[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Too Much Stress

"This is fine. This is fine. I'm okay." Jungwoo muttered to himself, leaving the classroom he was in for a bathroom break. He felt bad taking a bathroom break when he didn't technically have to use the bathroom, but he needed to get out of there.

Earlier that morning he had been hit from behind with a pop quiz that had made no sense and he only had ten minutes to complete it. Fifteen questions that made no sense in ten minutes. The only thing that could've possibly made that worse was if everyone else but him knew what was going on. And everyone else just had to know what was going on.

On top of that, he had a presentation he had to give in front of another class; the class he had just walked out of. Taeyong, WinWin and Haechan had helped him out with practicing for that, but after the pop quiz he was too stressed out to remember all the pointers they had given him. So he stumbled through a bit and was able to get through off of an unintended joke, but it was still replaying in his mind.

In other words, he really needed this break.

Upon entering the bathroom he went straight to the sink, splashing cold water on his face. He had no idea what that would do to destress him, but he thought it helped a bit.

Because there was no one else in the bathroom, he raised his arms above his head to stretch out, taking a few laps around the room.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm doing good." He repeated to himself in a whisper. If anyone had walked into the bathroom at that point they would've thought he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. They probably wouldn't have been too far off.

Not wanting to take too long in the bathroom and seem suspicious, he left to head back to his classroom. Really hoping that he wasn't going to come back in the middle of a presentation. That would just be awkward.

"Hey, Woo." Mark greeted, catching him off guard.

"Hey." Jungwoo smiled and then paused. "You don't go to this school."

"Running an errand for a teacher. Do you know where room 403 is?" Mark lifted the box of books he was struggling under slightly, and Jungwoo nudged his head as a signal for Mark to follow him.

"That's where I'm heading back to."

Before they could reach the door the sound of someone charging at them from behind stopped them, and Jungwoo had to catch Hendery from running into them. At least Jungwoo knew Hendery was supposed to be at this school.

"Hey guys! What's up?" He stood up straight as if nothing was unnatural about this, slinging an arm around Jungwoo.

"Dropping off books for a teacher. Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Yeah, but I saw you two and didn't want to be left out." He bobbed his head up and down slightly, recognizing by their glances that he should get back to class. "I'll be going back then. Love you, Woo." 

Hendery gave Jungwoo a quick hug and saluted Mark with a peace sign before he ran back down the hall to his classroom. The remaining two just smiled and entered Jungwoo's classroom so Mark could finally set down the box of books and so Jungwoo could actually be back in class.

Mark and Hendery had no idea, but they were a much better stress reliever than splashing cold water on his face. That and fidgeting with the bracelet on his wrist. Just replaying the hug he got was enough to get him through the rest of the day.