BREATHE - NOREN FF

A healthy mind yields a healthy heart.

Monday, August 20, 11:25 A.M.

Sitting in a classroom all day can really put things into perspective. Some students love it while others loathe it. Huang Renjun is somewhere in between. If he was sitting in the same room all day, that room being the art room, he'd be perfectly fine. But this wasn't the art room and he wasn't doing art.
Renjun was having to sit through what was possibly the most boring chemistry lecture that he had heard in his entire life. All this and it was just halfway through his first day of what was going to be a very long year of chemistry, algebra II, and a ton of other subjects that he just wasn't very fond of. Oh, how he loathed algebraic expressions.
The Chinese boy let out a quiet sigh and rested his chin in his hand as he glanced above the door of the classroom to check the clock. It had only been two minutes since he had last checked it and he wasn't sure how much more mathematical torture he could endure. If chemistry was supposed to be science, then why did it have so many numbers and formulas? It might as well have just been called "Environmental algebra."
For the last three minutes of class, Renjun decided to gaze out of the classroom's window. Luckily for him, the teacher had placed him right beside the largest one, so he had plenty of distractions in his sight. It was all perfect until a car pulled up right in front of him.
When Renjun froze, all he could hear was the car's engine. To him, it sounded like some ghastly beast straight out of a horror movie. Just as he was getting lightheaded, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was the boy from the parking lot.
"You know you can ask the teacher for a pass to go to the Nurse's office, right? You look like you're about to pass out."
Renjun didn't answer for a few seconds but when he did, his words came out in a mumble.. "I'm fine. Thank you."
"Mr. Q., would you mind writing up a pass to the nurse's office?" The boy called out. Renjun was too busy listening to his beautiful voice to notice what words he had actually said.
"Of course not, Mr. Lee. May I ask what for?"
"It's for the new kid. He said he felt like he was going to faint so I offered to walk down with him in case he did," the boy announced with a small smile.
"Oh. Well, that's very kind of you. Just go ahead and walk right on down to the nurse's office. You don't need a pass." The teacher was obviously showing favoritism but it didn't matter. Not yet, at least.
"Wait, what?" Renjun finally muttered. Before he could say anything else, the mysterious boy had already thanked the teacher and pulled Renjun into the hallway.
"The Nurse's office is just a few doors down from here," the boy explained. "We'll be there before you can even say 'buttermilk pancakes!'"
"What? Just wait a second!" Renjun halted, causing the boy's grip on his wrist to slip. He pulled his hands close to his chest and nervously rubbed them together as he searched for the words that he wanted to say.
"You don't have to be scared. The nurse doesn't give shots here," the boy chuckled.
His attempt to reassure Renjun only worked halfway. It wasn't needles the Chinese boy was scared of. To him, needles were much better than his actual cause for distress.
"I'm fine with needles," Renjun mumbled. He didn't want the cute boy from the parking lot to think that he was weird. His fear was, by far, the oddest thing ever to most normal people. Not even the Zhongs were fully aware of it.
"Then let's go..." The boy trailed off as he tried to remember the shorter one's name. What was it again?
"Renjun."
"Huh?"
Renjun giggled. What funny noises this boy made. "Renjun. My name is Huang Renjun."
"Oh! I, uh... I knew that. Yeah, I heard it during roll call." The boy cleared his throat before extending his hand towards Renjun, which the smaller boy cautiously took hold of.
"Lee Jeno," the boy smiled. "You can catch me after practice on Tuesday and Thursday if you ever need to. I'm on the baseball team."
"Oh, wow. That must be... fun?"
"Yeah, it is."
For a few moments, there was an awkward silence. It almost made Renjun cringe but he held himself back. He wouldn't want to scare the cute boy off with his weird expressions after the first day of knowing him.
"Let's go get you checked out then."
"Uh... Yep." Renjun sounded fine but, internally, he was cursing the heck out of himself. He had already managed to embarrass himself twice in front of this guy in a matter of hours. He wasn't keen on making it a third.

~

When they got to the nurse's office, the two boys just sat there. The nurse was with another student so they had some time to be alone. And that time was... well, awkward, to say the least.
"So, what's your thing with cars?"
Cars. That word alone struck fear into Renjun. Nearly ten years prior, he was in an accident. His parents didn't survive and he was entrusted to the Zhongs, who were his family's most trusted friends.
"Nothing," he muttered. It wasn't something he enjoyed talking about. He hated the memories, flashbacks, and feelings that were brought back when he spoke of the accident.
"Alright," Jeno sighed. "But just... remember that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to about it, or anything, really. Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, I'm here for three extra hours."
Just as Renjun had prepared his reply, the nurse walked in and broke the silence. "So, young man, what seems to be the problem?"
"I just got a little lightheaded in class, Ma'am."
"Alright," the lady muttered. She was scribbling words onto a paper attached to a clipboard. Probably just standard procedure for visits to the nurse's office, Renjun thought.
"Why don't you lie down for a while and you, young man," she turned to Jeno who was standing beside Renjun's bed before giving him an odd look, "had better get to lunch. It started fifteen minutes ago."
"Oh, crap. Sorry, Mrs. Walsh! Bye, Renjun." Jeno bolted out of the door almost as quickly as he had pulled Renjun out of their classroom and sped down the hallway toward the cafeteria. What a silly boy, that one.

~

Renjun had been lying down for twenty minutes and he was bored out of his mind. He had tried to occupy himself with simple games like 'I Spy' but they were no fun to play alone. Fortunately, he heard a soft knock on the door and looked over to find a smiling Jeno peeping through the window.
"I brought you a bagel," the boy announced as he stepped inside the door. He had struggled to open it at first but Renjun decided to get up and open it for him. "I hope you like apple juice."

TO BE CONTINUED.