CERISIER

FIFTEEN

    “This place is packed, wow,” were Minseok’s first words upon entering the nearly Olympic sized arena with stands filled to the brim with cheering spectators holding signs for their respective schools and sobbing parents surrounded by a blue aura given by the heavily chlorinated pool and a steel dome roof. The body of water was lined with colored, floating dividers and painted black indicators waving on the bottom. The entire room smelled like salt and rubber and Baekhyun was still puzzled as to how anyone could enjoy the sport, especially with how Sehun always ranted about the two hour, muscle scorching, shoulder pulling practices held by a coach that ‘genuinely needed some one to one anger management courses’ as he liked to explain the woman. If the team had made it to nationals then she must have known what she was doing, Baekhyun reasoned.

    With the suggestion of finding a place to sit by Baekhyun who’s calves were already sore from standing for so long (he concluded he would never be cut out for a sport such as competitive swimming), the boys found the section for their school adorned with a large banner depicting ‘CERISIER HIGH!’ painted across it in bright fuchsia letters surrounded by pastel blue squiggles vaguely resembling waves of water in one of the higher levels of seating.  The two made their way up the few sets of stairs and they were shifting their way through the bleachers when a shout of a familiar name caused them to freeze in place, much to the dismay of the students currently sitting behind them.

    “Minseok!” a taller male shouted from a pair of seats away, his pink hair now faded and almost blond, face femininely built and known all too well by Baekhyun, little to the other student’s knowledge. The older boy’s face lit up upon sight of the boy waving his hand in the air, Baekhyun’s fell grim as he was stuck looking at Minseok’s behind as he followed him to his assumed friend.

    “Luhan! What’re you doin’ here, man? How’s Cerisier treating you?” The two shared a casual bro-hug as they met, conversation immediately starting as if they were old friends that hadn’t met in years. Baekhyun stood thoroughly confused next to the couple, blank faced and silent. The trio made an effort to take a seat before continuing their discussion, much to the thanks of the spectators behind them.

“It’s been alright, Korea’s pretty different from China though. My buddy Tao’s competing, he’s from Chêne, you ever heard of them?” the boy responded, the third wheel finally noticing the slight accent to his pronunciation. If he hadn’t been looking for it, it probably would have slipped right past him, he thought, remembering the very first time he and the pink haired boy met.

Minseok tapped his chin for a second or two, thinking before answering enthusiastically, “yeah I’ve heard some gossip about them, I think,” he said before turning to gesture towards the boy currently staring at the warm-up pool. “You ever met my new bestie, Baekhyun? He’s in his fourth year so I don’t think you’d have any-”

“Yeah actually! We were in gym together. We met.. once, I believe,” Luhan giggled with his words, smiling way too sweetly to really be genuine.

Baekhyun held back a long sigh and decided to just go with the lie for both world peace and Minseok’s sake, and possibly for the protection of all the fragile bones of his body. “Yeah, nice to see you again, Luhan.”

The old friends continued their conversation, unintentionally leaving Baekhyun to sit and listen to the roar of the crowd with his mouth sealed shut. He didn’t mind, he didn’t really want to talk with the guy that had previously attempted to reconstruct his facial structure but he felt somewhat disappointed that he couldn’t spend anymore quality friend time with Minseok but if he attempted to separate their newest member of the group, he wouldn’t be able to bare Minseok’s puppy face. It was surprising the boy could even muster such an expression with his hard outer appearance; dyed hair, a couple tattoos peeking from his sleeves and an empty eyebrow piercing.

Dismissing his thoughts, Baekhyun plucked his phone from his jacket pocket and unlocked it to find something mildly entertaining until the competition began. He scrolled through his admittedly short list of contacts and one name caught his eye, his finger almost automatically dashed to press the envelope symbol but his doubt caught it just in time. Would he really want to speak to him? What if he was busy with something important? All of the times he had contacted the man was an emergency since that’s what his note had said, so could he speak to him outside of those circumstances? Were they friends at this point? Closer than just a student-teacher, doctor-patient relationship?

Sucking on the inside of his cheek, Baekhyun pressed onto the glass and typed out possibly the most simple sentence, something that couldn’t be taken the wrong way really out of boredom and the urge to talk to someone as Minseok was doing with Luhan.

Hi

    Directly after he pressed the send button, the boy locked the device and hid his face in his hands. Why was he so flustered over a stupid text to someone? He uncovered his eyes after noticing the two sitting next to him eyeing him in confusion. Suddenly, his phone vibrated and he nearly dropped it on the metal bleacher below him.

    Hey Baek, what’s up?

    He frowned at the formality but couldn’t help but admire the nickname. The boy was at least glad he had someone to talk to instead of half-listening to the other two’s chatter about the crazy party last friday and how many chicks they bet they could smash in one night.

    I’m bored, Minseok ditched me, he answered honestly, taking a second to glare at the back of the older’s neon green head.

    You sure you didn’t just miss your favorite teacher? ;)

    The teen grinned, fingers typing at lightening speed to retort back. He ignored it, but the apples of his cheeks tinged pink at the teasing.

Who misses their teachers smh

:(((((((((( Heart = broken

Baekhyun took a moment to grin at the words, looking up to see some swimmers entering the arena to stretch and show off their hard-earned muscles until his phone buzzed once again in his grip.

Anyways, what are you and Minseok up to?

    We’re at Sehun’s national swimming competition or something, Baekhyun typed out.

The response was almost immediate, I heard about that! I hope it goes well; Coach Wu’s told me the team hasn’t been to such a big competition in years!

The teen’s eyebrows rose in surprise and took another glance at the conversing athletes before answering. Me too. That’s a pretty big deal, no wonder he wanted me to watch him so badly.

How are you doing, Baekhyun?

    The frown resurfaced but he should have known that the question would be asked eventually.

I’m okay, better, he said vaguely but honestly. He was doing better, just not as good as he wanted to be doing. He still had uncertainty planted in his mind and it was hard to ignore it, exhausting to. But he was trying, as the nurse had told him to, and he’d give himself credit for that.

Just remember, I’m always here if you need anything, really.

I know.

Good. I’ve got some paperwork to do, so I’ll talk to you later?

    Sure, Baekhyun ended the conversation with before sliding his phone back into his pocket just as the whistles blew to inform the competitors that it was time to begin.