Author’s Note: This story is set in an alternate universe, in an imaginary town and country, and during an ambiguous time period.

Yunho hadn’t wanted to go to school.

It wasn’t the institution he hated. In fact, he felt pretty apathetic about school and education. He knew he needed an education and saw it as being important, and that was that. It was the school he now had to go to that was the problem. Green Meadow High School.

Yunho had never thought he would attend Green Meadows High School. Not even in his wildest dreams. Not even when he lived here when he was in middle school. Before when he was in Elementary school. But he had seen it as a right of passage. Given the size of the town, all born and raised Green Meadow citizens have attended the high school at one point and time. It was their only high school. The next high school was four hours drive away in a completely different town. 

Middle was rough, and he had decided against Green Meadow High. He had become opposed to anything Green Meadow and had planned to fight tooth and nail. 

Now that he was back, it felt immature to even raise his displeasure. Plus, his grandparents would have never allowed him to drive that far when there was a perfectly good high school right next door. One he could bike to every morning. 

His poppa and momma were such great, loving people. They were doing so much for him, for his mother, and he knew he had to act and be mature. He had a lot to live up to their expectations and not rock the boat. He would have to graduate high school, pass his classes with the highest marks possible for him and his aptitude and the amount of effort he put in, and then head off to college to make his grandparents happy. He wanted to make them proud. They deserved that from their only grandson,

His mother had dropped out of university. She lasted a month and attended her classes a maximum of three times. They had been devastated. She had given them few things to be happy and proud of, and he wanted it to be different with him. 

He might hate this town, but he did love his grandparents and did not mind living with them for a few years. They were getting in on age and could use the help to maintain the family business. His grandparents had a farm and an organic fruits and vegetable farm. People from the town over would come during the weekends to harvest and take pictures. It was pretty neat. However, Yunho knew how much work it was. While his grandmother had always helped around as much as she could, especially now that she was older, she had never been his poppa’s business partner.

His grandmother had retired six years ago as a high school teacher, and she’d occasionally worked as a substitute. She filled her days with her garden, and all of her other hobbies – and she had a lot of those. She was always organizing something and doing something around town. She was a busy lady.

His grandfather was still maintaining the farm, though on a much smaller scale, with the two hired help they have gotten over the years and the new teenage seasonal workers he’d get every year. With him here with them, Yunho could take care of that burden. He wanted to.

Being back here was not ideal,  but Yunho couldn’t lie, he was so happy to be back with them. He just hated this town. This tiny, gossipy little town.

Everyone already knew he was back. His cold, indifferent silence did not appear to be working on the nosey adults who wanted to know everything about his mother’s life and why he was back from his big city life. And the day had just begun.

Saturday evening, as he was unpacking, the busybody neighbors came over to visit with pies and baked goods. They came in a horde. They heard he was back. They wanted to catch up. He was a sixteen-year-old teenage boy, what could he have to discuss with them? 

He did not want to talk about his mother, but they did not care. After a few minutes of silently smiling and picking at the muffin his momma had served him, his grandparents caught on to his awkwardness and saved him by releasing him to go finish unpacking. Standing in his room, shoving the rest of his clothes into the large, mahogany wooden clothing drawer, he wondered for how long he could avoid exploding on these thoughtless adults and their thirst to know everything about everyone living in this town. 

Sunday was worse, but he tried to busy himself with his chores. 

His grandparents had made it clear he needed structure in his life, something his mother did not give him. Something she hadn’t respected. 

They did not want him to go down the same road as her. They did not say it, but he could see it in their eyes and the way they were treating him. He didn't hate it. It was not like they blamed her. It was more of a regret and a shame that they felt as if they had failed her.  

They hadn’t. They were such great grandparents and such great parent figures. His mother was her own individual person. Yunho knew who his mother was, and she was the opposite of him. She was an excitement fiend.

He could always tell his grandparents saw him as a second chance. A chance to rectify what his mother did and what they could not do for his mother. 

When his mother had been living in Green Meadow with them, raising him, they allowed her to do some of the parenting, but they never trusted her. Truthfully, she had always been more of an older sister. She had always been a very lax, extremely permissive parent. She was still more of a forbearing sister than his mother, even when he had been her sole responsibility.

She proved them correct when she basically kidnapped him – his dad had allowed her to take him, albeit ‘reluctantly,’ as he took the opportunity to tell him, during one of the few time his father felt generous enough to elaborate on why he was constantly asking him to “forgive” him. Now that he was back, his grandparents were serious about smothering him with love, but also serious about installing rules, structure and a respect for authority in him.

They did not have to fear for him, Yunho thought. Because he would never do anything to shame or hurt them. He would never be like his mom. He might be told he looked like her, but that's where their similarities ended. 

He was more like the man he had always known as being his father than his mother.

He would always love his mother, but he did not want to be an adult like her.

“So, what do you think?” This kid named…Changmin, he believed, said. 

Changmin was the one assigned to give him a tour of the school; he was making sure to take him to all his classes, making sure he would not be lost on his first day. While he was showing him around, he was also pointing out all the places where the students liked to hang out, and rambling on about the popular students and all the rumors and gossip he would need to quickly catch up on.

Yunho felt a headache coming.

Changmin was too friendly to the point of attempting to befriend him, not even minding that he was doing most of the talking. 

“I know you’ll like it here,” Changmin said in that aggravating jolly tone. “I know I said we have some real divide here, but it is not like a chick-flick. The jocks are nice.” He paused and gave Yunho a pensive look. Biting his bottom lip, he resumed where he stopped when Andre simply stared at him, expression blank. Laughing, Changmin said, “Jaejoong is the most popular guy here, and honestly, such a nice guy.”

Yunho smiled at Changmin who gave him a critical look as he said that. He flashed Yunho a smile as he said, “He’s mainly popular because he is hot.”

There was an awkward pause. Yunho knew he was supposed to have laughed. He couldn’t fake it and he wanted Changmin to drop this can of worms before he attempted to open it. He gave Changmin a polite, but terse smile and looked away, trying to clear his mind and tune him out. He just would not shut up.

He was the Principal's Student Helper. Supposedly, it was a position of honor, given you had to apply, and then be hand picked by the Admin staff, and you needed two letters of recommendation, not one! Ooh no, Changmin had clarified at the behest of no one. And, those letters were very specific in their requests. One had to come from a teacher vouching for your credibility and your grades had to be amongst the bests of the student body. 

Yunho did not mean this lightly, but he wanted to die. This guy, Changmin, was too friendly, too chatty, and, oh in the name of September, too annoying to bear any longer. And this was only his first day and he hadn’t even met the totality of the student body yet.

Would he survive?

Yunho doubted Changmin got to do this often, because he was just doing too much.

“Too bad you missed homecoming by two weeks, but the junior class was spring.”

“Huh?” Yunho had managed to mute him in his head and was startled to hear him talking to him. He wondered when he would be done with the tour.

“Our theme,” Changmin said and beamed at him, as if he was slow.

He shrugged and looked away from him again. 

That did not bother Yunho. He hated homecoming. He hated school festivities. It was stupid. He never went to the dances, anyways. And he didn’t plan on changing that any time soon.

“But you’re right on time for autumn decoration! We start next week. You can sign up to help us decorate our hall. We didn’t win for homecoming. The seniors won. So unfair. We’re thinking they let them win because they’re seniors. All four years, their class has never won and….” He stopped, took a deep breath, shook his head, and picked up the conversation at a different place. “We're going for the winning goal this time around.”

Yunho found it difficult to hold Changmin’s bright gaze. Clearing his throat, Yunho shrugged and muttered, “Okay.”

Changmin gasped, his eyes shining as he declared, "You should join the committee!" 
 

He was not going to do any such thing. "We'll see."

"We have a blast. It's a blast. Thank about it."

He wouldn't. Yunho nodded and smiled nonchalantly.

He wasn't here to rock the boat or stand out and make friends. He was here to compete his junior and senior year, maybe, and get out of Green Meadow and head off to a university far away.

His focus moving was survival.

“We have a few of the same classes,” he said, pausing his prattling to look at Yunho’s blank face. He flashed the grouchy teen a toothy smile. 

“Okay.” He shrugged and looked away from the smiley teen. 

It looked like it was about to rain. The sky had been this sooty gray since he got into town Saturday evening and had carried on the same way on Sunday and now on Monday. Still no rain. He wanted it to rain. He liked the rain. It was peaceful. He was trying to flood out the incessant worry about his mother and the stress of being back here at Green Meadows. Rain would be perfect.

Changmin suddenly stopped walking, forcing Yunho to also pause. Looking at Yunho at full force, he said,  “So, do you really not remember m-...anything? Any of us?”

“What?” He gave him a fresh scowl. “I’m sorry, were we friends and I—.”

Changmin quickly shook his head. “Aah, I see. I’m sorry. Of course not! You would not have forgotten me if that were so. I just, you know? Find it weird to just forget—”

“It’s been six years. Like I said, I don’t remember much of this town.”

“Hmm. More like five.”

“Six.” He gave him a hard look.

He left Green Meadow the summer before seventh grade. He was back halfway through the beginning of his Junior year. He hadn’t care to take care of and maintain many of the memories he made here.

In fact, he had been happy when he left here. It had been the perfect timing.

“Right. So, you do not remember any of your friends—”

He snickered. It was harsher and far more bitter than he intended. It wasn’t that serious. He shrugged to minimize the effect of his reaction. “I was eleven. I made new friends.”

“Oh, I mean, it’s just—”

“Are we done here, dude? I think I can find my way to my class.”

“Well, we have half an hour to go before the kids start getting in.”

Courtesy of his momma. She wanted him to get “the tour”.

“Okay. I’ll just go wait in the office. Outside. Where the other students wait.” He reached for his schedule and snatched it out of his hand. He winced when he did that. He hadn’t meant to be such a brute. He had just gotten on his nerves with his never ending questions.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Nah; you’re cool.” Changmin stared hard at him, but not maliciously. He was silent while he studied him with his bright eyes.

“Cool.” Yunho stuttered. “Thank you again for the tour. I learned so much. I mean, I haven’t even met all of my peers, but you have been so thorough and insightful, I am not concerned at all about fitting right in.”

Changmin laughed. He was not so far removed that he didn’t understand sarcasm.  “Thanks, dude.”

Yunho flashed him an easy-going smile. He wasn’t half bad, he decided.

“You might not remember much, but you’re the same.”

Yunho stopped mid turn, his stomach dropping at the ominous comment. He flanged back around to level Changmin with a hard, inquisitive stare. He did not know how to react to his offhand comment. “Listen, dude, did I ever do something to you when I lived here? Did I bully you unintentionally? I don’t remember being a bully, but you never know. If so, I am sorry. Just—-”

“What? No!”

“Then why are you being like this? What do you mean?”

“Well,” he shrugged, “it’s just hard to believe that one of the most popular guys in middle school suddenly forgot all about that–being popular, I mean.”

Inhaling, Yunho briefly closed his eyes. “Listen, that was six years ago. Middle school popularity is nothing. Seriously, nothing in the grand scheme of things. All I want is peace and quiet. I just want to graduate.”

“And leave,” Changmin added with an open mouthed smile.

He nodded, on his bottom lip. 

“Aah, well, welcome aboard camaraderie. Me too! Actually, most of us in Green Meadow want the exact same thing.” He continued in his cheery tone. A mismatch to the atmosphere. He fell in step with Yunho who wished Changmin would just leave him alone. “So, have you even forgotten Jaejoong?”

His heart jumped, he felt his chest constricting. He hoped his internal reaction was not evident on his face.

“Huh?” Nothing but confusion and blankness marred his face and voice.

He felt pleased when Changmin shrugged. “Wow, you’ve really wiped your memory clean.”

“Huh?”

Changmin was too invasive for his liking.

“He was your best, best friend, you know?”

Yunho shrugged and snorted. “Six grade. People grow up and change.” 

Changmin smiled kindly at him, his eyes keen. It made Yunho uncomfortable. 

“I mean, I just don’t remember much. It’s been almost a decade.”

Changmin stopped walking and, instead of taking this as a chance to escape, Yunho stopped pumping his legs too and stared up at the giant teen. Changmin blinked up at him under his thick glasses, looking like an owl. 

Emotions Yunho could not decipher ran through his smooth features before the cherup guy smiled, shrugged and picked up his pace. “I guess so. Anywho, nice to meet you, and see you in Calc., alright?”

“I can’t run away, so I’ll be there.”

Changmin’s loud laughter followed him as they made their way to the front office.