path to dazzling lights // ateez high school au {on hold}

1.2 late again

(??? POV)

It's slowly nearing 7:30am, and I've only just reached the school gates. Despite the fact that I'm already going to be late, I decide I don't want to rush. Conserve my energy for the later part of the day, or as I like to call it, the highlight. That's the only portion that I appreciate about school, the other parts, not so much.

Even recess has lost its charm over the course of one year. Everyone has their reasons for not liking something, but mine, is a little bit more complicated to explain. If you expected an explanation you're not gonna get one.

7:32. I reach Block 1B. As I recall quite vividly, my homeroom class is 3-2-2. That also means stairs to climb. I stand at the base of the stairs of a brief moment, before sighing and start up to the class. The corridors and stairwells tend to be very quiet if you're late, which usually ends up only being me.

When I reach the floor landing between the 2nd and 3rd, there's a loud thundering sound of footsteps coming from beneath me. Within seconds, another person rushes up the stairs past me and disappears down the corridor my homeroom is on. Looks like I'm not the only latecomer today.

7:35. I make my way down the corridor that the other boy disappeared into. The quiet footsteps echoing down the empty corridor, making them seem louder than they were. I reach the classroom and knock delicately on the door before pushing it open.

The teacher is just marking the attendance when I enter the room. Clearly somebody else was slightly late too. He looks up from where he had just marked someone present and makes eye contact with me.

"Of course it has to be you. You're still late, but welcome back to school, Mr Choi."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Jongho slowly trudges to his seat at the back of his class, the monitor murmuring a soft "good morning" to him as he passes. He didn't even have the energy or decency to say it back. Since their homerooms never change, that monitor has been saying good morning to him ever since the first day of year 1. And if correctly predicted, he'd hear the same phrase every morning for this year as well.

His desk, though inconvenient to walk to every morning, was what he considered to be the perfect place. Located at the back corner of the class, it was the best spot to take a nap because the sun didn't shine that far in, and also because he could quickly leave the classroom after the lesson was over. Sadly, the back door could only be opened from the inside, otherwise he would much rather sneak in via there instead of coming in the front.

Jongho dropped his backpack onto the floor next to his desk before flopping onto the table in front of him. He didn't even bother to take out any of his books or stationary to store. He laid there, quietly waiting for the teacher to begin the first homeroom class lesson. It would be the same as the last semester and the previous one and the one before that. Just the welcome back to school messages and safety briefings and whatever else they decided during the break. It got boring over time.

So, he listened to the teacher drone through the safety briefing he's heard for the millionth time while pressing the side of his face into the desk. If he's learned anything about himself so far, the first would definitely be that he was not a morning person. Since the hour that this lesson takes is not a very fulfilling one, maybe he could take a nap.

Before the thought even crossed his mind, his eyelids had already started closing, and he soon fell into a sleep that he wished he needn't wake up from.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It felt like only a few seconds, but an hour soon passed and Jongho felt someone tap him on the arm. He ignored it and continued to drift around in his mind. The tapping turned frantic and he couldn't ignore it any longer. He opened his eyes and realised the person tapping him was the person who sat beside him.

Yeosang. He hadn't really paid much attention in class, let alone recall the names of his classmates. But Yeosang, let's just say he was a special case. The top student in every one of their classes, except literature. He didn't know him very well, nevertheless, he knew he could rely on him to wake him up for their next class. He'd done that every single day, not counting the days he was absent.

Jongho sat up and rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes, muttering a "thank you" to Yeosang for once again preventing him from being late. "Don't mention it," Yeosang replied in his soft, deep voice. "You should probably get up now. The next class will be starting in about five minutes. Mr Lee ended us early for today, he didn't go too in depth on the briefing cause we're second years now, so I decided to wake you up as late as I can. I'll see you later."

Then, turning towards the door, Yeosang left, leaving Jongho behind to look around the empty classroom. His eyes trailed around the room, before flicking down in a quick glance at his bag, and sparking something in his mind. He knew he'd forgotten to do something.

He sighed for the second time that morning. Maybe he should have thought of doing this earlier, but no, sleep definitely mattered more than anything. Oh well, better late than never.

The books in his bag were heavy, and he knew he would not be lugging them around for the whole day when they weren't needed. He sorted out the things he required for the rest of the day, shoved the rest of the workbooks and such into his desk drawer, before locking it.

Finally, he left the room by the back door, shutting it carefully before making his way down the corridor, onwards to the next room of torture. Hopefully he could have another nap, the first one was definitely not fulfilling.