translucent [markson]

[Six] Humiliation

On the first day of school, Mark was scared out of his mind. BamBam had shown him around and he had memorized how to get from class to class, but he still felt like a lost puppy. A lost puppy that was nervous and homesick.

He walked into his physics classroom when about half of the students were there. It could have been worse; there could have been more people. Most people didn't even notice him at first. The kids who did notice pointed at him and whispered, and proceeded to get the attention of their friends. It made Mark's stomach churn with anxiety.

His classmates' stares followed him as he took an empty seat. The whole situation was very awkward, making Mark feel like he had to be very careful of his actions in order to make a good first impression. As he took out a pencil and notebook, their eyes followed. Was he really that interesting?

The classroom was silent as they watched Mark try to ignore them. At first, he wanted to distract himself by doing homework, but he realised that school wasn't supposed to officially start for another seven minutes. Instead, he settled for pulling out his phone and pretending like he was texting someone. In actuality, he was studying Korean while bitterly cursing the presence of time differences. All he wanted to do was text his mom or dad about his worries, but he didn't want to disturb them.

Once the teacher walked in and class actually started, time flew by. Attention drew away from Mark and things went smoothly. As most schools did, their class did little ice breaker games to start the new school year. Though he found them fun, Mark knew he'd probably get sick of them by third period.

And he was completely right.

After barely surviving second period, he begrudgingly watched people around him start talking during third period. The teacher had simply told the students to talk about their summer, obviously not caring about what they did. It was clear to Mark that the teacher couldn't bother himself to plan anything, but didn't want to do anything on the first day at the same time. Despite being sick of introducing himself, Mark figured that he may as well join a conversation.

Mark didn't know many people at the school to start off with. When he looked around, the only person he knew was Jackson, but Jackson seemed to be keeping to himself. Mark had thought Jackson to be the social type, always cracking jokes and droning about meaningless stuff. Without thinking, Mark made his way over to Jackson.

"Hey, Jackson," Mark spoke, sitting down.

"Um, hey, Mark." Jackson nodded at Mark and looked back to his notebook. It was the same notebook Mark had seen the day before, when they were at the cafe.

"What language is that? I saw it yesterday and couldn't help but..."

"It's Thai. Something I'm learning for fun," Jackson answered, simply. There was a finality in his tone that suggested the end of the conversation, but Mark pretended not to notice.

"Um... what'd you do this summer? Anything interesting?"

"Nothing, really, I just-"

"He was probably too busy whoring around to actually do anything worth hearing about," a student cut in. Mark didn't recognise her. Jackson, on the other hand, didn't even want to bother checking who said it.

"You're just pissed that I've kissed more boys than you," Jackson replied without even looking up.

"I'm surprised anyone kisses that mouth of yours." Jackson rolled his eyes. He would never say he was ever bullied, but every once in awhile, a classmate would try to start something. Jackson would always fight back, though.

"I'm surprised anyone listens to that mouth of yours." Mark stared at the two, not wanting to get involved.

"I'm surprised you're even considered a fuckboy, what with your bowl haircut and fish eyes." Mark's non-involvement was thrown out the window as a laugh escaped his lips. He didn't know what came over him, because he didn't even really find what she said to be funny.

"Let's also add his non-existent height and pants that make your legs look stubby," her friend chimed in.

"Calm your tits," Jackson sassed, standing up and walking to a new spot. The girl scoffed and he suddenly turned around. "Literally. Don't want your breast implants to pop now, do we?"

"Don't bother with him," the girl told Mark, rolling her eyes and walking away in the other direction.

Mark couldn't help but sigh at their behavior. They were in high school, not first grade, and he thought that they should be acting more maturely. It wasn't any of his business, though. As long as he kept out of their way and people like them, he could focus on school. He figured that if he made it to junior year without drama, he could survive the rest of high school the same way.

~

After a seemingly endless day, Mark just wanted to go back to his room and relax. It wasn't like he'd be able to once the school year kicked in, and he spent his summer packing and then unpacking. If anytime was time to relax, it was then.

When he walked into his room, BamBam was sitting on his bed with Yugyeom sitting next to him. Mark had heard a lot about Yugyeom -- a lot more than what he had heard about Jackson. From what he could understand, BamBam and Yugyeom were very close. It was sort of a given, considering the two lived together. BamBam told him that the two stuck with each other through everything. Knowing that they had been friends since the age of four, it was easy to believe.

"What're you guys up to?" Mark asked, setting his backpack down near the bed's ladder.

"Yugyeom's trying to help me set up a website-portfolio for my modeling class."

"On the first day of school?" Mark leaned over the computer so he had an upside down view of the screen. All he saw were lines of code.

"Might as well get ahead. Besides, Yugie is a computer guy," BamBam stated in a bragging manner.

"You make it sound so lame." Yugyeom lightly shoved BamBam before looking at Mark. "I do coding for websites and stuff."

"Really? That's awesome. I've always liked computers."

"Mark is a math guy," BamBam said, in the same tone as he had for Yugyeom. Yugyeom looked at Mark for a better explanation, but Mark just shrugged.

"That's really it. I just do math."

"It'd be pretty easy for you to learn binary and stuff, then. I could teach you sometime, if you want." Yugyeom had this hopeful look that made Mark melt, in a way a parent would to their child.

"Don't do that, you look ugly." BamBam suddenly grabbed Yugyeom's face and rubbed his hands over it, as if to rearrange Yugyeom's expression.

"Boys, don't fight now," Mark teased, his voice falsetto, trying to imitate a mother's tone.

"You're not my real mom! Jinyoung is!" BamBam suddenly shouted. Both Yugyeom and Mark gave each other a questioning look.

"Who the hell is Jinyoung?" Yugyeom questioned.

"This sophomore in my English and lunch periods. I think Mark would really like him."

"And why is that?" Mark raised an eyebrow.

"'Cause he's so different from you in terms of interests, but nearly everything else is the same. You both are kind of quiet and make really shitty jokes." BamBam spoke in an innocent tone, like he didn't just insult Mark.

"My jokes are great. I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm sure he's..." Yugyeom began. He suddenly took out his phone, before pausing and abruptly standing up. "I'll be back. Give me a moment."

"Did Jackson get stuck under the bed again?" BamBam joked. Yugyeom simply rolled his eyes and walked out the door.

BamBam and Mark had no idea what was going on. They sent each other a questioning look, followed by a short shrug. BamBam was sure Yugyeom would tell him what happened afterwards. Mark just dismissed the small event, climbing up to his bed. He had a feeling he'd have to go back down when Yugyeom came back.

"I'm going to nap. Wake me up when Yugyeom comes back."

"Why?"

"I need to make sure you don't break stuff or break yourself."

"We're not eight-"

"Just shut up." With that, Mark let his eyes close for the shortest nap of his life.