𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐄, markson ✓

chapter ten

"What am I supposed to do?!!!"

"Mark, I have no idea. I'm just as confused as you are."

I was currently sitting next to Jinyoung, on the floor, by our first class. There was still almost twenty minutes until school actually started, but I needed somewhere to talk to him, alone, and here seemed like the easiest option.

"How is it even possible?"

"I have no idea."

"Has it happened to other people?"

"I really have no idea," he said. "There's no use asking me."

I sighed in defeat, allowing my thoughts to occupy the silence we'd fallen into.

"Do you think he knows?" Jinyoung asked after a moment.

"Knows that... oh. I don't know."

"Yeah."

I bit my lip, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging them. "I hope so."

"Huh?"

I glanced at him in surprise. "Why, 'huh'?"

"Why do you want him to know? I hate it when people hide things from me, and wouldn't it seem like he was tricking you the whole time or something? Your whole relationship would basically be fake, wouldn't it?"

I shrugged, butterflies swarming my stomach at the thought of Jackson faking our friendship. "I don't know. Wouldn't it be a little unfair if he didn't?" I paused, my eyes widening as a sudden thought occurred to me. "Is he even real? Like, did he actually exist before he came to this school?"

Jinyoung frowned, tapping his chin with the tip of his finger thoughtfully. "You think he, what, got sent here with memories or something he'd never had, assuming he doesn't know?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," I admitted. "But do you think we're overthinking things? What if the whole thing is just a horrible coincidence?"

"I honestly have no idea at this point," he said with a deep sigh. "The whole thing is messing with my head. And what, are you stuck in this 'fanfiction' for the rest of your life or something?"

A small whine escaped from my lips. "I hope not! This whole thing is so stupid! I was kidding when I said I wanted a cliché fanfiction and a cute boy. I wasn't actually serious!"

We both sighed once again, and when I heard laughter and talking and checked my phone for the time, I saw that class starts in only a few minutes.

"Jackson and Jaebeom will be here soon," Jinyoung noted, and just as he said so the two appeared around the corner.

"Hey, Jinyoung!" Jackson yelled, running up to us with Jaebeom right behind him. "Jaebeom told me you have the same name as Mr Park."

Jinyoung sighed, shaking his head disapprovingly in the direction of Jaebeom who laughed.

"Someone's sleeping on the couch tonight," I said. Jackson laughed. The other two glared at me, but they were both smiling.

My smile dropped instantly after I looked at Jackson again, and Jinyoung's did the same. The two frowned at us.

"Are you both okay?" Jaebeom asked. "You look sad."

"We're just tired," I said, eyeing Jinyoung sideways. "I stayed up late last night chatting to him."

"Oh, oh yeah," Jinyoung said, nodding quickly. "We did. I mean, I did."

I glared at him while the others weren't looking. I thought he was supposed to be the one who's good at acting.