DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.05

lunch with chan was no less than an out of body experience. jeongin couldn't focus on the conversation going around the table, barely registering if he himself was breathing, because chan's effing hand kept creeping under the table, resting on his thigh and short-circuiting his brain until jeongin had his vision fixated on the wall, just existing.

"...after school, jeongin?" someone abruptly pulled him out of his trance.

he shook as if woken up from a dream, realizing he'd been staring right at one of chan's friends, who had apparently been trying to ask him a question for the last few seconds.

his name was jaehyun, another senior who also had a special place on his crush list, and would have been the first name if not for chan. nobody could top chan.

to think that he'd been spacing out when asked a question made jeongin blush in embarrassment.

"w-what did you say?" jeongin stuttered, trying to come out with the words that were stuck in his throat.

chan answered it for him. "the campfire party this friday. you'll be there, won't you?" he asked looking right into his eyes, and maybe even squeezed his thigh a bit. or maybe jeongin had just imagined the whole thing.

like, what? the campfire party? the popular back to school senior party? was it a regular thing to invite a freshman, like, unironically?

of course. now jeongin knew why he was there. chan wanted to pull a prank on him, as it seemed.

visibly drooping, jeongin said, "uh, no. i won't go." he cleared his throat, trying to sound as if he wasn't about to cry. "my... mom wants me home that day. for uh... family stuff."

"hm, that's a pity." chan stated, hand still on jeongin's thigh. "than i'm not going, either."

bambam, at the other side of the table, choked on his carton of milk.

"what? dude! forgot you're the one lighting it up this year? that chance's once in a lifetime! i mean, you can be a senior only one time, right? well, you can, but i don't think you want to?"

jungkook and seokmin, beside bambam, were nodding in agreement.

"if innie isn't going, i don't have a reason to go." chan said, as if it was a totally reasonable motive.

jeongin was beet red. chan wouldn't go this further just to make a fool out of him, would he? of course not! why would he even think that? chan was the school's golden boy! high grades, perfect reputation (so it was a big mystery why he was in detention the other time) and to top it off he was the impersonation of prince charming.

so he decided to say, "then... i'll go. but just so chan can light up the fire."

ugh. what should he do in a situation like this? was chan implying he liked him, too? or was jeongin getting mixed signals there? or was chan just friendly like this with everyone and he wasn't special at all? or was -

"innie, we need to talk." a voice came from up behind him, startling him and chan, who's hand gripped his thigh a bit too tight from the surprise with the unexpected voice.

jeongin didn't need to turn around to recognize the owner of the voice, but he did anyways, finding hyunjin scowling down at him. at his lap specifically, that was still trapped between chan's strong grip.

"talk about what?" jeongin managed to say, voice just slightly trembling.

"about our... chemistry project."

jeongin frowned. couldn't they deal with it another time? geez, couldn't hyunjin see he was busy?

"can't we discuss it later? there's only like, 5 minutes left of lunch."

"it's enough. let's go." hyunjin said, rushing jeongin out of his seat and on his feet, not giving him a chance to say goodbye.

he still managed to wave at chan while the older mouthed, "see you friday."

once hyunjin dragged him behind a wall in an empty hall, jeongin harshly pulled his arm off hyunjin's grip.

"what the hell is wrong with you? why do you only want to talk about freaking schoolwork now?"

hyunjin ignored his questions.

"why were you with those guys?"

jeongin scoffed. did he think he wasn't good enough to be hanging out with the cool kids?

"why wouldn't i be?"

hyunjin stayed silent for a moment, but when he was about to open his mouth and say whatever he was supposed to say, the bell rang, jeongin's cue to leave.

and he did, not caring about hyunjin calling his name in the sea of students that suddenly overflowed through the hall, each of them going somewhere.

how dare he think jeongin wasn't good enough to hang out with chan?

he'd prove it.