I spent most of Sunday wallowing in self-pity, my eyes flickering to the piece of paper Yifan handed to me every so often. As much as I wanted to spite Hongbin, get him back, I couldn’t quite get myself to actually dial the numbers into the phone and ring the other leader. It would be strange and the wrong thing to do if I was to join the other gang without even talking to Hongbin. Maybe I would be lucky enough for him to take me back on Monday, maybe?

But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I stalked into school the next day looking rough as hell only to be greeted with cold eyes from the people who I thought were my friends. It was uncomfortable as I hurried through the halls to my locker only to find words along the lines of ‘’ and ‘bastard’ spray-painted over the blue metal. I had to collect myself in the male bathroom, squeezing my eyes shut as tightly as I could to stop the tears from spilling that were threatening to leak out.

Class was no better, Baekhyun ignoring me when I slipped into my seat next to him. The fact they all me so easily was like a stake through the heart and the shelter my music room provided me was much needed after the day I’d had. The day ended in me slumped against the grimy walls with notes in my hand as I tried to control the sobs that racked through my body.

A sharp knock on the door pulled me from my self-loathing. Straightening up, I wiped my hand across my face before opening the door a jar and peeking out through the gap. I wasn’t surprised to see Hakyeon on the other side, his presence filling a slight gap in my heart up a little.

            “I know you’re in there,” he whispered into the gap, jumping when I swung the door open to meet the senior with a glare.

            “What do you want?” I asked, defences up with no room for anyone else in my bubble.

            “Hyung to you, and Kris told me something was up. You didn’t call him,” I stared at Hakyeon in confusion. Who was this ‘Kris’? And how did he know I was supposed to call Yifan?

            “Kris?” I winced when Hakyeon let out an explosive sigh and rolled his eyes.

            “Yifan, Wu Yifan.” I nodded when the male then started to ramble. “You should call him. He’s eager to have you his team really as he’s heard a lot about you and~”

            “That’s great hyung,” I couldn’t help but laugh at the look of surprise on Hakyeon face when I called him ‘hyung’, “but I don’t know whether I should call him.”

            “Why not? He treats s better than that rat Hongbin does.”

            “That’s my best-friend you’re talking about.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry Ravi-ah,” I winced when Hakyeon then proceeded to pull me into a bone-crushing hug. I could feel his pulse rising as I stood there awkwardly and I had to pull away after not very long.

            “Thanks hyung and I’ll think about it.” Once again the conversation ended on an awkward note and a red faced Hakyeon leaving quickly mumbling something about having to run errands.

(;_;)

I looked at my old Nokia as it sat in the palm of my hand. I’d been sitting there long enough, trying to gain enough courage to press the call button on the phone. With one last thought of ‘sod it’, I threw caution to the wind and slammed my finger down. Lifting the device to my ear I heard the dial tone and started to panic – what if it was the wrong number?

            “Hello?” A deep and familiar voice came through the end. Something of relief boiled in me as I gathered my voice.

            “Uh ... Yifan?”

            “Yes, who is this?” A confused voice met me and I felt like kicking myself there and then.

            “Oh sorry, it’s Ravi.” I said shakily, trying to even out my voice but failing terribly and want to kick myself even harder.

            “Ravi!” I was relieved when the other male seemed somewhat happy to hear my voice. “I was waiting for you to call. I was wondering whether you’d want to come down to our area of town and see how the gang works. If you like it, there’s always a chance you could stay?” Hope; what I could hear in the leader’s voice again.

            “Sure, you want me to come now?” I asked only to be answered with a throaty chuckle and a ‘see you in 10’.

To say I was nervous wouldn’t be a lie as I hurried through an alleyway with one thing on my mind – get to Yifan without being harmed. I’d never been into the other’s realm and I was surprised at how ... clean it was. There wasn’t rubbish everywhere, only graffiti, which made their part of the neighbourhood a lot less intimidating.

            “Welcome,” I jumped when Yifan’s voice rang out through the darkness of the passageway. A hand was then on my shoulder, guiding me round bends until I came to their actual hang-out. Crates, similar to those of Hongbin’s, were stacked as chairs and there was a similar looking table in the centre as well. Beer bottles littered the place but there was no evidence of drug use like back in the old place.

            “Boys introduce yourself,” Yifan ordered before taking a seat on the tallest crate, his eyes expectant.

            “Chanyeol.” Another freaking giant like Yifan stood from his place on the floor. He looked strangely familiar, though I didn’t know from where, and was smiling like an idiot. I had no doubts that he wasn’t high at that moment so I watched as he plopped back down onto the floor with his arm slung around a tanned boy who I knew the name of.

            “I’m Kai,” said teen spoke lazily to which I just nodded. He looked pretty out of it as well. My attention was next drawn to a smiling boy who looked like he couldn’t harm a fly even if he tried.

            “Lay.” His voice was calm and gentle, much like that of a mother and I could tell he was like a Baekhyun of the group. “And those two are Chen and Minseok,” he said whilst pointing to two of the gang members conked out on the floor. It took me a moment to memorise all of the faces and names but as soon as I’d chugged a beer or two, I knew who they all were.

            “So that’s them. Guys, this is Ravi,” Yifan said earning him some looks of confusion and some of knowing.

            “We know who he is,” Kai drawled from his place under Chanyeol, “you haven’t shut up over the past few days.” With wide eyes I glanced up at the leader, surprise on my face as I noticed a light blush spread over his cheeks.

            “Well, that’s good then,” Yifan muttered before leaving me to make the effort to talk to the other members of his gang whilst he seemed to become engaged in other affairs on his smart phone.

(o.o)

I’d left the hangout later that night: returning home with a wide smile on my face to my mother who was almost too delighted to know I was no longer in with Hongbin’s group. I had looked at her like a kicked puppy but went to bed happy all the same with a stomach full of warm milk and biscuits leaving me with the idea that maybe she thought I was a dog ...

I had a feeling within me that something was off though. I knew school the next day was going to be hell, just like it was the day before but I hadn’t expected an irate Hongbin to come marching at me before I’d even step foot in the gate. Without so much of a glance, I was dragged through the school grounds and to the new hangout behind the trees at the back of the sports field where I was chucked rather harshly into one of the chairs. The current members of the gang were looking at me with expressions of either worry or distaste making my stomach flip and my palms sweaty as I wondered what was going to come of this meeting. I hoped they didn’t know a good place to hide a body!

            “I’ve heard some interesting news Ravi-ah.” I gulped when Hongbin spoke calmly, knowing that the situation was worse than others considering he wasn’t shouting yet. “Do you want to tell me what you’ve been up to?”

            “Uh … I,” I muttered, unable to speak and look at the leader as I trembled in the chair.

            “A little birdy happened to mention that you’ve been to Yifan’s hangout. Is that true?” I could only nod, feeling numb already when Hongbin sauntered close to me and leant down – his face only inches from mine. A mixture of Hongbin’s cologne, smoke and mint hit me hard in the face, making me lean further away from him causing him only to lean closer.

            “Answer me when I speak to you,” his voice was harsh, eyes cold, as he stared into me.

            “Y-yeah,” I mumbled. I was confused when the leader turned away, hand wiping across his forehead as he let out a sigh. I was no longer part of the gang so why was he suddenly interested in me? He hadn’t contacted me over the weekend and the slurs painted over my locker just showed that I was no longer welcome here.  

            “Why Ravi-ah? Tell me why you’d even consider betraying me.” I felt bad, his tone sounding weak as he stayed standing with his back facing me.

            “I … you …” I stuttered, unable to string my words together to form a coherent sentence. “You told me to leave.”

            “And that meant you could go straight to another gang?” I jumped in my seat when Hongbin spun around to shout in my face. “Does this, do we mean that little to you?”

            “No … it’s just.”

            “Just what? That Yifan offered to take you in. You’re pathetic.” Hongin knew how much I hated, no loathed, that word. It sparked something inside of me making me want to stand up to the person I thought cared for me. I thought I’d actually meant something to the other and how foolish I’d been to kid myself. I was nothing and this stupid little meeting was only set up to torture, to mock me.

            “Maybe it was that,” I snarled. Hongbin looked at me in surprise. “Maybe he seemed as though he actually cared and would care about me. Maybe their offer was better. Maybe those people act as though I’m an adult, my own person, and not a ing kid,” I ended up shouting back at the leader before standing from my seat and storming out of that place. My whole body was shaking as I paced through the halls and to the one place that was my haven, the music room. I was well aware someone was following me, their footsteps really loud, but I didn’t look back. I headed into my room and started to pull my lyric book from my bag, the door barely closing before Hongbin stomped in behind me.

            “Stop and talk to me,” he demanded, a hand coming down onto mine and stopping me pulling the book from the bag.

            “Why?” I shot back.

            “Look, why would you think you didn’t mean a lot to me?” He asked, emotions swimming in his eyes that were a little too much for me. I just shrugged, turning away from him and finally pulling my book out. “Ravi, please.”

            “Please what Hongbin?”

            “Hongbin-ah,” he corrected me, “and I want you to come back.”

            “It doesn’t matter now. I’m meeting Yifan after school anyway.”

            “What?” To say Hongbin looked hurt would be putting it lightly and it made something twist within my gut.

            “I said I’m meeting Yifan after school.”

            “I know that! Why though? Wasn’t everyone else enough for you?” Hongbin asked, a kicked puppy look on his face.

            “I need to think about it. If you could throw me away so easily on Saturday, maybe I’m not enough for you.” With that I ignored the leader standing like a lost child in the middle of the room. He stayed there for a moment, tension thick in the room before he left silently with an aura of hurt around him.

(O.o)

I'm back .... sorry it's been a while! I've been uber busy with exams, prom and leaving school .... please don't hate me! 

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter though and please don't forget to comment and tell me what you think:)

Sophie x 

#andrea2313 - I'm sorry it took so long. I'll try and be much quicker!

#rumourhasit12 - I hope this chapter has answered some of your questions - thanks for commenting :)

#XiumInYourFace - Don't worry, Ravi will get some Jaewhan soon!

#SapphireHearts - it's something I can imagine Yifan doing - thanks for commenting!