Song suggestion: JJ Project- Tomorrow, Today (내일, 오늘)

"The speech is perfect." Hyuna waved the pages while in front of the classroom and took lead. "What we need to do now is plan the other details. I already have my part covered, I submitted my fake speech to the principal and other school higher-ups for the okay so I have the green light to officially speak."

"Nice," Namjoon added, "some of the underclassmen are in control of the soundbooth during graduation so we have that covered."

"We might have to be more careful, don't we?" Hayoung pointed out, "What if security catches us, or even worse, we just get booed and get bad news press?"

"If anything, I'll fight a if I have to for the mic." Hyuna lankily balanced her weight on one foot and added, "I highly doubt they'd risk the chance of touching me."

"Being fierce sounds nice and all, but even if we put up a fight, they're definitely not going to let their guard down either." Jinki played with the pen between his fingers while thinking of more ideas.

All of the sudden, the classroom door slammed open and the students froze, anticipating who was there.

"Mr. Kwak?"

"Mrs. Lee?"

The two teachers vibrantly laughed and made silly gestures as they walked into the classroom, trying to look like cool mob bosses that owned the place.

"I invited them," Chorong began to write, "I figured we needed help from some adults on our side."

"Ask and ye shall receive." Mr. Kwak naturally went to the front of the classroom and stood at the podium while Hyuna shifted away and sat down on a desk instead. Mrs. Lee shoved Mr. Kwak a little just so they could split the podium together.

"I say go for it." 

Mrs. Lee nodded her head at the fellow teacher's words. 

Chanmi raised her hand and spoke. "But we don't even have a plan."

"Well, you won't need it." Mr. Kwak made a silly grin as the students looked at each other and murmured at his so-called advice.

"Think about it guys, you might do some of the best things when you're desperate. I never recommend going into anything without a plan and some backups, but I think you guys will manage." 

"I'm with him on this one," Mrs. Lee added, "I know you guys are fully capable of any antics. A little bit of random won't hurt this time around."

Taemin raised his hand and questioned, "I still think we should plan at least something. We can't go in empty-handed."

"Well if that's the case, you guys don't need a plan. What you need to do is think ahead." Mrs. Lee snapped her fingers and pointed at the students, waiting for them to give her a response to the suggestion.

Naeun narrowed her eyes. "Um, Mrs. Lee, isn't that planning?"

Mr. Kwak put a hand over his mouth to cover his laugh before answering, "I think what she meant to get at is think one- no, think multiple steps ahead of your enemy. You guys don't need to worry about what you'll be doing, you guys already have a set goal in mind that I don't think anyone can deviate you away from at this point. All of you are only aiming for one thing: getting the speech to be heard from start to finish in order to leave a lasting impact. On the other hand, you're already catching your enemy offguard so that's your one step ahead. How many more steps do you need to not only be ahead of the race, but guaranteed to finish it?"

"So in the end, it's still planning." Jungkook raised his eyebrows. His fellow classmates emptily stared at the two teachers who froze at the comment.

The two teachers looked at each other simultaneously and sighed. They couldn't beat the kids after all.

Suho and Baekhyun walked to the doorstep of Eunji's home, both anticipating how she and Chorong would look for their graduation day. It was only 8:20 am, but the scholarship students and EXO-K had all promised to meet at a lovely park by 9 to take photos together. They all figured they would look there best then before the ugly evening of possible fighting and tears.

Baekhyun rang the doorbell and waited for a response, only to have Eunji's father and mother open the door and greet him instead.

"Aish, I wanted to sleep more since it's the weekend but I guess I can't." Dong Il grumpily scratched his messy bed head while Il Hwa greeted the two boys and welcomed them inside the house.

"The girls are still getting ready so you might have to wait a bit. Did you both eat breakfast already?" Il Hwa and her husband sat back on their table to eat. 

Suho answered, "Thank you for the thought, but we already ate before coming here so we're full. We wouldn't want to disturb the two of you since we'll be on our way in a bit."

"Suit yourself." Dong Il grabbed a fried egg and began to eat to his heart's desire before adding, "well don't just stand there. You can go to Eunji's room if you want. Just remember, I'm under the same roof as you guys right now."

"We understand." Baekhyun awkwardly smiled and bowed while Suho followed his lead.

Suho knocked on the door and waited for a response. "Can we come in?"

Eunji cheerfully opened the door and was clearly in one of the best moods she had ever been in. Her bright appearance matched her flowy pastel yellow dress which she paired with white heels. She had straightened her hair but curved the ends add volume, her bangs perfectly framing her face. 

"Woah." Baekhyun had a dumb grin on his face and grabbed a hold of Eunji's hand. "You look gorgeous, as you always do."

"You don't look too shabby yourself." Eunji booped his nose and gracefully smiled back in response. She watched Suho through the corner of her eye and smirked. "Chorong, are you done yet? You can turn around any minute now."

Suho didn't even need her to turn around to notice the lovely waves that cascaded down her back. When she finally turned around, he almost swore his heart stopped for a second.

Baekhyun clapped his hands. "Wow, Chorong, you look amazing too."

"Thank you! You look charming today." Chorong smiled shyly and pushed her hair behind her ear. "You look handsome too, Suho." She noticed he wore the classic black suit and white shirt with a silver tie. As opposed to his youthful look with his bangs down, he slightly swept his bangs up to reveal a more mature, manly side. 

Chorong wore a lovely white lace dress which allowed her collarbone to peek through and had on a pair of silver heels. Suho couldn't take his eyes off of her and barely managed to process her compliment.

"You look beautiful, like always." 

Baekhyun and Eunji snickered at the plain comment, but they didn't expect anything more from Suho anyways.

"Okay guys, let's get going on the road before we're late." Baekhyun led as the rest of the group followed him towards the front door.

With his arms crossed, Eunji's father warned, "Make sure my two girls get back home safe. Going to graduation will be a family event."

While speaking, he unconsciously scowled at the boys but would turn his eyes towards his girls as well, smiling out of pride and admiration as to how far they had come. 

"Wait," Dong Il scanned the boys' outfits and rescanned what the girls were wearing and narrowed his eyes, "are you guys purposely matchy matchy or what? One looks like stupid yellow sunshine and the other looks like they're about to get married."

Ilhwa couldn't help but let out a lady-like giggle at her husband's comment, while the other four felt their ears burn in embarrassment at the observation.

"Oh my gosh, dad, stop." Annoyed, Eunji rolled her eyes. "It really was all coincidence!"

Holding his tongue, Dong Il kissed his two girls on the foreheads before sending them off. "Okay okay, on your way if you guys don't want to be late now."

Suho occasionally stole glances at Chorong while driving. Since he couldn't read her notepad while driving, he didn't know whether to have a one-sided conversation with her since she could listen to his thoughts. He tapped the fingers his free right hand on the arm rest, keeping only one arm on the wheel.

"I can't believe we're finally graduating. I'm so excited, but at the same time, I can't believe I'm saying I think I might miss it just a little too. Graduation just reminds me of how fast time goes by. I won't be able to relive my youth anymore, college is just the start of adulthood before I'm actually thrown into the real world."

He took a peek and noticed Chorong looking out the window, her long eyelashes fluttered as she nodded at his words. 

"I'm honestly worried. To be honest, I know I come from a good family background and I'm grateful for it. I've never had to struggly financially and I could always afford what I wanted to pursue. At the same time, I wonder if I'll be able to handle a real, life-changing struggle because I don't have the background for it. I can't always rely on my dad, I'm going to have to work for myself in the future and take up a lot of responsibilities and burdens that others have already had to deal with well early into their lives."

Chorong fiddled with her hands on her lap. At first, she was taken aback because his words almost sounded like a complaint. She would much rather, plainly put, be filthy rich like him rather than to struggle at all. But then again, she knew Joon Myun was mature and didn't mean it as a complaint. Rather, it was a genuine concern. He knows he's privileged and is thankful, yet the tradeoff is that he has always been handed things and has never learned and felt how to fight or struggle for what he wants. Chorong understood he was bothered by the fact that the lack of struggle in exchange might hurt his will to fight in the future. But she believed in his will more than Joon Myun did himself, knowing his good character.

Keeping the thoughts to herself, Joon Myun continued his one-sided conversation. "High school is just one small chapter of our lives. College is just the next chapter, and from then on we have to adult. There's so much to figure out. It's funny how when we're kids, we want to grow up as fast as possible. We dreamt of the simple things and wondered about our future occupations, from being an actor to the scientist that cures cancer. Yet, when we're all grown up, we wonder where all the time went and want to run away from growing up."

Joon Myun stopped speaking for a moment before realizing, "you know what, growing up wasn't all that bad. I had all of my friends stand by my side whenever I needed it. I got to meet the scholarship students, and most importantly, you. I don't know what tomorrow holds for us and I don't know which way we'll go from here, but what I know for a fact that I'll still be happy with everyone there for me. Because no matter what, I'll have priceless friendships that I will treasure until the end."

The two sat in silence for a little after Joon Myun's final words, but Chorong wanted to comfort him some how. Reaching for his hand on the arm rest, she gently placed her warm hand on top, wrapping her fingers around as a way to reassure him and show that she understands.

Embarrassed, Joon Myun didn't have a chance to react before Chorong flipped his hand. He felt slightly ticklish before realizing she was writing characters on the palm of his hand. With every character she wrote, he spoke it out loud word for word in order to make sure he was keeping track of the correct words.

"I

will

always

be

by

your

side,

just

like

how

you

have

always

been

by

mine"

Joon Myun combined all of the words into a sentence and whispered them to himself once more.

"I will always be by your side, just like how you have always been by mine."

 A/N: this chapter was long overdue but i really wanted to take my time since the end is near. i'm so excited just thinking about the final chapter! (do expect between 2-4 more chapters) thank you for reading and keeping up for so long!