Take Four. I Miss You

"Why is this wrong?" Baekhyun questioned himself when he looked closely at his equation. He was sure that he multiplied correctly, he didn't understand what he did wrong. Baekhyun groaned miserably and started to gnaw on his pencil. Chanyeol turned to look at Baekhyun, watching the older boy struggle on the math problem. The younger glanced back at his own work and back at Baekhyun's, immediately finding his mistake. 

"You wrote the problem out wrong." Chanyeol pointed it out. 

Baekhyun stopped chewing on his pen and looked at Chanyeol with his empty dull orbs. They stared deep into each other's eyes, causing students around them to shift and feel uncomfortable. Chanyeol arched his brow again and tapped Baekhyun on the forehead. He had been spacing out ever since he'd pointed out that he had written out the wrong problem. "Hello?" 

Baekhyun groaned as he banged his head on the desk. Throwing his notebook at Chanyeol's face. "Can you just leave me alone?"

Chanyeol picked up his notebook and straightened his crumpled page. "Alright."

As he was about to return to his seat, Baekhyun placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wait..."

Chanyeol's stopped and turned to face the petite boy once again. "Wh-"

"Youwanttogooutandgeticecream? Later after school?" Baekhyun asked nervously. He mentally cursed himself for losing his cool.

Chanyeol stared at him and at the same time he was trying to process what Baekhyun was trying to say. "What?"

"Ice cream? After school? Yeah?" Baekhyun wanted to keep it short and straightforward. He didn't want to continue embarrassing himself so he tried to keep his head held up high, a determined voice, and a barren expression. In the inside however, he was screaming constantly at himself for asking him out on a date. 

"You're asking me out on a date?" Chanyeol tried to hide his smile.

"N-no. I was not!" Baekhyun blushed deeply and continued on scribbling the correct equation onto his paper. Don't tell me he can read minds...

"I was joking."

"Oh?"

"I can't go."

His pencil stopped moving and Baekhyun looked up. His eyes screamed why but, mouth said otherwise. "Okay, that's cool."

"I have stuff to do at home."

"I didn't ask." Baekhyun scoffed. What stuff?  

"Obviously, you're dying to know." Chanyeol deadpanned

"Shut up and do your work." Baekhyun hissed. No, talk to me. 

"I'm done with my work."

The petite boy choked on his saliva. "Wait what? Already?" 

Baekhyun craned his neck to look over to Chanyeol's finished work. It was true. He could see all the sets of equations written down and completed. All his work was perfectly shown and there was no doubt that something was incorrect. Baekhyun whined and continued to gnaw on his pencil. He was barely on question number 20, and he had a long way to go. Chanyeol shook his head and blew the curls away from his eyes. His hair was growing too quickly for his liking and he wasn't planning to cut it anytime soon. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at the other and yanked a handful of Chanyeol's hair. Chanyeol yelped as he helplessly tried to pry the other's hands off. 

"You need a haircut." Baekhyun bluntly suggested while tugging at the strands. 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and untangled Baekhyun's fingers from his hair. "You don't say, captain obvious." 

The older huffed and pouted. "Hey, I was just saying!" 

It has been over a month since he started to talk to Chanyeol and over a month since Chanyeol stopped ignoring his existence. He wouldn't say he was happy that the younger had initiated their conversation for the first time, but he was content with the fact that the boy wasn't stuck in time, away from reality and into his own world. Chanyeol caught Baekhyun staring at him and felt his face heating up. Instinctively, he turned his head away and began to do other problems to keep him distracted. 

"Chanyeol" Baekhyun once again called for the other boy's attention. 

Chanyeol didn't turn around "Hm?"

"Where do you live exactly?" 

Chanyeol stopped writing and gently set his pencil down. His body tensing and brows furrowed,  lips pressed tightly into a straight line. "You don't need to know."

His tone was colder than it was minutes ago. "Okay" Baekhyun sensed Chanyeol's discomfort and thought it was best not to shove the matter. He didn't want to pressure the younger boy.  

Chanyeol relaxed when the other male stopped talking and he continued to write in his notebook, scribbling down more math equations. When his phone had buzzed violently in his pocket, he pulled it out and sighed deeply as he read the message. Closing his math book and notebook he shoved them neatly into his bag. He had always packed earlier than the others and the teachers never really cared if he left or not. As he stood up hastily from his seat, the teacher called him out and for the first time since freshmen year, the teacher had asked him where exactly he was going. 

"Home" He deadpanned. 

The teacher gave him a look and motioned him to sit down. "I want you to answer 10 more questions, Mr. Park." 

Chanyeol groaned and begrudgingly followed the teacher's orders. He pulled out his notebook and math book once again and began writing down the equations, solving them as quick as possible. Occasionally pulling out his phone from his pocket and back in. Baekhyun examined Chanyeol's uneasy behavior and he himself began to wonder who Chanyeol was. It was no mystery that Chanyeol was the smartest from the whole school and that he was also the loner everyone was afraid of. Baekhyun had noticed countless times that Chanyeol isn't the person he displayed to be. He was kind and caring and his smile was so natural, you wouldn't have believed that he frowned everyday. Chanyeol is a mystery, Baekhyun thought as he folded his hands. Chanyeol finished the last question before standing up, speed walking to the teacher to check his work. The teacher was impressed but, that still didn't change his mind. 

"Sir, I need to go" his voice was restless. 

"Not until you explain the problems I assigned to everyone."

"All of them?! But sir I-" Chanyeol was cut off by the teacher.

"No buts. I'm tired of you always dismissing yourself out of class."The teacher's voice was stern and Chanyeol stared down at his feet. Baekhyun had caught the panic in his eyes and began to feel slightly agitated. Out of all the days Chanyeol has walked out of his class, the teacher chose this day to keep him from leaving. Baekhyun massaged his temple. He was going to risk it and go through one hell of a ride just to save Chanyeol's . "Sir!" 

Both looked up at the same time, startled by Baekhyun's loud "Sir!" The teacher wasn't pleased with the disruption and pinched the bridge of his nose. Chanyeol raised a brow when Baekhyun raised a thumbs up, at this point where Baekhyun grins dumbly at him, he knew for sure this isn't going to end well. 

"I can answer all the questions!" Baekhyun offered and smiled enthusiastically. 

The teacher shook his head and stared down at his math book. Baekhyun motioned for Chanyeol to run out and go to where he was suppose to go. Confused for a good second Chanyeol finally understood his intentions and gave him a weak smile, mouthing him a thank you. Before the teacher looked up, the tall boy was long gone. The student's began snickering at their teacher, some girls squealed at Chanyeol's small smile and Baekhyun scowled at them. That smile wasn't for them to see, it was only for him. Their math teacher didn't understand what all the commotion was about until he noticed a certain someone was gone. Growing red, he gave Baekhyun a dirty look, accusing him of helping the youngster. Which was true, Baekhyun did help him, but he also wanted to explain the answers to each equation. 

"Byun Baekhyun I need to speak with you after school" The math teacher growled. 

Baekhyun laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. It was his first time being called out and the first time to have an after school conference with his teacher. "This is going to ." he muttered and flipped the pencil around his long slender fingers. He sighed and leaned on his chair staring up at the ceiling. 

OOOO

"He what?" Jongin nearly choked on his water after hearing that Baekhyun was being called to have a conference with his math teacher after school. 

Suho and Kyungsoo were just as shocked and confused but, at the same time they knew this sort of thing would happen eventually. Luhan pouted. "He just wanted to help Chanyeol escape. I don't see what's the big deal." 

Sehun leaned on his arm and waited for Baekhyun's message. He wanted to know if everything was alright. Kyungsoo frowned. "To the teacher, it doesn't matter how smart you are or if you know the lesson or not. It's about fairness. Some kids aren't up to his level, and having the privilege to leave class anytime he wants to just because of that is unfair." 

Jongin glared at the owl eyed boy. "Are you teaming up with that teacher?" 

Kyungsoo returned the glare. "I'm not teaming up with anybody. I'm just saying no one is in the right or wrong."

"Alright boys." Suho tried to break the tense atmosphere. Kyungsoo fidgeted uneasily and Jongin continued to drink from his water bottle harshly. "Lets just hope he doesn't receive detention." 

Lay and Kris walked by, wondering what the commotion was all about and why everyone had a scowl on their faces. Kris leaned towards Lay. "What's their problem?"

Lay being his usual self, didn't understand the situation and immediately assumed they were having a staring contest. "I think Jongin and Kyungsoo are have a staring contest and Suho is their referee." 

Kris snorted. "Probably." 

As they walked by the group, Tao had popped out of nowhere, yelling like his life depended on it "Guess what, Baekhyun's having detention!" 

Kris stopped and gave Tao a menancing glare. "Stop your Tao. Baekhyun would kill himself if he ever did get a detention." 

"Well this sounds interesting." Lay beamed. 

Tao shook his head. "You bet'cha.  And no I'm not playing around, now go tell them!" 

OOOO

"Baekhyun why did you let Chanyeol go?" The teacher questioned the student in front of him. 

He would have been lying if he said he wasn't ting on himself, but then again he chose this path in the first place. He didn't know exactly why he let Chanyeol escape so he needed to think of a reasonable explanation for his rebellious behavior. Baekhyun shrugged as he nonchalantly replied to the teacher's question. "Because he's my friend and when I see him in distress, I want to help him." He sincerely thought of him as a friend. 

The math teacher shook his head. "That doesn't mean you defy your superior's orders."

"What if he was going through something at home and we just don't know it yet?" Baekhyun spoke back.

"Then he should have spoken to me about his problem than to constantly keep leaving class anytime he wanted to." The math teacher barked. The small student flinched each time his voice raised. The teacher had a point but Baekhyun asn't all too happy with what his teacher was saying.

"Teacher Lee. You know very well that Chanyeol isn't the type to fool around like what most students do when they ditch school. Being in his class for almost all of my high school life, he wouldn't have left class unless something important was making him leave. He hasn't left class since September sir and it's been already almost two months since he'd last left class without your permission. You exaggerated your speech too much when you said that Chanyeol always left your class. It's an understatement sir, an understatement." 

The teacher turned red but, Baekhyun simply left  him hanging. He didn't want to waste his time speaking to a teacher who had a weak argument. The entire conversation, in his opinion, was pointless. Pulling out his phone, his eyes widened at the amount of missed calls he'd received since class ended. 97 missed calls in total. 65% of the calls were coming from Suho and the rest ware Sehun's. Snickering to himself, he texted Tao, lying to him that he got detention for his bad, rebellious behavior. Laughing quietly to himself, he waited near the destination everyone was expecting to meet him at. 

"This is going to be fun." He mumbled. 

OOOO

"Byun ing Baekhyun!" Kris yelled at the boy who seem to be having the time of his life. 

Jongin and Kyungsoo pinched both sides of the elder boy's cheeks and slapped him about five times. Baekhyun eyes welled up from the stinging senstion however he still doubled over, laughing so hard his stomach began to hurt as he curled into a ball. They all sighed in relief and sat on the nice grass. It was beginning to feel chilly when the wind blew over them and it wasn't the warm breeze they used to feel months ago. Baekhyun disliked the cold and immediately his teeth began to clatter. He was especially vulnerable in the winter. Wearing unnecessary layers of clothes. "Better safe than sorry" Baekhyun would say. 

"Hyung you lied to me!" Tao whined and lifted a fist to punch him on the shoulder. "You scared everyone!" 

Baekhyun winced and rubbed his sore arm. "What's wrong with getting detention?"

Chen smiled. "Well two months ago you would have been crying hysterically due to the fact you got a yellow slip from the teacher." 

Jongin agreed. "Yeah! Last time the teacher only called out your name because you weren't paying attention... You almost cried."

Sehun, Jongin, and Chen wailed hysterically, pretending their tears were forming in their eyes. Kyungsoo and Luhan didn't seem to mind  the ridiculous behavior, they seemed more interested in watching Baekhyun fume. "YAH! You idiots are so dead when I get my hands on you!" 

The boys scattered when Baekhyun launched towards them. Jongin stuck his tongue out when he ran for his life. He knew Baekhyun was a slow runner so he didn't need to try. Baekhyun on the other hand cursed at his short legs and helplessly tried to hit one of them. He nearly hit Chen but, that was only because he tripped and the oldest of the three managed to catch up to him. Chen screamed and scrambled to his feet. He had a mini heart attack when Baekhyun nearly hit him with a tree branch, which he swang around crazily. It was a good kind of heart attack. The excitment they felt was so refreshing. Kris and Suho watched the four of them play their little game and Luhan and Lay played rock paper scissors to kill time. Tao was busy texting Minseok who left early for his job. 

"You little s" Baekhyun cursed and he finally gave up. He threw the branch to the side and dropped dead on the ground. His chest heaved up and down and he had trouble catching his breath. Though he felt like crap, a smile still managed to creep up to his face. He started to remember memories of their elementary and middle school life, remembering how much of a goody goody he was. 

He covered his eyes with his forearm, relaxing to the sound of the birds chirping and the breeze brushing against his skin. Sighing with content, he heard someone walking up to him. Slowly putting down his arm, he could see Jongin, Sehun, and Chen hovering over him. Chen offered him a hand while Sehun ran to Luhan, interlocking their fingers. Jongin stuffed his hands in his pockets, scolding the boy to hurry up. 

Baekhyun was thankful for his friends and watched everyone walk their seperate ways. Smiling to himself he suddenly the thought of Chanyeol who started to fill his empty mind with buzzing questions. He wondered if he had somebody to tell his problems to or just anybody to hang out with. A frown suddenly formed from his lips while he walked alone to his house. "Is he lonely?" Baekhyun murmured. He could feel his heart beating faster each time he thought of the aloof boy. Slapping himself he erased that thought from his mind. "We're suppose to be enemies. I'm not suppose to feel like this! Baekhyun remember that. You need to beat him. Got it?" 

OOOO

"Whose seat is that?" The teacher asked the class as he pointed at an empty seat. 

The students mumured incoherent words. Baekhyun too began to wonder where that boy was. He felt a little empty when the seat in front of him wasn't occupied by a specific giant. He had no one to curse at for the perm blocking his view or ask Chanyeol what he got for a specific question. He hated to admit it but, he missed that kid. Impatiently waiting for the bell to ring, he planned on going to the office to ask for Chanyeol's home address.

Walking awkwardly into the teacher's office, he asked their homeroom teacher for Chanyeol's address. 

"Why do you need Mr. Park's address Byun Baekhyun?" The lady asked him. She was a young woman whose hair was tied neatly into a bun. To Baekhyun, she looked familar but he couldn't get who she resembled to. She didn't look up at the boy and continued typing away. 

Baekhyun shrugged. "I'm his classmate. He hasn't been coming to school and he hasn't picked up any of the worksheets and workbook pages." And I'm worried. Of course Baekhyun wouldn't say that out loud but, that was mainly the reason why he wanted to visit him. 

The lady didn't stop typing. "Well why don't you call him?"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'll be asking you for his address if I knew his phone number? Heck I could have texted or even called him already if I wanted to!" 

The lady chuckled and handed the sticky note over. "Here." 

She had been looking up the lad's information ever since Baekhyun had asked for it. She winked at him and patted him on the . Baekhyun felt slighty uncomfortable with the affection. "Well, I suggest you buy him food while you're on your way there. He could be starving." 

Baekhyun bowed and said his thanks before he left. He gave her a weird look before he closed the door completely. The lady chuckled to herself and stared up at the ceiling. "So, Channie's making friends and he hasn't told me about it...That kid." 

OOOO

"20 dollars sir" Minseok joked as he handed his friend the bag. 

"How's working in a drug store feel like huh?" Baekhyun grinned at his hyung. 

Minseok shrugged. "It's alright I guess. It can get quite boring sometimes but, at least I earn something." 

Baekhyun patted his friend on the back before heading out for the door. He gave his hying a thumbs up and a supportive smile. "Keep up the positive attitude hyung!" 

Making his way down the street, he squinted at his teacher's messy handwriting. It was starting to get dark and he kept losing his way around the neighborhood. It has been his third time since he walked around the same area and he wasn't any where near the address. He gave out a frustrated groan and before he balled up the sticky note with the address a familiar voice startled him. 

"Baekhyun?" 

He gave out an unmanly scream before feeling a large hand  cover his mouth shut. Baekhyun pried the hand off. "Chanyeol! You almost killed me!" 

Chanyeols sighed. "What are you doing here? Especially at this time?" 

Baekhyun kicked the ground. "I was going to ask you that..."

"Byun Baekhyun." 

"Alright, alright!" Baekhyun waved a hand to shut the younger boy up. He shoved the plastic bag towards his chest and handed Chanyeol a folder full of missing work. He avoided Chanyeol's intense gaze. "Take it. It's medicine and food... Uh... and I don't want you failing, so here's the work. I don't want to lose a rival. Als-"

"Thank you." 

Baekhyun stopped talking and finally looked up at Chanyeol. He saw the sparkle in the tall boy's eyes and there was his stupid grin beaming at him. His smile was even brighter than the street lights. "D-don't think I'm doing this because I care" Baekhyun huffed and crossed his arms. 

Chanyeol nodded. "Alright." 

Baekhyun suddenly smiled back and awkwardly nudged Chanyeol by the arm. "Do you mind if you take me home? I'm kind of afraid of the dark." 

Chanyeol chuckled and nodded. "Let me take this home first."