Chunji and Niel parted ways, after class, their next classes taking them to completely different parts of the school. Where Niel had Art, Chunji had maths, and so he trudged mournfully over to the back of the school. Chunji loathed the absence of his best fined, but he supposed all things considered, it wouldn't be so bad to have Maths alone this year.

Niel proved a constant distraction in Maths anyway. He didn't understand the work, and so Chunji spent more time helping him with it, than he did actually doing it himself. That had always meant more homework for Chunji after he'd had a Maths class, so that he could finish up the classwork, and that was before he even looked at the questions they received for homework.

One look around the room confirmed that he was stuck in there alone. Chunji decided that was probably the best way to do Maths anyway. He always did much better when he was by himself. Besides, he had a good Maths teacher this year. It would be the first time Chunji would be able to indulge in the teacher's laid back nature. He'd never gotten to listen to his iPod in class before.

Suddenly he was feeling kind of excited about his Maths class this year. Another thing that suited him perfectly; he'd need to do well at Maths if he wanted to come first.

- -

Unfortunately the Maths class ran overtime, and so Chunji had to run over to the canteen, having forgotten to bring a drink with him that morning. His recess would be unpalatable without a drink to wash it down. That meant that he was 10 minutes late getting out to the seats, where he ate with Niel.

Niel was already there, clearly having a very animated discussion with some boy Chunji couldn't see from where he was. He'd already completely forgotten about that L. Joe kid, and the sudden reminder made Chunji feel grumpy. He'd thought that it was going to be just him and Niel.

“Oh here he is now, this is Chunji.” Niel stated, excitedly, turning and waving Chunji closer to him and the other boy. “Chunji, this is L. Joe.” he gestured to the boy beside him.

Chunji froze.

He blinked a few times, thinking that he might've been hallucinating. There was just no way this new kid Niel had met was the rude one from the day before. There was just no way that could be happening. This couldn't possibly be real. The person Niel wanted him to meet; to make friends with, it simply couldn't be him.

How was he going to be nice to him after what he'd said the day before?

Chunji tried to calm himself down, knowing that he was probably overreacting. They'd only exchanged a few words the day before. He'd thought the other boy was rude because he was being nosy about a complete stranger. But he'd been interested in looking out for his health and safety. Maybe he just came across poorly because he was concerned; because he thought Chunji was in a bad place and needed someone to talk to. Maybe it was just the circumstances that had given him a bad impression of the other kid.

Maybe he should try and ignore the day before ever happened. Maybe he should try giving this L. Joe a fresh slate. It'd certainly make this week less painful. Niel would give him hell about how cold and unfriendly Chunji was being to the new kid, if he didn't treat him better than his first instinct told him to.

He had to put the day before out of his mind. He'd treat him as indifferently as he treated everyone else. That way he could avoid Niel demanding to know why Chunji acted as though he hated this L. Joe. Then L. Joe would fade away after a week, like most normal people did, and that would be that. It'd go back to being just him and Niel; the way he liked it.

That decided, Chunji tried to keep calm as he nodded in acknowledgement towards the other boy. He wondered if he should try gesturing wildly to L. Joe that he shouldn't mention the day before, but he brushed the thought off. He probably wouldn't mention it anyway. Wouldn't really change anything if he did; but it'd be very embarrassing as far as Chunji was concerned if Niel were to find out about what he'd done. What he always did when things went wrong.

He sat down, ignoring the other two in favour of eating his recess. He thought he sensed Niel rolling his eyes at his callous behaviour, but he didn't really care. Niel knew that Chunji didn't like being around new people. He knew he should expect Chunji to completely shut down whenever there was anyone other than the two of them around.

“So how was your afternoon?” Niel enquired, good-naturedly. Niel always loved to talk to new people. He was a real people person. He could carry a conversation on by himself if he needed to, though Chunji was half-convinced that he had a phobia of that happening. Niel always tended to orchestrate things such that he was talking to someone else. No matter what. But at least he was good at it.

“Funny that you should ask me that. I saw the oddest thing when I got home.” L. Joe began. Chunji felt the mouthful of food he was currently chewing suddenly dry out, as all the moisture left his mouth. He had goosebumps. Surely not. L. Joe would pick up on his signals wouldn't he? If he didn't mention it, and pretended they'd never met, surely L. Joe would be able to infer that meant Chunji wanted him to pretend the day before had never happened, right? He looked up, worried, only to see the mischievous gleam in L. Joe's eyes. He started smirking as they made eye contact. “There was this weird kid, out in the rain. He was in the middle of the road. I've never seen anyone do anything so ridiculous.” he continued, barley suppressing a laugh a the way Chunji tensed at what he said.

“How strange. What was he doing?” Niel pressed, sounding genuinely curious. Chunji cringed, convinced that L. Joe was going to dob him in at any moment. His palms grew slick, in anticipation of the embarrassment that would come when he heard his own name mentioned. He hastily grabbed his drink, nearly choking on the solid clump of food, that had formed on his dry tongue. Suddenly, he didn't feel so hungry; he was too uncomfortable to eat.

“I dunno, he was moving around really strangely.” L. Joe commented with a shrug.

“What you mean like running and jumping around, or like writhing or what?” Niel pressed, clearly trying to picture what this random boy was doing.

“A little of both.” L. Joe stated, biting his tongue to keep from laughing at the expression on Chunji's face. His cheeks were even changing colours. It was kind of cute. But mostly, it was just plain funny from his perspective.

“Maybe he was dancing?” Niel suggested. L. Joe caught the light bob of Chunji's head, saying that he agreed with what Niel had proposed. L. Joe doubted that Niel even knew that Chunji was listening in on their conversation. He couldn't help but wonder why they weren't speaking to one another, if they were supposed to be friends, but he pushed the matter aside for the moment. This was the bit he'd been waiting to deliver.

“Maybe. But if he was, he isn't very good at it. He looked more like he was having an epileptic seizure, with the way he was moving.” L. Joe delivered, straight faced. Niel laughed, but Chunji sent him the hardest glare yet, as his cheeks turned an even darker pink than they had already been. Looking at the expression of agitation and mortification spread across Chunji's face, made him want to cackle in hysterics. He'd just known that messing with Chunji was going to be fun. That Chunji kid just kept getting more entertaining.

Chunji was speechless. Both he and L. Joe had known that he was talking about him from the day before. They both knew that he was that boy. There he was, insulting his dancing; revealing his secret to his best friend. A best friend who was by now, giggling to himself at the picture. The shock gave way to seething irritation.

How he hated L. Joe. This week couldn't end fast enough.