“Oh God, I think I'm going to throw up.” Chunji mumbled, biting his thumb painfully hard, to try and distract himself from his own nausea. “You won't.” Niel stated, disinterestedly, flicking at the screen of his smart phone, trying to get a few extra texts in before their lessons were due to start.

“I might.” Chunji retorted, slightly offended by Niel's automatic rejection of his comment. He really did feel sick; his stomach churning almost painfully. The whole world seemed to wobble as he looked around. He knew if he wasn't careful he just might throw up.

“What for?” the other boy demanded, but his gaze never left his screen, as he anxiously awaited a reply from someone. Chunji had a sneaking suspicion the boy was messaging either L. Joe or Ricky, but he couldn't be sure. Not that he really cared about that. If he had, he would've long since stopped being Niel's friend.

“You dolt, the exam results are coming out today.” Chunji explained, looking at Niel like he couldn't believe the other boy wasn't aware of that.

“So? I'm sure you did fine.” Niel consoled, but his tone was anything but sympathetic, his face even lighting up with a grin as he read the reply from whoever he was talking to.

“Are you kidding? I barely studied at all, I completely spaced about the exams what with Minsoo and all, and I just.... I'm sure I'm going to fail everything.” Chunji stated, resting his head against the desk in his depression, and in the hopes that the world would stop swirling around so much.

“As if. You know too much to fail.” Niel responded, sounding almost kind.

“I didn't mean that I'd actually fail. Just, you know, fail at doing well” Chunji explained.

“My comment still stands.” Niel answered unsympathetically. His gaze finally drifted away from his screen, though probably only because he was waiting for a response. “Besides, why should you care? I thought the only reason you wanted to do well in the first place, was because of your precious CAP. Didn't you say, you were finally giving up on him?” he queried, eyes shimmering with intrigue for the first time that morning.

“I did.” Chunji agreed, carefully “But giving up on Minsoo, doesn't mean that I wasn't still hurt over what happened. I'm still a little hurt by it now.” he explained. Niel didn't say anything, so Chunji looked over to him, only to see him quickly typing something out on his phone again. Used to Niel's distractions, Chunji could only sigh miserably.

“I just can't stand it. This means he not only gets to make me absolutely miserable, but he also gets to ruin my previously untarnished academic record.” he moaned, missing Niel's eye roll at Chunji's exaggerations.

“I'm sure you did fine.” Niel assured, rubbing Chunji's back sympathetically, noting the beaming smile the teacher sent in Chunji's direction as she walked in the room. This teacher never was able to hide her excitement from her students.

- -

“So I hear someone did pretty well on the exams.” L. Joe commented as he slid into his seat beside Chunji in English. The results for the English class had just come out, and now everyone was too busy discussing their grades, to worry about starting their next topic.

Chunji's cheeks felt like they were on fire, from the strain of smiling all day, but the grin refused to budge. He couldn't help but feel elated. He'd been so worried about his marks, but things were right on track. He hadn't failed anything. He'd even come first in the grade for two of his subjects. “Indeed. Though I hear I'm not the only one that did well.” Chunji pointed out, hoping that he was able to keep the tinge of jealousy he felt towards the other boy to himself.

“Oh you did well too, hmm?” L. Joe stated, sounding surprised, as though he hadn't actually been in class with him when the marks were announced a few minutes ago. “Of course I did, you idiot. You said so yourself.” Chunji countered, puzzled.

“Since when? I was talking about myself!” he exclaimed, smiling cheekily at the other boy, when he noticed that his words, not only brought a dark flush to Chunji's cheeks, but to the tips of his ears as well.

“But seriously, you did really well Chunji. I mean coming first in the grade for a subject is amazing. Coming first in two subjects is incredible. But managing to do that, when you were so stressed over CAP going in to the exams is nothing short of astounding.” L. Joe praised, noting the way Chunji's smile only grew bigger, at the compliment. “You did so good!” he exclaimed, ruffling the other boy's hair, making Chunji laugh.

“Thanks L. Joe. You did really well too.” Chunji stated, finding the words a little easier to say this time around.

“Eh? Oh you're referring to Music? Compared to what you managed, that's nothing.” L. Joe said, waving off the other boy's compliment easily. He noticed the slight pout that formed on Chunji's lips, and he had to bite his lip to keep from making fun of the other boy.

“You don't need to try to be so polite. It doesn't suit you.” he commented, laughing at the horrified look on Chunji's face at his words. “It bugs you that I beat you, doesn't it?” he asked, reclining in his seat, in an attempt to make himself more comfortable in the hard plastic chairs the school provided them with.

He could see the words of denial forming on the other boy's lips, but cut in before any of them could be spilt. “Don't lie to me. I know you too well to believe you.” he chirped, amused. Chunji opened and closed his mouth for a moment, trying to decide whether he should answer him honestly or not. But then he shrugged of his hesitation, “A little.” he confessed, drawing a melodic laugh from L. Joe's lips, though Chunji couldn't see what was funny about the whole thing.

It was nice like this, Chunji decided. He enjoyed talking with L. Joe all day. Why should he long for Minsoo, when he already had good things as it was? Surely, Minsoo couldn't be any better than what he had right now, right?