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#good luck on your ap tests everyone!!!
ratislatis · 1 year
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just took a hunk of money outta my savings. I have never felt LESS alive
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anyhoo. time to work on my talent show submission
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promiscuouscutie · 2 months
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All Yours pt. 7
Ethan Landry x fem. Reader, reader is a little naive and Ethan’s obsessed, eventual smut
Warnings for this part: voyeurism, mentions of losing virginity, masturbation, Ethan having dirty thoughts lol, mentions of murder
You've never felt so ready to leave your math class. You usually lived and breathed statistics, but your mind was elsewhere in those sixty minutes. You thought about his hands on your hips, the way he looked at you with hooded eyes the night he kissed you. God, the way he kissed your jaw, trailing more down your neck to make you giggle at the feeling. You found yourself smiling down at your notes, thinking about how his kisses could make your stomach do flips endlessly. You couldn't believe you had a boyfriend. You couldn't believe Ethan Landry was your boyfriend.
The boy who was always there, willing to listen to you ramble. The boy you first met in Photography I at the beginning of the semester. Who would've known you both had taken AP Art throughout high school, getting the credits needed to take higher art courses in college? That truly was luck; Ethan didn't even know you existed until the first day of classes:
He got in the classroom early, picking a desk in the middle. Five minutes before class started, you rushed in, sweat dripping down your temple. You had gotten lost on campus, but it thankfully did not make you late. You eyed the room, finding yourself locking eyes with the curly-headed boy. You wiped the sweat from your face and walked right over to him with a soft smile on your face. He kept his eyes on you, his heartbeat picking up more and more as you got closer to him. And finally, you said your first words to him:
"Is anyone sitting here?"
He almost forgot he could even speak. He cleared his throat and replied "No. No one's sitting there." A simple answer to a simple question made him feel like he would pass out, getting taken off campus on a stretcher. But you sighed with relief and set your stuff on the desk. You told him your name, and he told you his. You said his name was cute, and he bashfully thanked you. Ever since then, he's wanted you to be his.
Your professor finally closed her packet up and turned the projector off, dismissing everyone. You were one of the first to stand, ready to leave the room, but a voice called your name. You turned to see Mia, a girl you had tutored in the past. She was always kind to you, and a very good listener. She thought your notes were a godsend, and you appreciated the compliment. You hadn't hung out so much outside of class besides tutoring, which you didn't mind. But the two of you would text: she'd send you pics of new jewelry she made, and you'd send her pics that you took around campus, adding to your photography collection.
"Do you even feel ready for this next test?" She asked.
"Sorta. It's kinda hard to think about a test when.."
"..When students are being murdered, yeah. I get the feeling," She finished your train of thought. You sighed, gripping the strap of your bag. Three had died so far, but who was to say the numbers wouldn't go up? It worried you greatly. It was impacting the morale on campus as well. Some students weren't showing up to their classes, afraid of getting hurt.
"I knew one of the students that got murdered," Mia admitted.
"Me too." The thought of Michelle came to mind instantly. As much as you didn't like her, you wouldn't have wanted her killed.
"He was nice, sorta. I mean, we talked about movies a lot. He had a thing for slasher films. Used to go on and on about them. But between you and me," she leaned in close, "He seemed too fascinated in the gore of it. It was kinda unsettling." You shivered at the thought. Mia sighed, pulling a hair tie from her wrist.
"But he was nice. I'll miss the guy," she frowned as she put her curls into a ponytail.
"It's terrible. So depressing," you added.
"What is?" A voice chimed in. You turned to find Ethan standing there, making you gasp a little. He had on a baby-blue collared t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his hair looking a little frizzy. You noticed how his muscles looked in the shirt, making your heart race a little.
"You're here," you smiled. Ethan didn't tell you he was coming; you had planned to meet him with the group after your classes were done, and you still had one class left for the day.
"Of course. I wanted to see you," he smiled. You could feel your cheeks warming up as Mia narrowed her eyes at your boyfriend.
"Mia! This is my boyfriend, Ethan. Mia's a friend of mine-"
"We've met before," Mia cut you off. You raised both your eyebrows, surprised. You looked up at Ethan, who had no expression on his face as he stared at her.
"Oh! Do you guys have classes together?" You questioned.
"We went to high school together," Mia explained. Well, what a small world!
Ethan's hand snuck around yours, pulling you closer to him. "Can we get going, pretty?" He whispered in your ear. You nodded, squeezing his hand.
"I'll see you later Mia, okay?" You smiled, waving at her. Ethan kissed your temple, already turning to leave, pulling you with him. As Ethan kept you glued to his side, he looked back at Mia, glaring at her. You didn't notice, too busy fumbling with the zipper on your black jacket. His grip on your hand stayed until you made it out of the building. He dropped it and sat on the nearest bench under a tree.
"So, tell me about your class. How was it, pretty?" He smiled, staring at you. You smiled widely, immediately going on and on about all the things you learned, the little moments where your professor made you laugh, and the doodles you put on the margins of your notes. He didn't interrupt your rambling, simply taking everything in. He couldn't believe you were his girlfriend, his first one at that. All the time he spent obsessing over you amounted to this: calling you his sweet, dumb thing. Not that you were dumb; you were a smart girl. You just had this sense of innocence; you lacked experience. Something about that drove him crazy; it played out in his fantasies all the time:
You'd be whimpering as he spread your thighs apart, showing him out much you were aching, dripping in your panties. He'd groan at the sight of the growing wet patch, whining as he rubs you through your panties. You'd start mewling at the friction, almost on the verge of begging for him to be rougher. He'd slip your panties off and shove them in his pocket, knowing he'd fuck his cock up into them later. He'd press his lips all over your thigh as he rubs your clit in a circular motion, getting closer and closer before meeting your pussy face-to-face. As he starts to suck on your--
"Ethan?? Did you hear me?" Your voice perked up in his ears, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking," He looked at the ground, avoiding your eyes. You took some steps forward, standing in between his legs and playing with his hair. "About what?" Ethan grins, trailing his eyes up your body to meet your face.
I'm thinking about how you'd taste on my tongue. "Just thinking about how beautiful you are," he sighed. You blush profusely as you kiss his forehead. “You’re too cute.” He moved his head back to look up at you, his lips forming a grin once again.
“What are you doing tonight?” He asked.
“Nothing much. I was gonna review for my stats exam, but that's about it. Why?" you asked.
"Well, I was wondering if I could come over."
"Oh! Yeah! That'd be great. We could invite the others too, have a little study-"
"No." Your eyebrows raise at the interruption. "No?" You repeat.
"I was thinking we could hang out alone. Just me and you." Ethan stared with alluring eyes, trying to persuade you. And it worked! You felt yourself melting, brushing your fingers against his.
"I'd like that! That sounds nice.." You trail off for a moment, "What do you wanna do?" Ethan had some ideas in mind, all of which involved you becoming a blubbering mess.
"Hm, I don't know! I could help you study, or we could watch movies together," he suggested.
"We can watch scary movies!"
"Yes! What about slashers?" You cringed at the thought, shaking your head.
"I don't think I could sit through one of those, considering everything that's been happening recently." For a moment, Ethan forgot about the killings. He forgot the part he played in the torment of the Carpenter sisters. He forgot the mission his father wanted to complete as a family, to avenge his older brother.
For a few minutes, he was just a boy, talking to the girl he loved.
"Oh! Y-yeah. Sorry. I didn't even think about it."
"It's okay. We'll figure something out," you smile. His heartbeat quickened again, feeling pulled into your presence.
"Of course we will, pretty." He pressed his lips on your temple before pulling out his phone, groaning at the texts his sister sent:
Stop talking to your plaything and hurry up. Dad wants to meet. -sis
Omg I can see the vein popping out of your forehead -sis
Little brooo lets gooo :0 -sis
"What's wrong, E?" He shoved his phone back into his pocket, scoffing at his sister's impatience.
"I have to go."
"Already?" You felt sad, wishing this moment would last longer. He lifts your chin up, looking at your pouty lips.
"Don't be sad. I'm coming over tonight, remember?" You nodded, and he pulled your face into a kiss. He selfishly wanted to leave you longing for him, whiny. He deepened the kiss towards the end before pulling away, making your cheeks warm up.
"I'll text you when I'm on my way tonight!" He called out.
"Okay! See you soon!" You both go your separate ways, thinking about the other, wondering what would await when the night sky came.
"He's coming over?!" Annika gasps as she put the dishes away. You groaned, throwing yourself onto the couch.
"Yes, Anika! And I'm freaking out! What am I supposed to wear?? The clothes I already have on?? What do I do?!" You can hear Anika laughing at your helplessness, not having a care in the world.
"Girl, just put on some comfy clothes. You said you might watch movies, right?" You peek your head over the cushions, like a deer in headlights. "Yeah?"
"That'll be the perfect time to cuddle with him! Wear comfy clothes! Wait, is he sleeping over?"
"I didn't think that far ahead," you say sheepishly.
"Well if he does, I'm not gonna be here. I'll be at Mindy's again, so don't worry about me interrupting you two," she smirked. You roll your eyes at the comment. You jumped off the couch, standing on your feet. "Can you help me pick out my clothes?"
"Of course!" She smiled sweetly. You always appreciated Anika's advice when it came to clothes. She could praise you and make you feel like the prettiest girl in the world. She'd help you pick out outfits to add to your wardrobe all the time. It was safe to say she had heavy influence over the clothes in your dresser. But that wasn't a bad thing! She had great style and helped you find your own.
As you slipped on different outfits, you found yourself remembering the first kiss again. The way he pulled you into his lap, the heavy breathing between the both of you, the way he grabbed your ass. Would he do that tonight? Would he want to go further and have sex? Am I even ready?
You were gonna be honest: you've never had sex. You never felt comfortable getting to that point with anyone in high school, but now you were in college, and you had Ethan in your life. You've touched yourself before, explored your body at night when you were alone. Ethan could attest to that; he'd seen you through the hidden camera in your room.
He replayed the footage on his laptop every night, watching you get yourself dressed and ready for bed. His hands would wander when your hand journeyed down your body, into your underwear. He'd patch your pace, trying to cum at the same time as you. He imagined his hand was yours, coaching him through the process. He relished in the expressions you'd make as you bit your lip, getting closer and closer. He couldn't believe how dirty you were, his little plaything. As much as he hated when Quinn called you that, he found himself liking it recently. It was probably the relationship change, going from friends to boyfriend-girlfriend.
Speaking of Ethan, while you were finding the perfect outfit, he was listening to his father drone on and on about the Carpenter sisters. He and his sister, Quinn, sat beside each other at the kitchen table. He couldn't recall the last time the three of them had been in this house, the house they grew up in. There was a time when Richie woudl lighten the room, putting a smile on everyone's face, even their mom's. The memory of his mother's face made him shudder, bringing him back to reality.
"Ethan? Any updates?" His father repeated.
"What?"
"UPDATES. On the Carpenter sisters. You got anything?"
"O-oh. No. Sorry," he averted his eyes. His father scoffed, rubbing his eyes.
"Ethan, you've got to be fully in this. Alright? You can't just walk away. They killed my son, your brother. Have you forgotten that?"
"No sir."
"Good! Is there anything you can tell me? Maybe someone we have to watch out for?" Ethan furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. "Someone recognized me from high school."
"Who?"
"This girl, Mia. She and I used to be friends when Richie was still around, but after he died, we kinda grew apart." His father narrowed his eyes. "So she knows you're related to Richie."
"Yeah."
"Hm. Interesting. Has she said anything to you?"
"No. But she didn't look happy to see me." Quinn glanced at him, growing anxious.
"Quinn could make a visit to this...Mia girl." Ethan's eyes grew wide. "What? No! She hasn't done anything. She just recognizes me."
"Son, I'm not taking any chances. We can't have anyone connecting us to these killings. We need alibis, so find one for yourself tonight. Understand?"
"But dad, she doesn't-"
"Do you understand?" He repeats with a louder voice. Ethan shrinks in his seat, only nodding. His father smiled. "Good."
Taglist: @ssnapsaurus @nowitsmissing @ch9mpi0n @c0untryclub @stabmemaybe @applelovesposts
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agaypanic · 3 months
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Enemies to lovers with Chase: he’s obviously a bionic genius but after being enrolled in school he develops a rivalry with the smartest girl in school and he’s constantly competing with her until they get partnered for a project and realize how much they actually like each other.
Swear Not By The Moon (Chase Davenport X Reader)
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Summary: Being a man with bionic super smarts, Chase excelled at everything and was always ahead of everyone. When he first started going to Mission Creek High, he unknowingly became rivals with you, the smartest girl in school. When you have to work together on a project, you realize that Chase Davenport might not be so bad.
A/N: the davenport siblings each have their own room bc (can’t remember if its canon but i dont think it is) i feel like after starting school, they’d get real rooms in case they had friends over and whatever. title inspired by romeo and juliet dialogue teehee. idk if this is giving good academic rivals but i tried lmao
***
It was completely unintentional, Chase constantly competing with you at school. He had bionic super smarts, so it was inevitable that he would climb to the top of the food chain. Academically speaking, of course. 
But before him, you dominated everyone else around you. You had for years. So when Chase Davenport waltzed in and suddenly became the best academic student at Mission Creek High, you felt an intense need to put him in his place.
Because of your high placements, you shared all of your classes together. One AP or Honors class after another, you had to see that stupid grin on his stupid face as he got a question right or corrected a teacher’s mistake. Not that he saw, because he was too busy putting his nose in books, reading chapters ahead of where the class was in the curriculum.
You figured the only way to beat him was to study your ass off. You already devoted a lot of your time to your studies, but that felt like child’s play compared to now. You had your lunch in the library, sneakily taking bites of food so the librarian would see you eating. As soon as you got home, you’d study for at least an hour. Sometimes, you���d even do some reading in the morning before you had to leave the house for school.
Chase finally seemed to notice you when one of your teachers posted the results of your latest tests. He was bewildered to see that someone had scored one point more than him. He looked around the class to try and figure out who it was, and when he saw you smirking at your grade, he knew it was you.
The silent competition between the two of you didn’t stop. Now that Chase was aware that you were rivaling him, he doubled his efforts, no matter how much teasing he got from his siblings. 
Then, one day, the rivalry wasn’t so silent.
“Davenport.” You greeted him with a single word, not even looking at him. 
“L/n.”
The two of you stood next to each other, looking at the grades you and your classmates got on a recent midterm. You lifted a finger, letting it scan over the names until you got to Chase’s.
“One hundred percent! Very good.” You mused, and you could see him smirking out of the corner of your eye.
“It was nothing.” He said with a shrug.
“Now… what did I get?” You asked yourself quietly, moving your finger until you got to your name. You both gasped, you with feigned surprise and him with disbelief. “One hundred and one percent! Wow.”
“How did you…” You finally turned to look at Chase, smiling innocently at him. His mouth hung open slightly, and you couldn’t help but lift his chin to close it.
“Mrs. Roberts told us there’d be a chance for extra credit. I guess you should’ve been more thorough.” The pleasure you felt from seeing Chase’s reaction made the grueling hours of studying immensely worth it. “Better luck next time.”
You walked away, a bit of a pep in your step now. Chase stared at you until you were out of sight, and then he sneered.
“Oh, it is on.”
***
For the rest of the year, you and Chase battled to be at the top of your classes. Extracurriculars just made the fight more intense. You’d win first place at the local science fair, he’d win first place at a debate championship. When one of you placed first, the other grumbled with their second-place trophy and swore they would win gold the next time.
You were actually excited for the end of the school year. The little rivalry you had formed with Chase Davenport was starting to wear you out, although you’d never say that out loud. Especially to him. 
But before the school year could end, you had one more project for your history class. This time, you would be paired off with a classmate, and you’d have to work together to create a presentation on a specific era, highlighting important figures and events of the time.
“Please be someone good.” You muttered to yourself as your teacher read out the list of partners. Eventually, she got to you.
“Y/n L/n and Chase Davenport.”
You froze in your spot, not paying attention as she continued listing people before going into more detail on your project requirements. Your eyes darted to Chase, who was already looking at you. You couldn’t help but sneer at him. The one person you had a strong distaste for, an academic enemy, was now your partner on a month-long project that would greatly affect your final grade.
How could this go wrong?
“So…” The teacher gave you the last five minutes of class to talk to your partner. Chase stood next to your desk, looking down at you. “Do you want to go to your house or mine? For the project.”
“I don’t care.” You answered while packing your belongings into your backpack.
“How about my place then? We can go today after school.”
“Fine by me.”
***
You knew that the Davenports, their father to be more specific, were wealthy. But that information didn’t make you any less stunned when you saw the mansion at the end of your slightly uncomfortable and awkward walk with Chase. And you were even more taken aback when you walked inside. Sleek designs, attractive decor, and a beautiful view out of windows that made up an entire wall.
“We can go to my room,” Chase suggested as you took in your surroundings. “I have a lot of desk space there.”
“Okay.” You replied. You figured that the very least you could do was try to be civil with Chase. After all, this was an important grade, and you’d have to work with him for a whole month.
Chase pulled a stool to his desk for you to sit on while he settled into his desk chair. You took out your notebook and a pen, flipping to a blank page. Chase did the same.
“Do you have any ideas?” You asked, tapping the tip of your pen against the paper.
It took a while, but you eventually settled on the Elizabethan era. Considered a golden age and famous for different creative ventures such as theater and literature. It would be easy to fill a presentation with quality and interesting information. The two of you brainstormed different topics to bring up, writing them down in your notebooks when your pen suddenly stopped working.
“Damn.” You muttered, scribbling in the corner to try to get the ink to reappear.
“What’s wrong?” Chase asked, looking up from his paper to see you drop your pen in your bag and look around for a replacement.
“I ran out of ink.” You sighed in frustration, unable to find another writing utensil. You pulled your bag onto your lap for a closer look. “I swear I had-”
You cut yourself off when Chase’s hand came into view. He held a pen, waiting for you to take it. After a moment of hesitation, you grabbed it, setting your backpack down on the floor.
“Thanks.” You said, looking at the pen for a brief moment before getting back to writing.
***
Wanting to get as much useful information as possible, you decided to go to the library after school the next day. You didn’t know what Chase was doing, but you hoped that he would put as much effort into this as you were. 
You headed straight for the classics section, knowing that Shakespeare was prominent during the time period you and Chase were looking into. You’ve had to read a few of his plays for different English classes, but you were eager to read them again.
Searching the bookshelves, you soon saw that Shakespeare’s plays were on the top shelf, which you could reach without a step stool. There were a few scattered around the library, but a quick glance showed that there wasn’t one in your section. You went to the next book aisle, hoping to find one.
“Y/n?” Chase’s voice startled you. He was in the next aisle, seeing you before you saw him. Although surprised by your presence, he offered you a polite smile. “What are you doing here?”
You had to tell yourself to hold back a snarky response. Although you didn’t care much for Chase inside of school, that didn’t mean you had to be a bitch to him outside of it. Besides, he was being pleasant to you. It confused you, but you decided not to ask him about it.
“Same as you, I’m thinking.” You finally say, noticing some books about English history stacked in his hands. “I’m looking for a stool to get the books I need.”
Spotting one at the end of the aisle, Chase grabbed the stool, balancing the small pile of books he had in one hand.
“Where’s your books?” He asked, waiting for you to lead the way. It stunned you a little that he didn’t just give you the stool or let you grab it yourself, but you decided not to overthink it.
Back in your section, he set the stool down where you needed it. Instead of saying goodbye and leaving, Chase stood by the bookcase, watching you stand on the footstool.
You started grabbing books, becoming more excited with each title you looked over. Now, having your own stack of books, you looked down and tried to carefully lower yourself to the ground.
“Careful,” Chase murmured, and you felt the warmth of his hand hover against your back. He didn’t touch you, but his hand stayed close until you were stable on the ground. “Don’t wanna, you know, ruin the books if you fall.”
You rolled your eyes before looking up at Chase, not realizing how close you were to him until now.
“Thanks.” You said a bit hesitantly.
“No problem.” He responded. The two of you stood in silence, not knowing how to continue. You wondered if you’d keep having moments like this with him. No glares or sour thoughts. Just a bit of silence caused by some friendly action. “Do you wanna come over tomorrow?”
“What?” You asked, not expecting the question.
“For the project.” Chase clarified. 
“Oh. Sure, I think I’m free.”
“Great.” Chase smiled at you. “See you tomorrow then.”
***
You don’t know what was happening to you. It had been two weeks since you started working on this project with Chase, and he was gradually becoming the only thing on your mind. Sure, you thought about him often before this. But those thoughts were always accompanied by feelings of annoyance when he’d get a higher grade than you or disgust when he’d give you his signature smirk of condescension. 
What you felt now was something hard to describe. It was something warm and enjoyable, but as enjoyable as it was, it made you slightly dread seeing Chase because you didn’t know what the feeling meant. 
He didn’t even have to be around you for you to feel it. The other day you remembered that you still had the pen he let you borrow the first time you worked together. Looking at the pen and thinking about the memory made you smile, which you covered with your hand as you wondered why the small object got such a reaction out of you.
Suddenly remembering where you were, you pushed thoughts of Chase and the pen and how he was starting to make you feel out of your mind. You had to focus.
You were sat on Chase’s bed, supposed to be rereading Romeo and Juliet until you got distracted by your thoughts. Chase was at his desk, skimming through a history textbook. You played with the edge of the page you were on, about to return to reading, when Chase looked over his shoulder at you.
“You know, I’m surprised you’re still reading that.” He said, leaning back in his chair, deciding to take a break from studying. “Big, old-timey words. Thought that’d be too strenuous for you to handle.”
That was another change you noticed. You still poked and teased at each other. But lately, when Chase would do it, your cheeks would grow hot from some kind of feeling that was entirely unlike the anger and annoyance you usually felt.
“Very funny.” You deadpanned, yet you couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. “I’m surprised you even know the meaning of the word ‘strenuous.’ Considering your size, you’d think your brain would be just as tiny.”
Chase kicked at your leg, rolling his eyes as you laughed. 
“You’re hilarious.” He said, tone dripping with sarcasm. “Seriously, though, I don’t know how you’re not bored of that by now. Especially since you’ve read it before.”
“It’s considered a classic for a reason, Chase.” You said. “I mean, I obviously have problems with the story, like the age gap and the suicide without really checking if Juliet is dead. But you have to admit that some of the writing’s nice. Beautiful even.” You shifted into a more comfortable position. “I mean, listen to this. ‘O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable.’” Before you could continue, Chase interrupted you.
“‘What shall I swear by?’” He recited, standing from his desk chair and moving to lay down on his side, a foot or two away from you. You looked at him with a questioning look. 
“Since when could you recite Shakespeare?”
“I dunno, just can.” He answered with a shrug. “Keep going.”
You looked at him curiously for a few more seconds before turning back to the book.
“‘Do not swear at all; or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, which is the god of my idolatry, and I’ll believe thee.’”
“‘If my heart’s dear love-’”
“‘Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be ere one can say ‘It lightens.’ Sweet, good night!’” You paused to catch your breath, and you felt Chase’s eyes on you. Either you were crazy, or he was slowly inching closer to you. He looked at you expectantly but patiently, and you took another deep breath before returning to the page. “‘This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night! As sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast!’”
Chase was even closer to you now, using his hands to keep himself stable as he raised from his laying position. Without meaning to, you leaned forward, closing the already shortening distance between you.
“O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?’” Chase’s voice was quiet, but the words rang in your ears. You must have imagined it, you must have, but you could’ve sworn that for a second, his eyes were on your lips instead of locking with yours.
“‘What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?’” You recited softly. But you started to have a feeling that this was becoming less of a recitation and more of something else. Some kind of confession, you secretly hoped, disguised as casual quoting of someone else’s words of romance.
“‘The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.”’
“‘I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: and yet I would it were to give again.’” As you spoke the words, you realized that they indeed rang with truth. 
Chase was now fully sitting up, and your breath hitched when you felt his hand snake around you to cup the back of your neck. You dropped the book in your lap, gaze fully fixated on his.
“‘Wouldst thou withdraw it?”’ Chase asked, using his other hand to hold your cheek, thumb sweeping over the bone. “‘For what purpose, love?’”
“I like when you call me that.” You whispered, too overwhelmed by his hands to continue reading the play.
“That’s not the line,” Chase responded, smiling before pulling your face to his and kissing you. 
It was soft at first, as if you were both scared the other would realize they didn’t want this. But when that passed, the tension from the past two weeks, honestly the past year, made you hungry for each other. It wasn’t long until you were straddling Chase’s lap, book and project long forgotten. Chase’s hands trailed down your body, squeezing your hips before pulling away just enough to speak.
“So…” He started, needing to catch his breath. “Am I the god of your idolatry?” 
You giggled, slapping his shoulder before wrapping your arms around them.
“I’m surprised you know how to pronounce ‘idolatry.’” Chase squeezed your hip once more at your teasing before kissing you again.
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pomgore · 1 year
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15 questions 15 mutuals lazy edition
thank you for the tags @lordoftherazzles and @tetchy-frog i’ll just do one post because yeah
1: are you named after anyone?
norp! my parents were sort of struggling to come up with a name for me, but in the search they found my name and it clicked
2: when was the last time you cried?
couple weeks ago now, for cathartic purposes
3: do you have kids?
nope, and i should hope not at my age, but maybe in the future i will - i’ve been coming around to the idea of a mini-me for the past few months, i think if i had a kid they’d be pretty cool
4: do you use sarcasm a lot?
absolutely not, autism and sarcasm a happy pom do not make - whenever i do attempt sarcasm it comes off way too real anyway. i would say that i can exaggerate and be facetious when comedy permits, though
5: what’s the first thing you notice about people?
their personality, i think - whether or not i like the way they speak and think dictates whether or not i want to continue talking to that person
6: what’s your eye color?
hazel hazel hazel
7: scary movies or happy endings?
boooooth both both both, im such a horror buff but i cannot stand it if a movie or a story has a bittersweet ending, everyone must live happily ever after forever and ever
8: any special talents?
growing extra teeth
9: where were you born?
the aloha state, big island born-n-raised
10: what are your hobbies?
drawing, writing, absorbing media, and talking to whoever will listen about my favorite tolkien tales
11: any pets?
two chihuahuas, dash and mikey. they do not make me chihaha they are rancid and naughty little rodents (real talk i do love them, but they test me every day)
12: what sports do you play/have played?
none at the moment, but i did soccer with AYSO for about 10 years and danced hula for like 3 years - never went to any competitions but my sister did and won an award at the merrie monarch so im humblebragging on her behalf
13: how tall are you?
a good 5′7′‘, but i wear platform boots every day so with those on i’d be closer to 6 foot
14: favorite subject in school?
generally speaking english, but out of the courses i’m in right now ap studio art is my favorite, my art teacher is such a lovely lovely woman and every time we talk she inspires me - plus i usually do most of my tolkien ranting in ap studio so that’s another point in its favor
15: dream job?
in a perfect world i would be a painter with some rich guy sponsoring me to go ham on canvases galore, but the job i’m aiming for after the end of this semester is a tattoo artist (wish me luck gaddamn)
optional tags for my non-tolkien moots so you guys can get in on the fun: @rin--ren @rockdove-ridge @abyssal-glory and @lemonmans-squeezy (ik we barely talk but go ham)
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frankoceanlover119 · 4 months
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Apologies...
Hey guys, it’s me Charlie. I know I haven’t been as active as I used to be but tomorrow is going to be my first day of high school. I am not sure what to expect but I think I am going to walk in like it’s the last day of school. Everyone is cheering at the fact that they can finally leave this place in pursuit of their own lives and leave this school behind. Notes, papers and unreturned library books on the ground with lockers wide open. That’s what I imagine at least, but for now, I can only count the days until graduation. Just one thousand, four hundred and sixty days left. You guys probably already know this but ever since my best friend Michael died things haven’t been the same as it used to be. But I promise, things are going to change for the better and I’ll update you guys every chance I get. I wonder how some of your freshman high school experiences went, you can send me some on my email address. I don’t really want one you see in those movies where the main character meets a bunch of people and becomes popular. All I want is a good group of friends that I can relate to and share music tastes. A long lasting relationship that isn't like those ones that last for a month then you never hear from them again. Is that too much to ask for? Anyways I better get to bed, tomorrow is going to be a long day and I am going to need to get as much sleep as possible. Wish me luck.
youtube
The song “Purity” is a song written by A$AP Rocky that is from the “TESTING” album. The song was written to look into Rocky’s life and realize how busy his lifestyle is and how caught up he can be on his work. With this busy lifestyle, it makes spending time with family and friends hard to do, and even finding time for himself to relax can be challenging. I’ve already been preparing for high school and dealing with my own problems like my friend Michael dying of suicide. After everything I’ve been through so far I am exhausted so I thought “Purity” would describe my mood perfectly.
#frankocean #frankoceanlover911 #A$APRocky #A$APnoRocky #purity #TESTING #beenbusy #dnd #nas #nystateofmind #illmatic
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walkintrafficjam · 8 months
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The Productivity Hellscape
I have a really bad habit. Before each semester start, I'll say, "I'm going to take it easy this time" but I never do. In fact, in one of my semesters, I took 18 units w/ extracurricular activities. Same thing in senior year of high school. I took 3 AP classes while working at Starbucks.
Do you ever feel like you're not advancing fast enough? I overwork because I feel inadequate. "Everyone is so much more talented and better than me," I think, "Gotta shove 4 extra jobs down my throat so I can feel like I'm good enough." Honestly if my body didn't literally crumble, I would do it.
I'm almost impressed by it. I have literally work on my homework in the Emergency Room. Even near death, I probably would still work on my homework. Even in my after life, I would send an email to my teacher to apologize for being dead... because I didn't complete my homework.
You get the point.
truth be told, I wasn't always like this. In fact, I was raised and trained like this. When I was a kid, my teacher would praised the kids who did well. Our school work differently than in America. Our final year test grading scale is based on mistakes. You have 10 points. Every mistakes is -1 point. Once you make 4 mistakes, you're out of the game. As in, good luck repeating the whole school year again. I was slap and hit too. Even simple "mistake" like not coloring my picture in kindergarten granted a punishment.
As I grow up, I grown a distain for myself. Even when I wasn't actively punish anymore, the idea of not being perfect in school still give me great amount of stress. I am like a battered dog who was still chained to an abandoned post. I couldn't unravel myself from my conditioning.
Helpful Tips that help me slow down
Life in itself is joy: I always thought to myself if I slave away right now then I'll be happier in the future. Once I score straight As in my high school years, I'll be happier when I am in college. If I work hard and get a good paying job THEN I'll be happy. I realize each stage of my life, I was pushing that carrot on the stick further and further down. The truth is I should prioritize my happiness NOW and for the future. I am worthy just by existing. I don't need to prove my worth to become happy.
If it doesn't work a couple of few times, then I should try something else: One of my mentor said this. It sounds so simple yet I am caught in the trap of thinking if I have my willpower this time then It would work. Think of your new year resolution that you never complete. The one that you tell yourself each year it would be different but it didn't. Perhaps switch up your framework or tactic. The current method might not be working for you.
Scheduling in Hobby and De-stress activities. Again, sounds quite simple. Yet, my calendar is always fill with things that I have to do rather than I want to do. Recently, I kept a to-do list of tasks I want to do for fun. For example, Reading a book about audio mixing at a library, making a workout regime specifically to become a super cool buff boom operator/Grip, or study at this one cafe that have really good smoked salmon toast (all of this sounds really nerdy I know). For me, these all the thing I do to treat myself.
What do I want right now? I checked in with my body a lot because when we're on our phone or being busy we neglect our body. I'll tune in to see what my body wants. Maybe, it wants to stretch or cook some food to destress.
I am gonna work a little bit of homework now to help my future self. To curb my procrastination, I would take small step towards my homework. I have this habit of either not doing it or doing it super last minute. I hate working because it feels like I have to complete the whole thing. Lately, I have been framing it as me helping to lighten the homework load when I do procrastinate last minute. It won't stop me from finishing my work near deadline but it definitely makes it feel more manageable and less destructive.
The Aftermath:
I am better at balancing work now. Also, I am actually pursuing something that I am interested in! It makes hard work feel rewarding rather than out of obligation. Still a perfectionist but this whole blog is supposed to help with that! I am doing well so no need to worry about me! I hope the tips can be beneficial to you.
Any WIP?
I have a script idea! I haven't write them down yet but I basically have an outline of it. I am super proud of the it as well! I just have to start actually doing it T_T
Getting the script into film will be hard. I hope to one day make it though.
A lot of words today. And there's still a lot of points that I didn't get to. Anyhow, see you next time! Have a great week.
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realtalk-tj · 1 year
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suggestions? dna/neuro, ap chem, ap cs, calc bc, ap physics, english, and then either apush or us/va
Response from Padma:
I'm pretty sure that you're a current sophomore so here are my two cents as a current junior!
DNA & Neuro: I've only taken DNA, it's a pretty good class that's very lab-based which was the experience I was looking for when I was coming to TJ! IDK much about Neuro but I've heard it's very discussion-heavy and just reading papers, so just keep that in mind.
AP Chem: The AP Chem teachers at TJ are... not the best! (Jones who teaches well but notoriously hard tests and Taylor who does not teach well imho and has relatively easier tests) Will you be able to handle getting either of these teachers? Don't just take it because you think everyone else is taking it - it's a pretty difficult class ESPECIALLY in junior year when you're taking a gazillion other APs. If you genuinely enjoy chem/understand it well then 100% go for it! AP Chem is basically Chem 1 review lmfao.
AP Physics (vs. Physics 1): AP Physics is hard. Like, extremely hard. Don't take it unless you're either a) a physics prodigy or b) in it for the learning and NOT for the grade. If you want a class you have a better shot at getting an A/A- in, take Physics 1! You still learn all the same concepts but go at a slower pace (which works out bc AP Physics spends time reviewing for the AP exam) and it's more chill from what I've heard.
APUSH vs. US/VA: Honestly, HUM in junior year is a mixed bag. There are some pretty sice teachers (Pendleton!! Miller!!) and some harder teachers that still do improve your writing a lot (Castaldo comes to mind, as does Gilbert). US/VA is a guarantee that you'll have less HUMwork than some of your peers, and it is a lighter class, but honestly APUSH is VERY dependent on who you get - I rarely have homework unless it's to study for a test for APUSH, whereas some of my friends get hours of HW :( So just take that into consideration! All the HUMs are very good and you'll get a lot out of both US/VA and APUSH - I'd recommend making the decision based on how many APs you're taking otherwise.
Overall, this schedule looks pretty ok! My only concern would be the menace trio of AP Physics/AP Calc/AP Chem, but if you think you can handle it, then go you! 100% take a look at the AP exam schedule so all of your exams aren't in the same week, and also remember that AP classes aren't necessarily "better" than their normal counterparts (especially from a GPA standpoint LOL). Good luck anon!!!!
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archaic-stranger · 2 years
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new game list your AP tests using my subject aesthetics
i’ll go first: 
us government and comparative government
micro and macro economics
statistics
french
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jamaiskookie · 4 years
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bangtan headcanon: OT7 IN HIGH SCHOOL 📓✂️
☞ genre; fluff, crack
☞ warnings; excessively stupid
masterlist  u wanna talk to highschool!bangtan?
《KIM SEOKJIN》
class clown
always manages to sneak kimbap in class, and stuffs his face despite being in the front row. 
he’s alarmingly good at sneaking food into places. 
cafeteria ladies love jin so much. 
and every christmas he brings in his perfected sugar cookies and never shares them.
(he’s in the cooking club)
((he’s the only one in the cooking club))
will interrupt the teacher to make a bad joke. 
“yes so helium is the fo- oh yes seokjin?“
“i was reading an excellent book about helium, i couldn’t put it down!! ahHAHAHHYUKHYUKAHHAHAHHA“ 
nobody’s?? really sure?? if he’s dating namjoon or not?? it’s the schools biggest mystery, there’s currently a betting pool going on worth about $500
likes to annoy namjoon and yoongi about holding bake sales. 
is surprisingly good at planning parties?? but never hosts them?? hoseok always gets him to plan his parties and he even planned prom!!
he’s particularly proud with the theme he came up with. 
‘zombie meets elegance‘ 
it was actually pretty nicely pulled off (much to the shock of the entire student body) 
《MIN YOONGI》
student council president 
takes his job very!! seriously!! 
fights with the principal on funding daily. 
doesn’t come to school without coffee and resting bitch face.
even the teachers are afraid of this short little emo boy. 
is the only one who actually wears the school uniform properly with the little tie and jacket because that’s how you show school spirit. 
definitely that closeted gay in high school who thinks nobody knows about his homosexuality when in fact, everyone knows.
(nobody has the guts to bring it up to him though)
“hyung why are you staring at jimin’s as-“
 “-NO WHY GET BACK TO WORK” 
actually enjoys doing morning announcements. 
“make sure to check out jin’s dumb bake sale i think he’s selling brownies for some charitable reason anYWAYS time for min’s advice column!!“ 
min’s advice column is yoongi’s free therapy. namjoon suggested adding an advice column to the school paper so now yoongi just judges his classmates’s decisions gives subpar advice. 
“i personally think you have no chance with this girl, but you’re clearly hell bent on asking her out. it’s a dumb choice. good luck.“ 
《JUNG HOSEOK》
fuckboy
throws obnoxious parties at his parent’s huge ass mansion. 
somehow?? is?? the nicest? playboy??? evER??
will respect your girl’s boundaries but also would 300% hit on her when you’re not looking. 
aftercare king wILL cuddle with you and help you clean up or whatever until jimin eventually comes in screaming. 
his school id says “hobi 💦👅” ... noone knows how he managed to do it (taehyung thinks he seduced the secretary) 
surprisingly good at romance even though he deTests dating
“it’s a waste of time, money, and ass.“  “- what?”
gives everyone dating advice whether they want it or nOt- he lives his *shhh very secret* romantic fantasies through his best friends. 
once helped taehyung ask out his girlfriend... they’re still going strong!!
defo has daddy issues that he never talks about,, maybe if a girl finds it sexc™️ in that kind of messed-up-bad-boy-she-could-fix vibe he’ll bring it up
kinda failing science lmao he probably needs a tutor.. but will never admit he needs a tutor for sake of his pride. 
most definitely has had sex in the janitor’s closet a couple times, up until yoongi caught him once, reported him to the school board and got him suspended... for a month. 
(yoongi has no regrets, that was the best month of his life.)
《KIM NAMJOON》
student vice president
honestly would probably be the council president and is the most qualified for it but can’t be bothered.
plus he hates public speaking and the president has to speak at assemblies.  
genuinely enjoys learning!! bUT HATES GROUP PROJECTS
because every single fucking time taehyung and jimin pester him about teaming up and he ends up doing like 75% of the work.
not because anyone forces him to or anything.
it’s because jimin and tae are such dumbasses every time they finish their work namjoon has a sudden uRGE TO REDO ALL OF IT BC THEY GOT IT WRONG.
tries to take all AP subjects.
gives up and drops half of them by the second semester.
great student but also will “no yoongi i don’t want to fucking play basketball i've been awake for thirty hours trying to finish this goddamn essay that’s due tomorrow. wHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY DIDN’T I DO IT EARLIER I WAS BUSY TAKING CARE OF MY BONSAI TREES.“
started the school paper!! it’s called “persona post”
writes about actual relevant things like political events and global problems, but everyone else just writes about school gossip *sigh*
although that one column examining hobi’s sex and dating life was a pretty fun piece of writing to read through. 
he sits in the back of the classroom and never raises his hand even though he knows the answer like 95% of the time.
definitely has a crush on seokjin
《PARK JIMIN》
the one everyone has a crush on
and when i say everyone i mean everyone, even hoseok has had a crisis over park jimin. 
(jungkook is definitely president of his fan club) ((in case it wasn’t clear, he’s dating jungkook))
school’s golden boy, basically gets away with everything with a bat of an eye... and the most infuriating thing is he doesn’t even realise it. 
“omg jimin!! you’re so cute!! this shirt looks sO good on you, can i touCH?” “omg thank you i didn’t think it fit well because it’s my boyfriends but that’s so sweet!!” “boy... hm?”
mom friend: sweetest bitch alive and is always worrying about his friends but everyone knows he’s secretly really fucking kinky.
(again, jungkook has no comment)
the kind of person who celebrates christmas in june. 
literally- he starts putting decorations in his locker and around the school mid june. by november, he’s wearing reindeer ears to school.
*lowkey kind of a nerd* genuinely enjoys studying with namjoon.
“well, studying with anybody else is just too stressful!! plus, namjoon’s so chill. he doesn’t look like it but he actually is super sweet and nice!!!“
“... please take those reindeer ears off, it’s embarrassing.“ 
half of the school would probably cut off an arm to sleep with him. seriously, he gets offers like everYDAY it’s kinda getting tiRING
is considering starting a youtube channel where he just takes videos of all the dogs and babies he meets throughout the day. 
“idk i think vlogging would be fun“
《KIM TAEHYUNG》
art hoe
nEVER FUCKING STUDIES OR PAYS ATTENTION BUT GETS DECENT GRADES.
the definition of bisexual mess, WILL trip when he sees hot people.
exclusively wears wired gold glasses and soft neutral sweaters to school. if it’s a good day he’ll wear a beanie. on special occasions he’ll maybe throw in some fUN loafers.
dyes his hair to match ~the vibes~ of that season. the most recent wild hair colour is cool toned teal. 
jungkook said he looks like leprechaun shit, but tae really likes it. 
tried to go vegan countless times, failed each and every one when he passed by a mc donalds. 
carries his sketchbook wherever he goes. he has that thing around 24/7, 100% would not be surprised if he slept with it under his pillow.
really quiet until he has a point to make;; like that time where he launched into a three hour screaming lecture on how phineas and ferb is an animated masterpiece.
drinks tea purely for the aesthetic of it. 
goes to hipster coffee shops to pretend to study... ends up watching barbie movies and critiquing them on the writing blog that he thinks nobody knows about. 
watches anime in class (he recently rewatched all of ATLA for the third time,, failed his econ class but worth it!!1!!1)
《JEON JUNGKOOK》
preppy jock
once again, everyone is attracted to him, but he’s so whipped for jimin everyone’s crush fades away once they talk to him because-
“oh it’s so cool that you have a dog!! you know, i think jimin kind of looks like a pomeranian sometimes it’s sO CUTE- hm? oh jimin’s my boyfriend.“
... it’s disgustingly adorable. 
plays almost every sport and is somehow always the team captain. not out of obligation or with leadership skills or anything, everyone else just votes for him. 
mess with his friends and he’ll put a stink bomb in your locker. 
his nickname is “golden baby” because he’s good at everything, teachers love him so much. 
grades? sTELLAR. sports? he’s done them ALL. creativity? pAINTED THE SCHOOL MURAL. service? volunteers at a pet shelter whenever he can (the bunnies love him for some reason) 
everyone either is 
a) in love w him, wants to fuck
b) jealous of him but is also secretly gay for him
pretends to not know how talented and cool he is and plays it off super cool
proceeds to fail, the only thing he’s bad at is humble bragging. 
“wow omg lol i got a 100 on my bio test and yesterday i got a hole in one in golf, my first time playing it but it’s chill i guess hahhah day in my life amirite.“
**this headcanon is the start of the bangtan school series, stay tuned**
wanna be tagged in school series or my writing? here or send me an ask
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onetwosevensquad · 3 years
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Dungeons and Dragons and... Love?: Dungeon Master
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Mark Lee x Reader
Summary: the kind Dungeon Master who helps guide your team through your campaign also becomes your math tutor.
Warnings: none??
Rose: sorry this literally took forever to write. Hope your all still interested in this mini series. Next member is Renjun.
Main Masterlist
Series Masterlist
———
Why were you here again?
Oh right, cause you’re a giant nerd who needs an outlet.
The poster had caught your eye when you were headed to lunch one day. It was a beige poster with a 20 sided dice in the middle. That was what got your attention.
You had played Dungeons and Dragons with some of your friends before. It has been a few months since your last campaign and you didn’t know when the next one would start. So, in fear of not being able to escape to a fantasy world, you decided to check it out.
It was now 3:45 in the afternoon. School had ended 15 minutes ago, the hours ticking by slowly. You now stood outside of the AP Government classroom where Mr. Jung taught.
The poster, you remembered, said that Mr. Jung would oversee the club. He was your favorite teacher because he was funny and the class was enjoyable.
Finally, you slowly opened the door to the classroom and stepped in. In the middle of the room, a few desks had been pushed together to create a large table.
Sitting around the table were seven boys who were all staring at you. You awkwardly shifted your weight from one foot to the other, waiting for literally anyone to say something.
“Is this the d&d club?” You finally spoke.
“Y-yes,” the only boy who was standing said. You recognized him as Mark Lee. The cute, smart boy from calculus. “Yes, uh, grab a seat.”
You nodded and dragged a chair over to the only empty spot at the table. It was right next to Chenle, the loud basketball player you shared chemistry with.
“Well I’m pretty sure that we all know each other,” Mark said clearing his throat. “I’m not gonna make us do ice breakers cause literally no one likes those.”
“I do!” Haechan, the class clown that you also shared chemistry with.
“Only you,” Jeno, the star basketball player and probably the last person you expected here, commented. Haechan pouted and stuck his tongue out at Jeno.
“Anyway,” Mark said. “It’s my fist time DMing, but I have played before. Just so I know, who here has played before?”
You, along with Jisung, the quiet kid from history, Haechan, and Renjun, the kid from math who doesn’t do math but draws, raised your hands. Mark seemed to relax a bit when he saw there were at least a few experienced players.
“Well I guess this first meeting will be going over rules and how to play, then next time we’ll do character sheets,” Mark said.
———
It was now the third session and the first one of the start of you campaign. Last time, everyone made their characters, the atmosphere becoming less tense as time went on.
You made your character an Elf Wizard, something you’ve never played before. Everyone else had their own unique character combos, having fun coming up with the most ridiculous names for them.
Today, the party was slightly buzzing with excitement to finally start their campaign. You all gathered around the table giving character introductions, ready to get this show on the road.
Three hours, several rolls for initiative, and Haechan’s character almost dying later, Mr. Jung had to finally kick you all out of the building. The sun had already set and he was letting you way past what was allowed.
You realized how late it actually was and scrambled to get your stuff. You said a quick goodbye to the boys and Mr. Jung and sped off to get home before your parents killed you.
You get a ways down the hall when you heard someone running behind you.
“Y/n, wait up!” You turned to see Mark jogging to catch up with you. He stopped in front of you, breathing slightly harder. “Hi.”
“Hi,” you said back, smiling at the cute boy. You’ve never really had a full conversation with Mark. He’s quiet and, honestly, talking to someone attractive was a bit out of the realm of your comfort zone.
“C-can I have your number?” He said. Your eyes went wide and as did his when he realized what that sounded like. “So that I can add you to the group chat! Just in case anyone can’t make it or we cancel.”
“Yea, sure,” you said, slightly disappointed. You heard Mark exhale probably in relief that his save worked. You handed him your phone with your number displayed on the screen and he quickly put it in his.
“Thanks,” Mark said, handing you back your phone. You both stood there in the most suffocatingly awkward silence ever.
“Well bye,” you said turning to leave.
“Oh! Yea, uh, bye,” Mark said waving slightly. He turned back towards Mr. Jung’s room and you saw the other six boys crowded around. They were all giggling as Mark shoved that back into the room.
———
Six sessions and three weeks later, any morsel of awkwardness was gone. It was like you have known these seven boys your whole life.
The group chat blew up your phone with memes from that days session but didn’t you mind? No. Though sometimes at ungodly hours in the mornings, you still enjoyed the content.
On this particular day, you weren’t going to be able to join the session. Your calculus teacher was making you stay after school and retake a test that you failed miserably. You felt bad when you hand to text the group.
You: I can’t make it today
Haechan☀️: whyyyyyyy
You: I failed a calc test
You: I have to retake it
Lele🐬: thats stupid
Sungie: good luck Y/n
Injunie: yea gl
You: thanks boys
Marker: hey if you need any help studying for calc, I’d be happy to
jeNO: oh?
You: yea I’d like that, thanks
Minnie: ann I oop-
You laughed at Jaemin’s comment as you made your way to your calculus teachers classroom.
———
Considering the second time you took the test you barely past by the seat of your pants, you took Mark up on his offer to tutor you.
Today was the first day Mark was going to tutor you in the library. You walked in and saw him already set up at one of the tables in the very back.
“Hey,” you whispered. He smiled at you as you sat down next to him.
“Hey,” he said back. “Ready to get started?”
After about an hour and a half of Mark explaining different theorems to you, you were finally starting to get it. Whenever you asked a question, Mark would take the time to explain it to you carefully, making sure you got it along the way.
When he would give you a problem to solve, and you got it right, both of you would get excited, annoying the librarian. She ended up shushing you more than once.
“Hey, you hungry?” Mark asked.
“Not really,” you said. As if on cue, your stomach slightly growled, making Mark laugh. You looked down at your stomach, a pout on your face. “Traitor.”
“Come on,” Mark said between giggles. “Let’s get something to eat.”
You got your things and headed out of the library with Mark to get food.
———
For the next three weeks, this became your tradition. On the days the D&D club wasn’t meeting, you and Mark would study calculus in the library for about two hours, and then go get food. It always felt like a lot less time with Mark, him always making it enjoyable.
Today, you had a study session with Mark. As you neared the library, you noticed him standing outside the doors on his phone.
“Hey, what are you doing?” You asked. “I have a test tomorrow.”
“I know,” Mark said putting his phone away. “But you need a break.”
“Mark-“ you whined.
“No,” he said. “I think that you’re ready. You’ve made a lot of progress over the last couple weeks. Besides, they say you shouldn’t study the night before a test.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing,” you said crossing your arms.
“Maybe, I don’t know,” Mark said waving it off. “But, I do know that you’ve worked hard and whatever grade you get, I’m proud of you.”
You could feel your cheeks heating up at Mark’s words. You bit back a smile as he continued.
“So tonight we are not studying,” Mark said grabbing your hand and leading you away from the library. “We are going to the basketball game with the others to cheer on Chenle and Jeno.”
You didn’t protest as Mark led you down to the packed gym and over to where the rest of the boys were sat, waiting for the game to start.
———
After the game where your boys won, the party went out for dinner. Afterwards, Mark drove you home, the two of you talking about the game, D&D, or literally anything.
When Mark pulled into your driveway, he insisted on walking you to your steps. He said it was the gentlemanly thing to do.
“Hey,” Mark said when you got to your front door. “Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” you said.
“Tell me how it goes, ok?” He said. You nodded giving him a smile that he returned. “Good night.”
“Night,” you called after him as he went to his car.
———
At the end of the day, your calculus teacher had finished grading the tests. She told everyone to come pick them up before they left school.
When she handed your test to you, she had a big smile on her face. She made a comment about how nicely you did and how much you improved. When you finally saw the grade, you nearly passed out.
You practically ran to Mr. Jung’s room. D&D was today and you wanted to show Mark you grade. You arrived at his classroom, bouncing into the room.
“Well someone looks happy,” Jaemin commented.
“Did something mean happen?” Jisung asked. You stuck your tongue out at the younger boy making everyone laugh.
You made you way to Mark at the head of the table, him watching you with a smile. When you reached him, you slapped the paper with a big 90% scribbled at the top down in front of him.
“All thanks to you,” you said as he continued to stare at the paper.
“I told you so,” Mark said standing up. He caught you by surprise when he gave you a hug. “I’m proud of you.”
“Ugh, just date already,” Haechan commented from his chair. You and Mark pulled apart making a face at the boy, but avoiding each other’s eyes.
It’s not that you were entirely opposed to dating Mark. You just didn’t know if he felt the same way. And he didn’t. Right?
———
You and Mark continued your study sessions even after you proved you didn’t need to. You both agreed that it was to benefit both of you and not just an excuse to hang out.
One day, while walking out of calculus with Renjun, the boy made a comment that rocked your world.
“He likes you, ya know,” Renjun said.
“W-what,” you sputtered turning to him.
“Mark, he likes you,” He clarified. “I know like bro code, I’m not supposed to tell you or whatever, but I see the way you two look at each other. We all do. You should ask him out. He’d say yes.”
You stopped dead in your tracks thinking for a second. On one hand, this plan that you were formulating could embarrass you. On the other, you could get a date with your dungeon master / calculus tutor / crush.
“Y/n?” Renjun said turning to you. You quickly turned on your heel and made a mad dash for Mark’s locker. “Y/n!”
———
As you speed walked to Mark, you saw him in the distance talking to Jeno and Jaemin. Mark spotted you coming to him and waved at you.
“Hey, Y/n what’s-“
“Do you want to go an a date with me?” You said quickly.
“W-what?” Mark said.
“Jeno, I think that’s our cue,” Jaemin said dragging Jeno away.
“Do you want to go in a date with me?” You asked again, slower this time. Mark looked at you wide eyed, like a dear in headlights.
“A-a date?” He asked. You nodded, not trusting your voice not to shake. “Wow.”
“Wow?” You asked.
“Sorry! Sorry, I just never thought you’d ask and I’d have to do it,” Mark said. “But yes, I’d love to go on a date.”
“Oh thank god,” you said leaning against the lockers. Mark laughed at your dramatic reaction. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and turned you around to walk to lunch. As you turned, you and Mark stopped and saw the six other members of your party standing there amused.
“God, finally,” Haechan said.
“Took you long enough,” Chenle said.
As the eight of you walked to lunch, the boys continued to tease you and Mark. But when you looked up at him with his arm still around your shoulder, the teasing didn’t matter when Mark smiled at you.
———
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allthingsfangirl101 · 4 years
Text
Wish I Were Heather–Zac Efron
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Inspired by the song, Heather by Conan Gray
Dating a famous actor is tough. Now, dating him in secret is just sheer torture. Everyone, literally everyone, has an opinion about who he should be with and who would look great on his arm. And I am not even close to them. They are all beautiful, famous, rich, dropped-dead gorgeous women. I'm just average.
The recent girl that fans want Zac to start dating is his costar, Heather Manning. She's a rising star who started off as a model. She had a few cameos in tv shows at first, but her career shot off from there.
Anything anyone can talk about is Zac Efron and Heather Manning. People are obsessed with the leaked set photos that have been released. They love how the two look together.
Zac's fans think I am just his friend who is always around. They actually hate me. They think it's annoying that I follow him around, not doing anything. When asked, he tells people that I am his lifelong best friend who moved to LA with him.
They don't know that we've actually been dating since before his career. It all started junior year of high school. I had been studying so much for my AP test, ACT, and SAT that I got sick and ended up fainting in the middle of class.
Zac rode with me to the hospital and sat next to me every day I was there. When I was released, he was at my house 24/7, constantly around me to make sure I was taking care of myself. About a week after it happened, I asked why he refused to leave my side. That's when he admitted his feelings for me and I confessed mine for him.
In the first few months of his career, we had a long-distance relationship. The second I graduated high school, I went to LA to live with him. We talked about it and agreed to keep our relationship a secret from all of Zac's fans.
It was actually Zac's idea. He hadn't wanted his fans to try and get in the way of us or try and influence us. He wanted our relationship to be just that; us. Even though I agreed to keep our relationship a secret, it was hard. Everywhere I turned, someone was hitting on Zac, asking him out, or trying to get him to ask them out.
I tried to act like it didn't bother me, but of course it did. After a while, it started to get to me. It's exhausting trying to act like it didn't bother me. Zac is a famous actor and I'm just me.
I got a degree online in marketing, but I don't do anything with it. All I do is sit at home and do random chores around the apartment while I wait for Zac to come home.
I still remember, Third of December, Me in your sweater. You said it looked better on me than it did you, Only if you knew, How much I liked you.
"Hey, babe." I looked away from my book to see Zac walking in the door.
"Hi," I said softly. I put my book down and pulled my legs under myself as he walked over and sat next to me.
"How was your day?" He asked, reaching over and putting his hand on my knee.
"It was fine," I said under my breath as I looked away.
"Hey," he said gently. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," I said, not even convincing myself. I sighed as I looked back up at him. "What?" I asked when I saw the way he was smirking at me.
"You're wearing my favorite sweater," he chuckled as he scooted closer to me and put my feet on his lap. I smiled as he rubbed my calves.
"I was cold," I shrugged. He laughed as he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine in a short, gentle kiss.
"Well," he said when he broke the kiss. "It looks better on you anyway."
                       * * * * *
But I watch your eyes as she walks by. What a sight for sore eyes, Brighter than a blue sky. She's got you mesmerized. While I die
"They just sent me the trailer for my new movie. Wanna watch it?" Zac asked as he laid his head down on my lap and propped up his phone. I sighed as he pressed play.
I tried to be supportive and watch it, but it was too painful. Instead of watching the trailer, my eyes never strayed from Zac. It was hard to watch the smile on his face.
"So," he laughed as he sat up when the trailer ended. "What did you think?"
"I love it," I smiled through the pain. "It's going to be an amazing movie."
Zac turned towards me and grabbed my hands, intertwining our fingers. "Babe, you know that this is just for show, right? I mean. . . It's just for the movie."
"I know," I laughed it off. "We already talked about it before you started filming. I know that every cute moment, every kiss is just for the movie. I trust you, Zac."
"Damn, I love you," he laughed as he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine.
Why would you ever kiss me? I'm not even half as pretty. You gave her your sweater. It's just polyester, but you like her better Wish I were Heather
I broke the kiss when the image of Heather kissing Zac was stuck in my head. I smiled as I leaned back and grabbed my book. He watched me for a second before turning his attention back to his phone.
I have been supportive of Zac and his career through every moment, but it's getting harder. Watching the love of my life on screen with a beautiful actress was torture. It just reminded me that I wasn't anywhere near to being part of his league.
                       * * * * *
Watch as she stands with Her holding your hand. Put your arm 'round her shoulder, Now I'm getting colder.
I smoothed out my dress, trying to wipe away the nerves. Zac walked into the front room and smiled. "Wow," he chuckled. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," I blushed as I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I smoothed out my dress again, looking down at my feet.
"Nervous?" He smirked as he walked over and grabbed my hands.
"Always," I chuckled. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.
"It's going to be okay," he smirked when he broke the kiss. "Besides, I'm the one who should be nervous. I bring you along with me so you can keep me calm."
The whole drive to his premiere, my stomach was in knots. The idea of constantly being around my secret boyfriend and the girl I've been secretly comparing myself to made me sick.
We pulled into the theater and everything happened as if someone was fast-forwarding through the night. We walked the red carpet, but when we got to the paparazzi, he was taken away from me. They didn't want pictures of us. They wanted pictures of Zac and Heather.
I stood to the side, my arms wrapped around myself as I watched them take pictures. The more poses they went through and the closer they seemed to get together, the lower my stomach dropped. When it got too much, I turned on my heel and walked inside.
                       * * * * *
But how could I hate her? She's such an angel But then again, kinda wish she were dead. As she walks by, What a sight for sore eyes, Brighter than a blue sky. She's got you mesmerized, While I die.
The entire time we watched his movie, my heart was in my stomach. I found it incredibly hard to watch Zac on-screen fall in love with a girl ten times prettier than me.
I know how much my boyfriend loves me. I know he would never cheat on me or hurt me. I know I was being insecure, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was the off-brand version of Heather Manning.
Zac's new movie, The Lucky One, is based on the book written by Nicholas Sparks. Zac plays Logan Thibault, a US Marine who finds a photograph of a young woman while serving in Iraq. He carries it around as a good luck charm, and later tracks down the woman, Heather's character, Beth.
Watching Heather act was almost bewitching. I say almost because it's as painful as is it bewitching. I fought the tears as long as I could, but the longer I watched the man I'm in love with fall in love with another woman, the harder it got.
The tears finally started streaming down my cheeks as the movie came to an end. As Zac's and Heather's characters lived "happily ever after", I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my bag and ignored Zac's questioning look as I ran out of the theatre.
                       * * * * *
Why would you ever kiss me? I'm not even half as pretty. You gave her your sweater. It's just polyester, but you like her better. I wish I were Heather
"Y/N?!" Zac called out as he ran out of the theater following me. "Stop. Please!"
I froze but didn't turn around. I wrapped my arms around myself as I waited for Zac to speak up.
"Babe," he said, his voice barely audible. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing," I stuttered.
"Y/N, come on," he sighed. "You've been acting kind of weird the past couple of weeks. Months, really. Talk to me, Y/N. Please? What's going on?"
"I can't do this," I whispered, more to myself than to him.
"What?" Zac asked, the annoyance building in his voice. "Just talk to me, Y/N. What's going on?"
"I can't do this anymore, Zac!" I yelled as I turned around. He froze when he saw the tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Y/N," he said softly, my name getting caught in his throat. "What are you. . ."
"All I hear about every day is which beautiful actress your fans want you to be with, what girls are worth your time, and what kind of girl should make you happy. And guess what! I'm not even close to any of them."
"Y/N," he tried to interrupt, but I didn't let him.
"And the worst part is that I agreed to this!" I laughed sarcastically. "We talked about it and both agreed to keep us a secret. But I wasn't. . ."
"Y/N," he tried again.
"I didn't know how hard this would be, Zac," I said, not skipping a beat. "Because it's incredibly hard. Keeping us a secret is emotionally draining and exhausting. I love you, Zac but. . . I don't know how much longer I can do this."
"Y/N, please," he said desperately. "We don't have. . ."
I shook my head, the tears no longer streaming down my cheeks as I slowly walked away from him. "You should be with Heather or someone like her. . . Not me."
"Y/N, what are you talking about?" Zac asked, running his hands through his hair. "Just. . . Slow down, okay? Can we sit down and talk about this?"
"No," I said, taking another step back. "This has been going on too long, Zac. And you know it. I can't. . . I'm not good enough for you. You deserve a beautiful actress or a model. And I'm not like that. I'm average. I don't even have a job."
"So?" He scoffed. "I don't care about that! We've known each other all of our lives, Y/N. And you aren't average. You're my best friend, the love of my life. Besides, I don't want some girl who's looking for her next big career move. I want someone who really knows me. I want you."
"Zac, please just stop," I said, my voice getting caught in my throat. "Why would you ever want me?"
"Why wouldn't I want you?" Zac laughed awkwardly but stopped when he saw the look on my face. "Y/N, baby, please. . ."
I shook my head as I took a few steps back. Before he could say anything or do anything, I turned on my heel and left.
                       * * * * *
I was laying down on our couch, my knees up to my chest. There were dried tears on my cheeks as I numbly watched the tv. I wasn't sure what I was watching or what was happening, but I didn't care.
I sucked in a breath when I heard the lock click and the door open. I resisted the urge to look at Zac as he walked in.
"Hey," he whispered. "I'm kind of surprised you're still up."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take off his suit jacket and drape it over the Lazyboy. I bit my lip as he sat on the couch by my feet. I heard Zac sigh before laying down and pulling me into his chest. He spooned me, wrapping his arm around my waist.
"Can we please talk?" He whispered. I shrugged, knowing my voice would fail me. Besides, I said everything I had to say back at the theater.
"I had no idea that this was so hard on you," he sighed. "If I had known. . . I'm so sorry, babe. I should've known that keeping us a secret would be hard on you. But I. . . Damn, I've been really selfish, haven't I? I've been a horrible boyfriend," he whispered, rubbing his hands up and down his face. "I've been selfish and. . . I haven't. . ."
I finally looked at him when he sat up, but he didn't look towards me. Instead, he stared straight ahead, probably overthinking all of this. And that made me feel guilty.
"I am so sorry, Y/N." He shifted more towards me and grabbed my hands. "Things are going to be different. I promise. I am going to announce that we are dating, living together, everything. I am going to set up an interview to only talk about you. I'm going to take some time off so we can spend more time together. I'm so sorry I've been horrible to you."
"Zac," I said gently, interrupting him.
He stopped talking and waited for me to continue. I smiled as I reached up and cupped his cheek in my hand. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. He deepened the kiss by wrapping his arms around me, pulling me closer to him.
He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine. "I'm so sorry," he repeated. "So so sorry, babe. I should've. . . And I. . . I'm sorry."
"Hey," I said, leaning back so I could look at him. "I love you."
He smiled, looking as if he was relieved. "I love you too, Y/N. I'm so sorry."
"So you've said," I teased him. "Besides, I agreed to keep us a secret. I should've talked to you sooner instead of running out of your premiere. I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said instantly. There was a brief moment of silence before Zac asked, "So. . . We're okay? I mean. . ."
I laughed as I cupped his cheek in my hand. "Of course we're okay. I love you, Zac. Always have, always will."
"I love you too," Zac whispered as he leaned in and pressed a short, gentle kiss to my lips. "Besides, why would I want Heather when I have you?"
Heather tried to kiss me. She's not even half as pretty. Yes, I gave her my sweater, But it's just polyester. And I like you better. I don't care for Heather.
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koorinohebi · 3 years
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@fallesto wrote:
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[WHY SPOIL THE JOKE AND PUNCHLINE.] Henchmen were expendable afterall and he very much liked to test the limits he could push them. Honestly he was surprised she was still alive, still ticking and licking and coming back for more, Afterall what else was she going to do, were else was she going to go. He had taken her in, gave her a role in his group, given her purpose and a small taste of power - real power, the kind of power the other rogues could only dream about. So of course from time to time your going to have to take a bullet for him, or get eaten from time to time, it is just the nature of it all.
“What does it matter, you dealt with the problem.” He smiled as he ran his finger down the wall, on what remained of Clayface. Loyal to the big old ape until the end it seemed, guess the promise of normality would do that to a freak like him. “He gave me what I wanted. The Secret Society.” Grodd had formed a little group and failed. Lex had started all these secret groups, but failed as well. Seems everyone these days has there own little secret group to run around with and cause all kinds of no good - and of course he didn’t want to be left out of all the fun.
“The Injustice Gang. The Secret Society. All failures kid. All lacking that little bit extra to truly be memorable. Thankfully all of the members of those groups are either locked up - or better, dead. Means I am free - to form my own little organization.”
Where else was she going to go was a very good question. She's seen how the other supposed big shots were running their turf, and frankly speaking, they were all quite...well, boring. If she had to be honest - and she'd rather not - she lucked out in meeting the Joker when she did back in Arkham Asylum's. Apart from her boss, however, fate was an equally hilarious comedian for all the wrong reasons. When she struck her luck, it sure as hell didn't show her the fine print of those tiny tiny consequences that came with being the Clown Prince of Gotham's errand girl. Then again, Kiomi didn't have too many expectations in terms of treatment because-- well, it's not as if she's new to being expendable. Taking a bullet, getting poked with a knife on his behalf was easy enough to take in, but momentarily becoming someone's lunch-- oh boy, that one, that sure was new. She wasn't gonna be able to forget the any time soon, but hey. At least she could brag that she was the one who got away-- literally.
"Well the problem is--" Oh who was she kidding? It wasn't like it'd make any difference if she knew beforehand or in this case, didn't know at all. He seemed to be rather pleased with the outcome, so that was good enough for now. served her purpose. Came out on top of things; or in this case out of THAT clay thing. Setting the issue of her triumphant survival aside, the little lackey listed to what the master had to say, intently, and doing her best not to get side-tracked by whatever interesting thing was left in this current wreckage of theirs. Not very hard, since nothing looked worth taking home as a souvenir anyway.
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"Must suck that they couldn't keep things together" Not our problem though. "But what about you Mister J?" She asked, borrowing a little moniker that she had heard Harley throwing around the hideout too many times to count. "If yer gonna expand the circus to trump their extinct kiddie club, are ya gonna be recruiting some of the bozos that's locked up in the slammer?" Or rather, were they even sure that every one of those guys from both the Injustice Gang and Secret Society truly out of the picture? What if someone came after them? It'd be good if they could will them over to their side. But if not... Oh well, I guess I'll just have to prepare for that joke when it comes around.
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threeletterslife · 4 years
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Insurrection (It’s About Time)
→ [4/7] of the Glossary Series
→ summary: If you told Park Jimin he was going to fall in love with a young cult leader, he would've laughed. But honestly, who's laughing now??
→ pairing/rating: jimin x reader | PG-15
→ genre: 90% angst, 9.9% fluff, 0.1% crack | high school!au
→ warnings: death, mentions of suicide, academic dishonesty, cult-like activities, profanity, school threats (bombs & shootings)
→ wordcount: 18.3k
→ a/n: this is a story that is near and dear to my heart. it actually kind of hurt to write because a lot of these scenes are similar to my experiences or the experiences of loved ones. i’ve had this idea for almost two years now and i finally decided to write it out. i hope you enjoy (:
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Jimin is punctual. In fact, he is on another level of punctuality. At any given event, he arrives at least fifteen minutes early. For what reason? His answer would be 'just in case.' There are a plethora of events that can go wrong, a multitude of catastrophes that can erupt in his face last-minutely. Jimin's not going to take any chances jeopardizing his own future.
Especially his future in education.
Much accordingly, since he is exceedingly punctual, Jimin can not—for the love of god—stand people who dilly dally. The atrocity of them to dare to be late and waste others' time!
This is the exact reason why he absolutely despises his calculus teacher.
I sacrificed my goddamn lunchtime studying for this exam. And now he decides to be late.
Jimin's hands shake violently as he brings up his notes to his face, eyes boring into the paper filled with equations and example problems. Hands clammy and sticking to the paper, he balances himself on the balls of his feet and rocks in an attempt to try to settle his spiked nerves.
This is definitely not a good way to start off finals weeks.
Jimin has exactly an 88.3% in AP Calculus BC, and a morbid B+ will do no good in his future—at least that's what the school propaganda and his parents say. He'll have to score extremely well on this fall semester's final exam, especially because his teacher refuses to round up the grades.
Goddamn. He's really late. Late to his own final.
Jimin starts biting his nails again. At this point, there isn't much nail to bite left, but he manages to gnaw at the skin around it. It's a small habit that goes far; he does it when he's nervous, but nail-biting always does such little to do away with his gargantuan amount of stress.
In frustration, Jimin lets out a massive sigh, clutching at his chest where his lungs threatened to collapse on him. His stomach feels tight and queasy, which doesn't have much to do with the fact that he hadn't eaten. He is just anxious. Unlike the others around him.
Next to Jimin, Jeon Jungkook, his friend, casually leans against the brick wall, eyes focused on his phone screen as he mumbles nasty profanities under his breath. "That's motherfucking right, die, bitches," he mutters. Jungkook moves his body along with the avatar inside his game. He's so into it that his eyes gleam when he reigns victorious. "Ha!" he screeches, throwing up his hands. "Fuck you, you cowards! I win!"
Jungkook finally looks up from his game and meets eyes with Jimin. He grins. "Hey, bro, wanna log on too?"
Jimin's mouth hangs open with a mixture of complete surprise and utter disapproval. "We have a final this period, Jungkook. Aren't you the tiniest bit worried?"
He regrets asking that because he knows the answer he's going to get.
"No, not really," Jungkook snorts. He looks back at his phone screen and hoots. "Fuck, yeah! He's not here yet! I think I can squeeze in another game."
If Jimin's parents knew that his friend—aside from his straight A's and musical accomplishments—played video games, namely Fortnite, to pass time, they'd probably transfer Jimin to another school. A school that could be worse than this one. Which might as well be a prison.
Jimin shakes his head, harshly gripping his notes and looking away from Jungkook. Jimin doesn't want to admit it, but he's jealous. While he's stuck having a mini internal breakdown over the teacher's tardiness, Jungkook's taking the extra leisure time to play some shitty mobile game.
It's unfair. Jungkook gets his straight A's without moving so much of a goddamn muscle. While Jimin, on the other hand, has to stay up until four in the morning every other day, studying or doing homework from the moment he's awake to the time he goes to bed. He will never understand why, despite his grueling efforts, that he has a fair share of B's in his transcript.
It's a shitty, unfair system. But then again, it was set up to be unfair, anyways. Here at Welton High School, every student has taken a rigorous entrance exam, of which only the top 25% scoring students are accepted. Every student is well above average—they are students from all over the world and have probably never heard the word 'average' spoken to them in their entire lives. Until they faced Welton, of course. Now of the top 25%, only 1% can truly be special.
Jimin sometimes thinks that when he was accepted to Welton, he must've been barely at the cut off line. He speculates that he must've been in the top 24.99%, and was very lucky that he wasn't waitlisted.
He worked twice as hard from freshman year until now, junior year, to be on level with the young, walking Einsteins of Welton. But no matter how hard Jimin tries, he has never been able to outsmart the intellectuals who were born to change the world with their IQ's alone.
Competition is way too fierce.
No, Jimin thinks. Competition is deadly.
And it is. Student suicides, school shooting threats (from the students), student protests... Teenagers crack under pressure. But what can Jimin do about it? The system's shitty, yes, but he has no choice but to follow it, or else the promise of a stable future goes down the drain and into the sewer. For that exact reason, Jimin studies like there's no tomorrow every day.
Wake up. Go to school. Eat. Study. Sleep (if he's lucky). Wake up (sometimes). And do it all over again.
So fine. Jimin's jealous of Jeon Jungkook. Because he doesn't seem to put in the effort for his perfect grades. And it irks Jimin. But it shouldn't. Jungkook's his friend, so Jimin should be happy for him.
It's hard though when the person you're closest to is so far beyond your league that you begin to think yourself inferior to them.
"Sorry, class!" Jimin's calc teacher huffs as he nearly spills over his coffee while skidding to a stop in front of the classroom door. "We've lost time for the final! Get in your seats, take out a pencil, eraser and graphing calculator! Be ready in your seats so I can pass out the exams!" he orders in a frenzy.
How can you be so irresponsible? Jimin thinks, glaring daggers at the back of his teacher's head.
He's almost blinded by rage until he realizes what he's really here for: to take the test. Right. His stomach flips at the thought. Jimin shoves his notes into his backpack, wincing when he hears some of the papers ripping.
Shit, this is the moment. He's been dreading this exact time for weeks now. Each step into the familiar class makes him feel like he's walking the plank, inching closer and closer to his impending doom.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Jimin feels a migraine creeping in already. I don't know if I can do this.
Next to him, Jungkook is still playing Fortnite. Jimin doesn't know if he should spitefully tell his friend to stop or to let him continue. God, it's not fair.
Jimin's teacher is all over the place, holding his cup of coffee while also carrying dozens of test booklets in the other hand. For a split second, Jimin wishes his teacher would spill his coffee on the tests. Maybe that would delay the final. Maybe Jimin would get his first stroke of good luck in the nearly three years of high school he had already faced.
But luck is not on Jimin's side today. It never was.
The test booklets make it out in perfect condition, and Jimin's slightest bit of hope is crushed when his teacher finally sets down his coffee on his desk.
"Get your tests! Come on, pick them up!" his teacher shrills. Jimin breathes in deeply. At this point, he's just going to accept his fate. He might as well accept a B+ in this class. God, I feel faint.
"Don't write on the test," the teacher continues. "The scratch paper is up here if you need it and—"
The loud, blaring fire alarm interrupts him. It echoes deafeningly through the class, the raucous noise piercing through Jimin's ears to such an extent that he covers them with his hands. Jimin shakes in his seat, making eye contact with Jungkook.
For once in his life, Jungkook looks confused in a class setting. 'What the fuck??" he mouths aggressively to Jimin.
What the fuck, indeed.
Sometimes, the administration liked to schedule secret fire drills to get the students and staff better prepared in case of a real emergency. But really, during finals week? When students are already nerve-wracked from exam season? God, they had no shame for fuck's sake.
Jimin's teacher sighs, running his fingers through his head of unkempt hair. "All sorts of things happening today," he mutters to himself. "Must be a mistake," he declares with an affirmative nod of the head. "Class, as I was saying before—"
"Holy fuck, the other classes are evacuating!" Jungkook shrieks, pointing out the classroom window. Sure enough, teachers are already herding their students outside to the evacuation areas on the soccer fields. "I don't think this is a dr—"
Before Jungkook finishes his sentence and the teacher disciplines him for his explicit choice of language, the intercom buzzes, momentarily halting the horrendous fire alarm. Everyone freezes and it goes completely silent. So silent that Jimin can hear his own heartbeat.
A loud crackle and another buzz ring from the intercom, then the principal begins to speak in a hurried voice: "This is not a drill. Please proceed to evacuate out of the buildings. Thank you."
The moment he finishes, the intercom crackles again and the fire alarm carries on.
Jimin's anxiety flies to the roof. Not a drill? What could've possibly happened?
His teacher looks almost as—or even more—shaken as Jimin and he yells panicked directions to the students. "I'll be the last one out! Meet me at our safety corner on the field!"
Jimin quickly finds Jungkook and the two of them walk side by side out of the building. As soon as Jimin can see the sky, he looks up instinctively to check for smoke. But there is none. In fact, the sky looks clearer than normal today.
"Do you even think there's a fire?" Jimin asks his friend. He almost lets out a scoff of disbelief when he sees Jungkook playing his mobile game again.
"No idea," Jungkook replies nonchalantly, jabbing at his screen with his thumb. "Don't think it's anything serious. Probably just a small fire in chem class. Nothing to worry about."
Jimin's still uneasy. "You don't think anyone's hurt, do you?"
At that, Jungkook hums, his forehead creasing slightly as he finally shuts off his phone and pockets it. "There's no ambulance," he points out. Jungkook turns to Jimin fully, grinning at him to Jimin's shock. "Loosen up, Jimin. This is junior year. We might have a chance at canceled finals because of this real evacuation! Now isn't that nice?"
"I guess..." Jimin mumbles. But I need the final to raise my grade...
It's strange to see his peers smiling and laughing as they walk side by side with their friends. It's almost as if the fire alarm isn't threateningly blaring in the background. Do none of them care that this could be a serious matter??
"By the looks of it, we're definitely going to skip the calc final today!" Jungkook shouts victoriously, pumping his fist in the air. "No more fucking math!"
"True..." Jimin admits nervously. "But he might have to take the final after school..." He's almost too embarrassed to say that he needs this final to raise his grade.
Jungkook snorts. "Welton's not allowed to keep us after school with such short notice," he says. "If things go right, we might not have finals for the rest of the day."
When Jungkook puts it that way, the thought sounds heavenly.
"Yo! Bros!" a familiar voice calls, breaking Jimin from his reverie. "Y'all okay? We could've literally died!"
It's Taehyung, Jimin's other friend. The only guy in the whole school who's unafraid to use the word 'y'all' and be judged for it.
"Man, I heard the girl's locker room caught on fire!" Taehyung announces.
Jungkook cocks an eyebrow. "Unless you were in there, how would you know?" he teases.
Jimin laughs as Taehyung huffs disapprovingly. "Some girls told me. I would never sneak in there," he pouts, crossing his arms.
"Really?" Jimin says. "How would the fire have started in there, though?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised to see what goes down in the girl's locker room," Jungkook says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"What went down so hard to cause a fire??" Jimin asks.
"Nah, don't believe him, Minnie," Taehyung laughs. "Jungkook probably sneaks in there from time to time to be a little perv."
Jungkook shrugs, unfazed by the accusation. He even plays along with it. "Well, I need something interesting to do in my high school career."
At that, Jimin and Taehyung shoot each other a look. Them and a majority of the students at Welton don't have enough hours in the day to study, let alone to seek for 'something interesting to do' in their high school careers. It's so like Jeon Jungkook, the genius, to say shit like this.
"Whatever, y'all," Taehyung says. "I don't even care what happened. We're still alive, you know? I'm just glad I'm missing out on that stupid physics final."
"Lucky," Jimin says. "I'm supposed to take that shit tomorrow."
"Uh, yeah, if there even is a tomorrow," Jungkook says, scrolling through his phone. Jimin thinks he's playing some mobile game again, but he soon realizes he's reading something. "It's not a fire in the girl's locker room after all..."
The three boys immediately stop walking, Taehyung and Jimin looking over Jungkook's shoulder to read what was on his screen. It's an email sent from the principal to all attending students and their guardians:
Dear Welton Community,
Today at approximately 12:48 pm, an unidentified caller phoned in a bomb threat to Welton High School. The caller stated seven pipe bombs had been planted on campus and were going to detonate in 25 minutes. The Police Department was called and immediately responded. Along with them, the School Administration decided to evacuate all buildings and bomb-sniffing dogs were called to search the entire school. When they have completed their search, I will send out another message to our community with the all-clear.
Thank you.
Bombs. Bombs?!?! Jimin panics again. Actual bombs! Seven pipe bombs could do serious damage—maybe even decimate half of the population of Welton High. What if they go off? Will this really be the end?
"Well, that explains the excessive amount of helicopters flying above us," Jungkook says, shrugging.
Before Jimin can shoot his friend a look of utter incredulity, he hears the sharp voice of his calc teacher. "Jimin! Jungkook! What are you doing out of line? I'm taking roll!"
"The Grinch is calling," Jungkook snickers. "We'll see you later," he tells Taehyung who salutes the two of you.
"See you guys," Taehyung says before sauntering off to his physics class.
"Text us!" Jimin calls.
Taehyung doesn't turn around but gives two big thumbs up indicating that he had heard Jimin.
Quickly, Jimin and Jungkook get in line while their dratted teacher takes roll. Once they see that their teacher isn't eagle-eyeing them, they slip out their phones, opening their group chat with Taehyung. It looks like Taehyung had already sent them multiple texts. All cries of pity.
Group: dead men + kook
[half-dead cowboy]: y'alls
[half-dead cowboy]: literally save me
[half-dead cowboy]: idk anyone in this class
[half-dead cowboy]: keep me entertained
[half-dead cowboy]: don't leave me hanging
[half-dead cowboy]: guyds
[half-dead cowboy]: guys*
[nO yOu]: serves u right for deciding to take physics ii lmfaoo
[half-dead cowboy]: shut up kook
[half-dead cowboy]: where's my boi minnie when i need him
[lil dead man]: Shit Tae I keep forgetting to tell you not to call me that
[half-dead cowboy]: you know why?
[half-dead cowboy]: because you not-so-secretly lobr it
[half-dead cowboy]: ugh
[half-dead cowboy]: love*
[nO yOu]: how did u even get in welton tae lmfao u can't even spell
[half-dead cowboy]: no
[half-dead cowboy]: i can SPELL i can't TYPE
[half-dead cowboy]: there's a difference you jerky
[half-dead cowboy]: ARE YOU KIDDING ME
[half-dead cowboy]: jerk********
[lil dead man]: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
[nO yOu]: i feel quite honored to b called a jerky
[half-dead cowboy]: stfu
[nO yOu]: no for real bro
[nO yOu]: thank you
[lil dead man]: Back at it again with the sarcasm Kook
[lil dead man]: Anyways what's the girl's locker room like ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[half-dead cowboy]: not the lenny face
[half-dead cowboy]: please no
[nO yOu]: nO yOu
[lil dead man]: How long have you been waiting to say that
[nO yOu]: months
[nO yOu]: thanks for noticing. u my man
[nO yOu]: also if tae won't say anything bout the girl's locker room i will
[lil dead man]: What the fuck bro I thought you were joking when you say you knew the shit that went down????
[nO yOu]: lmfao i'm still jokin chillax minnie
[half-dead cowboy]: i hate you guys :((((((
[nO yOu]: damn that frowny face has 6 chins holy mothatruckafucka
[half-dead cowboy]: :(
[lil dead man]: That's more like it!!
[half-dead cowboy]: hold up hold up
[half-dead cowboy]: oh shoot y'all hearing this?
[nO yOu]: no?? we're texting? wE hAvE nO vOicE
[half-dead cowboy]: no you illiterate f*cks they just cleared the school the bomb threat as phony
[lil dead man]: Whew
[lil dead man]: I'm happy I won't blow up into smithereens but also pissed off as fuck that we'll have to live to take finals??
[nO yOu]: agreed, minnie
[nO yOu]: k but more importantly
[nO yOu]: tae did you just censor out a fucking cuss word
[half-dead cowboy]: i'm trying not to cuss as much anymore if you haven't noticed. but y'all make it f*cking hard. f*ck
[lil dead man]: We'Re sOrRy wE'Re bAd iNflUenCe
[half-dead cowboy]: :(((((((((((((((
[nO yOu]: 15 chins lets git itttt
[half-dead cowboy]: F*CK Y'ALL
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It feels strange. The shortened school day had been so eventful... but also uneventful? Sure, there was a bomb threat, but it had been fake. Jimin thought a full-on Hollywood action scene would've commenced after the bombs detonated, but the bombs were never there in the first place. There weren't any finals either. All of them had been rescheduled to take next week, which was good news for most students.
It wasn't just good news, too. It was great news. Superb news. The best news students have gotten since they began attending Welton High School. Now, students are thanking the bomb threat for its rather impeccable timing. Some are even pissed that it hadn't happened earlier (so more finals could have been missed).
"We need to celebrate this once in a lifetime opportunity!" Taehyung announces as soon as the three boys are reunited. "It's not every day that a bomb threat cancels your finals!"
"We deserve a break, anyways," Jimin says. "I'm down. Kook?"
"Mm..." Jungkook makes an unintelligible sound at the back of his throat as he pauses his video game with the tap of his finger. "Sorry guys. Can't. Have to go somewhere."
"You?" Taehyung gasps dramatically. "Have plans?"
"And without us?" Jimin says, feigning a hurt expression. "Are you ditching us?"
Jungkook rolls his eyes. "No. I'm just... busy."
"Ha! Busy," Taehyung snorts. "Yeah, busy with that little sophomore girl you've been—cough—seeing."
"What the fuck," Jungkook scoffs. "How do you know about that?"
Taehyung opts not to answer the question, instead, he giggles. "It's a date, isn't it?" he sings.
Jungkook puffs out his cheeks in annoyance. "Fine," he says, slipping his phone inside his back pocket. "It's a date."
"Oh, we are so following you," Taehyung says.
"Don't you dar—"
"No, we're following you," Jimin grins.
"No, I swear to fucking g—"
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Jimin and Taehyung are following Jungkook. The boy's surprisingly agile as he zig-zags around stumpy trees, tall bushes and overflowing trash cans. Sometimes, he quickly looks behind him as if to see if someone was trailing his back. Every time, Jimin's heart sinks with the fear of being caught, but Taehyung seems to love the thrill of the adrenaline rush.
At this rate, Jimin feels like an outlaw. But he's only just chasing his rather suspicious-looking friend. Or maybe he really wanted his relationship with the sophomore girl as a secret?
Or maybe there was no sophomore girl in the picture at all. Jimin's not too sure.
"It's as if he doesn't want anyone to know he's dating a teeny weeny 10th grader," Taehyung whispers, a mischievous grin stuck on his lips.
Yeah. If the girl exists. But Jimin doesn't say that. "I wonder who she is," he whispers back. "I mean, who on earth is worthy of dating our Kook?"
"My expectations for this girl are high," Taehyung snorts. "She better be the most intelligent girl I've ever—wait, what the fucK??"
The latter is more of a reaction. Taehyung grabs Jimin's arm, pulling him to take refuge behind a particularly bushy bush. He points at a rather unsettling scene unfolding before them.
Through the leaves of the shrub, Jimin can make out Jungkook, all right. There's also a girl—who might be a sophomore, standing confidently on a tree stump. Jimin doesn't even know if you go to Welton. But what makes the whole situation peculiar is that there are others—including Jungkook—gathered in this little half-forest clearing. And they're gathered around the tree stump in which the girl is standing on.
Jimin tries to make a rough estimate of the number of people—seemingly students because they're all wearing backpacks— in his head. Twelve? Maybe fifteen students? He's confused, furrowing his brows as he squints at them through the bush. "What's this shit for?" he whispers to Taehyung who looks equally confused.
"No idea," Taehyung mutters. "Looks like a cult," he snorts. "But it could be a stupid Fortnite club for all I know."
"I doubt that a club would meet at such a sketchy place," Jimin murmurs to himself.
There is something definitely fishy going on here...
Jungkook blends in way too easily in the crowd of supposed students. The only person that stands out is the girl. The one on the tree stump. She stands casually, favoring her left leg. She's petite, but her posture and stance emit an aura of valiance and authority. Her eyes seem to sparkle with determination and her lips are curled up in a happy smile. A... victorious smile.
"That's her!" Taehyung whispers aggressively. "The girl I've seen our Kook with! The little sophomore!"
Ah... She's a sophomore... Jimin nods, cocking his head as his eyes scan the group of students to see if he recognized anyone other than Jungkook. He sees a few seniors (that he can't quite remember the name of) and finds it weird that they're huddled below the sophomore girl as if waiting for her command.
Whoever she is, she's the leader. The president, maybe? Of whatever club this was? If it even was a club, that is.
Jimin's thoughts are proven when the girl clasps her hands together, taking a deep breath before bellowing out a "Thank you for coming!" She offers a friendly wave to everyone looking up to her (literally) in awe.
Jimin has never seen the genius himself, Jeon Jungkook, respecting an underclassman before. Even the seniors in the crowd look at the girl approvingly. As if she were a queen and not just the president of a small club.
The girl speaks again in her light, lilted voice, turning to a lanky boy with unkempt blonde hair covering his eyes. "Yoongs! Attendance, please?"
"Perfect attendance, Y/N!" the boy deemed as Yoongs reports back to the girl. He winks. And she—Y/N—blushes.
Jimin frowns. What was going on???
You giggle, looking fondly at Yoongs before returning your attention to the rest of the crowd. "So, our experiment worked as expected," you say, shrugging rather casually. "I did feel bad for wasting people's time..." you trail off, unsure.
Experiment? Jimin feels chills run down his spine when he realizes you probably mean the bomb threat.
"It was worth it, babe!" Yoongs calls from the group.
You smile. "It's always worth it," you reply. "I'll make today's meeting short for those of you working on college apps and the others of you participating in competitions."
You're so casual in the way you speak—as if the people you were looking over were your friends. But you're also entrancing. As if everyone else has to be silent to hear what great words you have to say. And apparently, you have a lot on your mind to share.
"As I always say," you start, "never waste your time on your grades. They don't define you. Nor will they shed a light on the person you are inside. Nevertheless, everyone here should have straight A's..." you smile, looking over at Yoongs. "A round of applause for Yoongi's excellent coding skills for which we would've never been able to pull this off without them!"
The crowd erupts in enthusiastic applause, leaving Yoongi beaming from his proud accomplishments.
You wait for the crowd to simmer down before speaking again. "We tricked and cheated the system," you admit. "You might have doubts about that. Morality and integrity may play into your thoughts. But," you take a dramatic pause, "how moral are grades, really? They're tools for adults, which is as far as it goes. Teachers corrupt the system, watch silently as all hell breaks loose from the intense student competition... They make it a game. They know you'll do anything to get the letter grade you want," you take a painful breath. "We're only fighting against something that is as equally as or more morally ambiguous. The world cares about you as a human. They won't care about a robot that spits out impeccable grades but has no soul, no passion, no life. They want you at your best—what you can do that will benefit others. We don't need to take part in something as trivial as our high school grades, do we?" you smile as the students around you cheer.
"Of course... college is a different story. Depending on the college you go, that is..." you trail off. "When you start to learn about things that you have a genuine interest in, that's when grades might matter. But for now, struggling this hard on obscure subjects that you'll never touch again after graduating from Welton? I say it's a good thing we're cheating the system. How great was the system anyway to have contributed to three student suicides in the last two years?"
There's a collective murmur as students nod their heads.
"A moment of silence for Heegyung, Bonsoo and Chaewoon, please," you say, voice barely above a whisper but everyone hears what you say and they all bow their heads down to obey. You, yourself, close your eyes. Your face is etched with pain and actual remorse, which makes Jimin feel a little guilty he wasn't truly mourning the students' deaths.
After a few minutes pass, you clear your throat, blinking your eyes open and waiting for the other students to look up at you again. "Ah, yes," you say. "Thank you for the short mourning period we were able to squeeze into this meeting... But now to get to the purpose of this gathering," you pause for a split second before continuing again. "The finals you will have to take next week shouldn't be as stressful as other school days. Apply our methods and you'll be fine. If you need extra help, text me as soon as possible." You pause again, but this time, it wasn't to gather your thoughts, it was to shift the mood of your speech. A bright grin settles on your face.
"Now, for the moment we've all been waiting for!" you exclaim. "Let's give a special round of applause for Jeon Jungkook and Min Yoongi for their collaboration on this excellent evacuation plan!"
The crowd does more than applaud. Students whoop, yell and chant their names. But Jimin's not in a celebratory mood.
Jungkook did what?? Jimin shoots Taehyung a panicked look. It was one thing to realize that this group of students probably somehow organized the bomb threat, but it was another thing to realize that Jungkook was a large part of it.
"It was extremely difficult to create an automated call that couldn't be traced—" you begin.
"Eh, it wasn't that bad," Yoongi shrugs nonchalantly. "Child's play."
You laugh, eyes twinkling as your turn to Yoongi. "Well, thank you," you say. "Ah, and as for Jungkook, thank you for volunteering to use your voice to record the bomb threat. It must've been so nerve-wracking."
Jungkook snorts, shaking his head. "All I really did was speak into a mic. And we totally distorted my voice. Severely fucked up the frequencies and all that."
Jimin's blood runs cold. He looks over at Taehyung with his eyes wide. His friend isn't faring any better with his jaw clenched and fists tightened.
"It took an immense amount of courage to sacrifice your voice for an experiment like this," you say, smiling down at the older boy. "Oh, yeah! How's your album going, by the way?"
Jungkook beams. "It's going great!" he says happily. "I've been having so much fuckin' time to work on it that the whole process has just been insanely smooth."
"Love that!" you say. "Productivity at its finest, right?"
Everyone nods eagerly.
"Well!" you sigh, placing both of your hands on your hips. "The meeting's officially over, now! Please text me your work progresses, guys. They're due before midnight. Thank you so much for coming!"
"Thank you for hosting it, babe!" Yoongi says, rushing over to help you off of the tree stump by offering his hand. You take it gladly, stepping back on the dirt ground.
You start waving at the students who begin to file out of the meeting place. When Jimin sees them start to move towards him and Taehyung, he grabs his friend's arm. "Shit, Tae, we've got to—"
"Hey, Jungkook?" you call. The boy turns around, looking at you expectantly. "Can you please tell your two friends that hiding behind a bush is quite ineffective?" You giggle when Jimin falls to the ground in shock. "Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung, was it?"
Jimin's in shell-shock, unable to move or dust off his pants. How the fuck did you—
"You can come out of hiding, you know," you reassure them with such a honey-like quality to your voice that it's almost impossible to resist. "We don't really bite," you giggle. "But... I mean, Yoongi might," you tease, earning a flirtatious shove from the boy.
At your invitation to quit hiding, Taehyung jumps out from behind the bush, dragging Jimin along with him. "Who the fuck are you and how do you know our names?!" Taehyung roars.
Guess he already gave up his no-cussing streak, Jimin sighs. But he's also glad that he's not the one who has to stand up for both of them.
"Don't be so rude, you ass," Jungkook scoffs. "Motherfucking stalkers. I told you not to follow me."
Stalkers?? We were just looking out for you! Jimin thinks. "We're sorry, Kook," he manages to say. "But you lied to us! And more importantly, you obviously haven't been telling us things."
Jimin's frankly hurt by his friend's lack of honesty, but it seems so that Taehyung is more vocal about it.
"Yeah, Jeon Jungkook, what the fuck?" Taehyung yells. "You're a cheater!" he accuses Jungkook, stepping closer and poking at his chest harshly with his pointer finger. "You're a fake! You're a bomb threatener!!"
"Wait a minute!" you cut in. "Let's not get into accusations like that so early. Jimin, Taehyung, I—"
"How do you know our fucking names?!" Taehyung screams. "We don't even know who you are, you cheater!!"
"Watch it," Yoongi says dangerously. He tries to take a step forward, but you stop him, placing a hand on his arm.
"I'm Y/N," you say. "We're all students of Welton, so there's no reason for the animosity. Besides, I memorized the yearbook." You shrug, but you gesture apologetically to Jimin and Taehyung. "I'm very sorry, but I didn't invite you two to join our little group for a major reason. Of course..." you trail off. "Now you have to join... For safety reasons."
"Little group?" Taehyung snorts. "Where did the specificity go?"
"Hmm," you hum. "What do you think about a school revolt?"
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Jimin does not like the idea of a school revolt at all. It sounds stupid. Students would never be able to pull it off. Even Taehyung, who's usually more open-minded than Jimin, seems skeptical.
You ask Jimin and Taehyung to meet up in Panera, later that day with Jungkook, to discuss the specifics. By the time Jimin and Taehyung get there, you and Jungkook have already saved a corner spot in the cafe.
Jungkook's eating pieces of sourdough bread while you sip your frozen lemonade. It looks to Jimin and you and Jungkook are getting along as both of you gesture wildly as you speak. You even let out a large laugh after Jungkook says something funny.
Jimin feels weird interrupting the already happy conversation, but Taehyung seems to have no problem. Taehyung slides into the seat next to Jungkook, leaving Jimin to sit with you.  Jimin suddenly feels very self-conscious about himself.
"Glad you two could make it!" you chirp, setting down your frozen lemonade. "Want anything to eat or drink? They have hibiscus lemonade here and it's literally amazing!"
"I'd rather you cut to the chase," Taehyung says, frowning as he folds his arms.
Jimin agrees with a short nod.
"Oh," you say, "sure!"
"You said something about a school revolt," Taehyung says. "Explain."
"God, would it kill you to say please?" Jungkook rolls his eyes. "She's doing you guys a fucking favor. Man, if Yoongi was here, he'd whoop your asses."
"It's fine, Jungkook," you say. "I get how confusing this can be... Our little group has one goal," you start. "I want to help struggling students. You know what Welton is... Ruthless competition. Kids cramming without actually understanding the material. Rote memorization... Wasting time by doing four pages worth of math homework every night... Way too specific reading quizzes that have nothing to do with the storyline of the novels..."
The more you talk, the more Jimin begins to relate.
"It's horrible," you sigh. "That they're making us become a servant to the school. They use the students to boost the credibility of the teachers. They thrive off of our hard work, you know."
"They're bitches," Jungkook snorts. "Never really care for us. Remember Chaewoon? He told his counselor about his suicidal thoughts and she didn't do shit. He might still be alive with us if the counselor cared."
You nod. "Yes, our mental support system at this school amongst the grown-ups is preposterous," you say. "There are too many problems with Welton. And I reach out to deserving students to offer them a solution."
"A solution?" Jimin mutters.
You turn to him, nodding politely. "Yes! A solution. Students have dreams, Jimin. Taehyung, don't you ever wish you could be putting in your time somewhere else instead of studying for a subject you don't care about?"
Taehyung nods. "Who doesn't wish that around here?"
"Exactly," you say. "I'm offering you, Tae, and Jimin a great chance to follow your dreams. High school is when you feel the spark growing inside you. The spark is an extracurricular or a hobby of some sort that you've always loved with your whole heart. You probably had to sacrifice a lot to join Welton's elite debate team, right Taehyung?"
"Never even liked debate that much," he answers. "I had to quit theater for that shit."
"And you couldn't do both because...?" you say.
"Because the debate coach told me theater would interfere with the debate practice schedules," Taehyung says. "And he said that debate is much more intellectual than theater. He said that I won't be able to balance my studies with both debate and theater."
"Exactly," you say. "It's utter bs, don't you think? Why do we have to sacrifice our hobbies, our passionate dreams to do what some adult tells us to do? You do realize that they put down the arts because they want their smartest students participating in their intellectual or STEM-related activities? The more intelligent students that are in these activities, the higher the school rating skyrockets. It's purely selfish reasons."
"That is utter bullshit," Taehyung scoffs. "You're right. That is pretty fucking selfish."
"Right," you say. "I want to teach you, Tae," you say, looking the boy dead in his eyes. "I'll take care of your grades. I'll teach you the best ways to get away with outsmarting the teacher. I'll plan class distractions—like today—and if things still don't go well, my boyfriend—you met Yoongi today, right?—can make a last-ditch effort to hack into the grades system and work his magic. You'll have extra time to do theater—at school and at other professional intern sites. How does that sound?"
"Fuck," Taehyung curses. "That sounds fucking great when you put it that way."
Jimin's not so sure. "What if someone snitches?"
You laugh. "Oh, they wouldn't," you say. "I have eyes and ears everywhere."
"She does," Jungkook says. "There's no one she doesn't know. C'mon she's the first sophomore Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. You'll be safe if you join."
"You're juniors as well," you say. "There's a lot of pressure to do perfectly in school now. And you'll be in college before you know it. I reckon that you want to know your ride-or-die interest before you attend university."
Jimin looks down at his hands. This is wrong, he tells himself. But it'll do so much good. Not moral good, of course. But still.
Taehyung already seems sold on the idea, a fast grin spreading across his face as he nods his head enthusiastically.
You notice Jimin's skeptical look. "Hey, I'm gonna run to the bathroom," you say. Jimin gets out of the seat to let you through, and as soon as you're out of sight, he collapses on the seat and groans.
"Great, she's fucking gone," Jimin says. "Tae, you can't possibly think this is a good idea."
"What do you mean? It's a fucking fantastic idea!" Taehyung says. "Dude, don't you understand? I'll get to do what I love without sacrificing my grades! Once in a lifetime opportunity, bro."
Jungkook snorts. "Yeah, well, I have my music and you have your acting shit, Taehyung, but Jimin doesn't know anything other than the pages of a stupid fucking textbook."
It hurts because it's brutally true. Jimin bites his lip and shakes his head.
"Fifteen people is awfully small for a cult," Jimin grumbles.
"It is not a cult," Jungkook argues, crossing his arms over his chest. "And no one knows how many students are actually involved except for Y/N. She figured it'll be safer that way."
"Bro, I'm in," Taehyung says. "I was in like seven minutes ago."
"Good choice, man," Jungkook says, slapping Taehyung's back approvingly. "And honestly? Jimin? You don't exactly have a choice. You have to join."
Jimin scoffs. "Why?"
"Because you know this group exists and it's likely you'd snitch on us if you don't get anything out of it," Jungkook says, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "Y/N's being really generous with you right now. You're basically going to freeload."
"Freeload?" Jimin says, glaring at the man with intense ferocity. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
"Hey, it's okay!" Taehyung says. "You can just find some hobby or something. So you're still following protocol."
"Um, easier said than done," Jimin mutters.
It's silent after that as Jimin sulks in his seat and Jungkook and Taehyung awkwardly watch him do so. You come back from the "bathroom" (you were gone for much longer, so Jimin suspects you were just giving them time to discuss) only to see the three boys sitting in complete silence.
You cock your head. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Taehyung says. "It's final. Jimin and I are joining!"
"Great!" you say, smiling as you clasp your hands together. "Oh, you'll have to get started on your theater process right away," you tell Taehyung. "And Jimin, it's fine that you don't know what you like now. You can hang tight until you find something, all right?"
Jimin lets out a grumbling, "Yeah, sure."
"It's set, then!" you say, sipping your not-so-frozen lemonade drink. "Thank you, Jungkook. I owe you."
"No, it's fine, really," Jungkook laughs, shaking his head. "Just doing my job."
You smile at him fondly before turning to Jimin and Taehyung. "I'll text you the details pertaining to each of you, okay?" You glance down at your watch and gasp. "Oh, shoot, I'm late for my date! Um, I'll see you three at our next meeting? Or at school. Bye, guys!!" With that, you grab your drink and practically fly out of Panera, never looking back once.
Jimin and Taehyung are a bit dumbfounded.
"I gotta go work on producing my album," Jungkook says. "See you guys, too?"
"Yeah, duh," Taehyung grins as Jungkook slides out of the seat. "You basically saved our lives."
Jungkook snorts. "Sorry I didn't say anything about it earlier, by the way," he says. "We're not allowed to talk about it to anyone. Mostly because we don't really know who's involved."
"Nah, it's fine, man," Taehyung says, shaking his head. "At least we know now, right?"
Jimin stays quiet.
"Well, see you," Jungkook sighs as he glances at Jimin but doesn't say anything further. He leaves quickly.
"God, Jimin, he's your friend," Taehyung says as soon as Jungkook turns a corner and is no longer in view. "You shouldn't be that cold."
"Oh, really?" Jimin says. "He was living lavishly all this time and didn't bother saying anything!"
"He just said he didn't have a choice, Jimin!"
"God!" Jimin says, running his hand through his hair. "Now how are we any different from the motherfucking cheaters out there?"
Taehyung frowns. "I don't mind cheating. Y/N didn't even call it cheating. She called it 'outsmarting the teachers.' And besides, we have a reason for it too."
Jimin shrugs. "Yeah, whatever..."
"You'll come around," Taehyung smiles, shaking his head. "But what the heck do you think Jungkook meant by saying no one knows who's in the group??"
"No idea."
But it soon becomes quite obvious when Jungkook escorts Jimin and Taehyung to their first official meeting. Jimin and Taehyung gape as they realize no one they saw last time was here. You must hold several of the same meetings. All with different people.
Now it's for sure that nobody knows how many people are in the goddamn cult except for you. It dawns on Jimin that he's getting himself into something much, much larger than he had previously believed.
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You've created quite an advanced system. So advanced that it took Jimin a while to get used to. It was a cheating plot so elaborate and well-planned that it almost didn't feel like cheating. Instead, it was like embarking on an evil heist in the adult world.
You had a master plan behind every single class in Welton. Jungkook said you harbored hundreds of paper documents (not digital, or they could be hacked) that had information about every teacher, every subject in the school. From there, you would investigate each subject and find the students who were genuinely interested in pursuing it in the future—the experts. Those students would then be in charge of making and organizing all of the class lecture notes; it would be their responsibility to fully learn the material and redistribute it to the other students who, more or less, didn't give two fucks about the class.
Homework was rotated amongst the "expert" students, and they'd send the other students the answers. (But, of course, there were always different versions of the homework so teachers would never suspect.)
Tests weren't a problem either. Somehow, you'd get a copy of every test or quiz before the exam date and distribute it to the experts. In a day's time, the rest of the students would obtain the answers (and work, if it was a math-based test). But to ensure that not everyone got the same exact score, you'd implemented quite a simple but complex system.
Test grades were higher for experts (especially experts who were able to make large progress on their personal projects). From there, the non-expert students were given scores solely based on how well they have updated their progress to you, and how much they have advanced in their extracurriculars.
The hardest questions on every exam were hand-picked by the experts themselves. And only the experts were allowed to answer the question correctly.
Essays were different. Not everyone read the given book, but the experts would always be ready for all kinds of topics—the holy grail was definitely the database of all past Welton essays that you handled yourself.
In that way, you had every single class in the whole school covered for the students in your group. (Which was ultimately a huge bummer for the students who had no idea of the behind-the-scenes 'outsmarting' that was going on.)
Jimin thinks the system is good. Could be better, but it works.
He's just pissed that he never has any progress to report back to you, so he always ends up scoring a high B on exams. It happens to be a pretty good deal, though, factoring in the fact that he didn't study for them. Scoring B+'s on exams was enough to keep his grades at an A.
But sometimes, it just feels wrong. Especially on his physics tests (where the class average is 60%, but he ends up with a raw score of 88% without having to put in the minimal effort). No matter how many times you call the action 'outsmarting the teachers,' Jimin thinks he's just plain cheating.
He's been wanting to report it for a while... Just because the little angel sitting by his shoulder is telling him that this is unfair to all the other students who were truly trying but weren't even getting close to the scores that Jimin was getting just by copying others' answers. Jimin remembers when he had been in that unfortunate position. When he'd watched students do suspiciously well on certain subjects while having time to do other activities, while he, himself, had to study for eight hours straight to get a C on the test.
But Jimin's not part of that unfortunate group of students. He's now pretty damn fortunate.
And he can't stay fortunate if he reports the cheating. Jimin's desperate. He's desperate to obtain decent grades without spilling countless tears and studying from early morning to the next morning after. It's the only reason that he hasn't reported your little group yet.
Besides, Taehyung is seemingly adapting better to this non-student-like lifestyle. He's already joined two theater productions and is applying to work as extras in films and such. And Jungkook's been continuing to work on his album too.
Jimin's friends seem to love being a part of the group.
Maybe Jimin's just salty because he hasn't found his passion yet. Though he doesn't know everyone in your little school cult, it seems like everyone involved in it has a passion, a dream they want to reach for, except for him.
A part of him wants to find a hobby just to say he has one when someone asks. But another, larger, part of him wants a hobby because of greed. Finding a passion and pursuing it meant Jimin would get a higher chance of getting better test grades for texting you about his progress. But Jimin can't just latch on to any existing hobby... He needs some advice.
Well, you'd told him that he should come to you if he needed advice... It's weird to think that he, a junior, has to ask advice from a sophomore. But maybe he's that desperate.
You're usually in your own little private newspaper office (as the Editor-in-Chief). So Jimin decides to give you a visit. But when he walks into the room after school, he sees you comforting a crying girl. Whether she's part of the cult is unclear, but Jimin immediately discerns her as one of those band girls—with frizzy hair, leggings and a boxy t-shirt. The girl's crying so hysterically that Jimin feels uncomfortable intruding. He leaves without another look.
Crying girls are not a good sign; he'll just come back tomorrow.
When tomorrow comes and Jimin walks into your private newspaper room, there is no crying girl to his relief. You're on your computer, probably reading or editing some student-written articles. Jimin feels awkward disrupting you being so focused on your work, but the longer time he spends just waiting for you to finish, the more time he wastes.
So: "Um, hi... Uh, Y/N?" Jimin says. He grabs a chair and pulls it up next to you.
"Oh! Jimin!" you greet him, turning from your computer to face the boy in front of you.
"I came yesterday," Jimin says, shrugging, "but you were busy with someone else... I came back today."
"Ah, you mean Chunseo," you say, nodding. "She was having a hard time yesterday."
Jimin's silent, waiting for you to elaborate, but you don't. It becomes quite clear to him that you don't like to talk about others behind their backs.
"So, what are you here for today?" you chirp. "Advice? Questions? I know everything must be new to you, so I just hope you feel comfortable with the whole system."
"Oh, uh..." Jimin would like to tell you that you're doing a great job and that everything's going fucking great, but that's unfortunately not what comes out of his mouth. "I still don't know what to pursue. I mean, I have so much extra time on my hands now, but I'm just spending it on my phone. My friends have been advancing in their passions, but I have nothing... I was just wondering if you could um, help me? Help me find a passion, maybe? I don't know."
"Hm," you say, looking thoughtfully at Jimin. "I can definitely help you with that..." you trail off, looking Jimin up and down and cocking your head. Jimin thinks you're analyzing him—not just his physical qualities but his personality as well. He feels almost vulnerable under your gaze.
"Have you ever had any hobbies, Jimin?" you ask him.
"That's the thing," he sighs. "No, I haven't."
He looks so miserable that you have to place a comforting hand on his arm. "Hey, it'll be fine, Jimin," you say. "I'm sure it'll come to you one day. A hobby isn't something you should necessarily force out of yourself. When you feel a connection with an activity—when you aren't exactly looking for one—then that meets you've found your hobby. And if you really love this hobby, then it can grow to be your passion. You just need to be patient. Don't worry," you smile, "you'll find something."
Jimin glances at your hand on his arm and then glances up at your face. God, you have a way with words. He feels much better, even though you didn't exactly offer him a cut-out solution.
"Thanks," he says. "I needed that."
"No problem, Jimin," you beam. "I know not having a personal project to work on leaves you with the lower grades, but you're probably only at the A- ranges, right? That's not too bad," you say. "Hm, how about this?"
Oh? It looks like you're going to offer him a plan. So Jimin scoots closer to you on his chair and listens intently for your next words.
"You're a junior, and before you know it, you'll have to write your college apps. Maybe instead of spending time on your phone, you can start with your college essays now? Is that all right to suggest?" you say, cautiously. "It never hurts to get a head start, you know."
You're right. Jimin should probably be productive, just like everyone else in the group. "Yeah," he says. "That's a good idea, actually."
"Great!" you say, clasping your hands together. "And I really appreciate you coming here to tell me the truth. You'd be surprised that a lot of others don't do the same as you."
"Oh..."
"Yeah," you giggle. "Hey, what about this? We'll compromise. I'll ask my boyfriend to change something for you as a thanks from me to you for being open and honest."
"Really??" Jimin says, his eyes growing wide and a small smile appearing on his face. "Thank you!"
You shake your head. "No problem, Jimin. Good luck on your college apps!" you call to him as he leaves the room.
"Thanks!"
Wow.
Jimin's heard a lot of great things about you from his friends, but now he realizes they really weren't kidding. You're a leader, all right. But a balanced one too.
Not only did you offer him emotional support with your words of affirmation but also you showed him a solution—at least a temporary solution to his problem. And you're also incredibly generous as well.
Hm. Now Jimin can't possibly think to report your little cult. Of course, it's still half wrong, what you're doing... But after talking to you, after receiving your feedback and help, there's no way Jimin would be able to double-cross you. As weird as it sounds, you kind of have a nice smile, and he doesn't want to cause you stress or grievances that you're actively trying to avoid with your group. In other words, he doesn't want to be the cause of your frowning.
Jimin's never seen you frown before, but he doesn't exactly want to see it in the future.
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"Damn, I was such a bad procrastinator before joining the student group! The study group? The group? I don't even know what to call it," Taehyung laughs. He takes a large gulp of his boba drink and continues, "I feel like being a part of this community is improving my lifestyle. Like seriously, though. I haven't had a normal or healthy lifestyle since eighth grade!"
Jungkook nods vigorously. "Dude, I know! I've never been this productive before I met Y/N! Doesn't it feel so nice to be able to dedicate time to your strongest fucking passions?"
"Duh!" Taehyung says. "Man, what if this makes me peak in happiness in high school?"
Jungkook throws his head back to laugh, but Jimin doesn't find it so amusing.
Instead, he feels a bit left out. While his friends were diving deep into their passions, Jimin had yet to find a hobby. "Why doesn't the group have a name, anyway?" he asks. "Seems kind of inconvenient."
Jungkook wiggles his eyebrows at Jimin teasingly. "Because..." he trails off spookily. "A name can always be traced back to the source. Haven't you thought of that?"
"Apparently Y/N did," Taehyung snorts. "Sometimes I wonder how she's so big-brained. God has favorites, I'm telling you."
"She's a fucking legend," Jungkook says. "I would worship her if I wasn't so stubborn about holding onto my dignity."
Jimin laughs, nearly choking on a tapioca pearl doing so. "Too bad she has a boyfriend, huh?" he jokes. "Jungkook sounds like he'd totally hit her up."
"I do not!"
"Sure, bro," Taehyung snickers. "When you talk to her, your pupils dilate."
"They fucking don't!" Jungkook says. "I have my interests elsewhere. Thank you very much!"
"Another girl?" Jimin gasps, placing a hand to his chest in shock. "Who?"
"Not a fucking girl, you bimbo," Jungkook says exasperatedly. "My music! I have interests in music. You guys fucking suck."
Jimin and Taehyung spiral into a fit of laughter. And the teasing and back-and-forth passive-aggressive remarks continued until the boba cups were empty and the three friends realized they talked up enough of a storm.
It used to be rare to meet up like this—because Jimin and Taehyung would always be overwhelmed in schoolwork—but now that their academic life was taken care of by you, they've been able to give themselves healthy breaks.
Jimin feels refreshed albeit a bit tired after parting with his two friends. He decides to walk home because his mother would kill him if she had to pick him up from the boba place when he should be studying at home.
The outside air feels nice against his cheeks, and Jimin finds himself becoming much more attentive to his surroundings. Back when he was a full-time serious Welton student, he couldn't ever spare to look at the intricacies of the vicinity—he always had to jump straight to the point, skipping the little moments to shove his face into his textbooks. It's a nice change.
Jimin notices a whole bunch of stores and studios on his walk home and he takes the time to admire each logo and memorize each name.
Damn. I never even knew some of these places existed...
There's even a dance studio called Hart's Dance Studio that Jimin swears he's never seen. The logo is an eye-catching red with a silhouette of a ballerina jumping over the 'Dance.' Jimin finds himself staring at it. Then, his eyes gravitate to the glass walls where he can see the dancers just... dancing.
And a lot of them are good. Like dancing is as easy as walking to them. But an unmoving figure amongst the active dancers catches Jimin's eyes. When he squints to get a better look, he realizes the stationary figure is you.
You're furiously typing on a laptop, occasionally looking up to watch the dancers once in a while.
What are you doing there? From your skinny jeans and lace top, it doesn't quite look like you're there to dance. Maybe you have a sibling in dance class?
But then again, Jimin remembers that Jungkook had once told him in a hushed whisper that you are definitely an only child... only after you lost your older sister to suicide, that is.
So really, what are you doing there?
Jimin cocks his head at you but realizes how weird it is to stand in front of the studio and stare. So finally, he just walks away.
But you're quite the mysterious figure. You're the exact type of person who makes others want to get to know you. You have an open quality where everyone feels welcome to talk to you, but you're also enigmatic, refusing to tell people a lot about yourself. Jimin sometimes even wonders if he's ever seen you at school with the same friend group. It looks like you're always jumping around.
Maybe you don't like to get to know people in a deep way. It's possible that you're a fan of shallow relationships, which there is nothing wrong with, of course. But then again, you have a boyfriend, whom you seem to really like. You're very hard to crack.
And even when winter break comes, Jimin's still been wondering what you've been doing at the dance studio, typing on your laptop. He's run all kinds of scenarios in his head. Maybe your mom works there? Or your friend dances there? But something inside him tells him whatever reasons he came up with are incorrect.
Meanwhile, Jimin's still waiting to find a hobby. He's already been to Taehyung's play and listened to the rough draft of Jungkook's album. But nothing seems to give him the inspiration that he needs.
Jimin just decides to go on a walk. The cold winter air nips at his skin, so he tightens his coat around himself, breathing steadily as he looks around at his surroundings. It's then when he finds himself stopped in front of Hart's Dance Studio.
He walks a bit closer to get a better look into the glass windows. And he smiles when he sees you. There is no one else around you, but you don't seem to mind. This time, however, you're not vigorously typing on your keyboard. You're... dancing.
Jimin doesn't know what prompted him to enter the dance studio, but the next thing he knows, he's inside.
You don't see him because your eyes are closed. Jimin takes the time to notice that you're wearing a simple black outfit consisting of a tank top and leggings. Your feet are left completely bare.
But the strangest part—you're not dancing with music. It explains your rather awkward movements. As if you can see yourself dance freely in your head, but you can't quite execute it in reality. Still, no matter how awkward you look, you radiate a majestic aura. So much so that from far away, you could look like a professional dancer.
Jimin doesn't realize he's staring until you startle him.
"Hey! Jimin!" you say. Your eyes are bright and wide open now and you wave at Jimin, motioning him over to you. "Hi!"
"Hi," Jimin agrees as he walks closer to you. "I didn't know you danced. Is that your passion?"
"Oh, god no," you giggle, shaking your head. "God forbid, no. It's for this book I'm writing!"
It finally makes sense. She's part of the school newspaper, and I'd seen her typing on her laptop.
"What kind of book?" Jimin asks curiously as he sits down on one of the metal benches in the dance room.
You take a sip of water from your water bottle before smiling. "It's this fictional book about a broken dancer. I'm an aspiring author! I've really been trying to get into my character and experience dancing so I can write her more realistically!"
"Oh, wow," Jimin laughs. "That's dedication."
"It's what I do to try to get good content," you say. "How's your winter break been going, by the way?"
"Pretty uneventful," Jimin says, leaning back on the bench. "I wrote and rewrote five drafts of my college essays. I don't think writing's my thing."
You laugh. "Well, we can rule that out in the list of possible hobbies you can partake in."
"Yeah," Jimin agrees. "I'm still trying to find—but not actively look for—a hobby."
"It's hard," you shrug. "You shouldn't stress too much about it, Jimin. I'm telling you, it's gonna come. I can see you be so dedicated. You just have to wait until the time's right."
"Sometimes I feel like my time will never come," Jimin admits. "Taehyung's already been writing, directing and filming his own short film these days and Jungkook's adding four more tracks to his album. I don't know whether I should feel inspired or pressured."
You shake your head. "You need to get out of your competitive mindset, Jimin," you say. "Realize that you should be doing things on your own time. Everyone has different paces, you know. Maybe you should take your mind off of everything you've been thinking of these days. Wanna dance with me?"
Your question catches Jimin off guard. "Sorry, what?"
"Would you like to dance with me?" you repeat, giggling. "Sorry, it was kinda abrupt but my character needs to experience partner dancing and so do I to write that scene. I've already asked Yoongi, but he won't budge! That boy hates dancing! So maybe you can dance with me?"
"Uh," Jimin awkwardly fidgets his fingers. "I've never exactly danced before."
You snort. "Well, honestly me too. I suck. But whatever, you know? We're going to try."
"What kind of dance?" Jimin says. "I think the only dance steps I've ever learned were the square dancing steps from fourth grade."
"We could try waltzing," you say. "It's pretty simple, I think. C'mon!"
You drag Jimin to the dance floor, guiding his right hand to lay on your back and taking his left hand in yours. Jimin feels awkwardly close to you, but when you laugh and joke about how preposterous the two of you must look, he feels a little more comfortable.
"This might end up with me stepping on your feet constantly," you say apologetically, "but I'm trying to capture the feeling of dancing with a partner. So essentially, it's the emotions that count, not the physical steps."
Jimin laughs. "I'll try not to step on your feet."
"No way," you say. "How are you better at this than I am right now? I thought you said you didn't know how to dance!"
"I don't!" Jimin protests.
But something feels right. Something kind of clicks. And the moment Jimin parts from you and rushes home, he watches dance videos online. He finds out that there are many genres, and the ones he finds the most moving are contemporary and lyrical. There has never been something that has enamored him more.
Jimin irrevocably and quite willingly falls into the rabbit hole of dance.
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It's been two weeks since Jimin danced a simple waltz with you at Hart's Dance Studio, but the time seems to have flown by too quickly. The next time Jimin passes by the studio, you're still trying to dance. And when he walks in to greet you, he's met by music. You're dancing to music this time!
"Hi, Y/N," Jimin speaks over the music, breaking you from your reverie.
"Oh, gosh! Jimin! Hi!" you say, immediately turning to pause the song. "Long time no see! How's school?"
"Great," he answers. "Um, just thought I would visit the studio. Do you still need a dancing partner?"
You grin. "Well, kind of," you say. "I need to see an amateur dancer do a little improv routine. Do you mind? I tried doing it myself and recording it, but it's just not fun seeing myself be a fool on camera."
Jimin laughs. "I don't mind at all."
You gesture to the dance floor. "It's all yours."
"Thank you."
Jimin stares curiously at the dance floor, the bright lights flooding the whole room. He feels like he's on stage, but he likes that feeling. He closes his eyes and sees the hundreds of dance videos he binge-watched every day for hours. And then he dances.
Somewhere along the way, you turned the music back on, which makes it even easier for Jimin to dance. He moves instinctively, fluidly like he's water. And he stops only when he finds himself out of breath.
Your jaw is dropped open when Jimin opens his eyes.
"Jimin!" you exclaim, hands thrown in the air. "You're a natural! How did you do that? What the heck??"
Jimin shrugs bashfully, shrugging. He doesn't mention the hours and hours of stretching and practicing he had done before coming here. There would've been no way he would have agreed to improv dance for you if he hadn't felt so confident. And it's funny. Dancing is the only thing Jimin's found in his life that makes him feel self-confident so far. He would've never expected it.
"You should enroll in this studio!" you say. "With some training... You could do great things, Jimin, I mean it!"
Jimin's not too sure about that. Yes, he likes to dance, and maybe it was a hobby. But enrolling in the studio meant full-time commitment. He isn't so sure if he is ready for that. He isn't sure his parents are ready for that.
"Okay," Jimin says. "I'll um, think about it." But not really.
It's like you can see right through his lie, though. "Oh, okay," you say. "Then maybe you can practice dancing in this studio by yourself. I'm friends with the owner so she lets me swing by whenever I want. Wanna meet here every Friday? I could use a beginning dancer like you to really write a story about a dancer's progression."
Jimin's face lights up. Getting to dance one day a week in an actual dance studio?? "Yeah, sure!" Jimin says. "I'd really love to." Now I have an excuse to go to the studio and dance.
This could be the start of something great.
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The start of something great it was. Fridays quickly become Jimin's favorite day of the week. After school, he rushes to the studio to meet you and work on learning the basics of dance by watching tutorial videos on the internet. Usually, he works in silence—except for the clicking sounds of your laptop, but today, when he strides onto the dance floor, you're waiting for him in the middle.
"Do you have music requests?" you ask him, scrolling through your phone as if you are deep in thought. "I always feel like it's easier to express yourself with the music you actually like."
"Music?" Jimin frowns. "I, um, don't listen to music that much."
Your jaw drops. "What??"
"I don't even have earphones," he laughs awkwardly.
"You don't have what??"
And that was all it took for you to teach Jimin music for the whole day. You went through the hundreds of songs in your playlists, putting Jimin on the dance floor and making him dance to the songs he likes best. By the end of the session, Jimin still feels like he's soaring. His heart in his chest beats to the rhythm of the music. When he steps out of the dance studio and parts ways with you, he can't help but wish it were next Friday.
But at least he has a whole week to go music hunting. Jimin's never been much of a music man, but he's found that certain songs make him want to dance. He'll search them out and practice with them in the following days.
At school, Jimin feels like a mindless machine. He's still on the fence about cheating the system that's supposed to help him; the ethical part of Jimin wants him to stop—of course it's nothing against you. Jimin just thinks that if the system to help the students exists, every student should be involved. Even he was invited into the group much later (and technically, at first, he was forced to join for catching a meeting in progress).
Yet at the same time, Jimin owes it to you and your group that he's able to do what makes him happy. And he can't bear the thought of betraying you.
At home, Jimin lies on his bed, listening to all of the songs you showed him on repeat. His family doesn't have any music streaming services so he secretly started a three month free trial on iTunes. But he knew his parents wouldn't approve of his music taste (they usually don't approve of anything too teenager-y, so Jimin borrows his father's pair of earbuds.
Jimin didn't know, but earbuds bring a whole new dimension to music. He lies face up, closing his eyes as he pictures himself jumping, dancing, moving to the sweet rhythms of the songs. It's like he's been introduced to a whole new world.
Friday rolls around way too slowly for Jimin's taste, but when he's finally there, talking to you and dancing upon your request, it feels like he's on cloud nine. Today, you ask Jimin to describe what it feels to dance.
Jimin's not exactly very good with his words but he tries his best.
"I don't know," he says at first, blushing as he looks down at the brightly lit dance floor. "It makes me feel like... how do I say it? Like I'm just in a vast room with no one but myself? The moment I hear a good song, I just get this heavy gut feeling to move, I guess. And then I see the colors and the movements... And I dance."
"A vast room?" you say in awe as you unceasingly type across the expanse of your keyboard. "Elaborate, please."
"I guess it feels like I'm on my own stage. And it's a good thing because it feels like no one's watching me," Jimin says. "Uh, kinda like I'm dancing for myself. I'm dancing to express how I feel. And if there's someone watching, I don't really feel it because I'm so uh... I'm so..."
"Enraptured by your own world?" you finish for him.
"Exactly!"
You smile. "Thank you, Jimin! You meeting me here every Friday is so helpful. I really don't know how to thank you properly."
"Oh," Jimin shakes his head. "You've helped me so much already. There's nothing you could possibly do to help me better."
After exchanging a few more words with Jimin, you deem that you have to go home early to celebrate your mother's birthday. Jimin bids you farewell, but he remains in the studio. It feels empty without you, but it doesn't really matter. He's always by himself when he dances, anyway.
Jimin turns on his music, which echoes across the dance room, ringing against the walls and thumping in his chest. He can't stop himself from moving. His body twists graciously and he leaps across the dance floor as the synths in the song sing their melodious tones. He's so into the dance that he doesn't notice a tall woman watching him in the background.
Jimin finishes off his improv dance by striking a majestic pose he had come up with himself a few days ago. He didn't expect anyone to clap when he had finished, but there was this sharp-looking woman who was applauding and smiling at him approvingly.
"O-Oh," Jimin stutters. "I'm so sorry. Uh, Y/N left a bit earlier so I just thought it was okay to stay..."
"You're Jimin!" the lady says. "I'm Miss Hart. I run this dance studio. Y/N's told me how talented you are."
Jimin blushes. "I don't know about talented."
Miss Hart shakes her head, walking closer to Jimin in graceful strides akin to that of a ballerina. "I want to offer you a spot in my dance studio. This is a personal offer."
"I-I, uh," Jimin stutters. He's caught off guard by this sudden invitation and he looks left to right in a very panicked manner. "I-I don't think my parents will allow it... Um, sorry... I have to, um, go..."
He flees before Miss Hart can get another word out of him.
It's the sad truth. Jimin's parents would likely never approve of his current hobby—even listening to music while he studied was a stretch for them. But the more Jimin thinks about Miss Hart's offer, the more he realizes how great of an opportunity that is for him to progress in the path to find his true passion.
As nerve-wracking as is it, during dinner, Jimin asks his parents if it would be okay if he started taking dance lessons. Their reactions aren't as severe as he had expected, but his parents still seem pretty surprised.
"Isn't it too late to start something new?" his mother says. "You're a junior now, Jimin. You should already know what you're good at."
"I agree with your mother," his father says. "Why the sudden interest?"
"I don't know," Jimin answers truthfully. "It just happened. I really, really like it though..."
Jimin's father raises his eyebrows. "Really?" he sighs. "I don't think so, Jimin. Think about it. I know your grades are good right now, but now you should be busy with getting ready for college, shouldn't you?"
Jimin had expected this. "Oh..."
"And have you been taking my earbuds?" his father says.
"Oh, yeah... sorry," Jimin winces. "I'll give them back right now." He trudges up the stairs, feeling dejected and miserable at the same time. He decides to give the earbuds one last listen, plugging them into his phone and placing the buds in his ears. The familiar light-hearted, serene music floods into his head. Jimin can't help it. His eyes close, his mouth parts and he begins to move. His feet take him across his room, leaping over textbooks and dirty socks as his arms move fluidly to support his upper body.
Time has a mind of its own when Jimin enters the dancing world.
He doesn't notice an audience member at the entrance of his room. Jimin's father stares at his son, taken aback by the pure emotion and passion put into such a performance. He cannot hear Jimin's music, but he is able to feel it through Jimin's movements. Jimin's father watches the dance a bit longer, then leaves. When Jimin tries to return the earbuds to his father, he rejects them. "Keep the earbuds," he tells his son. "I don't need them anymore."
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On Saturday morning, Jimin's surprised when his father calls him downstairs to talk. Truth be told, Jimin's a little nervous to have a serious one-on-one talk with his father. But his anxiousness melts away when his father asks:
"Have you been learning dance by yourself?"
Jimin perks up. "Uh, yeah! Um, well, kind of. I just saw YouTube videos... And I go to a dance studio every Friday with a friend to um, practice..."
"What studio?"
Jimin freezes. "H-Hart's dance studio?"
Jimin's father nods. "All right. Here's the deal. The moment your grades slip, you're going to have to quit, okay? Let's go enroll you right now."
Jimin almost faints from the sheer amount of happiness.
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It is official. Jimin is to have private dance lessons (to make up for being such a late starter) once a week. This was a bit like a trial run; Jimin might get more lessons per week if he really decided to pursue dance.
And now that Jimin's actually a student at the studio, he can come in to practice anytime he wants! Which was every day after school for three hours.
When Jimin tells you the good news on Friday, you insist that you ditch today's dance-writing sessions and get some celebratory boba.
It's the first time Jimin's with you, alone, outside of school, without being in the confines of the dance studio. If he didn't know any better, this felt like more than two friends meeting up on a Friday afternoon. It felt like a date.
You're rather chatty with Jimin, making him feel comfortable and trying to get to know him better. But it comes to the point that Jimin wants to get to know you. So he finally asks the question he had been dying to know the answer to since he'd first met you in the dance studio.
"Do you mind if I ask what your book is about?"
"Oh, I don't mind at all!" you say, aggressively sipping your boba as you think. "Hm, okay, well, I kind of changed the plot halfway through... So now instead of a broken dancer, the story's about this newborn dancer who realizes her talents rather late in her life, but she throws all of her doubts—and others' doubts—away because she realizes if she's passionate about something, it doesn't really matter how long she's been pursuing it. What matters is that she is pursuing it in the present."
"Wow," Jimin breathes.
"Yeah," you giggle, tucking back a strand of your hair behind your ear. "It's a coming of age story. I want it to be heartbreaking, bittersweet and heart-wrenching." You sip your boba. "But I might have to rewrite a lot of scenes because I'm thinking about changing the gender of the main character from female to male. I think it feels more right."
"Oh, that's gonna be a lot of work," Jimin says.
"But it's going to be worth it."
Jimin nods. Of course it will be. You put your best effort into everything. "Do you know what your title is going to be yet?"
"Eh," you laugh, shrugging goofily. "I'll think of it one day."
The light-hearted conversation takes a twist as the outside of the boba place gets darker and the afternoon morphs into the night. Jimin finds himself talking about his personal struggles as an "average" Welton student. He reflects vocally upon the times in which he had to beg to receive an A in his classes. The times in which he despised himself and didn't understand the exact point of life. The times when he was existing and not living.
It's then when you reveal your own darkest moments. And what lies beneath the smiling curtains was a murky past.
Your freshman year at Welton hit you like a bomb—it was the same year that Jimin had been suffering in the depths of sophomore year's turmoil. You became miserable, competing for first place in your classes in subject matters that you had no interest in. The tests contained little material about understanding and more about the nitty-gritty details (that were barely significant). You used to write your stories the moment you came home from school until you had to go to bed. But now, you would be lucky if you could even get a few paragraphs down before being pressured into studying something tediously and frankly, useless. It drove you nuts.
To the point that you were tempted to be pulled under into the dark world of self-hatred and suicidal thoughts. Your older sister had jumped off a building when you were only eight; you watched her stuck in a coma in the hospital with twelve broken bones until she died in her sleep. So you figured if your sister did it, so could you.
But slowly, gradually, rationality took charge of your head, driving out the demons. You garnered your anger and self-hatred towards Welton and not yourself. And during the last few weeks of school in your freshman year, you decided that you were going to make a system to help every student in need—for those with big dreams but little time.
Jimin watches and listens in awe as you continue to tell your story.
"I met Yoongi in freshman year when I was interviewing him for winning first place in a tech comp so I could write about him in the school newspaper," you explain. "He was the first person I told my idea to. And then from the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I planned the whole system. Yoongi assisted me a bit, too, but I didn't want him to be burdened."
Or, Jimin thinks, you don't trust other people.
"Yeah, and then we really kicked off," you say.
"Wait, you and Yoongi? Or the whole system you created?"
"Both," you grin. "Yoongi and I started dating during the summer. And as you can tell, our whole group flourished too. Now you're here!"
"The group's relatively new then," Jimin says. "So um, I don't know if I can ask but, how many people are really involved?"
You smile, shaking your head and denying Jimin an answer. "The trick that I use to run this system is to never trust anyone."
"Oh... wow. Not even your boyfriend?"
"Oh, it's the people you're closest to that end up failing you. Just ask my sister," you shrug. "And you never know. You aren't still thinking of reporting me, are you? I know you were contemplating that for a while..."
"O-Oh!" Jimin stutters. "Oh, shit. No, uh, definitely no. Not anymore. God, I didn't know you knew. I'm sorry."
"It's really no matter," you tell him, giving him a reassuring smile. "I think it was really nice talking to you. When we usually meet up, you're dancing and I'm taking notes or writing so this is a really nice change."
"Yeah," Jimin agrees. "I had a lot of fun, getting to know you." He glances at his watch for a split second and his eyes turn huge. "Shit, Y/N, it's almost 10 p.m.!"
That's when Jimin's able to notice that there is no one else in the boba place except you and him. The store must be closing soon. And the outside is nearly pitch black.
"Oh, wow, we've been talking for a long time," you laugh. "I guess that means we'll have to leave, huh?"
Jimin wants to be in your company for longer, but he nods, agreeing with you. "Yeah, I guess," he says. "I'll see you on Monday?"
You nod, tucking your hair behind your ear. "Goodnight, then, Jimin."
"Goodnight, Y/N."
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Jimin's now been getting dance lessons three times a week now, and according to Miss Hart, he's improving at an alarming rate. Miss Hart proudly tells Jimin and his parents that he would be able to compete in local dance comps in three months and easily place.
"The boy's born to dance," Jimin overhears his teacher tell his father. He repeats those words over and over again to himself until he falls asleep that night.
His parents took his success in dance a whole different way. Immediately, Jimin was to train his muscles and stretch every day to accommodate three days' worth of hardcore lessons. And he was also ordered to join the school dance team—even though Jimin tried to tell his parents that tryouts had already been held ages ago.
But when Jimin expresses his problems to you, you bring a solution the very next day. Apparently, you had some inside sources in the dance team; you just had to pull a few strings, and the next thing he knew, Jimin was in Welton's elite dance team.
For the first time in the cult, no, group meetings, Jimin has something to show. He's able to track his progress by videos and live performances that you watch on Fridays. With all the advancement in his newfound passion, you reward Jimin with the second-highest scores on every exam (because the highest scores were reserved for the "experts").
Jimin's now sitting at the peak of a figurative mountain. His grades are soaring. His passion is soaring. He feels like his whole life has become a never-ending, high-velocity dance.
And he loves it.
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There are no more meetings left after this one, you explain to all of the students. It's the last meeting for it's the week before finals. The school year will end soon, which is a huge relief to every Welton student.
You claim that outsmarting the teachers with the finals would be easy, especially with your advanced system, so there was really no need to worry. The meeting is short, concise and sweet. You douse everyone with your love and passion and thoroughly thank each and every individual for allowing another wonderful school year.
The meeting ends on a great note. You tell everyone that you have great plans for next year. Something that'll top the bomb threat. Something that'll effectively help the students and put the teachers and administrative staff to shame.
Everybody is excited.
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The first time Jimin meets you during the summer is in the dance studio. He'd dressed in his workout clothes but still had enough self-dignity to spritz some cologne and put on some deodorant before seeing you.
But when he walks into the studio, he finds that you're not alone—you're with your boyfriend. Laughing. Joking. Touching. Yoongi has his arm around you and you have a casual hand placed on his thigh, leaning into him as you talk animatedly to your boyfriend.
Yikes. Jimin thinks it's going to be awkward before he actually feels awkward.
You and Yoongi really seem to like the time you're spending together and Jimin doesn't exactly want to interrupt. And there's something about the way that Yoongi tugs you closer and looks at you with sparkling mirth in his eyes that sets Jimin off.
He quickly recognizes the feeling as jealousy. It confuses Jimin even more.
Oh, fuck it.
"Hi, Y/N!" he says, waving at you. "Hey, Yoongi."
You stand up immediately rushing to greet Jimin as Yoongi stays in his spot, nodding his salutations to Jimin. "Yoongi just wanted to know what I was doing every Friday after I said no to a fifth Friday night date," you giggle. "Is it okay if he joins us today?"
"Of course," Jimin says. "I don't mind."
I kind of do.
Meeting at the dance studio was an activity exclusive to you and Jimin only... It's weird to see Yoongi butt in.
"Okay, great. Thanks!" you say. "Just do your thing, and I'll be taking notes as usual!"
Jimin nods, bracing himself to dance after he turns on the song he'd been listening endlessly these days. But today, he feels stiff. Rigid. Something's not quite right.
Today, he doesn't feel like he's on a stage alone. He feels someone watching him from the audience with scrutiny. Suddenly, Jimin can't move. He feels trapped in his own world. When he turns to look at you, he finds that you and Yoongi are immersed in a deep conversation. You're usually watching his every move.
Jimin tries to focus again, closing his eyes to immerse himself into the music. But he can't do it. Not when you and Yoongi are talking like that. Shit. Why is that so distracting?
Jimin figures one day of giving up practice wouldn't kill him. He turns off the music and walks over to you and Yoongi and plops down on the bench.
You smile but Jimin watches as Yoongi flinches just slightly, and a disgruntled look flashes across his face just briefly. Jimin ignores him.
"Yoongi and I were just talking about legacy," you explain to Jimin. "You know, what we'll leave at Welton High School."
"Oh, wow. You'll be leaving a whole elaborate system," Jimin says. "But what's going to happen to it when you've graduated?"
You shrug. "We'll have to wait and see," you say teasingly.
"I'll already be gone by that time," Jimin huffs.
"We'll keep in contact," you say. "I promise."
It's a small promise but Jimin's heart skips a beat. He wonders if you'd still be dating Yoongi then.
Why am I like this? This definitely isn't the right time.
Maybe Yoongi senses Jimin's thoughts because he tugs you closer to him. "Come on, babe, do we have to stay here forever? I want to take you out on a date..."
"Aw, Yoongs," you coo. "I don't know... Maybe the three of us can go get boba or something?"
"Babe..." Yoongi whines softly, intertwining your hand with his.
Jimin watches the movement and another pang of jealousy hits his chest, this time larger than the last. He couldn't possibly have feelings for you. Jimin concludes that he's not jealous because Yoongi is your boyfriend, he is jealous because he's stealing you away when he and you should be hanging out.
But he doesn't exactly want to get in the way of Yoongi, who already seems to dislike Jimin for hanging around his girlfriend.
So Jimin shrugs. "I don't want to intrude on a date. It's fine, Y/N, enjoy your date night."
Yoongi shoots Jimin a grateful look and even lets out a beaming smile. "Really, Jimin? Thanks!" you say.
Jimin has to admit, seeing you skip away with Yoongi arm in arm makes him happier. Fuck, no. He's starting to mirror your emotions.
This isn't a very good sign.
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Jimin's right. It isn't a very good sign. He's starting to feel weird around you—emotions that he can't quite explain or justify with words.
The more he hangs out with you, the more he notices little things about you—your little habits, your speech patterns, your dimples when you smile...
It comes to the point, you confess to him one day, "You know, Jimin, I've been hanging out with you more than my boyfriend."
Jimin feels honored by that, "Well, I've been hanging out with you more than my own to friends."
And it's true. Taehyung's been busy with his theater things and has picked up a girl along the way—the girl who was notorious for spilling tears arbitrarily. Jungkook's got his eye on some shy girl Jimin doesn't really know. So the friend group's already pretty split up. But Jimin doesn't really mind as much as he should. He and his friends are happy and have split to pursue their interests. There are no regrets.
Sometimes, when Jimin notices the blush on your cheeks after he teases you, he wonders how you truly feel about him. If all the time you spent around him was doing any good.
"I guess we've become quite the team?" you smile, nudging Jimin's shoulder. "I would've never been able to come up with a revamped idea for my book without you."
"I don't think I would've come this far in dance without you."
"No, it's your pure talent," you say. "I didn't do anything." You giggle, admiring the ruffles on Jimin's dance costume. "Break a leg out there, Jimin. I know you'll kill it in the solo division."
"Thanks, Y/N. I swear, I'm not even that nervous."
That's a lie. Jimin's so nervous he's been feeling like he needed to use the bathroom for two hours now. What if I forget a step? What if I'm offbeat for a split second? What if I trip on my costume? What if the wrong song plays?
There's absolutely no pressure that you've offered to come to watch Jimin dance to write about a dance competition in your book. Jimin has to get his routine down perfectly unless he wants to wind up embarrassing himself and disappointing his eager parents. He needs to be perfect. Maybe to impress you.
But this will be the first time that Jimin will be on stage with a true audience. Even though he will dance like he's the only one in the world, he will have hundreds of watchers and a panel of judges who will scrutinize his every move.
Jimin tugs at the ruffles of his white blouse and looks to the stage nervously.
"Hey, you've got this," you whisper to him, patting his shoulder. "What matters is dancing. It doesn't matter what place you get."
You're right. Jimin's here to dance. He is not here to flaunt his talents to others; he is here to make his own progress for himself, for his passion. What matters is that he has fun on stage.
Jimin keeps that in mind when he walks on the platform. The lights shine down on him, and his ears ring incessantly. But as soon as the cello begins to let out its low, elegant sound, he dances. The music envelops his body, and he sees nothing but colors. There is no need to think of which step is next when it comes to him naturally. He twists and turns accordingly to the rueful tones of the oboe, leaps at the entrance of the violins and finishes the dance with a grand pose in the middle of the stage.
He doesn't hear the clapping when he shakily gets off the platform.
Jimin's numb. He can't remember the performance, nor can he remember if he had gotten all of his steps right. But when you lunge at him with open arms and a bouquet of flowers (that you hadn't had before) in your hands, none of his performance matters anymore.
"JIMIN!" you screech at him, almost knocking him over with the force of your hug. "YOU WERE AMAZING!"
He's so taken aback, he can't answer, just holding you to his chest as you laugh happily in his arms.
"I hope you don't mind that I recorded the performance," you tell him. "It was just... wow. I can't even think of words to describe it because... wow."
Jimin pulls away from you, grinning wildly and his heart thumping in his chest—from post-dancing or from hugging you, he doesn't really know.
"Was it that good?"
"Yes!" you say. "Come on, we just have to wait to see how you placed. Not that it matters."
And it really didn't. Even though Jimin took home silver, otherwise known as second place, everyone—his parents, Miss Hart, you—was proud of him. No one could argue that his dancing was the most emotional—the most beautiful. The dance competition was only the beginning of Jimin's journey.
Now it's even more normal for you and him to hang out. Even outside the dance studio to just talk and keep each other's company. Anyone can find you typing on your laptop and Jimin dancing and think it's a normal occurrence. Especially with the two of you on summer break, it became insanely frequent to spend a whole day out together.
Sometimes it seems as though you're flirting with him, but Jimin just tells himself that it's his imagination. You have Yoongi, for fuck's sake. You would never go after Jimin because you've said it yourself—you and he are best friends.
Yet it's socially unacceptable, apparently, to only be friends with the opposite gender (especially a younger opposite gender in Jimin's case) and expect the relationship to be purely platonic. Jimin's been noticing you stealing a couple of extra glances at him when he stretches before he dances. And he's been guilty of staring at you when you write because he likes how focused you can get in your typing sprees.
A couple of times, Jimin swears he could've leaned in to kiss you. But being rejected scares him away to ever take the chance. Besides, he doesn't want to come between you and Yoongi. That would be unfair and immature of him.
God, Jimin's mind is mixed up and his feelings are confused. He's not ready to admit it to himself yet, though. So he stays confused until a new school year comes around.
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Being a senior opens up Jimin's eyes, and he realizes he had been just plain stupid—and blind. He likes you.
Fuck.
It's not a question of when these feelings had developed, but a question of why. You have a boyfriend. Jimin's already a senior, which means he'll be gone next year. You're the leader of a group—that's practically a cult, according to Google—and you keep secrets from everyone no matter how much you love them. It's just not going to happen.
And if it did happen, then what about Yoongi? He's an essential member of your group. If you break up with him to be with Jimin, assuming that you even feel the same way, then what might Yoongi do? Would he ditch your group and let it fall to the ground? Would he report you and your system to administration? Would he get revenge on Jimin?
No way is Jimin going to get involved.
He should've seen it coming. He should've prevented himself from completely falling for you the moment you started caring for him, hanging out with him, helping him... But he didn't and now he doesn't know what to do.
Well, actually, he does.
Jimin's just going to simply get rid of his feelings for you for his own sake and yours. He just won't see you for a couple of months, and by then, his feelings for you would be gone, vanished into thin air. At least, that's what he hopes.
So, Jimin creates an elaborate plan of his own to avoid you for several months, max. He secretly changes his dance lesson times and tells Miss Hart to keep his schedule from you. And when his teacher inquires why, Jimin makes up a bullshitted lie that he wants to surprise you with his next performance. Then, he skips all of his individual practices and dances at home instead so you won't be able to find him. He even misses scheduled group meetings, texting you that he was sick (when he was only lovesick).
She's just using me to write her story, Jimin tells himself. I'm nothing but a character for her.
Deep down inside, Jimin knows that's false, but he makes himself believe it. Maybe it'll help him dislike you—which isn't exactly possible—but it could at least help him stop liking you.
But it turns out that maybe you never liked Jimin the way he liked you. All too soon, Jimin finds out from Miss Hart that you haven't been coming to the dance studio, so he switches his lessons back to his normal time. You've stopped texting him about coming to group meetings too. Which was strange because Jimin was still given homework copies and test answers when he needed them.
Maybe you took the hint that Jimin didn't want anything to do with you? Jimin doesn't know.
He does know that still, every time he thinks of you, he thinks of a generous, beautiful, mature, thoughtful person who chases after her own dreams and encourages others to do the same. It's hard to stop liking you, in other words.
Already, finals week is around the corner. Jimin has a few suspicions that you're going to hatch a complex plan again to put an end to student stress altogether, but he wouldn't know because he hasn't been attending the meetings. But whatever you were planning, it would be better than the last bomb threat for sure. Because you were always looking to improve, to better yourself to help others.
God, fucking shit. Jimin can't seem to think of one bad thing about you.
His days are spent dancing mostly as he'd submitted his college apps early (thanks to your suggestion), but he also can't get you out of his mind. Your absence makes him grieve for your presence. But he can't give up now. He doesn't want to show up in front of you one day and have to explain why he avoided you for months.
So he continues with his plan.
It's the Friday before finals week.
Jimin sits around in the corner of his school's dance room as the rest of his teammates go over the routine for the winter dance competition. He'd told the captain that he was getting a bad migraine, so he was allowed to sit out for the rest of the practice.
In reality, Jimin can't stop thinking about you. He knows you're here, after school, in your newspaper room, finishing up your last edits before publishing the paper on Saturday. He wonders if you'll welcome him if he meets you. He wonders if he should apologize for avoiding you. Maybe he can get rid of his feelings by hanging out with you more. Or he'll just act like the two of you are best friends and pretend he doesn't want anything more than a platonic relationship.
Jimin doesn't know what courses through his veins to make him stand up.
"I'm going to the bathroom," he murmurs, trudging out of the dance room and outside. He'll have to cross the quad to reach the newspaper room. Jimin nervously checks his watch. 4:42 p.m., it reads. You usually leave by 4:45 p.m., so Jimin doesn't have much time.
Or maybe he shouldn't go to you at all? He hesitates, lurching forward but taking a step back.
He sees another girl, not that far away from him, walking across the quad. There's a boy behind her, yelling "Wait up!" as he tries to catch up with her while holding a stack of heavy textbooks. The girl looks back around and laughs, taking half of the boy's stack and nudging his shoulder. They continue to walk across the quad, side by side. They must be dating.
Jimin quickly recognizes the tall boy to be Namjoon, his acquaintance, and as soon as he's about to wave, there's a loud bang!
Jimin flinches. Was that a...? He can't quite believe it. But there's a lot he didn't believe but still has come true at Welton High School. Or maybe this was another one of your plans. Fake a school shooting to cancel finals. He wouldn't know. He didn't attend the meetings.
But the blood rushes out of his face and it dawns on him that this is reality as he watches Namjoon's girlfriend fall to the ground in slow motion. His own breath quickens and his eyes are alert but he's almost frozen. No. This has to be fake. This has to be a trick. There's another bang! and this time, Namjoon lurches forward, hitting the ground with a resonating thump.
Jimin's frantic, trying to find the source of the loud bangs. Maybe Namjoon and his girlfriend are part of the group. Maybe it's all a plan. Time flies too quickly and slowly at the same time. Jimin sees blood leaking from the girl as she lay face down on the cement. Namjoon is knocked unconscious. That has to be fake. You can buy fake blood, right?
But deep down inside, Jimin knows the truth. He panics. It's hard to breathe.
Then there's another bang. Jimin feels searing heat engulf his chest. He feels himself fall backward, and he clutches his wet chest—not in pain but in shock.
He tilts upwards, and his last view is of the soft gray clouds in the darkened sky.
Then everything becomes black.
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Two students, two seniors are reported to be dead. One shot in the head, another in the heart. One has miraculously survived a gunshot wound and is being treated in the hospital.
"Do you know them?" you say in a shaky breath.
Your boyfriend hugs you. "You know one of them..."
"Oh, god," you whimper. You can hear the police and see the bright flashing red and blue lights from afar. "The shooter was targeting students involved in after school activities. How cowardly. When there would be fewer adults around. They were looking to attack the students."
"I know, babe," Yoongi says. "The girl... she was part of the volleyball team. Her boyfriend is the one who survived, apparently. And the other boy... He... He was on the dance team."
Your eyes turn wide as you pull away from your boyfriend. "H-He..."
"Jimin, Y/N. It was Jimin."
You feel like you're falling down a pitch-black abyss with no one to catch you or help you. "A-Are you sure it was him?" you manage to whisper. "What was he doing outside the dance room?" you sob, throwing yourself into Yoongi's chest as your boyfriend tries to comfort you.
"Park Jimin, yeah... It was him," Yoongi says, petting your back. "I heard from the dance captain that he was having a bad day. Something about migraines..."
You can't speak. Nor can you even think straight.
"Jimin's body was found significantly away from the other two," Yoongi says. "He could've run away."
A heavy weight tugs at your heart and you let out another sob of despair. "Yoongi, he could've thought it was fake."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you get it?? He thought it was like the bomb threat!—fake! Planned! God!" you shriek, pushing Yoongi away and standing up, starting to walk around in frantic circles. "I killed him, Yoongi! I fucking killed him!"
You collapse on the ground with your hands on your head. "I killed him..."
"You didn't kill him, Y/N," Yoongi says. He crouches down with you. "Hey, it wasn't your fault. He's the one who wasn't coming to your meetings. If he did, he would've known we weren't going to pull off a stunt like that until next year's finals."
You shake your head, hitting your forehead repeatedly with your palm. "It doesn't matter, Yoongi! I should've never faked such a serious ordeal!"
"Y/N..."
"I deserved to be out there in the quad."
"You're the students' hero, babe... Don't think otherwise."
"Oh? Really?" you scream. "If I really were a hero, then why the hell was the school shooter a student from our school, huh? I obviously wasn’t keeping everyone happy!"
Yoongi falls silent.
"I don't care what you say, Yoongi," you say, your voice shaking from anger and devastation. "I failed. I tried making a system, but it didn't work... And now, people are dead... And I never got to say goodbye..." And he was avoiding me for months. I never got to know why...
"Hey, hey. Your system is perfect, baby," Yoongi answers. "It just doesn't work on psycho murderers."
That makes sense, too.
"I'm sorry, Yoongi," you say. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess. Thank you. For comforting me. God, I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," he says. "Things will be fine." He pauses. "You know, on the bright side, they might cancel finals."
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[2 years later]
The moment you graduated out of the hellhole of a school, you discontinued your idea of a school revolt, and your system collapsed without you nurturing it.
Welton High School went under investigation after hundreds of parents and students protested. Counselors were fired and replaced. Administration was put on probation. It didn't take until two students' murders to fix things.
Funny.
Three student suicides weren't enough for them to realize something was wrong with the school.
You're bitter, but you try not to let it get in your way. Jimin will never get full justice because he will never get the life he deserved back. He was supposed to win hundreds of dance competitions. He was supposed to get to the end of the path of his dreams. But his life cut him short.
You dedicate your debut novel to him.
Now, when you walk around a supermarket, a library, a bookstore, you see your book on the stands or stacked up on tables. The white cover contrasts from the title inked in a black font: To Jimin (It's About Time I Told You I Love You).
The book tells the tale of Jimin. A newborn dancer who becomes tangled in the depths of a rigorous high school. There's one twist, though.
The story is told from a girl's perspective. A girl who loves Jimin, but never admits her feelings until it's too late. She watches him grow, blossom and become a star. But she isn't there for him when he dies.
She is you.
And you think it's about time you admit to yourself that you loved Jimin. Except he probably never loved you.
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—masterpost
—masterlist
87 notes · View notes
pianoperson · 4 years
Text
Ikerev Army Boys Playing Twisted Wonderland
After reading @valnyte’s HC with Ikevamp, I wanted to do one with Ikerev too.
Alice introduces the boys to Twisted Wonderland and is shocked to get them all hooked into the game. Let’s say they all understand the game.
*just want to say, the strategies I typed in these HCs are actually legitimate strategies I’ve heard from people, and if you have the cards for it, I suggest you try them out
Black Army
Ray Blackwell
He’s in mainly for the story.
F for him, his fav character is Che’nya.
He claims Heartslabyul is his favorite episode because it has the best story out of the currently released episodes so far, but the Black Army isn’t falling for that.
He’s not wrong though, in my opinion. Heartslabyul, along with Octavinelle, has the best story.
He had to make it a rule that no one should spend the Black Army funds for gacha after the one time Seth spent 10k lin for gacha.
He does assemble his team but only bases his assembling on favs and a bit from Sirius’ advice.
He can’t help but smile fondly at Ace and Deuce’s shenanigans and dumbassery; they remind him of him and Fenrir.
Sirius Oswald
Oh he’s gonna have fun with the strategizing part of the game.
He will write down in a notebook all the card information he has attained and would ask from other soldiers for their cards if he doesn’t have a certain card so he can note down their stats at max level groovied, their magic skills, their typings, their buddies, and even how they perform in battle.
He’s the first and only one in the Black Army who scored SSS on tests. Everyone was floored.
Listen, he probably discusses these strategies at dinner especially because some people ask him how he scores ridiculously high in tests.
“Fairy Leona may be a defense card, but if with Kalim and Rook, who are his attack buddies, his attack stat will increase to 5k+. If you have SSR Kalim, who boosts your ally, his attack stat will increase further, and it’s even better that Kalim’s attack boost is magic 1 and he is Leona’s duo partner, therefore strengthening Leona’s duo magic. If limit broken at a certain level, he can deal 10k damage per hit with duo magic. The only other SSR who can inflict the same amount of damage is Riddle dorm and even then, you need to have Cater on your team with max buddy to even experience such a boost.”
He may not have superb gacha luck and he is an f2p, but whatever cards he possesses, he can somehow make them work in his favor.
He has a spiritual connection to Trey Clover.
Luka Clemence
Hello, may I introduce you to Luka “I have 7 SSRs only, it’s not that much” Clemence?
No, I’m not kidding. This guy has insane luck as an f2p.
He snagged 7 SSRs in two weeks and when Seth was crying about his gacha luck, that was the only time Luka realized 7 SSRs was a lot?
“I JUST WANT AN SSR SO BAD, I ONLY HAVE MY TUTORIAL PULL ONE”
“Huh?¿ How can you only have one?”
“BECAUSE I’M THAT UNLUCKYYYYY WHY HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE”
“I only have 7...”
Seth’s screams could be heard from Red Territory.
Ok but Seth has every right to freak out. Luka has ALL dorm leader SSRs, biggest tank of the game SSR Trey, and tweels.
Luka dislikes Riddle and Vil for the fact they both bear similarities with his brother. He has mixed feelings with the former, though, due to his backstory.
When it comes to rhythmics, he laments about how he’s a musician yet he can’t get the timing right. Poor fingers are slow.
Rip him in hard mode, especially for Octavinelle’s and prologue 14. They’re h e l l.
Seth Hyde
Rip Seth, he just wants an SSR
His initial SSR was Ruggie and he was crying when he learned from Sirius that he could have rerolled.
His favorite character is Vil and he wants him to come home, but only his Rs arrived.
It’s a wonder how 10k lin wouldn’t bring robe Vil and lab Vil home.
And he still has less SSRs than Luka LMAO
He’s cried at almost every OB backstory except Leona’s.
His favorite rhythmic is the paint the roses one.
Fenrir Godspeed
Luck in battle? Yes. Luck in gacha? Who’s that?
Fenrir spends money on the game but he uses his family’s wealth. Don’t worry, he knows how to manage his savings, but that’s mainly because he accidentally inputted the wrong birth year when he first put it in, so it listed him as a minor.
He loves Ace because he felt like he could relate to him so much.
His first SSR was Riddle, so he really wanted Azul’s SSR when his banner first came out. He hit pity pull and got duped by Floyd.
It’s ok Fenrir, I feel your pain, except I never hit pity.
He loves the rhythmics. Often, he’ll be singing the tunes out loud.
He’s gonna sing the Magift rhythmic songs when he’s training with other soldiers.
Red Army
Lancelot Kingsley
It took him weeks to figure out where alchemy classes are.
He has 4 SSRs who duo with each other, so that’s lit af.
He doesn’t know why he keeps losing in certain battles, though.
He also spent money on gacha oof
Riddle makes him chuckle. He has such a huge resemblance to Jonah, after all.
Trey makes him think of Sirius too often.
He ends up laughing at the thought of Sirius being Jonah’s helper.
I mean hey, they could have at least been friends if things played out differently back in school.
His favorite is Malleus, though, for the fact that he is powerful and lonely.
Jonah Clemence
He didn’t touch on the game at first because he thought it was ‘a waste of time’. It didn’t help that Edgar teased him for having the same voice as Riddle. It was only when he found out Lancelot plays the game and looks so happy with it that he decided to give it a try.
He was surprised at how similar he and Riddle are, and he liked the little queen even more for his birthday, being the same as Luka’s.
He will never admit he likes the game, though, but the soldiers catch him humming some of the songs sometimes.
Another thing he will never admit: he felt a lump in his throat when he read Riddle’s backstory, but when he got to Azul’s, he cried for an hour. He found himself most impressed with Azul’s voice acting prior to the overblot, but the story about Azul’s past had hit him hard. They experienced the exact same thing after all (being bullied) but it was interesting how differently they both turned out afterwards.
Jonah isn’t too big on the meta gameplay. Sure, he strategizes, but he mostly takes into consideration the stats of a card, not so much with the performance of it in battle. He won’t ever say it to Edgar, but he does take Edgar’s advice into consideration, even applying it if he has the cards for it.
Jonah scoffs at spending on gacha. Ultimately, they’re just JPEGs. Why spend on something that can’t be touched? Anyway, he has 5 SSRs and several good SRs such as robe Jade, robe Vil, and lab Trey. He can manage.
He loves the rhythmic section of the game. He may not be the best in the battles, but he’s talented in the rhythmics. Sure, some rhythmics were difficult, but he always scores SS on one or two tries regardless of difficulty. His favorite songs are the fairy gala songs and he’s caught humming them.
Edgar Bright
Just like Sirius, he has fun strategizing in battle. He will blab to Lancelot, Jonah, and Zero about the different strategies he’s come up with.
“Did you know you can make SSR Jade an attack SSR? His magic 1 raises his attack stat, and if you max it, hm will it exceed 5,000? I forget. And if you put Trey in the same team as Jade, he will further boost his attack, and if their buddy level has been maxed, hm perhaps you might reach 6k+ for Jade’s attack stat?”
“Did you know Azul’s attack stat can surpass even Floyd’s attack stat? If you max his buddy with Jade, he can be as strong as Riddle dorm at lvl80.”
“I’m sorry, but after testing out fairy Kalim, his SR cards are still better performance-wise.”
He’s the first and only one to have SSS and just like Jonah, he aces the rhythmic section.
He finds himself most amused with Jade for his shadiness and is probably the one who goes, “Jade, don’t you just want to go apeshit?”
Kyle Ash
He tends to miss lessons often either because he has a lot of patients or because he’s hungover, so he tends to complain about how weak his cards are.
He doesn’t care much about the meta gameplay and plays by favorites. Somehow, he manages to use the good cards and hits rank S.
He doesn’t join the events and doesn’t understand the woes of gacha since he always manages to get the cards he wants.
Luckiest guy honestly, and some of the soldiers jokingly beg for his luck.
Zero
He also strategizes but he mostly follows Edgar’s advice since he tends to get to it first before Zero.
Zero doesn’t play too often because of work, but the game is addicting enough to make him catch the restored AP every 2.5 hours. Anyway, even if he didn’t want to, Alice would have tried to get his workaholic butt off of work.
Poor baby has given up on prologue 14 hard mode rhythmic.
His favorite character is Jack for his good boy nature and he found himself liking the Octavinelle chapter for his presence and rationality. Beans Day event was also fun for him because of Jack.
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that-was-awkward · 4 years
Text
I have a little over 24 hours to be ready for this apush exam and, if I’m completely honest, I’m not going to be. I looked at my mom and was like “I really do not think I’m going to do great on this” and bless her soul, she was like “It’s okay, it doesn’t affect your final grade. We don’t have to tell your dad if you fail, but I don’t think you’re going to.”
You gotta understand that it’s not your fault. Most of us haven’t been in class at all the entire fourth term. For those of us in semester long classes, that means you missed HALF of the class, and you were still expected to teach it to yourself. And those who take year long classes, that’s still 1/4 of the class! And they decided that it was acceptable to have us prepare by ourselves at home, shorten the time constraints, and not implement a curve. No one was properly prepared for this exam. It’s a new experience for everyone. And it’s okay.
You are going to be okay. Do not let a 45 minute written assignment scare you. It won’t hurt you. Do your best.
Your best is not working yourself to the edge of a mental breakdown. It isn’t losing sleep to cram for the test. It isn’t crying every time you think about the test because you’re afraid to fail.
It is no longer your best at that point.
Your best is doing the most you can do without self destructing. For me, my best is currently resting and watching cartoons to avoid stressing about tomorrow’s exam anymore than I already have.
Take a deep breath, remember that this is ONE CLASS, and that it will NOT harm your future as much as you think it will.
Read a bit, make some notes, do a practice DBQ, relax. Get some sleep, don’t forget to eat. And don’t self destruct. That is the best you can do for yourself right now. You got this. ❤️
Good luck to everyone taking AP exams this year, I believe in you! It’s been a struggle, but we’re in this together.
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hotchley · 3 years
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🐨 Okay, we have a multi-part ask! Woot woot! Or possibly “oh shit”, I don’t know how you feel about my rambling asks.
1) Your head cannon about Hotch going to Seaver’s graduation is my favorite thing. I have to imagine he felt bad about bringing her onto the team just because of what happened with her father. He knows what’s it like to have a past you long to escape but still feel defined by. I wonder if Hotch worries more than the rest of the BAU when they bring new recruits in. He already feels bad about all the member of the BAU have been through, and now they’re bringing in more people to go through this stuff.
B) Happy Monday, if you can call Mondays happy. What have you been up to?
C) I may go radio-silent again. Or just send you random screams of Regret 😂 It’s AP testing week here in the US. Have we American teens complained enough that you know what those are? Basically, some of us make the horrible decision to take a college-level class with a giant textbook and ridiculous two-part tests. And then in May, we take The Test. It’s a full-morning event, too. Multiple choice section, three different three-part Short Answer Questions, a Long Answer Question, and a Document Based Question (aka The DBQ, aka the bane of my existence). If we pass, we get college credit. If we don’t...well, we cry. You did your A-levels, right? Or am I getting that mixed up with GCSEs? Either way, any advice for these types of test?
Don't worry I love the rambling asks!! It makes me feel like: yes, I seem approachable and like this is a safe space for everyone- which is what I want it to be! Also this got really long so I've basically put the entire answer below the keep reading for ease :)
A) Aww thank youuu. It's briefly mentioned in aaron that he does go, but that's coming along veryyy slowly, so I thought I would share it with everyone anyways. Oh he does worry. He feels guilty enough doing interviews because he's seen what the job does to people, so when they're young.... but the team needs profilers so.... yeah, it's just a sad time for him
B) Today is a happy Monday because it was Bank Holiday Weekend so everyone gets the day off- I literally kept forgetting it was so bad I was like: huh why is everybody like: on Tuesday, what's happening on Monday??
I have been... school work mainly. Saturday, I dealt with all of my Germany stuff and then I went to my cousins for iftar (what you have when you break your fast). Yesterday we did a barbecue so we could deliver food to all of our family friends and we ended up staying with one of them until after midnight which was not ideal but it's fine. I ended up doing my intervention flashcards this morning after sehri (the thing before you start your fast) so yeah.
I definitely did not eat enough whoopsie. But today, I've been doing my law work- I just washed my hair so I'm feeling very accomplished- and now I just need to do the flashcards. I've also been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And I started reading again!! I was like: yeah, I'm not going to ruin my hobby for the sake of applications, so I started a darker shade of magic and I think it's really good!!
C) I have heard SO MUCH about AP classes and whatever, but without ever really knowing what they were so I just assumed it was some advanced thing but I didn't get what it was until now, so thank you for sharing!
College level?? What the actual heck?? In my school, the really smart maths students did Level 3 algebra but that was like A-Level. They would never give uni level stuff to us... yeah that does not sound fun at all and I do not envy you.
I'm doing my A-Levels now, but I got my GCSE results last summer (I did not sit the exams so it was all based off the stuff I had done in school, which actually worked in my favour) so yeah.
I don't have specific advice for that type of test because I only get a few multiple choice in Chemistry and History/Law are purely essay based, but I did this at GCSE and currently do it now, so it may help:
Please be aware that I'm neurotypical so this may not work for everyone!!
I took my written notes (which were a mess) and typed them up so they were functional and worked. Forget about making them look pretty, there's really no need.
I made flashcards with the most essential information and points- this may help with the multiple choice stuff- because it meant if I forgot everything else, I'd at least have some basic knowledge that would get me a few marks if nothing else.
I also make mindmaps but not the pretty studygram ones. These are done on A4 paper and go in the bin after the exam but basically, I dump everything I know without looking onto that sheet in one colour, and then I would add everything I needed to look at in a different colour. These are just helpful for recall.
Practice question, after practice question after practice question. Under timed circumstances too. Cos erm, if you don't do it to time, you're really going to stress in the exam, so yeah. That'd probably work for the long answer question.
I hope all your exams go well!! And here's what I wished somebody would've told me, instead of just accusing me of not even trying but anyways:
Your best in that moment is enough. What you do under pressure and in timed conditions is never going to be the same as what you do when you're relaxed and have time and that's okay. Just do what you can, and that has to be enough.
(And anybody that says otherwise can fight me)
But sending you all the luck and faith in the world!!
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