Mark stepped out of the car, the upbeat music from the stereo drowning out once he slammed the door shut behind him. If it wasn’t for the current situation they were in Xuxi would have definitely yelled at him for trying to damage the car but seeing the position that Mark was currently in he chose to turn a blind eye to it. Lucas didn’t mind driving him to school or listening to him rant about Haechan for the millionth time, that’s what best friends were for but it pained him more than anything to see mark so down in the dumps. His face was swollen and his eyes still had a hint of red in it and he knew there wasn’t much he could do to help except provide him with support and maybe a shoulder to lean on.

Mark had probably slept ten plus hours the night before and even still, it made him feel no better than before. He could feel himself getting even more exhausted the closer he got to the school entrance. Even though he hadn’t talked to Haechan in the last few days the boy had safe to say not left his thoughts once. He was pissed at Haechan just as much as the younger boy was pissed at him but that didn’t change his feelings in anyway. He was still much to his own distaste very much head over heels for the boy who lived in his head rent-free.

The halls were bustling with people already even though they were relatively early, Mark shifted and turned to make his way through the group of people surrounding his locker to make his way over to his first class not even bothering to grab his books from his locker, knowing full well he wasn’t going to be paying attention anyways. Xuxi though not wanting to leave his friends side goes to his locker a few feet away to grab the three prescribed books for their Language class which he hadn’t open since the day he bought it. Even though he was sure he wouldn’t be able to pay much attention either not that he ever did, at least he could pretend to.

This was probably the only class there was that practically all members of both Haechan’s as well as Mark’s group shared all except Chenle. The classroom contrasting to the hallway was quite empty with only a few people talking with each other in the front of the class and one guy who was napping on his backpack at the very end of the classroom. Mark took a seat towards the end, near the door hoping to while away the gruelling forty minutes of class. He pulled his hoodie over his head as he saw his best friend walk in through the door with his hands filled and his bag hanging off of one shoulder. Xuxi sat down right behind mark as he always did when they shared classes.

Mark knew Xuxi wanted to start a conversation and though he usually loved his best friends rants and how happy he would get while talking about the simplest of things he just wasn’t in a mood to talk to anyone right now not even his childhood best friend. Thankfully, Xuxi doesn’t try to lift his mood up with jokes like he had in the car while coming to school. People start filling into the classroom as it gets closer to 8:30 which was the usual time for the classes to start in the morning. Mark watches the door keenly a part of him hoping Haechan would come through just so he could see his face again but he had yet to see him or any of his friends who were usually always the first ones to be in class so it was more than safe to assume that they were probably not coming.

Mark drew the strings of the hoodie further, the fabric of the grey hoodie hugging his face when a familiar mop of hair catches his eyes. Jaemin walked into the classroom his face looking slightly swollen and red similar to Mark’s so maybe it wasn’t just him who was going through a hard time and that for some reason made him feel just a little bit better than before. Jaemin takes a seat right beside him dropping his books on the desk with a thud, fixing his posture as he sat up in the chair looking straight at the board in front before looking to his side to see two eyes staring right back at him. The corner of Jaemin’s lips perked up, the fake smile sending a shiver down mark’s spine. Mark looked away still feeling Jaemin’s burning eyes on him, it almost felt like the other was analysing him.

“Why do you look sad? You won the prize” Jaemin said after a while breaking the deafening silence between the two.

“You know damn well I didn’t” Mark spit out through gritted teeth not bothering to look at the blonde haired boy who was still looking right at him.

“Should’ve played fair then” Jaemin stated av