Min Yoongi... Min Yoongi... where is that boy?

It's the beginning of another day at school. You were hoping to find Min Yoongi quickly so you could hand back his school jacket, but you don't know where to look for him. You're not sure what class he's in or how old he is or anything. All you have is his name.

Min Yoongi...

You don't have enough time to search for him out here in the busy, crowded hallway, so you step into your classroom and find your seat before the bell rings. You stuff the neatly folded school jacket into your backpack, which is tucked protectively between your legs under the table.

You had to throw your school uniform away and use your spare from last year.

The white button up shirt has a faded pink stain on the front from when one of the lunch servers spilled a sauce all over you last year. The skirt is long enough to cover your thighs but if you bend over, you'll flash all your classmates. The only thing wrong with your jacket is the sleeves, which are half an inch too short. You have to yank them down over your wrists every few minutes.

You were tempted to switch the golden name tags and keep Min Yoongi's jacket, since it's comfier than yours, but you can't do that, because the boys' jackets are different than the girls' jackets and the switch would be too obvious.

Besides, you don't fancy doing something so rude after Min Yoongi let you borrow his jacket anyway. It was a kind gesture and you don't want to owe him more than you already do.

The teacher comes into the room and starts class, disrupting your thoughts and turning your attention to the chalkboard. You'll look for Min Yoongi during lunch time. Then you can give his jacket back and be done with him until you find a way to repay his kindness.

•••

When the lunch bell rings, you quickly start stuffing all of your literature books and papers into your backpack so you can leave and look for Min Yoongi. In the front of the room, the door opens and students begin chattering loudly, causing you to glance up as three girls and a boy walk in.

It's them.

A sense of urgency takes over you immediately and yank your backpack zipper up, only for it to get jammed halfway.

No no no I have to go now. Heart racing, you keep pulling on the zipper, but it doesn't come unstuck. The four classmates that came in push slowly through the throng of students trying to talk to them or get out. One of the girls spots you and turns to the others eagerly.

You know what, it'll stay closed like this, it's fine. You think. You stand up abruptly, the back of your knees hitting the edge of your plastic seat, and sling your backpack over your shoulder. Pulling your sleeves down over your wrists, you speed walk to the back of the room where the other door is, which only a few students are leaving out of.

Once you're out, you glance to the left and see the cluster of students pushing out of the classroom, four of which are the people you are trying to avoid. Before you can turn away, the boy spots you and points. No no no!

Instead of heading for the cafeteria, which would take you to the left toward them, you turn the opposite direction and high-tail it out of there as if your life depends on it.

You dodge students opening doors and ignore confused teachers as you breeze past them all the way to the end of the hallway. At the end, you stop and look back. There's no sign of them. They didn't follow you.

You lean against the wall and heave a sigh of relief. Maybe it's best if you find a place to hide during lunch instead of going to the cafeteria. You can look for Min Yoongi another day. You brush your hands together, panting, and get off of the wall.

You'll go find that empty classroom you hid in yesterday. If you're lucky, the boy might be in there instead of the cafeteria, hiding, just like you.

At least that way, you won't be alone during lunch.

Before you can begin walking again, someone crashes into you and hugs you tight. "Y/n!"

You gasp and steady yourself against the wall again before you can fall.

The person hugging you lets go of you and backs up so you can see her.

"Soora?"

Soora is your best and only friend since the fourth grade. She went on vacation at the beginning of this week though, so she shouldn't be back yet. Why is she back?

"I got back early," Soora says, as if reading your mind. "We um... we had to cancel our vacation."

You blink. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you about it at lunch okay?" Soora grabs your hand and begins dragging you down the hall, back the way you came.

"Wait, I can't go to the cafeteria," you say, uselessly stumbling after her. She looks back at you, slowing to a stop.

"Why not?"

"Um-"

Soora's expression darkens. "Oh don't tell me the Spice Girls are bothering you again."

The Spice Girls are a group of the four most popular girls in the school. Ginger, Nutmeg, Pepper, and Anise. Of course, those aren't their actual names, but that's what they go by. The Spice Girls.

Personally, you think it's pretty dumb, but everyone else seems to think it's really clever and catchy. The girls have boys waiting on them 24/7 but they only let one of them into their group. Wonho. He's the brawn to their "brains."

Only three of them seem to be here today, unless you missed one of them earlier.

"They never stopped," you say.

"But we reported them to the school board last week."

You sigh. "No. You reported them, and they got pissed at me. I told you it was a bad idea."

Soora bites her lip and looks at you- all of you- for the first time since she ran into you.

"What happened?" She asks. "Did you get sleep last night?"

"Same as always."

"Trouble with your parents?"

"No it was just work and homework."

Soora's eyes soften sympathetically. "I wish I could do something for you," she says.

"Well for starters," you say, giving her a small smile. "Buy me a dessert at lunch and tell me what happened to your vacation."

Soora's expression falls even further into regret and guilt.

"Did... did something bad happen?"

Soora nods. "I'll tell you at lunch. Let's go get our food and find a place to hide and eat."

•••

"Okay, before I tell you anything, I wanna let you know that I promise I wouldn't be going if I had a choice."

You sit on the floor next to Soora against the wall and set your backpack down next to you. You're in an empty hallway somewhat close to the cafeteria.

"What... what do you mean going? Where are you going?"

Soora pushes her tray away and turns so she is facing you. Her eyes begin to fill with tears. "We were on the road for two hours on our way to Seoul when mom got the call," she says. Her nose twitches and turns red. "My grandma's cancer hasn't been getting better, and now she's entering a deadly stage in it. She doesn't have long to live."

You frown. "Soora, I'm so sorry," you say. Soora is really close with her grandma.

"Since she's been living alone for years, she has no one to take care of her," Soora continues. "So my parents decided that we're gonna move to where she is so we can be with her until she passes."

That single sentence sinks into your conscious like a poisonous thought, causing a chain reaction inside of you that you can only express by dropping your sandwich and your jaw.

Soora purses her lips, waiting in uneasiness for you to say something.

For a moment, all you can do is fish-mouth, unsure of which thought to lead with.

"Soora, you can't leave me," you say, desperately straining to keep the panic out of your voice. "You-you have to be joking."

Soora shakes her head. "I wish I was."

You look her dead in the eyes and shake your head.

"No, you don't understand. You can't leave me."

Soora's lips curve up in a bittersweet smile, but you shake your head.

"I'm serious. You can't leave me alone here. It's different if it was just a vacation, because you were supposed to come back and stay."

Soora's smile disappears just as quickly as it came.

"Y/n, I promise you, I wouldn't be going if I had a choice. It's my grandma though. I don't get to choose."

"Just ask your parents if you can stay at my house until the end of the year."

"We both know my parents wouldn't let me. Besides, that's too much stress on you and your family."

"No, you would help me so much."

"Y/n! There isn't anything I can do!" Soora says, voice raised. "You have to understand. I'm leaving."

You stare at Soora for a moment, then avert your eyes to the ground.

"Okay," you say softly. You understand. "When... when do you leave?"

"That depends on how fast we get packed and leave. Mom's looking for a house to live in, and we need to move all of our furniture too. This can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a whole month."

You nod. "Okay. At least I have you for that long."

Soora smiles again. "You'll be okay without me," she says. "We can find you a new friend. That way you won't be lonely. And when I leave, I'll Skype you every day."

You nod. "You better."

Soora hugs you. "Promise. Ugh, I'm gonna miss you so much."

"Yeah me too. Let's finish lunch before the bell rings though."

•••

The bell should ring in about two minutes. The teacher is still in the middle of talking about radicals, which you somewhat understand, and he is nowhere near finishing.

You reach for your bag and unzip it slowly so as not to make noise, then, just like all the other students, secretly put away all of your supplies so that the teacher won't catch you. By the time your bag is zipped up once again, there is only a half a minute left till the bell will ring.

Where to find Min Yoongi...

You need to find him today. If you don't return his jacket, you'll have to keep it in your backpack for even longer, and you don't want to have that burning reminder that you owe him.

Maybe he'll be in that empty classroom again. The piano in there looked less dusty than everything else, meaning he probably plays it often. You don't know where else you will find him.

The bell rings, and you get up quickly. You need to get a good distance away from this class as soon as possible in case the Spice Girls come back for you, so you sling your backpack over your back, pull your sleeves over your wrists for the seventeenth time, and speed walk toward the door with the least student traffic.

Once you've made it out into the hallway successfully, you can almost taste freedom. All you have to do is find Min Yoongi, get the hell out of school, and make it to the bus stop while avoiding all the places you have ever run into the Spice Girls.

Before you can devise a route through the school, someone grabs the back of your shirt collar and pulls you back.

"Well well well, look who's trying to run again."

A pretty girl with blonde-dyed hair and perfect, delicate facial features steps in front of you, backed by another girl with brown hair who has painted pink nails that match her light makeup.

Anise and Ginger. Only two of them today. They each wear smirks that hide their eagerness, as if they're staring at a meal that they hardly have the patience to wait to dig into.

You purse your lips and stare back at Anise silently. If you speak, you'll only make it worse for yourself.

"You ran away yesterday before we were even done with you," Anise says. Her voice is sweet like sugar but hides deadly venom. "Come with us," she says. "It looks like we didn't do enough to your uniform."

You gulp. How can you get out of this?

Anise turns around, flips her hair over her shoulders, and begins walking down the hallway, followed by Ginger. The person holding your collar grunts and pushes you forward, hand still clamped firmly around your shirt. That's Wonho. You have no hope of escape.

You hold back tears as the two girls and their minion drag you away from freedom and through a maze of hallways to your doom. You want to collapse and cry on the floor, but you know better than to do that. Plus, it would be humiliating.

The girls guide you to a hallway where the usual spot is. There's a classroom that empties out pretty quickly that no one comes back to- perfect for beating you up in. You're not sure what the classroom is used for- probably meetings and such- but you do know that once you go in there, you won't come back out for a while, and when you do, you'll be in a worse condition than you were in before.

"Right in here little Y/n," Ginger calls back innocently, in a voice that sounds to you like a fork scratching a ceramic plate. She opens the door to the classroom and steps in, but freezes in her tracks and then comes back out.

"This room is being used," she says.

Yes! Yes! Salvation!

"Then let's find another empty room," Anise says. "I'm sure there are plenty."

"Not now, school just ended five minutes ago."

"There's a hallway that's nobody uses anymore because it's next to the reconstruction site. We can find a classroom there."

"Okay fine, where is that?"

"Follow me."

Your minimal, momentary excitement leaves you and you are left with dread once again. Why did I think I could get out of this?

The girls lead the way through more hallways, all the way downstairs, ignoring the presence of other students, who back away from them. Girls stare at Wonho like he is the last water bottle in the Sahara desert. Boys grin at Ginger and Anise as if their flirtatious stares can win them over.

None of them notice you. You are invisible. A tiny, unnoticeable scratch on a brilliant diamond- a fake diamond.

It isn't until you reach the abandoned school wing that all the other students have cleared up and are gone. There isn't anyone here.

The hallway is familiar though. It's the one you ran through blindly after escaping the Spice Girls yesterday. The hallway with the classroom that has a piano where the boy Min Yoongi gave you his jacket.

Will he be there today?

Please be there.

"Any one of these rooms should do," Anise says. "Wonho, choose one."

Wonho lets go of your shirt so he can peek through the window of each classroom door. You stand still as a statue, frozen with fear as you realize that it's now or never. Wonho isn't holding onto you anymore, instead walking up to a classroom door close by.

If you make a break for it now, you won't get very far. Wonho is fast and can bring you right back. You're too far away from other students to make it to them. You can't contact anyone because you don't have a phone, though you wouldn't be able to call anyone that fast anyway.

The closest safe place you can run to is the classroom Yoongi may or may not be in. If he is in there, you can give his jacket back and beg for help to escape. If he isn't in there, you will get caught and beat up.

Now or never, you think as you watch Wonho peek through the classroom window.

"This one's empty," he says.

If you run, you will be staking everything on whether Min Yoongi will be in that classroom or not.

Now or never.

"Perfect," Ginger says. "Y/n, come in."

If you follow them in, they will beat you up, tear up your clothes again, ruin your backpack, and whatever else they think of.

Anise notices your hesitation and looks at Wonho expectantly. He gets the message and makes a move for you.

Now or never.

Just as Wonho reaches a hand out for you, you inhale quickly and deeply and take off running toward the end of the hallway where Min Yoongi's classroom is.

You've never run so fast before. The air in this building was stale before, but feels like fresh wind against your face now. Your backpack bangs heavily against your back with every enormous step you take. You spread your legs out as far as you can with each stride to put distance between you and Wonho.

"Hey! Get her!"

You hear Wonho's loud and heavy footfalls behind you, paced unevenly. For a guy with his build, he doesn't run very fast. He's more muscular than he is lean.

You're sure he'll catch up to you anyway. He has before.

"Get back here!" Wonho yells.

You screech to an abrupt halt outside the classroom that Yoongi should be in and grab the doorknob. Hope begins to build up within you and you start to believe that you can escape this for today.

Yet, after a few seconds of rattling the door handle uselessly, the hope drains from you as well as all of the color in your face. There is no answer. The door is locked. You are trapped.

Min Yoongi is not there.

But you thought you heard the faint sound of a piano through it earlier- it may have just been your hopeless imagination. You bang on the door with your fists, tears rising to your eyes. You have to get help. You risked everything on the hope that Min Yoongi would be your savior one more time, and you can't give that up just yet.

Wonho slows to a stop behind you and grabs your wrist.

"Get back here," he says, in his deep, booming voice.

And just like that, all of the hope within you is gone, blown out like a candle.

"No!" You cry helplessly.

You can't even hear that faint piano anymore. Guess it was just your imagination.

"Please!" You beg. "Please just let me go!"

Wonho yanks your wrist the other way and you comply, uselessly dragging your feet across the floor as you follow him like a lamb to the slaughter.

Anise and Ginger's witchy cackles can be heard clear down the empty hall.

"You thought you could run?" Ginger calls tauntingly.

Yeah. You did.

Won't be making that mistake again.

You pass another door on the way back to the girls, another empty classroom with no one inside to save you.

The moment that thought forms in your mind, a door behind you opens.

The door.

"Oh, babe, there you are! I was beginning to think you'd gotten in trouble."

You and Wonho both look back.

Min Yoongi stands next to the now unlocked and open door of the piano room.

"Who are you?" Wonho asks.

Yoongi looks at you, and all you can do is stare back. You don't say a word. You don't know what to say.

"I'm her boyfriend," Yoongi says. "And I would appreciate it if you could let go of her hand."

Wonho looks at you. And laughs.

"You? Have a boyfriend?" His grip on your wrist tightens.

"What's going on over here?" Anise and Ginger appear beside you and look at Yoongi in confusion. "Who are you?"

Yoongi comes toward you and holds up his hand for you to take. You stare at it, hesitant to take it.

"I just said I'm her boyfriend," he says impatiently. "And we have plans today, so we'll be seeing you later. Thanks for bringing her to me."

Wonho scoffs. "There's no way. Beat it, kid."

Yoongi's eyes flash with anger and he turns his narrowed gaze to Wonho.

"Kid? That's hyung to you. I'm your senior. If I were you I would do well to remember that." He then looks at you and shakes his outstretched hand. "You coming? My hand is tired."

You blink, quickly running through the consequences you'd have to go through if this fails and you get stuck here.

Deciding that any escape is better than being stuck with your bullies, you grab Yoongi's hand with your free one. It feels cool and firm- not a strong, thick, calloused hand, but also not delicate and loose within your grasp.

It feels like a hand that isn't really holding on tight but will never let go.

Yoongi glances at Wonho's large fingers wrapped around your wrist and fixes him with a glare.

"We really do have to be going," he says. "Could you let go of my girlfriend now?"

This is embarrassing. Not the fake dating part. No. Just the fact that you now owe Min Yoongi even more than before.

Wonho lets go of your hand instantly, as if he feels threatened by Yoongi's glare- which is funny to you. It's refreshing to see that Wonho is wary of a boy half his size.

Yoongi's glare disappears, and he feeds into the others' frustration with an innocent smile- he looks like a cat when he does that. You could make a cat meme with his face.

"Thank you for bringing her to me," he says sweetly. "Have a nice day!"

After bidding farewell, Yoongi turns and pulls you back to his classroom, muttering something about grabbing his backpack. He lets go of your hand at the door, quickly runs to the piano to grab his backpack off of the floor, then hurries back to you, grabs your hand again, and brings you back out of the classroom.

The confused faces of Anise, Ginger and Wonho are worth the few extra glances you pay them as you walk past.

Yoongi's long, slender fingers slide between yours with ease. His hands aren't hot and sweaty (in fact they're actually pretty cool) but yours definitely are. As soon as you round the corner at the end of the hallway, you pull your hand out of his and rub it against your school jacket.

"I don't have germs," Yoongi says. "Rude."

"I wasn't-" you shake your head. It doesn't matter. "Why did you do that?"

"Do wha- oh back there? You were banging on the door like a kid throwing a tantrum." Yoongi shrugs and stuffs his hands into his pants pockets. "You couldn't have been more obvious that you needed help."

He isn't wearing his jacket- obviously, since you have it- so his pale, thin arms are on full display. His skin is smooth and milky white, something that contrasts deeply with his inky, jet black hair and dark, feline eyes.

"You didn't lock the door yesterday, what made such a difference today?"

"Yesterday I was interrupted," Yoongi says snidely. "And I was hoping it wouldn't happen again today."

"Well sorry. You didn't have to answer it."

"You don't sound very grateful."

"You don't know that I needed help."

"Are you saying you would rather I didn't come and help you?" Yoongi asks, turning to give you a cold stare. "Because I am more than willing to walk back there and lock myself in that room again so you can have special bonding time with your 'friends.'"

You open your mouth to retort, but decide it best not to say anything. Yoongi is right. You're being rude.

"No," you mutter.

"Then I believe a thank you is in order."

You stop walking, pull your backpack off of your back, and set it on the ground. Yoongi stops a few steps ahead of you and looks down to watch you as you struggle with the zipper. It keeps getting stuck.

"What are you doing?" Yoongi asks. You ignore his question and once your zipper comes unstuck, you open it all the way, pull out his school jacket, close your backpack, and hoist it up on your shoulders.

"Um..." you mumble, standing up. You hold the jacket out with both hands toward Yoongi. "This is from yesterday. I washed it."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Yoongi takes his jacket and unfolds it, gives it a good look, then drops his own backpack to the floor to put it on. "I got in trouble today for not having my name plaque."

"That's your fault."

"I suppose it is." Yoongi shrugs his backpack back on and begins walking again. "You coming?"

"Where? You don't even know where I'm supposed to go."

"Then show me. I don't have all day."

You catch up to Yoongi and match his pace.

"You don't have to escort me."

"I'm sure I don't," he says, not sounding very convinced. "I have a few questions though."

"What kind of questions?"

"Well, one, and I don't expect you to answer me, but what happened yesterday? Your uniform..." Yoongi glances up and down your body at your uniform- not in a creepy way, just curious- and frowns. "It was so ruined."

"You're right. I won't answer that."

"Then I'm guessing you won't tell me who those other guys were? Or what you all were doing down there?"

"Nope. That's between me and them."

Yoongi squints at your for a second, then clicks his tongue and shrugs, as if he doesn't need to hear any more.

"Those are the only questions I had. For real though, if..." Yoongi sighs. "If you do happen to need to run from them again... I'm always in that classroom."

That's good to know. Now you will do anything in your power to avoid it. You owe this boy enough.

"Yeah? And will you lock the door next time too?" You sneer.

Yoongi raises an eyebrow at you.

"The way you talk makes me think you want me to," he retorts. "Your loss."

You enter a hallway that has an exit at the end where you can leave and head to your bus stop- hopefully you won't miss the bus.

"I can walk myself out from here," you say. "Thank you for walking with me."

"There's my thank you," Yoongi says.

"I owe you now. What do you need me to do so we can be even?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I owe you. You helped me twice. Just name a favor or something."

"I helped you because you needed it. You don't have to repay me."

You frown. "Well, yes, I needed help, but-"

"Then forget about it. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

You glance around the hall for a clock and check the time. It'll be four soon. You should really get to the bus stop.

"I'll make it up to you," you say, as you turn the other way and begin to walk toward the exit. "I promise."

"You don't need to," Yoongi replies, voice raising the farther away you walk. "Don't worry about it."

And with that, you leave the school building and head home.

My chapters always turn out way longer than I want them to but if you guys enjoyed it, then I guess it's worth it.

Have a good day/night!<3

-L