CHATS -

DONGHYUCK (4)
JAEHYUN
JAEMIN (25)
JENO (2)
LUCAS
MARK (1)
FUNKY TOWN (457)

YOU ARE NOW MESSAGING
MARK!

MARK
hey jamie, you feeling
better? sorry 4 leaving
you, renjun is an ass sometimes

JAMIE
heya mark!

JAMIE
...can you meet up?

MARK
sure, i'm at work
and bored, no one is here

JAMIE
the convenience store?

MARK
yup

JAMIE
be right there

the convenience store was as empty as mark had said, jamie quietly entering and slipping in the back, grabbing a pack of ramen and going up to pay for it.

mark was sitting behind the counter, one hand on his cheek, holding his head up, and the other laying on the counter as he listened to the girl in front of him rant. he looked bored and yet scared at the same time.

"so you'll get it for me right? that's what friends do," the girl beamed at mark.

mark hesitated.

"right?"

jamie was shocked when mark nodded.

"i'll get it when i get my next paycheck," mark mumbled.

"that's too long," the girl scoffed, "i need to get it before jennie does."

mark sighed, "i don't have the money chae-"

"rosé to you, dick," the girl, rosé, scoffed, "and find some money, i want it by friday."

jamie watched in shock as the girl left the convenience store, mark going back to his phone that was sitting on the counter.

jamie walked up to the counter, bending down so she was face-to-face with mark, "earth to mark? can you hear me? over."

mark looked up in shock, a smile making its way on his lips, "mark to earth, communication is established. over."

jamie laughed, standing up straight again, watching as mark put his phone away and scanned her ramen.

"late night studying?" mark asked and jamie nodded.

"i have a huge physics test tomorrow that i'm ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent sure i'm going to fail," jamie yawned, handing mark the money she had with her, "i needed a break, i was getting overwhelmed and strangely hangry."

mark laughed, a bright smile on his lips which contrasted his deep frown earlier, "hangry? maybe you were using your brain too much. i can help you study if you want, i aced physics, if you wanted to know."

jamie's eyes shined in awe, "how? are you a wizard?"

mark giggled, leaning against the counter, "yes, i have this special brain power called memory."

"sometimes i'm surprised with how smart you actually are," jamie commented, going over to the hot water dispenser, "i can bring some problems up on my phone if you have paper."

for a couple hours, the two worked through the physics problems, mark helping jamie to understand them.

after her ramen was long done and cold and mark's shift was about over, he remembered why she was actually here.

"jamie," he called, gaining her attention, "how are you?"

jamie frowned, "i'm not doing well right now. why? can you tell?"

"i can't tell and that's what worries me," mark frowned, leaning on his fist again, "granted, while i may be book smart i can not read people to save my life, but i still think i'm okay at seeing other's moods."

jamie laughed lightly and half-heartedly, "true, you aren't very good at reading moods or people... or much for that matter. you're barely street smart as well."

"okay, wow, i see how it is. i help you study physics and you attack me, i'm going to leave," mark pretended to get up, jamie laughing hard.

"no, but seriously though," mark said, leaning forward again, "i wanted to stay with you that day, but you know how renjun is, it's his way or no way and he's really offended with what you said."

"of course he is," jamie hummed, twisting a piece of her hair that had fallen out of her bun, "chenle and jisung blocked me on dnyl and somehow yerim found out about my panic attack and has been holding it over my head ever since, she even uses it as an excuse to get out of gym and threatens me if i don't."

mark frowned, "wish i had school with you so i could stop that."

"i'm honestly considering transferring to sopa," jamie replied honestly, "i'd have donghyuck, jaemin, and jeno even if they are a year ahead and it would be a clean slate with all new friends."

mark hummed, "that won't always save you though."

jamie looked at him with curiosity and he seemed to panic for a minute.

"what i mean is," he cleared his throat, "sometimes when you go to a new school, you end up stuck where you were in the first place."

jamie frowned, examining him. was he bullied in high school and in college? was he even bullied? was that rosé someone from sopa that he went to school with?

"but then again, sometimes you have to close a door to open a window, if that makes any sense," mark tried to cover up, nodding his head.

jamie let out a laugh, "smooth, did you come up with that yourself?"

mark shrugged, "no, but i'm not going to site where it is from, i've had to do way to much of that this past week."

"oh!" mark looked proud of himself as he looked at jamie, "also, you can't run from your problems! you have to face jisung, chenle, and renjun again at some point."

"how though?" jamie questioned, leaning back in his plastic chair, it creaking under her and making her cringe, "do i go up to him and say sorry i hit a nerve i didn't know incest was a trigger topic for you?"

mark blinked a few times and then shrugged, "you're making me lost."

jamie stared at mark in shock, "bet you could name the chemicals in my head that could be the reason i'm feeling this way or you could write a rhetorical essay appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos on the topic in three languages, but you can't understand simple psychology and social skills?"

mark blinked a few times again, making jamie sigh.

"you're a lost case," jamie scoffed, "i'll ask jaemin, actually, scratch that. i'll ask donghyuck and do the exact opposite of it."

mark laughed, nodding, "good idea. you could ask jaehyun too."

jamie thought for a minute before shaking her head, "jaehyun is too stressed out about his tests."

mark groaned, hitting his head against the counter, "don't remind me."

"a, that is seriously unsanitary, i wouldn't put my face anywhere near that counter unless it has been bleached and clorox wiped at least four times," jamie wrinkled her nose in response, "also you're a music major, how hard are you exams?"

"exactly i'm a music major, i have to compose a song that's at least two minutes long and perform it in front of the class," mark grumbled, "i can't hit the notes! i don't know what to do."

"ask donghyuck, he has a pretty voice," jamie chirped, moving mark's head so it wasn't laying on the counter but on her hoodie sleeve instead, "he can sing high too."

"it's like, a girl's part though," mark hesitated.

"i can do it if you want," jamie suggested, "as i am a girl and i can sing."

mark moved his head so he could see her and his eyes lit up, "seriously? you will?"

jamie nodded enthusiastically, "of course! it'll give me a chance to skip practice for once. practice for our musical is literally donghyuck and jaemin making fun of each other and the other theatre kids drooling over them for some reason."

"donghyuck has been weird lately," mark hummed, "like he isn't as clingy."

jamie started to think, donghyuck not clinging to his self-proclaimed favorite and least favorite person? that was weird.

"is it donghyuck or you?" jamie asked, "like who's pulling away?"

mark's face twisted in confusion, "what do you mean? it's donghyuck."

jamie leaned forward, "any reason he is?"

mark thought for a minute, "chaeyoung has been hanging out a lot more with me and her and donghyuck are like worst enemies."

"chaeyoung? is that the girl who was here earlier?" jamie covered her mouth as soon as she said it, mark's eyes getting wide.

"you saw that?" he asked, alarmed.

"possibly," jamie mumbled in shame.

"it is," mark said after a few minutes of silence, "she went to sopa as well and was my first friend when i transferred there since i went to an international middle school. her younger sister was donghyuck's best friend and that's why we got close."

"she seems... not great," jamie spoke, sugarcoating what she actually wanted to say, "why are you still friends with her?"

mark sighed, putting his head back on jamie's arm that was still laying there so he wouldn't put his head on the counter again, "i can't just dump her, she was my first friend and she helped me a lot during high school."

"yeah but she's a major bitch now," jamie mumbled, "life changes, shit happens, friends change, you don't have to clingy to the same ones all your life."

"i can't just leave her, she needs me," mark argued.

"for money," jamie reasoned, patting his head with her free hand, "look mark, just because you think you owe her or that she needs you or that she's familiar and you like familiarity does not mean you have to be her friend if she uses you. asking for stuff the way she did and telling you to call her something else are all signs of a toxic friendship."

mark groaned, pulling at his hair, "i know, but like, i just... can't. i physically can't bring myself from leaving her side."

"mark, do you like her? is that's what keeping you clinging to her?"

mark moved his head up, looking in jamie's eyes, seeing the pure concern in them.

"i think... i think i might."

jamie smiled softly, "it's okay, it's natural to fall for friends, especially ones you idolize because they did something for you and as pretty as she is. hell, i like renjun, but even i'm pretty sure i'd drop him if someone as pretty as that asked me out... okay that was a joke, i'm not that shallow, but you get what i mean."

mark let out a laugh, leaning back in his chair, "leave it to you to make me feel better about myself."

jamie acted proud of herself, "it's what i do best."

"what do i do though?" mark groaned, putting his head back down, "i don't wanna feel these things."

"as an intellectual once told me," jamie cleared her throat, "you get over someone by like
getting feelings for someone
else, or like completely forgetting
about that person."

"i hate that you are using my own words against me you evil monster."

jamie laughed, "maybe we should go on another date to forget the people we like."

"you still like renjun?"

"you say that like it's been years," jamie scoffed, "yes, i do, and it fucking sucks because we aren't talking again."

"sure, we can go out again," mark said after a minute, "i chose where to this time though, no more cheesy karaoke."

jamie clicked her tongue, "points off already mister mark, i like cheesy."

"darn," mark grinned, "guess i'll have to bring my a-game then."

"guess you will."