If I ever have to pick up another box of textbooks I swear I’ll kill myself. I sprawl out across my bed, sighing drowsily. Detention is horrible. I squeeze my pillow to my chest, clutching it tightly. The hour that we were there dragged on painfully slow and by the time it ended I felt exhausted both physically and mentally. The school days just seem to be getting longer and longer despite the fact that the year is already more than half over.

                Being with Kris wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. We worked in complete silence the entire time, not even saying a word until the hour passed and it was all over with. I guess I was almost expecting something to happen; a fight or argument at least, but nope; nothing. His civilized persona is almost irritating.

                “Don’t stack the books so high,” I turn and glare at the tall boy across the room.

                “Why not,” I ask, coldly.

                “It doesn’t look good,” He says bluntly, turning back to cleaning the white board.

                “I don’t care,” I mutter, rolling my eyes. So ing picky; I want to get this done as fast as possible so I can just leave already. Who the hell cares if the stacks of books don’t look good? If the teacher doesn’t like how the stupid books are stacked she can do it herself. “Why can’t we just have regular detention? This is child labor,” I mutter, talking to no one in particular. I tent to talk to myself when I’m bored, so it’s not like I want to have a conversation with Kris or anything.

                “You’re the only child here,” He says, not bother to turn away from his precious whiteboard that he’s spent the last twenty minutes wiping. He’s probably just trying to get out of doing any of the other chores. I can feel myself becoming a bit agitated, especially at the fact that I don’t have a comeback for his sassy remark. I stop myself from saying, ‘whose fault is that,’ but that would be unnecessarily rude. It’s not Kris’s fault he’s already past the age of eighteen. He dropped out of school for a year to support his family and that was actually a really noble thing to do. 

                “You’re girlfriend’s , then,” I say. That was such a good comeback. I wish I could slap myself. Why are we even having this senseless conversation? Kris turns to me with a raised eyebrow.

                “,” He asks, sounding almost amused.

                “Jessica’s a minor and you’re not. I’m pretty sure that makes you some kind of e,”

                “I’m not dating Jessica,” He says, sounding rather truthful. The room is filled with an awkward silence, and I’m debating on what to say next. How are they not dating?

                “You’re not dating?” I ask, turning at bit to look at him. He shakes his head. “What happened to that whole V.I.P dinner thing?” He gives me a look of confusion.

                “I’m not interested in dating her,” He says and I’m suddenly extremely irritated with him. They may not be dating but it’s pretty obvious they’re fooling around together or something. What kind of man wouldn’t consider a girl his girlfriend if they’re continuously sleeping together? Jessica’s made it pretty obvious to the whole school that they’re sleeping together.

                “It’s pretty disrespectful to sleep with someone and not—” I begin to ramble but Kris’s deep voice cuts me off.

                “What are you talking about?” He asks, sounding a bit annoyed, but I can’t tell if he’s annoyed with me or something else. We stare at each other for several, quiet tense moments.

                “I’m just saying that if you’re going to sleep around with the most popular girl in school you may as well say she’s your girlfriend out of respect even if you’re not interested in having a real relationship,” Kris could probably care less with what I have to say, but I just feel like saying it. I would never have with someone I don’t have respect for or at least care about, no matter how attractive or tempting they are. His face scrunches and I can almost swear he looks disgusted by my words.

                “I’m not dating or sleeping with Jessica,” He says, sounding out each word slowly as if I won’t understand if he just blurts it out. “I know she went around saying we were, but we’re not. I’ve been telling that to everyone who’s asked me about it,” I continue to just stare at him, not quite sure about what to say.

                “But she… She said you were going to sleep over her house,” Could she have been making all that up? I don’t get why she would go out of her way to tell me a ton of bull that I couldn’t care less about.

                “I’ve never slept over her house,” Kris stares at me for another several, anxious moments. I sudden feel a bit awkward bringing the whole thing up.

                “Oh,” I turn away quickly, trying to refocus on the textbooks. “So none of that was true?” I ask, wanting to punch myself for sounding so curious.

                “No,” Kris says calmly.

                Silence.

                “Why don’t you want to date her,” I run my fingers over the bindings of each book, trying to appear distracted even though it’s pretty obvious I’m actually interested in his answer.

                “She’s annoying,” He lets out a small chuckle, “And I like someone else,” My breath catches in my throat, someone else? There’s an uneasy tightening in my stomach. I don’t comment back, and I feel a bit bad about it because I can sense he’s expecting a response, but I don’t have anything else to say. I can’t just demand to know who he likes… It’s not like it’s even that important anyway.

                “Do you like her?” I snap my head back around.

                “What?” I ask, confused. Kris props himself up on the teacher’s desk, sighing.

                “Jessica,” He says, “Do you like her?” I could gag.

                “No, I hate her,” . I shouldn’t be so childish. Kris is going to think there’s something wrong with me. But I’m shocked when he begins to laugh again. I realize I like the sound of his laugh.

                “I don’t blame you,” Am I blushing? Why am I blushing!? It can’t be because I’m actually having a real conversation with Kris, right? That would be stupid. Civil people can have civil conversation even if they don’t get along that great. Right?

                “I’ll take the garbage out,” I say, breaking the uncomfortable silence for the first time in almost half an hour. Kris glances up and meets my gaze, making me feel nervous.

                “I can get it,” He says but I beat him to the trash can, grasping onto the black, plastic bag with both hands. With my clumsiness I almost knock the whole thing over but a pair of long arms comes around me, grabbing the garbage bag and lifting it up over my head. My face heats up when I realize his body is flush against mine. “I got it,” He says, hot breath brushing against my ear. A deep shiver runs up my spine and I flinch away from him quickly, hoping he doesn’t pick up on my strange reaction.

                “Ok,” I say, taking a few steps away and running a hand through my hair uneasily. Once he’s stepped out of the room I exhale deeply. I shouldn’t be reacting like this. I go from telling myself I completely hate this boy to getting excited when I’m close to him. Why does everything have to be so frustrating...?

                I sit down on a desk and take my phone out to check the time. We’ll probably be able to leave within the next ten minutes or so. All we have to do is lock up the classroom and inform one of the secretaries in the main office. We’ve been doing this for the past couple of days yet I’m still not used to it. It’s boring and uncomfortable yet I don’t exactly dread the end of each day as I almost expected myself to.

                I can hear Kris’s footsteps coming back down the hall and I quickly try to appear absorbed with my phone but I doubt he’ll buy it because I don’t exactly have anyone to text. All of our school friends are probably doing homework or eating dinner with their families. With a sigh, I snap my phone shut and shove it back into my pocket. I think I can survive silently sitting in a classroom with Kris for no more than ten minutes. We may as well finish the rest of the chores tomorrow since times just about out.

                Kris walks back into the room, heading straight for the windowsill to pick up his bag. “Can we leave now?”

                “If we try to leave early again that office lady will probably yell at us, even if it’s five minutes before the hours up,”  This is why I hate this school, no matter how prestigious it claims to be.

                “Right,” Kris breathes, leaning against the radiator. The tension of the room becomes unwarily thick, and I begin to hope I’m the only one feeling tense.

                The minutes pass slowly and I begin to watch the clock anxiously. “How’s Luhan?” I ask, unable to handle the silence.

                “He’s fine I guess,” His expression instantly turns weary. “He always seems happy, but there are times when I think he’s just pretending,”

                “He’s not happy?” I ask, slightly confused.

                “Well, he’s still really mad at me for hurting you, but besides that I think he’s been stressing over something recently. I’m guessing it has something to do Sehun,” I remember when Luhan told me he was gay, and how panicky he was about it. I wonder what Kris things of his brother being gay. What kind of relationship do they have? Are they close?

                “Do you think Sehun likes Luhan?” I’m unexpectedly uncomfortable talking about this topic, despite how interested

                “Sure he does, but in the same way? It’s hard to tell. It’s not like I ever expected Luhan to be gay,” My chest feels heavy. Does Kris accept his brother’s homouality?

                “How’d he tell you?” I know it’s a personal question, but I’ve decided to give into my curiosity. I have two weeks with this boy so I may as well make use of it somehow.

                “He just told me,” He stifles an unexpected laugh, catching me off guard, “He came home from middle school one day and I could tell he had something he wanted to talk about,”

                “And you were… ok with it?” He looks up looking a bit surprised.

                “Of course,” He says.

                “You two are excused,” A familiar looking janitor steps in through the door, parking his cart and mop outside of the classroom. I stand and bow thankfully before turning to Kris.

                “Are your parents coming to pick you up,” He asks and I shake my head. “Want a ride?” I can feel myself blushing again but I realize I don’t exactly feel like walking.

***

                “When did you get a car?” I ask, leaning back into the leather seat, trying to calm my racing heart. Kris’ car is actually really nice. He was probably saving up for it.

                “A month or two ago, I had to save up for it,”

                “Where do you work?” I ask, suddenly realizing I’ve become extremely nosy.

                “I’ve been working as a waiter since we moved here,” 

                “That’s cool…” I turn and continue to stare out the window, noticing how the houses only continue to grow in size as we make our way further into the gated communicated. A pang of guilt makes me feel nauseous. Kris must think I’m a spoiled brat who has everything. I shouldn’t have agreed to allow him to drive me home! I feel so stupid. I begin to debate on whether I should give him a fake address but his soft voice breaks my train of thought.

                “Did you really go to a party with him?” I turn to him, caught off guard by the seriousness of his tone.

                “What?” Who is he talking about?

                “Jonghyun,” He says with a rather unfriendly tone and I realize he’s talking about what Jonghyun had said before they got into a fight. Why is Kris caught up on the fact that I may or may not have gone to a party with Kim Jonghyun?

                “Yeah,” I say with a quiet voice.

                “Why?” He asks rather forcefully. I begin to feel irritated with him like I did before.

                “Because he’s my friend,” I turn away, not wanting to go into this much more. Why does it matter? Kris laughs sarcastically.

                “He’s not your friend,” He sighs in frustration and I can tell he’s trying to keep himself from getting aggravated, “He’s not someone worth trusting,” We sit in silence for several minutes.

                “This is my house,” I say, motioning to the small mansion down the street. I don’t care if he’s jealous. Kris parks along the curb and takes a moment to stare out the window, taking in the impressive sight of my home. Living here doesn’t exactly make me feel proud, but I push those thoughts away. “Thanks for the ride,” I say with a moderately rude tone.

                With my bag slung across my shoulder, I step out of the car and slam the door shut, heading straight up the long driveway. I don’t bother taking a second glance at Kris. Why does he have to be like that? We were finally getting along and he just had to go and bring up an uneasy topic. God, I can’t stand him. Jonghyun has proven himself to be a friend much more than Kris has so he can’t just tell me who not to trust.

                It’s going to take more than one day for me to trust Kris.

***

                “How was detention?” Baekhyun asks, stifling a sigh through the phone.

                “Alright,” I say, actually meaning it, “It wasn’t awful,” The majority of the event went surprisingly well, but the end took a bit of a bitter turn.

                “How was Kris?” He sings out my detention partner’s name, sounding all too interested. With a prolonged sigh, I pull myself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the propped up pillows behind me.

                “He was fine,” Baekhyun groans with boredom at my vague response. “What were you expecting?” I ask, letting out an airy laugh.

                “Well, I know you two have had your ups and downs, and I know that you don’t exactly get along and all, but you know… the whole detention setting is pretty y…”

                “Baekhyun”! I gasp, completely shocked with my best friend, “What are you talking about!?” The phone line is bursting with laughter. “Stop watching ! It’s not realistic,” I scold.

                “Calm yourself, I was just joking,” Baekhyun sighs, sounding rather satisfied with himself, “No, not really,” Why would he even mention something like that happening?

                “I can’t believe you…” I say, trying to prevent myself from imagining some kind of unrealistic, ual fantasy (with Kris of all people). The idea sends shivers down my spine.

                “Hey! You didn’t exactly say ‘Ew, Baekhyun,’ now did ya?” His voice is filled with enjoyment and his obnoxious little laugh makes me wish I could smack him through the phone. It takes me a moment to take in his words, and I stop myself from yelling to actually understand that he’s right. Why didn’t I say ‘ew’? Every other time Baekhyun’s asked me something embarrassing like that I’ve always just responded with some kind of disgusted comment before smacking him on the back of the head or something like that. Why didn’t that happened this time? Why didn’t I say ‘ew’!?

                I can feel my face heat up uncomfortably, and I thank god Baekhyun’s not physically here to see me blushing like crazy. “Stop being ,” I yell, feeling attacked, “Go get a boyfriend or something,”

                “Already have one,” His voice rises triumphantly and I can almost hear him smiling. A moment of silence passes between us.

                “Wait… what?”

                “I have one. Chanyeol asked me to be his boyfriend a few days ago,” He squeals excitedly.

                “Oh, Baekhyun, that’s great,” I say, trying to sound surprised, even though I’m almost positive the entire school saw it coming. “Has he done anything special yet, like take you out on a date?” He sighs.

                “Not yet, we haven’t done anything since he asked me out,” I can hear the disappointment in his voice.

                “Don’t worry. It probably took him a lot of courage just to ask you out,” I say, trying to be reassuring. My thoughts somehow wander back to something Kris had mentioned to me earlier. “Hey, Baekhyun, have you noticed anything different with Luhan?”

                “Uh, well, he’s still refusing to talk to Kris and he’s still really upset about you getting hurt,” Luhan’s so sweet, but no matter how many times I tell him I’m fine, he doesn’t seem to believe me.

                “Anything else,” I ask, “What’s been going on with him and Sehun?”

                “Oh… I don’t think they’ve been hanging out or talking much anymore. It is kind of strange… I wonder if something happened between them, their relationship never really seemed to progress much but I always thought they’d end up being a couple sooner or later,”

                “I’ll talk to Sehun about it tomorrow, I hope Luhan’s ok…” Maybe I should call him. I glance over at the clock and once I realize how late it is I decided to settle on talking to him tomorrow in school. Luhan’s told me about all the hard work he’s put into school so I know he’s probably busy studying or doing homework. I wish I had his motivation.

                Both Luhan and Kris are working to maintain their high school scholarships and are also working towards earning college grants. On top of worrying about school, Kris also has to work.

                “I have to go,” Baekhyun sighs tiredly, “See you tomorrow, Taozi,”

                “Good night, Bacon,”

***