Dear Sputnik

X

- TAEHYUN -

After a month of waiting, the school had finally started the mentoring program. Today would be the first official day that it would be in session. They had received an announcement early this morning over the intercom explaining how everything was going to work. Along with this, when Taehyun had walked into his first period, he had a note on his desk explaining how each session was counted and who his partner was. Like he expected, he was paired up with Beomgyu. He wasn't mad about having Beomgyu as a partner. In all honesty, Taehyun wanted to get closer to Beomgyu. Taehyun had found Beomgyu attractive and he enjoyed listening to him. They just weren't close yet, but with this program, that was likely to change.

Taehyun wasn't the best at first impressions, so he hoped that he wouldn't give Beomgyu a bad representation of what he would be like. Taehyun had seen the disappointment and annoyed tone in his voice whenever Yeonjun had chosen to be with Huening Kai and Soobin instead. From what little Huening Kai had told him, Beomgyu and Yeonjun were apparently very close with each other. They had been close for a long time now, since they were little kids. Taehyun understood why Beomgyu was upset. He probably would've felt the same way if he was paired up with someone he barely knew instead of his best friend. Still, it hurt Taehyun inside. He was excited to be Beomgyu's partner, but obviously, he didn't share the same excitement that Taehyun did about their situation.

It was decided that the mentoring program would be held during their last hour of the day. Everyone in each grade had a study hall for the last hour to accommodate for those who played a sport or other extracurricular activities and had to leave early, so that they wouldn't miss an actual class. At lunchtime, the guys decided to go to the library. At least one teacher had to sign off on their papers that they had completed their hours. Luckily, the librarian was very friendly, so that seemed like the best option. Taehyun had gotten along with his teachers so far, he just kept to himself and did his work the majority of the time. They didn't try to bother them, and he didn't try talking during class, despite how much Huening Kai wanted to. It would be pretty easy for Taehyun to get his time he spent engaging in the mentoring program signed off by a teacher.

During the last hour of the day, Huening Kai and his homeroom teacher dismissed the corresponding students to go to their mentoring session. They walked to the library, discussing various topics like the subjects that they were learning and how excited they were to receive extra credit. Kai was a good student, but he just lacked motivation with a lot of things. Taehyun could understand that. He lacked motivation all summer.

"I think they beat us," Huening Kai said, opening the door to the library.

Some groups had already formed in the library for the mentoring program. There were still a lot of seats left and overall, it was quiet. Once Huening Kai entered the library, though, Taehyun knew that it was about to get rowdy. He had a loud laugh that made anyone turn their head and wonder what the hell that noise was. Taehyun was used to it by now, and he also found it funny.

They spotted their group after looking around for a moment. Yeonjun and Soobin looked like they were engaged in a deep conversation while Beomgyu was at the table next to them, drawing in a notebook.

"Good luck," Taehyun told Huening Kai with a smile before walking over to the table that Beomgyu was sitting at.

"Hey," Beomgyu said, closing his notebook.

"Hey," he said, setting his bag next to the table and sitting down, "How's it going?"

"Good, nothing really has changed since lunch," Beomgyu shrugged, "Still the same annoying teachers."