Chanyeol thinks school is mostly fun.

          Oh, a lot of fun it is to not listen to the teacher and bother other children instead; to pull pranks in the middle of class just to not-so subtly delay the progress of lectures when he knows there’ll be a quiz right after; to not study and take exams with a working knowledge of whatever he retains from the things he hears during his REM state of sleep, and then feel like curing freaking cancer whenever he gets B pluses.

          But that day, Chanyeol was on auto-pilot, trying to reflect on his (usually) happy little life and on why he was feeling like he’s in a serious rut that he simply could not get out of. Well, truthfully, it was pretty easy to trace what was wrong. The rut began during homeroom attendance, when Jinri answered for her best friend when Mr. Kim called the surname Jung. Apparently, Krystal was at Incheon with her family to pick her sister up from the airport.

          Krystal was absent and Chanyeol simmered quietly in his seat, absorbing that fact.

          When classes began and the teacher started talking, there was no person to bug within convenient proximity because the chair in front of him was deemed empty today (his only seatmate at his right was the class vice president whom everyone feared and Chanyeol most certainly did not bother testing the waters). Then and there, Chanyeol knew that the day was bound to be dull and long.

          There was no one to be completely pissed off with him; no one to make him feel rewarded for his pestering efforts, no one he could give a shoulder rub as an apology with the intention of reducing the anger of the person (only to set her up for another prank), no one fairly interesting to exchange little notes with, no floral-scented locks of hair to twirl with his fingers , no one cute enough to watch while she’s sleeping when Chanyeol himself is not asleep, no stolen pictures to be taken and no one to chase him along the corridors for it.

          During breaks, there was no one he could ask for that citrus hand lotion he really liked, no one he could ask to share music with when his iPod’s battery is dead.

          During lunch, there was no one he could annoy with cucumbers, no one he could make jealous with his apple snack, no one he could pretend to hate mangoes for and give them to because the one who loves mangoes simply wasn’t there.

          And even in English class (the last class for the day), there was no one to help him with the worksheets so he could go the home already and eat and sleep and pretend like the worst day never happened.

          And so, the next day, when he caught sight of that familiar figure walking through the halls and into their classroom, he sprinted towards the door for the life of him, almost knocking some of his classmates down and almost stumbling forward onto the girl whom he fully intended to run into.

          “What the-” Krystal glared as she looked up at Chanyeol who had just raised his arms sideways, blocking her way as he stared at her with a determined expression. When she went for the blind spot on the left, he mirrored her step. When he opted for the same response when she went the opposite direction, she got sufficiently irritated because she still lacked sleep and she wanted to get to her seat and rest her head on her desk for a few minutes before classes started. With the books in her hands, she shooed him. “Ugh! Get out of the way, Park!”

          “Aw! Okay, okay!” Chanyeol frowned, incredulous of her actions and distanced himself a little bit as he soothed parts of his arms on which her books have landed harshly. “Just promise me one thing.”

          “What?” Krystal sighed in defeat and hugged her books to her chest as she waited. Chanyeol avoided her gaze and pocketed his hands, as he fought the urge to hug the girl in front of him.

          “Never ever be absent again.”