[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

School Tour

Jeno fixed his hair in the bathroom mirror, his ribs hurting from how far bent over the counter he was to properly get it exactly as he wanted. With a quick look at the clock he then put his comb away and made sure his glasses were straight on his face, running out of the bathroom and skidding to a stop at the front door so he could put on the shoes he had just cleaned for tonight.

Normally for school tour night, kids came in with their parents and met with their teachers, putting away any supplies they wanted to that night. But Jeno's parents were out at a work party, leaving him on his own. So he was going to walk with Haechan to his school, put away his things and then go to Haechan's school with him. 

After that they were going to meet up with YangYang and the others and walk with Johnny around his middle school. This was the problem when your friends went to all different schools in the city, it made school functions like this very difficult to work out.

"Finally! There you are!" Haechan announced when Jeno approached the cafe, and the group turned to greet him even if they had just seen him less than an hour ago.

"I thought your parents were coming with us." Jeno noted when he saw the lack of adults, and Johnny shrugged.

"They didn't want to close the cafe early tonight, so it's just us. We ready to go?"

"Do I have to speak Korean at all times?" The boys sighed at Mark's question. He'd gotten better at not using English as much since Haechan constantly reminded him every time he tried to, but when it was just the cousins around Mark instantly switched.

"If I can't speak German or Chinese, you can't speak English."

"We'll meet you at the middle school then. See you in a bit." Haechan waved to the other four, putting his arm around Jeno and directing him in the opposite direction the others were heading.

Once they were well out of ear shot from the rest but not quite approaching Jeno's school, Haechan dropped his arm from Jeno's shoulders, stretching his arms above his head.

"Your parents are really letting you go alone this year? Don't they make you stick by their side while they give the teacher a run down of how awful you are?" Haechan scoffed.

"They're too focused on their favorite child starting school this year. They probably have a plan to pretend they don't know me if we run into them." Jeno frowned, giving his friend a side hug knowing that his parent's actions hurt when he acted like he didn't care.

"One day they'll wake up. One day."

The two entered Jeno's school and Haechan let him lead him around the building, unfamiliar with his current surroundings. They had met because they went to the same school in kindergarten, but they were separated when Jeno's family moved to the other side of the city, putting him in the school they were currently walking around.

They made sure to make it quick in getting Jeno's things settled in the classroom, not wanting to bring attention to the fact that they were the only kids in there who didn't have their parents right by their sides and chatting with the teacher. But when it came to Haechan's school and putting away his things, Jeno made sure to hype up his best friend during their introduction. If his own parents weren't going to, someone had to.

When they got to Johnny's middle school, they only had to wait a few minutes until they were rejoined with the rest of their group. Mark and YangYang were happily going over the plan they had made to meet up during lunch and recess, while the older two looked like they were ready for the night to be over.

"I'm thinking we deserve ice cream when we get home." Johnny mumbled, his only thoughts for the past couple of minutes having been the ice cream cones his Mom kept in the freezer.

"Well we can't do that until you've finished. Now let's go." Haechan grabbed Johnny's hand and dragged him into the crowded middle school, leaving Jaehyun to make sure no one got lost in the hallways as they followed him to his locker.

"Do we get to meet your teachers?" Mark asked loudly so he could be heard over all the noise, and Johnny scoffed as he threw his backpack in and slammed his locker shut.

"You'll hear enough about them through the year. I just want to go home."

And just as Johnny had been waiting for, the six of them ended up chilling in the basement, ice cream cones in hand as they enjoyed their last day of summer vacation.