School sucked. The next day, Taehyung had to sit back down in his stupid, weird new chair. Sitting in it felt like punishment.

   Taehyung had the very common fear of change. Like any normal person, he hated it. But he hated useless, stupid change far more. Irritated, he bit his lips and made up his mind not to pay attention to the class. Just to spite the principal, and maybe his parents, too.

   Yes, maybe he had been distracted lately. Maybe his friendship with Jeongguk had been having a bit of an impact on his grades. Maybe. But it was nothing that warranted doing this to him. Would've been nice if they'd just given him a warning first? Asked him to try to get back on track with his grades and pay more attention? Thinking about it again, Jimin's theory started to seem even more plausible. What if his father really had bribed the principal? After all, this wasn't truly about his grades.

   Lunch was hard because they couldn't all be together like they'd gotten used to. Everyone was frustrated, especially Jeongguk and Taehyung, sitting a table apart. They both had their best friends with them, but they all wanted to be together. Jimin kept looking over at the other table as he ate lunch with Taehyung. 

   "Jimin, it's okay. You can go sit with them if you want to."

 Jimin refused. "I'm sticking with you."

   There were more classes and more awkward, painful glances toward Jeongguk. More infuriated Jimin. More quiet sighs from all of them.

  However, as they packed up to go home and filed outside to get on the bus, Taehyung realized there would be no reason why he couldn't sit with Jeongguk on the bus. Even if there were any teachers that would tattle on him, they wouldn't be on school grounds, so he was free to interact with whoever he wanted. He'd be complying with the principal's orders, and there would be no way his parents would find out.

   Wearing a smile for the first time that day, he stood toward the back of the line while students piled into the bus. He saw Jeongguk up just a little ahead with Sorah. He saw Chul, too, cutting into the line right in front of Jimin, who swiftly delivered a solid jab to his little brother's stomach. With the line moving so fast, there was really no reason to cut, but because of that, no one actually cared that he did.

   But when he got on the bus, Jeongguk had already taken his seat, without a glance at him. He was quietly chatting with Sorah.

Oh. Nevermind then...

   He'd be lying if he said that didn't hurt a little, but maybe he was just overthinking it, as usual. He and Jimin sat a few rows up from them. The same old trees passed by them in the same old blur. Taehyung sighed. What a sucky day.

  The ride went pretty fast, as usual. Taehyung had to go back into that house and serve his time.

   "Wanna do homework togeth-" Jimin stopped himself. Taehyung nodded, his lips pressed into a thin, disappointed line.

    "I wish. I'd rather not have my dad come out and make a scene in the middle of the neighborhood, though." He sighed again. "Well... see ya. Gotta go be grounded now."

    "We can do it over text if you want!" Jimin called as Taehyung walked slowly toward his house.

    Taehyung turned back for a moment to answer. "You know that doesn't work for you!" He chuckled. He was right. They had tried to do homework together over text in the past and they only ended up more confused than they would have been if they did it alone.

   "Okay, true, but we can still text!"

    "Thanks, Jimin." Taehyung knew he was doing his best to be there when he literally couldn't be there for him. He opened the door and stepped inside, quickly removing his shoes. He didn't bother to check if anyone was home. He headed straight for his room. He didn't know what kind of reaction he would have to seeing his parents at the moment. He really didn't want to cry. There were just so many conflicting feelings having a slap fight inside him and seeing his mother give him a cold stare might just cause a meltdown. Plus, he was very angry at her anyway, not to mention his father.

    Alone, he quietly slid his backpack off and emptied the contents onto the floor. He meant to start on homework but ended up staring out the window for a good ten minutes while his brain decompressed. He watched the leaves of the tree Jeongguk had pointed out wave in the light breeze.

   Eventually, he tore his eyes from the tree and knelt on his floor to begin doing practice problems for Algebra 2, while doing his best to fight off a multitude of focus-stealing thoughts and feelings.

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 °

PEOPLE.

I

GOT

MY

IPAD

TODAY

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa im so excited frick but i haven't opened it yet cuz im waiting for my sister to get home from work

once i get the hang of drawing on it i can start making stickers >:)