Jackson was squirming in his seat.

During each class he couldn’t pay attention to what the teachers were saying because in every class there was one of them. Every sound he heard made him flinch.

He thought they were going to make their move in that instant, but all three would just ignore him.

By the time lunch came around, Jackson became paranoid.

Shifty, Jackson went in line and paid for his lunch. He looked around for an empty table and spotted one across the cafeteria.

He headed towards it.

Completely absorbed to reach the table before anyone else did, he didn’t see the foot sticking out in front of him.

Jackson tripped and fell face first to the floor, but instead of the hard floor meeting his face, the mushy substance of spaghetti smeared his vision.

He can distantly hear the snickers of his peers as they take in his lanky form on the ground. No one tried to help him up as usual.

Why would they help a ing geek like me anyway? Jackson thought dryly.

He pushed himself off the floor, not looking at the culprit who tripped him, and went to the restroom to wash his lunch off his face.

Jackson was too preoccupied on washing tomato sauce off his face to notice the restroom door open and hear the distant sound of a lock clicking.

When he finished washing his face, he was handed a paper towel to dry his face with. When he was done he processed what just happened and turned around quickly.

What faced him made his heart thud faster in fear of what might come. Bambam, Mark, and Youngjae stood in front of him, but instead of their evil smirks they usually wore, they actually looked sheepish.

Mark was the one who approached Jackson first. “Hey, um, we didn’t come here to hurt you, dude,” Mark said when he saw Jackson back away from them.

“We actually came here to, uh, apologize,” Youngjae explained.

Bambam was now to talk. “Yeah, we’re really, um, sorry about, uh, harassing you all those years. We have come, er, aware of the… errors of our, uh, ways.”

“As a form of apology, we invite you to our Halloween party at Suicide Forest,” said Youngjae with fake enthusiasm.

Jackson was both shocked and happy. Shocked because the most popular guys in school are inviting him to a party. Happy because the bullying might finally end. So, being the extremely naïve person that he is, he believed them and cheerfully agreed to go.

Blinded by the happy thoughts running through Jackson head, he failed to witness the sinister smiles the trio exchanged as they exited the restroom.

As Jackson left the restroom to go to his afternoon classes, only one thought ran through his head.

What the am I going to wear?