Yibo continuously tapped on his phone screen, trying to escape the awkward tension. He could feel Yixuan staring at him trying to say something and he silently cursed Sungjoo for leaving them alone. He could have brought Yixuan with him... or better yet, he could have gotten Yixuan to sit somewhere else.

'Just let him sit here, Sungjoo's just getting food' He scolded himself and looked up briefly.

It was as if life perfectly timed his instincts because Yixuan looked at him too. Yibo looked down shyly and continued to play the game on his phone. He saw Yixuan open his mouth in his peripherals and slowly raised his chin again, pausing his game.

Yixuan kept his mouth open for a while, Yibo thought that a fly would land inside. His lips finally moved and Yibo subconsciously straightened his back.

"What are you playing?"

Yibo broke eye contact and looked down at his lap as if he forgot he was playing in the first place. "Uh... Clash of clans..." he put his phone in his pocket and folded his hands in an act to show his attention. Yixuan wasn't a bad guy, Yibo stated. He should, at least, try to talk to the guy before disliking him.

"Fun..." Yixuan smiled, Yibo offered one back but he didn't know what else to say, Yixuan seemed to be pulling his lunch out of his bag and Yibo reached for his phone again but Yixuan asked him another question.

"Where's your lunch?" Yibo froze, could feel the notifications at his fingertips but Yixuan was still trying to make small talk.

"I... don't bring a lunch, I eat at home." He saw Yixuan shake his head and he prepared himself for the scolding.

"That's no good! You're so thin, you need to eat." Yibo thought about his mother and how she would always scold him like this. "Here" Yixuan held out an orange and bobbed it in his hands a few times as Yibo stared at it. "It's not going to bite you" He teased.

Yibo laughed softly, "No thank you-"

"Take it." He commanded, and Yibo did as he was told.

"Thank you" He mumbled, staring at the fruit again. He still didn't want to eat it, but Yixuan was staring holes into his face with every passing second. Slowly, Yibo began to peel off the skin, peeking up at the senior before focusing back on the orange.

"You guys are so quiet and boring" A tray slammed down on the table, threatening to spill all the food Sungjoo took his sweet time to get.

'Finally' Yibo's inner voice groaned and he set the orange on Sungjoo's tray before standing up to throw the peelings away, he slowly walked over to the trash can to make sure that Sungjoo would eat it. He turned his head and sure enough, the orange slices were in his mouth and Yixuan was trying to scold him. Smiling softly, he took his time to come back as well.

"That was supposed to be for Yibo" Yixuan whined from the other end of the table. Sungjoo shook his head and waved him off.

"Yibo eats bucket loads at home, trust me, he just doesn't like the school food or taking from other people. And if he does, I gave him food once, he'll bring you a buffet in return. Don't worry much, Yibo knows how to take care of himself." Sungjoo smiled and finished the orange. Yibo pulled his phone back out, knowing he wouldn't be talking much in the conversation, like always. He saw Yixuan looking at him again and he tried to ignore the rest of the glances

"Yibo?" Yixuan questioned. Yibo looked up, a little dazed, he got so into the game he was actually able to block out the conversation.

"Hm?" He hummed, still holding the game in his hands, hoping he misheard.

"What about you?" Yixuan smiled sweetly. Yibo furrowed his brows trying to see if his brain was able to catch the topic.

"Don't even bother asking him." Sungjoo spoke up, "He's always like this, he doesn't really like to talk, he just likes to listen." When Yibo nodded, Yixuan was still expecting an answer.

"What was the question?" He put his phone in his back pocket so he could pay more attention. Sungjoo looked at him with a raised brow, he wasn't expecting Yibo to answer.

"What are you going to be doing for the break?" The pitch in his voice made it sound like he was unsure. Yibo immediately thought about the dance academy but he held his tongue. He didn't want Sungjoo to know about it.

"I'm not sure, I don't really plan things ahead... And the break isn't for a long time." Yixuan nodded in understanding. Yibo wondered to himself why he didn't say anything about the dance school. It wasn't like Sungjoo could stop him, by reacting all sad, telling Yibo about how much he was going to miss him and eventually cause Yibo to stay. Maybe he could stop him. "What about you?" He asked for politeness.

"I'm planning on working heh, I gotta save up for college you know?" Yibo tilted his head up for a long time as if to say 'oh' then looked at the happily eating Sungjoo wondering what he was going to do over the break.

"Just hang out, you guys are going to be here, so it's going to be a normal break, Yixuan maybe you could pay for all of us to go to an amusement park!" Sungjoo grinned. Yixuan made a face.

"Well, if you guys really want to go I guess I could pay-"

"He was kidding," Yibo interrupted, "he does that. Don't pay for this idiot." the words came out before he could process them in his brain.

"What?" Amusement in Yixuan's voice was evident as Sungjoo leaned over in attempts to strangle the younger.

"How rude!" He was able to land a small pat on Yibo's shoulder but nothing that would cause too much damage. "I'm amazing and you both know it." Yixuan caught Yibo rolling his eyes and he snickered.

"Hey!" Sungjoo grumbled. Yibo smirked a little, trying not to notice that the bell signalling the end of lunch was about to ring and Sungjoo hasn't said one thing about him being gone yesterday.

-

His teacher in 5th period was going over a test he aced so his thoughts took the chance to think of the event at lunch, or the lack of event.

He could see exactly why Sungjoo liked Yixuan. He was good looking, and really sweet at the same time. It was like he was an angel. Yixuan looked out for people and cared for them if that's the type of person Sungjoo goes for then there's really no chance for Yibo.

Yibo was another opposite to Yixuan, Yibo avoided conversations where Yixuan tries to make them. He doesn't offer things to others while it seems Yixuan would give up a whole buffet to a homeless person even if he was starving. Yixuan was such a nice person and Yibo is just not nice compared to him. He sighed and stared out the window, imagining what Sungjoo would do if he left.

Yixuan's going to be hanging around them for the time being, he guessed it was better if he left, Sungjoo was obviously going to date Yixuan in the future, they looked cute together anyway. He guessed that Sungjoo would be bothered by it for a while, wondering why he never told the other, but he would get over it in no time. Sungjoo's not the kind of person to dwell on things. He always looked on the positive side, it was one of the qualities Yibo liked about him.

He would come back some day, he knew he would, he had to. He would come back after the dance academy, Sungjoo would be in college already and he would come back to attend, maybe Sungjoo would have forgotten about him by then. 3 years is a big difference, Sungjoo graduates when Yibo enters, there's really no time they would have together, so it wouldn't make that big of a difference when he left. Sungjoo and Yixuan would graduate at the same time, they could go to college together. Yibo will always be behind.

-

Yibo neared his usual waiting spot, Sungjoo had been coming late these days. Yibo was almost 100% sure it was because he was talking to Yixuan after school, he figured he was becoming more of a third wheel. A feeling caught in his throat when he realized, one of these days Sungjoo's going to walk home with Yixuan instead of him. He stopped before reaching his destination. Sungjoo would rather hang out with Yixuan instead of him. In a way, it hurt to know that he was the second choice to his only choice, even if he saw it coming.

He silently laughed at himself for overreacting. Sungjoo wouldn't completely forget about him, he was his best friend. He had a crush, it's only normal for him to throw everything else away. He kicked a rock in his path and watched it skip in front of him. He knew he was overreacting, but he couldn't keep the bad thoughts out of his head.

Sometimes he really hated how much he liked Sungjoo.

-

"Oh, Yibo right?" Wenhan looked up from the computer screen, Yibo smiled and blushed while nodding his head. "Welcome back, you brought... a backpack?" He pointed to the object and Yibo blushed more, stuttering.

"Y-yeah... Are they not allowed?" He backed away towards the door and Wenhan immediately stretched his arms out as if he was able to pull the other back.

"They're allowed! Just, we don't have space for you to do homework, and if you use a room, you'll have to pay for the whole time you're in there..." Wenhan smiled sympathetically.

"I just wanted to dance again, this place was on the way and I just wanted to get rid of some stress before doing homework." Yibo walked towards the counter and picked up a flower pen to sign another sheet but Wenhan took it from his fingers and shook his head.

"You signed once, you don't have to sign again, as long as I see you at least." He gestured towards the hallway, "It's all yours, have fun." He smiled once more before sitting and typing away on the computer.

The door opened and Yibo immediately turned to look at who came in. He just finished one of the dance routines so as he turned, small puffs came from his mouth. As he got his breathing back to normal he noticed that the person that walked in was the same person he tried to watch the other day.

"Hi, I just wanted to come in and tell you that you are a really great dancer." Yibo stared at him for a while, he knew he was a decent dancer, but he wasn't expecting someone to come in and tell him. Brown eyes widened and quickly moved towards the door, "Sorry! You can get back to whatever you were doing." He reached for the door nob and Yibo was barely able to mumble a short 'wait'.

The other heard him, though, he let his hand drop from the handle and he turned around. "I'm not going to kill you, you can calm down." He added after seeing the fearful look on the other's face. A small smile was able to reach Yibo's lips as the other physically relaxed every bone in his body.

"You look really intimidating," The other pointed out once he straightened again, "but I guess that helps when you perform right?" He grinned and set his backpack down, it was the first time Yibo noticed the object. Yibo nodded and stared at the bag, why had he told the other to stay again?

"Oh..." He said to himself. His eyes slowly crawled up the other to meet his eyes, "Thank you..." he was able to say.

"You're shy aren't you?" The other said, slowly kneeling to pull out his stuff. Yibo nodded, the other wasn't looking at him, he didn't know what to do. He shifted his weight awkwardly, wondering what the other was doing. When he finally looked up he saw how uncomfortable Yibo was. His eyes widened again and he screamed an apology.

"It's okay..." Yibo said he watched him pull out the speakers he used the other day, but where was his phone?

"I'm Seungyoun by the way," he beckoned Yibo to come over. When Yibo didn't move he laughed while hanging his head, Yibo couldn't help but blush in embarrassment, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanted to know what song you were dancing to." That was when Yibo remembered he was wearing ear buds the whole time. With stiff limbs, Yibo made his way towards the other so he could give him his phone. "Thanks," Seungyoun said with a big grin.

When Chris Brown's 'Take You Down' blasted through the walls Yibo suddenly remembered how ual the song was. He opened his mouth to explain but he saw Seungyoun slowly moving to the beat. He shut his mouth and watched for a while, Seungyoun was just bobbing his head, making small movements with his shoulders at some parts. There was no real order to his movements. When the song ended Yibo finally initiated a conversation.

"How long were you watching?" He blushed, knowing there was one part of the song that included the floor.

"Not long, I was only able to see the ending, why?" Seungyoun looked up at him while he tried to put the speakers back in his bag.

"Nothing... I could have just... unplugged my earbuds, though, it would have been easier..." Yibo checked the time on the manual clock, he needed to leave soon.

"Yeah, but there's no fun in that, it's better if it's louder." Seungyoun gave Yibo's phone back before leaving the room. Yibo thought it was weird Seungyoun didn't say bye. He plugged his earbuds back in before heading out.

"Done already?" Wenhan asked, clicking some buttons to bring in Yibo's cost. Pulling out a 20, he nodded and gave the bill to Wenhan.

"Thanks," Wenhan gave the change back, "Have a nice day," the common greeting along with a smile made Yibo smile back.

He walked to his house feeling better, dancing always cleared his mind and put him in a better mood. His thoughts were finally able to move away from Sungjoo as he wondered what the dance academy would be like, who would he meet? Would Seungyoun be there? He hoped there would be at least one person he knew. If he was stuck with a bunch of random people he didn't think he would be able to say anything. He wasn't much of a talker, and he got intimidated easily.

He wondered when he would leave, he didn't want to stick around to see Sungjoo all over Yixuan so he hoped it would be sometime soon. As he rounded the corner he was hoping Sungjoo would be at his door, waiting for him to explain where he went. He wanted Sungjoo to worry about him. But the other wasn't there, he was able to walk to his house and through the door without someone yelling his name or jumping him. He kicked off his shoes and dragged himself upstairs.

He tried to be so absorbed in his homework that he wouldn't have to think of Sungjoo until he was lying in bed waiting to sleep, but he finished an hour too early. He sighed and held his head in his hands, trying to think of something else to do. He couldn't go to a dance room at this time, they were closed. He showered and got ready for bed and even tried to get some extra sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him until he got some closure.

He started to count sheep but the fact that he had to live with this feeling for who knows how long kept him awake. Sometime in November, the latest he could leave... the latest... latest.

Yibo sprung up from his bed, getting a slight head rush, but nothing too bad. He was able to make it down the stairs without falling. He found his mother in the living room, she was on her computer again. The back of Yibo's mind was complaining about how she's always telling him to get off the computer while she's here on it all day. He quickly shook his head of the unneeded thoughts and cleared his throat to get his mother's attention.

"Yes, Yibo?" She did the creepy thing where her fingers fly over the keyboard while she looked at him and he tried not to shy out of his question.

"When's... the earliest I could leave for the dance academy?" He shifted his feet. The sound of typing filled the room and Yibo was about to take back the request but his mother beat him to it.

"Friday." She said before adding, "Why? I thought you would want to leave at latest..." He saw the worry in his mother's eyes and he tried not to tell her the real reason.

"I'm just so excited to be going" He grinned sheepishly, trying to act as real as possible, pulling the small feelings out so it's believable.

"Do you want me to book your flight then?" She asked he heard the undertone of 'Say no' but he nodded anyway. His mother typed a few more things before nodding towards him. "Okay, it's done, you'll leave next week, we'll start packing your stuff on Wednesday okay? Good night Yibo." She sighed and smiled at the same time. Yibo wondered if it was because she didn't believe him, or because she didn't want her baby boy to be leaving so soon.

He walked up to his mother and kissed her forehead in good night before heading back up to his room.

'I'm sorry, Mom, but I can't handle it anymore. I don't even think I'll be able to handle a week of torture.'