IT WAS RARE for chayu to be at school that early, although he usually was the first one in the classroom. just that day he felt as if he had to act responsible, since it was going to be his last year in school.

in the morning he hadn't been able to fall asleep anymore, so he had just gotten up and prepared for school.

other people usually perceived seo chayu as if he always had his head in the clouds, which was only partly true; another part of him always remained on the rock hard ground of facts.

for about half an hour he had been gathering ideas for his youtube channel, but couldn't really come up with anything. he ended up obsessively checking his appearance with his phone until not even a single hair was sticking out in the wrong direction anymore; the other students would arrive soon.

but who was he even fooling? he knew, that none of the actual people around him cared about what he looked like. they wouldn't even mind if he showed up in pajamas- okay the teachers would mind it a lot.

after a while the first student entered the classroom, nodded in chayu's direction quickly and went straight his his seat to sleep with his head on the desk. even more students arrived, but he wasn't able to pick up a conversation with any of them, although most of the students were talking quite loudly.

when it was finally time for the school year to start, all the students gathered in the great hall of the school. due to being in his senior year chayu already knew the speech that the headmaster was going to hold, so he drifted away in his own thoughts.

chayu's gaze wandered over the crowd of students until it finally lasted on two boys, who were standing a little distant from everyone else. well, his gaze lasted on only one of them: chittaphon leechaiyapornkul, mostly known as ten (a name that chayu prefered as well).

ever since ten had set a step into this school, chayu had been crushing very hard on him, his talent, his smile, his kindness and last but not least his looks. of course chayu had never even thought of making a move because of a variety of reasons.

first, he couldn't be crushing on a younger boy. second, he was way too average to even be talking to someone as outstanding as ten.

third: lee taeyong. latter was equally hot as ten and actually went to chayu's class. ten and taeyong had a reputation of their own throughout the school; everyone knew them and knew how close they were, so everyone shipped them, although they weren't officially a couple.

the dancer and the model, they were a perfect match.

and chayu was okay with that, he even admitted that they were cute. but the way ten smiled at everyone when walking through the hallways, made his heart skip a beat every time.

still he was well aware of the fact, that he could only look up to people like them, while all he could do was study hard and work even harder later.

the rest of the day went by quietly, which wasn't hard to tell since chayu didn't speak a single word. during lunch break he just stayed in the classroom instead of going to the cafeteria like; it would only frustrate him more. 

in the evening chayu went home from the library as slowly as possible, since he knew no one was waiting there anyway. when he spend his time studying at the library, he could at least pretend he was spending time with other students.

finally at home he lied down on his sleeping mat, reaching out for his favourite plushie. deep down he wished he could just have hug and a smile from anyone, but that seemed just as impossible.

well, his friends would do, but they had either moved away or were awfully busy with university and just talking through chat didn't feel the same in the long run. he was well aware that this wasn't the case, but sometimes he couldn't help but feel abandoned by the world.

still, it was okay, he was just fine. he had to be fine.

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which nct members would you like to see as ten's and taeyong's friends in this story? you can request up to 3