seonghwa sat next to his best friend during his first period history class, not paying any sort of attention to what his teacher was talking about.

"i swear, how can someone go on and on about the cold war for this long? i feel like we've been on this topic for months." seonghwa huffed as he turned around to speak to san.

"this bitch can talk for hours, it's a shame we have her class so early in the morning." san shook his head, agreeing with his friend.

thankfully, the class was saved by the morning announcements. the warning bell rang through the loudspeakers and their teacher immediately stopped her lesson.

"ok guys, we'll finish the discussion tomorrow. listen to what the announcers have to say this morning." the boy's history teacher spoke and everyone in the class silenced so they could hear what was being spoken over the loudspeakers.

"good morning fellow classmates! this is kim seungmin and kang taehyun with the morning announcements!" seonghwa heard one of the boys speak, turning to see san rolling his eyes as the boy spoke.

"freshmen are too chirpy this early in the morning, i'm gonna put my head down and relax for a bit." seonghwa laughed at his friend's reaction and listened intently to the announcements as san lowered his head on his desk.

"we're glad to finally announce that tickets for our annual upperclassmen winter formal will be sold starting today and continuing for the entirety of next week! don't forget, the formal will be held in exactly two weeks, so make sure to ask that special someone and buy your tickets! they are ten dollars in advance, twelve dollars if you buy at the door the night of the event." one of the boys announced, finishing his short segment and handing the microphone to the other boy to continue speaking about the school's sports teams.

after the boy spoke, seonghwa's heart immediately dropped. he instantly realized he was in a predicament, one that would be nearly impossible to get out of.

that special someone? um...

completely opposite to seonghwa's reaction, san instantly lifted his head up and smiled widely at his older friend beside him.

"finally, the formal we've been waiting for since middle school! i'm pumped." san said to seonghwa, hitting him lightly on the arm as he spoke. seonghwa faked a smile, looking like one of pain more than one of excitement.

seonghwa was at a loss for words. even though they'd been waiting years for this night, he had completely forgot about the formal. he remembered seeing it on the school calendar months back, but he didn't think anything of the event at the time. the time was before seonghwa started seeing hongjoong.

seonghwa didn't know what to do. just yesterday, minho and jaehyun spoke to him about hongjoong and hongjoong's friends.

"you guys really want to put your reputation on the line for some high schoolers who still act like they're in first grade? sorry, even if that was blood, could never be me."

"good. we're just trying to look out for you, man."

their words stuck in seonghwa's head like glue, the type of glue you can't simply remove with moisture.

i really like hongjoong, i know that... but do i really want to take him to the formal with my entire grade? they will all know about us, that i'm practically dating someone like him, someone who's different... i don't think i'm ready for others to know i feel this way about him. there's no way i can take hongjoong to the formal. like jaehyun and minho said, it would be social suicide.

"um, hwa? you there?" san tapped seonghwa's arm to catch his attention, "aren't you excited?"

"oh wow, i just remembered! fuck, how did i forget? two weeks from today... i don't think i can go to the formal." seonghwa spoke without thinking, the words coming out like vomit.

"what do you mean? we've talked about this formal since middle school! what else could you possibly be doing that night that you have to miss the formal for it?" san raised his voice a bit, sounding very annoyed with seonghwa.

seonghwa froze in his spot. he hadn't thought this far in advance. in all honestly, he didn't even mean to say he couldn't make it to the formal... with or without hongjoong, seonghwa had full intentions to go to the formal. he had no excuse, no reason why he couldn't go, so he had to make something up quickly.

"it's uh, it's my aunt's birthday... yeah. she's turning fifty. it's one my mom won't let me miss. i'm sorry man, i really wanted to go too, but i just don't think i can." seonghwa lied straight through his teeth, putting a fake frown on his face as he spoke. san threw his hands in the air in annoyance, believing the words that came out of seonghwa's mouth.

"can you at least try to get out of it?" san begged seonghwa, leaning over and grabbing seonghwa's hands in his own and holding onto them tightly in a begging manner.

"i guess i can try, but no promises. this sucks." seonghwa shook his head. san huffed out and turned back to his desk to put his head down once again.

but i do want to go to the formal, i don't want to miss it... i just don't want to take hongjoong. i need to figure out a plan before hongjoong asks me about it, seonghwa thought to himself.

before the boy could think any further into a plan to get himself out of the sticky situation, the bell rang indicating the period was now over. seonghwa and san grabbed their bags and stood up, walking out of the classroom door.

rather than walking besides san as he usually did, seonghwa sped up a bit in an attempt to miss his friends. he just lied to san, and he didn't want to lie to the rest of them... especially jongho.

much to his dismay, seonghwa felt a tap on his shoulder as he was rushing to class. when he turned around, he was met up with none other than jongho.

fuck, he thought to himself as he put on a fake smile.

"hey man, why are you walking so fast? we all usually walk together to class." jongho asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"um, just wanted to get to class i guess." seonghwa plainly stated, avoiding eye contact with the younger.

"oh ok." jongho simply answered, sounding slightly confused by seonghwa's blunt response, "are you excited for the formal? i'm honestly not too thrilled about it. i have to buy tickets for a girl i'm mad at, love that for me." jongho sighed loudly, later looking around to make sure neither ryujin nor any of her friends were around him.

"damn, i'm sorry about that ho." seonghwa replied, putting a reassuring hand on jongho's shoulder as he spoke.

"no, it's fine. she just needs to learn how to be nicer to others. are you buying your tickets today too?" jongho asked seonghwa, making the older immediately turn his head around.

"tickets?" seonghwa repeated, emphasizing the 's'.

"yeah, tickets. you know, as in more than one? i just figured you'd be taking hongjoong, right?" jongho looked into his friends eyes and seonghwa immediately looked down again.

"well, i actually can't go to the formal." seonghwa said, not meeting jongho's gaze.

"why's that?" jongho asked, sounding a bit shocked at his friend's statement.

"it's my aunt's fiftieth birthday, we're going to a party for her that night. i feel horrible, especially because i know joongie will probably want to go... but i don't think my mom will let me get out of this one." seonghwa tried his best to continue the lie even though he felt terrible about what he was saying.

"i'm sorry man. i know my little joongie's gonna be devastated because of this, but i guess there's nothing you can really do about it." jongho frowned a bit, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke.

"yeah, nothing i guess..." seonghwa trailed off, entering his second period class without bothering to wave goodbye to his friend.

before the bell even rang, seonghwa walked straight up to his teacher to excuse himself. he ccouldn't be bothered to sit in class, he needed to clear his mind first.

"hey mr. cha, may i use the restroom?" seonghwa asked politely.

thankfully, his second period teacher was extremely chill with his students, "of course, mr. park. make sure to take the pass before leaving."

seonghwa grabbed the pass and quickly made his way to the school bathroom. he was glad to see no one else was in there, so he walked into a stall and quickly locked the door.

seonghwa ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. he was frustrated for a few different reasons; for lying to his friends, for giving in to minho and jaehyun's bullshit, and for letting hongjoong down... even though the poor boy didn't even know it yet.

but i want to go, i still want to go to the formal. how am i going to get around this without hongjoong finding out?

seonghwa didn't know what to do. he paced around the bathroom stall for quite some time, walking from side to side thinking of different ideas that could possibly work.

should i just tell the guys i don't want to take hongjoong? no, jongho would kill me for hurting him. maybe i should just take hongjoong? no, i don't want jaehyun, minho or anyone else to find out about us. should i just not go? no, i've been waiting for years for this night...

"whatever, i have to get back to class now." seonghwa whispered to himself as he walked out of the stall, making sure no one else was in the restroom before exiting and walking to his class.

on his way back to class, seonghwa continued thinking of ideas. they would pop in and be immediately thrown into the imaginary trash bin in seonghwa's brain, him hating every single one of the potential solutions.

suddenly, seonghwa thought of one perfect idea.

ok... so i'll tell everyone i can't go to the formal because of the party, and then last minute, it'll get canceled! since the party will be canceled so last minute, i won't be able to invite hongjoong... i'll have just enough time to buy myself a ticket at the door. then, when i get to the formal, i'll tell my friends what happened about the party. they'll definitely believe my story... they'll never expect a thing!

seonghwa smiled widely to himself, loving his idea inside and out. he thought it was flawless, completely bulletproof... like nothing on this earth could mess it up.

this dumb bitch... y'all aren't gonna be happy with this😔🔪

and i know this is kinda a weird thing to be happy about LOL but I GOT MY PERIOD TODAY AND I'M SO FRICKEN HAPPY!!! it's because i have prom in a week and 1. my dress is WHITE so that wouldn't have been good 2. it'll be really hot and i didn't want to deal with that and 3. i won't be bloated!!!! THANK GOD BROOOOO

-vic