bruised; nomin

CHAPTER 1

"Jaemin!" I hear someone shout my name across the cafeteria. I turn my head, only to see Minjae heading towards me and a few other guys I was sitting with.

"Hey, Minjae." I smile as he sets his tray of food onto the table, taking a seat beside me. I turn my head over to the others, taking a sip of water and listening to their conversations.

We continue our lunch until the bell rings for class. Minjae and I get up and walk to our next class that we had together. We walk in and head over to the far back corner of the room, getting to our seats that were beside each other. A few seconds later, I see Mark walk into class. I stay seated, waiting for the teacher to make her way in too. I stare over towards Minjae who is winking and smirking at every girl who looks at him, causing them to blush and giggle. He does that to everyone. I'm the one he really loves. That's what he tells me every day.

I look over to my right and see Mark heading over towards me, looking as bubbly as always.

"Aye, Jaemin," Mark says, with a big smile spread across his face.

"Hey," I smile back. "Where were you and Haechan at lunch today?"

"Oh, we were helping this new kid find his way around the school. He's actually going to be here any minute now. This teacher had to take him for a while." He says, turning his head to face the door. The teacher finally walks in and sets her equipment onto the desk, looking as bored as ever, even though the lesson hasn't even started.

"Oh look, here he comes now." Mark states as he walks back over to his seat at the front of the room. The new kid walks over to the teacher's desk, probably telling her who he was and whatever. The teacher stands up, still looking as bored as ever, and tells the class that the new kid was going to tell us a little bit about himself.

The new boy is caught off guard but still turns around and faces the class. I'd say he looks nervous and is about to shit his pants but he doesn't. More like the opposite, actually. He stands up tall and confident, with a big smile displayed on his face. I wish I had confidence. I could tell why he has some though. He's a good looking kid and I'm sure he's not going to have trouble making friends here like I did. When I was the new kid at this school about a year ago, I had no friends and would usually get picked on. Thankfully, I met Minjae and things worked out. I now hang out with the most well-liked people in school. You could say we were the "troublemakers" and a bad influence on others. I'm so grateful that I have Minjae in my life or else I don't know where I'd be right now.

"Hi, guys. I'm Lee Jeno." He starts, interrupting my thoughts. I look up at him, again. I take this moment to study his figure. He has red hair and large brown eyes. I have to admit that his eye smile is pretty cute. I look around and the girls in the class seem to think so too. The red hair is new to me, but it's actually pretty cool. He's tall, like me. He wears a white tank top, along with black, ripped, skinny jeans.

"I moved schools because let's just say, there were some people who were absolute jerks." He says, looking down at the floor for a few seconds before looking back up. People, including me, look at him in sympathy. Did he get picked on at his old school too?

"But, I'm hoping things will be different here." He manages to throw a smile onto his face, the eye smile coming back. He continues on for a bit longer. "I'm not that interesting so, I guess I'm done." He turns to the teacher, waiting for her to say something.

"Thank you very much, Jeno. This school is a welcoming environment and I'm sure things will be different for you here. Students, am I right?" She looks over at Minjae and me, and a couple of others we hang out with, especially. We nod and throw on welcoming smiles. Well I know I did. The rest of the guys' smiles were probably fake. I look over at Jeno, still showing off the eye smile of his and the teacher tells him to find a seat wherever he would like.