my first and last // chensung✓

one | back to the beginning

❝ oh maybe, maybe,
this might be love. ❞

zhong chenle | wed, august 1.
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CHENLE NEVER LIKED waking up.

he hated the way his breath felt sour on his tongue, he hated the way his alarm clock would ring in his dreams before his ears picked it up. he hated the way his limbs felt weak and his eyes heavy. he would wake up easier if the sun shone into his eyes, but the sun rose on the other side of his house. he especially never liked waking up early.

on this certain day, however, chenle dreaded waking up even more. he had hoped that he would somehow wake up and feel energized and ready for the first day of junior year, but reality was against him. his eyes refused to open as he shoved his alarm clock roughly off the bedside table to stop the ear-shredding ringing.

today was not his day, it seemed.

chenle contemplated staying in bed for just five minutes more, wanting nothing but to enjoy his comfortable sheets and odd dreams for a little bit longer. he knew that would lead to him never getting up though, so- after a few failed attempts- he pushed the comforter off of him and immediately cringed at the cold air that flew through his room. his small hands rose to rub at his sore eyes before he opened them, easing the tired feeling a bit.

chenle turned to his side and picked up his phone from the bedside table, unplugging the charger. he grimaced when the light shone into his eyes. the time read 06:03. wonderous.

he scrolled through his notifications, closing many that he, honestly, did not care for. he went to his oh so amazing messages and wrote a new one to the one and only jisung park.

dolphin boi: wake the hell up
06:03, delivered.

he then forced himself out of his comfortable bed and weakly walked into the bathroom, where he began his morning routine.

after he got himself ready, he grabbed his plain black backpack- which he had filled the night before, excited with the new journals and pens that he knew would end up missing- and stalked down the stairs to the kitchen. his mother was sat at the table, looking through her phone. chenle assumed she was about to leave for work, as she had her blazer and heels sitting on the chair next to her.

"morning, mama," chenle chirped, making his way to the fridge to grab a strawberry yogurt. he dropped his backpack onto the counter and grabbed a spoon, immediately tearing open the snack cup.

"oh, hey, chenle," mrs. zhong replied, placing her phone down. she scanned her son, who was completely focused on the yogurt, to make sure he looked presentable in his school uniform. she nodded to herself when she confirmed everything was good, and went back to scrolling the news. chenle finished his yogurt and went onto his phone as well, seeing the notification from jisung.

jisungpwark: shut up i just woke up
06:37 am, delivered.

chenle rolled his eyes, not even bothering to answer as he scrolled through instagram for the remainding twelve minutes he had until he had to leave for school.

the twelve minutes went by quickly, and chenle was grabbing his backpack once again and sliding into his vans. he squeaked a goodbye to his mother, along with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before rushing out of his house. he walked down the street to jisung's house, where the younger boy was just leaving. chenle yelled a quick "hurry up" to the boy, who laughed in return and ran down his street to meet chenle.

jisung wrapped his arm around chenle's shoulders as they walked to the school. "you ready for junior year?"

chenle snorted. "oh, please."

they chatted through the rest of the walk, which took around twenty minutes. renjun, donghyuck, and jaemin had joined them halfway through, as the three lived in the same neighborhood. none of them were really excited, but what could they do?
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chenle's day wasn't all that exciting. he was in the same class as jisung and jaemin for the third year in a row, which was good. donghyuck, jeno, renjun, and mark were all in the same class as well, only they were a year above. he still had the same homeroom teacher, mr. shin, who was pretty nice. it was the same as any first day would be- a syllabus from each subject, a supplies list, long and boring talks about the year that nobody really ever listened to. needless to say, chenle was happy when lunch came.

"so, you guys coming to my birthday party tomorrow?" mark asked as he sat down at the table, picking up his chopsticks. all six of the high schoolers cheered.

"obviously, you dumb-nut. we're your best friends, how could we not attend your nineteenth?" donghyuck snorted, but his attempt at hiding his smile was a fail. renjun and jisung agreed, earning laughs from mark.

"wow, i can't believe you're nineteen already," jeno baffled, sounding like a mother. mark slapped his shoulder. "oh, shut up, jeno, you're younger than me!"

"i know, i know. but it's just crazy to me. we've all been friends for so long now that sometimes i forget exactly how long it's actually been." jaemin nodded, leaning in and poking his chopsticks in mark's face.

"you, my friend, are going to be a grandpa tomorrow."

chenle laughed loudly, his high-pitched squeals earning strange looks from the other students and a hand over his mouth from jisung.
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makatea-