When Seungkwan thought his life couldn't get anymore cliché, he locked eyes with Hansol.

It wasn't a major event, yet Seungkwan despised that moment so much. He hated the way Hansol looked so attractive despite not having the best personality. It's only been hours since he walked inside the classroom with Jisoo, yet to many things were happening, though it was merely an exaggeration since being dramatic sounded like a main character's charming trait.

Stop it, he thought to himself when he was about to break the fourth wall again. On a daily basis, Seungkwan could break the fourth wall 1802 times in minimum. He needed to stop that habit before it might damage him in long term.

The atmosphere within the class tensed up by the way the teacher's glaring at them. Seungkwan guessed she must be in her period, thus he couldn't bring himself to hate the teacher. Being raised in a family with many females made him realize how hard it is to be a woman, so instead of hating the way the teacher put them in the center of attention, he respected her dedication for teaching the class in every circumstances. After all, Seungkwan acknowledged that he was the cause that Soonyoung and Seokmin got into trouble.

Out of his expectation, Seokmin stood up in a heroic manner. "It was my fault. I'll do anything to pay for my stupid actions. Please spare my friends, I can't continue to live my life without them."

"Seokmin, we just met—"

"Time is just an illusion, matters aren't. Therefore I shall spare the rest of my life longing for you two while being brutally punished because your happiness matters."

Jisoo interrupted, "Seokmin, you need to calm down a bit. No one will do such things to you." Something about Jisoo's way of speaking changed the atmosphere into a more relaxed one. His speech sounded too reassuring, it's inhumane.

What if he's not human? Seungkwan's brain began to work its way to find a conclusion that's normal, but cliché.

In the middle of this chaos, an indisputably tallest guy in school stood up from his seat. Everyone expected him to become the mediator in this particular situation. Words like "it's okay", "don't be so dramatic", "listen to the teacher", and whatnots were anticipated from him. Nonetheless, he flipped the situation in the most unpredictable approach as possible.

"Miss, I think you miscalculated the polynomial expressions on question number 5. I've tried to solve it by myself and if I'm not wrong the final answer is A, not C."

Crap, he's actually paying attention to the lesson.

The attention switched naturally to Mingyu's opinion as the teacher began to check her wrongdoing. She apologized quickly then told the class to change their answer from C to A. The next minute was spent to compliment Mingyu for being so observant and detailed over every little things. Seungkwan exhaled a relieved breath knowing it's over. He thought about thanking Mingyu after the lesson.

Since the cursed cliché blood runs through the Boo's family, the lesson ended in an instant because high school AU was all about the drama between the students, not the actual high school stuff. Seungkwan proceeded to approach Mingyu's table at the third row, next to the window.

He made sure to bow politely. "Mingyu right?" He peeked to see Mingyu's reaction. "Thank you for saving us during math. What can I do to repay you?"

Mingyu rubbed his chin. "I don't know what you're talking about, but can you turn me into a girl?"

"Huh?"

"Just kidding." He chuckled. "You can call me Sunbaenim from now on."

Is he serious? Seungkwan started to regret his actions. When he saw Mingyu, he thought he would act like a perfect student who would befriend him in exchange of saving him. However, those images began to blur after he realized how Jisoo's prior words were all true, that all the students in class 1.7 apart from Seungkwan and Jisoo were high on something.

"Never mind, just take this." He handed a fresh orange originally from Jeju Island to express his gratitude then left to gather his two friends.

Mingyu caught the orange. "This works as well." Without spending another second, he peeled the orange like a happy little puppy. "Wonwoo, do you want this? We can eat it together." He moved his way to Wonwoo's table with a big smile.

Wonwoo was startled. "I—well... that's unnecessary, but okay. Not that I like eating with you or what, I just like orange. Don't get it wrong." The way he said things really sparked a big tsundere vibes.

The taller tilted his head. "Do you like banana too? I can give you my banana if you want to." He literally went to his table, grabbed a banana, then returned to Wonwoo's table.

"Banana sounds great. I'd like to eat your banana—I mean I love every kinds of banana. You know—Gosh, that sounded wrong." He failed to wrap his thoughts. "It's not like I would accept everything you offered me, but that banana is mine!" He grabbed the banana and ate it to hide his frustration.

On the other side, Seungkwan walked into the school's cafetaria with Seokmin and Soonyoung. He planned to ask Jisoo to eat with them, but he just disappeared like Red Velvet after their comeback.

Although the day wasn't perfect, Seungkwan enjoyed his first day at school. Soonyoung and Seokmin were nice people, but more importantly, they're full of gossips. Say at least his high school life wouldn't be so boring.

"Are Mingyu and Wonwoo together?" Seungkwan asked as soon as they put their tray on the table.

Soonyoung shrugged. "They're not, but isn't Wonwoo being too obvious? He even joins Mingyu's group of friends to show his dedication for him although it's burdening himself more since Mingyu really thinks of him as his best friend."

"Group of friends?" Somehow he was interested in this 'group of friends' concept.

With mouth full fo kimchi, he continued, "Seungcheol, Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Hansol are pretty close."

"Hansol?" Now he's even more interested.

"Mhm." He nodded. "They're quite popular because they happen to be friends and they all look hot. I don't really understand how they're together since their personalities don't match at all, but that's them. They're kinda scary together, but somewhat harmless as individuals."

"We call them the Hophop squad," Seokmin added.

Seungkwan didn't understand why such gang exist as well. He hadn't even met that Seungcheol guy, but could already tell he's onto something.

Soonyoung still wasn't finished. "They do have something in common," he depicted, "they're all unapproachable. I mean, I've been bugging Wonwoo for a while and we still don't interact."

Hearing Soonyoung's statement put Seungkwan into his thinking mode. Soonyoung was right. Although he's sitting in front of Wonwoo, something about that boy screamed "do not approach". His face could look intimidating in some ways, but that's not all to him. His sweater paws scared him in a way he couldn't explain. Judging from his sweater paws, Seungkwan could tell Wonwoo's participating in a shady underground business.

"Except for Mingyu," Seokmin refined, "he's easily approachable, but once you talked to him, you will regret everything." Seungkwan understood what he meant by that. Talking to Mingyu was such a turn off. Still, he would admire him from afar due to his great mannerism.

"What about Hansol?" Seungkwan couldn't help but get curious over Hansol.

Soonyoung replied, "He's unpredictable. He's not like any other girls."

"But he's not a girl..."

"I know," Soonyoung deadpanned.

"She's not?!" Seokmin slammed the table so hard, even he was shocked when he heard his own voice. "I mean he's a he? Wow..."

Seungkwan couldn't believe his ears. "Seokmin, this is an all boy's school."

"But the teacher..."

Soonyoung wondered too. "Yeah, I wonder. This is actually the first time I saw her. Well, not that I care enough to memorize the teachers' names and faces," he admitted.

"Is she perhaps... a plot hole?" Seungkwan once again muttered to himself. His spiritual ear could hear Jihoon's dying noises as he accidentally chocked himself with ramen from beyond the fourth wall.

Seokmin was still weeping. "It's already twilight, and yet it's so hot. The Cicadas are crying..." he mused, "... but he's a guy." His voice sounded weak. He's in despair.

"Seokmin," Seungkwan called, concerned. Why's he friends with him again?

"Sorry," he apologized, "I ate too many colored pencils this morning. My brain isn't at its best condition."

"Come on, let's just go to class." Soonyoung carried Seokmin on his back while cleaning the table they just used because he got manners and shit. Be like Soonyoung.

"You guys can go first," Seungkwan informed, "I need to use the restroom."

"Sure, go ahead." Soonyoung proceeded to carry Seokmin to the school's infirmary before going back to his classroom.

For the time being, Seungkwan didn't feel so good. Going to the restroom by himself sounded like a dangerous experience to him. His gut feeling told him to be aware of his surroundings or he might bump onto an uninvited guest.

His eyes traveled everywhere to the point that he failed to focus to look forward. The next thing he knew, he once again bumped onto someone that's not Jisoo.

God, not again.

Seungkwan winced in pain, though he wasn't hurt. "I'm so—"

"You didn't even say sorry." The voice sounded too familiar to Seungkwan's liking.

He mentally face-palmed upon realizing the owner of the voice. That someone he bumped to was Hansol. What were the odds?

Seungkwan gritted his teeth. "I said I'm sorry. You didn't let me finish." He wanted to slap his beautiful face because he looked more beautiful up close.

Hansol hissed, "When you bumped onto someone, you should've said sorry. Didn't you learn manners in kindergarten?" He's basically ignoring Seungkwan.

"Are you ignoring me? I literally just apologized in front of your face." He hated when his temper was being tested like this.

Hansol stood up in the most annoying way as possible. "You'll pay for this," he threatened before leaping to the restroom to pee. Seungkwan stayed on the ground with a dark expression.

"What a childish brat! How old is he? Five?!" He cussed multiple times under his breath. Fists clenched, he stood up and went to another restroom to prevent another encounter with Hansol.

On his way to another restroom, he crossed paths with a weird boy who's busy talking to himself. Seungkwan's heard about him from Seokmin and Soonyoung when they were waiting for the food during lunch back then. He heard that one of class 1.7 students could communicate with ghosts. If he's not mistaken, his name's Junhui and that he's rarely seen at school since he's only interested in befriending the ghosts.

Seungkwan decided to sprint in order not to communicate with that boy and because he couldn't hold his pee any longer.

The rest of school hours went by in an instant, therefore Seungkwan went home with a pile of homework just like every other kid at school.

"Honey, how's school?" Mrs. Jwa asked as soon as she saw Seungkwan unlocked the front door.

"Okay, I guess." To be honest, Seungkwan didn't know how to describe his experience as well.

Although he would've felt better if he worked on his homework first and relaxed afterwards, he chose not to. The thrill of doing homework close to its deadline made it 100% better. For that reason, he decided to watch something fun on illegal websites because the stuff they put on TV were all trash and fake.

When Seungkwan was little, he would watch Ouran High School Host Club, Code Lyoko, or Big Time Rush to fulfill his emptiness in life. As he grew older, he began to explore more TV shows that leans more to the romantic genre. Not that romance shows are bad, it's just hard for Seungkwan to watch them due to his personal grudge. Everything about such genre reminded Seungkwan of his life.

Nowadays, he had completely refused to watch romance TV shows for his own good. Hence he decided to watch something unpredictable like Steins;Gate on his free time, completely forgetting his piling homework. Last week he just finished watching 91 Days and Maquia, and this week he planned to finish Steins;Gate and Banana Fish.

Out of the ordinary, Hansol's words kept raging in his head over and over again. The last time he heard something so repetitive was when Red Velvet mentioned "Rookie" in their song.

"You'll pay for this."

Those childish words got Seungkwan into his overthinking state. His Peter Tingle was telling him that in the near future he would interact with him a lot of times. Foreshadowing never felt so real before.

In conclusion, he hated his Peter Tingle.

┉┉

The pace of the story is going slower than what I expected. Let's hope it's a good choice *crosses fingers*.