A quiet sigh escaped the dark haired boy's mouth as he stared at the giant building in front of him. An unfamiliar atmosphere enveloped the area and strange people seemed to direct their gaze only at the already nervous student. He already didn't want to be there, and the surroundings just made it worse. Again, he sighed, but managed to allow a sweet smile to grow across his face. This was good for him. This was better. Anything was better than having to wonder if there would be food on the table or a place to sleep. He was protected. He was safe. And safe was as good as it could get. The worst thing he had to endure were the introductions in his new class.

 "I can get through this. I'm fine," the anxious teen stated quietly. 

 He glared at the entrance of the menacing school. Hesitation and nervousness consumed him as he contemplated what his next move should be. WIth a quiet chuckle, the boy recalled his earlier thoughts and tried to bring himself to walk forward and into the building. 

 Finally, after thinking for what felt like years, he placed one foot in front of the other and moved forward into the structure and looked around at the groups of students that stood around the campus. He shook his head having already assumed no one would want to be his friend. 

 Suddenly, he fell to the ground with a large thud. Fortunately, none of his supplies managed to escape the confines of his bag and spill out all over the floor. Someone had crouched down next to him and was holding out their hand. 

 "Hey, dude! You okay?" the concerned voice asked.

 Slowly, he looked up and rubbed his hand. He nodded and refused to place his hand in the other's. "I'm fine." The new student stood up and straightened his already messy looking clothes. 

 "Dude. I'm really sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Totally my fault, man."

 Again, he nodded and stared at the guy standing before him. His dark, raven black hair was styled neatly and combed up revealing his forehead. His narrow eyes complemented his strong jawline and pale lips. 

 "Hey! Kid!"

 The sudden outburst shook the teen from his staring. Quickly, he looked down at his old shoes. "Sorry. I ju-"

 "It's all good." The raven haired boy looked the other up and down. "Are you the new kid everyone's been talking about?"

 With a confused expression, the new student glared at the boy in front of him. "How can you tell just from me standing here?"

 Before the other could answer, a small group of three boys appoached them. 

 "Way to go JB!" a short, brown haired boy yelled from across the room. 

 Another black haired student smacked the brunette on the back of the head. "Shut up Wang! Nobody asked. Leave him alone. Besides, we already know what a careless idiot Jaebum is." He stood next to the student named JB and smacked him as well. 

 A red haired teen stood in between the two and shoved the one who had been slapping the others away gently. "Stop it. He probably apologized already. No need to start hitting people."

 The new student began to walk away from the group swiftly. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned back around and looked downwards at the slightly shorter guy in front of him. 

 "You new here? I haven't seen you around before."

 The dark haired teen simply nodded as a response. 

 "I'm the wild and hot Jackson Wang!" He smirked and flexed pointing at his arm. 

 That gained him another smack from the tall black haired guy. "Shut up Jackson!" He sighed. "I'm Jinyoung. Hope you like it here. Sorry about him. He's a little... uh... full of it. I really do hope you can enjoy your time here, though." Jinyoung smiled sweetly.

 The teen smiled back nervously.

 "The one that knocked you over is Jaebum. We just call him JB. He's an idiot." Jackson grinned as JB elbowed him and gave him a stern glare. "And the cutie with the bright red hair is Mark." The musucular boy blew a kiss over to him earning a blush and making Mark flip him off, attempting to cover his embarrassed expression. "Ah, Markie! Don't be like that!"

 Hesitantly, the new student began to introduce himself. "I'm Ch-Choi Youngjae."

 A small smile grew across JB's face, but he turned his head quickly trying to hide it as best as he could. 

 Jinyoung smiled boldly and placed his hand on Youngjae's upper arm. "Glad you're here, Youngjae! We'd be more than happy to show you around and make you feel as comfortable as possible." The black haired male ruffled the no longer uncomfortable teen's hair earning a shy smile from him. 

 A trio of girls passed by the group and JB eyed them closely. A smirk spread across his face. "Guys, I'm gonna go catch up with them. I think this year will be a better oppurtunity to get to know the girls more." With a hopeful expression, JB looked at the rest of the group awaiting a reply.

 The flame red haired boy nodded and moved closer to Jackson. "Okay. You don't need an answer from us, do you?"

 Jinyoung shruged and looked back at Youngjae. "I think you should stay with us, JB. Make sure the new kid knows his way around. You can always chase Momo around some other day. Besides, she doesn't even like you back. Thought we established that last year."

 The tall, dark haired teen growled a bit. "I can still try. Whatever. Doesn't matter anyway. Sure. Let's show Youngjae around."

 Youngjae shook his a head a bit. "It's fine. You can go talk to them if you want to. I'll be fine, I assure you."

 "No. I'll help. Seriously. I'll just catch up with them later."

 Hesitantly, he accepted and nodded. "Okay."

 The brunette put his arm around Mark's waist and stood ahead of the group. "What are we waiting for? Let's get going before the school day starts. Don't want Youngjae being lost on the first day."

 The group began following Jackson and Mark. Youngjae trailed behind a bit slower than the rest and dragged his feet along the glossy tile beneath him. 

 As the mini tour commenced, Youngjae tuned out everything and kept to himself. Thoughts flooded his mind as he recalled many things. None of the boys seemed to notice, allowing for this to continue without any interuption. Dark memories consumed him, but he didn't find a way to put a stop to them. A gentle sigh escaped from his mouth capturing Jaebum's attention. 

 He looked back at the dark haired boy and noticed him staring off into space, only moving forawrd because everyone else was. "You okay, Youngjae?" he asked quietly as Jackson rambled on about a lame classroom with no particularly interesting aspects. 

 Youngjae quickly looked up at him and was drawn from his thoughts. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just tired is all." He managed to give JB a weak smile to ensure he thought he was actually fine. 

 JB sighed a bit knowing the truth, but decided not to fight it. "If you say so."

 The tour continued on like this.

 As it neared the end, Youngjae let out a breath of relief. He was glad to have made friends so quickly, unlike his initial thought, but Jackson really couldn't keep his mouth shut. The soothing tone of Jinyoung's voice was really a much better suit for Youngjae's taste.

 "And that's about it. It's a huge campus I know. We haven't even visited the dorms either. I assume you already have your room number. We can show you after classes end. Do you know your way around?" Jinyoung asked kindly.

 Youngjae nodded even though he had no idea where his classrooms were after thinking so hard about unecessary things. "Yeah. I think I got it. Thanks."

 "No problem!" Jackson shouted loudly. "See? It isn't that bad, is it?"

 The teen smiled and let his eyes scrunch up a bit, allowing for a sweet and cute expression to form. "No. It really isn't"

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A/N: Better? I really thought so. Can't wait to write more!

~Ante <3