Dear Sputnik

VI

- TAEHYUN -

A week of school had finally passed and it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. Back in eighth grade, Taehyun wanted nothing more to get out of the public school and go back to his private school. He didn't particularly enjoy anything back then. Now, he realized that he needed to start trying to enjoy public school, since he didn't know how long it would be until he went back to his private school. The thought of not transferring back to the private school had crossed his mind, but he hoped that would not come true. He just needed to be patient for a little bit longer. His mother knew how bad he wanted to go back. His father had previously stated that public schools were filled with nothing but lazy students. If his father knew back then that his son would've had to gone to a public school, he would've been kicking himself. Everything ended up backfiring on him and here they were, broke and living in a crappy apartment. Taehyun couldn't believe how far they had fell in just six months.

One good thing about the public school was that the schoolwork wasn't as rigorous. Taehyun had learned the majority of the concepts that they briefly went over in a few of his subjects. He always enjoyed school, so learning came easy to him. He was at the top of his class back in his private school filled with intelligent students. Taehyun was sure that he would be at the top of his class here too, as long as he kept his focus. There were a lot more students who went here, but that didn't mean that they were as smart as the students at the private school. All he knew that he was going to try his hardest to enjoy the school, for whatever time period that he was here.

Now that he was back into the groove of going to school again, Taehyun found it easier to deal with the schedule. His sleep cycle was still messed up, and he still had a hard time falling asleep, but he did notice a little bit of improvement. School helped him focus on more important aspects of his life, instead of thinking back to his detrimental summer. That was one good thing going for him, at least.

He had become good friends with Soobin and Huening Kai, but he still seemed distant with the one he was the most curious about. Beomgyu hadn't made much of attempt to talk to him like Soobin and Kai did. On the other hand, Yeonjun and Taehyun ignored each other completely without having it come off too obvious to the other guys. At lunch, they only exchanged a few words. It was a struggle of having Yeonjun as an acquaintance. He wanted nothing more than to forget about the summer, but seeing Yeonjun was a constant reminder.

Taehyun shut his locker after finishing up his third period and he started to walk off to his next class. He had told Huening Kai that he needed to run back to his locker, because he forgot his math textbook. He was in a hurry to get back, as he only had a few minutes in between class. Along with that, his locker never got switched and he was still over in the upperclassmen block. He had to walk three hallways over just to get to his math class. As he walked quickly, he heard someone call from behind him.

"Taehyun, wait up," Taehyun heard from behind him.

Taehyun recognized the voice immediately. He slowly turned to face behind him and seen that it was Yeonjun. He really didn't have time to talk, but he and Yeonjun had avoided talking to each other and they really needed to clear everything up if they were going to be in the same friends group.

Yeonjun took long strides towards him, sweat covering his forehead. He must've just gotten out of gym, Taehyun assumed. Yeonjun came up beside him and ushered them forward.

"Come on, I'll walk you to your next class," Yeonjun told him, sweeping back his hair off of his sweaty forehead.

Taehyun nodded slowly, beginning to walk towards his class. He didn't know why Yeonjun wanted to talk now of all times. They were going to be late for class, Taehyun knew it. He could probably get out of it by explaining to his math teacher that his locker truly was far away from the freshman block of classrooms.