Baekhyun doesn’t want to go to school the next day. His mother ignores each of his complaints and whines and goes as far as to bang pots and pans in front of his door till he’s up and getting ready. She wishes him goodbye, with an exaggerated forehead kiss that has him scrunching his nose up in teenage disdain.

It’s kind of like the first day of school all over again. There were butterflies in his stomach and this all knowing force telling him that today would be different.

Baekhyun had heard the rumors yesterday, and later when he went to the school’s internet forum he read all types of theories about that kid. Baekhyun was unsure of what to expect but he was still worried. What if the school checked the CCTV camera, of course they aren’t placed in the bathrooms but they’re near enough to see Chanyeol walk towards the door and leave.

What if they thought Chanyeol was the bully?

Baekhyun enters school and heads towards where he normally meets his best friends a sigh escaping pass his lips.

“Byun Baekhyun,” He hears and paints a small grin on his lips.

“Kim Jongdae,” He says when he approaches the boy. “What’s got you here so early?”

“Early,” Jongdae repeats with a laugh. “It’s almost class time.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun mutters leaning against the wall near Jongdae, “where’s Chanyeol?”

“Dunno,” Jongdae shrugs. “I messaged him earlier but he never replied back. Maybe he’s sick.”

“Oh that’s right,” Baekhyun states suddenly. “His mom called me this morning and left a message on my voicemail. He’s completely sick with the stomach flu or food poisoning. They don’t know what it is exactly.”

“Are they going to the hospital,” Jongdae asks. “Isn’t that pretty serious?”

“They don’t want to waste money,” Baekhyun states. “If his condition gets worse then she said that they’ll take him. Did you hear that we have to be in the school’s auditorium for a school announcement?”

“Yeah,” Jongdae answers. “I bet it’s for whatever happened yesterday.”

Jongdae’s right, it is for what happened yesterday. Baekhyun expected to hear something about the school going into investigation about the events or maybe even a status update on the kid but there’s no such thing. Instead the principal introduces a woman who’s going to be there to talk to them if they need it, a crisis counselor is what she’s called and Baekhyun can only feel more upset.

“Why would they say that,” Baekhyun fumes as Jongdae and him leave the auditorium together. “Of all things to say, of all ways to handle this why would they blatantly lie?”

“We don’t know it’s a lie,” Jongdae tells him. “What we’ve heard have just been rumors so far.” Baekhyun wants to disagree, but he can’t. He knows the truth but he can’t tell Jongdae because then that means telling the younger about what happened with Chanyeol, and Chanyeol wouldn’t want that.

They both pause in their steps as they come across two boys talking about what was said at the assembly. Jongdae makes to pull Baekhyun away but Baekhyun doesn’t let him, instead he puts a finger to his lips and tells the younger to keep quiet so that he can overhear the pair.

“