Warning: This chapter centers around bullying! 

"You mentioned that you used to live with your grandfather? Is he the one you heard this song from?" Jaemin asked as him and Doyeon sat out on her balcony. Doyeon nodded absentmindedly, she was too focused on which chords her finger needed to switch to. Just like she'd hoped; Jaemin did start teaching her the song again. It had been three weeks, and she'd gotten more than half of the song down. She still stumbled over her strumming, she wasn't good at placing her fingers so she kept muting the chords on accident. She'd really only had four lessons, so she shouldn't expect perfection. "Can I ask why?" Jaemin asked quietly, but it still made Doyeon's finger slip. Now she forgot where she'd been in the song. Doyeon sighed, setting the guitar to the side. 

"Why are you curious? Isn't it normal for people to live with their grandparents?" She asked, trying not to shut herself off at the simple question. Jaemin tilted his head back and forth, his nose scrunched up. It was obvious that he was trying to portray the words 'kind of' without actually speaking them. "It just went that way." Doyeon wasn't uncomfortable about her parents divorce, or the situation that led up to her staying with her grandparents...it was more like she didn't like a certain string of memories that were attached to that part of her life. Her grandparents were great people, and they'd made everything so much easier for her, but they hadn't been able to stop the trauma from settling in her. They lessened the impact, and that's all she could have asked for. "Goodnight." Doyeon said, heading inside of her room. 

Jaemin raked a hand through his hair, maybe he shouldn't have asked...but, a part of him was growing more and more curious. He wasn't sure how much longer he could act like there wasn't a cloud of secrets above their friendship. She was slowly revealing her past to them, and he'd have to be content with that. And if he wasn't, he'd act like he was. 

~~~

Doyeon wasn't a detective--nor had she ever claimed to be or want to be one--but, she wasn't a horrible observer. Sure she wasn't the most diligent person, but she did pick up on certain things others didn't. An example of this: Jisung's odd bruises. She'd noticed one on his arm that day they went to the train tracks. She didn't bring it up to the others, she had no idea what Jisung's home life was like, but she doubted the bruises came from any family altercations. Simple because Jisung never shied away from having Chenle or the other guys come to his house, Doyeon figured that he wouldn't want them around if his family wasn't comfortable together. Which made her assume it was other kids. Doyeon wasn't sure--It was a possibility that he was just clumsy--at least not until now.

As soon as Doyeon opened her front door, Chenle walked in with a wave and immediately made himself comfortable. He laid down, stretching his body as far out as he could on the somewhat small couch. Doyeon walked over to him with a raised eyebrow, "What?" She asked. Chenle never took much coaxing. 

"Jisung's been acting weird," he twisted his lips in thought. It was obvious he knew what was going on, but wasn't sure if he should tell Doyeon about it. He'd expected to make his decision by the time he'd arrived at her house, but turns out he overestimated his ability to come to quick conclusions. Doyeon opened to speak, but Chenle beat her to it. "Jisung used to get bullied in first year, we all thought it ended after we turned the bullies in and they got suspended..." he trailed off for a second, "He's been acting like he used to again, it's slowly becoming more apparent, and I just don't know how to bring it up." He sighed, "I mean, I can't relate to the situation--I've always been liked--I just don't know what to do." 

Doyeon bit her lip, maybe she shouldn't offer, but..."I can try and talk to him." It wasn't necessarily something she wanted to do, but she could at least come from a place of understanding and sympathy. Something Chenle couldn't do. 

Chenle perked up substantially, "Doyeon, has anyone ever told you you're a great friend?" He asked happily, he didn't realize what his words held. He didn't realize that Doyeon was going to keep those words close to her heart, so she was being a good friend? Her attempts weren't going unnoticed. Something about that made her smile, she tried to bite it back but she couldn't. 

"You just did." 

~~~

Doyeon wasn't a detective, but she would be playing one for today. Putting so much attention onto someone was draining, but she'd already given Chenle her word, and she knew better than to break that on any level. So, that's how she found herself standing up to follow Jisung. Class would start in ten minutes. She waited a second after Jisung left, before she turned to Jeno and told him she'd be back in a minute. He nodded, too engrossed in the video he was watching on his phone. Doyeon slipped out of the room, she took note of how Jisung was wringing his hands, he was slouched over too. To her eyes it looked like he was attempting to make himself seem small, if he looks weak and unthreatening, maybe everyone will ignore him. It's funny, because Doyeon thought the same thing at one point. It turns out, the smaller you try to make yourself look, the more people want to appear bigger than you. A lot of people can't be satisfied with just making someone feel small, they want to push it till the person truly believes their worthless, till they really  feel small. 

Jisung made his way up two flights of stairs, where the majority of the senior classes were. Doyeon watched as he walked into a bathroom, it was at the end of the hall, and because of classes starting nobody was in the hallways. She heard voices as soon as Jisung opened the bathroom door, so she walked closer--hoping whoever he was meeting was already in there and wouldn't catch her loitering around--stopping just outside the door. She could hear everyone talking, though the sounds were muffled by the door, causing her to miss some words. 

"Took you long enough, I thought we told you to be quick" She caught almost every word, and those of which she missed were easily filled in. "Well, don't you have something to say for yourself?" The sound of something hitting the wall made Doyeon flinch, she could practically feel someone's finger on her shoulder, exactly what Jisung was actually feeling. 

"Can't you at least look at us, we're speaking to you." 

"Have some respect!" 

Doyeon's fist curled at her sides. Was there some sort of shared dialog bullies had? She could almost picture neighborhood jerk bags meeting up to share script ideas. The mental image itself was comical, but she couldn't even think about that, because it was overshadowed by the anger it made her feel. 

A smaller voice spoke up, just barely audible to Doyeon. "My class is two floors down, t-that's why it took so long." Not even a second passed before another shove was heard, and this time it was louder. Doyeon wasn't sure what came over her--she didn't usually get the overwhelming urge to be some type of heroine--she preferred to stay out of things, and really she could have just opened the door a crack, taken some photos and try to get the school involved. Or even wait to catch a glimpse of whoever these people were, then inform Chenle, and hope the boy would be able to take care of it. But, she didn't do that, instead she threw the door open, and walked right over to Jisung. He was on the floor, a hand to his head, which seemed to have bounced back into a stall when he fell. She took one look at him, before turning to the two other guys present. Both of their faces bore an expression of shock. 

"W-what are you doing in here?" One of them stuttered out. Doyeon's eyebrows furrowed, but it only took her a second to realize she was currently in the boys bathroom. 

She cleared , trying her best to not sound intimidated by the current situation. "I could ask you two the same thing." She stated. The taller boy who'd just spoken scoffed. He also seemed to push aside the fact that there was a girl in the boys bathroom, and instead went right back into his baddie act. 

"I'm, no we-" he pointed between hi