CLASSMATES- MARKJINSON

Chapter 35

Jinyoung and Jackson sat in the crowd with their arms crossed, looking pissed. They were at Mark's graduation. They were happy for him, but their boyfriend had made the choice to not tell them where he was going to go for college, and they were going to have to find out when it was announced. 

That was the literal worst way possible to do it. But, Mark was too scared so he thought it would be best.

The ceremony finally started, and since Mark's last name was Tuan, he was towards the end in the lineup. Jinyoung and Jackson sat nervously through everyone else, cheering halfheartedly when they announced one of their friends or someone they knew. 

Finally, it got to the T's. Jinyoung took a deep breath. After a few names, it was Mark's turn. 

The announcer called his name and he went up to the stage to get his diploma. Then, he went on the whole spiel about Mark's accomplishments and how the school was going to miss him. "Mark also will be going to an extremely good college!" he continued. "He has chosen to go to... UCLA!" 

Jinyoung and Jackson just stared at each other as the announcer continued about how he was going out of the country and how it was such a great opportunity. Meanwhile, Mark was standing there looking slightly uncomfortable. He tried to catch the eyes of his boyfriends, but they were looking at each other with blank expressions. 

The rest of the ceremony kind of went by in a blur, until it was finally the after party. Jinyoung and Jackson were trying to avoid Mark, as they thought he was going to try and find them. But Mark was doing the same things, avoiding his boyfriends thinking they were going to look for him.

Mark went to the bathrooms to hide out, only to find the other two there. He looked at them with a shocked expression and then slowly walked toward them and waved. They awkwardly waved back. 

"So... UCLA huh?" Jinyoung started. He tried his best to look happy. 

"Yeahhh," Mark rubbed the back of his head. "I just kind of went with my heart? I don't know."

"No, it's fine, you don't have to try to explain," Jackson said. He rubbed his shoulder. "We understand."

Mark forced a smile. "We'll make it work, okay?" He pulled them in for a tight hug. "We will," he whispered. 

Jinyoung's eyes started to water so he bit his lip to keep them in. When they pulled away, they all just stared and nodded at each other. 

"Let's go back out?" Mark suggested. 

They nodded. Might as well try to have fun. 

Once they got back, they were swarmed with classmates and friends of Mark who were wishing him well since this was likely the last time they would see him for a while. He was one of the only seniors going overseas for college. After they got through the swarm, BamBam, Yugyeom, Youngjae, and JB were there waiting for them. 

The four of them just smiled sadly at them. They then went to Mark to clap him on the back and hug him. BamBam held him at arms length and said, "We're gonna miss you bud."

JB nodded. "You literally just go here too!"

He's right, Jinyoung thought. Mark had just joined them at the beginning of that school year. He guessed it wasn't that much time, but it had felt a lot longer. Mark hadn't even been in his life for a whole year.

And he was already going to leave. Jinyoung shook his head to try to get rid of the thought. He should be trying to lighten up. It wasn't working to well so far. 

The rest of the night went relatively smoothly, they had as much fun as they could. Which was a fairly decent amount. They tried to forget about the bad stuff for a couple hours.