The sight could make him vomit; the horrors could make his eye melt out of its sockets. The pure disgust of it makes it hard to turn away, even though he wants to so badly.

"Let's go, you're only torturing yourself by staying here," His friend tells him, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt.

But I need to know what happens next, he thinks resisting the pulls. He knows his friend is right, so maybe that's why after only a few seconds he allowed himself to be pulled away, out of sight from the pain.

They get to the second floor and head straight into the bathrooms. He steadies himself against the tiled walls, before sinking down and hiding his face in his knees. The squirrel boy knows his friend has seen him cry before, but every time he tries his best to hide it. He doesn't want to seem weak and crying over something stupid like he is, gives him a strong dose of that feeling.

"Do you want to go to class?" His voice sounds closer. He tilts his head up to see his friend crouched in front of him, giving him a friendly smile when he meets his eyes. The squirrel quickly buries his face back into his knees before shaking his head.

"Do you want to be alone?" His friend asks, to which he shakes his head once again.

The squirrel hears his friend mumble something before he feels him move right by him and throw his arm around him. The squirrel boy is pulled into a comforting hug, as his friend gently runs his fingers through the brown locks to try to comfort the crying boy.

"Even if he doesn't, know that I care about you," he whispers, waiting for confirmation.

"Jisung," He adds when his friend does not answer.

"I know," Jisung responds, "thank you."

The two sit in the bathroom for the next couple class periods, Jisung being held by his friend as the older comforts him.

Eventually, the two leave the bathroom and make their way towards Jisung's door. The two ended up skipping class all day, Jisung not wanting to run into a certain someone, chose to stay in the bathroom. He tried telling his friend he should go to class, but he refused. Seo Changbin can be a stubborn one, but Jisung is grateful that he has a friend as caring as Changbin is.

"I can stay with you if you'd like," Changbin tells him, once they are outside the younger's door, "I'm sure your roommates would understand."

Jisung shakes his head, Changbin has already done so much for him, and he would feel bad to ask for more.

"I'll be okay, I think I'm just going to lie in bed and wallow in self-pity," Jisung half-jokes.

Changbin rolls his eyes, but smiles at his friends, wrapping the younger into a hug.

"Know that I'm here for you whenever you need, okay?"

Jisung nods, thanking Changbin once again before unlocking his door and saying goodbye to his friend. None of his roommates are back, which isn't a surprise, they are usually out until curfew, so Jisung uses this time to flush out the rest of his tears so none of them see him.

Crawling onto his bed, Jisung wraps himself into his blankets, tears streaming down his cheeks as he buries his face into the pillow. It hurts, and he hates it so much. He hates feeling pain over the silliest things; maybe he really is just a stereotypical teenager, heartbroken over unrequited love.

~•~

On Wednesday morning, Jisung woke up early and got ready to go down to breakfast before any of his roommates were awake. He feels like eating breakfast early this morning, even if he will most likely be the only one in the entire cafeteria for breakfast.

However, upon entering the cafeteria, Jisung sees that he is in fact not the only one here. At a table near the back, Jisung spots another student, already eating his breakfast. He is too far for Jisung to recognize, so he continues to the serving center and picks up some pancakes for breakfast.

Now that he has a better view, Jisung recognizes the other person as the new student. He only has one class with him, but he has seen him around the hallways the past couple days. The newcomer is a shy and quiet boy, but he is still new to their school. Jisung debates with himself whether or not he should go over and sit with the boy, they have never talked, and now would be a good time to introduce himself when there isn't anyone here and the boy doesn't feel like he is being bombarded.

Jisung did come here to try to be alone, but now he feels that it would be rude if he didn't try and make the newcomer feel welcome.

"Would you like some Company?" Jisung asks after approaching the orange-haired male's table.

The newcomer looks up from his food, staring wide-eyed at Jisung. The squirrel smiles at him, as he waits for an answer. It takes a few awkward seconds, but eventually the newcomer nods, prompting Jisung to take a seat across from him.

"It's a little strange being in here this early," Jisung comments, pouring the syrup over his pancakes.

"Why are you here this early?" Jisung asks. It could be for the same reason, Jisung remembers a friend telling him that the newcomer doesn't talk very much and isn't making much progress in the friend department.

"Couldn't sleep," The orange-haired male answers. His voice is quiet and came out nearly as a whisper.

Hyunjin wasn't joking when he said he is quiet.

The rest of breakfast they sat in silence, Jisung would have sparked up more conversations if the other seemed at all interested, but he doesn't. The entire time he looked stiff and uncomfortable, Jisung actually felt bad because as soon as he joined the other, he stopped eating his own breakfast. Jisung considers getting up and moving for the sake of the other boy but doesn't because he thinks that would make it weirder.

As soon as other students are entering the cafeteria, Jisung is finishing his breakfast, giving him an excuse to get out of this awkward situation.

"It was nice eating with you." Jisung gives a somewhat forced smile before parting from the table.

Jisung exits the cafeteria, deciding not to head back to the boy's dorms since he doesn't want to risk running into any students on his list of avoidance. He walks down the hallway the leads to his first class, coming up to the stairs, slowly climbing his way up.

"What the hell!"

"Why is he still here?" A slightly familiar voice questions. The voices are slightly whispered, but in the deserted stairwell, Jisung can hear everything. It is coming from one level down, but it travels up to Jisung and is still very clear.

"How do you expect us to know?" Another voice whispers back, "we have been locked in the detention center since that night!"

A groan is heard before the familiar voice speaks again, "he shouldn't be here!"

"He is one of us!" A new voice speaks up, "He has every right to be here!"

Jisung is very confused and lost in a conversation he probably shouldn't be eavesdropping on, but he's intrigued. Instead of moving up the stairs, Jisung leans into the railing, continuing to listen.

"I don't care how much magic courses through his veins, he is still an outsider! Him being here is a danger to us all!"

It goes back and forth like that for a while, Jisung starting to get slightly bored of the random bickering. Just as he is considering leaving, something catches his attention.

"What if Irzis gets ahold of him?" The familiar voice sounds much harsher, "were all screwed at that point."

Who?

"We promised we wouldn't talk about that," another voice sneers, "we take that to our graves."

"Yeah, plus it didn't work, he is still gone, and-"

Jisung's foot slips, landing on the step below him causing the thud to echo through the whole stairwell.

"What was that?"

He slowly begins his way up the stairs, but as soon as he can hear the footsteps of the other people, he hurries up and bounds down the hall as quickly and quietly as he can. Ducking around a corner, he plants his back flat against the wall to hide.

Maybe running was stupid, but he really doesn't want to find out what would happen if he was caught listening in on a sensitive conversation. They may have been only students, and they can only do so much on school grounds, but still Jisung would rather not risk it.

He waits a few seconds before he peeks out, catching sight of three males at the end of the hall.

Chan?

This is concerning, especially since Jisung hangs out with that particular boy quite often.

As soon as he sees them start down the stairs, going back to where they once were, Jisung lets out a sigh of relief.

He moves down the hall, pushing his way into the male's bathroom on this floor, heading over to the sink to wash his face with cold water. Running his hands over his face with water, Jisung ends with running his fingers through his hair before turning off the faucet. He stares at himself in the mirror, as his friend's words ring through his mind.

What the hell is going on?

~•~

Word count: 1,598