Bittersweet Nomin/Jaeno

Chapter 3: New beginning

Jeno leaned his head on the side of the bus window and watched the view of Bitter kingdom begin to fade into the distance. He sighed loudly. There were still several families of the Bitter transfers standing there, watching they're kids go to school. Although the bus left at four thirty in the morning, almost half the families had still shown up to say goodbye to their kid before they went to their first day in Giant Gummy Lizard high. Jeno knew that although many of the kids acted annoyed by their parents affectionate kisses and hugs, they were all secretly relieved that their parents were there. Jeno knew that most of these kids had never left the Bitter kingdom in their lives. And, if they did, then it was a very brief visit to the borders of either the Sour or Fishy kingdom which were neighbors to the Bitter kingdom.

Jeno himself was scared out of his mind, he wished more then anything that someone aside from the parents of his friends had come to see him off. But he and his parents were never that close. It's not that they disliked him, it's just that they both felt a commitment to their jobs and felt little need to spend time with Jeno. He also had very few friends and the only close ones he had were already on the bus with him. But, Jeno was never one to express his emotions so he kept a calm face as he boarded the bus off to what he already knew was hell.

Bitters have a reputation for being...well...bitter. That was true. But in Jenos opinion, once you got to know a Bitter for who they were on the inside, they were most of the time even sweeter than a real Sweet. Not that Jeno had ever actually met a Sweet before but he heard the rumors of their hospitality.

"I heard they stink of lollipops."

Jeno turned his head around to look at Lee Felix, a senior like him who was currently talking to his group of friends, "I hear that when the Sours first walked into Lizard high, some of them fainted because they couldn't stand the stench it was so bad."

"I heard that when they vomit it comes out colorful and glittery."

"I heard that when they drive fast a rainbow starts trailing behind them."

"For the living fuck would all of you shut up?"

The group of boys turned around to get a look at who had spoken up. It was the boy sitting right behind Jeno, also coincidentally his best friend. Jisung Park rubbed his temples in annoyance as he glared at Felix.

"None of that shit is true obviously, wanna know what is? Anti-Bitter graffiti painted on their bathroom walls, students petitioning to shut down the immersion, planning of protests that had to eventually get shut down.

is true. It's not their cars or their body odor that you will need to worry about, it's their prejudice. If you want to make it through this year without getting your head ripped off by a Sweet or maybe even me, then you better act like the sweetest Bitter the worlds ever seen, we all will have to."

There was silence for a few moments after Jisung finished speaking before Felix eventually turned back to his friends and continued whispering, this time obviously about Jisung. But if Jisung cared, he didn't show it as he leaned back in his seat and stared at the bus ceiling.

Jeno had heard the rumors himself, and he never once considered any of them to be true. It didn't surprise him that Felix believed them though since he could sometimes be a bit dramatic.

What really concerned Jeno was what Jisung had just said. It was much more grounded in reality. Jeno didn't know that any of that stuff had happened, and he guessed it was a little too late to turn back now.

"Hey."

Jeno looked to his side to see his other best friend looking at him, Huang Renjun, "You okay Jeno? I mean, you've always been on the quieter side but you're being a little weird today."