"have a good day at school honey!"

mark's ears burned in embarrassment at one of the mafia capos' comment, nervously adjusting his high school uniform.

"ignore him," a tall male threw his arm around mark's shoulders, shooting him a big smile. "let's get going kid."

mark nodded, allowing the older male to direct him to the car.

the car ride was silent. mark was nervous and didn't want to talk and the other male was respecting that, quietly bopping his head to the music playing.

"remember i'm your uncle and you're staying with me okay?" the male told mark when they had parked in the school parking lot.

mark nodded, taking a deep breath with his eyes closed and saying a small prayer.

the two males got out of the car, mark trailing behind the taller quietly, looking around in awe.

he had never gone to school properly, always being home schooled since he was young. there was a new set of emotions in him seeing people his age walking around and happily talking to their friends. the closest he had gotten to a friend his age were jaehyun and winwin who were two years older. winwin was a member of yuta's capo, but left to china to help establish a capo there and jaehyun was... jaehyun.

"we're here mark," the other male interrupted mark's thoughts, "ready?"

mark let a smile grace his lips and nodded, "born ready dude."

the male let out a laugh and they entered.

"i'm john seo and this mark lee, the new exchange student," the taller male said to the secretary, sending her a sly smile.

mark almost laughed at johnny's smile, instead nodding politely.

"let me take you to meet your homeroom teacher," the secretary said after everything was set up.

johnny ruffled mark's hair and sent him a smile, "i'll be back at pick up kiddo."

mark nodded, smiling back.

"you're from canada, right?" the secretary asked.

"ah- yeah," mark responded, "i was born and lived there until two years ago. i wanted to experience high school for my last year."

the secretary smiled at him before opening a door and leading him to his homeroom teacher.

he wasn't surprised to see taeil sitting there. mark knew taeil worked at the school which is why the second oldest, johnny, had taken mark up as his "guardian" instead.

taeil sent a smile towards the secretary and mark blanked out as taeil talked to him, repeating stuff he already knew.

"let's get you in class," taeil finally said, smiling at mark.

mark hummed, following the older male, "are they in this class?"

"one- na jaemin," taeil responded, "he's really quiet and standoffish, but i'd start with him."

mark nodded, slowing to a stop as taeil did.

"just introduce yourself okay? make friends, act like a normal high schooler," taeil said.

"kind of hard since i've never been a normal high schooler, but i'll try," mark snickered before his face fell into a sheepish smile, "sorry, i was trying to get into character. was that good?"

taeil nodded, smiling, "you're good to go mark."

with that, the older male opened the door and directed mark in.

"class we have a new exchange student," taeil said, the class going silent at the sight of the new boy.

"hello my name is mark lee," mark said nonchalantly, "i'm from canada and was homeschooled until now, please take care of me."

taeil instructed him to take a seat by the window and he did, the seat ironically on the complete other end of the classroom from jaemin.

mark watched the male instead of paying attention to the class- he had already passed it with flying colors the year before and he wasn't actually in high school so why would he pay attention?

"how does this kid get away with that bright blonde hair," mark mumbled quietly to himself, fiddling with the book in front of him.

"who? jaemin?" mark's seat mate asked, scaring him.

"is that his name?" mark feigned ignorance.

his seat mate nodded her head, looking at jaemin herself, "yeah, na jaemin. he's one of the 'delinquents' here i guess you could say. he isn't a bad person, but he hangs around the wrong crowd. everyone is scared of him."

mark hummed, leaning his head against his fist, "interesting."

when class ended and it was time for lunch, mark stayed back seeing jaemin also stay back.

mark took a deep breath and approached the boy playing games on his phone, "hey."

jaemin glanced up at mark, "hi."

"i'm mark lee, i'm new."

"yeah, i know."

mark almost let out a scoff, a light laugh of disbelief leaving his lips instead, "and you are?"

"i'm sure you already know," jaemin put his phone down and leaned back in his chair, looking up at mark, "but whatever, na jaemin."

mark's lips curved up in a smile, "great. you know, you're the only person to greet me back today."

a lie. everyone had tried to talk to mark, but he had no interest in any of them.

jaemin raised an eyebrow, "really? consider yourself lucky, the people here are shit. take my advice: go back to home school."

mark was taken aback, "what? why?"

"everyone here will try to become your friend and then exploit you for whatever you have: looks, brains, wealth. it's better to just not get involved."

"you speak with experience?"

mark wished he hadn't said that as jaemin's eyes hardened.

"yeah," jaemin spat out, "i do."

mark pressed his lips into a thin line, pausing for a second.

"can you lead me to the cafeteria?" he chose to ask instead of any of the other prying thoughts swarming his mind, "the secretary did a shit job of showing me around."

jaemin's lips curved up in an amused smile, "i guess, i was heading there anyway."

this kid is bipolar as fuck mark thought as jaemin got up and swung his black bag over his shoulder.

"let's go fresh meat," jaemin called, walking out the door.

mark followed close behind, examining the blonde haired teenager, annoyed.

"what's the real reason you joined here?" jaemin asked, "no one goes to high school because they want to."

"my uncle is currently watching me," mark lied, "i was offered the opportunity to move in with him and i said why the fuck not. canada was boring as fuck so i thought i'd come here and when i did, my uncle forced me to go to an actual high school. he said some shit about not learning anything online."

"fuck adults," jaemin rolled his eyes.

mark nodded, "facts."

jaemin's eyes darted up and down mark before looking at his face again, "god you scream home school."

"what the fuck does that mean," mark asked, furrowing his brows.

jaemin let out a short laugh, "nothin', don't worry."

"you wanna sit with me during lunch today fresh meat?" jaemin asked, "i can't leave your sad ass alone or i'll feel like a dick."

that's rich mark thought, sending jaemin a shrug. "sure, thanks."

jaemin's lips grew into a bright smile as he led the two over to a table where four other males were.

"fuck," one kid slammed his head against the table, "math."

another snickered, "jisung you can't afford to loose anymore brain cells, you're almost at negative."

jisung sprang forward, hitting the male that was making fun of him.

"guys, stop it," another whined, running a hand down his face, "i fucking hate you both."

"chenle started it!" jisung blamed, pointing at the male he was fighting with.

"no it was jisung!" chenle argued.

"oh? jaemin," one male noticed the two approaching the table, sending him a bright eye smile.

the smile dropped when he saw mark walking slightly behind jaemin, "and co.?"

jaemin sighed, "no jam... such a bad joke."

"this is mark," jaemin introduced, "our age and in my class. mark these are the idiots i for some reason call my friends."

"he's weirder than all of us combined," jisung whispered to mark.

mark was so confused. these were the kids who were claiming they did what the mafia was doing?

"i'm lee jeno," the male who first saw jaemin and mark approach said, "welcome to seoul high."

"huang renjun," the one previously whining bluntly said.

"i'm zhong chenle! i'm a second year!" chenle beamed at mark, "it's nice to meet you! wow, we haven't had a new student join us in a bit."

"and i'm park jisung, the youngest," jisung smiled sheepishly, "i'm a second year as well."

"he's in an accelerated course though no one knows why," chenle exposed his friend, avoiding the attack from jisung somewhat gracefully.

"hey i'm smarter than you ever could be," jisung scoffs.

"i'm sorry, they're always like this," jeno smiled at mark.

"it's okay... reminds me of home," mark mumbled, looking at the boys, "i have a lot of brothers."

"oh? how many?" jeno asked.

mark hummed, "three biological, but we were always with our cousins and there are four more of them."

"that's a lot of siblings, god. i can barely deal with my host sister," renjun grumbled.

"jaemin and i can't relate- only sibling things," chenle giggled.

"jisung did you say you were having problems with math earlier?" mark asked.

the youngest looked at him and nodded, "yeah, i'm really fucking confused."

"i'm fairly good at math, maybe i can help you," mark offered.

jisung's eyes sparkled, "really?"

mark nodded.

"yes!" jisung cheered.

mark spent the rest of lunch helping the two youngest males with math.

"can we buy you something for lunch tomorrow as a thanks?" jisung asked mark shyly.

mark smiled at jisung and nodded, "sure. i guess that means i can join you all again?"

mark glanced at all the other males who shrugged.

"why the hell not," jeno smiled.

mark grinned back. the plan was now officially in action.