When Chanyeol first went into the cafeteria and found none of his friends there, he wasn’t very surprised. Baekhyun and Luhan both had biology the period before, where they usually fell asleep and found themselves in the principal’s office too often for their liking. Chanyeol was used to spending the first 10 to 20 minutes by himself, but always purchased Luhan’s lunch in advance so the said male wouldn’t have to stand in line. Baekhyun brought his own lunch, so that wasn’t a problem.

He had gone straight to their empty table at the back corner of the cafeteria. He quickly dumped his books and bag on his seat and hurried to the lunch line. After purchasing two lunches, he scrambled back to the table and set one across from him and the other in front of his own seat. He sat down and was about to start eating when he saw Jongin and Kyungsoo walk over and sit down.

“Hey,” Jongin grunted, and Kyungsoo offered him a timid smile before taking his seat. Chanyeol beamed back at them and was about to reply when he felt his phone vibrate.

“Uh, wait a minute,” Chanyeol held a finger out and took his phone out. He grinned and typed a reply. Jongin quirked an eyebrow and shared looks with Kyungsoo, who was taking two large lunch boxes out of his bag.

“Here Jong,” Kyungsoo said as he opened the lid for both and spread them on the table. Jongin grabbed a pair of chopsticks and scanned the homemade meal.

“Bulgogi and egg rolls?” Jongin said with a grin, “I freaking adore you Kyung.”

Kyungsoo blushed brightly and watched as Jongin began to devour his food. Chanyeol looked up in time and watched their interactions with a sly smirk.

“You make him lunch?” he asked. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Y-yeah. Sometimes. Jongin’s a picky eater, and I love to cook, so whenever I have the time I cook for him.”

Jongin took another bite of the lunch, hummed in pleasure, and went back for another bite. Kyungsoo looked as the taller male ate with a proud smile. Chanyeol suddenly remembered that his own lunch was turning cold and returned his gaze to it when he realized that it had been already 30 minutes since lunch started.

“Do you guys know where Baekhyun and Luhan are?”

Kyungsoo frowned slightly and bit his lips. “Sorry, I didn’t see them all day.”

Chanyeol looked at Jongin, but the latter was too busy eating to pay any attention to what Chanyeol was asking.

With a deep frown, Chanyeol scrolled down in his phone to call Baekhyun when he caught his two friends walking towards him. He put down his phone and gave them a puzzled look as they took their respective seats.

“You’re late,” Chanyeol said, “did you guys get detentions again?”

“Nope,” Luhan piped up. He settled happily in his seat and smiled cheekily. Chanyeol folded his hands and looked at him suspiciously, but soon turned his head when Baekhyun cleared his throat.

“It was nothing,” Baekhyun said, “I just had to ask Luhan something really quick.”

“Uhuh,” Chanyeol mumbled, clearly not convinced. Luhan shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his plate, scrunched his nose in disgust, but nevertheless began to eat. Baekhyun took out his own lunchbox and took a bite of his salad.

“So Luhan, did Sehun confront you yet about you ditching him?”

Luhan, who was in the process of drinking milk, coughed violently and quickly dragged his sleeve across his mouth while glaring at Chanyeol. Baekhyun turned towards Luhan with a deadly look.

“You ditched Sehun?” Baekhyun seethed, “Luhan! You promised!”

“I didn’t promise anything,” Luhan shot back, “and besides. He was being an annoying brat.”

Kyungsoo suddenly looked up and stared at the trio with a surprised look.

“You met with Sehun?”

Baekhyun crossed his arms and huffed in disapproval.

“Yes. I made him. And apparently he ditched the guy.”

“Like I said, Oh Sehun was being annoyi-”

"Please just shut up.”

Luhan scoffed and leaned back in his chair, sulking quietly as Baekhyun fumed.

“What were you thinking? I bet you guys aren’t even closed to finishing this project. You do know that you have to meet him again, right?”

“At this point, I really don’t care if I fail this project or not.”

Chanyeol laughed quietly as Baekhyun whipped around with pure distaste written on his face.

“Luhan! You are not going to fail because you’re refusing to cooperate with Sehun. I’m going to make sure of that.”

At that moment, Baekhyun caught sight of Sehun walking across the cafeteria with a bored look on his face. He stood up, surprising everyone at the table.

“Yah! Oh Sehun!”

Sehun paused in his step and stared at Baekhyun, raising both eyebrows.

“Come here for a sec,” Baekhyun said and motioned him over. Sehun seemed to be in some kind of dilemma, wondering if it was really safe to listen to Baekhyun. Finally, with much reluctance, he slowly made his way over to the table.

“I heard,” Baekhyun pointed at a extremely pissed off Luha