"For the last time, you have to get up!"

Baekhyun pulls his blankets closer to him and snuggles closer to his pillow, hoping his bed would swallow him whole.

"Nooo!" Baekhyun moaned, dragging out the vowel longer than necessary.

"Breakfast starts at 7 and its already 6:30 Baek! We have to get dressed. Our uniforms came in last night."

"..Uniforms?" His voice sounds muffled from the thick fabric and Kyungsoo nods. Baekhyun rolls over so that he was facing Kyungsoo with his head popping out from his blanket cocoon.

"Hurry up, you catepillar!" Kyungsoo mutters and Baekhyun froze. Fear struck him.

"Stop wiggling around you little caterpillar."

"Andwaee~!" Baekhyun rolled around before falling off his bed with a loud thud. Kyungsoo shook his head with a sigh.

"What are you doing?"

Baekhyun shuts his eyes and tries to forget everything that happened last night.

"I-I can't go! I will die out there!"

"What-"

"He's out to get me! He. Will. Eat me!!" Baekhyun wails and Kyungsoo tugs the blanket off of Baekhyun, leaving the latter curled up on the ground.

"You're being ridiculous. I swear if you don't get up, I'll leave you here." Kyungsoo threatens and Baekhyun scrambles to his feet.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Baekhyun dashes to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. When he came out three minutes later, he saw Kyungsoo slipping on a white dress shirt.

"Yours is over there." The older male his head to the clothes laid out on Baekhyun's bed.

Their uniform was simple. A white button up with a dark navy blue blazer and dark gray pants. On the blazer was their school's seal and his nametag. It had a professional yet casual feel to it. Baekhyun couldn't put a finger on what it was.

"Nice.."

"Get dressed! We're leaving in 10 minutes."

-

"Looking good, Baekhyun! You're officially a student of our school."Minseok says, and everyone draws their attention to Baekhyun. He felt insecure in his uniform but he did feel like he was really a student. Everyone wore the same uniform and the girls wore skirts and black knee-high socks instead of the pants. The cafeteria was more crowded than the past two days but so far, Chanyeol was no where to be seen.

"Thanks," Baekhyun smiles and moves up on the lunch line.

"What classes do you have? We might not be in the same grade but I can give you some advice about who to avoid." Jongdae says with a thumbs up and Baekhyun returns it with a hesitant laugh.

"Do you have your schedule?" Luhan speaks up and Baekhyun nods.

He pulls out a pink slip from the inner pocket of his blazer and hands it to the senior.

"Hm.....oh! You have NP fifth period." Luhan says and Baekhyun sighs. He knew he'd fail that class. What was he supposed to say if people asked him what his power was?

Kyungsoo pats Baekhyun's shoulder and whispers, "You'll be fine."

Baekhyun only sighs before Luhan returns his schedule to him.

"You also have a few classes with-"

"Chanyeol-ah!" Jongdae calls the tall student over, waving his hands in the air as they continue to move up in the breakfast line. Baekhyun tried to not look or may eye contact with Chanyeol as he walks over. Other students didn't speak out when he cut the line to stand beside Baekhyun and Jongdae.

Baekhyun shuffled his feet, hoping to skip ahead to where Kyungsoo was standing with Luhan but he felt someone poke his arm was something hard.

He turned around to see Chanyeol handing him a tray.

"O-Oh thank-"

"Get me a bowl of rice and soup. Maybe a toast and some fruits on the side, too."

Baekhyun's jaw nearly dropped to the floor as Chanyeol put his hands in his pocket an walked off the line and up the stairs to the second floor. Jongdae looked at him weirdly.

"Why is Chanyeol telling you to get his breakfast?"

Baekhyun took a deep breath, hoping to calm his bubbling anger.

Baek, relax. This is no big deal. It's just getting breakfast.

Baekhyun let out a laugh and Jongdae raised an eyebrow.

"Aha! You know, Chanyeol just- he's just being his normal self. I-I offered to help him." Baekhyun stutters out, sliding Chanyeol and his tray on the metal railings. He quickly grabbed a warmed bowl of rice and grabbed an empty bowl to spoon the soup into. Baekhyun made sure to get himself a portion as well.

"Toast...toast.." Baekhyun mumbled to himself, struggling to find where all the food stations were. People were busy moving around, getting their breakfast and chatting with their friends.

"Baekhyun-ah!"

Baekhyun turned around at the sound of his name.

"Y-Yixing hyung!" Baekhyun says, his lips curling into a smile as he sees the senior approach him with a happy expression.

"How have you been? Liking the campus so far?"

Baekhyun gives him a slight shrug. "It's cool. Kyungsoo hyung is helping me with everything."

Yixing smiles. "That's good to hear! Are you excited? School starts today."

Baekhyun sighs. "Don't remind me. I don't even know how I'm going to get through the classes. I hate school."

Yixing only laughs before patting Baekhyun's head. "Don't worry, kiddo. I've got your back. If you ever need help, feel free to come to me. Outside of school hours, I'm usually at the nurse's office so just come find me there."

Baekhyun nods. "Definitely."

He sighs at the sight of the two trays he has to carry up the stairs and Yixing offers to help him.

"Thanks, hyung." Baekhyun says gratefully and Yixing shakes his head.

"No problem."

They reach the table of noisy students. For afar, it seemed like they were trying to get Minseok to freeze Jongdae's hand into an ice fist. Baekhyun felt embarrassed for his hyungs.

"Hey guys!" Yixing greets and Joonmyun violently chokes on his soup when he notices them approaching.

"Y-" Joonmyun coughs and wipes his mouth with a napkin that Chanyeol offers to him. "Yi-Yixing!"

Jongdae cracks up and leans over onto Minseok, dying of laughter.

"Joonmyun." Yixing waves and Joonmyun casually waves back, although it was pretty obvious he was eager to see the other male.

Yixing didn't seem to notice how Jongdae was making kissy faces to Joonmyun as he walked around the table, following Baekhyun.

"Here." Baekhyun says, placing the tray down in front of Chanyeol. Yixing furrows his eyebrows.

"You got food for Chanyeol?"

Baekhyun half glares at the said male. "Well.."

Chanyeol looks up at Baekhyun before picking up his spoon and taking a sip of the soup.

"You're welcome." Baekhyun says sarcastically before turning to Yixing and taking the tray from his hands. "Thanks hyung."

The Chinese male shakes his head. "Anytime."

Yixing waves to the group of friends before walking away and Joonmyun playfully punches Jongdae in the shoulder.

"Do you have to make it that obvious?" Joonmyun sighs and Jongdae rolls his eyes.

"No because you're already doing that pretty well. The way you stuttered when you called his name out-!"

Joonmyun tries to not show his embarrassment and continues to eat his meal with an annoyed huff.

Baekhyun also began to eat his food, sitting across from Chanyeol, who ate in silence. The taller male didn't look at him until Baekhyun had been staring at him for 2 minutes straight. Chanyeol definitely noticed that.

"What?" Chanyeol says and Baekhyun snaps out of his thoughts.

"N-Nothing." Baekhyun shakes his head and Chanyeol drinks a spoonful of soup.

This slave deal should be easy enough if all I have to do is get him breakfast every morning.

"Oh right! Baekhyun," Luhan speaks up. "You have first class with Chanyeol in 15 minutes so you two should go together!"

Baekhyun's eyes widen and drops his spoon into his bowl with a clang. "What?!"

-

"Welcome back to the first semester of junior year. I'm your homeroom teacher Ms. Yoon."

Baekhyun watched as the middle aged woman bowed 90 degrees and Baekhyun felt slightly intimidated by her presence. She had a strict gaze, despite her short height, and wasn't afraid to make eye contact with a few students. Baekhyun had been one of them.

"School and class rules are simple. No cell phones out during class time. No inappropriate behavior in the halls or classrooms." She says, walking from one end of the classroom to the other.

"And, definitely, no use of novas outside of NP."

The students all mumble, 'Yes.' and Ms. Yoon stops at Chanyeol's desk. Baekhyun sat one row away and from the corner of his eye, he peaked a glance at the giant who paid no attention to the teacher beside him.

"Park." She says and Chanyeol looks up at her with a blank expression.

Baekhyun prayed that Chanyeol wouldn't get himself in trouble on the first day.

Wait, no. I don't care about him. He can do whatever he wants.

Baekhyun stared at the surface of his desk. Fortunately, Chanyeol didn't say a word and Ms. Yoon walked away. Was Chanyeol a bad student?

"You are all lucky you won't be assigned homework today but I expect you all to be prepared for this school year."

Students groaned and Ms. Yoon frowned. "Take out your books. School isn't a game or a playground. You all know that if you're failing 3 or more classes, your nova is suspended."

The classroom was fairly large and the class was co-ed. It all seemed like a normal, typical class. Except that it wasn't.

Baekhyun didn't know what to expect when fifth period came around. Everyone filed out of the classroom and Baekhyun was left with Chanyeol in the room.

"Y-You're not going?"

Chanyeol pushes his chair back and stands up from his desk. Baekhyun watches as the giant puts one hand in his pocket and walks towards the door.

"Chanyeol, wait for me!" Baekhyun says, suddenly realizing that the other male was leaving. If only Kyungsoo was with him.

Baekhyun walked beside Chanyeol down the hall as other students traveled from one classroom to the next.

"S-So..what do we do in NP?" Baekhyun asks and Chanyeol shrugs.

"I don't know."

Baekhyun frowns. "Well, are you allowed to use your power then?"

Chanyeol shrugs again. "Depends."

"What's up with you and one phrase responses?"

They made a turn and walked towards a glass door. It opened automatically and Baekhyun could spot a whole crowd of students on one end. They were in a large greenhouse that looked like a tropical garden.

Baekhyun awed in amazement at the size of the room.

"Fifth period NP! Come over here." A teacher called out and Baekhyun followed Chanyeol over. They stood around the crowd of students before Baekhyun heard a familiar voice call out.

"Oh! Isn't that- Baekhyun!!"

Baekhyun turned around and saw Jongin waving at him as he entered the greenhouse. Two other students followed behind him. One looked extremely sleepy while the other one..Baekhyun couldn't remember his name. He was friends with Luhan.

"Jongin?" Baekhyun says with confusion. The second year skipped over while his friends casually walked over.

"I guess we have the same NP." Jongin says and looks over at Chanyeol.

"But we're not even in the same class." Baekhyun looks around. There were more students than a regular class would have.

Jongin nodded. "They decided to merge some classes together due to the lack of NP periods. This greenhouse was recently renovated so I'm guessing it can fit more people.."

Jongin's friends came up behind him.

"Oh, this is Oh Sehun. Wind nova. And Tao, time control."

Baekhyun looked at the two students and mentally awed. Their novas seemed so cool and yet, he was older than them with no nova.

"Baekhyun." He introduced himself but was interrupted by the teacher speaking up once more. Baekhyun was more than grateful for that because the two sophomores didn't ask anymore about his nova.

"Welcome to Nova Practice, also known as NP. As you know, it is a class where you students can express your strengths and abilities through certain activities and challenges. This class does count as a grade but the grading system will be different from your academic classes."

Baekhyun listened carefully. If there was some way he could get out of using his nova, he would.

"I expect you to all to actively participate. You should know that you are only allowed to use your novas if you have been given permission by your teachers and or by me. Today we are going to discuss the importance of this class."

A few groans and sighs come from the group of students and the teacher clears his voice. "As you can see, there are no desks so if it makes you comfortable, feel free to sit on the floor."

The ground was clean and tiled. Some people took a seat while others remained standing. Baekhyun hesitantly took a seat but Jongin hissed at him.

"What are you doing? Sitting is for the weak!"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "I'm not standing for an hour."

Tao and Sehun took a seat silently and Jongin sighed.

"Fine."

Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol and tugged at the fabric of his pants.

"Chanyeol, sit."

Surprisingly, he did.

"Can anyone tell me the basics of what a nova is?" The teacher asks. A couple students raised their hands.

"It's a magical seed implanted inside of us, making us different from the rest of the human population."

The teacher nodded. "Well- that's true but it's not just that. Novas are extremely complicated and there are many categories of powers. This school was established so that us, novaist, can live and receive an education with our own kind. We are separated from humans outside our campus because we see and do things differently."

Baekhyun felt like he was being indoctrinated but also at the same time, intruding. He wasn't like them. He wasn't a 'novaist' but had somehow made it into this school. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would get caught and be sent away. If this was the case, he shouldn't get attached to anyone, even Kyungsoo.

"We just have to get through his boring part of NP introduction before we get to the real fun."Jongin tells Baekhyun, who just laughs awkwardly.

"Yeah...fun."

Sorry for the late update!

Leave a comment! Why do you think Chanyeol is acting this way? Will Baekhyun get caught?

Thank you and hello to the new subscribers!~ <3

Shoutout to @baekhoe_! :D