3000 Stars

School

"Kim Taehyung! What was that?!"

Taehyung sighed, turning around and scowling at Hoseok. It was taking all his willpower to keep himself from rubbing his eyes. The contacts itched worse than the healing cut on his back, and the bruises from his visit to the arena had barely healed. So much for the first day of school.

Hoseok laughed. "Told you you should have bought the nice ones," he said, slapping Taehyung on the back right where the cut was. "Anyway, did you hear about the schools combining?"

"Yes," Taehyung said, squeezing his eyes shut to keep from rolling them. The contacts hurt, but they were a safety measure until he could control his powers-- which meant he would be wearing them for the rest of his high school career, because there was no way he was going to use his powers again. Nothing he posted to his FaceUpp account could change the 10-K score. It was like the universe had it out for him. That, or everyone was conspiring to make sure his score stayed that way. Was this some kind of torture?

Hoseok sighed, squeezing his shoulder. Again, on the wound. Taehyung let out a long sigh, opening his eyes.

"It'll be okay," Hoseok said. "Just figure it out, and you don't have to wear them anymore."

"Sure," Taehyung said. Hoseok shook his head, grabbing his arm, and tugged him forward, down the hall.

"We've gotta see if anyone's been shifted out of our class!"

Taehyung let himself be dragged along, mind drifting. It didn't matter to him who got into their class or didn't. Their class wasn't top or bottom in scoring, just average, and there were no popular students to giggle and coo over either. Even the 10-Ks in the school didn't get much attention, but perhaps that was because they all had terrible personalities. The two schools had combined because almost no one went to either of them anymore, and they needed the students in order to continue funding their teachers. That meant Taehyung got a free nap no matter which class he was in.

He was brought back to reality by Hoseok's excited cheering. He looked at the class listing and groaned. He was with Hoseok, Jungkook, Yoongi, and Namjoon. Forget it. Class would be too noisy to sleep in.

Why couldn't he avoid the arena anywhere?

Hoseok dragged him to class, and Taehyung found a seat in the back, right by the door. It was his best chance at escape. Unfortunately for him, Hoseok sat down right next to him, then eagerly beckoned Jungkook over to sit in front of him.

Taehyung put his head down on the desk and prayed for it to end.

He hated everything. First his parents had asked him to log back into his account so his power would be accessible in case of an attack, then Hoseok had shown up at his house with a bunch of stupid questions about answering his phone, then he had been talked to sleep by all three of them when all he wanted was to spend the night figuring out what to have V post next, in order to maximize his power. Once one made it into the 10-Ks regularly, speed was everything. The timing and subject of the pose could make the difference between max power and barely peaking.

If Taehyung was going to enter the tournaments, he needed all the power he could get.

Now everyone around him was making a racket. He still felt raw from the previous night's panic attack, and he wanted nothing more than to leave, to just stand up and walk out of the school. But they would call his parents, and his parents would demand to know what had happened.

And he couldn't go back to that therapist again. He just couldn't.

"Tae? You okay?"

Taehyung resisted the urge to flip Hoseok off and nodded, wrapping his arms around his head and keeping it on his desk. He heard Hoseok addressing Yoongi and Namjoon, but he didn't lift his head. He could survive this day. He would survive this day. He just had to make sure he didn't get into any arguments.

"Hey, Taehyung," Yoongi said.

Taehyung grunted.

"I have this club I go to, to practice fighting," Yoongi said. "They said they'd be willing to help you out. There's a few illusionists there."

"I'm not going to go to some arena club," Taehyung snapped. "Go away."

"Hoseok already told us the contacts are irritating. It shouldn't take that long to control your powers, should it? Just a couple sessions."

"No!" Taehyung said. He stood, shoving his chair back, and left the classroom without looking at any of his friends. He wished he could slam the door. As he got further away, he started walking faster and faster, until he found himself on the stairway to the rooftop, panting, hands pressed to his eyes. He fumbled for his phone, logging out of the app, and used the selfie camera to take the lenses out, letting out a shuddery breath.

He was so stupid. Now he would have to go back down to the classroom, enter while the teacher was trying to start the lesson, and endure Hoseok's concerned glances for the rest of the school day. It would feel so much better to just ditch and catch up on his homework and assignments later.

He didn't want to talk to anyone. He just needed space, preferably fifty feet of it in every direction.

"Taehyung?"