golden boy

chapter 21

after the first class, jisung was sitting on the floor of the terrace, smoking a cigarette as usual. he was feeling brave this morning and had put on a velvety choker to match the belt he was using. normally, the boys at school would leave their shirts out but jisung liked tucking his into the pants because he felt like it looked more put-together.

in that aspect, the belt was very important to him because it was the only permitted accessory that wouldn't get him a warning. jewellery was clearly allowed though, since all the rich kids had their rings and heavy gold earrings on, so today he had decided to follow their example.

minho came out through the window, heading towards the boy and dropped to the floor as well. he eyed jisung curiously, trying to decide what's different and, when he noticed it, commented, "oh, what do you have here?"

"it's a choker. is it bad?," the younger asked with intrigued eyes.

"no, actually. it suits you," minho returned and smirked once he realised, "would you have removed it if i said i didn't like it?"

"oh, no. i'd flaunt it even more," jisung smiled, inhaling the smoke. nobody was in a position to tell him what was good and what wasn't.

the taller felt slightly invalidated but decided not to say anything. he pulled out his magic box and lit up a cigarette with a match, not even asking jisung for the lighter, "we're behind on the project."

"we are," jisung airily agreed and sucked some last bit of nicotine from the bud.

"my place after school?"

"uh-huh," jisung gave up and scratched the wall with the cigarette butt. how lazy he was to roll some cigarettes!

"are you ready for the writing contest this year?," minho asked distractedly and offered his own cigarette to his companion.

"what should i prepare for?," jisung lifted a brow as he took a tug but didn't look to the other's direction.

"to submit something else. and possibly win."

"why would i want that?," the shorter smirked and rolled his eyes. it was finally minho's turn to make fun of him.

"this is an elite private school. it offers many opportunities," minho replied honestly and pulled out a hand to receive his cigarette back.

"yeah, but i haven't been inspired lately," jisung admitted and passed the joint back, "maybe it's the atmosphere. this place suffocated all my creativity. or maybe it was the comments i get whenever i fucking breathe in a non-rich way," he giggled and leaned back, his head against the wall.

"well, nothing says 'young leader' better than having a school like this on your resume," minho again uttered, as if he hadn't even heard the previous words, "you said it, you deserve to be here more than all of us assholes whose parents paid to have us here."

"ha, if this school appreciated my talent that much they would've given me a scholarship until the end of high school, not just for the year," jisung smirked mockingly and bit his lip.

"yeah, but you can stay now just by being on top of the class in three subjects," the taller pensively continued, looking at his perfectly brown velvety shoes.

"and what are those subjects exactly?," jisung chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"ugh, just try to write something," minho said and left the unfinished cigarette in his classmate's hand, "gotta get dressed for dance now," he explained, trying to fit into his usual tone of voice.

jisung nodded and sent him off with a head gesture as he smoked the rest of the joint. it wasn't the nicotine he badly needed right now but at least it was something to keep himself busy with. also, why did it seem like minho was serious about him staying at school?

~

"where is it?," minho, in his dance attire, asked a grumpy-looking jisung as they met up to go to his house.

"what are you missing?," the shorter pressed the paper corners of a cigarette he was rolling and looked up nonchalantly.

"the necklace," minho replied and scratched his forehead confusedly. had he just imagined it?

"oh, it got me some unwanted attention so i took it off. it's alright though, at least i didn't get dress coded for it," he pressed his lips together dismissively and dusted off his pants, putting the cigarette in his inner pocket.

minho furrowed his brows but didn't say anything. what was he going to do anyways? he couldn't promise to make people not bully him or anything. he followed after the other who carefully exited the terrace since there were still many people at school.

"yah, look at that. it's the contest announcement," minho waved a hand at jisung who was only a couple paces behind him, trying not to make it obvious that they were walking out together. he almost made it out of the building but the taller suddenly made them both stop together.

"uh-huh. i can read it tomorrow. just keep walking now," jisung urged and elbowed the other boy.

"promise?," minho asked and lifted up a pinky.

"promise," jisung nodded abruptly, waved his own pinky finger and walked right past minho's friends who he hoped he wouldn't get in trouble with again. hyunjin squinted at him and so did carmen, while felix and juheon ignored him completely.

minho noticed them too late and was taken aback but smiled at them nevertheless and threw an airy 'bye' at them. the group seemed dissatisfied and both jisung and minho nervously bit their cheeks.

they didn't talk at all on their way and then got down to business right away, as if they sensed their closeness being too much.