“Waiting to develop courage is just another form of procrastination. The most successful people take action while they’re afraid!” 

- Unknown‎

Skelephobia – Fear of skeletons

Kim Jonghyun | SHINee

Note: Picture does not belong to me | Source

“Mr. Kim Jonghyun,” The teacher looked Jonghyun over. “Pray tell, why are you covered in flour?”

Jonghyun felt his neck turn hot as his classmates snickered at his appearance. His brown eyes found the black haired girl at the back of the classroom who was trying to hide her laughter behind a book.

“I-I had a clumsy moment in the Home Ec. Classroom,” Jonghyun fibbed, glaring at the person responsible for his current state: Kwon Jihae.

The teacher sighed, turning away from the boy. “Take your seat, try and clean yourself up during the lunch break.”

Kwon Jihae and Kim Jonghyun had a complicated relationship. The two had known each other since fifth grade when Jonghyun had accidently smashed a pie into Jihae’s face – don’t ask. Jihae had hated him since and had tried to make his life hell. This of course, resulted in full on prank wars between the two. The students of Seoul High had learnt to just stand back and watch the drama by now.

Jihae gave Jonghyun a smirk as he turned in his seat to give her the evil eye. She knew he’d get her back, but she chose to live in the moment and enjoy her victory.

Jonghyun grinned maniacally as he adjusted the camera that he’d placed on top of a bookshelf to record his prank.

Nearly six years of rivalry with Kwon Jihae had allowed Jonghyun an insight into her after-school life. He knew that Jihae always stayed an hour after school ended so she could finish up her assignments and homework in the school library. He also knew she had three younger brothers who didn’t give her the time and space she needed to do those assignments at home.

On cue, Jonghyun heard the library doors creak open and quickly hid himself behind one of the shelves. ‘Camera, check. Water gun filled with tomato juice, check. Target,’ Jonghyun stopped checking things off mentally and leaned just enough to see Jihae, who had just settled at her usual table. ‘Check.’

He waited for the perfect moment and then jumped in front of the unsuspecting girl. “Revenge!” he screamed at the top of his lungs before shooting tomato juice at her.

Jihae jumped in shock, her hands flying to cover her face as shrieks escaped . “S-Stop! Stop it!” she spat out some of the liquid that she’d accidently swallowed.

A few minutes later, the stream of tomato juice died down. Jonghyun grinned at her from behind his water gun. Jihae looked down at her completely soaked uniform then noticed the soggy pile of papers that were supposed to be her homework.

Jonghyun’s smug smirk was wiped off his face when he noticed the absolutely vicious expression on Jihae’s face. ‘Uh-oh…’

“You better start running, Kim Jonghyun,” Jihae took a few threatening steps towards the frozen brunette. “Because when I get my hands on you, I’m going to make sure you’ll never be able to hold a water gun, let alone shoot one!”

Jonghyun screamed before throwing the gun to the side and running out, the enraged girl covered in tomato juice hot on his tail. The librarian scolded the two for screaming and running around in the library but the two were too busy – one running for his life and the other trying to end the one’s life.

Jonghyun’s breath came out in short rapid pants as he entered an empty hallway. Without pausing to even check where he was going, Jonghyun ran into a room. It was only when he stumbled in the darkness and ended up causing a few test tubes to crash onto the floor that he realized he was in one of the science labs.

Jihae’s steps sounded in the hallway and Jonghyun rushed to hide under a table. He stilled his breath and strained his ears to listen to any signs of pursuit.

Jihae cracked the door to the Biology lab open. She could have sworn she’d seen Jonghyun run in only a few seconds ago. She didn’t bother turning the lights on and tried to soften the sound of her shoes so she could catch him off guard.

Trying to find her way in the dark was harder than she’d expected. She bit her tongue to hold in the gasp when the edge of a table scuffed her side.

‘That’s it,’ she thought to herself, reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone. The lit up screen acted like a flashlight and she raised it in front of her to see the way.

Jonghyun’s heart had calmed down but it jumped and began racing again as a high pitched screen echoed in the room. He was so surprised that he hit his head on the underside of the table.

“Ow,” he muttered. He crawled out from under the table, rubbing the tender spot on his head.

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could now make out Jihae’s rigid form. There was a small block of light on the floor, he guessed it was her phone.

Jonghyun furrowed his brows. “Hey, what’s with the screaming?”

He walked towards her. Halfway there, he noticed the terrified expression on his nemesis’ face as she tried to press herself as far from the object that had terrorized her as possible. That object being a skeleton.

Laughter bubbled up in Jonghyun’s throat. “Seriously?” He mocked, reaching for the bony skeleton’s hand. “You were scared by this? It’s not even real, it’s plastic!” he chuckled.

Jihae didn’t glare at him or snap at him with a witty comeback as she usually would. No, what she did was much more unexpected. She launched herself at Jonghyun, burying her face into his shoulder.

The boy stumbled back. His nose was immediately assaulted with the smell of tomatoes. But when he went past that, he could feel Jihae’s body shaking with sobs, her tears wetting his shirt.

“H-Hey, Kwon Jihae,” Jonghyun stammered, unsure how to act. “Why are you –” he swallowed as the girl tightened her grip on him. “O-okay, let’s just, let’s just get out of here, okay?”

The brunette led the girl towards the lab door. He turned the knob and pulled on it but the door wouldn’t budge. Jonghyun paused, looking into Jihae’s confused eyes before tugging on the door knob again.

“Um, minor setback,” Jonghyun chuckled nervously. “We seem to be locked in.” When he noticed Jihae’s eyes widen, he hurried to assure her, “It’ll be okay! I’m sure the janitor will come by to check the doors and we can just get him to let us out then.”

Jihae sighed, pushing herself away from him and sliding down a wall to sit on the floor. She took deep breaths, the intensity of what she’d done just hitting her. She had hugged and cried onto her enemy, she had shown weakness.

“So,” Jonghyun piped up, cautiously sitting onto the floor beside Jihae.

She gave him a glare. “This doesn’t change anything,” she hissed.

Jonghyun smirked. ‘There’s the Kwon Jihae I know.’

“Wouldn’t expect anything else,” he stuck his tongue out.

The rest of the evening was spent by the two exchanging snide remarks, laughing at each other and the memories of pranks they’d pulled on each other. Somewhere along the way, the two had even bonded, though neither would admit it. The last thing Jihae remembered was slapping Jonghyun playfully because he about smelling like ketchup.

Murmurs and whispers reached Jihae’s ears. She tried to block the noise and snuggled closer to her pillow. Why was there so much noise anyway?

It was only when her pillow moved that Jihae realized she wasn’t in her room. Her eyes opened wide and she slowly sat up, looking around. The sunlight streaming in through the window let her know it was morning.

A weight tugged her downwards as she tried to sit up and she realized there was an arm wrapped around her waist. Memories rushed into her mind as she remembered the previous night’s events. She gaped at Jonghyun, who much like her had only just awoken.

“Jihae?” A voice called, causing the black haired girl to turn to one of her classmates.

The two pranksters were horrified to find that the lab was now filled with students. The teacher stood over them, glaring while all students whispered and gossiped. This was probably the most scandalous thing to happen all semester.

Jihae’s cheeks felt like they were set on fire. She scrambled up, too humiliated to face anyone and rushed out of the lab leaving Jonghyun to deal with the mess.

“Mr. Kim Jonghyun, I trust you can find your way to the principal’s office?” the teacher smiled at him sarcastically. “Make sure to take Miss Kwon Jihae too. You can let the principal know about your little rendezvous together.”

Jonghyun looked away awkwardly as the students snickered. Why was he the one who was getting screwed? Wasn’t this a prank for Jihae?

Author's Note

Thanks to c0ok1es for the upvote and thank you Soohya, Afanofeverything92 and iamaflamer for the comments.

I hope you guys liked this chapter, I made it somewhat longer to make up for the short chapter last time. Let me know which phobia I should write next in the comments.