Mark’s Pov.

    Why does school exist, who thought that it would be a good idea to force hundreds of kids into one building for seven hours, to learn. If I could go back in time and find that person, boy would they get a talking too.

I know I may seem like a kid who loves school, (curse the quiet kid stereotype) but it’s actually quite the opposite. In a place that works just like a food chain, with the popular kids on top and the nerds on the bottom, I find myself really close to the bottom. (good thing I’m pretty)  Because of it I find that it’s a lot more of challenge to make it by day by day then it should. Stupid popular kids getting it so easy.

Thankfully I have my friends to help me through it. Which brings me to another point about hating school, why does everyone assume that I don’t have any friends? Is it because I’m shy? So because I'm shy I automatically don’t have any friends? If that's the case then it’s stupid, because if any of them even bothered to try to get to know me then they would find out that I’m actually a really fun person to be with. But it's not like any of the cool kid’s would ever bother to get to know me.

Jackson’s Pov.

    I hate school. Why couldn’t I of been homeschooled, oh wait, It’s because I begged my parents to let me go to school. Because there's no way I would be able to survive if I couldn’t talk to my friends.

But I might want to reconsider it if school keeps it up like this. One word, expectations, as in everyone expects something from me. My friends expect me to always be cool, (To attract girls, because they can’t do it themselves) the girls expect me to always be hot,(wonder why) my teachers expect me to never know the answers to any of the problems, (I can’t even remember all the times I’ve been asked if I cheated or not) my coach  expects me to win all of my games. To top it all off my parents expect me to have good grades. (which is hard to do when the teacher marks all the problems wrong, even the ones I answered right. For the last time i didn’t cheat)

I try really hard to live up to all these expectation, (well except for the girls thinking I’m always hot, sometimes I make weird faces in front of them just because of it) I really do try. But I’ve never been good at multitasking, so you can imagine what happens with that.

But there is one expectation that I just can’t do, and that's to take a pretty girl to prom. I don’t know why the whole school expects that of me, but I just can’t do it. For one reason, for one very big reason, I’m gay. But the only one who knows this is me. See right there, another expectation, the whole school expects me to be straight and to hit on girls. This is why I hate school, ugh the nerds have it so easy, they don’t have any expectations on them.

Mark’s Pov.

    There is something wrong with the clocks at school, I know it. The first fifty-five minutes of class just fly right by in what feels like only five minutes, but then during the last five minutes, I swear it takes like fifty-five minutes to go by. I think they did this on purpose, to highp everyone up, only to see the disappointment on their faces when the five minutes that they think they have pass by.….so…..slowly…...teachers are truly evil creatures.

At least lunch is after this, so then I can go from having my teacher lecturing me about stuff that I’ll never need ever again, to my friend comparing what gender would be better to date. He’s biual but is trying really hard to be either straight or gay. I don’t know why he’s making that decision now, (or ever) there's absolutely nothing wrong with being bi, (and I’m not just saying that because I’m bi too) when your bi you don’t have to limit yourself to one gender. So that in my world is a plus, but no matter, he's still my friend and I'm the only one who'll listen to him. (because there aren't many people who'll admit to being gay or bi)

But before I can think more on the matter the bell rings and everyone runs right out of the room, well except me. I like to take my time walking to the cafeteria, that way I avoid all the traffic in the halls and can just walk right in without a problem.

This time was different though, as I walked in I saw two people standing in the middle of a large group of people. I immediately recognized them as Im Jaebum and Jackson Wang, (how could I not their popular kids) then I notice that they're throwing punches at each other, it was a fight. I had to get closer, but just as I’m up at the front something slams right into me and we both fall to the ground.

Jackson’s Pov.

    I know I should be focusing on the lesson, but I’ve basically given up on school anyway. But the reason I can’t focus is because of two main things. 1: Lunch is right after this class and there's only five minutes left (at least I think It’s five minutes) 2: I still can’t think of an excuse to tell my parents why I can’t take a girl to prom. I’ve already decided that instead of taking someone to the dance I’ll just go with my friends. (who most definitely do not have dates and will not get any before the dance)

But the problem is, I don’t know how to tell my parents that (or the whole school for that matter) without coming off as gay. My parents would freak out, and make me transfer school. Because apparently the only reason I would be gay is if it was for a certain boy, and even if I don't transfer schools, everyone would find out and then I’ll never hear the end of it.(because my parents don't know how to keep a secret)

Fortunately though the bell rings and I’m finally free to go to lunch. I grab my stuff and run out of the room as fast as I can. But as I enter the cafeteria and run to find my friends I bump into someone, Im Jaebum. Oh great, remember when I said popular kid’s have expectations, well here's another great example. Jaebum has a reputation for beating up anyone who messes with him, but in all honesty he's actually a really nice guy.

I see that he’s mouthing sorry to me before he walks up and shoves me back “What do you think you're doing?” He asked with an annoyed sounding voice. I know how this game works and I’m going to have to play along or are reputations are dead. So with my amazing bluff skills I shove him back and say “Just minding my own business, unlike you”

It’s then when he throws his first punch, I dodge it fine and throw one of my own, and before I knew it we were in a full out fight, not even noticing the crowd that formed around us. But then Jaebum goes and nails me in the face and I stumble back, unfortunately there was someone behind me and we both fall down onto the floor.

“Oh man are yo-” I couldn’t finish my sentence as I got a good look at the person I had run into. One word, Gorgeous. He had soft looking blond hair and porcelain like skin. He would be considered beautiful by anyone's standards. “Are you okay?” the pretty man asked “You look kinda spaced out” He finished giving me a concerned look. “Oh me, um, yeah I mean, yep I’m, I’m great” I finally manage to get out. “O-kay” He replies giving me a questioning look. But then our conversation (if you can even call it that) was interrupted when Mr. Park, the principal, came marching towards us with on angry expression on his face.

Mark’s Pov.

    “I’m disappointed in you two” Mr. Park starts “Starting a fight on school ground, Jackson I expected better of you and...wait who are you?” Mr. Park asked. Here’s another reason us shy/nerdy kids get in rough, nobody knows us. But naturally everyone knows the popular kids like Jackson and Jaebum, speaking of Jaebum where is he? He must of run off when Mr. Park arrived, which doesn’t make since because he’s the toughest kid in school.

“you didn’t answer me, who are you!” Mr. Park asked again sounding a bit agitated. “S-Sorry sir my names Mark” I replied “Mark, Mark what?” He asked, It was obvious that he had no idea who I was, after all I am the only kid in this school named Mark. “Tuan sir, Mark Tuan” I replied trying my hardest not to sound annoyed. “Oh yes that's right, aren’t you that kid who’s always in the library.” Mr. Park said trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about but clearly didn’t. Because I only go to the library when I have too, like for assignments, I don’t go for fun, so why does everyone always assume that I do?

“Well no matter, that doesn’t change the fact that you both have detention after school for the rest of the week. You know where it is.” Mr. Park finished before walking off. I couldn’t believe it, detention, I've never gotten detention before. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, I mean at least Jackson will be their with me. I also may or may not have a Huge crush on Jackson for as long as I can remember. But that’s not important right now, what's important is that I have absolutely no idea where the detention room is. I’d ask Jackson, but I used up all my confidence when I asked him if he was okay.

“Hey, I’m sorry I got you into this mess” Jackson says rubbing his neck looking apologetically at me. “N-no It’s al-alright n-n-no-no problem really” I say while trying to ignore how fast my heart was beating. Just then though Jackson stands up and then goes to help me to my feet as well. “No really, I feel bad, you did nothing wrong at yet you're getting punished for it.” Jackson say still wearing the same apologetic look on his face. “A-and I-I s-s-said tha-that it w-w-w-was fine” I manage to choke out, my shyness really doing a number on me, I had to get out of their fast. “L-look I’ll s-s-s-see yo-you in de-dete-detention, bye!” I tried to get out as fast as I could before running off to find Jinyoung.

Jackson’s Pov.

    No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get Mark off my mind. He was stunning in every way, I just couldn’t find any flaws with him. Even the way he stuttered was super cute, he’s probably really shy. That must be why I’ve never seen him before, because he’s always in the library.

“Hey Jackson, I’m sorry about earlier” I turn my head to look at Jaebum, the one who should be getting detention instead Mark. But I understand why he ran away, Jaebum’s never had detention before and his parents don’t ever want him to get one, so he panicked and ran away. “It’s not me you should be apologizing to, it’s Mark” I said while eating my food. “Who’s Mark?” Jaebum questioned. “He’s the boy that got in trouble instead of you” I answered while getting really into my food.

“Oh, well tell him I said sorry when you see him in detention kay, and I owe you too, see ya later Jacks” Jaebum said before getting up and leaving. But I didn’t take too much notice as I was really into my food. It doesn’t matter much though, because if Jaebum says he owes you it means he owes you but isn't going to do anything about it. (if I had a penny for how many times he's told me that he owes me, then I’d be a millionaire)

But while usually food can take my mind off of anything, I just can't keep my mind off of Mark. Even though my parents will be disappointed that I got another detention, I was really excited that I would be spending that time with Mark. Man, I can’t wait till school ends.

Mark’s Pov.

    “You got detention!” my friend Jinyoung yelled out in surprise. “Yes, but it was just a misunderstanding” I tried explaining to my friend “Right, misunderstanding. Tell me what happened right now mister.” Jinyoung said. I was reluctant to tell him at first, but since he's practically my mother I had no choice and explained to him the fight and how I wound up getting partly blamed for it.

“You got blamed for some fight between two of the cool kids? who?” Jinyoung asked “Jackson Wang and Im Jaebum” I answered “So which one of them ran away?” Jinyoung asked me with curious eyes. “That would be Jaebum” I replied, not entirely sure why he was asking in the first place. “Oh, so you’ll be in detention with your crush aka the most talkative person in the school. Mark Tuan how will you survive” Jinyoung said with a playful smirk on his face. “PARK JINYOUNG, DON’T ASK QUESTIONS LIKE THAT” I yelled at him.

“Oh man up, but seriously how will you survive, he’s going to try to talk to you. So what are going to do?” Jinyoung asked with a serious face. I really had to stop and think about that one, how will I talk to him? I barely survived talking to him for a few minutes, how will I survive an hour. But I really didn’t want to think about that anymore so I decided to change the subject “Look I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, but could you tell me where the detention room is, because I have no idea.”

Jinyoung sighed before answering “It’s in room 63” then he went and looked at his watch before gasping. “Great now we don’t have anytime to talk about what gender would be better to date” Jinyoung said before pouting. But the next second I was thanking my lucky stars, because right before Jinyoung had anymore time to complain the bell rang, and I grabbed my stuff and ran to my next class.

~Detention~

I was mentally cursing myself in every language I knew. Why, why didn’t I spend more thinking about how I could talk to Jackson. Well here we are, sitting in detention with some of the most awkward silence I have ever felt, (and I’ve felt it a lot) Jackson didn’t look much better then me. I could tell that he wanted us to talk, it was obvious by the way he acted. I looked up at the clock, fifty-seven minutes left, I sighed, how had it only been three minutes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive or not.

Jackson’s Pov.

    If it was anyone else I would've just started a conversation with them. But this wasn’t just anyone else, it was Mark, and one does not just simply talk to Mark. (I think) I don’t know why I’m so nervous to just go and talk to him, I guess I had it worse then I thought I did for him.

What should I say, what should I say. I was racking my brain for answers, there has to be something I could say to start a conversation. But suddenly it hit me, “Hey Mark, Jaebum wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry for you getting in trouble for him” I said.

He turned to look at me with a confused face, maybe he didn’t know who Jaebum was. “Jaebum the guy wh-” but before I could finish Mark cut me off. “I know who Jaebum is, I’m just surprised that he's apologizing.” Now it was my turn to be surprised, I guess I couldn’t blame him for not knowing what Jaebum was really like. “You know not all of the popular kid’s are mean, they just have a lot of expectations on them to be, that's why” I said feeling the need to defend my friends honor before continuing “You wouldn’t understand, you unpopular kids get in so easy”  Mark looked at me with a face of disbelief “Us unpopular kid’s get it easy? Yeah right, for one no one knows who we are, and I can’t even tell you how many times someone's associated me with libraries, i don’t even like libraries that much” Mark yelled at me. The shy Mark that I didn't really know was gone, and this one was mad.

But I couldn’t just lose so I yelled back “Why does it matter so much if people notice you or not” I don’t know why I'm yelling at my crush, but I couldn’t stop now. But it must be the same with him because he yelled back “Of course someone like you wouldn’t understand, cuz when prom comes around a bunch of pretty girls are going to ask you to go with them.” He went there, I knew that any chance of me stopping went right down the drain, so I yelled back “Yeah so what, I’m not going to say yes to any of them”

“Why’s that” Mark yelled back showing no sign of stopping. Before I could stop myself I yelled “Because I’m gay, that's why.” I immediately regretted it the second I said it. Well this is it, he’s going to tell everyone and then I’m going to get transferred to a new school, well at least I had fun.

But then I heard him mumbling something. “I’m sorry what was that?” I asked worriedly. Mark sighed before repeating himself “Look if it makes you feel better I’m biual.” I must of looked very surprised as let out a cute little chuckle. “And why do you think that would make me feel better?” I asked teasingly. “because” Mark started “I understand some of the problems that only gay and bi people go through” “Like” I asked wanting to carry this conversation out as long as possible, I was super excited that Mark was at least bi, it meant I had a chance with him.

“Like, I have a bi friend who is constantly pestering me about what gender would be better to date” Mark answered. “Jinyoung?” I questioned. Mark looked up at me surprised “You know him?” I chuckled a little before saying “Yeah, he’ll complain to anyone who’ll listen” Mark looked a little shocked before he said “But he told me that I was the only one that he would ask because I was also bi” “Well I hate to break it to you but that's honestly the only thing that we’ve ever talked about” I replied. Mark was silent for a few second before he burst out laughing. To say I was surprised would be an understatement, his laugh was not what I was expecting, It was loud and high pitched. To other people it would of come off as annoying, but to me it was cute, just like the rest of him.

Mark’s laugh must have some weird effect on my, because I found myself laughing along with him, using my own annoying hyena laugh. He looked shocked for a moment before he burst out laughing again. He then somehow managed to get out “are-are you ser-serious” Between laughs “ Yes, I'm dead serious” I respond still laughing like crazy.

And that's how we spend the rest of our time in detention, just laughing and talking about anything and everything. We got so distracted that I was surprised when Mr. Park came in and told us that detention was over and we were free to leave. “Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, bye” Mark said before he left while waving at me.

I had to say I was surprised with how the shy Mark disappeared and he really opened up to me. I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to talk to him again. But now I had a new problem, I had to find a way to convince my parents to let me take Mark to the prom. I smiled to myself before leaving the school, counting the seconds before I saw Mark again.

The End