Without you

E i g h t

"I gotta go." J stood up, walking away before any of them could answer.

When she was out of sight, Joshua started laughing manically.

"What's so funny?" Seungcheol crossed his arms as he stared at his friend.

"Did you enjoy the show?" The younger of the two asked.

"What do you mean?" Seungcheol furrowed his eyebrows.

"I saw you standing at the window." Joshua let out. "You must really like-"

"No." The older shook his head. "I don't."

"Okay good." Joshua nodded his head as they went back and forth.

"Why is that good?"

"Because she's been on my mind."

"She can't be." Seungcheol gritted his teeth together.

"Then pull it together, and stop being an asshole." Joshua got up as he chuckled a little.

"Wait so-" Seungcheol went after him. "This was all a ruse?"

"Absolutely." Joshua nodded as seungcheol caught him in a headlock.

They both laughed, walking to class now that lunch was over.

Mr Lee came in, slamming the door shut as he walked to his desk. This got the students attention for a few minutes before they began their own conversations again.

"Are you okay?"
"We looked everywhere for you."
"Where did you go?"

J heard the guys bombard her as she sat down in class. Before she could get a word out, Mr Lee yelled at her.

"Stop talking!" He made his way to her.

"But I wasn't-" J tried to talk but he didn't let her.

Mr Lee rolled his eyes as his voice got louder, making J jump a little. "No excuses! You disrespectful brat-"

"She wasn't the one talking." Hoshi suddenly got up. "It was me." He stuck out his hand, prompting Mr Lee to hit him.

"Mr Kwon just-" Mr. Lee's stern demeanor wavered for a moment as he eyed Hoshi.

Hoshi continued as everyone looked at him, including seungcheol. "I take full responsibility for the disruption."

"Just- sit down." Mr Lee walked back to his desk as he held onto his stick. Now, there was something he was very suspicious about but needed to make sure.

Hoshi sat back down as he smiled brightly at J, who was very weirded out by the whole situation. Mr Lee hated anyone who talked back to him, so why did he go so easy on hoshi?

J looked at him with a weird look on her face.

The class went on as J looked out the window, it seemed as though it might rain soon.

"J." Mr Lee called out.

She looked up and felt herself get hit with something, she rubbed her forehead a little as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Suddenly, seungcheol stood up. Followed by hoshi, Jun and Mingyu.

"Pay. Attention." Mr lee spoke slowly, walking towards her to retrieve the white chalk he used as a weapon against her.

"But I-" J tried to speak but Mr Lee raised his hand as if he was going to hit her. She closed her eyes waiting for impact but it never came.

"BeomSeok!" Seungcheol suddenly yelled out, holding his hand mid air, stopping it from reaching J.

Mr Lee frowned upon hearing his surname being called. He felt fury rise in him, knowing he couldn't torture J anymore. This made him want to put an end to her altogether.

J rubbed her forehead from the chalk hit as she looked up at seungcheol, who was still holding Mr Lee's hand. She wasn't sure if she felt thankful or shocked in that moment.

No one had ever stood up for her and the unfair treatment she received all these years.

"Mr Choi." Mr Lee didn't back down this time. "I will not tolerate this kind of interference."

"Okay then." Seungcheol shrugged as he took J's hand, guiding them out of the classroom, followed by the other 11 boys as well.

"Are you-" Seungcheol turned around to face J as they were now away from the classroom when Mingyu interrupted him.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He wiped his thump over her forehead where there was still a little white streak left from the chalk.

Wonwoo eyed them, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked between Mingyu and J.

"I-" J began as Jun came up to her.

"Should we leave?" He smiled at her.

"What just happened." She talked to herself, looking down and ignoring all of them.

They blinked their eyes as they eyed her.

"Oh my god." J began again. "Oh my god. We just left in the middle of class." She put a hand on her forehead.

"What-" Jeonghan walked towards her.

"What did you do." She looked at Seungcheol now.

"Are you-" he raised his hand to try and calm her down but she pushed it away.

"No. You don't understand." J started freaking out even more. "I- I could lose everything over this."

"What do you mean?" Vernon questioned.

"She has a scholarship." Joshua informed everyone.

"But she's already-" seungkwan started but Joshua spoke again.

"To college." He finished his sentence.

"Don't worry about it." Seungcheol shook his head at her.

"You don't understand." She looked him in the eyes. "This is my way out. I need that scholarship more than you could ever imagine."

"Is it's about money-" Seungcheol spoke softly as their eyes stayed glued to each other.

"No. You don't get it." J shook her head, walking back to the classroom as the boys followed behind her.

"Wait." Seungcheol closed his eyes a little. "He's never gonna let you come back that easy."

"But I didn't even do anything." She spoke angrily.

"You've never done anything, yet he still treats you like that." Seungcheol tucked some stray hair behind her ear, noticing a mole on the left side on her forehead.

"Yeah well you've just made yourself a target as well." J smiled at him, suddenly.

"What?" Seungcheol became self conscious, wondering if there was anything on his face.

"I-" she began but was interrupted when they saw principle shin walking towards them.

"Mr Choi?" Principle shin questioned, stopping in front of them.

"I'll stop by later. For now, would you please escort us to our class?" Seungcheol smiled, forcibly.

"Uhh sure thing!" Principle shin was sweating, seeming intimidated for some reason.

J wondered why elders referred to seungcheol as Mr Choi. It was odd to say the least. She made a mental note to ask Dino about it later on.

"I believe they belong to you." Principle shin walked in first, looking at Mr Lee with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes of course." Mr Lee smiled, gritting his teeth as he looked only at J, walking back to her seat.

'Just you wait.' Mr Lee thought, looking at J.

Seungcheol was thinking the exact same thing while looking at Mr Lee.