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Kim Kibum, starting today, you're dead.

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Key's POV:

"Attention, everyone. I'd like to have everyone's attention."

I froze upon hearing that all-too-familiar voice. I looked up to see an arrogant looking dinohead smiling smugly and standing at the center of the lunchroom with his two cronies, Minho and Onew, on either side of him. Oh, dear lord. What on earth was he up to now?

I glanced over to my right to look at Taemin. He appeared to be quite anxious.

"What's going on, hyung?" he asked nervously. I merely shrugged.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. My response didn't seem to make him any less uncomfortable.

"Normally, this isn't our place to dine at lunch. It can only be expected that we're here for a substantial reason," Onew spoke suddenly. Taemin and I exchanged looks of apprehension. All the students, once completely silent, suddenly broke out into a buzz of whispers. The noise hummed around the room, gradually increasing in loudness.

I heard someone clear their throat loudly and impatiently — Jonghyun. Immediately, the noise had died down, and the abnormal silence returned to the room.

"You were right, hyung. We should leave," Taemin whispered, tugging at my arm. I shook my head and gently shrugged him off.

"As long as we're here, we might as well stay and listen to what these guys have to say," I insisted stubbornly.

"I don't have a good feeling about this. Please, let's just go-" Taemin's plea was cut off by a group of students somewhere near to us hushing him rudely, making obscure "shh-ing" noises. Taemin's cheeks burned red with embarrassment and he shrunk back behind me. I glared at the group of nearby students and turned my attention back to the center of the room. Onew had stepped back, and it was now Minho's turn to speak.

"Neh. Well, you see, our Jonghyun has a very important announcement to make. We'd like you all to give full consideration to what he is about to say, and we hope that you oblige," Minho spoke cooly. I noticed Taemin staring up at Minho intently. His cheeks were flushed pink. He gazed up at Minho with much affection, almost longingly. I shrugged it off, however, figuring that it was just my imagination and that Taemin was just uncomfortable.

I gently grapsed onto the little dongsaeng's fragile hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Taemin snapped out of his daze to look back at me. He grinned cheekily, and squeezed back.

"You all should know by now that we have a new student here at SM," Jonghyun spoke out suddenly. I released my hold on Taemin's hand and gazed up at Jonghyun.

"Something you do not know, however, is that I had been assaulted by none other than Kim Kibum himself. Not just once, as you all had witnessed, but a second time!" he asserted.

Oh . So this is what all the hubbub was about? A felt a hard lump well up in my throat. I tried to swallow it down, but my throat had suddenly gone dry. A sudden panic washed over me, and I felt uneasy.

"What?" "Bwoh?" "Really?" I could hear those words being spoken repetitively among the students. All heads turned towards me. I could feel the many pairs of eyes boring into me. Their cold stares pierced right through me. I felt suffocated. I tried not to lose my composure, but I was beginning to feel agitated. Even Taemin, now feeling completely uncomfortable, stepped back to hide behind me. There they were again, all those menacing deathglares. 

I looked up helplessly to avoid all the harsh glares, but as I met the cruel eyes of Kim Jonghyun, I figured it wasn't much of a bargain. He grinned at me evilly, looking completely smug. I was sure my expression was a mixture of shock and bewilderment, a sight for sore eyes if you will. He put on that obnoxious smirk that I loathed so much.

Embarrassed, I tore my eyes away from his and stared hard at the ground. Jonghyun cleared his throat loudly once more. 

"It seems that you are all familiar with him. Very good. However, I have a proposition to make," he added. Thankfully, I could feel all the murderous stares tear away from me and look intently back up at Jonghyun, waiting for him to speak.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The plethora of harsh looks I had received felt suffocating, and I suddenly felt much more free. Unfortunately, my moment of comfort could only last temporarily. In fact, it seemed to have ended as soon as it had begun.

"From this day forth, you are to show Kim Kibum nothing but bitter contempt. Show him no kindness. Let him know that he is not welcomed here. By all means, make his life so miserable to the point where he's driven out of the school, and driven into insanity," Jonghyun concluded, injecting venom into every word he spoke.

I felt my entire body tense up. I stared dumbly after Jonghyun, Minho, and Onew as they casually exited the lunchroom as if they had just eaten a meal. I felt that my mouth was open slightly agape. However, I broke out of my daze as something warm and sticky smacked into the side of my neck. Crude laughter erupted from the crowd of students.

I wiped off the side of my neck. I wrinkled my nose as I found that what came off my hand was a clump of fresh rice.

"!" Someone shouted, aiming a fistful of vegetables towards me. Lucky for him, he hit me square in the face. This antic was soon followed by a continuous flow of harsh taunts and insults. Almost immediately after, students began picking up different contents of their lunch and bombard me with food.

I could hear Taemin shouting at everyone to stop, but his voice was drowned out by the defeaning jeers.

Someone thought it would be simply hilarious to heave up their entire tray and fire it at me. Unfortunately for me, their aim was spot on, and whoever catapulted their tray of food at me earned a direct hit, and his entire lunch tray smacked me right in the temple, causing me to knock down towards the floor.

My apparent vulnerability didn't make anybody more reluctant to continue chucking food at me.  Taemin made a feeble attempt at shielding me from the harassers, but the number of students compared to one little dongsaeng was overwhelming, and he was easily knocked aside into a nearby wall.

"Hyung! Hyung, please! Please get up!" Taemin cried out desperately. However, I just couldn't bring myself to get up.

Taemin watched helplessly as Seohyun uncapped a bottle of juice and poured its contents all over my head. She even had the nerve to muss my hair, causing my hair to mangle up into a sticky disorder. She earned many howls and cat calls for her action, and she smiled smugly and high fived one of her plastic friends.

The jock I had decked in the face a few days prior approached me slowly. I tilted my head up helplessly to see him glaring down at me. With a sudden movement, he kicked me, driving his foot into my ribs. I felt the wind knock out of me. People cheered as they saw me writhe in pain. The jock spat in my face, brushed off his shoulder, then sauntered away.

I felt my vision blur. Time seemed to stop altogether. I felt as if I would be trapped in this moment forever.

"HYUNG!" Taemin screamed, a heavy stream of tears pouring down his reddened cheeks. He pushed himself off the ground and made shouldered his way through the mass of students in an attempt to come at my aide, but two heavyset boys easily picked up the scrawny boy by either arm and threw him back against the wall.

Despite the clamorous jeering, I managed to pick up the mournful sounds of Taemin's heavy sobbing.

But I promise to always protect you, araso? My own words rang through my ears, almost mockingly. I nearly laughed out loud to myself at the irony of that statement considering the current situation. I remember promising to protect Taemin and keep him safe from harm, yet here I was, letting myself get treated like while Taemin made helpless attempts to save me.

I should have gotten up. I should have fought back. I should have stood up for myself instead letting these people walk all over me like dirt. But I couldn't get up. I didn't want to fight back. I had no desire to stand up against these vicious and pitiless people.

The sharp pain in my ribs throbbed with much aggravation. I closed my eyes, drowning out the noise, the pain, the world. I prayed silently to myself.

Please, let this be over soon…

Jonghyun's POV:

I whistled a cheery tune as I casually strolled along the school corridors, Minho and Onew trailing awkwardly behind me.

I stopped whistling and abruptly turned to face them. They weren't anticipating this, so they jumped back a little in minor shock. I grinned broadly at them.

"Isn't it a great day?" I chirped overenthusiastically. Onew shrugged. Minho stared out the window, avoiding my gaze.

"I guess," Minho put curtly. I couldn't hold in my enthusiasm any longer.

"Come on, guys! We played out our plan beautifully. And that's only phase one. There's a lot more in store for our precious Kim Kibum."

"Give it a rest, Jjong. We've hurt the boy quite enough," Onew asserted. I rolled my eyes.

"No, we haven't! I want to send that boy crying home. I want to damage him enough so that he'll have to flee the country," I retorted. I could actually feel the evil burning up inside me. Onew shook his head at me, almost shamefully.

"This isn't the Jonghyun I know," Onew said with a subtle solemnity to it. Then he turned and began walking at a fast pace the opposite way. He soon broke out into a jog.

"Onew-hyung! What are you doing?" I called out.

"To prevent things from getting any worse," Onew replied, never stopping once to face me. Soon enough, Minho trailed after Onew.

"Where do you think you're going?" I demanded, grabbing firmly onto Minho's arm. Minho shot me a cold stare, then shoved me off. I backed away. Minho bounded after Onew.

"Yah! You guys can't just leave! Aish…" I cursed at them furiously. I glared after their direction. On a whim, I made up my mind to follow after them.

Onew's POV:

I shook my head furiously as I strut quickly down the hallways heading towards the lunchroom.

I was surprised to find a figure looking behind me — Minho. As he stepped in tow with me, I gave him a curious look.

"Minho-ah, why aren't you waiting back with Jjong?" I asked.

"There's someone I need to check on too, hyung," he put simply. He didn't seem to pursue the matter further, so I shrugged, and decided to leave it at that. Any business of Minho's that he didn't feel like sharing was no business of mine.

As we approached the lunchroom, I stopped in my tracks. I heard the loud clatter of a dish being smashed to pieces somewhere within the room. I held out an arm to stop Minho as well.

"Onew-hyung?" Another crash, followed by loud hollering barely muffled by the doors leading to the lunchroom. Minho's eyes widened.

"We should be careful, araso?" I denoted. Minho nodded. We reluctantly entered the room, not at all prepared to what we were about to see.

As we stepped inside, I couldn't help but gasp at the sight. Smears of food stained the walls. It smelled putrid. The food was already rotting. Shattered plates and random silverware were scattered all over the floor.

I ducked as a dish went soaring over my head, crashing into the wall beside me. Minho, being abnormally tall for his age, was lucky to have a shard barely fly past his nose.

A mass of students were compacted into an area somewhere near the back of the room. On instinct, I approached boldly.

I shouldered my way through, Minho close behind. Many students failed to notice me as I pushed past, so I got shoved a good amount. One heavyset, burly looking fellow stood right in my path, and I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, screw off, punk!" he jeered rudely, spinning around with his fist already held up. His eyes widened in shock as he faced me. "Oh, Onew-sunbae!" Upon his exclamation, many students turned curiously over to where I stood.

"Onew-sunbae is here?" "Wow! It's Minho!" "Quickly, let them through!" Now capturing the attention of the students, they dispersed, parting enough to make an easier path to walk through.

Dead ahead, I caught a lone figure curled up on the floor — Kibum. Heaps of food was piled around him, and there was already a layer of multiple lunches stacked atop of his body. I quickly sauntered over.

I bent down beside him and wrinkled my nose as the foul scent of rotting food filled my nose. I brushed a sufficient amount of food off of Kibum, soiling my sleeve in the process. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Minho bound quickly off somewhere to the side, near the wall.

I shook Kibum gently. He did not stir. I noticed that his hand was clutching onto his ribcage. Had he gotten seriously hurt?

"Kibum, it's me, Onew," I whispered into his ear. Key refused to look up at me. I sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you, Key." Key slowly turned his head to face me.

"Onew-hyung?" he queried, sounding completely out of it. "Is this reality?" I chuckled at his absurd remark. He gazed at me for a moment, then his eyes widened in a flurry of shock and worry. "No! Don't hurt me…" he whimpered softly, ducking his head down. I shook my head, then lifted his chin up to face me.

"I'm here to help you," I said soothingly.

"Why?" he inquired sharply, clearly unconvinced. I gazed into his eyes, all the more so he could find my words to be sincere.

"Because, Key, you are my friend."

A/N: Yeah, go Onew! He's such a good guy :') Now I know what you guys are thinking. The last scene seems very OnKey-ish, for lack of better word. There will be NO OnKey in this fic. This is a JongKey fic. Jonghyun and Key's relationship will get better. Just be pacient, my dear chingus ^^ and commentcommentcomment!