ROOM OF MIRRORS° h.sj

004

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SAEBOM HIGH
MORNING
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✧──────✦ "don't forget to come to lunch today, i'll save you a spot." sujin told her as they parted to go sit at their designated seats. a few people watched as she walked through the rows of chairs. if sumin saw someone with a huge scratch on their face, she'd probably stare too.

seojun watched out of the corner of his eye as sumin walked to her seat. he could tell she was uncomfortable from the stares, but she couldn't even spare him a glance? in the back of his mind he knew it was his fault for ignoring her and being obnoxiously petty.

she had just gotten back from suspension and she had already been in a fight. the scratch on her face wasn't prominent until she came a little closer. not enough to leave a scar, but it definitely would take a week or so to scab over. seojun decided he'd ask her about it at break.

everyone was situated in their seats and took out their materials for the first class. sumin put her head down after the home room teacher announced that they had a study hall and could do whatever they wanted. she hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep after last night, something about the way her father was acting was out of place.

something was off. seojun wondered what had happened to her. usually she'd be yelling across the room for him or sujin to complain or joke. her head rested in the desk and from the steady breaths, he could tell she was already asleep.

before he could get up to ask sujin what was wrong with her, she stood in front of his desk. seojun wasn't afraid of anyone, but if he was, it would be the kang twins. they had that insane twin sense and fought better than most guys he knew.

"follow me." sujin walked away and expected seojun to follow, which he did. she halted after they got to the stairwell.

she started simple, "what's up your ass?" sujin knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him defend himself.

"sumin didn't text me the entire month while she was gone."

"you didn't even try to ask around, you knew she was suspended. and plus, you were on leave for just as long as her."

"that's different."

"different how? you didn't reach out to her either, she had her phone taken and couldn't text you." when he didn't answer, sujin gripped his shoulder.

"don't mess it up again."

seojun didn't need to be told twice and walked past her into the class. he felt like he had just gotten scolded by his mom. sumin's head was still on the desk while the class was laughing and talking loudly. he walked to the front of the class and got everyone's attention. a finger to his lips signaled them to be quiet and he pointed over to sumin.

everyone knew not to mess with either of them, and immediately put a sock in it and opened their books to study. seojun stood in front of the desk behind sumin and looked down on the unlucky kid. the boy moved his stuff out of the way and sat in a different seat while seojun sat behind sumin.

seojun knew he'd have been a horrible person if he didn't at least care for her. they were best friends after all, and nothing was going to change that.

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✧──────✦ eventually, their physical education class rolled in and the class was dressed in their sports uniforms throwing a ball back and forth.

the boys played on one side of the field and the girls on the other side. even though sumin wasn't one for physical education, she hates losing. the sound of the ball bouncing off of her enemies was enough to feed her for the next few days.

the ball that she had avoided, went out of bounds and jugyeong went to retrieve it. as she jogged up to the ball and kneeled down to grab it, a foot stepped on top of the ball and prevented her from doing so.

jugyeong looked up and paled.

"you still have my helmet don't you." sumin was seemingly the only one in earshot of their conversation. 'helmet?'

"i promise i'll bring it back as soon as possible." jugyeong pleaded. "watch out!"

"i'm not going to fall for that again." the back of seojun's head had been nailed by one of the balls. he turned around to glare at whoever threw it.

"the class president threw it, i swear!"

seojun's foot lifted off the ball and jugyeong took the chance to stand up. "ill bring it tomorrow, sorry!" she stood up and tripped on her own foot.

the girls now watched as jugyeong laid on the floor and suho walked over her like he was avoiding mud. sooah and sujin hurried over to her and pulled jugyeong up by the arms.

"that rude punk," sujin complained to no one in particular.

sooah wiped the grass and grass stains off of jugyeong's knees. "are you okay, im-ju?"

sumin made no move to go towards the trio of girls and looked over to seojun who made a split second of eye contact with her, only to quickly shoot his head away from her and walk in the opposite direction.