Higher Society (2b/?)
Title: Higher Society
Main Characters: SHINee (+minor appearances from TVXQ/JYJ and other kpop groups)
Main pairing: Jongkey/others
Chapters: (2b/?)
Genre: AU/School/Angst/Life
Rating: R [up to NC17 later on]
Warnings: Liberal teenagers, language, substance usage/abuse, the story is slow-paced so it takes a while to see your pairing appear. x) DARK FANFIC IS DARK. K
Forewords: Plain and simple, we’re young and indestructible. When you’re young, bored, and have money to spend, what is there left to do but live your moment while you can?
Disclaimer: This fanfic does not reflect any of my own views. I don’t approve substance abuse, neither do I want to justify it. This is just a story about the mistakes/experiences that kids these days go through. I don’t own the characters, settings etc. The idea of this fic may be inspired by existing shows/books etc, and any similarities to other fan-fics are purely coincidental. The events that occur don’t represent the actual places mentioned. This is a work of pure fiction.
A/N: This story does not take place in Korea. Shinee are all Asian Americans here. This is my first fic, I hope you don't hate me. D:>
Trailer | Prologue | 1 | 2a | 2b
Chapter 2b: Taemin
[a/n:] Pretty much, half of this chapter is 2a in Taemin’s perspective, and the other half is introducing Key and them. Longer chapter too! 3,075 words :D I hope you guys like it~ I apologize for my lateness. :/
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I pretended to be brave on our way to school. I pretended to be brave this whole trip. If there were anyone in this world who could read me well, they’d see how scared and miserable I was here in this town of strangers, but I had to be strong for once and just put up with it.
My first period class was English, AP composition and literature, and the students weren’t mean or anything. They were a little quiet, but they didn’t seem to care much about my presence. I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though. My first period teacher, Mr. Klien, was a dull man. He made us read and do papers on our first day; before and after the welcoming assembly-which was very interesting, by the ways. The student council looked wonderful during the assemblies. They looked like the perfect, model students. They were beautiful, nice and likeable. I couldn’t help but admire each one of them, but most of all, the first speaker. He looked like a jolly teddy bear. His smile was adorable and I had a strange urge to hug him. I looked up to him without even knowing him. I found Jonghyun looking around, probably looking for me, but he never found me and so I had to sit by a bunch of strangers in my grade. They were so…quiet. Why were the sophomores in this school so quiet? Did they not like me? Did they think I was weird?
Silently observing the students in my first period class, I realized that they were all either really tired, or really depressed. I felt sad because nobody made an effort to actually be my friend and so I ended up just working on the papers that the teacher gave us. By the end of the class, we already had homework, reading a “short story” (my ass, it was eight pages long) and to write a response. We had to do it to review the things we learned last year or something. The rest of my classes went by the same; boring teachers, quiet students, immediate work, it was kind of depressing. I now understand why everyone looked so unhappy. I realized that our hallway resembled a prison, just the slightest bit.
I know that Jonghyun feared the beginning of the day the most, but my dreaded moment was lunch time. Just think of it, you’re a new student to a school, in a small town with a small and tight-knit community. Everyone was already best friends, and you’re just the odd one out. I had a weird fear that nobody would like me and that I would end up in the boy’s rest room for lunch; so when the lunch bell rang, you can imagine how my heart dropped in terror. My stomach turned as I slowly walked out of the classroom, hoping that anyone would be nice enough to invite me to sit with them. It didn’t happen. I sighed and walked to the cafeteria alone, sadly. The sophomore class’ quietness was definitely not a good thing for me.
The cafeteria wasn’t big at all, but it still looked pretty empty. That probably has something to do with the fact that the school is open campus, so students can leave for lunch. If I could only drive, I really would. And then I remembered that I still had Jonghyun, and this situation is exactly why I decided to move at the same time as him.
I stood at the very long lunch line as strange, unfamiliar faces surrounded me. Everyone was happily greeting each other and reuniting with their old friends. I felt so out of place. I had no friends to greet. Don’t get me wrong; I’m greatly independent, I don’t need people around me, but being a loner in a room full of people made me feel so…uneasy. I felt like everyone was watching me. They were all judging me; the new kid with no friends. They all probably think I’m a loser. Maybe, they think I’m alone because something was wrong with me. I saw many eyes flicker my way in curiosity and I scratched the bridge of my nose. This was a recently discovered habit of mine. I scratched the bridge of my nose or my eyebrows whenever I feel awkward, even to the point that it hurt. When I caught I caught myself doing this, I forced myself to stop, since the only result of such an act was probably going to be embarrassing pink lines on my face. Afterwards, I didn’t even notice that I was furiously wringing my hands until my palms started to hurt. I really needed to cut my nails.
I began scanning the room for where my cousin could have been. I almost cried when I couldn’t find him, but then a second before my tears fell, he walked in along with the adorable guy from earlier. The adorable guy was smiling brightly once again, as he talked to Jonghyun. I tried to signal Jonghyun with telepathy, and to my own surprise, it actually worked…maybe. Whether or not it was my amazing super-powers that caused it, I caught Jonghyun’s eye and he smiled and waved at me. The adorable guy looked at me too, and it looked like Jonghyun was pointing and saying something about me. For goodness sakes, I just wanted him to stand beside me so that I didn’t look like a stupid loner. Jonghyun said something to the guy and walked over to me.
“Jeez, finally… My day was hell, nobody talked to me,” I whined when he reached me.
“That’s why you start conversations,” Jonghyun replied.
“Noooo,” I whined more, “What if they get annoyed? What if they think I’m weird? What if they don’t like me?”
“Stop over reacting, Minnie,” Jonghyun shook his head, “You can’t always be the one approached. Stop being so shy and try to make friends. It’ll make life so much easier,”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I said angrily. I’ve never been a social butterfly. Jonghyun patted my back. I know that he’s trying his best to help me, he just doesn’t understand the way I see things. Words hurt me a lot more than others perceive. Some call it an ‘inferiority complex’, or in short, I have severe Social Anxiety. Technically, I’m extremely afraid of embarrassment and am heavily conscious of how others me. It really hurt to be criticized and to be accused with “overreacting”, and it really made me sad because I knew that Jonghyun knew this.
“I’m sorry Min. I just want you to feel more comfortable here. I know you’re scared,” He said softly, with apologetic eyes. No, he didn’t know. But that’s okay, we’re family anyways. I forgave him.
“It’s okay, hyung,” I smiled immediately, in hopes that I didn’t hurt his feelings. I know how soft he gets when I actually show respect by calling him ‘hyung’. I changed the subject, “So, how’d you meet your new friend?”
“Who, Onew? We’re not really friends; he’s just helping me out since I’m a new student and all. Why, nobody even offered to help you out?”
“Nope,” I sighed, “The sophomores are kind of anti-social,”
“Oh, maybe you’re all going through the same phase,” He joked.
“Ha-ha,” I rolled my eyes. Douche. We both got our lunch and sat down at an empty table. I wondered why Jonghyun didn’t sit by Onew but then I realized that Onew’s table was already full, and oh my god, they were the most beautiful, well-groomed group of people I’ve ever seen. They all sat around the table casually, talking and laughing like they were the only ones in the room. Some of the friends that Jonghyun made in music history sat with us. I was impressed to see that Jonghyun had made a lot of friends already. How come I can’t do that? Jonghyun introduced me to them, and I happily talked to them in hope that I could make at least one new friend. I was glad to find that one of them was a sophomore too, his name was Jay. They kind of just pushed us to be friends, but neither of us complained.
Before he left, Onew shouted a goodbye to Jonghyun, an action that which for some reason widened the eyes of the people who were sitting with us.
“Whoa, you’re friends with Onew?” One of the guys sitting with us asked.
“Not really. Doesn’t he kind of talk to everyone?” Jonghyun asked.
“That’s true…I guess…”
“Why do you look so surprised?” Jonghyun asked.
“Well, their group is kind of…well I guess you’ll find out on your own,” A girl named Sarah tried to explain. We finished our lunch early and decided to walk around the building, but the bell rang after just a few minutes and we all ended up going off to our classes. Jay walked with me; he was a pretty nice guy. It turns out he was Korean too and that we had a lot in common. We both really liked dancing and performing and we were both obsessed with grades. We also had the same English teacher, just different periods, and we both agreed that we hated his class. It’s funny how all of this information was learned throughout a three minute walk to different classrooms, but I finally felt better. After that, I only made one other friend, since I was partnered with her in science. Her name was Minji, and she one of those friendly people that just talked to everyone. She was really nice though. I felt almost content; at least I had two people in my own grade that I can talk to.
When the school day finally ended, I got my stuff and went to Jonghyun’s locker. As we made our way out of school doors, Onew called out to Jonghyun for the second time today. He and his group were sitting right in front of the school, on some benches and by some trees, where the stoners were sitting earlier. Interestingly enough, Onew’s group and the stoners merged into one big intimidating bunch of High School students.
“Um…yes?” I could tell Jonghyun was nervous, but he walked closer to the group anyways. I trailed behind him, almost using him as a shield to hide myself.
“Oh, I just wanted to introduce you and your…brother?”
“Cousin,” Jonghyun corrected.
“Right, you guys to my friends. They’re shy, but they wanted to meet the new kids-“
“Shut up, Lee Jinki,” The blond guy, who I recognized to be the student body president, snapped while pushing Onew’s shoulder.
“Stop calling me that!”
“It’s your name, stupid,” the blond mumbled, turning his attention to us, “Hey, if you guys didn’t catch it earlier, I’m Key,” He smiled.
“I’m Jonghyun but I guess you can call me Jjong,” Jonghun smiled back.
“I’m-I-I-I’m Min,” I stuttered with a lot less confidence than I planned. And yes, throughout our lives in America we’ve always gone by the names Jjong and Min especially to our teachers since we didn’t have American names.
“Nice to meet you guys,” Key nodded, shaking our hands. He introduced us to the rest of them, and I recognized one of the athletes (all of the athletes that already passed their sports’ tryouts during the summer were required to wear their jerseys for the first day, as explained in the assembly earlier, and making it obvious who the jocks were). He was the guy I saw through Jonghyun’s car’s window when we first arrived in this town. The hot tank-top guy!
“Hey, I’m Minho,” The tank top guy introduced. Yeah, he was definitely hotter up close. He was tall, slim but built; he had very big eyes and short black hair. He was the only one to catch my eye, the rest of them, I didn’t really care about.
“I like your matching outfits,” Key laughed in a cool manner. I felt heat crawl to my face in embarrassment. I knew that wearing matching outfits was corny.
“I know, our outfits are cute right?” Jonghyun replied in a jokingly cocky way, making the group laugh.
“You’re so lame,” I shook my head in embarrassment at Jonghyun. The group laughed more.
“So I’m guessing this was Mr. Jjong’s idea?” Key laughed. I nodded, puffing up my cheeks, “You’re so adorable!” Key laughed more, pointing at my cheeks, “No really though, you guys seem really cool and I really do like your clothes since you guys don’t dress depressed like how most of this school does. Good job,” He said proudly.
“Uh, thanks…I guess?” Jonghyun scratched the back of his head, giving an eye-smile; a smile that he shows when he’s confused or awkward and wants to be polite.
“Listen, if you guys ever down to hang, tell us, we can show you around. In fact we have a ‘back to school party’ this Friday If you guys are interested,” Key said enthusiastically. So here they were; the first clique trying to claim the new kids.
“Party? I’m not sure if we can this weekend, since we still have some settling to do, but we’ll let you know. Thanks for inviting us though,” Jonghyun replied.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” Key said sadly, his eyes flickering to me, and then back at Jonghyun.
“We’ll try though,” I uttered quietly. They seemed like nice people, and it’s a good opportunity to make new friends. Key beamed at us.
“Good! If you guy can, just tell us, we’ll give you a ride and everything, consider us your welcoming wagon! You guys have cell phones? Let’s exchange numbers,” Key said cheerfully, taking out his phone. Jonghyun looked at me hesitantly, and we both pulled out our phones. Onew exchanged numbers with Jonghyun first, so I was faced with Key. The aura that he exerted made me feel so small, even though I was a good inch or so taller than him. He intimidated me so much. He gave me a big smile that I couldn’t describe. It was not warm, and it was almost fake-looking, but the enthusiasm in his eyes was true. It was scary. I handed him my old, green Sony Ericson w580i, and felt like a loser again as he handed me his fancy htc, covered carefully with what seemed like hundreds of gold and silver rhinestones.
“I love your phone. I had one like this in eighth grade, it’s one of the best phones out there,” Key smiled.
“Really?” I replied wrinkling my nose. He chuckled and easily navigated through my phone while I, on the other hand, did not know how to work his. Finding out that I couldn’t get passed the home screen, he helped me put my number in his phone, not looking annoyed at all like I had feared he would be. In fact, his smile became more sincere and soft; his admittedly attractive dimple even showed. He had me smiling back as he returned my phone to me. I bet he thinks I’m a stupid kid. I suddenly found Onew’s itouch shoved into my face.
“Me too~” He grinned. I couldn’t suppress a small laugh. I gladly exchanged numbers with the adorable upperclassman. Meanwhile, Key and Jonghyun exchanged numbers, and I heard Key laughing loudly, commenting on Jonghyun’s old school Motorola.
“These things are really indestructible aren’t they? I remember having this during my elementary school days,” I heard Key laugh.
“I’m in to classics,” Jonghyun shrugged, I could hear the smile in his voice. He liked it when people recognized his old school things. He’s such a weird guy. Through this exchange, I realized that the two seem like close friends already. I wanted Minho’s number, but I didn’t ask, because he might think I was weird or something. I glanced at him at what seemed to be the same time that he decided to look at me. Before I could look away, he smiled.
“It was nice meeting you guys,” He said, looking at both me and Jonghyun. We both nodded and left them.
“Wow, I think they like us,” I said excitedly. Jonghyun pinched my cheek, but I could only smile more.
“Taemin!” I heard someone call. I looked back to see a smiling Jay, wearing a lopsided snapback, running towards me, “Hey, you met Minji right?” I realized that she was trailing right behind Jay.
“Oh yeah, we had a class together,”
“I heared!” He grinned, “Hey, you like to dance right? We’re kind of in this little dance group thing and we were wondering if you wanted to dance with us sometimes. We usually just dance in the foyer after school on Wednesdays,”
“Oh…um, I think I can do it,” I said, glancing at Jonghyun who nodded encouragingly at me, “But shouldn’t you guys see if I’m at least good? Like, what if I really sucked or something,”
“That’s nothing to worry about, we can always teach you. It’d just be nice to have more people, and plus, I can introduce you to some of my friends, so that your sophomore year can be a little less lonely,” he laughed. I punched his shoulder.
“Whatever, yeah I’ll come see you guys on Wednesday,” I rolled my eyes.
“Yay, Minnie’s going to join us,” Minji, cheered. I laughed. We said goodbye and separated ways. Jay was a really nice guy. I learned that he’s one of those people that just automatically make you feel comfortable around them. I was thankful to find him and have him as my first actual friend in this school. My day would have been absolute hell without him.
Jonghyun and I continued on our way home, and he seemed happy for me, even bringing up a bunch of dancing topics. Dancing was a hobby that I gave up in order to do better in academics and being someone who deeply believed in hobbies and passion, Jonghyun encouraged me to get back to it. I was touched by his efforts. I had such nice people around me all the time, I feel bad that they have to deal with me. I couldn’t be this type of person to any of them.
<--Prev.[2a] ||| Next[ch,3]-->
Main Characters: SHINee (+minor appearances from TVXQ/JYJ and other kpop groups)
Main pairing: Jongkey/others
Chapters: (2b/?)
Genre: AU/School/Angst/Life
Rating: R [up to NC17 later on]
Warnings: Liberal teenagers, language, substance usage/abuse, the story is slow-paced so it takes a while to see your pairing appear. x) DARK FANFIC IS DARK. K
Forewords: Plain and simple, we’re young and indestructible. When you’re young, bored, and have money to spend, what is there left to do but live your moment while you can?
Disclaimer: This fanfic does not reflect any of my own views. I don’t approve substance abuse, neither do I want to justify it. This is just a story about the mistakes/experiences that kids these days go through. I don’t own the characters, settings etc. The idea of this fic may be inspired by existing shows/books etc, and any similarities to other fan-fics are purely coincidental. The events that occur don’t represent the actual places mentioned. This is a work of pure fiction.
A/N: This story does not take place in Korea. Shinee are all Asian Americans here. This is my first fic, I hope you don't hate me. D:>
Trailer | Prologue | 1 | 2a | 2b
Chapter 2b: Taemin
[a/n:] Pretty much, half of this chapter is 2a in Taemin’s perspective, and the other half is introducing Key and them. Longer chapter too! 3,075 words :D I hope you guys like it~ I apologize for my lateness. :/
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I pretended to be brave on our way to school. I pretended to be brave this whole trip. If there were anyone in this world who could read me well, they’d see how scared and miserable I was here in this town of strangers, but I had to be strong for once and just put up with it.
My first period class was English, AP composition and literature, and the students weren’t mean or anything. They were a little quiet, but they didn’t seem to care much about my presence. I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though. My first period teacher, Mr. Klien, was a dull man. He made us read and do papers on our first day; before and after the welcoming assembly-which was very interesting, by the ways. The student council looked wonderful during the assemblies. They looked like the perfect, model students. They were beautiful, nice and likeable. I couldn’t help but admire each one of them, but most of all, the first speaker. He looked like a jolly teddy bear. His smile was adorable and I had a strange urge to hug him. I looked up to him without even knowing him. I found Jonghyun looking around, probably looking for me, but he never found me and so I had to sit by a bunch of strangers in my grade. They were so…quiet. Why were the sophomores in this school so quiet? Did they not like me? Did they think I was weird?
Silently observing the students in my first period class, I realized that they were all either really tired, or really depressed. I felt sad because nobody made an effort to actually be my friend and so I ended up just working on the papers that the teacher gave us. By the end of the class, we already had homework, reading a “short story” (my ass, it was eight pages long) and to write a response. We had to do it to review the things we learned last year or something. The rest of my classes went by the same; boring teachers, quiet students, immediate work, it was kind of depressing. I now understand why everyone looked so unhappy. I realized that our hallway resembled a prison, just the slightest bit.
I know that Jonghyun feared the beginning of the day the most, but my dreaded moment was lunch time. Just think of it, you’re a new student to a school, in a small town with a small and tight-knit community. Everyone was already best friends, and you’re just the odd one out. I had a weird fear that nobody would like me and that I would end up in the boy’s rest room for lunch; so when the lunch bell rang, you can imagine how my heart dropped in terror. My stomach turned as I slowly walked out of the classroom, hoping that anyone would be nice enough to invite me to sit with them. It didn’t happen. I sighed and walked to the cafeteria alone, sadly. The sophomore class’ quietness was definitely not a good thing for me.
The cafeteria wasn’t big at all, but it still looked pretty empty. That probably has something to do with the fact that the school is open campus, so students can leave for lunch. If I could only drive, I really would. And then I remembered that I still had Jonghyun, and this situation is exactly why I decided to move at the same time as him.
I stood at the very long lunch line as strange, unfamiliar faces surrounded me. Everyone was happily greeting each other and reuniting with their old friends. I felt so out of place. I had no friends to greet. Don’t get me wrong; I’m greatly independent, I don’t need people around me, but being a loner in a room full of people made me feel so…uneasy. I felt like everyone was watching me. They were all judging me; the new kid with no friends. They all probably think I’m a loser. Maybe, they think I’m alone because something was wrong with me. I saw many eyes flicker my way in curiosity and I scratched the bridge of my nose. This was a recently discovered habit of mine. I scratched the bridge of my nose or my eyebrows whenever I feel awkward, even to the point that it hurt. When I caught I caught myself doing this, I forced myself to stop, since the only result of such an act was probably going to be embarrassing pink lines on my face. Afterwards, I didn’t even notice that I was furiously wringing my hands until my palms started to hurt. I really needed to cut my nails.
I began scanning the room for where my cousin could have been. I almost cried when I couldn’t find him, but then a second before my tears fell, he walked in along with the adorable guy from earlier. The adorable guy was smiling brightly once again, as he talked to Jonghyun. I tried to signal Jonghyun with telepathy, and to my own surprise, it actually worked…maybe. Whether or not it was my amazing super-powers that caused it, I caught Jonghyun’s eye and he smiled and waved at me. The adorable guy looked at me too, and it looked like Jonghyun was pointing and saying something about me. For goodness sakes, I just wanted him to stand beside me so that I didn’t look like a stupid loner. Jonghyun said something to the guy and walked over to me.
“Jeez, finally… My day was hell, nobody talked to me,” I whined when he reached me.
“That’s why you start conversations,” Jonghyun replied.
“Noooo,” I whined more, “What if they get annoyed? What if they think I’m weird? What if they don’t like me?”
“Stop over reacting, Minnie,” Jonghyun shook his head, “You can’t always be the one approached. Stop being so shy and try to make friends. It’ll make life so much easier,”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I said angrily. I’ve never been a social butterfly. Jonghyun patted my back. I know that he’s trying his best to help me, he just doesn’t understand the way I see things. Words hurt me a lot more than others perceive. Some call it an ‘inferiority complex’, or in short, I have severe Social Anxiety. Technically, I’m extremely afraid of embarrassment and am heavily conscious of how others me. It really hurt to be criticized and to be accused with “overreacting”, and it really made me sad because I knew that Jonghyun knew this.
“I’m sorry Min. I just want you to feel more comfortable here. I know you’re scared,” He said softly, with apologetic eyes. No, he didn’t know. But that’s okay, we’re family anyways. I forgave him.
“It’s okay, hyung,” I smiled immediately, in hopes that I didn’t hurt his feelings. I know how soft he gets when I actually show respect by calling him ‘hyung’. I changed the subject, “So, how’d you meet your new friend?”
“Who, Onew? We’re not really friends; he’s just helping me out since I’m a new student and all. Why, nobody even offered to help you out?”
“Nope,” I sighed, “The sophomores are kind of anti-social,”
“Oh, maybe you’re all going through the same phase,” He joked.
“Ha-ha,” I rolled my eyes. Douche. We both got our lunch and sat down at an empty table. I wondered why Jonghyun didn’t sit by Onew but then I realized that Onew’s table was already full, and oh my god, they were the most beautiful, well-groomed group of people I’ve ever seen. They all sat around the table casually, talking and laughing like they were the only ones in the room. Some of the friends that Jonghyun made in music history sat with us. I was impressed to see that Jonghyun had made a lot of friends already. How come I can’t do that? Jonghyun introduced me to them, and I happily talked to them in hope that I could make at least one new friend. I was glad to find that one of them was a sophomore too, his name was Jay. They kind of just pushed us to be friends, but neither of us complained.
Before he left, Onew shouted a goodbye to Jonghyun, an action that which for some reason widened the eyes of the people who were sitting with us.
“Whoa, you’re friends with Onew?” One of the guys sitting with us asked.
“Not really. Doesn’t he kind of talk to everyone?” Jonghyun asked.
“That’s true…I guess…”
“Why do you look so surprised?” Jonghyun asked.
“Well, their group is kind of…well I guess you’ll find out on your own,” A girl named Sarah tried to explain. We finished our lunch early and decided to walk around the building, but the bell rang after just a few minutes and we all ended up going off to our classes. Jay walked with me; he was a pretty nice guy. It turns out he was Korean too and that we had a lot in common. We both really liked dancing and performing and we were both obsessed with grades. We also had the same English teacher, just different periods, and we both agreed that we hated his class. It’s funny how all of this information was learned throughout a three minute walk to different classrooms, but I finally felt better. After that, I only made one other friend, since I was partnered with her in science. Her name was Minji, and she one of those friendly people that just talked to everyone. She was really nice though. I felt almost content; at least I had two people in my own grade that I can talk to.
When the school day finally ended, I got my stuff and went to Jonghyun’s locker. As we made our way out of school doors, Onew called out to Jonghyun for the second time today. He and his group were sitting right in front of the school, on some benches and by some trees, where the stoners were sitting earlier. Interestingly enough, Onew’s group and the stoners merged into one big intimidating bunch of High School students.
“Um…yes?” I could tell Jonghyun was nervous, but he walked closer to the group anyways. I trailed behind him, almost using him as a shield to hide myself.
“Oh, I just wanted to introduce you and your…brother?”
“Cousin,” Jonghyun corrected.
“Right, you guys to my friends. They’re shy, but they wanted to meet the new kids-“
“Shut up, Lee Jinki,” The blond guy, who I recognized to be the student body president, snapped while pushing Onew’s shoulder.
“Stop calling me that!”
“It’s your name, stupid,” the blond mumbled, turning his attention to us, “Hey, if you guys didn’t catch it earlier, I’m Key,” He smiled.
“I’m Jonghyun but I guess you can call me Jjong,” Jonghun smiled back.
“I’m-I-I-I’m Min,” I stuttered with a lot less confidence than I planned. And yes, throughout our lives in America we’ve always gone by the names Jjong and Min especially to our teachers since we didn’t have American names.
“Nice to meet you guys,” Key nodded, shaking our hands. He introduced us to the rest of them, and I recognized one of the athletes (all of the athletes that already passed their sports’ tryouts during the summer were required to wear their jerseys for the first day, as explained in the assembly earlier, and making it obvious who the jocks were). He was the guy I saw through Jonghyun’s car’s window when we first arrived in this town. The hot tank-top guy!
“Hey, I’m Minho,” The tank top guy introduced. Yeah, he was definitely hotter up close. He was tall, slim but built; he had very big eyes and short black hair. He was the only one to catch my eye, the rest of them, I didn’t really care about.
“I like your matching outfits,” Key laughed in a cool manner. I felt heat crawl to my face in embarrassment. I knew that wearing matching outfits was corny.
“I know, our outfits are cute right?” Jonghyun replied in a jokingly cocky way, making the group laugh.
“You’re so lame,” I shook my head in embarrassment at Jonghyun. The group laughed more.
“So I’m guessing this was Mr. Jjong’s idea?” Key laughed. I nodded, puffing up my cheeks, “You’re so adorable!” Key laughed more, pointing at my cheeks, “No really though, you guys seem really cool and I really do like your clothes since you guys don’t dress depressed like how most of this school does. Good job,” He said proudly.
“Uh, thanks…I guess?” Jonghyun scratched the back of his head, giving an eye-smile; a smile that he shows when he’s confused or awkward and wants to be polite.
“Listen, if you guys ever down to hang, tell us, we can show you around. In fact we have a ‘back to school party’ this Friday If you guys are interested,” Key said enthusiastically. So here they were; the first clique trying to claim the new kids.
“Party? I’m not sure if we can this weekend, since we still have some settling to do, but we’ll let you know. Thanks for inviting us though,” Jonghyun replied.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” Key said sadly, his eyes flickering to me, and then back at Jonghyun.
“We’ll try though,” I uttered quietly. They seemed like nice people, and it’s a good opportunity to make new friends. Key beamed at us.
“Good! If you guy can, just tell us, we’ll give you a ride and everything, consider us your welcoming wagon! You guys have cell phones? Let’s exchange numbers,” Key said cheerfully, taking out his phone. Jonghyun looked at me hesitantly, and we both pulled out our phones. Onew exchanged numbers with Jonghyun first, so I was faced with Key. The aura that he exerted made me feel so small, even though I was a good inch or so taller than him. He intimidated me so much. He gave me a big smile that I couldn’t describe. It was not warm, and it was almost fake-looking, but the enthusiasm in his eyes was true. It was scary. I handed him my old, green Sony Ericson w580i, and felt like a loser again as he handed me his fancy htc, covered carefully with what seemed like hundreds of gold and silver rhinestones.
“I love your phone. I had one like this in eighth grade, it’s one of the best phones out there,” Key smiled.
“Really?” I replied wrinkling my nose. He chuckled and easily navigated through my phone while I, on the other hand, did not know how to work his. Finding out that I couldn’t get passed the home screen, he helped me put my number in his phone, not looking annoyed at all like I had feared he would be. In fact, his smile became more sincere and soft; his admittedly attractive dimple even showed. He had me smiling back as he returned my phone to me. I bet he thinks I’m a stupid kid. I suddenly found Onew’s itouch shoved into my face.
“Me too~” He grinned. I couldn’t suppress a small laugh. I gladly exchanged numbers with the adorable upperclassman. Meanwhile, Key and Jonghyun exchanged numbers, and I heard Key laughing loudly, commenting on Jonghyun’s old school Motorola.
“These things are really indestructible aren’t they? I remember having this during my elementary school days,” I heard Key laugh.
“I’m in to classics,” Jonghyun shrugged, I could hear the smile in his voice. He liked it when people recognized his old school things. He’s such a weird guy. Through this exchange, I realized that the two seem like close friends already. I wanted Minho’s number, but I didn’t ask, because he might think I was weird or something. I glanced at him at what seemed to be the same time that he decided to look at me. Before I could look away, he smiled.
“It was nice meeting you guys,” He said, looking at both me and Jonghyun. We both nodded and left them.
“Wow, I think they like us,” I said excitedly. Jonghyun pinched my cheek, but I could only smile more.
“Taemin!” I heard someone call. I looked back to see a smiling Jay, wearing a lopsided snapback, running towards me, “Hey, you met Minji right?” I realized that she was trailing right behind Jay.
“Oh yeah, we had a class together,”
“I heared!” He grinned, “Hey, you like to dance right? We’re kind of in this little dance group thing and we were wondering if you wanted to dance with us sometimes. We usually just dance in the foyer after school on Wednesdays,”
“Oh…um, I think I can do it,” I said, glancing at Jonghyun who nodded encouragingly at me, “But shouldn’t you guys see if I’m at least good? Like, what if I really sucked or something,”
“That’s nothing to worry about, we can always teach you. It’d just be nice to have more people, and plus, I can introduce you to some of my friends, so that your sophomore year can be a little less lonely,” he laughed. I punched his shoulder.
“Whatever, yeah I’ll come see you guys on Wednesday,” I rolled my eyes.
“Yay, Minnie’s going to join us,” Minji, cheered. I laughed. We said goodbye and separated ways. Jay was a really nice guy. I learned that he’s one of those people that just automatically make you feel comfortable around them. I was thankful to find him and have him as my first actual friend in this school. My day would have been absolute hell without him.
Jonghyun and I continued on our way home, and he seemed happy for me, even bringing up a bunch of dancing topics. Dancing was a hobby that I gave up in order to do better in academics and being someone who deeply believed in hobbies and passion, Jonghyun encouraged me to get back to it. I was touched by his efforts. I had such nice people around me all the time, I feel bad that they have to deal with me. I couldn’t be this type of person to any of them.
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