First Day of Middle School
Pinky-PromisesIt was the first day of middle school for Taekwoon and Jaehwan, and both were nervous for different reasons. Jaehwan was nervous because he didn't know if his teachers would like him. He was also nervous about whether or not he'd make new friends. Taekwoon, however, was nervous about what he'd do if someone approached him. He didn't really want new friends, and he hoped that his teachers wouldn't call on him a lot during the course of the year.
However, both boys were nervous about whether or not they'd have the same classes together. As lame as it may have sounded to the other students, they voluntarily signed up for the chorus class, so they knew they'd have at least one class together. They wanted all the same classes together. Taekwoon wanted Jaehwan there because, as sad as it may seem, Jaehwan was his only friend. Jaehwan wanted Taekwoon there because he was genuinely panicking about how Taekwoon would get along without him. Also, Taekwoon was one of the only people that still listened to him when he wouldn't shut up.
"Taekwoon-ah!" Jaehwan scampered to the bus stop when he caught sight of his friend.
"Hi, Jaehwan." Taekwoon quickly greeted the other boy.
"Are you excited?"
"No."
Jaehwan pouted at Taekwoon. He was used to Taekwoon's straightforward answers, but he had hoped that the other boy would at least pretend to be excited for the first day of middle school. They sat on the sidewalk and waited for the bus. Jaehwan talked about how chaotic his morning was, an Taekwoon nodded every once in a while to show that he was still listening. After five minutes, the bus arrived, and they boarded slowly.
The bus was crowded with students. Some were standing, and some were even sitting in another person's lap. Taekwoon followed behind Jaehwan as the latter searched for a place to stand. In the end, they just stood at the back of the bus. It was uncomfortable due to the small amount of space, and the temperature was rising from all the body heat.
"This isn't as bad as I thought. I thought some of us would have to sit on the roof of the bus!" Jaehwan joked to Taekwoon, and he just received an unamused stare. "Fine, don't laugh. Geez, I was just trying to make us both feel better."
Taekwoon continued to stare at Jaehwan as if the boy was the stupidest person he knew, which he actually was, and slowly turned his head to look out the window that was blocked by multiple heads. Jaehwan pouted dejectedly, and waited for Taekwoon to turn back around to face him.
The ride between the two was silent after Jaehwan's bad joke, and the nervous feeling was building in both of them. After what seemed to be an unnecessarily long ride, they arrived at the school. They slowly walked to the front gate and stopped simultaneously.
"Well, go on. We can't be late for the assembly to start off the day." Jaehwan gently pushed Taekwoon to get them walking again.
"Walk first if you're so worried." Taekwoon grabbed Jaehwan's arm and pushed him to lead.
"Haha, no, it's ok. I'm not really worried. I just want to make sure you won't bolt on me because of all the people."
Taekwoon glared at Jaehwan before walking through the gate. Jaehwan hurried to catch up, and they went to the assembly hall. They stopped by a table to get their schedules along with the other sixth graders. Because of all the students, Jaehwan almost lost track of Taekwoon. As a result, he held tightly to Taekwoon's arm, even after they sat down.
"If I lose you in this huge crowd of people, I'd never be able to find you. You'd never yell if we were separated." Jaehwan looked seriously at Taekwoon.
"I'd just look for you. You're plenty loud and annoying." Taekwoon looked up to the stage soon after he spoke, for a man that was assumed to be the principal was walking to the podium at the center.
The man, who did end up being the principal, greeted the students in a booming voice. He went over the basic rules and expectations, and he also went over a brief history of the school. The assembly was half an hour, and everyone was bored five minutes in. Jaehwan had tried getting Taekwoon's attention as the latter focused on the principal. At the end of the speech, the large throng of students rushed out of the assembly hall and into the hallways.
"He was so boring! How could you listen to everything he said?" Jaehwan loudly complained to Taekwoon.
"I listen to everything you say, don't I?" Taekwoon started walking, but Jaehwan yanked him back.
"Jung Taekwoon, did you just imply that I am a boring person?"
"Yes."
"Taekwoon, you're so me- hey, stay still, would you?"
"Why?"
"Jinsu is over there."
Jinsu was the girl that Jaehwan had a crush on since the third grade. Jinsu was also the girl that crushed Jaehwan's heart in front of the whole class. Despite the strong rejection of his feelings, Jaehwan still held feelings for Jinsu.
Taekwoon glanced around and saw the topic of discussion. He quietly scoffed before turning around and pushing Jaehwan in the direction that was opposite from her. Jaehwan made a noise of confusion, but he allowed himself to be pushed away. After they made it past the group of students and into an area that was less crowded, Taekwoon stopped pushing Jaehwan.
"If you were so worried about being spotted by her, you should've run away." Taekwoon looked around a bit as he spoke.
"Why would I have run away?" Jaehwan's face twisted in confusion.
"Idiot."
"What?"
"If she saw me, she'd know that you were with me."
"Oh yeah..."
Taekwoon rolled his eyes before dragging Jaehwan by the arm. Aside from chorus, they both had homeroom together. They didn't have time to check what other classes they had together because of the assembly. They arrived at the room just before the crowd of students decided to rush to their respective homerooms.
The classroom was relatively full, but they found two seats in the very back. Taekwoon sat down, but just as Jaehwan was about to sit next to the former, an extremely tan boy sat in that very seat.
"Hey! I was gonna sit there!" Jaehwan pouted.
"Well too bad! I'm sitting here, so you can go." The tan boy turned his nose up in an arrogant manner and moved both hands in a 'shoo-ing' manner.
Taekwoon watched as Jaehwan grew more and more upset. He turned his attention to the tan boy and decided that the latter was annoying.
"Hey." Taekwoon reached around Jaehwan and tapped the tan boy's shoulder.
"Hmm?" The tan boy turned to Taekwoon, and his eyes seemed to shine. "Oh, hi! I'm Cha Hakyeon. It's nice to meet you!"
Taekwoon just stared at the hand that was extended toward him. He looked back up at the cheerful smile that Hakyeon was giving him, and gently pushed the hand away.
"Jaehwan sits there." Taekwoon noticed Jaehwan's features brighten when the latter realized that Taekwoon was helping him.
"So? I got here first. He can sit somewhere else. On the other hand, I'll be your new friend." Hakyeon smiled again.
"No."
Hakyeon's smile fell, and he gathered up his things. He gave an indignant huff before standing. He glared at Jaehwan before walking away with another huff. He stopped and turned back to face Jaehwan again.
"You're lucky this time, duck-face. I'll be better friends with him" Hakyeon pointed at Taekwoon before continuing, "than you've ever been. Just you wait!"
Taekwoon and Jaehwan watched him walk away before Jaehwan took a seat.
"He was weird."
"Irritating."
"He'll never be better friends with you than me."
Taekwoon just nodded and stared up at the front of the classroom. He ignored all the sounds around him and waited for the homeroom teacher to walk in. Although it didn't happen, Taekwoon could perfectly picture Jaehwan's serious yet hopeful face as he silently asked that one question.
'Do you pinky-promise?'
A/N: I wanted this up two days ago, but I only had my iPad to work on it. The iPad actually made the grammar worse...Well, I did a major time skip, haha. From first grade to sixth grade. I'm sorry about that, but I didn't really know what to do for the years between. Sixth grade is the first year of middle school where I live. I know it's different in other places, so I'm just saying that to clear up any confusion. Also, I don't know if there is actually a Jinsu. I just typed the first female Korean name I thought of. And yes, our lovely Hakyeon made an appearance in the story. Being the diva that he is. He is also obsessed about Taekwoon's attention, just like in real life^^. Haha, that's what it seems like to me, anyway. Let their sixth grade year commence~!
OH! And a shout out to all my lovely subscribers~!
I thank you all~! All twenty four of you. As of this moment.
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