DONGHAE's POV

Today is the first day of school. I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to prepare breakfast. As I do so, a lot of things crossed my mind; would I have friends? Would they be good to me? I’ll be at ease if Chullie would be there with me, but since he is in his 2^nd year of college, he’s a law student, and I am in my last year in highschool we are entering different schools.

Also, I am thinking  about how I should act towards Hyukjae when we’re in school. He said we need to act like cousins; does that mean, we need to act close? Because, seriously, I think I can’t do that. He’s still a stupid jerk for me and the fact that we need to go and leave school together since our parents only bought us one car is more than enough to push me to the edge. Imagine, my parents placed me in his care and he politely accepted, but behind their backs, he’s a total .

Setting the food in the table, I grabbed my chemistry book to do a little reading. I love studying; Chullie does too, but he loves talking more that’s why he’s following the footsteps of dad since they always argue about the littlest things, especially when it’s about me, then mom and I would have a little bet on who’s going to win, since, seriously, they think and sound alike, like, really, sometimes it’s scary how they even manage to shout something identical in an argument. While Chul is taking law, I am planning on taking medicine; human body has always been an interesting topic for me, no other reason, I just wanted to be a doctor. I am also into sports, especially soccer and swimming, though I also know how to play basketball and baseball. My friends back in New York would often tell me that I’d be the perfect guy, if, and only if, I am into girls. Everyone back there knew my preference but that did not stop them from being friends with me, if I say so, that made the girls cling to me more since they are assured that I won’t touch them or anything; some even come to me for advices.

The chair across me being pulled caught my attention; a Lee HyukJae is there, yawning, his left hand scratching his head and his hair sticking out to different places, which I would’ve find cute if he’s not Lee HyukJae.

“Morning. What time do classes start?” I asked as I watch him pick up the fork and get a piece of bacon, placing it in his plate.

“8:30,” he shortly answered before he started shoving the food in his mouth. Sighing from his rudeness of not even offering me to start eating, I closed my book and pushed it aside as I stood up to get a carton of milk in the fridge. When I return to the table, I saw him eyeing my book in a weird way.

“What’s with that look? Never seen a book before?” I asked as I took my seat and started eating.

He rolled his eyes, “Shut up. I was just wondering why you’re reading that so early in the morning,” he mumbled since his mouth is stuffed with omelets that caused some pieces to come out of his mouth, luckily it didn’t reach me but I still scrunched my nose in disgust and ate quickly.

“Yuck. I was studying,” I answered, not looking up at him as I resumed enjoying my food with haste.

“We haven’t even started school yet,” he said incredulously. Thankfully, his mouth was not full so I let him be for a while as I ate the remnants of my breakfast, standing up to put the dishes in the sink before answering,

“Ever heard of advance reading?” I said with pure sarcasm as I made my way back to my room before calling out, “Finish quickly, and go prepare.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Letting Lee HyukJae drive is, so far, the most dangerous thing to do. How he even manage to get his license, I don’t know; maybe he threatened his instructor, or bribed him, or it’s fake. All that matters now is I am still in one piece, and I am freaking alive!

I glared at the person in the driver’s seat, as he unbuckled his seatbelt and reached at the back seat to retrieve his back pack, and gave me a little smirk before going out of the car. We reached school  5 minutes before the bell ring, and I reluctantly went out of the car as well, but as soon as I was out, I wanted to go back in and just go home. All eyes are on me, and I saw some whispering.

“Don’t think about what they say, they’ll probably just too amaze to see someone as gorgeous as my little brother”

Heechul’s words rang in my head from our phone call last night. It appears that he’s worried about my first day of school, and since he won’t be there to be with me, he said he’s ten times more worried than before. It took some time to convince him that I’ll be fine, but his final words gave me confidence now to sling my bag on my shoulder and walk straight towards the office to get my schedule and stuff.

I can still feel their stares, though, and I admit, I hate being the new kid, but that’s something I grew up to be and I just have to do what I’ve been doing for the past years,

Make friends and multiply

A chuckle escaped my lips as I remembered another quotation my brother made up for me everytime we move. I miss him already. But I have to be independent. I have to show him that I am no longer his baby brother, and prove that I can take care of myself. With that new goal in mind, I manage to arrive in the office without a flaw, smiling politely at the middle-aged woman behind the counter.

“Morning, ma’am. I am Lee Dong Hae, the transferee student,” I started with a smile and she returned it.

“Oh yes, I’m expecting you. You’re Lee HyukJae’s cousin, am I correct?” she asked and I simply nodded, “You are so far from that cousin of yours,” she whispered, not allowing anyone but me and her to hear.

“Oh? I am not really close to him, I just moved here from States and I just met him some time ago,” I said, “would you mind telling me what kind of student my cousin is?” I smiled, and she happily obliged.

“Lee HyukJae, he’s also called Eunhyuk here, he’s called that by the students not close to him. Let’s say, he is not a bully, but not as polite as you, just somewhere in the middle; he loves parties, and car racing (that explains his driving) and he sleeps in class most of the time but manage to pass, though not a high grade, just---average,” she finished her sentence.

“Is that so?” Giving her a final smile, I said my goodbye, “I better get going then, Mrs. Choi, thank you and nice meeting you,” I said and waved goodbye as I exited the office, checking my locker number and my schedule.

Locker number 15---nice, it’s my birthday, I smiled at the coincidence as I started looking for my locker, and I spotted it in the middle of the hallway. After placing my stuff inside, I looked for my first class---Advance Calculus.

Let’s say, at the beginning, I am like everyone else, I hated any math related subjects, but I love challenges, so I spent most of my time studying math until finally, I learned to be best friends with numbers, so now it’s not that hard. Now my problem is looking for my room. I was busy looking at the rooms, that I did not notice I was going towards the stairs and almost fell, but thankfully, an arm pulled me from the near accident. I looked up, confused of what happened and who saved me, and saw some brown eyes staring back at me, with a brown messy hair. I stood up properly to take a good look at my savior.

He’s tall, a bit thin and he’s holding a PSP and a math book, a rare combination, I believe. I caught him eyeing me too, so I cleared my throat to say my gratitude, “Hey, Thank you. You saved me,” I told him with a smile.

He smiled back at me, “Don’t mention it. You’re the new guy, aren’t you? Hyukjae’s cousin?” he asked.

I nodded curtly, “You know him?”

“Yeah. Friend. Are you lost or something?”

“Oh, ahm--- I was looking for the advance calculus room.”

“Cool, that’s my class too. Let me see your schedule,” he asked, and I handed it to him and he read.

“Hmm, we’re in all of the class,” he concluded, and I smiled.

“Really? That’s good,” I told him, not being able to hide my smile since he’s the first person who talked to me. “I am Dong Hae, by the way, Lee Dong Hae,” I offered him my hand.

“Cho Kyuhyun. Nice to meet you, Donghae-hyung,” he answered, smiling as he took my hand for a short handshake.

“No need to be so polite. I think we’re the same age since you’re also a senior, right?” I asked as we started walking towards our room.

“Me being a senior, yes. Me being the same age as you, no. I am only 15,” he explained and before I even asked, he added, “Accelerated.” Then he winked at me and we laughed at how cocky he sounded. It feels nice to have someone to talk to.

“I like you, let’s be friends,” Kyuhyun suddenly said, and I faced him, clearly agreeing.

“Close friends,” I said, before he placed his arms on my shoulder and made our way inside the room.

Silence.

The moment we stepped foot in the room, there was nothing but utter silence from the students. I heard them talking and laughing loudly while ago, why stop? Still walking towards two empty seats, since Kyuhyun was guiding me, I smiled at those who I made eye contact with and they, thankfully, smiled back at me but still remained quiet. What’s wrong? As soon, as Kyuhyun made me sit in the empty chair beside him, I turned to him and asked.

“Why are they so quiet?”

He chuckled, before answering, “Because I am here.”

“But why?”

“Because---”

But he was not able to finish his sentence since our teacher arrived and I sat down properly. As the class settles down, again, the teacher looked around and his eyes fell on me and smiled. “I believe we have a new student? Will you please come here in front?”

I stood up and faced my classmates, sending them a shy smile before talking, “Hello, I am Lee Dong Hae. Please take care of me,” I finished with a bow and I heard squeals from the girls. Earning more confidence, I smiled brightly, “You may ask questions,” I said and heard some of them chuckling, even the guys.

“Do you have a girl friend?” The girl at the second row asked, and the rest of the girls turned their attention to me, expecting my answer.

“No.”

Then, there were shouts.

“I’m not really into girls,” I said honestly, still smiling. Then, again. Silence.

Everyone eyed me, and I started to fidget in my position. Did I say something wrong? I know Korea is not a homophobic country anymore, or—am I wrong? I looked at Kyuhyun, panic-stricken, and he just smiled at me, and after a few more seconds, there are shouting from both girls and boys in the room.

“Oh my---You’re so cute!”

“I don’t care if you’re gay, let’s be friends, okay?!”

“Dude, we better hang out.”

“Can I take you on a date?”

“Let’s go shopping!”

They are talking at the same time that I was overwhelmed. I am not sure who’s saying what anymore, but I just smiled at all of them, really happy that they accept me, and they are willing to be my friends. Thankfully, after the commotion, the teacher made my classmates settle down since they were all standing in front of me, crowding. He allowed me to sit down too, and was given a high-five by Kyuhyun as I sat down beside him.

We didn’t discuss anything since it’s just the first day, so the teacher allowed us to chat to ourselves, and in a matter of seconds, Kyuhyun and I are surrounded by our classmates, though Kyuhyun was so busy with his PSP but he didn’t mind us chatting a bit loudly. They bombarded me with questions, like, where I came from, and about my relationship with HyukJae and stuff. I also told them about Chullie, and I had a great time talking to all of them and getting to know them. I even learned the names of the few, since they’re too many to memorize, I only remembered Onew, JongHyun, Lee Joon, Sunny, Jessica and Suzy. When the bell rang indicating it’s lunch time, I bid them good bye as Kyuhyundragged me out of the room without as much saying anything to our classmates.

“Are you always that cold towards them?” I asked, as we picked out food. I chose to eat chocolate cake and a carton of milk, while he just got some yogurt. He led me to an empty table and started eating our food.

“No. I just don’t like them,” he answered, not caring at all for sounding a bit cold.

“I see. Why do you want to be my friend, then?”

“Because, I just like it. Why? You don’t want to?” He asked, eyeing me with sad eyes and I chuckled, ruffling his hair.

“Of course I want to. We’re close friends already, remember?” I told him and he smiled at me.

“I see you made a new friend, Kyuhyun-ah,” a voice said and we looked up, only to see something undesirable.

“Shut up, Monkey. Go away,” Kyuhyun answered him.

“ya, show some respect you brat!” Hyukjae said, smacking his head. But Kyuhyun dodged out of the way, resulting to HyukJae clicking his tongue in annoyance before he walked away, not even bothering to give me a glance. So, that’s how he wants our relationship in school be? Okay. We’d be the distant cousins.

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