Mark

I figured if what he said about those girls was true, it was pretty cool of him to protect me from them. But that meant very little in the grand scheme of what I wanted our relationship to be--which was nonexistent. I hoped he didn't think his "heroic" act would make me suddenly want to be friends with him or anything.

I dropped all the stuff I didn't need at my locker before deciding to walk home. It was only a few minutes longer than taking the bus, but because of my heart's tendency to stop being a heart, my mom always warned against me walking home. But I thought I'd be okay if I just walked slow. 

I crossed the sidewalk that connected the journey to my house to school once the crossing guard gave me the clear. I usually looked both ways when I cross the road that separates my street from another, but it wasn't my fault that my mom just had to text me at that moment. So, I didn't and freaked out when I saw a car that was literally two inches away from hitting me.

My heart was racing, which was a good sign for me I suppose, but it still made me instantly regret not taking the bus. The driver got out of the car and rushed over to me. He was a few inches taller than me with hair as black as the car he was driving. 

He scurried over to my side. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you. Are you injured or anything? Because I'm more than willing to take you to a hospital," the stranger said, sounding really panicked.

"It's fine. I'm fine. It was my fault anyway. I should have looked both ways before I crossed. Don't worry,"  I reassured him, prompting him to let out a deep sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness," he said. He looked at his wrist watch and then jumped a little. "I'm gonna be late. Can't be late. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked one more time before scurrying off to his car. I nodded in response and he smiled. He then started his car back up and sped away.

As I watched him leave in a cloud of smoke, I felt a giant wave of confusion and fear hit me all at once. It all happened so fast and my mind was still trying to figure what had happened even as I began walking again.

#########

The next morning I woke up feeling a bit light headed. I figured it was just because I hadn't fully recovered from almost getting hit by a car yesterday, which my mom freaked about when I told her. So, not worrying about it, I went to the bathroom and took a pain killer and then started my day like I normally would. I went to my locker after my mom dropped me off and was walking to first period when I felt my shoulder bump into someone else's.

"I'm sor-- " I cut myself off when I saw who it was. 

"At least it wasn't with a car," he said, smiling brightly.

"Yeah," I said, wearing a timid smile. "I didn't know you went to this school."

"Oh, well I just moved here and my mom needed me to meet the moving truck with the rest of our stuff, so that's why I was in a rush yesterday," he explained.

"Ah, makes sense. I know how stressful that can be," I said as I reinforced my bag over my shoulder.

"You're new, too?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Kind of," I answered. "I have lived here for awhile, but just started going to school here." 

"Oh okay. Well, it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only new kid around here," he replied as he rubbed the back of his neck, laughing a little toward the end. "My name is Jinyoung," he said, holding out his hand. I stared at it for awhile then shook it. 

"I'm Mark," I said, feeling my face begin to turn red. 

"Nice to meet you, Mark. Hopefully, I'll be seeing you around then...just not when we're running into each other," he said as he broke the hand shake and began to walk the other direction. I chuckled and then walked to first period, still thinking about him.

Jackson

I woke up and did my usual lazy morning routine. Except, I felt extra happy today for some reason, like I was filled with an extra burst of energy. Maybe it was because I actually went to bed at a reasonable time the night before, but something told me that it was because  of Mark. I told him I would avoid him, but I didn't want to. I wanted to keep teasing him and testing his patience because it was fun and it made him pay attention to me.

My energized mood continued until I walked into school and saw Mark in the hallway talking and laughing with another guy who I had never seen before. The overbearing urge to go over there creeped up on me, but I managed to tame it. When I saw that he was starting to look my direction, I quickly backed into a corner and peeked out behind it. The guy was still talking when he began to walk away.

I looked at Mark and he was actually smiling a little. Because I had never seen it before, it seemed weird at first, but I thought it was nice after a moment. It would have been nicer if it was directed at me, but I figured with work and a little patience, we'd get there.

"Hey buddy!" Bam Bam suddenly said as he appeared behind me, almost making me jump out of my skin. Following after him were Yugyeom who was wearing his smile as he usually did and Youngjae who was staring at his phone like he usually did.

"Hi Jackson," Yugyeom said after Bam Bam finally got off of me. He nudged Youngjae to say hi. He didn't, of course, instead he just waved and smiled briefly.

"Hey," I said, looking to see where Mark went. But he was already gone.

"Who are you looking for?" Bam Bam asked, trying to look in the same direction I was. 

"No one...anymore," I answered, mumbling the last part.

########

Lunch time rolled around and I decided I needed to turn up the annoying if I was going to win Mark over. So, instead of going to our usual table, I decided my friends and I would sit with him. They seemed just as confused as Mark was when we sat down. Mark's eyes scanned over Yugyeom, Youngjae, and Bam Bam behind me who were all looking back at him, except Youngjae of course.

"Is there something you want?" he asked, turning to me now.

"Nope. Just saw you were sitting alone so I thought I'd come over and annoy you," I said, placing my hands on the table.

"Well, in that case, you have succeeded," he said after rolling his eyes. "What happened to mutually avoiding each other?"

"I decided I didn't like that." I closed my eyes and shook my head, placing my hand over my heart. "It didn't feel right in here." Mark rolled his eyes again and I just laughed. "These are my friends: Bam Bam, Yugyeom, and Youngjae," I said, changing the subject.

"You actually have friends? How surprising," he replied. 

"We're not really his friends. He just kind of forced himself on us when we met him," Yugyeom said.

"I can see that now," Mark said, nodding his head a little. I turned around and asked him. 

"Becoming my friend is inevitable once I've sunk my claws in you, Mark," I said jokingly, laying an arm around his shoulders. He tensed up and started frowning at me, pulling away. 

"Then I guess I'll just have to cut your claws off," he said. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to finish my lunch without any disturbances." 

"You want me to stop annoying you?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes. Absolutely. Please," he said with a frustrated sigh.

"Okay, then. Come play basketball with us this weekend and we'll leave." 

A suspicious look appeared on his face. "You want me to hang out with you, effective doing the thing I don't want to do, in order for you to do the thing I want you to do, which is leave me alone?"

I smiled and propped my chin up on my hand. "Yes, it makes total sense if you don't think about it too much."

We entered another staring contest and I was still too good to beat. 

"Fine. But just this once. Don't think this means I want to spend any more time with you than necessary," he said.

I smiled victoriously, blocking out everything after the word fine. "Cool. This weekend. It's a date."