~Y/n pov~

I sighed to myself as I watched all the groups of friends smiling and laughing as they made their way home.

Even though I tried, people just never seemed interested in becoming friends with me.

There was a group of girls I'd sit with at lunch but I found it hard to tell if they truly liked me and considered me a friend.

Although I should just be grateful that I'm not getting bullied.

I glanced back at the school as I reached the gate.

Unintentionally, I locked eyes with Suhyeok.

He smiled and gave me a little wave before averting his gaze, the tips of his ears red.

I quickly turned around, feeling flustered. Was he staring at me?

His smile is so cute. I allowed myself to be delusional, as an attractive guy like that wouldn't go for me, would he?

I walked straight home without looking back.

~*~

I startled awake as the alarm blared loudly.

Muttering curses, I blindly reached for it to turn it off.

I groaned in annoyance, I hate getting up.

Eventually, I willed myself out of bed and got ready for the day.

I sighed as I glanced at the note on the fridge.

My parents were gone as per usual. They never seemed to stick around.

Perhaps this contributed to my negative views and lack of friends.

Today was just another normal, miserable day.

Or so I thought...

The best and worst moments of my life occurred from this point onwards.

~*~

Class would start soon and as any normal person does, I was blankly staring at the desk.

Most propel sat in their friend groups and chatted. Lots of them even walked together.

Unfortunately for me, my friend group was in the other class and we didn't live near each other.

This felt me feeling excluded, even though it's not their fault and out of their control.

Today something felt different.

Not thinking much about it, I turned around and to look at the students behind me.

My eyes caught Suhyeok's and I felt butterflies in my stomach from his intense gaze.

He smiled bashfully and looked away.

Is he always staring at me?

I turned back around and was startled by my seat mate, Namra, who was looking at me.

"He always stares at you. Every day." She stated plainly before turning back to her work.

He does? It was embarrassing but the more I thought about him, the more attracted to him I became.

Oh god, I have a crush. He might not be staring at me because he likes me. What if he's making fun of me?

I didn't allow myself to think he liked me. How could he? I hardly knew him.

I've never been so glad to be so wrong.

It wasn't long before Ms. Park came in and I stopped overthinking to try and concentrate.

"Time to hand in your phones." Ms. Park told us as we all got up and placed our phones in the box.

"Who's in touch with Hyeonju?" Ms Park asked.

No one responded.

She had been missing since yesterday but I didn't think it was a big deal.

She was probably skipping.

I'm sure Hyeonju would be back tomorrow, right?

"Nobody?"

"Um, we cleaned the science lab together yesterday, but I haven't seen her since."

"If anyone hears from her please tell me." Ms Park told us before starting the lesson.

I payed attention to the lesson at first and I really did try but I soon found myself only half paying attention due to boredom.

~*~

Ms Park scanned the classroom, looking for people who weren't paying attention.

Namra put her hand up when a question was asked but I wasn't really paying attention to what she said.

"Next, Baresu, stand up."

He looked startled and quickly stood up.

"I have a question, why are you called Baresu?" Ms Park asked an off topic question.

A few people around him chuckled before someone explained the nickname.

Ms Park just nodded, seeming slightly confused before asking him to repeat what Namra said.

He looked stunned before confidently answering, "She was absolutely correct."

"And what was her correct answer?"

He was about to answer when the door slammed open and Hyeonju came stumbling in.

Her clothes were disheveled and bloody.

Ms. Park quickly ran to catch her as she collapsed to the ground.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Ms Park asked in a panicked voice.

"He grabbed me.." she talked slowly and seemed delirious, "The science teacher grabbed me and locked me up."

"He locked you up?" Ms Park asked.

"He tied me up..."

"Let's go to the infirmary, okay?" Ms Park turned to the rest of us, "No one say anything to anyone else until I get to the bottom of this."

I followed after Ms Park, concerned for Hyeonju, although I didn't know her well.

Suhyeok helped to carry her and a few other students followed to help.

We rushed her towards the infirmary and placed her in a bed as the nurse came over, concerned.

She started thrashing around and making growling noises.

A few students backed away and she started to try and get out of the bed.

I grabbed her and held her down alongside another female student and Suhyeok stood opposite me.

She was clawing at us and trying to bite us but we held her still so the nurse could give her a shot.

Eventually, her body went limp as she fell asleep.

Luckily for us, an ambulance has arrived.

I felt a sharp sting on my arm and looking down, I saw a bloody red mark.

Hyeonju must've scratched me when I was trying to restrain her.

I jumped as a hand gently touched my shoulder, "Are you okay?"

I turned to see Suhyeok looking at me worriedly, he followed my gaze and saw the cut on my arm.

He didn't hesitate and immediately led me to sit down on one of the beds and grabbed a bandage.

The nurse was still talking to the medics as the ambulance was preparing to take Hyeonju to the hospital.

His movements were delicate as he carefully cleaned and covered the wound.

"All better." He smiled.

"Thank you." I smiled back, feeling happy that someone was caring for me.

"Let's go." He offered his hand and pulled me up as we both headed to the door, our hands separating.

As the ambulance left, Onjo was quick to catch up with us and walk beside us.

It was silent.

It's so awkward...

I sped up as we got to the stairs, wanting to run away from the weird tension.

Surprisingly, Suhyeok sped up to match my pace.

"Suhyeok?" Onjo asked, grabbing his sleeve.

He turned to face her and I paused for a second curiously.

Onjo shyly tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled at Suhyeok.

Oh hell no.

I quickly turned as I saw Onjo give Suhyeok her name tag.

There was a weird twinge in my gut as I quickly walked away.

What I didn't know was that Suhyeok was watching me the whole time and annoyed that Onjo had stopped him.

~*~

Namra stopped me in the hall, "Thanks for lending this to me."

She handed me back a textbook that I had given her a few days ago.

I smiled politely at her, "You're welcome."

I watched as she disappeared back up the stairs and headed back to the classroom.

For a few moments I just stood there, looking at the book.

I hope that maybe one day we could become friends.

Starting to walk again, I sped up my pace towards the cafeteria, hoping my friends had saved me a seat.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a commotion behind me.

Turning in surprise, I saw bloodied students with erratic behaviour.

They were running straight towards me.

I gasped and felt my body jump as someone grabbed my hand.

Suhyeok dragged me along and I quickly went along with it and started running, wanting to get away from the students chasing us.

What in the world was happening?

"I'm glad you're alright." Suhyeok panted slightly, "I was looking for you."

"Why? No, that doesn't matter right now." I glanced back, "What do we do?"

Suhyeok looked around, surveying the situation, "This way."

We headed towards the doors leading outside.

I gripped onto Suhyeok's hand tighter as he squeezed my hand.

There were even a few outside.

We ran around the building looking for somewhere to go.

I noticed a ladder on its side, "There."

We both quickly propped up the ladder, knowing our classroom window wasn't far.

"Quickly go up." Suhyeok told me.

I took a deep breath, trying to reassure myself.

Ladders scared me because they were so wobbly and unstable. I especially hated height.

I quickly climbed up, trying to stop my hand from trembling.

Suhyeok quickly climbed behind me as there wasn't enough time and I was nearing the classroom window.

I knocked on the window, startling those inside.

I tried not to think about how many floors we had climbed and what would happen if I fell.

Namra was the first to react as she flung the window open and helped me inside.

Suhyeok climbed inside shortly afterwards as everyone seemed relieved and happy to see him and crowded around him.

I collapsed to the ground, the adrenaline fading away as the shock of the situation kicked in.

Namra sat beside me and patted my back.

I breathed deeply, hoping there would be no more heights.

I smiled at Namra, "Thank you."

She nodded and stayed sat beside me.

~*~

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1641 words

A/n I impulsively decided to write this so I'm just gonna publish the first chapter and see if people like it. Do you want more chapters?