Falling | JAEMIN

Chapter 2

"This is Chenle." Jisung said, motioning to the boy with dark hair, sitting at a table in the cafeteria all alone with his headphones on. His laptop was open in front of him along with a notepad and mini keyboard, nodding his head and tapping his pencil to the beat of whatever he was listening to.

"Hey." Yerin said but the boy was clearly concentrated on his work. Jisung rolled his eyes, sliding Chenle's headphones off.

"Yah, what was that for?!" Chenle exclaimed, immediately standing up. Jisung pointed at Yerin, who gave the boy a small wave, unimpressed.

"This is Yerin-noona, the girl I was telling you about." Jisung said as Chenle paused his music.

"She looks kind of scary." Yerin heard Chenle whisper to his friend.

"She's just like that." Jisung whispered back. Yerin shook her head.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Yerin said, surprising the two boys.

"She looks kind of angry now." Chenle mumbled.

Jisung smacked his friend on the arm. "Yah, it's all your fault.

"No, its yours!" Chenle argued.

Yerin sighed as the two boys went back and fourth and decided to sit down, scrolling through her phone. Eventually, she got bored, putting her phone down.

Yerin stole a glance at the clock on the wall, and was glad that she did.

"Hey, Jisung. Don't we have class soon?" Yerin said, pointing to the clock. Jisung's eyes widened.

"Yeah, we need to run!" Jisung said, pulling Yerin away towards the dance studio.

"It was nice meeting you!" Chenle yelled as they ran out of the cafeteria.

...

"Late. Again." Taeyong said, throwing the paper containing the note that Jaemin's film teacher, Johnny, had given him onto his desk.

Jaemin bowed his head down, staring into his lap. "I'm sorry. I won't be late again."

Taeyong sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That's what you said the last time."

Jaemin gulped knowing that what Taeyong said was true.

"I... um.."

Taeyong leaned back in his chair, and Jaemin decided to look up again as he heard shuffling and saw that Taeyong had taken out a folder with his name on it.

"You're good Jaemin. You're really good and everyone knows it, that's why you have so many gigs outside of this school." Taeyong said, showing him the pictures he took, some of the papers containing covers of magazines featuring his shots, and a usb that he knew contained all the music videos he filmed for people in the industry.

"Now, what I don't understand, is why you're still here." Taeyong said, motioning to everything splayed out on this desk. "You clearly have what it takes to be out there, why haven't you dropped out yet?"

"But I don't." Jaemin said, pulling out the crumpled paper from his pocket and showing it to Taeyong. The male's eyebrows furrowed as he read it.

It was another rejection letter for a film company, one that was full of words Jaemin had seen many times. It said that Jaemin was clearly full of talent but too young to work professionally for them. They were calling him an amateur.

"I need this." Jaemin told Taeyong. "I need this school to truly recognize my work in order for the industry to take me seriously."

Taeyong exhaled deeply, crumpling up the letter and tossing it into the trash bin beside his desk. "You know I would love to give you just that but it's hard when none of your teachers believe me."