Jimin POV:

            “Stop groaning. If you didn’t want to come in at six AM every Monday for detention, then you would have stopped smoking on school property.” Mrs. Kim pushed back her sleeve to look at the watch, although she obviously knew detention was over.
            “We were on the sidewalk…” Taehyung grumbled from behind me. Mrs. Kim crossed her arms and pursed her lips, looking as if she was ready to spit fire at Taehyung,
            “I don’t care if you hate your lives or hate school, just get through it and graduate. Now, get to class.” There was no need to tell us twice. As soon as the first bell rang, Taehyung, Jungkook and I sprung up from our seats, as if we were being held captive and were just saved by an army from an enemy- Mrs. Kim.
            “Geez, I swear Mrs. Kim sat on a cactus and it has yet to come out.” Jungkook rolled his eyes intensely at Taehyung,
            “Wow, good one,” but I knew he agreed. Sometimes I felt a little sorry for Mrs. Kim because all she did was her job, but as the detention monitor, everyone was bound to hate her from the moment she took the position- or rather was given the position. I didn’t hate school or life, although I had never given it much thought, but then again, I didn’t give things thought if I didn’t care; I guess I didn’t hate school or life, I just didn’t care. It wasn’t that I needed a pity party, but my parents died in an ‘accidental’ crash when I was six years old, but I’d been told it was probably a murder-suicide, not that anyone really cared enough to investigate. Besides, a murder-suicide or an accident, my parents were dead either way. I’d always just slipped through life without any goals, or future plans, probably because I didn’t have anyone to look up to- not that I was blaming my parents. I’d be damned if I ever put any blame on my deceased parents, or so I was told. I figured I would just live and die, simple as that.
            “Jungkookie~ Let me copy your math homework?” Taehyung clung to Jungkook’s arm, swaying back and forth like a child.
            “No way. Shouldn’t you know how to do all of this already anyways? Geez. Get off!” In a very pitiful attempt to get Taehyung off of his arm, Jungkook accidentally smacked Taehyung in the face, causing a red mark to quickly surface.
            “Ouch! . Why’d you hit me!?”
            “Because you were asking for my math homework! And I didn’t mean to.” As if he’d never been hit, Taehyung clung back onto Jungkook’s arm, swaying back and forth again. He was beyond desperate.
            “Oppa~”
            “You make me sick.” Rolling his eyes, but not wanting to accidentally slap Taehyung again, Jungkook tolerated the coddling, although I could have sworn I saw his soul leave his body. Jungkook and Taehyung always had some sort of bickering going on between them, but at the end of the day, they never said goodnight with anger in their voice. Unlike Taehyung, Jungkook and I were official third years- ‘official’ because Taehyung was also a third year, but only because he flunked out of his own official third year. Taehyung would never admit it, but I had a strong feeling that he purposefully failed so he could stay back with Jungkook. No matter how much they seemed to hate one another, Jungkook and Taehyung were bonded at the hip and cared for each other more than blood relatives cared for one another. It wasn’t like I was third wheeling though, because I had my older brother, Jin, and although he wasn’t necessarily bonded to my hip, I was indefinitely bonded to his.
            “What time is Jin picking us up today?” Jungkook popped a piece of gum in his mouth, only to regret it when Taehyung spotting him and began silently begging for a piece.
            “Three O’clock, remember? We’re helping Jin, Hoseok, and Namjoon move Yoongi out of his step mom’s and into our place.”
            “Ughhh, why did you agree to that?”
            “Because Jimin worships his brother.” Jungkook answered for Taehyung, although that didn’t mean he was correct. I respected my brother for many reasons, but I also looked up to him. Jin was five years older than me and had graduated from Seoul University, the best of the best universities in Korea, in three years. Nowadays, I’m not quite sure what he does for work, not that I’m not interested, Jin was just never interested to ever tell me. For a while, he worked as a host to pay off our bills on our home, but after it was payed off, he went somewhere else and seemed to make quite a lot of money, however I questioned what he did. It didn’t matter to me if Jin made more money at his new job, he was a changed person, closed off towards the world, but more importantly, closed off towards me.
            Again, not trying to have myself a pity party, life was quite the organized mess for all of us, not just Jin and I. Taehyung’s dad was serving life in prison, and his mom was nowhere to be found since the day Taehyung turned 10, and I meant the actual day… She left on his birthday. Jungkook and his older brother, Hoseok, had it pretty bad as well though. They had a mom who didn’t give a rats about the whereabouts of her sons, and probably couldn’t even tell them the name of either of their fathers, she had been with so many men. It was apparent that Jungkook and Hoseok were half brothers, not just because of their different looks, but also different personalities. Jungkook wasn’t the smartest, and he would do anything to smoke a pack during school, but Hoseok… Well for an example, Hoseok graduated top of his class, alongside my brother, and broke Jungkook’s lighter on ‘accident.’ They were polar opposites, but alway had one another’s best interest in mind.
            “Jimin, come on, class is starting, let’s go so we don’t end up in another detention.” Taehyung tugged me away from my thoughts and the locker I was leaning against. I hadn’t realized it, but there was a small girl awkwardly standing closely behind me. After she began to open her locker I understood why though, I’d been in her way the entire time, and she didn’t say anything to me. Of course everyone thought my friends and I were scary, but it wasn’t as if we thought we were better than others. Actually, to be honest, we thought we were less. Maybe giving up on life gave off a scary aura. Hopefully I’d see her again so I could apologize, but then again, who would believe an apology coming from someone like me? Looking back one more time, I noticed how frantic she looked, trying to get all her books out, dropping a few in the midst.
            “Where are you going?” Jungkook and Taehyung seemed to ask in unison.
            “I’ll meet you in class, leave me alone.” I didn’t have to turn around much since most of my body was already mostly faced towards the girl at her locker. She must not have seen me approach, since she was extremely startled when I picked up a book she dropped.
            “Oh my-!”
            “I didn’t mean to scare you, here.” Handing her the book, I noticed how dainty and thin her hand was as she took the book.
            “Um… Thank you.”
            “I didn’t realize I was standing in front of your locker, I’m sorry you’re late for class.” The girl was very pale, as if she never went outside.
            “It’s not your fault, really. You seemed to be in deep thought and I didn’t want to interrupt.” Thoughtful. As she shyly looked up though, I realized her eyes were as dark as her long hair, but they probably just looked dark because of her pale skin.
            “Actually I was thinking about was how hungry I was, so maybe if you interrupted me I could have forgotten.”  I lied, but of course I wasn’t going to tell her I was thinking about my friend’s rough lives. For a moment, it looked like she was about to laugh, but it immediately faded away.
            “I really should get to class.”
            “If you need an excuse, I’m pretty good at making them up.” As she brushed her hair behind her ear, I noticed that her other hand was extremely bruised.
            “Thank you, but no thank you. I’ve never been late, so I’m sure I won’t have too much trouble. Have a nice day, goodbye.” It was like she had never stopped to look at me, the way she brushed by me so quickly. Had I said something wrong? I wasn’t trying to hit on her,  I genuinely felt bad for making her late. Although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find her attractive. She was definitely odd though, the way she held back from smiling, and her bruised hand. Maybe she had caught me staring and left suddenly… Either way, I was used to people running away from me.
She was probably scared of me.
           

            “Woah, Jimin hitting up the ladies?” Taehyung playfully whispered from behind me in class, giving my shoulder a little smack too.
            “Stuff it, I was just apologizing for standing in her way and making her late to class.”
            “Whatever. But ghost girl?” We were supposed to be silently reading, but of course Taehyung had other ideas. Sadly, Jungkook had been moved to the front row for a week as punishment for throwing a book at the wall and denting it. It was actually hilarious and every time he would look back at us with puppy eyes, Taehyung and I gave him the finger.
            “Ghost girl?”
            “Yeah, you haven’t heard? Everyone calls her ghost girl because she’s so pale and skinny.”
            “Huh.” Despite what everyone may have thought of me, I was and had never been a mean or cruel person. That didn’t mean I was a daisy, but arrogant and entitled people who looked down on others really pissed me off. Although I knew that it probably wasn’t because I was a good person, but rather because I was who they looked down upon. Sure, I was the school’s delinquent, but I was not an . I felt bad for ‘ghost girl’, since she more than likely knew about the nickname, and probably didn’t like it. But, there wasn’t anything I could do about it, so I had to let it go.
            After the morning classes, it was finally time for lunch. Honestly, I wasn’t even that hungry, but I ate mindlessly anyways, thinking about my friends again. Now, Taehyung, Jungkook and Hoseok had it bad, but Namjoon was left on the doorstep of his uncle’s, and Yoongi’s dad died after remarrying his step-mom, leaving everything in her name. Hoseok, Namjoon, and Yoongi were mainly Jin’s friends, although we were all a family. Since Hoseok and Jin went to school together, they were the closest. They met Namjoon at his uncle’s small restaurant and through Namjoon they met Yoongi. It was quite the story, how all of us met and came to live in my house, but I was content. They always had my back, just as much as I had theirs, and I’d always be grateful.  I never believed in fate until I took a step back and looked at my life, and that was the only way to explain our friendship; It was fate.