BREATHE - NOREN FF

Punctuality is key.

Monday, August 20, 6:00 A.M.

     A loud blaring noise sounded through the air. Next to the boy's bed sat his alarm clock. It was a gift from his host family, who were extremely punctual and through it unprofessional and rude to be late at any time for anything. They were practically the human embodiment of the phrase: 'Early is on time and on time is late.'
     Renjun let out a groan and rolled onto his right side, letting his hand lazily descend onto the 'OFF' button of his noisy alarm clock with a loud thump. His next noise was a mumbled curse directed at his massive amount of sloppiness and drowsy mind. Summer vacation had just ended and it was the first day of his Junior year in high school.
     When he heard his door swing open with a loud, wooden creak, the Chinese boy groggily opened his eyes. After he waited for his vision to adjust to the brightness of his room, he could make out the light cream color of the walls surrounding him, as well as a few drawings he had taped just above the desk that he used for his private art projects. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh air, before acknowledging his unexpected visitor.
      "Time to get up, huh?" Renjun really didn't want to go to school. He'd rather stay home and draw until sunset but, unfortunately, his host family would never allow it. Not even if he was sick.
      "Yes, honey. I've got some toast, bacon, and eggs downstairs. Just take a shower and get dressed, then you can come down to the kitchen to eat when you're finished."
     Renjun didn't answer but he gave a simple nod instead. His host family, the Zhongs, had been very kind to him during the years that he had lived with them. In fact, they were almost like family to him. Almost.
     After he was done showering, he slipped on his clothes. He had a simple style but with a small splash of art mixed in. He liked to decorate his own clothing to make his world a bit more colorful. Today he chose one of his favorite outfits: a short-sleeved baby blue shirt made of soft cotton, a pair of light blue jeans, and, of course, his white hightop converse that he had painted with pink, yellow, and blue flowers.
     Renjun reached up to ruffle his damp, curly hair and finally made his way out of his room and down the large staircase of the Zhongs' home. It was luxurious, to say the least, which was something that Renjun couldn't ever seem to get used to. Sometimes, he almost felt as if he were a peasant living in a castle.
     "Morning," he greeted Mrs. Zhong with his usual cheerful smile. Thankfully for him, he was the type of person who was almost never in a bad mood, including during the mornings. The only other teenager he lived with, however, was not so fortunate.
     As per usual, here came Mrs. Zhong's son, Chenle, stumbling down the stairs. Renjun swore the poor boy would break his nose one day. After all, the Zhong boy seemed to have such terrible luck. It was unfortunate, really, but so fun to watch.
     "Good morning, honey!" Mrs. Zhong called and Chenle gave a muffled scoff in return.
     "It's never 'good' when it's morning, Mom," Chenle grumbled.
     Renjun had to stifle his laughter with a piece of toast, quickly shoving it into his mouth to avoid being slapped by the younger boy. Chenle and his family were sweet but you didn't want to mess with the young Zhong when he was cranky. He could be quite ruthless when it came to tickle torture.
     "Oh, shit," Renjun muttered when he finally took notice of the time.
     "Sorry, Mrs. Zhong!" He quickly apologized before cramming one last piece of toast into his mouth. He knew the Zhongs disliked cursing but they understood when a word slipped out during a moment of panic. Still, he thought it only respectful to apologize, even though the incident was purely accidental and quite rare.
     Jumping out of his seat, he ran over to hug Mrs. Zhong before waving good-bye and bolting out the door with his backpack slung lazily over his shoulder. It was only 6:30 but he had a forty-minute jog ahead of him and he couldn't be late for his first day of school. The Zhongs could've driven him to school, as they did with Chenle, but he refused every time that they had offered because he didn't have the money to pay them for it and he would feel guilty if he let them take him anyways.
     So, there he was, running to school with a jam-covered piece of toast in his mouth as he sped down the sidewalk at 6:35 A.M. How flattering. Surely, this would be his best school day yet.

~

     It was 7:00 A.M. when he finally got to school and the parking lot wasn't full yet. That was a good thing for him but he had been standing there doing nothing. Soon, it was 7:15 A.M. and he had fifteen minutes to get to his locker, sort out his things, and rush to his first class. Easy, right?
     Well, it would've been, if a car hadn't pulled up right in front of him as soon as he was about to walk to the school's front door. You see, Renjun has this... thing with cars. A fear of them, actually. If he sees one move, or even thinks he does, he freezes up and can't go anywhere.
     Time passed quickly. First, 7:15 went by and then it was 7:20. He had ten minutes left until his very first class started but he was just standing there in the parking lot while the other students looked on. Chenle was most likely already in his first class because his parents liked him to be punctual, so Renjun was on his own... or, at least, he thought he was.
     "Hey, kid, you alive in there?"
     Renjun was snapped out of his frightened trance when he heard a voice and his eyes opened to be met with a hand waving in front of his face. He gave a gentle push to the stranger's hand, moving it away from his face, and saw beautiful brown locks of hair. When his vision focused on the face in front of him, he blushed and took a step back. Why was this boy standing so close?
     "Hello? Are you okay?" Even his voice is pretty, Renjun thought.
     The small Chinese boy cleared his throat and straightened the straps of his backpack, which had somehow fallen off of his shoulders, before slightly tilting his head up to meet the taller boy's eyes. "Uhm... Thank you but I'm alright. I, uh, guess I'll be heading to class then."
     The taller boy smiled and stepped to the side so that Renjun could pass him but not before speaking one last time. "You'd better hurry, new kid. It's 7:25."
     "Oh, shit!" Renjun took off, speeding his way through the halls to find his locker before entering his first class which, thankfully, was right across the hall from his locker. He ended up being nearly two minutes late. What a great way to start of the first day of a new school year.

TO BE CONTINUED.

[A/N:] I hope that anyone who has read this has enjoyed it so far and I'll try to keep up with a schedule for this project. I suspect I'll aim for a weekly update, most likely on either Wednesday or Friday. Anyways, this was a bit of a write-now-and-worry-about-editing-later kind of thing, so, I do apologize if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. If you do happen to find any, however, feel free to comment and let me know where they are, so that I can go back into editing and have them properly corrected.  Until next time.
- Jasper