A/N: Credit for the title goes to the song Beside You by Marianas Trench.

Chapter Two:

The next thing he knows, there’s light pouring in from the window and the phone in his pocket beeps telling him it’s morning.

Jimin blinks his eyes, heavy from lack of sleep and looks at the clock. Six o’clock am. Jimin gets up and moves to suitcases. He opens one and grabs the backpack he had shoved in there. He goes over to the fully stocked desk on one side of the room and stuffs his bag with a couple notebooks and a few writing utensils. He leaves the room and walks down the stairs, pausing only to put his shoes on.

He follows the directions on his phone and lets it guide him to his new school. Eventually he spots a sign that says Joon Hae High School. The school was huge, with wide iron gates in the front. A glance through the bars showed Jimin that the school looked like a goddamn resort. How the could a school even be this fancy?

Jimin didn’t even know how to get inside the school. Was he supposed to just walk in? Was there somewhere he was supposed to check in? Rich people always made everything so much more complicated than it needed to be.

Jimin paces up and down the gates, looking for a way inside.

“Uhhh...excuse me, are you lost?” a voice sounds from behind him. Two girls are standing there looking at him with a strange expression.

“No,” Jimin shakes his head, “I’m trying to figure out how to get in.”

“You can’t get in this way,” one of the girls says, “the entrance is through the underground parking lot where all the chauffeurs go.”

“Oh,” Jimin coughs awkwardly. The girls look at him like they want him to leave. Jimin holds his stance, “where’s the parking lot?”

“Why do you want to know? Do you even go here?” the other girl questions, her voice filled with contempt. Jimin raises an eyebrow at her, silently asking her if she is really asking him this.

Suddenly another voice sounds, a deeper voice of a male, walking up from behind him.

“Jeez, Juhae, give the guy a break, he’s obviously a new student,” a guy says walking up behind him. Jimin looks up at him. He’s tall and has white blonde hair. Usually Jimin would think that Koreans couldn’t really pull off the blonde, but on this guy, the blonde looked good, even natural, like it was supposed to be like that.

“Oh shove it, Namjoon,” the other girl spits, “do you honestly think this riff raff is a new student?”

Jimin turns back to them with a ‘really ?’ look on his face but before he can say anything the guy slings an arm over his shoulder, causing Jimin to stiffen.

“Just get lost, Misoo, no one asked you,” Namjoon says with a deep voice and a serious face. The girls give him a death glare but they turn around and walk away anyway.

As soon as they leave, the blonde guy takes his arm off him and Jimin breathes a sigh of relief. He turns to the guy, expecting him to have already left as well, but is surprised to see he is still there.

“Sorry about that,” the guy the girls had called Namjoon says, “they aren’t the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.”

“You don’t say,” Jimin says sarcastically.

“Follow me,” Namjoon says, “I’ll show you to the parking lot.”

Jimin follows the guy, seeing no reason why not.

“How’d you know I was a new student?” Jimin asks.

“I didn’t,” Namjoon says simply, “I just made a guess.”

“But I obviously don’t look like a kid who goes here, new kid or not, what made you think I might've been one when I could’ve been some random punk trying to get in for some other reason,” Jimin tries to argue.

Namjoon stops for a second, turning back around to look at Jimin, “Are you?”

“No,” Jimin shakes his head.

“Then I have no reason to think otherwise,” Namjoon dismisses, “come on, the entrance is right there.”

Jimin follows him but he is still bewildered. This guy was a strange one, that’s for sure. The entrance is about as grand as Jimin expected. Almost looking like the entrance to a hotel, more than the entrance to a school.

“Whoa,” Jimin mumbles under his breath.

“It’s gets old fast, trust me,” Namjoon states and for a moment Jimin is surprised he heard him.

As they walk through the gates, Jimin spots groups of other students walking around what looked like the lobby. It is then that Jimin realizes he is the only one not in uniform. Even Namjoon was wearing the uniform.

Jimin clears his throat.

“Um...where is the main office?” Jimin asks, “I have to go pick up my uniform.”

“Through those double doors,” Namjoon points to his left, “then the office should be on your right.”

Jimin nods his head in thanks. He is about to walk off when Namjoon stops him.

“Hey!”

Jimin turns around, checking to see if it really was him he was calling. The blonde nods at him.

“What’s your name?” he asks with a slight chuckle, “I almost forgot to ask.”

Jimin gives him a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Jimin,” he answers, “Park Jimin.”

“Nice to meet you Park Jimin,” Namjoon says, “I’m Kim Namjoon.”

Jimin nods his head and turns around just as another guy walks up to Namjoon.

“Who was that?” the other boy with long legs, dark hair and broad shoulders asks as Jimin walks away.

Jimin is close enough to hear him say.

“I’m not sure who he is yet,” Namjoon says in a low voice, “but this year is going to be interesting that’s for sure.”

***************

Jimin got many looks from students as he tried to make his way towards the office without drawing attention to himself. Unfortunately that was impossible so he couldn’t stop the stares and the comments whispered as he walked past.

Jimin didn’t fit in for more than one reason. It wasn’t only that he wasn’t wearing the uniform, but he was dressed in black jeans that had worn rips in them with a black and red flannel tied around his waist. He wore a loose white tank top and had black snap back pushing his dyed brown hair back.

He was sure that his style was distinctly different from what people in Gangnam normally wore. He never really cared what he looked like but now with all the eyes on him, he was overly aware of what he looked like.

He walked as fast as he could till he found what looked like a office looking section of the building. He got excited for a second to be out of the way of judging whispers and stares. He speeds up slightly and turns the corner in a rush.

This was a bad idea. He smacks right into someone hard and they both fall to the floor in a jumble. There is a grunt but neither of them say anything other than emitting moans of pain as they smacked heads with each other.

When Jimin finally is able to sit up a little enough to get a look at who he ran into, he realizes it’s another guy. Jimin stands up and brushes invisible dust off his pants. He sticks his right hand out to help the guy up.

The guy is staring at Jimin’s shoes and for a second Jimin wonders if this guy is going to refuse to take Jimin’s hand to help him up because he looks poor. The guy doesn’t look like a douche but you never knew. The guy was dressed in the school uniform but their was something off about his appearance. Something out of place.

The guy grabs ahold of his hand, surprising Jimin and allows him to help him to his feet. Once he stands up, Jimin gets a good look at this guy’s face. They’re about the same height but this guy has striking orange hair, although most of it is covered by a black beanie with several buttons on it, one a lopsided cross, the other a blue button that said 'style'. This was a stark contrast with the black school uniform he was wearing. His eyes are lined with dark coal that make the sharp curve of his monolids stand out. In his right ear he had a hanging black spike earring and in his left ear he had two small silver hoops, one in front of the other, with what looked like two brass studs at the tip of his ear.

Jimin almost wanted to touch his own studs in response. It wasn’t often he saw a guy his age with earrings, not to mention such striking hair. The guy was downright beautiful, even with a blank face. His facial features were striking and he looked like he didn’t give a crap that some random poor kid just walked head first into him.

The guy, who was staring at him just as intently, looked back down at Jimin’s shoes then back at his eyes. Jimin looked down just to look to see if there was anything to see. There wasn’t. What was this guy looking at then?

“Nice Jordans,” is the only thing the guy says before he swings his backpack onto his back and steps around Jimin, walking off. Jimin turns around with his mouth hanging wide open in shock. He watches the boy walk off and Jimin’s eyes trail down to the guys feet where the orange haired male walks out the double doors in his own pair of Jordans.

****************

After staying rooted to the spot for what seemed like eternity, Jimin had managed to get himself to move. He had gone to the office, picked up his uniform and quickly found a bathroom to change. He takes a look at his appearance.

The uniform isn’t that bad. No plad, thank goodness and a nice black color but Jimin can’t help but think that he still looks out of place even with the uniform on. It felt too expensive, like even this inanimate thing thought it was better than Jimin.

While he was in the office, he had been given his class schedule and because this was his third year of high school, he was put in the according classes. It took him forever to find his classroom though. It was supposedly on the sixth floor but the building was split into wings and the piece of paper he had, didn’t specify which wing. North? South? Jimin had no ing clue.

He was currently walking around lost in the North wing when suddenly a guy runs past him, knocking into his shoulder as he passes. He turns around for a brief moment to yell out a ‘sorry’ and Jimin seizes his chance.

“Do you know where room R650 is?!” Jimin calls out to the boy. The boy stops and suddenly grasps his wrist. Jimin was taken aback.

“That’s my class,” the boy says, “come on! We’re late!”

The boy takes off in a run and Jimin is snatched along with him. His backpack jostles as they run down the halls. They turn left and keep running, the boy’s hand still firmly grasped on his wrist. In a whirl, the boy stops and Jimin nearly crashes into him. The boy grasps onto his shoulders to stop them from colliding into each other.

“Ok, here’s the deal,” the boy with the dark brown hair says, “there was traffic and that’s why we’re late, ok?”

“But I’m--”

The boy doesn’t let him finish and instead slams the classroom door open and drags him inside.

“So sorry we’re late, teach,” the boy tells the teacher as they stand in front of a classroom filled with students already sitting and watching them, “there was a lot of traffic and--”

The boy seizes a hold of Jimin’s wrist and drags him forward.

“--this guy can attest to that, right?” the boy puts an arm around Jimin’s shoulders and Jimin can’t help but think this boy is a little nuts.

“Is that right?” the female teacher asks and the boy nods with an earnest smile.

“Well, then Mr. Kim, would you care to introduce your friend?”

The boy looks stunned and confused at the same time but his smile doesn’t falter.

“Huh?” the boy lets out.

“Your friend,” the teacher says, “I’ve never seen him in my class. What is his name?”

“Uh….” the boy stutters, and looks back towards him, the question in his eyes.

“Lee--...?”Jimin shakes his head as subtly as he can. The boy seems to get it and drops it quickly.

“Kim…”Jimin shakes his head again, “Yoo…Park…?”

Jimin nods his head only slightly and the boy brightens, clapping his name.

“Park! His name is Park--...Jae?” The boy starts his guessing game all over again and the teacher lets out an irritated sigh.

“Kim Taehyung sit down, you obviously haven’t grasped that this is a new student,” the teacher snaps her fingers and the boy named Kim Taehyung’s eyes widen in understanding, “you’re late because you can’t understand the concept of time and you tried to drag a new student into covering for you. Nice try, but not good enough.”

“But--” Taehyung starts. The teacher snaps her fingers and points to his seat. Taehyung’s face falls and he goes to sit down in his seat. The teacher turns to Jimin.

“I’m very sorry about Mr.Kim, now would you care to introduce yourself to the class?” the teachers asks him and Jimin feels his face heat up. He was never very good with public speaking.

“Um...uh--My name is Park Jimin,” is all Jimin can manage to say.

“Where are you from?” she questions him.

“B-busan,” Jim accidentally stutters. ! Jimin thinks, now is not the time for his stutter to come back.

“Why did you transfer to this school?” his teacher questions again and Jimin wishes she would just stop asking him questions.

“I-I-I came h-here...bec-cau…uh..” Jimin doesn’t even know what to say? That he is here because his family is dead? Even if he wanted to answer, his stutter was going to keep him from answering. It always came back whenever Jimin had to talk in front of large groups. So he just stops talking.

The teacher seems to understand and finally, finally, allows him to sit down.

“You can take a seat over there, behind Mr. Kim and next to Mr. Jeon,” the teacher tells him and Jimin bows his head and quickly moves to where she pointed. He quickly drops his backpack and sits down in his chair, ducking his head so that no one could see his red face.

Not even a few minutes into class, the person next to him taps him on the shoulder. Jimin doesn’t budge. The guy taps his shoulder again and whispers.

“Hey, luggage boy, I didn’t know you were from Busan,” the boy next to him says with a familiar voice, “I’m from Busan too. So that’s why you had so many bags.”

Jimin’s head snaps up and he looks at the guy next to him and instantly recognizes him. The guy from the subway station. The one who had helped him with his bags.

“Subway guy?” Jimin asks in confusion. The boy laughs quietly, his bright smile back.

“The names Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook,” he holds out his hand.

“Jimin,” he answers back.

“I know,” Jungkook says, “nice to finally know your name, Jimin.”