Tuesday morning saw Leeteuk in his usual spot for home room; the back of the class, hiding out. Today was starting out no differently than any other. Sohee and Jessica were talking nonsense, Leeteuk had learned to tune them out, and the girls that idolized them were listening in and pretending to be cool. The only difference today was that their teacher hadn’t shown up yet. He was usually there before even Leeteuk, who showed up early to avoid any unfortunate run-ins with his least favorite people. Leeteuk didn’t worry about what his teacher was up to, if he was okay, the man was a grown person that could take care of himself. No, Leeteuk wondered what it could mean for their class.

The answer came in the form of a new student. Leeteuk pegged him as easily a new popular. He was dressed in nonchalant flare, hip-hop sneakers instead of dress shoes, headphones bigger than his ears around his neck, black hair styled but not attention seeking. He was like a shorter, possibly cooler version of Heechul.

Lee Donghae introduced himself as a transfer student from the South of South Korea, Leeteuk immediately tried to pin a story on for why Donghae had to transfer. He lit fire to his last school, got in fights with teachers; maybe he had a red tape track record as tall as he was. Leeteuk stopped paying attention though as he realized that the only empty desk was right next to him at the back. No one sat by him and he’d grown accustomed to it. His heart sank as the new kid started walking down the aisle toward the empty desk.

Leeteuk tried to stop from blushing as Sohee and Jessica sent him death glares as if he’d be tainting the new kid with his loner disease. Taking deep breaths and slowly exhaling, Leeteuk willed himself not to cry, he wouldn’t let himself be that embarrassing.

“Hey,” the new kid whispered.

Leeteuk got a little wide-eyed and turned to look at him.

Donghae smirked at his expression. “Dude, calm down. I just want to know your name.”

Leeteuk couldn’t think in regular terms so he blurted out his screen name, “Leeteuk.”

The new guy nodded and sat back, practically lounging in his chair. Just like Heechul, Leeteuk thought to himself. Just great, now the populars are going to be after me for talking to him. Leeteuk was starting his game plan for the day to avoid as much time without a nearby adult as possible.

When the class was over, Donghae caught Leeteuk’s arm. “Hey, do you know where this room is?” He asked.

Leeteuk looked down at the copy of Donghae’s schedule and visibly whitened. He was in practically every class with him.

Before he got a chance to answer, Sohee and Jessica intervened, shoving Leeteuk out of the way. Leeteuk saw his out and took it. He would have run out of the room if he wouldn’t have been yelled at by their teacher.

“You don’t want directions from that guy,” Sohee said. “He’s nothing special. But we’d be happy to show you around.”

She was a lot too suggestive with how she’d approached and Donghae couldn’t stop a laugh. “Yeah, that’s okay. I’ll find it on my own.” He dodged any more advances and stepped into the hall to find his next class. To his surprise and luck, Leeteuk was there in the same back-of-the-room spot he’d been in before. Donghae smiled inwardly and went to sit next to him.

Leeteuk sighed and looked over at him. “Look, you don’t really understand, because you’re new and all. But you can’t be around me. I’m not popular, I don’t even have any friends, so unless you want your social status here in the dirt, leave me alone.” Leeteuk didn’t mean to be so rude, he didn’t even want to be, but it was honestly for Donghae’s own good. It was for Leeteuk’s good too since the popular kids might send Kangin after him at any second.

“Alright, chill dude.” Donghae smirked and lounged back in his seat again.

They didn’t talk again for the rest of the class. Leeteuk got out as fast as he could to take shelter in the computer lab. Thinking back on the morning he felt a slight urge to cry again, the looks Jessica and Sohee had leveled at him were so intense. He wanted desperately to go home. He couldn’t even focus on homework like he usually did during this break.

Sora came in a few minutes later, but she wasn’t alone. Donghae was with her and Leeteuk wanted to let his head fall onto his desk. Why was his luck so bad today? The gods had it out for him.

“Jungsu, did you meet the new guy, Donghae?” Sora asked.

“Jungsu?” Donghae questioned. “He said he was Leeteuk.”

Leeteuk blushed and wished he was invisible. “Leeteuk’s a screen name, sorry. But I prefer it to Jungsu anyway.”

“So you have met?” Sora asked with a smile. “That’s good. Donghae’s in my next class.”

Leeteuk suddenly thought that Donghae’s social life here was over. He’d picked out the drama geek and the loner nerd to talk to first and from what he’d seen he had completely ignored the popular girls. Well, he thought, if he’s going to stab himself in the heart before he has a chance, we may as well make him feel welcome.

“All right then,” Leeteuk said suddenly, making a decision on his own thoughts and not caring if the other two were part of them. “Sora can lead you to class for the middle part of the day and you’re in my last two classes, so I’ll see you at lunch?”

Donghae stared at Leeteuk’s sudden change in character. He nodded. “Sounds good.”

Leeteuk spent his math and science classes thinking to himself that he’d better not have any expectations. Once Donghae knew his way around he’d find out just how bad off he was with Sora and him. “And then he’ll leave,” Leeteuk whispered to himself and got stared at. He cleared his throat and went back to class work.

Lunch came up and Donghae found Leeteuk waiting for him near the door from the cafeteria. Leeteuk pushed it open and led them outside. “This is a chance for freedom for a half hour, so I like to spend it as far away from that building as possible.” He chuckled as he walked to his favorite spot under the biggest tree. Leeteuk paused in his step because waiting for him were Sohee, Jessica and the person he least wanted to see, Kangin. “Maybe we should go back inside?” Leeteuk offered and turned, but Kangin jogged up and caught his arm.

“Hey dork, what are you doing with the new kid?”

Leeteuk refused to look at him as he tried to wrench his arm free of his vice-grip hold.

“Hey yourself man,” Donghae said and shoved Kangin’s shoulder.

Kangin dropped his hold on Leeteuk and fixed a glare at Donghae. Jessica and Sohee were closer now. “Did you see what this guy just did?” Kangin asked them. Leeteuk just stared in horror at Donghae.

“Yeah? You're going to take that from him, Kangin?” Jessica asked. “I don’t think you should.”

Kangin threw a punch at Donghae but he dodged it and shoved Kangin back. “Dude, I’m not looking for a fight. I just wanted you to step off my friend.”

“Friend?” Kangin laughed.

Leeteuk was ghost white and barely able to process what was happening in front of him. Donghae was sticking up for him, had called him a friend. He was frozen in place.

Kangin wasn’t giving up so easily, his honor was based on who he’d punched and this new kid had just challenged that. He swung again and Donghae dodged late, Kangin’s fist grazing his cheek. Leeteuk realized too late that they were side stepping his direction. Kangin threw another punch that would have landed on Leeteuk instead of Donghae but someone grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back.

Heechul let go of Leeteuk and got between Kangin and Donghae, shoving his big friend back. “Stop, Kangin. It’s not worth it.” Kangin had been suspended a few times for using excessive force in his Tae Kwon Do lessons, the last thing he needed was to be caught in a fight on school property.

“But Heechul-“ Sohee started but stopped as soon as Heechul glared at her.

“I know you’re out here starting problems,” Heechul told Sohee. “And now they’re over. Get out of here.”

The girls left reluctantly, staring at Donghae.

Donghae was standing close to Leeteuk, in case Heechul lost control over the brute. Leeteuk was barely able to stop his tears, though they were welled heavily in his eyes. He couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Leeteuk wanted this day to be over now, but there were still two classes to go and both had Heechul and Kangin in them.

Leeteuk was refusing to look anywhere but his own feet and Donghae wasn’t going anywhere without him. Heechul them. “You heard me didn’t you?” He asked softly to Donghae, barely hiding the threat in his voice.

Donghae glared at him but nodded. “Yeah whatever, keep that guy off Leeteuk.”

“Leeteuk?” Heechul asked, glancing over Jungsu.

Donghae didn’t stop to explain, instead he grabbed Leeteuk’s arm and gently guided him back inside. Checking his watch he saw that it was nearly class time again but he couldn’t let Leeteuk continue like he was so he slipped them into the bathroom.

Leeteuk finally felt like he could breathe again, now that he was in a small space without eyes all around, watching him. His social ostracizing had left him anxious and nervous when he was looked at, especially in an embarrassing situation. But it wasn’t an anxious he could laugh off, it was an anxious that made him want to cry or worse, hurt himself.

Donghae hadn’t said anything. He was at the mirror, messing with his hair. Donghae was watching Leeteuk of course, but he’d figured the guy would have a problem being directly stared at, so he was trying to keep his looking nonchalant.

“I’m such an idiot,” Leeteuk said when he had control over his voice again. “I’m sorry about back there. I knew they’d be after me today and I just walked right into it.”

Donghae shook his head, turning to look at Leeteuk. “Dude, don’t even worry about it. Seems like it’s about time someone stood up to those jerks.”

“Yeah,” Leeteuk paused. “Thanks.”

Shrugging, Donghae smiled. “It’s no problem. I was wondering who the muscle was in this school anyway.”

Leeteuk smiled. It was a full smile, a real smile, the kind that only his sister or mom saw now. He knew he could get used to Donghae’s company then, but a raw, nagging doubt still discouraged him from getting too hopeful.

“Come on,” Donghae said. “I need to know where my last two classes are.”

The last of the day went by just fine. Kangin glared at them a few times and Heechul totally ignored everything like usual. Leeteuk still missed him, but he felt a little better knowing Donghae was close by. He felt like he could start to forget about Heechul, if only a little bit.

“Here’s my number,” Donghae said after school, handing over a piece of paper to Leeteuk. “We should hang out sometime.”

Leeteuk nodded with a little smile. “Thanks. I’ll text mine later.”

“See ya.” Donghae called as he walked away.

Leeteuk held the number tightly in his hand, smiling a little wider as he walked toward home.