Mean Girls - Binsung

Monday

The room around Jisung was bustling with people and his nerves were plummeting through the roof. Being anywhere in school alone made him anxious, in fact, being alone in general made him nervous. He couldn't believe that his best friend, Seo Changbin, hadn't turned up to lunch and hadn't given him an explanation why either. Jisung had been sitting at the table alone for 15 minutes now, he didn't think he could last another 45.

He got his phone out of his pocket, about to text Changbin, when someone dumped a tray in front of him on the table. Another followed and Jisung frowned, snapping his head up to meet the person's eyes. He relaxed when he realised it was only Changbin, until he saw an unfamiliar person beside him. He had blond curly hair, a bright smile on his face and his clothes were oversized and baggy on him. Jisung had never seen him before. He looked friendly enough though. Jisung smiled back at him before subtly shooting Changbin a questioning look.

"Jisung, this is Bang Chan," Changbin explained, taking his usual seat opposite Jisung. 

Chan sat down next to him and waved, "hi, I'm a new student from Australia."

Jisung could tell; his Australian accent was thick. Jisung's next words tumbled out of his mouth without much thought, "if you're from Australia, why are you Asian?"

Chan's smile morphed into a confused frown and Changbin sighed, dropping his head into his hands. Jisung couldn't believe he just asked that. Of course he was quoting Mean Girls but if Chan hadn't watched it then he would have made an awful first impression on Chan. He realised he should probably think before he speaks in future.

"Excuse him, he's way to obsessed with the film Mean Girls," Changbin tried to save him, "that was a quote from the film, or near enough anyway."

Chan nodded but his expressions still showed he was confused. Jisung figured he'd never watched Mean Girls and thought that was disgraceful. "Sorry, my name is Jisung by the way," he awkwardly chuckled and held his hand out for Chan to shake. The latter did so with the bright smile returning to his face.

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Jisung smiled back before going back to embarrassedly staring at the edge of the table with red cheeks and hands tightly clasped together. Chan and Changbin seemed to forget about him for a few minutes, talking about something he didn't understand and would inevitably be bored by. Instead of trying to join in, he settled for quickly bouncing his leg up and down as his attention was brought back to the masses of people around him. Their voices were so loud in his ears. Everyone was moving around and almost knocking into him. It made him feel so small and he wanted to-

"Jisung, you haven't got lunch," Changbin interrupted his spiralling thoughts.

"Oh, I'm not that hungry," Jisung shrugged. If he was telling the truth, he was hungry, starving in fact; but he never felt comfortable eating around so many people. He couldn't explain why, something about others judging him for what he ate terrified him, or eating in general. It's not that he didn't eat. He actually loved food, but not around strangers. He could eat in front of Changbin but Chan's presence made it impossible. He would have to persevere with the hunger pains in his stomach for the rest of the day.

"You're always hungry!" Changbin exclaimed.

"N-no, I'm not," Jisung shook his head, feeling even more embarrassed than he previously had. "I'm...on a diet," he mumbled, "please don't feed me Kalteen Bars."

Changbin rolled his eyes, "uh-huh. Sure."

The rest of lunch was tedious for Jisung. Changbin and Chan talked as if they had known each other for years and even though they tried to involve him in their conversations, something in the back of Jisung's mind kept him distracted. He didn't know if it was the anxiety, the hunger or a mix of both but he found it impossible to feel comfortable. 

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch and a wave of relief washed over Jisung. He had music next, his favourite lesson. He couldn't wait to escape the hectic canteen and disappear to his peaceful music class where only 5 students were ever present. It was an miniscule class and everyone in there kept to themselves so Jisung didn't have to worry himself with small talk.

Chan had a lesson in a different block but Changbin and Jisung had a class next to each other so they walked together. "Are you ok?" Changbin asked, playfully knocking Jisung with his shoulder to try and cheer him up, "you seem distant."

Changbin always noticed when something was wrong with Jisung, it was one of the many reasons Jisung loved him so much. After being friends for 10 years, they knew each other better than anyone else did. Jisung plastered a smile on his face, "I'm fine."

"Liar. Just like The Plastics."

Jisung scoffed. Changbin only made Mean Girl's references when they were necessary to cheer him up. It wasn't like it was hard to come up with them, Jisung made him watch the film so many times that the script was permanently imbedded in his head.

"I know that wasn't a real smile, what's up?"

Jisung shrugged as they reached his classroom. People were lining up outside, not allowed to enter yet. He leaned his back against the wall and sighed, "I don't know. Why were you late to lunch?" He changed the subject.

"I had to show Chan around the school. Do you like him?" Changbin asked, seemingly happy to let the conversation flow in this direction. Jisung didn't know how to feel about that. Usually Changbin would moider him until he got an answer as to why Jisung was so sad.

Jisung shrugged again, "he's nice but I didn't talk to him much."

"I like him. He's really cool," Changbin beamed. Jisung's heart twinged. Why did Changbin look so happy? Does he prefer Chan to him? Is he going to stop hanging out with him and start hanging out with Chan instead? Does he like Chan?

Jisung's head swirled with so many irrational thoughts that he was glad when the door to his classroom finally opened. He disappeared inside without so much as a goodbye to Changbin. The sound of a sad acoustic song finally let him relax as he found his seat at the back of the class.

-

EEEE I may have made this more dramatic than I intended??? Like this wasn't the plan at all??? Oh well.