Where are my pants? / part 1

He fixed the bag’s strap on his shoulder, pulling along his suitcase. Maybe he should have skipped that year or try later in autumn. Students from two schools were splitting into groups and cheering whenever they saw someone they knew, guided in an orderly fashion in front of the building like ants around the anthill.

Taemin frowned, a bad feeling uprising inside of him. He had to socialize and act nice with people he never met, else, the reputation of his school might be at stake. While Taemin certainly cared less about that, behaving would save him the trouble. Their homeroom teacher stabbing the back of his head with glares also reminded him not to cross the line, not when it was the first time he joined his peers for camp.

“Jongin,” he turned to his best friend standing right next to him, iPod in hand, ready to return it to its owner. However, his friend focused on anything but him, his head held high up as he stretched his neck and scoured the crowd for something.

“Yo!”

He moved aside when Jongin dashed to a group that came out of the other school’s bus. He bumped fists with another guy, not much taller than Jongin, black hair and stylish clothes and Taemin couldn’t really see his face well, but he did not seem familiar to him.

Actually, he didn’t recognize anyone other than his colleagues and some other kids he saw around the school. Everybody, except him, was dressed like they were going to some fancy retreat, while he had his shabby old jacket and his comfortable clothes. It almost made him grateful uniforms existed. Taemin touched his hair and thought he should have gotten a haircut too before coming, but going against the school’s ridiculous rules stubbornly made him keep the longer locks almost reaching his shoulders.

He slipped the iPod back in his pocket over his tangled headphones and waited for his friend to save him from the middle of the fashion show. By the time they were all ushered forward, Jongin vanished. Taemin scowled at the ground, dragging the suitcase after him when an arm wrapped around his neck.

Soojung winked at him, a lot happier than he had ever seen her these past few weeks. “Where’s idiot?”

“Why do you care?”

“Someone’s pissed.”

“I don’t like it here.”

Taemin admitted to the twin, following the queue the teacher placed him in. Soojung removed her arm and waited in her own line, shrugging.

“First day ,” she told him and gave him thumbs up, smile wider. “But, at least, no classes or studying.”

Taemin chuckled, nodding. Anything was better than spending time with books, learning about things he had no desire to know.

“Alright, listen up!” A teacher boomed in the megaphone, gesturing for everybody to come closer. “You all got the rules of conduct printed before boarding the buses