Amor de mi Alma || 2Jae

Chapter 22

A pained groan escapes Youngjae's lips and he reaches up, clutching his head. His brain is throbbing against his skull and the back of his head feels as if it's on fire, and he has the sudden urge to throw up.

So he does.

There are shrieks around him and then hands are steadying him and pulling him to sit up and away from the vomit, and through blurry eyesights, Youngjae can see someone moving to clean it up.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" A woman's face appears in front of Youngjae, and he believes he can see three fingers, but his head is spinning and it feels like his head is on fire. "Youngjae, answer me. How many?"

"Three?"

"He'll be all right, probably a minor concussion. Take him home, let him rest but make sure he doesn't fall asleep. If he complains about headaches by tomorrow, I prescribe him two painkillers a day."

"Concussion?

"Yes, concussion. He must've hit his head on the floor hard, seeing as he was out for at least an hour. Now go, he should be resting, I don't think he has been getting much sleep in the last few days either."

The hands around Youngjae's arms pull him up and into someone's side and Youngjae stumbles forward, feeling fingers reach out and touch his shoulder before it slides off.

"Go get his stuff, Jaehoon. I'll get him to the car."

Youngjae doesn't go to school next week. He stays at home and watches Netflix the whole time, and his parents come home the Wednesday after he fell. According to Jaehee, he fainted during the concert and the rest of the percussion line told Jaebum's mom, who was the woman that asked Youngjae the questions when he woke up, that Youngjae was extremely pale and messing up on his parts.

His friends don't visit or text at all but Youngjae doesn't mind. He doesn't deserve it, anyway. But on Tuesday almost a week and a half later, Jaehoon comes home while he is supposed to be in class and brings Youngjae with him to his car and drives back to school.

Youngjae counters that he doesn't even look mildly appropriate to walk through school; he's wearing Jaehoon's old basketball shorts and his father's old-school sweater that really looks like a piece of clothing his grandfather would wear, and Youngjae decided to wear flip-flops.

But no-one is in the hallways and even if they are, they wouldn't even recognize Youngjae. 

Jaehoon takes him into the main office, and they smile at the secretary lady before Jaehoon walks into the back section, and toward the principal's office.

"Come in," Mr. Den, the principal, says when Jaehoon knocks.

Jaehoon opens the door and pushes Youngjae inside before closing the door again. Now Youngjae has been in the principal's office before, one time when they were discussing a Band-event Youngjae had made up with Jinyoung. And any other day Youngjae would be fine with facing the principal, but today he absolutely doesn't feel like it, not because he is underdressed for his usual attire, but because he knows for sure that it's about the video and because Jasmine is sitting in one of the two chairs in front of Mr. Den's, tears streaming down her face.

"How are you doing, Youngjae?"

"Good."

"That's great to hear, please take a seat." 

Youngjae sits down, scooting the furthest away he can from Jasmine in his small chair. He doesn't know why she's crying and he doesn't know why Mr. Den thought this was so important to have Jaehoon excused from his class and to have Youngjae brought to school with a concussion.