[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Future Lessons

Xioajun wiped his sweaty palms off on his jeans, taking a deep breath before saying anything. Taeil, Johnny, Yuta and Taeyong were closing up the cafe for the night, focused on what they were doing rather than wondering why Xiaojun was just standing there watching them.

"How did you know what you wanted to do?"

"What?"

"After high school. How'd you know what to do?"

Yuta dropped his rag into the soapy water, wiping his hands on his apron.

"You realize we all just work here and haven't actually done anything with our lives, right?"

Xiaojun paused, rethinking his choice of people to ask. Maybe he should've gone with Mr. Suh. Too late now.

"Yeah, you guys all copied me. I've been saying I'd work in the cafe since it opened and when it came time to make a life decision you all decided to do the same." Johnny pointed out, Taeyong scoffing.

"Not true. I've still been doing all my volunteer work this whole time."

"Oh that's where you go?" Taeil asked, genuinely having just now learned this.

Taeyong and Taeil started bickering as Xiaojun just stood there and watched. The question had been bothering him for a few days now, but this wasn't what he was expecting to happen when he actually asked it.

"None of this is helping him!" Johnny interrupted, and Yuta pulled out a chair at a table and motioned for Xiaojun to sit.

Taeyong and Taeil reluctantly stopped their bickering, sitting down at the table. Yuta pulled up another chair as Johnny took the last one at the table, squatting on it instead of sitting properly.

"Okay, now what was the question? I forgot."

"How'd you know what you wanted to do after high school?"

At this point Xiaojun was starting to think he wasn't going to get a serious answer and was already going through a scenario with Mr. Suh in his mind, but surprisingly he didn't need it.

"I think the point is almost all of us are still figuring it out, and that's okay. If you need extra time you can always stay here and help out until you know." Taeyong said.

"And if this is your calling working here, that's fine too." Johnny added in, and that should've been very reassuring.

Except that wasn't going to give him an answer to put on the paper he had to turn in to the school.

"Okay... but how did you know?"

"That's the point, we don't." Yuta restated, and Xiaojun groaned.

"But everyone else seems to know in my class! And I've got a form to turn in asking what I'm doing in life when I can't even decide what to eat for lunch!"

Taeyong pulled Xiaojun into a hug to calm him down, Yuta grabbing his hand as Taeil got up to get him a cookie.

"Do Lucas, Mark and Hendery know what they want to do?" Taeil asked, placing the cookie in front of him on a napkin.

"I already asked them. Mark is deciding between joining the music place down the street and teaching guitar lessons or moving somewhere to be a watermelon farmer, Lucas wants to work at that chewing gum factory not too far from here as a joke, and Hendery says he knows but he won't tell us. I think he's going to join the pirates in Somalia because he's been doing a lot of research about them recently."

"It sounds like they're just making up stuff to put down." Johnny pointed out, and Yuta started shaking his head.

"No, they're pretty serious. I've heard them talk about to for awhile now."

"I'm the only one that doesn't know." Xiaojun bitterly took a bite of his cookie, even more upset that it was actually making him feel better when he still wanted to be upset.

"Alright, then what are Kun, Doyoung and Ten doing?" Johnny countered, knowing they'd be the next to make a decision since they were seniors.

"Doyoung's got an internship lined up with a company, Kun's working on getting his plane flying license so he can work at the summer fairs that offer flights, and Ten has been teaching dance lessons at a studio for the past year."

All of this was news for almost all of them, unable to remember when any of this was said. Now they were starting to think they were the only ones who didn't actually have a plan to do something in life.

"Well then what about Jaehyun, WinWin and Jungwoo?"

"Jaehyun's working at the cafe, and WinWin and Jungwoo are taking on jobs at the animal shelter."

"Okay but-"

"I'd stop. You're not going to prove your point now." Taeil interrupted, Johnny leaning back in his seat with a huff.

"Out of everyone you just listed, you didn't think to ask one of them how they knew what they were doing in life?" Yuta questioned.

"You guys are the oldest. I thought you'd know."

The four all sighed, not sure how to answer him now. So Xiaojun just took another bite of his cookie.

"How about this: all of us will start looking into different jobs and things we can do with you. Except Johnny. We'll take you to tours and all those sorts of things so all of us can get an idea of what's out there. Then you won't be alone." Taeyong suggested, still hugging Xiaojun.

"Wait why do I have to adult now?" Yuta whined, Taeil right there with him on that train.

"Because I said so."

"Does that make you feel better? We can start with the cafe and work our way out from there." Johnny offered, and Xiaojun nodded after a moment.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Xiaojun! We need another person for rock paper scissors twister!" Lucas shouted up the stairs, giving Xiaojun the perfect opportunity to escape.

"You better not be playing with actual rocks, paper, and scissors!" Taeyong yelled back at him, letting go of Xiaojun.

When he didn't get an answer Taeyong went running down the stairs after Xiaojun just in time to stop Chenle from smashing a pair of scissors with a rock after he lost to Mark. After that they had to play just regular twister with an excessive amount of people.