After he was done putting his notebook and pencil in his backpack, Jungkook quickly jogged to catch up with his friends who were already out of the class, as soon as the last bell of the day rang. With Valentine’s Day just three days away, he wanted to avoid being alone, to avoid being an ambush by a bunch of girls looking for a partner for the dance, despite knowing he is gay, the chocolates and cards never ceased.

“Hey, so anyone asked you to the dance, Taehyung?” asks Lisa

“Because there are so many gays here at San Marino,” says Taehyung, “Or maybe we should go together Jungkook?” he jokes. 

“Oh, we’ll steal the spotlight,” replies Jungkook.

“No way,” protest Lisa, “I’m not going to be the third wheel, if we are going, we’re going as friends.”

Jungkook and Taehyung exchange glances, bursting out laughing.

…

“Why don’t you go out with Jacob?” teases Jungkook, “I heard he is planning on serenading you before asking you to the dance.”

“Argh, don’t even mention that idiot,” she says, frowning, “In his ing dreams. “

“I think he has been dreaming for too long,” joins Taehyung, laughing.

Jungkook chuckles, Jacob is on the swim team with Taehyung and him- a mutual teammate who has been crushing on Lisa since they were a freshman, but she always gives him the cold shoulder. Jungkook never really understood why she always rejects every guy who asks her out. She was a beautiful girl, and the fact that she was the only Thai student at the entire school made her unique. Lisa is his childhood friend and the first person he came out to when they were in eighth grade. He met Taehyung when he joined the swim team and they immediately connected since they were the only Koreans on the team and got even closer when they learned of each other’s uality.

***

They reach the bus stop, Jungkook moves his Krown Rookie blue flame skateboard to his other hand, high-fiving his friends.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” says Jungkook.

“See you tomorrow,” they say at the same time as they get on the bus.

 Jungkook lives a couple of blocks of the school, so he walks to and from school.

As his skateboard rolls down the pavement, he was immersed in the music playing in his ears through the headphones. He has been skateboarding since he was fourteen, at first his parents were against and wanted him to ride a bike to school but Jungkook felt that it was cooler to skateboard, so after some parental pressure, some saving and requests for early allowances,  he found himself in the skate shop- watching his blue flame skateboard with his name in the middle get designed. He still remembers the first time, he fell in love with skating, surprisingly it was also the first time, he learned of his crush on Jimin- when he was sitting outside his house, waiting for his mother to come home. He heard the sound of a wood tail of the skateboard snapping against the black road as the skateboarder, who turned out to be Jimin popped an ollie up onto the pavement. It was the coolest thing, Jungkook has ever seen- his heart skipped a beat.

Jungkook was in deep thought, thinking about the Valentine’s Day dance and whether Jimin was planning on going. And if so with who? The thought of Jimin attending the dance with someone else made his stomach tighten with jealousy.

At that exact moment, Jimin rolled up next to him on his skateboard, dressed in black jeans and a black sweater with his hoodie on. Jungkook almost crashing comes to halt, and Jimin stops beside him, smiling. Jungkook takes off his headphones, letting them hang on his nape.

“Hey,” says Jimin.

Jungkook stares at him, stunned. He knew Jimin walked home but he is always with Jennie or stays after school most of the time and even though he doesn’t stay after school, Jungkook never walked with them. He is usually home before them unless he has practice.

“Hi…Hey,” he says, stuttering, smiling to cover up his nervousness and shocked face. 

“No practice today?”

Jungkook shakes his head, no “Only on Wednesdays and Thursdays.” 

Jimin nods his head, moving to the side, Jungkook swallows hard, baffled at the randomness. Jimin slightly slides his leg on the pavement, slowly moving on his skateboard. Not sure of what to do, Jungkook does the same, following his lead.

They exchange glances, Jimin grins at him and Jungkook does the same, not sure if he should say anything. He was not prepared for this, to be alone with Jimin, in fear of sounding like a dork, he refrained from talking but stayed at the same pace at him.

Jimin clears his throat, as Jungkook glances at him, “Are you going to the dance?”

“Um…I’m not sure,” he replies, “Not much of dancer.”

“Hmm, I love dancing,” he says, “But I’m not sure about going either.”  Jungkook chuckles, his nervousness slowly lessening, “Bet a lot of girls will be disappointed.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Well…you’re very popular, I’m sure you had a lot of girls ask you out.”

“Hmm…yeah, that’s why I hate these types of holidays,” he says, “You have bunch strangers coming and confessing to you.”

Jungkook scoffs, he always sees him smiling, accepting cards and chocolates from half of the girls and secret admires, he would’ve never thought he gets annoyed by that. But he can hardly blame the girls, despite always smiling, he was pretty unapproachable, like a celebrity, those girls have guts that’s for sure.

“Yeah, it can be annoying,” says Jungkook.

It wasn’t long until they reached their house, turning around their street corner. As he stares at the houses, glancing back at Jimin, he couldn’t help but wish time has stopped. This was the first time, he has had a proper conversation with him. He chastised himself for not slowing down a little even though it would not have made a difference, it was only a five-minute ride on the skateboard and a ten-minute walk normally.

“See ya,” says Jimin, waving at him as he increases his speed on the skateboard.

“See ya,” mumbles Jungkook, disheartened, as he watches him skate away.

***

Tuesday 

Jungkook takes out his math textbook from his locker, placing in his backpack. He places his skateboard inside. San Marino High School has a lot of faults but the school itself was a prestigious one, not as wealthy or elite like Beverly Hills High School but it was close. Jungkook was just glad the lockers had even space, height and width to keep his skateboard inside as he does not like carrying it around. He would be tempted to ride it which would be against school rules and get him detention. He turns to his friends who were too busy watching a display of a boy trying to ask his girlfriend out to the Valentines Day Dance.

“Why even bother with such grand surprise?” says Lisa, arms crossed.

“I think it’s romantic,” says Taehyung.

“Romantic?” says Lisa, making a disgusted face, “He’s just trying to make sure he gets laid.”

“And I think your jealous no one came pouring their hearts out to you,” teases Taehyung.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha, hilarious,” she says rolling her eyes, “Valentines is so overrated.”

“I think so too,” adds Jungkook, “He’s just trying to get laid.”

“Thank you,” says Lisa with a huge grin. Taehyung shrugs his shoulders, dismissing them.

“Still a romantic gesture,” he says.

They both giggles, shaking their heads, as they know, Taehyung will always have the last words no matter what they are they disagreeing on, it happens whenever they have an argument. They just learned to let him have the last words, to avoid going in circles.

***

Face buried in his phone, Jungkook strolls, making his way to the library, a little late as he had to finish sandwich since there is no food or drinks allowed except for clear liquid, aka water. He greets the librarian who was occupied with a student but managed to give him a small nod. As he makes his way to the computers, he hopes his computer was not taken, he hates sitting near the front.

As he got closer, he exhales, relieved to see the chair empty, he quickly makes his way to the seat to secure it. He places his backpack on the chair, turning on the computer. As he sits down, adjusting the keyboard, he notices the small yellow paper sticking out from underneath. He scoffs, it was still there? He sighs, turning back to his computer, as he logs in, his gaze drifts to the note, he bites his lips, his curiosity was getting to him. There was nothing wrong with just checking if it was the same note from yesterday?  After fighting it for a few seconds, he gives up, pulling the note off, it was a new one. He stares at it, astonished, there were two different continuing lines written down from the song with a reply to his message.

♫All, all, all, all the pretty girls in the world
But I'm in this space with you. ♫

PS: It seems like I’m not the only one with a good taste for music. 😊

Jungkook chuckles, glancing around, wondering if someone was playing with him. He turns back to the note, staring at it, feeling childish and somehow intrigued. He wonders if he should also reply to it, what harm would it do? Whoever wrote it in the first place probably thought no one would pay attention to it in the first place, they must have been stunned when they saw his reply to it. It was just a game, there is nothing wrong with humoring them, he wonders, convincing himself. Jungkook reaches over to his backpack and pulls out a pen, he glances over at the kid sitting next to him, earbuds in and eyes glued to the screen.

He turns back, wondering if he should just continue the lyrics or write something else? After contemplating for a few seconds, he decides it would be better to just continue the message and leave a message at the end. And so, he scribbles the next two lines from the song and adds a little message at the end. He stares at it, taping his pen against his lower lip and places it back underneath the keyboard, leaving the end stick out a little, only someone looking for it would surely see it. He goes back to his computer, ready to play his game.

♫ Colored out the lines
I came to find; my fire was fate with you. ♫

Ps: Thank you. It’s cool to know someone else appreciates good music. Many people are tone deaf in this generation. LOL.