The Other Kid

“I smell new meat.” Chen said to the air, as there was no one around, school having started fifteen minutes ago, a grin spreading across his face as he stood in front of the door to the highschool he’d been attending for the past year. 

“I smell burning rubber as you run to your class in an attempt not to be as late.” Said a voice behind him and Chen spun around, his grin widening as his eyes landed on an older, but still young-looking man, standing with his arms crossed behind him. 

He had light strawberry blonde hair, sharp narrow eyes and defined cheekbones, one immaculate eyebrow raised slightly at his former student. 

“Key! My favorite teacher!” Said Chen charmingly and the teacher raised an eyebrow. 

“That might work on Onew, but it doesn’t work on me. Get to class. And that’s Sir to you young man.” 

“You’re no fun, sir.” He said, laughing as he jogged off to his class, what did he have first again? 

Chemistry, that was it. 

He ran down the hall, stopping outside the lab and knocking on the door, settling into his usual smirk as the teacher pulled open the door. 

“Yo, Ms.” He winked as the pretty woman who'd been his teacher last year, smiled slightly at him. “Did you miss me?” 

“Not particularly. Go sit down Chen.” 

“Aw, I’m hurt.” He said, causing the class to let out a giggle as the teacher rolled her eyes. 

“Just sit down.” He cast eyes over the classroom, no familiar faces. 

Ah well, he strolled to the back and sat down at an empty seat next to a guy with wide eyes and another who was gazing, bored, out the window. 

“Settle down class. My name is Ms. Hani and I will be your Chemistry teacher this year. We have some new students with us today, so I’ll being going through what I expect of each of you in my classroom...” 

Chen yawned. He’d heard it all before. 

The boy next to him had started nervously fiddling with his hoodie strings, biting his lip repeatedly and his friend (Chen assumed) seemed to realize he was fidgeting and leaned over to whisper something in his ear which caused him to crack a small smile. 

“Hey.” Chen greeted them and they both looked up at the same time, and if he were one to get intimidated by talking to others, he’d be terrified, a pair of large, dark eyes stared at him, it kinda reminded Chen of an owl, and from behind a pair of, they sort of looked red, eyes were questioningly looking at him. 

“You guys new?” He asked, a friendly smile on his face as he leant back on the legs of his chair. 

Owl kid looked at the other one, as if scared to answer and he nodded. 

“I’m Baekhyun.” He introduced himself with a smile and Chen looked at his friend. 

“How about you?” 

“Ky-kyungsoo.” He stuttered out quietly, his hands going back to the strings of his hoodie and Chen looked at Baekhyun, a question on his lips to which Baekhyun shrugged. 

“Pay attention at the back please!” Ms. Hani called out, and Kyungsoo immediately straightened, while Baekhyun went back to staring out the window, and Chen yawned, leaning further back on his chair as he thought about the upcoming year. 

Minutes ticked by, the three boys at the back of the class not talking again until the teacher looked at her watch and waved her hand at the class.

“Class dismissed.” Said Hani and Chen immediately grabbed his bag and quickly walked out the door. 

“Do not be late again.” She called after him and Chen waved at her. 

“Of course not Miss.” He walked off cheerfully, and someone suddenly threw their arm around his shoulders.

“Hey!” “Chanyeol!” He said. “How’ve you been? It’s been ages.” 

“I’ve got something to tell you guys at lunch.” He said, and there was an excited glint in his eyes. “I need some help.” 

“What for?” Chen was curious; it was unusual for his energetic friend to ask for help, he was usually the type to just wing everything. 

“You’ll see.” Chanyeol winked and pulled his arm of the other’s shoulders. “Have a good time with the Dragon.” 

“Oh god, why did you remind me?” Chen groaned. “I ing hate geography.” 

Chanyeol laughed as he went into his class, leaving Chen to drag his feet to the next classroom. 

“Jongdae. So nice of you to show up to my class.” The handsome, and yes, extremely popular teacher raised an eyebrow as Chen dragged himself into the classroom. 

Mr. Kwon was arguably one of the most popular teachers at the school, Chen often thought if a newcomer came to this place they’d be extremely weirded out by how attractive everyone was. All the teachers could arguably work as models, and about half the student body looked ready to walk the catwalk right now. 

“Mr. Kwon.” He greeted grumpily, and the teacher raised an eyebrow, however chose not to say anything, indicating to an empty seat and Chen sat down. 

Chen did like Mr. Kwon, or G-Dragon as he was called by the students, but he also hated him. Or he hated his teaching style, which involved actually having to do work. And he gave a ton of homework. It probably didn't help that Chen loathed Geography, I mean come on, it wasn't even a proper subject, just reading maps and . 

Boring. 

He didn't pay attention to what the teacher was saying, and instead glowered in his seat at the fact that he had no friends in his least favorite class. Seeing as it was the first day, the teacher just let them do whatever they wanted, a sort of get to know each other lesson. 

Chen pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Kai. 

seen xiu? 

– no 

– why 

just wondering 

– don't txt me in class 

ur the one who answered 

– cuz u asked a question 

no one was forcing u to answer 

– y is ur teach letting u txt anyways 

– didn't u have gd 

yeah but we have free time 

– lucky 

– wait i told u to stop txting me 

ur the one who kept answering 

– stop 

stop wat 

– txting 

why 

– cuz im doing work 

really. 

– yes. 

– im gonna do well this yr 

sure. 

– i have to study 

– we have exams 

!!NERD ALERT!! 

Chen slipped his phone back in his pocket, ignoring the buzz that was undoubtedly Kai's answer, and fixed eyes on the clock, watching the minutes slowly tick by, clicking his tongue in annoyance it time seemed to keep getting slower. 

"Jongdae." Said Mr. Kwon disapprovingly looking up from his desk and Chen tried to not to scowl at the teacher using his real name. 

He didn't like it. It brought back things he'd rather not remember. He glared at the clock some more. 

"That's not going to make it go any faster~" A lilting voice invaded his thoughts and he forced a scowl, trying not to look too happy as he could the teacher eyeing him.

"What are you doing?" He formulated the thought inside his head; it had taken him three weeks to learn how to properly communicate through thinking, and it was still hard for him to hide his true thoughts from the pixie.

"Waiting outside. It's so boring. Why aren't you out yet?" 

"I'll be out soon." 

"Get a move on!" 

"Get out of my head." He could practically see the Xiumin pouting on the other side of the classroom wall and tried to clear his head so the pixie that was currently communicating with him wouldn't catch the drift of his thoughts. 

"Fine." Chen may not have felt it enter, but he felt Xiumin's presence leave his mind, like a warmth that had wrapped around his brain was suddenly gone. 

He let out a quiet sigh and ran a hand through his hair, trying not to feel too pleased that Xiumin was waiting outside the door for him. 

"Right, you guys can go. Try to be on time next time." Mr Kwon eyed Chen who was pointedly ignoring him, being already halfway out the door. 

Chen grinned as he caught sight of the cute boy who waiting for him. 

"Xiu." He threw his arm around the shorter one's shoulders, who smiled brightly at the other.

"Hey." The two of them walked down the corridor, Chen smiling widely and Xiumin recounting the events of his morning to the younger boy, the two of them perfectly content with their arms around each others shoulder and waist.