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

1.7 sheer, dumb luck

"Wait a second, how do they even allocate the classes?" Wooyoung had to try desperately to mask his shock with Hongjoong's final words. How in the world was he so unlucky? He wanted to scream at the whole entire world for putting him in this predicament but it wouldn't do any good. He was stuck. Stuck once again with someone he despised, someone he hated, someone he wished he would never see again. How many times has he even thought that anyway?

"The school does those arrangements, not me. But damn, if I ended up in a class with somebody I already got to know, life would be so much easier." Hongjoong seemed to be relating a personal occurance.

Wooyoung couldn't have disagreed more. If it was any other person, everything's fine. Why did that familiar face have to be San of all people?

Hongjoong cut in like a knife through Wooyoung's thoughts. "Well, now that I've handed you your timetable, you're free to go. For you, an exception since you're a new student, they won't mark you as absent today. You'll officially start classes here tomorrow."

"Yeah, and not marking me absent makes me soooo happy." Wooyoung thought sarcastically. However, he held his tongue and responded with a "Okay, thank you for the tour. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yep! See you!" Hongjoong went right back to sorting his papers and recreating his organised mess, so Wooyoung took that opportunity to leave and close the door quietly as he slipped out the tiny gap.

The instant the door shut once again, he heaved out the biggest sigh that he had been holding in all day. Partially because of everything that had occurred within that few hours, but also partially because somehow, the mood in the room had been so tense and unnatural. And he had no idea why. The pressure on him when he was sitting there was so suffocating it almost felt like air weighed more than it naturally does.

He started back down the stairs, not bothering to look back. That decision was one of the few lucky things that happened to him today. Because if he had, he would have seen Hongjoong peeking out through the reopened gap in the doorway, with a weird look in his eyes, a combination of anger, envy, and strangely enough, hope.

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

The school was a half an hour's bus ride away from Wooyoung's new home. To be honest, it wasn't the best travelling time, but it could also have been much worse. So he was grateful.

He got off the bus and walked the couple hundred metres back to the apartment. The doorway to their living quarters was left slightly ajar, but Wooyoung still knocked before pushing the door open. His mother, hearing the knock, immediately called out "Young-ah! You're home! How was the school? Did you like it? How about the orientation? Do you know the school like the back of your hand now?"

"Eomma! It was only half a day! How do you think I would already remember the place that well?" Wooyoung paused for a second before deciding to spare his mom the details. "The school is rather decent, overall. I think I'll enjoy it there" *in his mind* "Not at all"

"That's good. Maybe you should take a shower. You look tired. Then, maybe after dinner you should have an early rest too. Don't stay up so late talking to Changbin and Yeonjun!"

"Okay, that's fine. Then I'll talk to-"

"You will not talk to Seungkwan either! Rest early, you hear me? You need to get an early start tomorrow!"

"Ugh, fine."

Despite Wooyoung's rebellious instinct telling him to defy his mother anyway, he found himself growing even more tired after dinner, and within minutes after lying down on the cozy bed after a rather harsh and disappointing day, he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about never waking up to face reality ever again.

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

The next morning, he was up before the sun even rose. His mother had already left for work, as she still needed to drive an hour to get to the workplace despite already shifting nearer. Wooyoung grabbed himself a banana and made a peanut butter-banana sandwich which he scarfed down within seconds.

Somehow, the bus happened to be at the bus stop when he reached, so he ended up being extremely early. Wooyoung took the slowest walk he had ever taken to get to the homeroom, hoping that he was the earliest so he wouldn't need to acknowledge anyone else.

To his surprise, there was already another of his classmates in the room. In a negative way, it was another human being, so he had to interact with that person otherwise it would just look awkward of him. On a positive note, that one person who was earlier than him happened to be the Mingi guy that he met on the lunch hall roof.

"Hey Mingi! I didn't know we were in the same class. Good morning!" Wooyoung seemed way too hyper for a dreary morning. Mingi sat up from where he had been laying on the table top and sent him a nod, which somehow managed to tell Wooyoung both "hey" and "leave me alone so I can rest".

Wooyoung got the message and kept quiet. It was at that moment that he realised he didn't know where his seat was and which was his desk. Well, he would have to wait until the teacher arrived and he could get the answer to his question. For the time being, he pulled out the chair of the desk one seat to the left away from Mingi, which also happened to be the desk in the back corner of the room, nearest to the door.

He took out his phone and started playing a sudoku. He hated them, but he knew they would definitely help him pass the time. Unfortunately, that time was cut short when the owner of that desk arrived.

"Hey, what are you doing at my des- Wooyoung?!"

Holy mother of god, let my soul rest in pieces.