Chapter 12

Jaejoong rushed past the door frame and into the classroom with just a second to spare, smiling to himself at the small accomplishment.

“We made it,” a husky voice piped up behind him, accompanying a warm grip on his shoulder. Jaejoong flinched at the sudden contact. Siwon must’ve felt it because he soon took back his gesture. He must’ve been so focused on getting to class on time that he completely forgot that Siwon had the same class. 

“Sorry if I scared you. Are you ok?” He leaned in with his face just inches from Jaejoong’s as he tried to get eye level with the beauty. Jaejoong could feel a faint heat on his face coming from Siwon’s breath and he made a mistake of looking into his eyes for a split second and froze. He was so close. Siwon’s facial features became more defined due to their close proximity. He could see each and every detail of his face. He had a tiny freckle that rested on the bridge of his nose and a small scar that cut through the bottom of his chin. Every mark, every pore, every imperfection stood out before him with perfect clarity, framed by the delicate softness of his skin. Jaejoong wanted to retract from his position but he froze when he looked into Siwon’s eyes. They seemed to be piercing into him, as if inspecting him. Jaejoong knew he only looked into the other boy’s eyes for a few seconds but as he did, time seemed to stretch and his breath caught in his throat. 

“Yeah,” Jaejoong managed to whisper with a nod and awkward smile and took the chance to look away. He felt heat rush to his face. He questioned his own response with a raise of his brow as he walked to his seat. Was he shy just now? He thought that he was irritated at this guy for trying to be a replacement Yunho, so ignoring him would be expected but honestly.. what just happened? He shook off the thought with a quick shake of his head, not wanting to dawdle on the idea any longer.

He looked to the back of the class at his seat, ‘so convenient’ he thought sarcastically --he hated always having to sit up as high as he could just to see the board everyday. As he made his way there, Jaejoong noticed that the classroom had suddenly gotten quieter with all eyes on him--including those who were usually too preoccupied checking how they looked in their compactable mirrors to actually care about class or anything for that matter. He tried to ignore it with his head held high; figuring they must’ve been more interested in him today after seeing the incident in the cafeteria. This was much more different than usual days where no one batted an eye to his presence and he could just slip through and get to his seat without anyone noticing or even caring. 

However, as he was one desk away from his seat, he tripped and fell, hard. The action caused the entire class to laugh and he looked back at what he had tripped over and saw the student who sat in front of him with their foot sticking out into the aisle. Within that same moment Jaejoong felt a cold liquid douse him and his clothes. He gasped at the cold and sticky feeling that was now causing his clothes to stick to his skin and tried to wipe his eyes before the juice could irritate it. 

The girl who dumped her drink on him was laughing loudly above him as others were taking pictures with their phones. 

“Don’t worry, your outfit was tacky anyways. Good thing I had my strawberry smoothie with me to add a pop of color.” She laughed arrogantly for a while before stopping and looking at Jaejoong as if she was anticipating something,her face sour.

“I don’t hear a thank you!” 

“I wouldn’t expect one from that piece of trash, he doesn’t know how to treat those better than him kindly. Oh, that reminds me. Trash should be surrounded with trash!” Another girl added before throwing a crumped up potato chip bag at him, inciting others to follow with other pieces of trash or balled up pieces of scrap paper. 

"Stop it! Stop it!" Jaejoong heard Siwon shout and looked up to see the student trying to shield him from anymore attacks. A quick image of Siwon as a shining prince flashed before Jaejoong eyes. It was like Siwon was Jaejoong’s knight in shining armor, his savior... his replacement yunho? ‘No!... He... He can't be...' He tried to reason. 

'My knight in shining armor.' A voice in Jaejoong’s head piped up.

Jaejoong’s eyes grew at the thought. 'No! Yunho is, not Siwon!' He shouted back in his head, trying to block out anymore unwanted thoughts it could wring out. Yunho is his savior. Yunho is. He kept repeating in his head.

'Yeah right, then where is he now? Oh right, he left you and embarrassed you in the cafeteria earlier. Is he the one shielding you right now? No! Its Siwon!' It retorted. Jaejoong looked up again to see Siwon looking back at him.

'Dont be in denial. Just accept it.' He didn't know who to follow anymore, the little part of him inside his heart that still clings onto Yunho or the voice in his head and Yoochun. Should he really be with Siwon instead? 

"Are you ok?" Siwon gestured an open hand out to Jaejoong. His heart seemed to be outweighed by his friend's and his own thoughts for what was best for himself. He guessed its best to listen to your brain rather than your heart since no matter what it wants, it always eventually ends up getting broken. Jaejoong looked up at the hand in front of him and hesitantly--but gladly--took it. Only then did he notice that all the students had stopped laughing and throwing things at him. Instead they looked like were all in shock. Jaejoong was too. But for a completely different reason.

-------------------------

The two ran into class a minute before the lesson started, giving them time to choose their seats. Junsu sat down first in the middle of the class, where he could have the joy of not having fear of being called on like sitting in the front, and still being able to see--not like in the back. 

“Changmin! Sit over here!” Junsu waved his hand in the air as soon as he sat down, pointing at the seat next to him, hoping Changmin would be able to sit next to him. 

Changmin walked over with a smile and happily sat down before starting a conversation with Junsu. 

“Thanks for saving me a seat, but wouldn’t Yoochun sit here? You guys always sit next to each other in this class.” 

“I don’t think he would really care, he’s always telling me that I should be more outgoing and make more friends, you know? I gotta put myself out there. Plus, I don’t think he would notice anyways, he’s been too busy worrying and hanging around Jaejoong to pay attention to me.” Junsu said sadly.

“Quality over quantity.”

“What?”

“It shouldn’t matter how many friends you have, what should matter is the kind of friend’s they are. The kind that will stick by you no matter what. The ones who will be there when you are down. The ones who will help you up if you fall, not forgetting to laugh first.” Changmin finished with a wink. Junsu playfully nudged him in the side with his elbow. 

“You should smile more. Frowns don’t suit you.” Changmin smiled as he brought his face down, level with Junsu’s, before pushing the boy’s cheeks up with his index fingers, causing Junsu to laugh a few seconds in.

“There it is.” Changmin laughed as he retreated his digits.

Just at that moment Yoochun ran into the room, panting hard as he tried to catch his breathe. He made his way over to his usual seat but was shocked to find Changmin and Junsu with their seats extremely close to each other. If that wasn’t enough, Changmin was caressing Junsu’s face and they both looked like they were into it! Immediately Yoochun saw red and he coughed loudly to get the duo’s attention.

“Junsu? What’s going on. Why is he in my seat?” Yoochun cut to the chase, not bothering to talk directly to the interloper. 

“I thought that you wouldn’t mind if he sat here. Since you didn’t notice anything I’ve done recently anyways.” Junsu explained, getting quieter and quieter the more the words came out of his mouth. 

“What?”

DING~~~

“Yoochun find a seat. Class is starting.” The teacher called out with a quick, uncaring look at the student before placing her books on her wide, brown desk. Soon turning to write the lesson on the board behind her.

Yoochun gaped at Junsu and stomped to the back seat. Slamming his backpack roughly onto his desk before sitting down with a huff. Throughout the entire class, he watched in aggravation at the two’s closeness and friendliness with each other. He fumed, biting the inside of his lip to hold back any outbursts when he saw Junsu and Changmin quietly giggling when the teacher wasn’t looking. Were they laughing at him? Were they laughing because he got scolded by the teacher and had to sit in the back? Jealousy arose in him and another cause of it was the thought of Changmin being the one to receive Junsu’s smile instead of him. He gripped the edges of his desk, holding in his frustration as his knuckles started turning white. Every motion, movement, sound the two made seemed to be the only thing Yoochun could focus on. No thought of the lesson ever daring to enter his mind. 

Every minute his jealousy grew. How did this happen? Junsu just met changmin, while he's known Junsu for years. How did the two get so close? 

A loud bell rang through the air and the students' voices immediately followed. Conversations about what class other students had next and what they did over the summer arose as the students packed up and left in pairs, laughing along the way. Yoochun stayed behind. No one noticed him from his seat as he continued to watch the two in front as they chatted more evidently, as they didn't have to worry about getting in trouble for interrupting the teacher anymore. They didn't seem to care for the time as they took ease in putting all their books in their backpacks before slowly walking at the room, too immersed in their seemly amusing conversation to notice Yoochun being the only other student in the classroom besides them. That fact only add