RETROGRADE PLANET

➳ 1.4 | detention

FOR A DETENTION FIRST-TIMER, Jinyoung's more annoyed than anxious. It's all Jaebeom's fault that he's in this mess - heading to the auditorium at the end of last period instead of heading home. What a load of bullshit.

"Hey, Jinyoung!"

He knows it's Mark before he even turns around. Jinyoung lifts his chin in acknowledgement as Mark catches up and they fall into step with each other.

"Where are you going?" Mark asks, bumping shoulders with his best friend, "I thought we could hang out tonight, you know, do homework, or play some video games?"

"I've got detention," Jinyoung grumbles, barely looking at him. "Sorry." He's still in an awful mood from earlier, uniform covered in dried banana milk, emotionally conflicted between wanting to punch Lim Jaebeom's lights out and wanting take him home to keep him safe from the world.

Mark instantly turns into that dissatisfied little pouting puppy, a whine creeping into his voice as he tugs on Jinyoung's arm. "Aw, why?" he asks. "You never get detention. And we always hang out after school..."

Jinyoung just sighs. "Yeah, well, there's really no getting out of this one," he says. "I'm pretty sure Mr Kang will fail me in literature if I don't show."

"Why did you even get detention anyway?" Mark frowns, skipping along to keep up with Jinyoung's brisk strides. He casts his eyes over Jinyoung's clothes and the frown deepens. "What happened to your uniform?"

"Long story."

"And why do you smell of banana?"

They reach the auditorium and Jinyoung pries his arm out of Mark's iron grasp. "I'll see you tomorrow in homeroom," he tells him, "Gotta go." On that note, he ducks through the auditorium doors, leaving Mark confused on the steps outside.

Inside, the hall is dim, the stage lights illuminating the rows and rows of plush velvet seats, and the draping crimson curtains framing the stage space. A small throng of students are gathered in the front row, some perched on the edge of the stage, all of them chatting away in a loud chorus of laughter. Jinyoung hesitates, leaning against the heavy open door.

Surely not all of these people have detention... do they?

"Sorry, the Mathletes have been and gone," calls one guy with a shock of hair that's been bleached to death, "You've just missed them."

"Shut up, Minhyuk, maybe he's here for the auditions," says one of the girls, giving the first guy's chest a back-handed slap.

Auditions.

Jinyoung instantly feels duped. Of course Mr Kang would trick him into coming to the auditions like this. Just because Jinyoung is competent at reading in class, doesn't mean he automatically wants to perform Romeo and Juliet in front of a live audience. Not that he will. Fixing the rest of the students (who he quickly realises are all the school's resident theatre kids) with a steely glare, he shifts from foot to foot, waiting for Mr Kang to arrive.

If this is really what's in store for his detention, then Jinyoung is ready to firmly refuse.

At that instant, Mr Kang steps out onto the stage from the wings, holding a hefty pile of scripts in his arms. He waves Minhyuk off the edge of the stage and stops in the centre to address them all.

"Alright, thank you all for coming," Mr Kang says, projecting his voice just loud enough for Jinyoung to hear at the very back of the auditorium. He glances up with a brief smile. "Come and join us, Jinyoung!"

Shit. For a moment then, Jinyoung thought he had a chance at escaping. Heaving a sigh, he reluctantly approaches the group, making his way down one of the aisles between the seats. He sits a few rows back from everyone else, and there's a brooding look resting on his face.