My classmate || Lucas

CHAPTER 13

It's Monday once again and it's time to go to school too. Usually, I take the bus with Mark, but today, since I got up early, I decided to go alone. I actually don't want to see him. I don't know what to tell him, everything is so awkward.

It's still a lit bit dark outside. It's 6:40 AM and I'm already in front of my school gate. I'm like an hour and 20 minutes early.

Great now what am I suppose to do during this one hour? I ask myself, annoyed.

Well... It's actually my fault. I'm the one who decided to come early so that I won't see Mark.

I curse at myself as I enter the school. The building is filled with silence and cold air. I never liked being around lots of people, but today that I'm here alone, I'm scared. I never realized, but our school looks like a haunted school from the movies. So, without wasting any more time in the corridors, I rush towards my classroom.

As I arrive at the entrance of the classroom, I notice a beautiful boy sitting at the back, beside the window. He has his earphones on, he's probably listening to music. His eyes are shut, so he doesn't notice me entering. The young boy has an angelic face, his beauty is unreal. His red velvet hair shine as the rising sun kisses him. He slowly opens his eyes. Our gaze meets and for a moment, we both stay still and observe each other. Then, suddenly, the handsome boy gets up and walks towards me. I start to feel very nervous and with each step of his, my heart pounds faster than before. This feeling that I have right now is so strange. I have only felt like this once and that's when I'm with Lucas. This is the first time that my heart is beating for someone else, for a stranger. The boy looks straight into my eyes. I feel as if he is talking to my soul with his dark brown orbs. I have so many questions for him, I want to know his identity, but I'm all frozen in front of him. I can't even breath properly. His presence is so intimidating.

"Taeyong!", someone shouts.

The boy shifts his gaze from me to my side to see the person who called him. I also turn around and notice Doyoung.

"What are you doing here, bro?", Doyoung queries.

I turned back toward the boy, who Doyoung called Taeyong, to hear what his voice sounds like, but without saying anything, he walks past me without.

"Nothing, let's go to the cafeteria before class starts", Taeyong replies Doyoung as he continues to walk away.

I start to breathe properly once again and go to my seat.

I wonder who the boy is and what was he doing in here?

I had seen him before a few times with Mark, Doyoung, Ten and Taeil, but I never had a class with him. So, I don't understand what was he doing in this classroom.

I get up from my seat and walk towards the seat where the angelic boy was sitting. I look out of the window to see if there is especially something that he was watching, but everything is like usual. I wonder what was he doing here. Maybe I'm just overreacting, but I don't know why his face is stuck in my mind. I can't take those intimidating orbs that were staring right through my soul out of my brain. Just thinking of his gaze, I get goosebumps.

•••

The class starts and everyone takes their place, but Lucas isn't here. I guess he is going to be late, as usual. He isn't a morning person, so I'm not surprised that he isn't here.

The teacher, Mr. Kim, starts by correcting the math equation that we had to do in homework when the door suddenly opens. As expected, it's Lucas, but this time, he isn't here alone. There's another unfamiliar face and the principal, Ms. Lee Chae-rin, is also here. The three of them enter the classroom altogether.

What happened? Did he cause trouble again? I try to guess what Lucas did this time.

Mr. Kim stops everything and gives an annoyed look to Lucas before greeting the principal.

Lucas goes directly to sit in his seat, which was beside Jungwoo at the back. I didn't realize at first, but that's the seat where Taeyong was sitting a few minutes ago. Once again, I get lost in my thoughts.

"Good morning students", the principal greets all the students and I snap back to reality. "I can see that some of you are taking our patience for granted... So, from now on if there are frequent absences and delays at school, we will take strict action and you might get expelled.", the woman warns before while staring at Lucas. "And, now, I will present to you guys your new friend, Jung Jaehyun", she makes a hand gesture to let the boy know to come forward and present himself to the class.

"Hey guys, my name is Jaehyun and I lived in America for four years and now I'm here ", the handsome boy smiles.

He is actually kind of cute, I think to myself as I smile.

I snap out of my imagination by a sudden coughing sound. Everyone turns toward the sound and I do the same. It's Lucas. He stops when I look at him. He gives me a jealous look. He's cute. This is the first time I'm seeing this side of his. I want to tease him, but I don't want to make him angry so I concentrate on my math book.

The teacher tells Jaehyun to take the empty seat beside Doyoung.

Afterward, the principal leaves and Mr. Kim continues to teach.

•••

The class finishes and like always, everyone hurry to leave, but I stay in the classroom. I don't want to go out and bump into Mark, Haechan or Minah. I don't know what to tell them. I can't see Mark and Haechan because everything is so awkward between the three of us. I can't face Minah because I can't go and laugh with here while knowing that her boyfriend is cheating on her. I'm not even sure if she's gonna be madder if she learns about him cheating on her or him cheating on her with a boy.

"You're not leaving?", Kun asks as he packs his stuff.

"No, I don't feel well", I reply.

"Why, what happened?", before the Chinese boy could ask any more questions, Lucas comes toward us and queries.

"I don't know, I think I just didn't sleep well last night", I lie.

"We have a 10 minutes break, you can rest well during this time, but be careful to not be late for our next class", Kun says and leaves me and Lucas alone.

" Lucas, you're not coming?", Jungwoo asks before leaving the classroom.

"No, you go, I will stay", the boy replies and sits beside me.

I bow my head on the desk and turn to face Lucas. He does the same and we stare at each other without saying anything. He gently brushes a strand of hair away from my face and tucks it behind my ear. We stay like that in the silence, his thumb caressing my cheek. His touch is warm and relaxing. He makes me forget all my problems.