wouldn’t notice or care. Adding Lu Han, to the equation, however, made things a bit difficult.

Who knew what this could change, or what it might lead to. After the previous day’s embarrassing encounter, he didn’t know how he would face him at school, especially after his mother had announced that Lu Han had the same schedule as him.

He shovelled the remnants of the seaweed soup and rice into his mouth, gulping it down before pulling his arms through the straps of his backpack, grabbing his lunch while he was at it. Lu Han was already waiting for him at the door.

“Bye mom!” he yelled, not waiting for a response before slipping his shoes on and hurrying out the door.

As always, Zitao was waiting for him with a smile. “Took you long enough.”

Minseok rolled his eyes, a smile involuntarily making its way onto his lips. “I’m on time, idiot.”

“I know, you always are.” Zitao sheepishly grinned at him, causing Minseok to laugh, reaching up to ruffle the younger boy’s hair.

“Stupid kid,” he muttered, an affectionate smile on his face.

“A stupid kid that you love,” Zitao shot back.

“Yeah, for reasons that I can’t comprehend,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, Lu Han, you’re here! Let’s go!” said Zitao, seeming to realize that the other boy was feeling left out of the conversation.

Minseok couldn’t help but stiffen, but forced himself to ease up.

“You never showed me your schedule, hmm? What do you have?”

“I have the same as Minseok.”

There was a pause, before Zitao started up again. “Oh, that’s cool! We have Mandarin and Math together then.”

“Are Chinese transfer students supposed to be able to take Mandarin as their second language?” asked Lu Han, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Well disallowing us from that would be kind of racist and unfair. Besides, it’s just like how when exchange students from Australia, USA or any other English speaking countries come, they get to take English because it’s mandatory. It’s an obvious advantage. And for second language, they can just take French!”

Minseok rolled his eyes, knowing that when Zitao was passionate about a subject or about fighting for his own rights, he could go on forever. “Okay, Zi, but did anything happen between you and Yifan that night?”

Zitao pouted. “No, not really. We went for a walk in the park and talked a lot. And kind of kissed. But that’s it.”

“Holy , Zi, you’re supposed to tell me this stuff! I’m not one of your best friends for no reason!” Minseok stopped in his tracks, pinching the younger boy’s right cheek. “Zi!” he whined.

Zitao grinned at him. “I was joking about the kissing part, you know.”

Minseok promptly let go of the other boy’s face, picking up his walking pace.

“Ge, don’t be mad at me!”

“I don’t need you anymore, Zi, I still have Dae.”

“Well Jongdae ge and Yixing ge will be getting it on soon, so you’ll be all alone again.”

Minseok stopped in his tracks to glare at him. “Well I have Byun Baekhyun, Kim Jongin, and Park Chanyeol, all single as and straight as sticks.”

Zitao shook his head. “You clearly haven’t seen Baekhyun hyung and Chanyeol hyung by themselves. Damn, they can get touchy.”

Truth be told, he had seen them by themselves, and it was obvious that there was inbetween the two, but he thought it was best to leave that a matter for the two of them.

“And did you know that Kim Jongin has a secret crush on Do Kyungsoo?”

He sputtered. Kim Jongin, the jockiest jock of all the jocks he knew, having a crush on Do Kyungsoo, a complete nerd who liked baking cookies? Now that he thought of it, Do Kyungsoo was pretty cute under those glasses. Being in a relationship with him wouldn’t be so bad, considering the bonus of getting cookies whenever he wanted, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to be in abusive relationship just yet. And besides, if what Zitao said was true, he didn’t want to be a friend and steal the boy that his friend liked.

“Zi, I really don’t know how you know all this gossip. I’m slightly worried for you.”

“Hey, Yifan’s a total gossip. If you’re around him, you’re bound to learn a few things.” Zitao had a lovestruck expression on his face.

Minseok shook his head at him. He wondered what it was like to be so in love with someone. Oh right, he thought bitterly, I used to be that in love with someone.

He refused to think that sentence in anything other than past tense.

“Class, this is Lu Han, a transfer student from China; make sure to take good care of him.”

There were murmurs from around the classroom, obviously noting the boy’s good looks. Minseok tried supressing the protectiveness he felt over the boy, and the urge to gorge out the eyes of anyone who stared at him too long He was unsuccessful, instead unleashing his anger out onto his hands, nails digging into his palms.

“It’s nice to meet you all, I’m Lu Han.” Lu Han bowed to the class, his bangs falling over his face. He quickly brushed them to side with his fingers.

“Take any of the empty seats,” Ms. Park said.

“Hey, Lu Han, why don’t you come sit beside me?” one of the girls who Minseok had never really noticed until this day said loudly.

Lu Han declined politely. “Sorry, but I want to sit beside Minseok.”

Minseok stiffened, realizing that the seat on his right was indeed empty. It was Geography class, the most boring class in existence-and it just so happened that he didn’t have any close friends in it. He usually just slept in this class; it was easy to study for tests from the textbook, and schoolwork could always be done at home. With a resigned sigh, he put his head down onto his desk and closed his eyes, about to sleep when—

“Kim Minseok, you have the same schedule as Lu Han, why don’t you show him around while you’re at it? Be a nice friend to him, okay?”

Minseok restrained himself from scoffing aloud. Ms. Han clearly didn’t know that Lu Han was staying at his place, and that there was a reason that Lu Han had the same schedule as him. “Yes, Ms. Park.”

“This is the library,” he said shortly, jerking his head towards the right, and Lu Han nodded in comprehension.

As Minseok had gone around the school, showing Lu Han around, countless people had stopped him in the hallway to say hi to him, or to talk—and of course, to ask about Lu Han. People whom he’d had classes with but never said hi to in the hallways stopped to talk to him, and Minseok wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about that.

“Hey, Minseok?” said Lu Han, a bit hesitant on his words.

Minseok held in a scathing response, instead replying with a simple “yeah?”

“Remember that project we had on writing a two person poem?”

Minseok closed his eyes, silent for a while, before nodding his head slightly.

“Remember what we wrote?”

He opened his eyes. “Not the specifics, no. But I remember what it was about.”

It had been about friendship. The point of the assignment was to write a spoken word poem for two people. A bit challenging for a grade four class, of course, but their teacher had wanted to challenge them. It had been one of their last projects together, making it so memorable.

“We met as if fate had seen us and shoved us together,” spoke Lu Han, causing Minseok’s eyes to widen. Lu Han was reciting their poem.

“As if fate had seen us and said, ‘these two must become best friends.’

And shoved together, we became best friends.

We played together, ate together, and laughed together.

We had fun together.” Lu Han paused, while Minseok grimaced at the innocent phrase that they had not then realized was a euphemism.

“We grew up together.

Together.

Together, we will continue to play.

Together, we will continue to eat.

Together, we will continue to laugh.

Together, we will continue to have fun.

Together, we will continue to grow up.”

Lu Han chuckled softly after he finished reciting the poem. “It’s kind of terrible, but also kind of beautiful, right?”

“If fate shoved us together, it also decided we weren’t meant to be best friends and shoved us apart,” spat Minseok, storming away from Lu Han. He didn’t know why he became so toxic when he was around Lu Han, but he couldn’t help it.

“Is fate my dad getting terminal cancer?” shouted Lu Han, his voice cracking and dropping to a whisper. “Is fate my dad dying?”

Minseok stopped in his path, feeling a wave of remorse and regret hit him. “No, but maybe fate was you not replying to any of my emails or calls. Maybe fate was you refusing to see me when you visited Seoul last year for a school trip. Maybe fate knew we weren’t right for each other.”

He started walking again, and this time did not stop even when he heard his ex-best friend’s choked sobs.