Chapter three

12-05-15

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

THUD!

Baekhyun turned off the alarm clock before making a U-turn in his room back to his closet. He knew it was stupid to set it since he was a light sleeper anyway, and since he had this habit of waking up early, he had already woken up an hour ago. They had to wear a uniform in school and he only had his black pants and a white blouse on when the alarm went off. He went back in the closet and went back to searching for the blazer he was supposed the have somewhere. He found it after a good few minutes of searching put it on. The school’s colour was green, all thus the dark green blazer and green and white striped tie.

He didn’t do anything spectacular with his hair and had it like he usually did his hair; letting his bangs hang across his forehead, covering his brows.

Baekhyun already had his backpack ready, the books he needed had he grabbed from the desk the night before. He took the booklet from the desk and took a look at his time table, which was printed in it. He had no idea if he and Chanyeol had the same lessons, but so far all the subjects looked okay. He had math first, a subject he disliked because of its stupidity sometimes, but who knows; maybe it’ll turn out different. After that history, a subject he oddly enough never had before. Then psychics (Baekhyun had genuinely no idea what they were going to do there) and an assembly with Mr. Oscar? Baekhyun read the smaller line beneath it which said: ‘only for specific students’.

‘okay’

‘’Oh, P.E.’’ He muttered and went back in the closet, remembering where he had seen the clothes for it earlier and stuffing them in his backpack as well. It was half past seven when he made his way downstairs – after knocking on Chanyeol’s door and saying that he should wake up soon to make sure he wouldn’t oversleep.

He was about to look if there was actually food in the fridge when he heard someone vaguely knocking on the door. He frowned, not remembering if he invited someone over, or Chanyeol talking about someone coming over. The frown didn’t leave his mouth as he dropped his backpack on the countertop and made his way to the front door, opening it.

In the doorway stood a boy, probably around his age and his height. He had big owl-like eyes that stared at him in a slightly creepy way (Baekhyun didn’t mind it though) but his face was bright and occupied with a warm smile.

‘’Uhm… Hi?’’ Baekhyun greeted the boy, not knowing whether he should smile or use his cold expression, right now he was something in between and probably looked like a fool as his mouth was slightly agape.

‘’Hello.’’ The boy warmly greeted back, way more experienced than he did. ‘’Sorry to bother you so early, but do you have eggs?’’ He asked. Baekhyun’s frown became heavier.

‘’Eggs?’’ He asked, tilting his head downward, his voice going up a pitch; both due confusion and because it was still early.  The stranger awkwardly smiled. ‘’I know it might be a weird question, but I was cooking and found out I didn’t have eggs.’’

‘’It ‘is’ a weird question.’’ Baekhyun muttered – secretly feeling satisfied by the chuckle – and slowly nodded, making a ‘come in’ motion with his hand before walking to the fridge. His confusion had never been this big before, and he was secretly glad no one else could witness this moment. Not that there actually was someone who could suddenly come by.

He opened the fridge and took a step backward in surprise. The fridge was stuffed with foodstuff from bottom to top, not leaving a single spot empty.

‘’Wow, that’s a lot food.’’ The boy chuckled as Baekhyun searched for eggs. He found them and handed them over.

‘’Thanks, I’ll repay you as soon as I can.’’

‘’That’s not necessary.’’ Baekhyun replied as he closed the fridge door and walked back to the front door.

‘’What’s you name actually?’’ The boy asked when he stood outside, Baekhyun had his hands on the door. ‘’Baekhyun.’’

‘’Kyungsoo, I’m your neighbour.’’ Kyungsoo said and pointed at the agape door diagonally opposite of his, which he stupidly hadn’t noticed. They shook hands before Kyungsoo went back to his room again. Baekhyun closed the door, trying to get over the fact that ‘this’ was their first meeting.

He went back to the kitchen and grabbed an apple, not feeling that hungry. His appetite was small, he was aware of that, it wasn’t really a big deal.

‘I thought I woke him?’ Baekhyun thought when he took his second bite. He hadn’t heard any movements from his roommate upstairs, and thus walked upstairs to see if the boy was actually awake or not. He softly opened the door, not wanting to make too much noise despite the fact that Chanyeol actually had to wake up soon.

He was greeted by a room, smaller and darker than his; it had no big closet, no huge bed and looked completely the opposite from his. The first thing he noticed on entrance, or more like heard, was the annoyingly loud beeping sound of the alarm clock on the nightstand next to his bed. With the sleeping boy lying next to it. Baekhyun sighed and turned off the alarm.

‘’Chanyeol.’’ He poked the boy, whose face was facing him. His hair hung in his face and his expression wasn’t really… pleasant – his lips pursed and his nose looked bigger than it looked the day before.

‘’Yah, wake up.’’ He poked again. He took a bite out of his apple, which he had taken with him, and called out again, a little louder this time.

‘’Myah! Wake up!’’ He yelled, munching on the apple. There seemed to be movement under the sheets before the sleeping boy turned his back to him.

‘’I am seriously going to kick you if you don’t wake up now.’’ Baekhyun muttered when Chanyeol calmly exhaled.

‘’Don’t bother.’’ Chanyeol suddenly said, his already deep voice deeper and hoarse due to the sudden awaking, catching Baekhyun off guard.

‘’I thought you were sleeping?’’

‘’I was indeed, till you started yelling.’’

‘’That’s because you need to wake up.’’ Baekhyun crossed his arms.

‘’Shut up, it’s only a quarter for seven.’’ Chanyeol persevered, not turning around though.

‘’… it’s a quarter for eight.’’

He could practically feel Chanyeol’s eyes open abruptly before the said boy’s body jerked up. He took a look at the clock before realization punched him hard across the face. Vituperatively, Chanyeol threw the sheets of off him and stomping past Baekhyun to the bathroom. Baekhyun didn’t miss the frantic expression and bit down a small smile that was about to appear on his face. He stayed there for a few moments before he shrugged and went to his own room, leaving the door open.

‘’WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL ME?’’ Chanyeol yelled when Baekhyun entered the closet.

‘’I DID BUT CALL YOU BUT YOU DIDN’T WAKE UP.’’ Baekhyun yelled back. He noticed a jewellery rack on top of one of the shelves and walked to it, grabbing a thin, black watch off of it and put it on his slim wrist. It was a bit too big and hung around his wrist, but other than that looked nice and handy.

‘’THEN YOU DIDN’T CALL LOUD ENOUGH!’’ Chanyeol suddenly continued the battle wherefrom they both knew he had lost already. Baekhyun sighed in exasperation and looked up.

‘’ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO CONTINUE THIS?’’

Chanyeol replied with silence and Baekhyun rolled his eyes. He heard heavy footsteps running over the marble hall as Baekhyun walked out of his room, turning off all the lights behind him, and went downstairs.

‘’WHAT SUBJECT DO WE HAVE FIRST?!’’ Chanyeol yelled from upstairs; to which Baekhyun replied with: ‘’I DON’T KNOW, YOU HAVE ANOTHER TIME TABLE THAN I HAVE.’’

He actually had no idea if that was even true but it’s always better to wait and not say anything than say something and saying it wrong. Besides, it was good for Chanyeol to take a look at his time table, what he probably hadn’t done last night.

When his roommate finally came downstairs, fully dressed in his uniform and with his backpack heaved on his shoulder, Baekhyun threw an apple at him; which he luckily caught. Chanyeol wore the same clothes as he did (of course), and had his hair styled up with a twist.

Baekhyun threw his own one in the trash bin in the kitchen before he grabbed a pair of shoes from the shoe rack beside the door (the same place where many large coats hung).

‘’What subjects do you have?’’ Baekhyun asked when Chanyeol came to grab his shoes as well.

‘’Geography, Music, Math, this special meeting and P.E.’’ Chanyeol said before walking over to the dining table and sitting down on a chair to put on his shoes. ‘’You?’’

‘’Math, history, physics, the meeting too and P.E.’’ Baekhyun said.

It was unnecessary to put on a coat since the school was next door anyway, so he just grabbed his backpack and slung it on his back. It was kinda odd that they didn’t have the same subjects together, excluding P.E., but Baekhyun wasn’t the one to speak against it.

‘’I’ll see you in P.E. then.’’

‘’Wait, you’re going now?’’ Chanyeol’s head snapped up as he stared at Baekhyun who grabbed the door-knob

‘’Uhm… yeah. School starts in five minutes.’’ Baekhyun replied as he opened the door.

‘’Wait for me.’’

So Baekhyun turned around. ‘’Why?’’

‘’Because I don’t know the way.’’ Chanyeol finally done with his shoes and grabbed his bag before walking to the open door where Baekhyun waited.

‘’And what makes you think I know it?’’ Baekhyun asked and locked the door.

‘’I never said that, I assumed.’’

‘’It’s the same.’’

‘’It’s not.’’

‘’Believe me, it is.’’

Chanyeol chuckled and Baekhyun rolled his eyes. He was sure to bring Chanyeol to his class (because he indeed had looked at the school maps and learned the way to heart), ignoring the remarks Chanyeol made about being right, and then made his way to his own class.

¬­­

Math was boring (just like he expected)

History was pretty cool, he learned things he already learnt.

Psychics was the best one so far. They’d mess with mother-nature and connect strange powers with each other to see what would happen. Their teacher especially loved the reaction.

And now he walked towards classroom 148, were the ‘special meeting’ took place. He had passed many students, many colours and many doors when he finally got the door he wanted. It was open when he walked in. The classroom wasn’t filled like it was in Baekhyun’s other lessons. At the most fifteen students there were. Baekhyun threw his bag next to the chair in the back of the classroom and sat down on it the exact moment that Chanyeol entered the room.

‘’Hey Baekhyun!’’ He yelled and Baekhyun facepalmed himself. ‘God no’.

The whole class turned around to this specific ‘Baekhyun’ who had hid himself in his hands. Chanyeol smirked at the satisfaction of embarrassing his roommate and decided to take a seat next to him, much to Baekhyun irritation.

‘’Why are you hiding?’’ He asked after the students turned back to the front of the room or to whatever they were doing, titling his head. Baekhyun removed his hands from his face and gave Chanyeol a look.

‘’Shut up.’’ He muttered.

‘’Why? I just said your name.’’

‘’I’m serious, sh-‘’

‘’SHUT UP EVERYONE, TEACHER HAS ARRIVED!’’ Mr. Oscar exclaimed loudly as he entered the room. Chanyeol sat back in his chair and Baekhyun felt – for the first time – happy that the teacher came in. They were with a total of seventeen in the room; including Baekhyun.

‘’Thank you, so you are probably thinking right now; why am I here?’’

‘Not really’

‘’Well, that’s an easy question. Every year, we have a festival on this school. A welcome party, together with three new students that will come a month later. Every year, a particular group of students will organise it. This year, I’ve chosen you guys.

However, since I won’t be available all the time, there will be one person who will deal with all your questions; and that person is…’’ He quickly ran to his desk and randomly pricked hi finger on a piece of paper.

‘’Byun Baekhyun, congrats, you’re the victim. Please raise your hand and show who you are.’’

Baekhyun definitely didn’t want to raise his hand, but when Chanyeol grabbed his arm and tried to force it up, he had no other choice to slap the hand away and raise his own hand.

‘’Yes! Byun Baekhyun, over there.’’ Mr. Oscar exaggeratedly pointed at him while Baekhyun maintained his emotionless expression. The class turned (once again) to him, some of them nodded in approval, others just glanced. Baekhyun lowered his hand and waited until all the heads turned back to Mr. Oscar, what happened, after what felt like ages.

‘’Great, you guys have a month the time and Baekhyun, you have allowance to get everything you need.’’

Mr. Oscar stopped talking and looked up, nodding, as if someone was speaking to him. Which was certainly true.

‘’Okay guys, I just heard that I need to be somewhere else, so I will give all of you a quick assignment you can do anywhere before I go.’’ He quickly said before explaining the thing he had in mind.

‘’To get a closer band with your roommate, you will play this little game with him or her called ’20 question’. It’s basically a game wherein you guys can ask each other 20 questions and get to know each other better. Understood?’’

‘’Yes!’’

‘’Okay then, dismissed.’’ Mr. Oscar quickly collected his stuff before walking away, leaving the class behind. Everyone started to converse loudly, telling others their idea of how it was going to be. In other words, time for Baekhyun to step in.

‘’Guys?’’ Baekhyun called out for their attention, trying to get through the hubbub as he slowly and awkwardly stood up from his chair.

‘’Guys?’’ He called out again before he felt a nudge on his blazer and looked down. It was Chanyeol, who else would it be? He didn’t say anything, only shook his head and pushed him up the chair.

‘’SHUT UP!’’ Chanyeol’s deep voice easily overpowered all the others as their eyes for the third time that day turned towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun didn’t even give them the change to say anything and immediately spoke.

‘’Yes, thank you Chanyeol.’’ The said man politely nodded and crossed his arms on his back. Baekhyun wasn’t nervous and spoke smoothly. ’’My name is Byun Baekhyun, the victim a.k.a. the person who gets to deal with all your .’’ He drew laughter in the class. ‘’I have heard a lot of amazing ideas being yelled around in the class-‘’ he hadn’t, he doesn’t like to listen to many loud voices ‘’-but I actually had another idea.’’ He heard no commentary or critic and thus continued. ‘’I was thinking about making specific groups who all have their own subject. You can all chose your own subject, are you guys down for that?’’

He saw some of them nod, others replied verbally. He took it all as a yes.

‘’Great, so I will be naming a few things and if you want to do it, then raise your hand and say your name.’’ Baekhyun jumped off the chair and grabbed an unused notebook and a pencil from his backpack before he sat down on the chair and opened the notebook.

‘’First subject!’’ He yelled, feeling the presence of the whole class right behind him. ‘’Invitations, making sure that everyone is aware that there is a festival coming up.’’ He looked back to see if there were any hands and pointed at one. ‘’Name?’’

‘’Sungjong.’’ He wrote it down and pointed at the other two students who wanted to do it.

‘’Myungsoo, Woohyun.’’

‘’Okay. If you want, you can start on it now. I’m in room E6 if you need me.’’ He said before realizing something. ‘’This is moreover for every one of you, room E6.’’ He repeated before writing down the second subject that came up in his head.

‘’Stalls or activities. I need a lot people for this!’’

‘’Gikwang! Doojoon! Dongwoon! Yoseob! Jinyoung! Taeyeon! Jessica! Rokhyun!’’

‘’Decorations.’’

‘’Heechul! Hyuna!’’

’’Food.’’

‘’Do Kyungsoo! Kim Jongin!’’

Baekhyun turned around by hearing Kyungsoo’s name and saw the boy was in the room as well. He nodded at him before turning back to the notebook.

‘’Music.’’

‘’Chanyeol!’’ Chanyeol exclaimed and Baekhyun wrote down his name before saying: ‘’I’m doing music as well’’, writing down his own name as well.

The remaining student became the MC of the night Baekhyun would take care of the rest. He would obviously do the lights (although he didn’t say it out loud) and keep up a journal every now and then.

‘’You can all come to me when you need something. Room E5. Dismissed, once again.’’

The class didn’t need to be told that twice and left the room. Baekhyun watched them until everyone (except for a certain giant) had left the room and packed his bag.

‘’Didn’t know you knew anything about music.’’ His roommate said and Baekhyun shrugged.

‘’But then again, how much do we actually know about each other?’’ Baekhyun asked, both himself and Chanyeol who seemed to start thinking about it and didn’t continue about it anymore.

‘’Anyway, shall we play the 20 questions game?’’ Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun nodded, heaving his backpack on his shoulders and walking out of the room.

‘’Yeah sure.’’

¬

Since they would have a break right after Mr. Oscar’s ‘lesson’, they had more than an hour over and decided to go back to their room. Baekhyun got rid of the rather uncomfortable blazer and took it off together with the tie, throwing them over the back of the couch before sitting down on it. Chanyeol sat down on the other­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­.

‘’I start.’’ Said Chanyeol as soon as they sat down. Baekhyun just nodded and awaited the first question.

‘’How old are you?’’

‘’Fifteen, I’ll be turning sixteen on May the sixth.’’ Baekhyun answered.

Chanyeol frowned. ‘’Wait, so you’rer saying that you’re older than me?’’ He asked.

‘’Apparently.’’ Baekhyun shrugged together. ‘’You’re fourteen then?’’

‘’What? No. I turned fifteen on November twenty-seventh.’’

‘’Well then I’m older than you.’’ Baekhyun concluded. Even though Chanyeol definitely wasn’t done on the subject yet, he decided to leave it for now.

‘’How tall are you?’’

‘’Isn’t it my turn?’’ Baekhyun asked and Chanyeol nonverbally replied with a shrug.

‘’What kind of question is it even?’’

‘’Just answer it.’’

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. ‘’174 cm-‘’

‘’Oh… I am taller than you.’’ Chanyeol concluded the obvious and Baekhyun sighed, throwing his head back on the back of the couch. ‘’I am aware.’’

‘’And your weight?’’

‘’That’s not your business, Chanyeol. Seriously, why would you want to know my height and weight?’’ Baekhyun asked, glancing at him.

‘’Just answer it.’’ Chanyeol said.

‘’Why?!’’

‘’Just answer it.’’

‘’I don’t even know my weight.’’

‘’Bull.’’

‘’Okay, you want to know my weight?’’ Baekhyun asked and sat up. Chanyeol nodded.

‘’Yes I want to know.’’

‘’You sure?’’

‘’Yes of course I am.’’

Baekhyun scooted forward ever so slightly before whispering: ‘’Nothing.’’

‘’Nothing?’’ Chanyeol frowned.

‘’Nothing.’’ Baekhyun repeated a little louder, alongside with a mere nod.

‘’Nothing… I have to find that out myself.’’ Chanyeol stood up and Baekhyun abruptly extended his foot, stopping him from coming near.

‘’I swear to Kyungsoo, if you dare to touch me-‘’

‘’Who’s Kyungsoo?’’ Chanyeol asked.

That made Baekhyun think. ‘’Kyungsoo… he’s our neighbour…’’

Chanyeol shrugged before he went back to the subject. ‘’What are you gonna do about it?’’

Baekhyun looked up at the confident male, his expression heavily annoyed.

The last thing Chanyeol saw was a never-seen-before smirk on Baekhyun’s face before his vision went black. It took him a few seconds to figure out that it was Baekhyun who did it.

‘’So you can do more with your power!’’ He accusingly exclaimed.

‘’Shut up Chanyeol.’’

‘’What did you even do.’’ Chanyeol could practically feel his roommate shrug before he said. ‘’I removed the light out of your eyes, making you blind for as long as I want you to be blind.’’

‘’Okay, that’s sounds cool, but can you give it back now.’’ Chanyeol asked and waited until he got his sight back, but the other only replied with the dumb answer: ‘’Give what back?’’

Baekhyun silently chuckled. He didn’t know how Chanyeol had done it, but the boy had turned around and was currently facing the other couch as he talked to it.

‘’Come on Baekhyun, this doesn’t make sense.’’ Chanyeol told the couch and Baekhyun bit his hand to prevent himself from laughing out loud He didn’t even know why it was so funny. Out of the blue, Chanyeol jumped on the couch – face first – and Baekhyun lost it.

‘’… You’re on the other couch huh?’’ Chanyeol deadpanned, his voice slightly muffle by the couch.

‘’YES!’’ Baekhyun cried out, before laughing even harder.

‘’Baekhyun.’’ Chanyeol said, his voice filled with sudden authority, making Baekhyun look up, trying to stop laughing. ‘’Give me back my sight.’’

‘’Yeah.’’ Baekhyun snapped his fingers for the effect and returned his roommate’s sight. The boy slowly stood from the sat and sat down normally on it, staring at Baekhyun who was wiping his ‘fake’ tears. It has been a while since he had laughed this hard, but as soon as Chanyeol’s sight returned, he stopped, showing the expression he usually had, although light spots of happiness kept lingering in his iris.

Chanyeol noticed it.

‘’Baekhyun?’’

‘’It’s my turn to ask you something.’’

‘’Why isn’t your hair white? Or at least light coloured. Because, you know, every ice or water bender I’ve met so far has light or white hair, so why is yours dark?’’ Chanyeol asked. Baekhyun looked at him. He didn’t feel like arguing about whose turn it was anymore.

‘’I…’’ Baekhyun started. He didn’t finish. It was an easy question, that wasn’t the point. Just the answer to this question was one Baekhyun couldn’t answer. Or not wanted to answer; Baekhyun didn’t know which one it was. There was a time where he had white hair, it lasted almost a month until he went back to black.

‘’You…?’’ Chanyeol asked after Baekhyun had been silent for too long. ‘’Come one, it’s not a hard question.’’

For some people, it wasn’t. But for others…

‘’I don’t know why I am like this.’’ Baekhyun eventually shrugged. ‘’Maybe I’m not strong enough.’’

‘’Yeah… that kinda explains it.’’ Chanyeol agreed before they continued with the game. Baekhyun finally got to ask his questions and after what felt like ten minutes only, the bell rang, signalling it was time to go to their next lesson.

¬ 

It was the moment they arrived at the gymnasium when Chanyeol remembered he forgot his gym clothes. HE mentally slapped himself and stopped walking, watching how Baekhyun walked further until the boy noticed him stopping.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ Baekhyun asked in a deadpan voice, turning around to face him.

‘’Forgot my clothes, could you tell the teacher I’ll be there in-‘’ Chanyeol wasn’t even able to finish his sentence as Baekhyun had grabbed his own attire form his bag and propped it in his hands

‘’Use mine, they’re too big anyway.’’ His roommate said before continuing walking. Chanyeol eyed him strangely for a second before following him. Chanyeol went to the boys’ cloakroom and stood up the doorway, watching how Baekhyun walked up to the teacher to ask for a new, ‘smaller’ pair.

The teacher eyed him strangely for a second before he said something Chanyeol couldn’t quite decipher, Baekhyun nodded. He could understand the teacher’s confusion when Baekhyun asked for a new pair, the boy was indeed kind of small of a guy – if not one of the smallest of all the boys.

But then on the other hand, Chanyeol was absurdly tall. They were a good mix as roommates. A good mix as in their huge contrasts, talking about height, weight obviously as well, strength. Chanyeol smiled to himself; he was gonna show Baekhyun how good h-

‘’HEY, CLOSE THE DOOR! I’M TRYING TO CHANGE FOR S SAKE!’’ Chanyeol’s eyes widened by hearing the stranger’s rather mad voice and the door closed immediately.

The first thing Chanyeol noticed when he was done changing was the size of the gymnasium, it was humongous! On the other side of the gymnasium were two doors, wide open, letting air, cold as ice, enter the hall. Other students were standing in an unregulated line, looking around, up mainly up. That was the second thing Chanyeol noticed; a huge structure hanging meters above the ground, holding what looked like three small, oblong platforms from below.

Rope hung from all the way up there to the ground and Chanyeol would not be surprised if they were to climb them later.

Baekhyun walked in, dressed in long, green sweatpants and a plain white shirt. He was given a packet of both long and short P.E. clothes and decided to mix them up. He walked up to the rest of his class who all stood in a straight, regulated line, Chanyeol on the end. He decoded to stand next to the latter and just when he did, the incredibly loud voice of their P.E. teacher entered the room.

‘’SHUT UP WEAKLINGS!’’ He yelled, causing the left over talking to stop speaking immediately. The P.E. teacher glanced around for a moment before he crossed his arms. The man was buff, big and very tall, maybe even taller than Chanyeol. The shirt he wore looked tight on his broad chest and he wore long sweatpants.

‘’OKAY, AND NOW STAY SHUT! MY NAME IS MR. LIM AND IF YO UWANT TO FOLLOW MY LESSONS, THEN YOU MUST ADHERE TO THESE THREE RULES.’’ He started.

1. I AM YOUR TEACHER RIGHT NOW, SO YOU FOLLOW MY ORDERS!

2. NURSE OFFICE IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, I WON’T TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR YOU WEAKLINGS!

3. TODAY WE WILL BE TRAINING IN- AND OUTSIDE. THE DOORS ARE ONLY OPEN WHEN WE WILL GO OUTSIDE, IF NOT, THEN DON’T EVEN DARE TO GO OUTSIDE!

Baekhyun – along with everyone else – nodded. However, unlike all the scared and intimidated faces, Baekhyun’s wasn’t that impressed by the man’s audited and kept his bored expression on. He had seen bigger, louder and scarier men than Mr. Lime in his life, this one was just another one.

‘’ALL OF YOU ARE JUST A BUNCH OF WEAKLINGS. BUT I AM GOING TO CHANGE THAT! FIRST I’M GOING TO MEASURE YOUR STRENGHT AND SPEED. THAN WE CAN START THE REAL TRAINING!’’ He somehow had managed to encourage a few students, whose scared faces had suddenly disappeared.

‘’ABOVE AND OUTSIDE IS A PARKOUR, YOU WEAKLINGS ARE ALL GOING TO DO THE PARKOUR AT YOUR VERY BEST. UNDERSTOOD!’’

The class answered non-verbal, much to the teacher’s annoyance.

‘’UNDERSTOOD?!!’’

’’YES!’’

’’OKAY, THEN LET’S DO THIS. LITEN TO ME, I WON’T BE REPEATING WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SAY!’’

‘’You all see those ropes right?'' Mr. Lim’s voice lowered – much to many student’s fortunate – as he pointed at the row of thick ropes behind him. There were 13 ropes for all the 13 students they were with today, meaning that it was going to be a competition. ‘’You climb that all the way up ‘till you arrive by one of those three platforms you see up there and must go to the other side of the gymnasium via one of the six ladders by only using your arms. You can’t walk over it!’’

Baekhyun looked up. All that the man told was up there, at least 10 meters above him; and if Baekhyun were to be very honest, it did look kind of scary. Especially when the possibility of falling was huge.

’’Arriving by the other side of the gymnasium, you must jump.’’

‘’WHAT, the rope and the ladder is already impossible, there’s no way I am gonna jump down from there!’’ A young girl yelled and backed up ever so slightly.

‘’Yeah, it’s crazy!’’ Another boy yelled, teaming up with the girl.

‘’DON’T TALK WHEN I’M TALKING, WEAKLINGS!’’ Mr. Lim’s face turned red from anger, he breathed in, exhaled out deeply before continuing with a softer tone. ‘’Don’t worry, you will fall into a big net. If you don’t do it, you’ll be eliminated immediately. That means that you will be placed by the ‘subordinates’.’’ Mr. Lime looked quite amused when their faces turned pale.

‘’After jumping down. You need to run outside, ignore the lake and go into the maze, the only thing I’m asking you to do there is get out in safety and unharmed.’’

The way he emphasized ‘unharmed’ didn’t sound good at all, scaring more people. Baekhyun saw Chanyeol stiffen ever so slightly beside him before the boy relaxed. He decided not to throw a comment, both for his own sake and of the sake of Chanyeol’s ego. 

‘’After you exit the maze, run back. Fastest time wins. Now pick a rope and wait for my signal.’’ Mr. Lime walked out of the way and the thirteen students walked to the ropes and picked one out. Baekhyun had picked the one on the far left while Chanyeol had ran to the one in the middle.

‘’READY?!’’ The teacher yelled.

Time slowed down as Baekhyun looked up. He didn’t doubt his climbing skills, maybe his strength, but he didn’t think it would retain him from climbing all the way up. His opponents didn’t look that cogent either, the tall ones were lanky and the small ones chubby. But Baekhyun wasn’t the tallest either, not the strongest at all, but he did have an advance on the rest. He didn’t have to push up anything. Baekhyun glanced over at Chanyeol – whose eyes were as confident as ever – before he looked at the rope. He let his hands hang next to his sides and leisurely breathed out before time sped up again.

’’GO!’’

Without any hesitation, as soon after he heard the signal, Baekhyun jumped up and grabbed the rope with both his hands – pushing himself constantly up with both his legs while his hands reached further up. He was on the platform within the matter of a few seconds. He was the first one, seeing that the rest was only midway, he didn’t waste his time by waiting for them to come up and immediately ran over the platform to the ladder attached to the roof. He didn’t peek down and swept his hands over the dusty platform to get some grip before he grabbed the ladder and started climbing forward.

Even from above, Baekhyun’s hawk sharp noticed the slight features of shock on Mr. Lime’s face. He was only halfway when the second one arrived on the platform, then the third one. After that, they all kept coming, but Baekhyun didn’t feel the oppression to speed up. He wiggled his legs when he arrived by the next platform and jumped on it.

He finally looked rearwards and saw about six others – including Chanyeol as the fourth – climbing as well. But they had to carry their weight, Baekhyun didn’t. But now wasn’t the right time to think about that as Baekhyun turned back to the front and then down in the net.

‘Should be at least eight meters until the net, two meters higher than before. Approximately two seconds of falling for them, five for me.’ Was what Baekhyun concluded before he bended his knees, stretched his arms and jumped down.

It was a long fall, he felt so light, so free. Something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Everything felt light and amazing until his back hit the net, just when the second boy jumped down. It didn’t even take two seconds before the boy had fallen next to him, making Baekhyun roll over as the net dipped lower. Baekhyun didn’t bother to fasten his pace as he climbed out of the net and jumped on the ground. He exhaled deeply and brushed his bangs out of his eyes before he jogged outside where the blinding lights met him (not that his eyes hurt by that)

Just like the teacher had told, there was a maze right outside the building, next to a beautiful looking lake. Its stone walls were high, almost thrice Baekhyun height and were covered with creepers.

Baekhyun didn’t hear anyone coming when he walked closer to the maze. He lighted up the inside of his eyes, making the world brighten up in his eyes, before he made his way inside.

I am lame…