"and your last period class is through this door. room 109. i suggest not being late to this one over the others because the teacher has gotten quite strict within his elder years." a soft spoken voice directed, standing to the left of room 109 with his books gripped tightly in his arms.
jung jaehyun; the student who thrives to be first in everything he participates in. mark already knew that much from the last half an hour.
mark nodded his head and pursed his lips into a straight line, letting his eyes linger on his last class' door before dropping his gaze. the look on his face was annoyance; he didn't want to show himself as weak by needing help navigating around the school. despite the fact that this was clearly his first time inside the building, he tore himself down inside of his mind with the fact that he should've printed off a layout of the school and had it memorized it by now. that's what his mother would've liked - an academically smart kid who would be able to make a good living with his brains and family wealth.
"thanks for showing me around." mark spoke up, trailing his eyes towards the elder boy. it was clearly jaehyun's last year of high school due to the sticker of a graduation cap pressed onto his notebook. it was a bit tacky in mark's opinion. the first time he noticed it was when they were introducing themselves and mark had to hold back a snicker to prevent himself from coming off as an impolite person.
it wasn't hard to do so because he was a canadian boy who had only been taught korean mannerisms a few hours before his flight.
"you know where i am if you need any other help. i don't have classes first period so you could always find me in the library if you absolutely needed it." jaehyun reminded, rocking back and forth on his heels. there wasn't really much to talk about after the tour was finished but jaehyun wasn't sure how to leave without making things awkward. he stood there for what had felt like an eternity - however it was only ten seconds - before jaehyun scurried down the hall, keeping his head held high despite his lack of confidence.
with no one in sight, mark let out the snicker he had been holding since he first entered the building. he felt way too superior to be in the school; he had money, brains, talents, and looks, and yet this was the school he was attending. "such bullshit," he grumbled, letting his smile fall as soon as jaehyun was out of sight. ten minutes later and he was standing outside of his first period class, a lack of expression on his face until people come into his view.
——
donghyuck had his priorities set the moment he had sent jeno that final message last night. he was planning on maneuvering his way inside of mark's circle of friends, become close with him, then give him a good taste of revenge. to donghyuck, he had a strong feeling that this would play out exactly as he hoped it would.
"are you sure you want to go through with this? i don't want you to come crawling back to me when the whole school ends of hating you because this failed miserably. mark has a following here whether you like it or not, hyuck. he has status." renjun reminded, occasionally glancing over at his friend who was leaning against the locker beside his in deep thought. they had stopped at donghyuck's locker first, made their way to renjun's, then would enter their first period classroom together which was across the hall. it was a layout they had perfected since the beginning of the semester.
"fuck off, don't underestimate my idea, renjun. i've been thinking about this all night." donghyuck huffed, the tips of his fingers turning white as his grip on his textbook tightened. renjun gave donghyuck a rather harsh kick to the the shin to break him out of those thoughts. "fuck, fine. if you're going to doubt this then i'll go ahead and do it without letting you in on it. not like you were going to help me in any way." he added, peeling himself off of the lockers before he crossed the hallway and walked right into his first period class. donghyuck kept his eyes focused on what was in front of him with his eyebrows furrowed in determination.
renjun just sighed and grabbed the last few things he needed out of his locker, then closed it with a small slam. he leaned his head forward, pressed it up against his locker, and studied the dirt covering the tip of his shoe. "god help him. he's thinking he's helping in some stupid way. jeno shouldn't have given him any stupid ideas."
——
with eyes as wide as a deers, donghyuck rushed through the cafeteria doors and went straight towards the table that sat his best friends. renjun, jeno, and jaemin all sat huddled together while sparking up conversations that ranged from the latest episode of an anime they were all watching to what answers they got for their math test last period. donghyuck couldn't care less; he interrupted them with a slam of his books onto the table. "he's canadian." he breathed out.
jeno was the first to lift his head up, his eyebrows furrowed together as he tried to take in the information he was receiving. "who is? the new guy?" he asked, causing a scoff to fall out of renjun's mouth. "of course he's talking about him. it's almost like he's in love with the idea of having a rich transfer student in our school."
"what the fuck are you guys even talking about?" jaemin bit off a piece of his cookie and munched on it while his eyes darted around the three others' faces. donghyuck let out an exasperated sigh and took a seat at the edge of the bench, forcing jaemin to scoot himself down a bit. "i'm talking about that new student who had messaged the entire school at once last night. he was being a complete snob." he explained, pulling out his phone to show jaemin proof of the message as if he were a lawyer in court. jaemin just laughed and ripped off another piece of his cookie to put it into his mouth. when he noticed how serious the other was being, his smile immediately dropped.
"oh come on, hyuck. you know people don't give two shits about that. there are people attending this school with all different yearly incomes. it seems like you're the only one who gives a flying fuck." jaemin shrugged his shoulders, continuing to munch on the cookie he had purchased at the beginning of their lunch break. renjun nodded his head and chewed on a piece of sausage he had brought from home; delicious leftovers from last nights' dinner.
jeno chewed on the side of his cheek for a moment, his eyes darting around uneasily. the last thing he wanted for his other friends to think of him any differently because his opinions went against theirs. jaemin especially had no idea what on earth all of this had meant and wouldn't hesitate to judge one of his friends because of their insane ideas. jaemin was that type of person, and jeno knew that. it was so much easier talking about these sorts of things when he was privately messaging donghyuck. gulping thickly, jeno reluctantly spoke up. "am i the only one who is actually on board with hyuck on this?"
donghyuck immediately stood up with balled fists and slammed them against the table, his eyes shining bright. renjun seemed the least bit phased between the three other boys, rolling his eyes at donghyuck's insanity. "fucking finally!" he triumphed, so focused on the fact that he at least had some support from one of his friends to acknowledge the weird looks he was getting from the other students. "i knew i could always count on you, jeno. fuck what jaemin and renjun think, right? you and i will give him what he deserves."
before any of them even had a chance to think of how they were going to reply, a loud crowd of students entered the cafeteria all huddled together like a wolf pack. the leader, who had quite a youthful face, had two attractive girls close by his sides while he lead them towards one of the empty tables at the back of the cafeteria. donghyuck's lips parted as he watched the pack in awe, jealously beginning to flow throughout his veins. "that's him." he whispered, his eyes narrowing the further away the crowd got. it was almost sickening to watch how they all scurried to sit as close to mark as possible.
it was not that donghyuck despised mark as a person - he really didn't know him well enough to have an opinion on him. however, it's the fact that mark has status and wealth that got donghyuck's blood boiling. he craved that; envied that; he wanted to so badly have a status and to be recognized that it was causing donghyuck to begin acting out. the more he stared over at mark, the more determined he became.
donghyuck and jung jaehyun were quite different in many ways - the two of them never really getting along in the past - but the one thing they have in common is their determination to win.
and donghyuck will win.
