Plans: EXO-M Style
Without Knowing It All
Song suggestion: Burn- Ellie Goulding
The entire group was soon in a frenzy. Chorong's eyes darted nervously as she tried to stop all the negativity going around.
Suho clenched his fists and began to quote:
" 'First, they came for the Socialists. Because I was not a Socialist, I did not speak out.
Then, they came for the Jews. Because I was not a Jew, I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists. Because I was not a Trade Unionist either, I still chose not to speak out.
Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up because I was Protestant.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.'
I'm pretty sure you've all heard of this famous statement before during our World War II studies. The statement speaks for itself. Just because I'm not a part of your social group doesn't mean I shouldn't speak out. Just because I'm not the one being affected doesn't mean I shouldn't help. Because guess what? Any one of us special rich kids could go from millionaires to penniless in one second if any of our family's companies fail. Then what? We'd be treated the exact same way you guys are being treated right now. With that in mind, we're fighting for us too. It's not just thinking about the now, it's thinking about the future, providing a safe environment school for latter scholarship students. And you know what, none of EXO-M's families are rich. They have dealt with their fair share of . They've been bulllied before too and have been treated unfairly. I can't disclose any of their stories, but if they were able to change their lives, you guys can too. I can't promise that change will happen quickly, it will take time. But I know for a fact that justice will come. Anyone with me?"
The group of students hushed for a moment as they thought about Suho's words. It tugged on their heartstrings. To fight, or not to fight?
After a few minutes of silence, Chorong pushed her way from the back and stood up on the bench with Suho. The scholarship students and EXO stared at Chorong, as they had never seen such a burning, passionate fire in her eyes before. Everyone familiar with Chorong knew she was not one to be verbal or talkative in any occasion, so it was unusual for her to stand up and face the crowd. She held up her notepad and had written in huge font:
"In all honesty, I gave up fighting for the truth, for what's right. But a teacher told me to change the system, if not I'd only suffer even more. Now that I think about it, we have to help ourselves. If we don't help ourselves, no one else will. We can't stay idle anymore. By remaining silent, the problem won't ever be solved. Instead, our problems will only keep us trapped and drag us down, rotting us from the inside out. Therefore NOW is the time to speak out. Everyone's been saying that I've been the most affected by bullying and injustice and fighting would only make my situation worse, but I want to fight. I'm with Suho, no, all of EXO, on this."
"Come on guys!" Eunji stepped up and took Chorong by the hand. "I'm joining them. The greatest thing about history is that we can learn from the mistakes we made in the past. If we change those things and work it out, we'll be truly happy in no time. It'll only happen if all of us come together. We're a small group, so we need all the support we can get."
Baekhyun got up on the bench and yelled, "I'M IN!"
Naeun raised her hand up, and Taemin joined and he held up their hands together. Slowly, one by one, everyone began to raise their hands, despite some of the mumbles and grumbles. Suho flashed Chorong a proud smile.
Kim Kibum called out, "Since we're all in for it, what are we even going to do? I mean, how exactly are we going to fight against the school if we have no plans?"
EXO-M smiled.
"We thought you guys would never ask." Kris smirked.
"As said before, some of EXO-M has been bullied before. We've been through the same cycles you guys have, so we fully understand what you guys are worried about. I won't go into too much detail right now, but I think Tao is sufficient evidence." Tao nodded and lifted his bangs to reveal a tiny scar at the top of his forehead, nearing his hairline. The others let out a little gasp, how could such popular guys have been bullied at one point in their lives?
"You guys have school festivals here in Korea, just like China I believe." Kris started off. "Sehun said you guys have one soon, correct? Use the performance times during the festival to your advantage."
"It's coming up in early December, before winter break. We're forced to perform since we're the scholarship students. but what would we do?" Lee Jinki questioned.
Yixing answered, "Powerful dances with loud moves, perform songs with lyrics about equality or the unfairness of society, you name it. The possibilities are endless. However, start off small-scale before working your way up in the power. I have a feeling with your y school they'd cancel the rest of the stages if they found out what was going on."
Luhan nodded his head. "You guys will have to have the final stage as the most powerful one, that'll be the game changer. We can't guarantee anything though. Anyone have ideas on what to perform?"
The scholarship students all went home except for Chorong and Eunji. The two wanted to stay behind to get to know EXO-M more.
Chorong took the initiative to start the conversation this time around. "I'm actually curious, and I hope I'm not being rude or anything, but I didn't know people like you could be bullied. I never thought that would even be possible..."
"Well, everyone has their own secrets. Anyone care to share?" Kris suggested. "Suho practically told us her whole story and none of you guys have experienced half the pain she has so... it'd only be fair since we know her experiences."
EXO-M stared at each other before Minseok volunteered to begin.
"All of us in EXO-M aren't actually made from money like EXO-K. We're all normal, middle-class people so we've had our fair share of worries. My story? I was bullied as a kid. I think these chubby cheeks make it pretty obvious as to why I was bullied."
Chorong and Eunji stared at Minseok as he continued. "I used to be pretty overweight as a kid. It was not pretty. Other kids would always make fun of me, but I eventually lost the weight after I hit puberty and then my handsomeness shone through instead. I remember those days after my summer transformation, all of the people that made fun of me started to treat me so well and tried to be my friends, but I had these guys with me instead. No fake friends for me." He high-fived s and he pointed at Jongdae. "I think you should continue."
"I at Chinese when I was a kid and I had a terribly heavy accent. When I went to Beijing High, I was made fun of for my accent, and I couldn't understand what the others were saying either since my Chinese wasn't fluent enough. I eventually got better and just had the school take action, so it's not that big of a deal now. Tao had it the worst out of all of us though."
"Yep. I learned martial arts because I was sick of people picking on me. I was a skinny little twig in elementary, so the older kids would beat me to a pulp, and the school never took action either. I decided to fend for myself and started taking martial art lessons. People stopped messing with me afterwards and I'm here where I am now thanks to my friends. Oh, and the scar... it was when someone slammed my head into a locker. That was the decisive moment when I chose I was not going to risk my life to be a punching bag for another's enjoyment. I'm a human, not a punching bag. And I'm not a source of entertainment."
Chorong cringed at the story and held out her notepad. "I never knew... I'm sorry about earlier when all of the other kids were judging you guys. They were doing no different from when the bullies at our school judge us. I have scars just like you too." She unraveled her sleeves and showed the faint lines of wrist cuts. EXO cringed at the sight of so many scar lines.
Luhan put his hand on Chorong's shoulder. "We didn't take it to heart. Everything went for the better at the end anyways. And you guys definitely need all the help you can get."
Suho sneakily pulled off Luhan's hand without looking suspicious and slung his arm over Luhan's body instead. "So, what should we do now? We still have a lot of time before the day ends."
EXO-K nudged each other while EXO-M stared around for clues.
"Umm," Minseok began, "Me and Jongdae were planning to visit our parents. We haven't seen them in a year and we should pay our respects. Let's go Jongdae!"
The other four members of EXO-M stared at each other before joining the two. "We'll go with you guys! We've visited most of Korea since we've been here so many times. See you guys at school!" They hurried off and chased after Minseok and Jongdae.
EXO-K continued to nudge each other while Baekhyun and Suho eyed the others in suspicion. Suho narrowed his eyes. "What are you guys doing?"
"Oh achm, I'm going to a game cafe with Jongin. Bye!" Sehun dragged Jongin with him and they left.
Chanyeol flashed a text message from his phone. "Dad wants me back home to discuss some things. Good luck!"
Kyungsoo stared at the remaining people before stuttering, "I'm going to go home. Bye." He quickly zipped away, leaving Suho, Baekhyun, Chorong, and Eunji. They eyed each other and an awkward silence ensued.
Chorong wrote onto her notepad. "...I think I'll just go home too. Want to go with me Eunji?"
Baekhyun cleared his throat and pulled onto Eunji's arm. "I want to go eat some food! I'm starving." He dragged her away before she could even disagree.
"I never said yessss!" Her voice trailed further and further away until she finally stopped yelling.
Suho glanced at Chorong. "Well, want me to walk you home?"
She stared at Suho and shyly nodded her head.
They walked side by side with a good amount of distance between each other. Suho scratched his head.
"So, what do you think of EXO-M? They're cool right?"
She continued to walk while writing. "They're really nice and fun to hang out with. It'll be funny to see them when they go to school with us though. I found it easy to connect with them, especially after they told us their experiences with bullying. It's nice, well not nice to know that people suffer, but I clicked with them since we've been through some of the same experiences. It makes me feel a bit hopeful knowing that they've been able to overcome their obstacles. Oh goodness, everyone's going to idolize them like crazy when they appear at school... Then again it means more cleaning for us. People literally drop things in shock and litter when they see them so we'll have more to clean." Suho gave Chorong an odd look.
"I didn't mean it that way! I swear..." She fidgeted with the notepad and crinkled her nose.
He laughed. "I was only joking. Don't take it seriously." He thought for a moment before asking, "Actually, can you answer a question of mine? I've been quite curious about it for a while."
Chorong looked at him with her innocent eyes.
"Remember that day when Hyunseung and those two creeps followed you? I noticed that before they came, you were looking up at the sky the whole time. Not being stalkerish or anything, I was just wondering why. Gah I phrased that really oddly. You don't have to answer if you're uncomfortable or anything, I'm just curious."
Chorong thought for a moment and hesitated. They continued to walk for a couple of minutes and Chorong still didn't write a response.
I guess she's still uncomfortable with me. Suho blanked out for a couple of moments before Chorong tapped his shoulder.
"Stars. I was looking at the stars. There's something enchanting and magical about them. The way they sparkle in the sky and shed light in the night, the way they seem to protect you in times of darkness. They give me hope amidst the suffering. I feel like they're my parents in the sky, watching over me everyday. It's kind of silly I guess but that's how I feel."
Suho didn't respond for a while, leaving Chorong a little embarassed for sharing such childish thoughts.
"No, I don't think it's silly." He gently smiled at Chorong and softly patted her head.
A/N: Surprise!! I actually kept my promise of updating on Tuesday. Feel free to give me feedback in the comments :) I do read them and take them into consideration when I write my chapters.
Thanks for reading everyone~ <3 And APink's mini-album Pink Blossom is absolutely beautiful. Listen to the full album here. I lovee "Love Fairytale" and "So Long" the most but all of the songs are catchy. ><
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