LIMITLESS ➬ 00 line

four

too much time had been spent writing on walls, joking and laughing together. for a while nari had completely forgotten all of her worries, but the sun was beginning to set so they sat down against a wall and talked.

nari found herself opening up about her own feelings. the experiences she had growing with just about no friends, constantly being isolated. they didn't judge her. she couldn't stop thinking about how they had all of their attention on her as she spoke. even after she was done, all that was on her mind was how finally she could talk about her feelings and not be judged.

"our school is so fucking stupid," donghyuck cursed, "those assholes are so disconnected from reality, its sad."

jaemin, who'd been lying on the cold ground with his head on the lap of donghyucks nodded in agreement. "ever thought of how it would be if we weren't, like... you know.."

"popular?" nari finished. "it's not a bad word, jaemin."

"no i know, but it just feels so dumb to say. like what even is popularity? those people have absolutely no idea who we are and yet they're obsessed with us. it's weird."

nari nodded, although she could never relate. she was a nobody, and she was starting to come to realize that they may have been nobodies, too, because no one knew who they truly are.

"imagine if we could just leave. just the five of us, go somewhere where we can't be bothered, and can do whatever we want and live the best lives ever." renjun exclaimed, talking with his hands with an upturned grin to show happiness at the idea.

donghyuck scoffed, "in our dreams."

"i wish we didn't have so much attention on us all the time. i wish no one cared about us," jeno said, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"i wish i had 100 bucks. i also wish my home life wasn't so shit." nari joked, earning laughs from the rest.

"okay gang, its getting dark, we should bounce." jaemin announced, leaning forward. everyone followed in getting up from their spots and beginning to walk out.

nari hadn't realized how much time they'd spent their until it was time to snap back into reality. as they headed out, the sun was almost fully set and there was a cold breeze. they'd been there for hours and somehow it only felt like just a few minutes.

the boys politely walked her home after her declining multiple times, not wanting to waste any more of their time, but insisted on it being much more safer than her walking home alone. she dreaded opening the door to her house, not wanting to deal with what she tries not to think about all day long.

they watched as she went inside and after she closed the door behind her, they walked themselves home. her heartrate sped up slightly as she waited for the moment her mom came to shout whatever nonsense at her.

nari set her bag down and took her shoes off, heading into the kitchen to grab a drink to quench her thirst. she waited. and waited.

nothing.

the silence was deafening, something completely unfamiliar. no blasting tv, no bottles clanking into each other, no nagging mother. just silence.

"...mom?"

there's no way her mother would be asleep this early, that would be too out of character of her, she thought. after finishing a glass of water, nari set the glass into the sink and made her way to her mothers room. all that she found was an open door and an empty bed.

the girl sighed, not thinking too much into it. her mom hardly left the house, but she figured she'd gone out and was getting herself into trouble and would find her way back home in the morning. its not like nari could miss her. she did nothing to provide for her own child.

nari left the room and made her way into her own, changing out of her school clothes and into something comfier. she wasted no time getting in bed and turning her tv on to watch something until she fell asleep.

the next morning nari began getting ready for school, and then went to check her moms room that still seemed to be empty.

a pit slowly began forming in her stomach, she tried not to worry too much, especially since her mom was a deadbeat anyways, but this was still unusual for her. nari decided she didn't have time to be super worried about it and grabbed her bag and left.

the four boys she'd met yesterday were already making their way up to her house, to her surprise.

they noticed the slightly stressed look on her face, "you good?" jaemin asked.

"hm? yeah, i'm fine. sorry." she replied. it was half true, at least.

they didn't question her any further and started walking to school together. just like yesterday, nari forgot all about the things that were making her anxious because of the presence of her new friends. it was a foreign feeling to her.

as they made their way to school, nari dreaded the consequences she was about to face for skipping detention the previous day. she knew her principal would catch her unexpectedly.

"are you guys seeing what i'm seeing?" jeno asked suddenly.

the four of them turned to him, confused.

"no one seems to be staring at us today. for the first time in like, ever," he explained.

they all looked around, and he was right. the group of girls that usually would stare at them and giggle were completely minding their business. the jock boys who hated them because of jealousy seemed to be doing the same thing. no one was whispering and there was no overwhelming sense of insecurity because they knew people were talking about them.

"huh," renjun said, "weird."

"no complaints here." donghyuck smirked. the five of them then split ways and went to their own lockers. nari opened up hers and unzipped her backpack, taking out her books and placing them inside.

she noticed something peaking out of her blue notebook that was labeled 'math,' so she opened it up and saw a 100 dollar bill neatly placed inside.

"the hell...?" she questioned. having absolutely no idea where it could have possibly came from, she slid it further inside and closed the notebook, hiding in underneath her other books.

nari briefly remembered their pointless conversation the night before, and how she joked about wanting money and a calm home life. she found it strange how the timing had been spot on.