You looked away for the umpteenth time, you had caught yourself looking at the new kid too many times today. And the amount of times he caught you staring at him was enough to make you want to crawl into a hole.

You frowned, sighing to yourself, looking down at your notes. It was too difficult to pay attention in class since he had arrived. It was like his entire existence made you curious about him, several girls in your class also had their eyes on him.

But the only one whose stares he caught were yours. That gave your ego a little boost of confidence. Maybe he actually cared about what you thought even a little. 

“Hey.” You heard a voice whisper next to you. You turned to the owner with a frown, Jackson had been in your class from diapers and a part of you valued that friendship, going through the awkward puberty stage and also just helping each other out with homework.

“Yeah?” You answered coolly. You already knew what he was going to say. He’d been saying it everyday for about a week now. You knew he was just concerned about you, but you were big enough to handle yourself, you could make your own decisions.

“You’re staring at Jaebum again.” He simply stated, not saying what you knew he wanted to say. But he had his lips pressed together in a frown. 

“And?” You asked back, waiting for him to add the comment that you knew was on the tip of his tongue.

“He’s not good, you know. Haven’t you heard any of the rumors?” Jackson asked you pointedly. 

You rolled your eyes at him, “You mean the ones about how he’s in a gang? How he killed someone? How he smokes on the rooftop during lunch?” You whispered angrily back at him. “Yeah, I’ve heard them.” 

“Everyone knows about it, you know. Don’t you think there’s some truth to them?” He asked back, almost arguing, but he knew better than to press your buttons. 

“I’ll believe it when I hear it from him. Besides, everyone is just scared of him, aren’t they? He’s too mysterious, too new, that’s why they all wanna talk about him.” You countered, going back to your notes and turning to the front. 

Jackson knew that was the end of the conversation and sighed, going back to his notes as well. You felt the tingling sensation of being stared at and looked around the room, Jaebum had just turned back to the front and you frowned.

Had he been staring at you? He avoided everyone like the plague honestly, he always looked so angry all the time, glaring at people and scowling in the corner. He had specifically requested a desk as far from everyone as possible, which probably started the rumor to begin with.

You were lost in thought, considering all the possibilities, as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch. Jackson bolted out of the room and you were left with looking at Jaebum in the corner and Jinyoung, yet another one of your classmates from when you were in diapers.

He called your name and you turned to look at him, “You should know better than to associate with bad people.” Jinyoung told you sternly.

You walked out of the classroom with him, not before giving Jaebum one more glance over your shoulder. “Who said I am?” You challenged back. Jinyoung wa