{TWENTY- THREE}

Month 04 Day 09

A/N : Month 04 is June ;)

The next month, summer welcomed itself to Seoul. A new season meant new uniforms, and Kyungsoo had to say he liked the new uniforms better than the old ones. A plain white dress shirt accomapnied with a red tie for the top. Some comfortable navy blue pants for the bottom with his worn out sneakers for the bottom.

But aside from the more comfortable uniforms, the weather was scorching hot. He hated sitting in the classrooms with the windows open while the hot summer winds blew past their faces. They had air conditioning, but for some reason their school was having a campaign where they would save electricity, so only the fans were allowed to be used.

It was no better at Chanyeol's place, because his air conditioner had suddenly become faulty, dripping unbelievable amounts of water in just a few minutes. Sometimes when the weather was just too unbearable, they took off their tops and jumped in the pool. When it rained, they rejoiced and opened all the windows before collapsing on the couch witth some pizza.

"Kyungsoo, your mom came by again," Chanyeol told him early one morning, which made him roll his eyes at the lady's actions.

After the whole dramatic revelation a week ago, his mother would stop by a few times at Chanyeol's place to hand him some side dishes for the both of them to share. Kyungsoo saw no reason why she would want to come here, because he wasn't planning on forgiving her in a hundred years. And he couldn't believe the giant had given her his house address and informed her Kyungsoo was staying at his place.

However, like always, Kyungsoo didn't answer. He glanced at the bag of homemade side dishes on the dining table before rolling his eyes. They were supposed to have nothing to do with each other, in his point of view.

His friends never said anything about it, eventhough they now knew about what had happened to him when he was younger, but they never knew where he was really from, and he wanted to keep it that way. Thankfully, there was no change on how his friends were treating him after the incident, eveything went back to normal.

"Let's go already," He slung his backpack over his shoulder. Chanyeol did the same and followed him outside the house.

The two of them walked down the street which led to their school, with Chanyeol stopping midway to buy a morning snack.

"Don't you think you should give your mom a second chance? Most people should deserve second chances if they've changed from how they were back then," Chanyeol stared at him while casually munching on his pancake, "That's my opinion, at least." He added with his half full mouth.

"She doesn't deserve it," Kyungsoo shook his head, "If you were there 10 years ago to experience my pain, you'd say the same."

"Maybe, but really," His friend slung an arm around his shoulder as he stuck out his other hand that was holding his pancake, "Picture it. If you try hard enough, if you really have the will to patch things up with your mother, then won't things be much better instead of you avoiding her like she's the plague? Who knows, it might turn out like Baekhyun's situation, except your mom isn't as rough as his father. Makes it a whole lot easier, doesn't it?"

"Chanyeol, those two scenarios are totally different," Kyungsoo just wouldn't have any of his friend's explanations, "Baekhyun's father didn't abandon him, but my family did. The only reason they could fix things was because Baekhyun apologised, and his father happened to accept his choices."

"Haven't you ever thought about the reason behind that? Wasn't it because of you? Even Baekhyun said so himself. If it weren't for you, Baekhyun would've never apologised to his father," Chanyeol ruffled his hair as the first bell rang, signalling 5 minutes until class would start.

Kyungsoo stayed quiet, but what Chanyeol had said was going to linger around his mind for the whole day.

"Class dismissed! Remember class, there's a pop quiz tomorrow and those who score below the passing mark, have to stay back for after school classes!" Mr. Gu announced, his voice booming.

Everyone in the class groaned, except for Kyungsoo, he found pop quizzes quite easy. He hadn't even found the need to study before, it looked like a such a waste of time. Students in his year, or possibly everyone in school, called him a genius. No wonder the second place nerd in his class would often give him hateful stares when he made first place.

"Ah, !" Baekhyun slammed his head on his desk, "I'm doomed! Doomed!" He dug through his notes, which really consisted of nothing other than doodles of the teachers he disliked.

"It's just math though, no big deal," Minjae popped out of nowhere, sitting down on one of the vacant seats infront of Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. Chanyeol, too, rose from his and plopped himself down beside her.

"It'd be no big deal if you just studied, Baek," Chanyeol teased, amused as he flipped through the pages of the boy's doodles, "HAHHA!" The giant burst out in fits of laughter, showing them the doodle Baekhyun drew, "Look at this, it's hilarious! Is it supposed to be Mr. Seo?"

Mr. Seo was their Geography teacher, a man who wore thick rimmed glasses and looked like a nerd freshman ready for college, but looks could deceive. It turned out he was a devil in disguise, dropping loads of homework on them like bombs and constantly telling them they weren't smart enough so they would work harder, according to himself. He'd also order students to run around the school field or stand outside the class on their desks with their hands raised if they were ever caught talking.

"Yeah, quite a masterpiece, if I'd say so myself," Baekhyun crossed his legs and leaned back, rising up when he realised he still had to revise, "But forget about that, I'm so going to fail for the quiz!"

"So, I see someone's having having trouble with upcoming quizzes too?" Everyone turned their heads to the back door to find the group's maknae, Sehun, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. 

"Actually, we just have one quiz, but it's still too much for us," Chanyeol pouted.

"I just finished my test," The younger boy dragged a chair over to their small group and flung out his test paper. He'd gotten 92 percent on his math test, which basically shocked everyone, since they never knew Sehun was a smart one.

"Unbelievable," Minjae gawked at the marks written in clear red pen.

Chanyeol eyed Sehun before nearing Kyungsoo and whispering to his ear, "He must've cheated, definitely." Kyungsoo shoved the giant's head away and smirked at Sehun, who looked pissed because his friend's weren't believing him, "Good job, maknae."

"Thanks, hyung," Sehun grinned, but then gave the others a disatisfied look, "And I can't believe you guys think I cheated. I studied day and night for this test. Also, do you know how distracting it is when Luhan and Minseok scream at the television while I'm trying to study? Either I end up watching the game, or lock myself in the bathroom with my headphones."

"Yeah, yeah, they're soccer enthusiasts and you're a genius, we get it," Baekhyun teased as Sehun threatened to kick him where it would hurt.

"Tsch, you're such an idiot, Baek. Make sure to study this time, or your dad will lock you out again," Chanyeol snickered at the boy, who crossed his arms and scowled at him, "I