Monday, June 3rd

"Hey." Jessica gave Ren tired smile when she joined him at his locker.

"Hey, feeling better?" He smiled quickly at her before he continued changing his books for the day.

"Kind of. Still got a headache though."

"I'm not surprised. When I dropped you off at home yesterday, you barely seemed to be awake." He chuckled.

"What's wrong?" He asked when he noticed her expression.

"I was pretty out of it, I guess. But, I do remember some of the things I said." Ren closed his locker and leaned against it.

"Right."

"I don't remember much about the girl I hit. That tackle she gave me probably sobered me up somehow. All I know from fighting her is what I just saw in photos and videos on social media."

"To be fair, it was kind of an epic fight. You nearly broke her nose."

"Good." She muttered. Ren chuckled. "But, what I said was unfair to you. I shouldn't have."

"It's been on your mind a lot, I guess. Otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up when you were drunk."

"Since we got back together, honestly. I think the frustration of it also caused me to call out that girl."

"It's fine. I don't want you keeping all that crap inside. Although I'd prefer you sober for it next time."

"Noted." The two stood together silently for a while.

"You think you'd start hating me if I don't say it soon?" Ren suddenly asked. She looked at him.

"I don't think so." She looked away from him.

"But, are you sure?"

"I don't know. But, as I feel now, I don't think I'd ever feel anything negative about you." Ren smiled gently. He grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her closer.

"Regardless if I say it anytime soon or not, I care about you a lot. I may have been your first, but you're a lot of firsts for me too. That means a great deal to me, therefore, you mean a lot to me." He leaned his forehead against hers.

"I know. Thank you." She smiled quickly before he leaned in for a kiss. He quickly dove in for a second one after pulling away. Jessica closed her eyes as she melted into the kiss. Someone cleared his throat, causing Ren and Jessica to stop and look into their direction.

"Great, your guys are officially together, but you don't have to show it so much." Minhyun whined. Jessica looked around and saw some students looking at them and whispering. Jessica blushed madly as Ren put his arm around her and pulled her to his side.

"Because you want to show off your PDA instead? Don't you need a girl for that, or are you planning on jumping Jonghyun's bones?" Ren grinned. Minhyun glanced at Jonghyun for a moment. Jonghyun grinned and went along with Ren's joke and winked at him.

"Shut up." Minhyun turned to his locker and proceeded to change his books for the day. The two boys chuckled.

"Anything to add?" Ren turned to Jonghyun.

"As long as it's not an actual show, I don't care what you do." He shrugged and opened his locker too. Ren turned back to Jessica and continued his earlier action. They were soon interrupted by the sound of a girl yelling at Jihoon after he had pushed her aside. Jihoon ignored the girl and continued towards his target.

"What the hell?!" He shouted at Ren and Jessica. Jonghyun and Minhyun had stopped him from getting closer. "What the hell is this?!"

"A school?" Ren joked.

"You forgave him?! He lied to you! He hurt you! He broke your heart!" Jihoon yelled at Jessica. She started to feel small and hid behind Ren's back, squeezing his arm.

"Guess I'm worth forgiving." Ren smirked at him. Jihoon scoffed.

""Did you forget everything he did to you for the past six months? He only seduced you over a bet! Your feelings meant nothing to him! He took your ity for a bet!" The students who stared in shock suddenly erupted in whispers about Jessica.

"He really did take her ity? Damn." One of them said.

"No wonder he likes her so much. She probably doesn't say no to anything." One of the seniors chuckled.

"Well, it is Ren. He took the ity of half the girls in the school. He's probably just keeping his record." One of his classmates muttered. Ren glared around, shutting most of them up upon eye contact.

"You're crossing the line." Ren turned his glare to Jihoon.

"Says the guy who slept with the scholarship girl just to win a stupid bet." Jihoon retorted. Jessica shoved Ren aside and ran out of the school, leaving her bag with Ren.

"Thanks, ." Ren went after her. He tried finding her in the school garden, the library, the plaza, but she was nowhere to be seen. Ren cursed Jihoon when he heard the first bell and still hadn't found her. Minhyun and Jonghyun had taken his and her bags to their class and offered helping to look for her during lunch. They went to her classroom first, asking Nana and her friends if she had come to class. She hadn't and they joined the search. Meanwhile, Jessica had retreated to an unused hallway on the top floor of the school. It was originally the chemistry classroom which was located there, but too many students complained there was no elevator, so they added a new one on the second floor and stopped using it. She tried to read her book after she finished crying, but she couldn't focus.

"Hey." Jessica flinched when Jihoon appeared before her.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice cracked.

"I know this is the one place you don't tell anyone about, because you can actually be alone here." He joined her in sitting on the floor.

"Then why are you here?" She looked away from him.

"Because if Ren sees me talking to you, he'll literally try to rip out my intestines with his bare hands." Jessica rolled her eyes. "Guess you wouldn't mind anymore if he did."

"You just embarrassed me in front of all the juniors and seniors at this school. Can you blame me?"

"I didn't embarrass you any more than Ren already did with that video."

"That wasn't his intention. He would've told me about the bet without anyone else finding out."

"And you would've been okay with that? Where's your self-respect?"

"Probably in the same place as your respect for me is." She snapped. Jihoon swallowed hard.

"Guess I deserved that."

"You did. Ren may have been an for participating so vigorously, but Ren said you're the one who came up with it. If you were so upset he was only pursuing me for a bet, why didn't you just tell me? You participated just as badly. Besides, if you came up with it, you're worse." She turned back to her book when she finished speaking.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. The two sat in silence for a while.

"You already made me cry so hard I got a headache. Please, just leave me alone." Jihoon sighed and stood up.

"You mean today, or forever, like Ren requested?" He spoke softly.

"The latter." Jessica whispered after a while. He stared at her for a moment, hoping she'd change her mind, but eventually left.

 

Ren checked the bench near the lily garden for the third time, heaving an exasperated sigh when he didn't find her. His phone rang and he picked up.

"You find her?" He asked.

"No. I checked the entire underground parking twice and the whole first floor. Jonghyun's been everywhere between the second and fourth floor, but he didn't find her either." Minhyun answered.

"Crap." Ren replied.

"Isn't it possible that she just went home, or to that bookstore or whatever?"

"Aron and Baekho already went there."

"Well, maybe you just need to let her be. She probably would've let you find her if she didn't want that."

"I couldn't be there for her when became mortified with that video. I just need to show her that I'm here for her now."

"Fine. Wait, didn't Baekho install GPS apps on all our phones? Try that."

"She turned the phone off."

"Oh." Ren narrowed his eyes when his phone beeped in his ear.

"One sec." He looked at the screen and saw the message notification. He took a sharp breath.

"She just texted me. I got to go." Ren hung up and read the message.

-Top floor, hallway to the right. Sorry, I just needed to be alone.-

Ren bit the inside of his cheek and turned around to go back inside when he was stopped by a freshman girl.

"Saw you running around the school. Lost your scratch pole?" He recognised her as the girl from the party, this time with a bandage on her nose.

"I don't have time for this." Ren chuckled and walked passed her.

"Oh, yes you do. That is, I'd you want that girlfriend to stay at this school." Ren sighed exasperated and turned around to face her.

"Excuse me?"

"I read up on the school rules a little. It's pretty well hidden, because there's only a handful of scholarship students per year, half usually drop out after the second term. But, I found out that scholarship kids aren't allowed to get in trouble. No skipping classes without a solid reason, no detention, and especially no suspensions. It's basically immediate expulsion." She smiled and tilted her head.

"You little-"

"Careful. I'm already mad at her. I am ready to go tell a teacher. You don't want me to involve the school's golden boy." She smirked. He glared at her.

"Fine. What do you want?"

"You."

"What?"

"Just once. You take me on a date. If we have fun, we go back to my place. My parents are never home."

"What?" Ren frowned.

"I overheard a few seniors earlier. They called you the raider, because you basically slept with every girl in the school." He smiled a smug smile for a quick second.

"So, I want you to take my ity. See for myself what all those girls boast about after a night with you." Ren chuckled.

"That's not going to happen." He tried walking away again, but she stopped him.

"Again, if you want your precious girlfriend to stay at this school, you will bend to my will." Ren rolled his eyes at her.

"Do you know why they call me the golden boy?" She shook her head lightly. "The average intelligence at this school is only as high as it is, because of me. Which makes me the smartest guy in this school. Therefore, when a little starts a fight with my girlfriend, I make sure to get whatever I need to