Waking up with a disgruntled sigh, Kyungsoo tiredly dragged his feet against the soft, beige carpet after slowly rolling out of his small bed. From across his room, he pushed his tiny frame against the bathroom door in attempt of opening it, making sure to lightly kick the door close behind him. Tiredly patting his hand against the wall in search of the light switch, he manages to flip it on. Shuffling over to stand in front of the oval shaped mirror hanging above a sparkling,white sink, the boy cringed at his own ghastly appearance for a second. He lightly slapped his cheeks, with his smaller than average hands, and squinted at his own reflection.

"Get it together,Kyungsoo. You look like a hot mess." Stripping of his heavy pajamas that made him sweat through the night,he stepped into the shower on the other side of the bathroom. He violently shivered once the cold water from the shower head came in contact with his hot skin, but he didn't seem to mind as numerous scenarios of his new school and peers ran through his head. 

After Kyungsoo's daily morning routine,he slung his backpack over his shoulder and marched down the stairs. Sitting in the dining room, his father hesitantly glanced at Kyungsoo as he grabbed an apple from the table for breakfast. Not sure if his son was still upset or not, he simply nodded at the boy in acknowledgement before focusing his attention on the full coffee mug in his hand. Kyungsoo cracked a minuscule smile towards his father before pecking his mother on the cheek. 

"You have the map I gave you,right? I don't think the school will be too hard to miss. Do you want me to pack you a lunch? Do you want some vitamin's? Snacks? Hand sanitizer–" Kyungsoo chuckled lightly and interrupted his anxious mother.

"I have to go now,mom. I'll be fine. Just take care of yourself,okay?" He flashed a cute grin that caught his mother off guard before heading towards the front door. Having not seen that expression in a while, she knew her son must've been genuinely looking forward to his new school. 

Kyungsoo frantically ran out of the house after checking the time. "First day and I'm already almost late. Such a great start, Mr.Do."

Waiting for that exact moment, Jongin leaned closer towards his bedroom window as a small smile played on his lips. Resting his head against the glass, he watched in amusement as Kyungsoo sprinted down the sidewalk like a miniature cheetah.

Kyungsoo stood at the gates of his new school, he marveled at its immense size compared to his last school. "What is this, a school or a castle?" 
Before he could even take a step forward, he suddenly fell face first onto the cold pavement, a few pebbles grazing the skin of his cheeks and nose. Grunting and dusting off his uniform as he stood up, he heard snickering and hesitantly looked up only to be face to face with a flat,sturdy looking chest. He didn't dare lift his head any higher. Much to Kyungsoo's surprise, a soft yet deep voice spoke out. "Watch out next time. I wouldn't want to squish you..." 

 Kyungsoo felt a wave a hopefulness wash over him just as he lifted his head. Taken back by the taller male's handsome features. His thick but tamed angry eyebrows and sharp gaze nearly made Kyungsoo cower in shame as he mentally made a comparison between him and the stranger. Despite feeling like crap beside the latter, he felt as if he was just a pinch away from feeling like a new person and finally befriending someone until the boy finished his sentence.

"...I just hate scraping pests off of my shoes." The boy's accomplices laughed and gave each other high five's before turning on the heels of their feet and walking away simultaneously, leaving behind a flustered Kyungsoo and his crushed dreams of starting anew. 

Just as Kyungsoo received his class schedule, the bell rang, forcing the lingering students and gossipers to run to their homeroom. With a deep breath, he glanced at his schedule and map before trudging his way to his first class. 

Were there kids just like him? Would he meet anyone that treated him just the same as his peers? Kyungsoo pondered about these types of questions that he already knew the answers too. Kyungsoo knew, judging from this morning, that this year would just be a repeat of his former years. Kyungsoo knew, yet he still had a tiny twinge of hope in his heart, believing things would end happily. Kyungsoo knew that things like this shouldn't really matter to a senior, ready to take on adulthood, but he couldn't help the constant self loathing and anxiousness that seemed to always drape over him in a sense. He felt like a mere peasant in a kingdom that was shared along with the other seniors, the kings and queens. 

Hesitantly walking into the loud classroom that could be heard from down the hall, the hyper students fell silent once Kyungsoo was in view. He felt even smaller as he made his way towards the teacher and bowed respectively before personally introducing himself to her first. 

"Ah,a new student. You seem nice..." She muttered the rest of her sentence, "...Hopefully it'll rub off on the others."
Gently pushing Kyungsoo forward to face the class, the teacher nodded her head. Scanning over his peers faces for a second, Kyungsoo bowed and cleared his throat before managing to sputter out.

"H-Hello. I'm Do Kyungsoo. Uhm... I hope we all get along well." Bowing one last time, he quickly hurried to an empty seat in the back of the room just as the class erupted in whispers and murmuring. He began pulling out his pencil bag to take notes until a familiar figure sitting in the front row caught his eye.

"That jerk from earlier..." The 'jerk' turned around as if he heard Kyungsoo's quiet comment and flashed a small smirk before looking elsewhere. 

"Oh Sehun, please pay attention to the board." 

The boy leaned forward with a mischievous expression. "Alright, teach. Since you said it so nicely." 

Kyungsoo slight shook his head in disapproval as he thought, 'What a punk...'

Kyungsoo had mixed emotions once the bell rang, signaling it was already time for lunch. Elated because he could finally escape the chatter boxes that nearly gave him a headache for the past few hours, but concerned because he had absolutely no one to spend time with and had no idea where to go. It seemed as if his classmates already completely forgot about his existence as they quickly filed out of the classroom, but he didn't mind. He liked it better that way. 
Gathering his belongings and the remaining courage he had, he started wandering around the halls looking for a place to eat his lunch in peace. About five wasted minutes later, he ended up in the same spot where he was once he left class and decided to just eat in the halls but as soon as he sat down on the floor, he felt uneasy. Glancing at both ends of the hall he gripped onto his backpack, completely forgetting about his loud stomach protesting for food.

"Calm down, Kyungsoo. You're alone."

"Are you really?" 

Kyungsoo froze for a second before looking up at the owner of the familiar voice. The same smirk he witnessed earlier invaded his vision.

"What? It looks like you saw a ghost."

Limping his way home, Kyungsoo replayed what happened just less than thirty minutes ago in the middle of the hallway at his new school. Well, at least tried to recall what he could without his mind flashing other similar incidents from his previous school.

"You're cute, y'know? So vulnerable... Weak looking..." Kyungsoo flinched as Sehun bent down and caressed his cheek with his cold hand. "Makes me want to do bad things to you..." Before Kyungsoo realized it, he was slammed back further against the wall he was leaning on, Sehun's foot pressed up against the sweater vest that was covering his chest. Sitting there lifelessly, the smaller boy didn't even attempt to retaliate, knowing it would be practically useless. Sehun scoffed in amusement and pulled away from him to lean down. His intense flickering gaze pelted against Kyungsoo's face as he waited for a reaction from him.

"You're not even going to try anything? No pushing? Yelling?" With a wicked smile, he ruffled Kyungsoo's hair, "You must've been through some . ...I'm going to have fun with you, Do Kyungsoo." Wanting to make sure he made a mark in Kyungsoo's memory, Sehun stomped on his legs as he made his leave.

Arriving in front of his house, Kyungsoo finally realized he made a mistake. Coming home three hours early was something he didn't plan on, of course, but he couldn't stay in that school for another second, knowing he was already labeled as the new prey to feast on. He slowly made his way around the house, not quite ready to go in yet and sat on the freshly cut grass in his backyard. 

"What are you doing home so early?" 

'Crap, dad's home...' Kyungsoo slowly turned around with a sheepish smile which ended up becoming lopsided once the actual speaker came into view. Sporting a white dress shirt, Jongin's arms were crossed and propped up against the picket fence that seperated their houses, a boyish grin displayed across his face. "So, how was school?"

"It was fine. Excuse me..." Kyungsoo slowly got up, wincing as a sharp pain shot up his leg. 

Jongin leaned forward in alert. "Are you alright? What's wrong with your leg?" He jumped over the fence with ease to get a closer look at Kyungsoo, nearly making the smaller boy fall back in surprise. 

"It's nothing. I'm fine, really." He tried to look as assuring as possible but failed as Jongin tapped his ankle with the tip of his foot, a small whimper escaping his lips. 

"Tch, fine my . Did someone hurt you?" 

Kyungsoo stubbornly shook his head which earned him a light chuckle from his neighbor. "You're a horrible liar." Jongin tilted his head to get a better look at the boy in front of him. "Since we're neighbors, treat me as your friend,okay? You can tell me anything,any time."

'Friend?' He couldn't believe what he just heard and zoned out the second it went through his ears. That word sounded so foreign to him. Jongin waved his hands in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Kyungsoo. ...Maybe you should go rest."

Kyungsoo blinked as he snapped back to reality, his cheeks flushing a light shade of red. "R-Right, friend. We can continue this later." He couldn't stand there any longer. The pain from his legs were replaced with an overwhelming tight feeling in his chest as he stared up at the taller boy. With a slight nod of the head, he limped away into his house as fast as his legs would allow him to.

"Continue this later?" Jongin grinned upon realizing the fact that it wouldn't be the last time he'd see his cute neighbor that day.