[24th December]
"Did you guys have fun hanging out yesterday?" Silas sulked. The class would be commencing in fifteen minutes and only the twins and I were present at the moment.
They gathered around my table, Nick seated on the window sill next to me and Silas on Ethel's vacant seat. "It wasn't a hang-out. It was a project discussion." that was true, though I wasn't going to tell him we hardly got any work done.
"Still!" he swayed his hands in the air.
"Y'all went somewhere! It must've been so exciting and entertaining." Silas crossed his arms and I glanced at Nick in difficulty.
"We did our project at our house," Nick stated plainly. I stifled a laugh and stretched my hand to give the younger twin a pat on his head.
"There, there. We'll get to hang out soon, alright?" he groaned exasperatingly as he rested his head on his palm.
"We can't even go to the carnival anymore. Where else can we even go?" at the mention of the carnival, I stiffened up.
"W-we'll find somewhere to go. We have a lot of homework to catch up on too!" I spoke.
"I wonder if Jay would let us go to his place," Nick suddenly sounded. Silas immediately cheered up.
"I'll convince him!" he volunteered with a grin.
As if on cue, Jay and Ethan shuffled into the classroom with weary sighs. "Jay!!" Silas cooed and made a beeline towards the brunette who was baffled.
"...what do you want?" Jay grew suspicious of the male who clung onto his arm with puppy eyes.
Ethan chortled before coming over to Nick and me. "What's Silas on about?" he asked and took Ethel's seat.
"He's trying to persuade Jay to let us go to his house." the three of us watched in amusement. Abruptly, Dylan and Ethel came through the door.
Silas cheered, raising a fist in the air with delight. At the same time, Ethel was marching over to his seat. We all froze in our spot when Silas' fist hit Ethel right in the nose. I raced over to the crouching male.
"Oh my god, I-" Silas' face fell in shock, hands over his mouth.
"I'm okay," Ethel muttered and moved to stand up. His nose was a little red but that was it, fortunately.
I swiftly kicked Silas in the leg and advised him to be cautious next time. Silas whimpered, nodding apologetically. "There goes my chance to befriend him," he had grumbled. I regarded Jay's glance at me as I followed Ethel to our seats.
He opened his mouth to speak. "Johnny, can I talk to you-?"
"Some idiot mounted a snowman in my front yard and I had to break it down this morning," Dylan grunted, throwing his bag onto his seat. Ethan and I exchanged knowing glances and suppressed laughs.
"Snowman?"
"Yeah! They even stuck oak sticks to its sides!" Dylan groaned. Why was he so frustrated? It was sort of hilarious.
Ethan got up from Ethel's seat and moved to sit beside Nick on the window sill.
"Did you keep the scarf, though?" he questioned Dylan with a cheeky grin.
"Of course-wait," Dylan glared at the eldest.
"I didn't say there was a scarf. Was it you!?" he pointed an accusing finger at Ethan. The others turned to him with wide eyes as they awaited his response.
"Well, it was actually Johnny's scarf!" they swiftly turned to me wider eyes.
"Uh, oops?" I chuckled as Dylan's eyes twitched.
"You little-!"
"Johnny! Can I talk to you?" Jay interrupted whatever Dylan was about to do. I stared at him, concerned and perplexed.
"Uh, sure." I wandered over to him and we made our way out to a vacant classroom.
"...what's wrong?" I fiddled with my tie as I observed him take a seat on a table. Jay had a frown on his face. He looked away with a soft sigh.
"I'm jealous."
I blinked. "W-what?" I was flustered but worried at the same time. What was there to be jealous about? He pouted as he hopped off the desk to stroll over to me.
"Jay-?" I backed onto a wall and he confined me in between his arms. My breath hitched when he laid his head on my shoulder.
"Pay attention to me,"
he mumbled, followed by a low whimper. I chuckled, bringing my hands to his hair to play with it. "What even is there to be jealous about?" I patted his cheeks and made him look at me. His frown deepened as he softly glared at me.
"You're always talking to the others!" Jay whined before placing a tender kiss on my cheek. I blushed a deep red and held my face in shock.
"What?" he furrowed his brows at that and got impossibly closer.
"Is it uncanny to give affection to my boyfriend?" he then kissed my nose and my temple. I let out a small squeal and pushed him away.
"S-stop!"
Jay simply hummed in denial before pecking my lips. It was a butterfly park in my stomach. He traveled down to my neck and I gasped. "J-Jay! We're going to be late!" I yelped when he lightly sucked on the skin. He didn't budge.
"Jay!"
"There we go." he finally pulled away with a triumphant smirk. I stared at him in dismay.
"What-?" my eyes widened in realization.
I slapped a hand to my neck and gasped. "You did not!" I looked for my phone and angled the screen to my neck. I gasped again.
He sucked a hickey on my neck!!
"Jay!!" I hissed at him.
"I can't go to class like this!" I groaned frustratingly but Jay only shrugged with a grin.
"I did say I was jealous! Had to do something about it." he grabbed hold of my hand and lightly tugged on it.
"Let's go back to class," my eyes widened.
"What? No!"
"Class begins in three minutes. What are you going to do in that amount of time?" Jay raised a brow, a victorious smirk established on his face. I glared at him in defeat.
Fuck it.
"Johnny...? What are you doing?" Dylan stared at me with judging eyes. I ignored him and awkwardly shuffled to my desk. I was holding the collar of my blazer up to my neck to hide the mark. Jay wasn't very thrilled about it. Dylan proceeded to watch me until our homeroom teacher-whom I finally got to know the name of from Jay- marched through the door.
"...Johnny, are you okay?" Mr. Kim suddenly asked and everyone turned to me. My cheeks glowed red. I quickly nodded.
"I'm okay!" I tightened my hold on the blazer and turned to Jay. He was smirking at me with his head leaned on his hand. I internally cursed at him.
"Okay, class. There'll be a lot of writing in this class so bear with me," writing!? I furrowed my brows in difficulty. Jay was intelligent, everyone knew that. But I didn't know he was such an...intellectual.
He knew I was left-handed and left the mark on the left side of my neck. I grumbled under my breath and switched my left hand with my right. It was a struggle, but it had to be done. Then I made a sudden realization.
Johnny and I were both left-handed? Or was my assumption incorrect and Jay wasn't as clever as I had thought? I tilted my head. It was probably just a coincidence.
Suddenly, Mr. Kim settled his textbook on his desk with a thud. "Johnny," he addressed, a brow raised at me. I got anxious.
"Yes?"
"What are you trying to conceal?" his voice was loud and clear.
"N-nothing!"
"You look really uncomfortable right now. I can't go on knowing one of my students is in difficulty in my class," I visibly gulped. There was no way out of this.
I was about to open my mouth when Mr. Kim spoke again. "Would you be more at ease to personally tell me your issue outside of the classroom?" he pointed to the door. Sighing softly, I nodded before leaving my seat to follow him out. I sent a glance at Jay and he had furrowed brows, not assuming it would escalate this far.
Well, it did. Now I'd have to clarify that I had a HICKEY ON MY NECK.
"To put it simply, I have a hickey on my neck," I immediately told him after he shut the door. He stared at me with wide eyes.
"...assuming you know what a hickey is," I added after moments of silence between us. He waved his hands at me.
"No, I'm just...surprised," he let out a laugh.
"You kids these days." he shook his head before feeling for something in his back pocket. I sighed in relief when he passed me a plaster. It had chicken prints but I didn't question it.
"Thank you so much." I sighed and put it on securely.
"Who is it?" Mr. Kim wiggled his brows at me. I was taken by surprise. I didn't expect a teacher to be interested. But then again, Mr. Kim was only in his late 20's, he can get curious at times.
I glanced around the hallway before whispering it to him, skeptical if he would be acceptable or not. "It's Jay." Mr. Kim was stunned for a second but he smiled at me, his lips turning into a heart shape.
"Well,
I'm rooting for the both of you," he patted my shoulders and I grinned back at him.
"Thank you." that was very encouraging.
"Now, let's head back to class." Mr. Kim nudged his chin towards the classroom and I nodded.
"Moving on! We'll be starting a new topic today on quadratic equations." Mr. Kim immediately announced when we stepped into the room.
"It's rather challenging if I say so myself, so pay attention! Stop me any time if you need help." I rushed back to my seat. Ethel glancing at me with a brow raised.
"Were you injured?" he turned around immediately after I passed him, regarding the plaster.
"Yeah, a while ago. I was a purple bruise so it was embarrassing." I grazed my finger over the plaster.
"Are you sure it was an injury?" Ethel gave me a knowing smirk.
"No..."
-
"We have twenty minutes left of class, so I'll have you paired up and work on this packet." Mr. Kim waved a booklet in his hand and we groaned. More work? Oh my god...
My classmates started going around and Jay even stood up to make his way to me when Mr. Kim whistled to stop us. "This time, I'll pair you up," he carefully rocked a transparent box with small paper pieces inside.
"What!?" students protested and sighed but to no avail. Mr. Kim was steadfast as he shook the box again with a grin on his face.
One by one, all of us left our desks to get a piece of paper. To make this fun, Mr. Kim had instructed us to open it only after everyone had taken their seats. With the last person done, our teacher smiled and placed the box on the ground. "Open up!" he gestured for us to do so. After a few seconds, the classroom was filled with calls for certain numbers, followed by groans and cheers.
I've not opened mine yet as I stared at Jay anticipatingly. His lips thinned as he read his paper. He looked up at me and shook his head.
I watched him go up to the class president of our class when she called for a number four. I scoffed. How unfair, two intelligent people working together.
I chewed my lip as I read my paper. Number seven. "Uh...seven?" I yelled as I glanced around. Someone, in particular, perked up much to my dismay.
I internally screamed as I observed the pink-haired boy make his way to my desk with his pencil case. I didn't even know what to say. This was so inopportune! "Uh, Rikki?" he glanced up from his paper, his monolid eyes made his stare more intimidating than it should've.
"Don't...don't you need a calculator?" we were doing a Math worksheet, after all. Rikki scoffed as he clicked on his pen.
"I'm not in the mood for jokes." he simply said before moving to work on the first question. I furrowed my brows in puzzlement. I wasn't fooling? I shrugged and just assumed he was some Math genius.
He was.
Rikki finished the packet in eight minutes. He tossed it in my direction before returning to his seat without a word. What in the world? Mr. Kim reviewed the questions and my mouth hung open in shock.
He got a hundred percent on this packet.
I peered at Rikki over my shoulder. He was napping on his desk, his head turned away from me. I rubbed my chin as I scanned through his papers again. He didn't require a calculator at all.
I must've looked so feeble-minded clicking on all the buttons and still getting the questions horribly wrong.
"Class dismissed!" Mr. Kim announced and the class became rowdy in a split second. Dylan sighed from beside me as he watched Rikki leave the classroom. He turned to me after that.
"Should I go talk to him?" he inquired.
"Uh..." what do I say??
"Sure," I blurted out and almost slapped a hand across my mouth.
"Alright." Dylan stood up before going after Rikki. I whacked my forehead after that. It was only ten in the morning and it was already havoc for me. I shouldn't have come to school today!!
"Are you okay?" the twins came by to perch on the window sill. Jay and Ethan followed after. Ethan fist-bumped Ethel and I raised a brow at the both of them. When did they become so comfortable?
"I'm fine." I rested my head on the table with a sigh.
"Also, what was that thing earlier? What were you trying to hide?" Silas pulled away from his little juice box. I glared at Jay who stood by my side in silence. He dared not say anything as he averted his gaze around the room.
"It was nothing." I gritted my teeth and hoped for them to move on to another topic.
"Right! About yesterday-!" Ethan immediately struck a hand over his mouth with wide eyes. Jay and I turned to glare at him. The twins grew more fascinated by our reactions.
"I want to go to your grandma's antique store again!" Ethan saved himself, suddenly turning to Ethel.
Ethel was surprisingly always in our conversations nowadays. "Considering getting that mask? Grandma told me it's on sale." Ethel raised a brow at Ethan who winced and shook his head.
"Your grandma owns an antique store? That's so interesting," Nick hummed, impressed.
"Right! I was thinking," I spoke and all of them turned to me.
"We should go get Christmas decorations and stuff after school! It will be so much fun!" Silas grinned at the idea.
"We're going out!" he looked like a kid being offered candy.
"Ethel, you can come too!" Ethel immediately declined.
"I'm on chore duty today," he reasoned.
"I heard there was a Christmas-themed street about five hundred meters away from here." Nick was on his phone with Silas looking over his shoulder.
"Oh, the place looks astounding." Nick turned his phone over to show us the images. It was like those you'd see on the internet. Fairy lights, warm lighting, popcorn carts, children scampering around, and Santa seated at the center of the roundabout. Roundabout?
"How big is this place?" I asked and Nick withdrew his phone.
"Hm, it's pretty huge. If we're planning to go, we should tour together or in groups." we nodded at Nick's suggestion. As if on cue, Dylan and Rikki walked through the classroom door and Ethan bounced to them.
"We're going Christmas shopping!" he announced to the pair. Rikki seemed uncertain and that didn't go unnoticed by the eldest.
"Rikki, are you feeling well? You can skip the hang out if you want to." Ethan went to the youngest's side.
Rikki shook his head. "I'll go."
"Wonderful!" Silas clapped his hands in excitement. "Everyone's coming!"
He smiled at Ethel apologetically. "Maybe next time?" Ethel pursed his lips and nodded.
"Yeah, next time." Dylan didn't look very pleased with that. What was he doing with our friend group? He had thought.