“Tao, you’re going to be later for school,” Mom calls from down the hall and I can sense the irritation in her voice.

                “I’ll be right out,” I lock the bathroom door and turn to inspect my face. The reflection in the mirror makes me cringe. My eyes are even darker than usual and streaks of blue and purple are beginning to form across my nose. I let out a sigh of desperations. I have two black eyes and every time I touch my nose—no matter how gently—the touch leaves me with an aching pain. How am I going to hide this from my parents?

                If they see my bruised face I won’t hear the end of it.

                Realizing that my time is running out, I begin to search through Mom’s cabinet. I need makeup. I grab a jar of foundation and begin patting the area under my eyes with the colored liquid, cursing at the pain. Once my appearance looks a bit better I grab the jar and shove it into my backpack. I’ll probably have to reapply at some point throughout the day.

                I quickly put all of Mom’s makeup away, hoping she doesn’t notice and confront me about it later. “Tao, I’m not going to tell you again,” I sigh and head down the stairs, rolling my eyes at my mother’s obnoxious tone.

                Before I was able to escape through the door Dad offered to drive me to school and when I realized he wasn’t in the mood to argue I accepted his proposition. We sit in silence, listening to the purr of the engine. Dad is dressed in a usual suit and tie. He always looks so professional with his sleek black hair and fancy clothes. It’s one of the few things I admire about him. He’s a hard worker but he’s not one to put his family first and that has always been something I’ve loathed about him.

                “How’s school?” I’m surprised he’s even interested enough to ask.

                “It’s fine,” I say, letting out a tired sigh and turning to stare out the window. And then it hits me. How am I going to cover up my detentions? I never came up with a good excuse. Panic rises in my chest, suddenly making it hard to breathe. “Uh, Dad,” I blurt out, my mind racing.

                “Yeah,” He asks, raising his tone questioningly.

                “Would it be ok if I stayed after school for a little while today and maybe a few days this week?” I ask anxiously. There is a thick silence surrounding us for several minutes.

                “Why can’t you just come home?” He asks with an overly serious manner.

                “My English teacher wants me to help tutor a few other students. She says she’ll give me extra credit for the class,” He doesn’t respond so I try to push him a bit, “Please, Dad,” He sighs and a moment later complies.

                “Alright, just be careful coming home. Call you mother when you leave the school,” Relief washes through me.

When I make my way into school I’m suddenly greeted by the cold-as-ice queen of iness. “Hey, Tao,” She says flirtatiously, flipping her golden hair over her shoulder. Her eyes scan my body, looking me up and down.

                “Hey, Jessica,” I say with a sarcastic cheerfulness. What could she want? I turn and start back down the hall, not paying her any special attention. She already has enough people who worship her.

                “I heard about the fight,” She calls out, quickening her pace to stroll beside me.

                “I’m pretty sure everyone did,” its old news now. Can’t she just run back to her friends and find something else to try and gossip about?

                “And now Kris has four weeks of detention,” She sighs, as if this heavily affects her somehow.

                “Two weeks,” I correct, causing her to raise a questioning eyebrow, “The principal changed it,” I clarify and lets out a small ‘oh’.

                “Well, it’s still a hassle. All my plans are messed up,” She sighs (again) in a phony disappointment.

                “What plans?” I ask even though I know I shouldn’t; that’s what she wants. I really don’t care what her plans are, or what she does, but I guess I’m slightly interested in what she has to say assuming Kris is involved. Kris doesn’t exactly seem like the person to have a lot of free time. He works two jobs and spends a lot of time looking after Luhan. What plans could he have with Jessica, assuming she is his girlfriend? I’ve never really heard either of them come out and declare their relationship officially labeled.

                “I reserved a VIP table at this newly opened Italian restaurant in the city. We were going to have a romantic dinner, and since my parents are going to be away all week, he was going to spend the night,” Her voice rises to emphasize the second part of her stupid story.

                “What a pity,” I try to keep the bitterness out of my voice but I can tell she picks up on it because the corners of rise as she tries to suppress a smirk.

                “Indeed,” She stops in front of me, running a hand down the front of my uniform, “Do you think you could get him out of trouble?” Now way, I already lessened his sentence. That is suffering these next two weeks with me.

                “I’ll see what I can do,” I flash a fake smile before pushing her aside and making my way to my locker. Thankfully she doesn’t follow.

                That . That ing . I sit in History fuming with anger. Why would she ask me to get Kris out of trouble? He almost broke my nose. He should be punished. Why would I go out of my way to get him out of trouble just so he can go sleep with his ty girlfriend?

                I can barely pay attention to what the teacher’s lecture is about. Her words are echoing throughout the room, and I hear them but nothing is processing through my brain. All I can think about is Kris spending the night with Jessica. Just the thought makes my blood boil. I should have simply thanked the principal for clearing up the issue and taken that as my cue to go. Why the hell did I ask for detention? Kris doesn’t even talk to me and I went out of my way to try and help him. I don’t think he even likes me. He doesn’t look at me when we’re together and he’ll talk to every single one of my friends but me. And it bothers me more than it should.

                My mood has hit rock bottom by the time the bell rings for lunch. I’ve been yelled at for not paying attention and I back talked a teacher for the first time ever. Soon enough I’ll be getting more detention than I can handle.

                Someone laces their fingers through mine, causing me to jump in surprise. I glance to my side to see that the culprit is no other than Jonghyun himself. My eyes fall across the blossoming bruise along his jawline and I grimace at how bad it’s already beginning to look. Not only is his skin covered with patches of blacks and blues but also reds and yellows. “You look awful,” I blurt out, leaning in to inspect his face. He smirks and I quickly back away noticing how close our faces were.

                “Thanks, Princess,” He stops and settles in front of me, bringing a hand up to my face, “You’re not looking too good yourself,” His fingers glide across my cheek bone, and I have to control myself from flinching at his touch. “If you’re going to wear makeup you should at least learn to do it the right way,”

                “You can tell?” I ask.

                “You didn’t do the best job blending. Don’t worry. Key can help you fix it. Come with me.” With his hand still attached to mine, Jonghyun begins to lead the way down the hall. We pass the cafeteria and shove past the quickly dispersing crowd. “Where are we going? Don’t you eat in the cafeteria,” I ask, mildly confused. We continue down one of the empty halls, only creating more distance between us and the crowded lunch room.

                “You’ll see, we don’t always eat in the cafeteria,” It takes me a moment to realize his words are actually true. On several occasions I’ve noticed Jonghyun’s table being completely empty or filled with other students who took the unused space to spread out. But where else would he and all his friends go to eat? Students are allowed to eat outside of the cafeteria but never really thought anyone did. The outside food court is inhabited by tons of bugs and the picnic tables are falling apart.

Some first year students eat in their hallway, sitting down against the walls but after a while they settle down amongst the upper classmen. That’s what I did when I was a freshman. Me, Baekhyun, Sehun, Chen, and Xui Min all spent the majority of our first year of high school lunches sitting against our lockers in our own secluded area. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place to eat lunch but it was our spot. Before school year came to an end we claimed a cafeteria table as our own, no longer intimidated by the graduating seniors.

                A wave of sadness overcomes me when I realize Jonghyun and most of his friends won’t be coming back next year. They’re all seniors and soon they’ll be graduating and moving on to bigger and better things. The same goes with Chanyeol and his group. The kings of the school will be gone and forgotten, only to be replaced by the popular students of the younger grades.

                “Come on, Tao,” Jonghyun says, flashing me a genuinely happy smile. I force myself to smile back, following him up a flight of stairs.

                “Are we going to the roof?” I ask.

                “Yep,” At the top of the small stair case, Jonghyun pushes a door open and a cold breeze flows past us. My nose is instantly filled with the small of the outdoors. “On days like this, when the weather’s nice, we come up here for lunch,”

                I follow Jonghyun as we make our way up onto the roof. My eyes are instantly blinded by the light and I have to blink several times in order for them to adjust. There’s a small garden here, nestled between two large air vents. The rows of pots are filled with different flowers, each blossoming with vibrant colors. Large beach umbrellas poked with holes cover the growing plants, allowing just enough light to touch their petals.

                “It looks like a greenhouse up here,” I say, still admiring the beauty of this hidden place, “And the view is amazing. I never knew you could see the city from here,” I turn to Jonghyun who is grinning with satisfaction. 

                “I’ve been coming here since my first year of high school. I came across this place one lunch period when I had just decided to wander around. I found myself coming here a lot and when I became friend with Key and the other I introduced this place as our new lunch spot. We cleaned it up and added to the garden,”

                “It’s amazing,” I’m a bit surprised by this side of Jonghyun.

                “I know,” He sings out with his usual, cockiness. We find Kibum and the others lounging on top of an old picnic table, chatting away. He’s the first to notice us, and when he does he breaks out into a smile.

                “Hey, Tao, I see that Jonghyun’s shown you to our hiding spot,”

                “I-I’m sorry if I’m introducing—”

                “Shut up, Tao. I brought you here for a reason,” Jonghyun elbow me in the side.

                “You’re one of us now. You can come here whenever you want,” Kibum pulls me down to sit beside him, “Next year this can be you’re lunch spot,” He says with a sad smile. “It’ll be up to you to make sure this place isn’t forgotten,” Graduation must be on every seniors mind. I wonder if Key and Jonghyun are ready to graduate, or if they’re sad about moving on.

                “Won’t it bother you knowing other people are taking your secret lunch spot?” I ask.

                “This place deserves to be enjoyed. Plus, we’ve left our mark,” Key runs his hand over the surface of the wooden table and I realize that all of their names are carved into the old wood.

                As the lunch period passes I find myself silently watching Jonghyun as he jokes and chats with his best friends. I’ve known of Jonghyun for what feels like forever, but the more time I spend with him the more I realize I never really did know him. Kim Jonghyun, the king of the graduating class, isn’t as bad as he seems. I’m actually beginning to consider him a friend.

                But what the point in getting to know someone who’s going to walk out of your life the moment that bell rings for the last time?

                It takes me a moment to realize my thoughts are no longer about Jonghyun.

***

                When the day finally comes to an end I am tired and disheartened, wanting want to go home and sleep. But I can’t. I have detention.

                As I go to close my locker I turn to notice Kris all the way across the lobby standing at his locker in the senior hallway. He’s elegant just by standing. With a tired sigh I slam my locker shut and force myself to begin walking towards him. I’m surprised at how anxious I get with each step; why didn’t I rehearse what I was going to say to him? That would have made this much easier.

                I walk up behind Kris and stand silently, waiting for him to finish cleaning out his locker. After a minute or so I clear my throat, awkwardly trying to get his attention. He seems to become aware of my presence because he sighs and closes his locker. “Jessica, I told you I have—” His mouth drops when his eyes land on me and not his trashy girlfriend. I can feel a scowl creeping across my face just at the mention of her name. Kris stares at me with a look of surprise on his face.

                His large brown eyes are filled with confusion and his dumbfounded stare leaves me feeling uncomfortable. After another moment of silence I decide to speak with the hope of clearing up the unnerving attention. “Where’s room 122?” His eyebrows knit together with an even deeper form of confusion causing me to let out a sigh of frustration. Why does this have to be so difficult?

                “Why do you have to go to room 122?” He asks with a composed tone despite his flustered attitude. The deepness of his voice makes me feel even more uneasy. I pull out my bright pink detention slip and dangle it in front of him. His eyes widen in surprise. “Why do you have detention?”

                The same reason as you,” I say, shoving the thin piece of paper back into my pocket.

                “That doesn’t make sense,” He states, skeptically, as if he doesn’t believe my words.

                “Does it have to?” I turn and begin walking down the hallway realizing Kris is far too distracted to answer my simple question. I’ll find the stupid room myself. I can hear his footsteps coming up behind me.

                “Yes,”

                “Don’t you have to walk your girlfriend out?” I ask a bit too harshly, and I immediately regret asking. I don’t want Kris to get the impression that I care about his relationship. He’s barely done anything yet here I am, overly irritated by his presence.

                “Jessica can walk herself out,” I can feel a pang of disappointment when he doesn’t deny the fact. I guess I know for sure now. “Don’t you have your new group of friends to walk out?” His words come out casual but I can sense he’s returning my sass.

                I wish I had some kind of good comeback to deflect his question, but I don’t. I could say it’s none of his business but he could easily return that statement to me for prying into his relationship.

                “You’re going the wrong way, room 122 is down that hall,” Kris calls and I turn to glare at him.

                “Well, you could have told me where it was when I asked you,” I turn and head in the opposite direction feeling a bit stupid. “It’s your fault I have detention in the first place,” I mutter, trying to make him feel bad. His smirk fades a moment after the words slip from my mouth and I can tell he does.

                “I’m sorry I got you in trouble,” He says, suddenly serious. “I told the principal what happened so I don’t understand how you could get in trouble,” By the way he says this, I can tell he is genuinely confused by my punishment, not trying to defend himself.

                “It doesn’t matter now,” I say, uncomfortable with the sudden seriousness of the conversation. The hallway is filled with silence for what feels like forever before Kris speaks again.

                “I’m sorry for hurting you,” He says from a few feet behind. I’m a bit taken back by his sudden apology. I never though Kris would be the type of person to swallow his pride and apologize for anything.  

                “You don’t have to apologize,” It was an obvious accident and everyone knows it. I don’t get why we have to dwell on what happened.

                “Yes, I do,” He insists.

                “Well, I accept your apology. There’s no point in dwelling on what happened,” I say. Kris doesn’t say another word and I’m grateful he doesn’t. We come to the end of the hall and stop in front of the door labeled 122. I push it open and step inside the small classroom.

                “You must be Tao and Kris,” I petite young lady announces from behind the large desk across the room. “Welcome to detention,” She says rather bluntly. “I’d like to leave so I’ll get to the point; this is my classroom so if you mess around and break anything you’ll find yourself right back in the principal’s office with more than just two weeks of detention,”

                “I have four weeks of detention,” Kris corrects, cutting her off without a care. I begin to scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

                “Well, not anymore. I spoke with the principal this morning so I guess he had a change of heart,” She says, tying her hair into a messy bun before standing up and pushing her chair back in, “I want my book case organized, the windows wiped, the white boards cleaned, the garbage cans emptied, and the shelves neatened. Usually the janitors cover most of those chores but I made sure they saved them for you two,” She smirks and Kris sighs with irritation. “Good luck,” With that she’s gone.

                For a while we stand around awkwardly not quite sure where to start. I glance over at the clock are realize I’m going to be here longer than I was hoping.

                “I’ll get the garbage bags,” Kris says, swiftly proceeding to do so. I sigh for what feels like the thousandth time today.

                “I’ll get the shelves,”

***