nerves [ wowkwan ]

三

chapter three !
or
'the volunteer'

Byeongkwan walked into first period of school that day feeling like a sack of wet rice.
He had no desire to come to class, especially after the prior day's events. First period, having the one and only Sehyoon in it, was the most dreaded class of them all.

Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, he slipped into class quietly, striding directly over to his seat and sitting down.

"Alright, class, lets get started," the teacher announced at some point, the majority of students shuffling papers and putting their extra supplies away.

"Can I have a volunteer to collect your homework assignments?"

Byeongkwan internally sighed in relief as he heard the teacher's words, thankful he'd done the assignment early. Busy pulling out his homework sheet, he didn't notice which students raised their hands.

"Thank you, Sehyoon! Everyone give your papers to him when he passes by," the teacher chose, before turning to her laptop and typing something.

Byeongkwan immediately looked over in surprise. Sehyoon wasn't the type to put himself in situations of the kind. Evidently he wasn't the only one who noticed this, as hushed whispers could be made out across the classroom.

He tried to reassure himself as the boy made his way closer across the room. He probably doesn't even remember, Byeongkwan thought, I'm just overthinking it.

Sehyoon finally collected the paper of the desk behind Byeongkwan, and stepped forward, stopping next to him.

Byeongkwan carefully held his paper out, in a feeble attempt to be helpful yet non confrontational. Sehyoon grasped the corner of the paper, scanning it for a moment.

"Byeongkwan?" he read quietly from the top of the paper, where the name had been scribbled.

"Y-yes?" Byeongkwan almost squeaked, not sure why he was so startled at the sudden use of his name by the other boy.

Sehyoon hesitated for a moment, reading over the contents of the page. He looked towards the teacher, and upon seeing her distracted, pushed the paper towards Byeongkwan.

"You got question two wrong. The answer is C," he said in a hushed tone, laying the paper flat on Byeongkwan's desk.

"Oh? Okay...?" Byeongkwan trailed off, not sure whether to be confused or worried.

"Erase it, dumbass, before she sees," Sehyoon said through his teeth, Byeongkwan immediately compelled to follow his orders as he took a pencil and quickly changed the answer to the question.

Sehyoon grabbed the paper back, not wanting to seem like he had dwelled in one spot for a long time. With no further words he continued on walking, collecting the other students' papers and handing them to the teacher.

Byeongkwan stared at the boy as he strolled back to his seat, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Meanwhile, he himself sat there mentally screaming, wondering what exactly was going on.

Unfortunately for him, his questions remained unanswered as the teacher stood up and began lecturing, cutting off any potential chatter among the class.

Byeongkwan didn't hear any of the lesson, too busy drowning in his own thoughts and worries. He contemplated asking someone for advice on the situation, before remembering none of his friends were aware of his recent obsession.

Just like that, the bell rung marking the end of class. Byeongkwan was jolted out of his daydream state, wondering immediately how class had sped by without him realizing. Not wanting to seem out of place, he began hurriedly packing up his books and shoving them into his backpack.

Students began to drift out of the classroom as the hallways became louder, and Byeongkwan took this as his cue to leave.

As he strode towards the classroom door, he stopped as he felt someone appear next to him.
That person, much to his dismay, was Sehyoon, choosing to exit from the same door.

Byeongkwan swore he could feel his heartrate increase, somehow both out of fear and Sehyoon's evident allure.

"You know..." Sehyoon said, a vague, somewhat smug smile lightly gracing his face, "I may have lied a little bit." he said, turning and making direct eye contact with the younger boy.

"Uhm- what?" Byeongkwan stammered, becoming visibly tense at the interaction.

"You actually got number two right. Sorry, Byeongkwan!" Sehyoon said in a completely unapologetic tone. He gave Kwan a quick pat on the shoulder, nearly sending the younger into shock, before walking nonchalantly out of the classroom.

Byeongkwan found himself incapable of walking, instead wondering just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

It was then that he processed exactly what the other boy had said.
"Hey...!" he muttered, mostly to himself as he realized he'd changed his answer to be wrong. He quietly groaned, anticipating the drop in his assignment grade.

"Hey, Kwan, you gonna stand there forever?" a voice said, grabbing the boy's attention immediately.

"Oh, Chan..." Byeongkwan said with an almost relieved tone.

"Yep, that's me! We have math next, you coming or not?" Chan joked as he stepped into the doorway, beckoning for his friend to come.

"Obviously," Byeongkwan replied, dashing out the door alongside Chan as to not be late for their next class.

Thanks to Chan's joking, poor Byeongkwan was finally able to have a distraction from all of his trainwrecked thoughts.

But for how long?