Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Fifteen.

Class 3-2 sat still as their peers stared in at them, talking amongst themselves and looking at the class as though they were an exhibit at the zoo at a museum, meant to be looked at and talked about. They wanted to be alone more than anything else, not caring to see their friends outside of the classroom. In some twisted way, the experience had brought the class closer together. They currently felt as though no one outside of that room was someone they could trust and depend on. The soldiers came by to clear away the kids gathered outside of the classroom.
Even with no one else around, the kids were still quiet. Yeon-ju was patching up Sun-yi's cuts. Yeong-su almost took out his textbook but wound up deciding against it. In-hye leaned her head against the wall beside her desk, her eyes glazed over from her tears. Ha-na chewed the nail of her thumb, bouncing her knee rapidly as she tried building up the courage to turn to Bo-ra and apologize for locking her out. (Y/n) sat numbly in her seat, trying not to let loose the tears in her eyes.

"This is... not a dream right now, right?" Sun-yi spoke, gazing blankly ahead. "Miss Eun-young and... they really..." Tears flooded her eyes and she gasped for air. "They really..." Sun-yi brought the back of her hand to her mouth as she cried. Yeon-ju rubbed her arm comfortingly. As (Y/n)'s tears left her eyes, she immediately wiped them away and kept her fingers over the tear ducts to stop any more from coming. Ha-na turned to Bo-ra.

"I'm sorry," Ha-na said. "I didn't intentionally not open the car door. I was just scared."

"Forget it. I'm not in the mood to talk to you," Bo-ra said, turning away. "Take your apology to someone who needs it. (Y/n) got bit for you and you still locked her out." Ha-na whipped around to face (Y/n).

"(Y/n), I'm so, so sorry," Ha-na said genuinely. (Y/n) raised her head and turned to Ha-na.

"I'm not going to blame you for being scared," (Y/n) said quietly. She flinched as So-yun's chair slammed back into Tae-man's desk when she rose to her feet.

"I will go home," So-yun said. "I can't stay here any longer." She rushed to take off her chest rig and then marched to the back of the room to grab her school bag.

"So-yun!" Yu-jeong called in protest, getting to her feet.

"I want to go home, too," Jun-hi said, taking off her chest rig clumsily.

"Fuck! They're trying to make us fight those things!" Hui-rak seethed, getting to his feet.

"You're right. I want to go home, too," Ha-na said, removing her chest rig.

"Hey, stop acting like children," Bo-ra scolded as Ha-na got to her feet.

"Forget college or bonus points for the CSAT! I don't need any of that," Ha-na said.

"Think before you act, instead of just packing your bags first," Bo-ra said, getting up and grabbing Ha-na's arm."

"Forget it. I want to leave, too," Ha-na stated, heading to grab her backpack. Jun-hi had already made it to the front and was packing the contents of her desk. Yu-jeong was trying her best to stop everyone. Tae-man, Il-ha, and Wu-taek all got up. Wu-taek was the only one of the three that actually took a moment to remove his chest rig. Deok-jung got up, but Chi-yeol grabbed his arm in protest.

"Hey, hey! Why are you also acting like this?" Chi-yeol huffed.

"I will go, too," Sun-yi said, much to Yeon-ju's protest. So-yeon removed her chest rig and started moving to the back.

"Hey, come on," (Y/n) halfheartedly protested, sticking out her leg to stop So-yeon so they could all at least have a discussion. Chun-ho slid open the front door, entering the room to the sight of the kids at the back of the class who were gathering their belongings as well as the few students who were trying to talk them out of it.