Ch.7
The next day of school had come and the members were back in school. The thought would have been more exciting if it weren't for that rumor destroying your mood. There was a lot of questions you had about the rumors and a lot of pent up screams of frustration. It's not like that would do any good. You had no idea how to fix the problem. Hanging out with them was going to leave you in the same spot or possibly make it worse. When you came to school, you didn't come to math class right away. Instead you wandered the campus until you actually had to go to class. Luckily, Jungkook and Taehyung didn't think anything of it.
Stepping into math class felt like a different experience now that you knew the reasons for their stares. It made you glare harder at them, but also keep your head down with your hair in front of your face. Jungkook and Taehyung were talking to each other when you sat down in your chair. You didn't say hello to them and went to grab your notebook. The two were in the middle of a conversation anyway. It was a little sad. This silence was going to be awful. You wanted to ask how the supplying went, if they were okay, if anything had gone wrong. They seemed to be fine. Not a single scratch on them that they didn't already have. Taehyung appeared vibrant as he laughed while Jungkook stayed quiet.
Jungkook just watched Taehyung move his hands around, exaggerating a story about his experience in a convenience store. You didn't want to stare. That was a bad habit of yours that you were fixing. But one thing you noted about Jungkook was how his face didn't glow like it always did. His skin came off as greasy which you never thought would be possible. All the boys had perfect skin. It really wasn't your problem though. Shoving your face into your notebook, you ignored the two boys in front of you for your own good. Mr. Pyo was going to teach math and you were going to pay attention no matter what. Who cares if you're still clueless by the end of it! Math is hard!
"Hello, (F/n)~!" Taehyung turned to you with his grin. Jungkook looked at you over his shoulder, waiting for a response as well.
"Erm, hi," You muttered, scribbling harder in your notebook.
"I can't hear you." Taehyung teased.
"I need to catch up in math so yeah...I'm gonna work on this." You tried to be remotely believable. Taehyung's puppy eyes didn't twinkle as bright once you said that. He nodded and slowly shifted back into his seat. Jungkook kept his gaze on you for a while before turning too.
This sucked a lot. There was no winning situation to this it felt like. Ignoring the boys ruined all the work you had put in to befriend them and telling them would only get them upset with the other students. Taehyung would probably try to fight people while Yoongi wouldn't give a crap. Either way, you were going to continue your current route. You wanted to spend some time alone and think on what to do. The guys could be a little distracting. Not in a bad way, but you did find out about the rumor once they were no longer here to block out the school's lies.
Math was uneventful like the day before this one. Jungkook and Taehyung actually sat in front of you, but you chose to ignore them. The silver haired boy was bummed out that he couldn't talk to you since he wanted to respect your attempts to get it together in class. Jungkook on the other hand didn't say a word to your face. He had a different air around him that you couldn't quite figure out. It almost felt like he knew you were purposely ignoring them. It's not like you were being obvious so that was farfetched. For the rest of the class, you listened to Mr. Pyo drone on.
Then when class ended, you immediately told Jungkook and Taehyung that you would be going to the bathroom. They can't follow you in there and even if they tried, it wouldn't end well. Plus, they would never question you going to the bathroom. When you have to go, you have to go! But you didn't need to at the moment. A large part of you felt bad for lying to them. You just had to be alone today, figure stuff out, and see what happens. As you took your first step out of Mr. Pyo's classroom, Jimin was already standing outside with his arms behind his back.
"Hey! I got out my class early," He said as you let out a sigh.
"That's cool. I have to go to the bathroom though, so I'll see you in class." Your eyes shifted away from his. Jimin spotted that and his smile was no longer as strong. He furrowed his brows, but you were already walking away. How come you were so obvious to them? You were trying your hardest to make it as natural as possible.
Jimin stayed alone in the hall until Jungkook and Taehyung came out to see him. By that time, you were already gone. You walked past the bathroom without a second thought. Bathrooms were a perfect place to hear all the gossip, but you were done with them. That close encounter with red lips was enough to scar you. Since you didn't go to the bathroom, you made your way to Ms. Lee's line. Few students were already here, sitting on the ground with their friends. You decided to sit on the ground too, playing with the grass underneath you.
It left you with time to think. Avoiding Jungkook, Taehyung, and Jimin was going to be harder than you thought. Somehow you thought it was doable even though they were in your classes. Then lunch was a problem you hadn't thought of yet until now. What were you going to do then? Eat lunch alone like you used to? There was no other real choice, so you told yourself to stop complaining. Whenever you saw the guys, it made you feel weird. The rumors were disgusting, but you couldn't imagine letting yourself do what the lies said. They were your friends and nothing more. This gossip they had going around had a huge potential to destroy your friendship with them. It's awkward to have people assuming that you're having sexual relationships with all of them. No way.
"(F/n)!" You were pulled away from your thoughts. You looked back to see Jimin running towards you, waving his hands in the air. His fluffy orange hair was bouncing with his steps as he eventually came to a halt in front of you. "I made it."
"Yeah." You nodded with a forced smile. He didn't say anything else and sat down next to you. He grabbed a dandelion, lightly placing his finger on the white fuzz. The wind picked up, blowing all the seeds off from the plant. They swirled in the air, flying away from the two of you.
Ms. Lee then shouted for her students to make the line neater. Jimin and you stood up, getting into the new line that wasn't that much better. You kept your eyes straight, waiting for Ms. Lee's next words. Jimin tapped your shoulder to make a joke about Ms. Lee. He chuckled as he compared her to the angry guy at the gas station. You would have laughed along with him, but you didn't let yourself. Jimin's light laughter faded away. He stopped talking to you in that moment because he felt you weren't in the mood to do so. He quietly apologized, making you want to hug him as an apology. That's it. You can't do this anymore.
"Jimin...don't be sorry." You faced him with a tiny smile. "It was funny. Don't worry."
"Oh...okay, that's good." Jimin stared at his feet. He rubbed his neck, unaware of the girls behind him who were staring in your direction. It was them. They pointed in your direction, giggling, and trying to make secret comments. You turned away from Jimin to block them out. Out of sight, out of mind. You really needed that. When will this rumor die?
"I need someone to refill our water cooler," Ms. Lee yelled out. Students shifted around, lowering their heads so they wouldn't get picked on. No one offered to help, but you found this to be a perfect opportunity to get away from the girls.
"I can do it!" You raised your hand as she nodded, not really caring who it was. She only needed someone to do the job she should have done during the break between classes.
Walking over to the plastic cooler, you picked up the white handles at the side. Since there was no water inside, it was easy to pick up. Bringing it back full would come to be a challenge, but you'll cross that bridge when you get there. Jimin cocked up a brow as he watched you leave. You were in no rush to find the water fountain. Getting this filled up helped you skip out on running and gave you the chance to not make Jimin feel bad for not talking to him. It seems like he was easy to hurt, and you didn't want him to think you were purposely doing this to him. You would never do something so cruel to him. Jimin was the first person you were determined to be friends with after all.
So, what were you doing now? Honestly, you had no idea. Was it selfish to ignore them only to protect yourself? Those girls were making you go crazy. How is that that they could make you feel so pathetic? All they had to do was say one lie about you and you felt like sh*t. If you couldn't stop the rumor, then you were certainly going to find the root of it. Maybe there was no clear root and it came from everyone's assumptions. The thing was, who was the first one to say it was true? The water fountain was around the corner. You set down the cooler, taking off the lid and turning on the faucet. Time to wait for the thing to fill up.
"Kwon (F/n)," A male voice spoke, making you lift your head in confusion. Jungkook was standing there with one hand in his pocket.
"Jungkook? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" You asked.
"I ditched." He shrugged, walking towards you. He ditched yesterday and now today?
"You can't do that!" You crossed your arms. "Jeon Jungkook, you have to care about your grades."
"That's not gonna happen." Jungkook shook his head in annoyance. You fiddled with your fingers behind your back, questioning his sudden presence. Why would he ditch class and show up here? Was it important? "Why have you been acting weird?"
"What? Me?" You pointed to yourself.
"Who else?" He got closer, making your heart race. He knew something was up. The only thing on your mind now was if you were going to lie or tell the truth.
"I'm fine." You heard yourself say. Looks like you've taken the lying route.
"Yeah right. (F/n), you've been a little strange." Jungkook stared down at you. He was so intimidating like this. He was so blunt now that the two of you were alone. It was off putting to have him like this.
"Are you sure I'm the one who's been acting strange? What about you?" You turned it around on him. Jungkook only gritted his teeth and you felt yourself lose some confidence. He took in a heavy breath, calming himself down. Was he okay?
"This isn't about me. You've been looking paranoid and you haven't really talked to us at all today." Jungkook ran a hand through his hair. "Tell me what's wrong."
"There's nothing wrong." You looked away from his eyes. It felt like he could see right through you.
"Are you sure?" Jungkook leaned down to turn off the faucet for you as it reached the top. He placed the cap on top and tightened it on for you.
"Positive," You said with a bit of huff. You just needed him to believe you and to leave you alone. "I'm going now." You grabbed the handles, lifting the cooler with shaking arms. This was a lot heavier than you anticipated. Still, you could make it back to Ms. Lee.
"I can help." Jungkook took hold of the sides as you shook your head in protest.
"I got this! Trust me." You pulled away from him. Jungkook was shocked by your abrupt actions. It made you stumble in the process, letting the cooler fall with you. With one swift move, Jungkook grabbed your hand before you could fall into the puddle the cooler created. He brought you close to his body, wrapping his other hand around your waist. Both of your ankles were soaked all the way down which wasn't too bad, but still not comfortable. You looked down at the orange cooler that was on its side. Great. You're going to have to refill that and Ms. Lee is gonna yell at you for thinking that you were messing around.
Jungkook's hold around you didn't vanish. Once the realization hit you on how close you were against him, your face went on fire. You're trying to stop people from thinking you're sexually involved with them and this position doesn't help. Jungkook's eyes were on you and you had to look away. This was getting to be too much. You tried pushing away, but he didn't let you escape. He was the muscle of the group so escaping him wouldn't be easy.
"Jeon Jungkook, let me go," You said sternly.
"No." He smirked at your frustration. Why was he doing this to you? In the middle of your attempts to leave, you heard a light gasp. Jungkook and you turned to the owner of the gasp. She was a small girl with her hair in a bun. This probably didn't look good to her and you knew why. Does she know about the rumor too? Why not add to the mess while you're at it?
"I'm going back to class." You finally shoved him off.
"(F/n)," He sighed with both his hands in his pockets. He didn't stop you from leaving anymore. You picked up your things and left. There was no doubt in your mind that Ms. Lee was going to scold you.
She did and in front of the whole class. It was better than you thought it would be. Jimin gave you a look of sympathy as Ms. Lee told you to run two laps before you could go to lunch. You accepted the punishment. The same girls from earlier were laughing when Ms. Lee castigated you. Running would calm you down so you took it without question. It also meant Jimin would have to go to lunch without you. It made eating lunch alone easier. When you finished the two laps, you begged for the day to go by faster.
Today was sort of similar to yesterday with its pace. The bell would soon ring, and classes were out for the day. It made you beyond thankful as you ran out of the building. Students were already flooding the hallways, spilling out from campus. As you pushed your way through the crowd, you were almost past the gates. All you had to do was walk home and proceed to scream in your room. Plans were going to then delayed right when you heard someone shout out your name. Today just wasn't your day. You found the voice calling you in the crowd, it was Namjoon. Hoseok and Seokjin were with him too.
"Are you coming to the warehouse today?" Namjoon came closer, the two guys following his actions.
"Uh, I don't think so. I've got a lot of homework." You laughed nervously. Hoseok frowned as Seokjin nodded understandably.
"That sucks. I was taking a liking to you have you in the warehouse every day," Namjoon admitted, making you smile at his kind words. You were happy to be accepted by him in the one place you felt like you'd never be able to connect with them.
"Aw, you two should date!" Hoseok said jokingly. Your cheeks burned, but Namjoon shook his head at his friend's nonsense. Hoseok didn't mean it which took you a while to pick up on.
"I can give you a ride home first," Seokjin offered, but you immediately declined. Getting into a car with three of the members? Students would eat this stuff up.
"I'm happy walking but thank you." You waved goodbye.
They waved back at you, their faces not as bright as they always are. Can they sense you ignoring them? You didn't want to hurt them, but you probably already did. They didn't question you for not showing up at lunch which was nice. Maybe Jimin told them you had to run laps. You also didn't suspect Jungkook of telling them about what happened between the two of you. That was so strange and out of character for him. Jungkook might have been trying to get answers out of you with his strange methods, but it still felt off. Your imagination was causing you to question everything. Next, Yoongi will try to be your friend. That just might make you actually lose it.
You went home feeling exhausted. The way home wasn't terrible, school work wasn't stressful, and you had no real reason to feel this way, but you did. Ignoring them took too much effort. They were your friends and you cared for them a lot. Just saying that you wouldn't be hanging out with them was enough to tear you in two. Going to the warehouse sounded like fun! You wanted to hear Taehyung's stupid stories! And Jimin was so right about Ms. Lee being similar to the gas station guy! Even now, it leaves a smile on your face. Gosh, you should have laughed but instead you cared what others thought of you. This wasn't fair! Letting your body fall onto your bed, you screamed into your pillow.
That's it! Tomorrow, you're going to hang out with all of them and ignore the girls instead. That's how it really should be. You know you're not a slut and the others know that too. You're not doing anything inappropriate with them whatsoever. They're your friends and that's it. Tomorrow, you'll make things right. You might tell them about the rumors or you'll wait for them to die on their own. That seems possible enough. Tomorrow is going to be a good day no matter what.