Chapter 38 - Fire

“I hate this.”

“Well at least we’re in this together.”

“Who said I want to be stuck here with you?” Baekhyun smacks Sehun on the head, earning a loud yelp.

“Hey, quiet!” the teacher yells from the front of almost empty classroom. It’s almost empty, because the only students in there are Ara, Kai, Sehun, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. None of them have sent in their assignments on time, and thus have to sit through an hour of detention.

“It’s not like we can explain why we didn’t do the homework,” Kyungsoo mutters, scribbling down answers on the work sheet they’ve been given. Ara has finished hers already, and she allows Baekhyun and Sehun to copy from her. Kai has finished his as well, and he’s leaning his head on the table, probably asleep.

“Sometimes I feel like just dropping out of school altogether,” Sehun mumbles, noting down another answer on his paper. “Like, I just wanna run off into the wild and live like a wolf.”

“Too bad you can’t change into a real wolf,” Baekhyun mocks, and Sehun rolls his eyes.

“Claws and canines can get me unimaginably far in life, okay,” he says, and Baekhyun nods in realization.

“True, we shouldn’t forget your drunken escapades.” Sehun glares when Kyungsoo and Baekhyun snicker, and Ara rolls her eyes, smiling under her nose. She turns her head to her right and takes in Kai’s peaceful face.

His head is resting on his arms and his face is turned towards Ara. The girl can’t help but stare at his extremely long lashes, his cute button nose, high cheekbones and those thick full lips that were not long ago pressed to her forehead. Ara blushes wildly and looks away, swallowing thickly.

“Are you guys finished?” the teacher suddenly asks, and Kyungsoo nods, collecting the worksheets before walking up to the front to hand them in.

“There’s still 20 minutes left, do we have more assignments to do?” Kyungsoo questions, and the teacher groans, dropping his head in his hands.

“Go, just go,” he grunts, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widen in surprise. He turns towards the rest, grinning, and they get out of the classroom before the teacher changes his mind.

“I can’t believe Tao just left,” Sehun mutters, arms crossed over his chest, a pout on his face. They’ve stopped at Ara’s locker so she can put away her books, and Kai tiredly leans against the locker next to hers, eyes closed. “Like, who would even give him a ride home?”

“Practically everyone?” Ara says, and it sounds more like a question. She closes her locker and Kai winces at the sound, to which Ara quickly smiles apologetically, and then he shrugs and walks ahead of them. “Did you not see how everyone was staring at him?”

“I don’t care, the popularity is gonna be over soon, anyways,” Sehun huffs, and Baekhyun grins, throwing an arm around the taller boy’s shoulders.

“Is our Hunnie jealous?” he teases, and Sehun groans, pushing him away. They exit the empty school building and make it to the parking lot where only two cars are still parked, one being Kai’s and the other most likely the detention guard’s.

“I call shotgun,” Sehun practically yells, but Ara is already sitting in the passenger seat, clasping her seatbelt shut. Sehun stares at her through the window with a betrayed expression on his face, and Ara sheepishly grins at him.

“Sorry, Hunnie,” she says, but Sehun is still sulking, and she sighs, unclasping her seatbelt, but Kai’s hand suddenly stops her and she turns towards him.

“He listens to rap and rap only,” Kai warns, and Ara blinks and then makes an “ah” sound, putting her seatbelt back in place. Sehun who had seconds ago looked hopeful frowns angrily and enters the backseat next to Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, muttering curses under his breath.

Kai pulls out of the parking lot and onto the motorway, and Ara turns on the radio. The car ride to the pack house is uneventful, mostly because Sehun is too busy sulking to start any drama, and they tiredly exit the Rover when Kai parks the car outside the pack house.

 The sky is a dark purple with orange streaks, the wind cold, and Ara shivers as she jogs up to the house entrance.

“Ara!” Chanyeol pulls her into a bone-crushing hug the second she steps inside, nuzzling his face into her hair, and when he pulls away, Luhan and Chen are there, squeezing her between them.

Ara soon realizes it’s their bond that’s making them clingy, but she doesn’t mind being passed around the pack, everyone hugging her and telling her about their day so far. She somehow ends up on the couch between Suho and Xiumin, both leaning their heads on her shoulders.

“So, mind telling us who the hell gave you a ride home?” It’s Sehun who’s asking, and he’s glaring angrily at Tao. “I want names.”

“It was actua