RENDEZVOUS

37 | results day

if the most terrifying day of the year got an award, it wouldn't go to halloween. any student who has ever sat an exam in the whole of history would know exactly how donghyuck, jaemin, renjun and jeno felt going into school on the most terrifying day of the summer holidays.

results day.

even for someone like jaemin, who everyone knew had aced literally everything, results day still brought an ominous atmosphere to the car ride to school. donghyuck wasn't too fussed since he was pretty sure he'd flunked at least half of them, and jeno was the same, but renjun was worried he'd failed the exams he had cried all the way through.

"hey," jeno said softly as he met him by the school gates, "you okay?"

renjun shrugged, reaching out to grab jeno's hand for support. "i'm kinda nervous," he confessed, "what if all my grades are really bad? what if i've failed everything? what if-"

"-you actually did a lot better than you think?" jeno finished the sentence for him, squeezing his hand. "it's okay to be nervous, renny. that's what my mom always says, and she's always right."

renjun cracked a smile at that. "yeah, she is," he agreed with a sigh. "i guess we should go in then..."

the two of them headed inside the school hall where the brown envelopes of doom awaited them, sealing their fates with a list of grades inside. the hall was busy, with students left right and centre queuing up to receive their results, and it was difficult to know exactly where to go, or where to find anyone.

"oi, jun!"

donghyuck waved them both over to where he and jaemin were standing, and then directed them to the right corner of the hall to pick up their exam results. when they returned, the four of them hesitated, wanting to open their results together, but nervous about the outcome.

"let's do it on the count of three," renjun said decidedly, after a deep inhale.

"wait," jaemin blurted, "what if-"

"i've heard enough of those this morning, jae," jeno interrupted, nudging renjun playfully in the ribs, "it'll be fine. promise. now can we open them already?"

"one, two, three," donghyuck said quickly, and tore open his envelope to read the paper inside.

"yes! i'm so relieved..."

"oh my god!"

"eh, average."

"yep, average."

jeno and donghyuck exchanged a high-five and grinned, whilst the other two got excited, dancing around at their success. jaemin was smiling at the relief of maintaining his top grades, whilst renjun's face lit up with happiness that he hadn't failed after all.

"everything went well, jun!" jaemin exclaimed, sweeping the chinese boy up in his arms and hugging him tightly so they could be ecstatic together.

"hey, put him down," said jeno.

donghyuck snorted in amusement.

"good news, i presume then, boys?" mr oh wandered over to congratulate them, actually smiling for once, especially when he found out exactly how good jaemin's grades were.

"i'm actually so surprised, sir!" jaemin beamed at him, having put renjun down by now to cradle his precious results in both hands.

"no one else is surprised," donghyuck piped up, rolling his eyes.

"let him be happy, hyuckie," renjun laughed.

jeno suddenly nudged donghyuck in the ribs and pulled him aside, looking strangely nervous. they left the other two discussing their grades with mr. oh and headed away out of earshot.