Different

1 - The start of it all

We had our own way of communicating without words, and most defiantly without looking each other in the eyes. I can't remember when these hidden rules were put in place, but it must've been a while ago. The rules went as follows. 1, You don't look at each other when they're looking at you. 2, You never use the same lane that they did. And 3, You don't speak to them about anything. Why you might ask? Because of Park Jimin. Apparently when you've been friends with someone since birth, and you both reach high school, it's not fun to hang out with them anymore. That didn't stop me from still being in the swim team with him. Sure we did solo competitions, but we still had to practice in the same pool.

No, I never asked him why. And no, I don't plan on doing it anytime soon. I had Amelia and Leslie, those were all the friends I needed in college. Although, they were both on the soccer team together. Gross, soccer. Good for them, bad for me. It meant that I had absolutely no friends on the swim team, but I was still stuck with him. He always laughs and has fun with everyone else, hardly ever practicing. I shake my head and climb out, getting these wretched thoughts out of my head. Coach always says to have a clear meadow in your head before a meet. The announcer quietly speaks a few names into the microphone and I step up to the stool, along with five others. As I get into position I clear my head out and envision the meadow, yay. The next two minutes are a blur and before I know anything except splashing water and drowned noise I'm back out of the pool, someone throwing a towel at me. By the time my vision clears, and breathing slows, I slowly turn to look at the score board. 'Jesse, 1st place' it reads. "Good job Jessi!" My coach screams in my face. "First place! Again!" she yells as she jumps up and down in place. I choose not to say anything, opting to not feed the monster. Instead, I put on shorts and a shirt. "I've got biology" I say and walk away. I can hear her start yelling at someone else who did a 'good job', it was probably Jimin.

When I break free of the stale room, the crisp air hits me and I start running towards my bike. As soon as I'm on I peddle as fast as I can. The feeling that this gives me is better than any car ride ever could. Plus, my house is nearby. My feet take me the long way to the school on their own. Sure I have biology, but I still have thirty more minutes. I'm brought back to my surroundings when I sense a car behind me, so I ride as close as I can to the curb. Instead of going around me, they choose to pull up right beside me and role the window down. "Want to go get a shake?" They ask. I wrinkle my face together. "Um, I don't know you so I'm gonna pass. Nice try though" I say and try to bike faster. They just keep the pace. He laughs, "I'm in your Calculus class silly, please?" He asks. I just keep facing forward. "Jess please?" He asks, causing a sigh to escape my lips. "Sure Taehyung" I say, in which he smiles in return.

He had thrown my bike on the top of his jeep and drove us to the diner. There were many places to eat in our large town, but this was The Diner. Taehyung had gotten us chocolate shakes, like we used too. Ever since I had stopped being friends with Jimin, Taehyung had stopped talking to me. Which made us mutual enemies. I had simply chosen to ignore him entirely. His red hair moves wistfully as he speaks. "Look, Jess. I'm so sorry for everything that happened but I can explain everything." He said. I nod sarcastically and look at him in the eyes. "Not beating around the bush, are we?" I retort. Choosing to look back down at my shake, I heard a long sigh come from him. "Jess I'm serious. I'm not going to explain my life story or anything. I just want you to understand me, not him." He says Calmly. I look up to see him looking down like I did. I notice how his red dyed hair suits him. It draws on his sharp jaw and his piercing, yet soft grey eyes. "All that time ago, when it all happened. Something happened to me, that I can't talk about." The deep silence fills in between his words." Anyways," He says, looking up into my eyes. "I couldn't tell you about it, so I stopped talking to you. I knew that I couldn't just lie to you, so I just stopped seeing you at all. I had no idea what was going on with Jimin and all and I thought you at least had him as a friend. I'm so sorry, it must've hurt thinking that your best friends hurt you and left you all alone." He said, his eyes getting misty. "It taught me not to trust anyone again, it made me stronger." I whisper.

After all of the deep talk, Taehyung's famous box smile appeared. "I wanted to make it up to you, so I've been trying to get your attention for the whole week!" He said excitedly. 'The old Taehyung is back' I think and chuckle in my head. "I've been thinking about what I could do, and I was hoping to take you here and talk, and then maybe go to the movies!" He says. I almost choke on my milkshake, "Just as friends, correct?" I say. He laughs hysterically and nods, clutching his stomach. "Y...e... s ha-ha O...f ha course ha" he says, falling over in his seat. "What! It's happened before to one of my friends! She agreed to go and got taken advantage of because she thought they were friends." I say and make a 'Hmph' sound, accompanied by crossing my arms over my chest. I don't know why but I've already forgiven him. It still doesn't change my opinion of Jimin though. "Hey, I'm sorry. That's a fair assumption but yes, just as friends. I was thinking that you wanted to see truth or dare?" He asked. "Uh... duh. Of course!" I say excitedly. "Alright! Whoop!" He says and we both laugh. "How about tomorrow, Friday. At around, hm, 10:30 p.m.?" He asks. I nod in excitement. 'I have my friend back' I sing in my head. We ended up talking for another hour and then he took me back to my house. It feels so nice to finally have him back. I made friends like Amelia and Leslie but the never meant as much to me as Taehyung did. "Thanks Taehyung! See you tomorrow!" I said and slammed the car door shut. "Crap" I say. It's already almost nine. That's my curfew and my parents would kill me if they knew that I was going to be out past nine tomorrow. They're very primp and pram, meaning they're rich. That doesn't make me like them though. I prefer working for money, not being a silver spoon. I run up the drive way as quick as I can and place my hands on my knees, breathing and composing myself. "Lord save me" I say and stand tall, opening the front door.

There they stand, in all their proud-fake glory. I plaster my best smile on my face. "I'm sorry class ran so late, I offered to help clean and grade for extra credit in Calculus today." I say. My mother criticizes my statement and seems to accept it. "Alright darling. But next time don't pull so closely on your rein. You worried me half to death." She says and walks away, smoothly like water. I mean that in a bad way. I continue smiling until my dad walks away and then I snarl and silently mock them as I make my way to my room. Just as I throw myself on my bed, I get a text from Taehyung.

Taehyung <I just heard about a party at 12:15 pm tomorrow. Want to go there too?>

Me< Sure, where is it>

Taehyung < It doesn't matter. See you soon 😉 >

I throw my phone in silly frustration, still the same friend, always has to have the last word. I decide that life isn't worth it and fall asleep without even putting my pajamas on.